I was just thinking about the dates I have taken some of my bucks... The only single date that was noteworthy was a Halloween buck from 2006. Some others I thought were kind of cool is that I have taken bucks on consecutive days two different times (in different years obviously, Ohio is a one buck state) October 17th and October 18th as well as October 30th and October 31st. Thought that was kind of interesting... So what noteworthy date(s) have you taken bucks on? Your birthday, voting day, an anniversary, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas etc etc? By all means, share photos of the bucks if you would like My best bucks have come on the following dates; Sept 28 (did not find him for 6 months though) Oct 16 Oct 17 Oct 30 Oct 31 Nov 3 Nov 6
Mid to late October has become one of my favorite times to be In the woods hunting older bucks. In 2007 I shot my 4.5 year old 8 point October 24th. I saw him the night before as well but too far away. Fast forward to 2009 October 19th. I hit a nice 150's buck and never recovered him (he lived). A year later I see this same buck October 28th In the same tree I shot my 8 point out of In 2007. 30 yards was all the closer he got so he got the pass. How cool would've that been shooting another great buck out of the same tree 3 years later with In 4 days to the day? Never thought about any of this till now.
After moving out here to Illinois in '07, i have killed a buck every other year ('07, '09) on November 2nd. This past season it took me till early December, so next year i guess i should be due for one on the 2nd!
October 1st is a cool one. You got the pressure off your shoulders very early. I still haven't been in shooting range of a deer on opening day! I bet the rest of your season was very laxed after getting that giant!!!
October 16, 2011 Hopefully the first of many. Another interesting thing I was thinking about is what time did you harvest these animals? I know during the pre-rut and rut it can happen at any time. The earlier dates though interest me. This buck was shot at 6:10 pm and sunset was 5:50 pm. I am curious as to what times these bucks are moving during daylight when the rut hasn't hit yet.
First hunt of the year in 2005 Sept 17th in my subdivision 118" Opening day 2006 IL Oct 1 121" I think My wifes Birthday Nov 9, 1996 160" ( I got the present that year.) Last hunt of the season Jan 2, 2000 165"
Thanks partner! That was an awesome buck you harvested this year as well, you got me beat, ha..ha... You know the farm I harvested him on is a good farm, no pressure and not too much pressure around me. There are some other guys who hunt this same farm, but we don't butt heads or get in each others hair. I think early season can be very successful if you have alot of these conditions in your favor, good ground, no pressure, tree stands were setup in the spring where I had found some good sheds, patience, and I had a great feeling about this setup from day 1. I wasn't in a hurry to get to my stand that day, in fact I don't like getting up on the opener early too hunt, I would rather take my time in the afternoon and be patient and then get setup...
That is awesome! It sounds like it all came together just as planned. Your set-up at the farm sounds great too. The piece I hunt is 80 or so acres. There is heavy heavy pressure on it during gun season, but fortunately I am the only one who bowhunts it. I never saw the buck on hoof and neither had the landowner. My plan was simple, set-up between food and bedding. I still think he was on his feeding pattern when I harvested him. Luckily for me he got out of his bed a few minutes too early that day!
thats whats cool about bowhunting, you always...always learn more especially from hearing other peoples stories and asking questions when in doubt. Doing the little things like making slight adjustments from your original plan when not working, and going all out when you have a great plan, stick with it and attack! One of the biggest things I've learned over the years from personal experience is to not be affraid to use the same treestand setup back to back or several hunts in a row. If you find a hot spot and your not busting deer on your approach in don't be affraid to hunt the heck out of that location. I do and I continue to see deer, not just little spike bucks, but mature does and mature bucks!
I've killed 2 bucks on Oct 6th & Halloween And if you include does, Oct 2nd, 3rd & 25th I have killed a buck and 2 does on each of those dates. And there are only 9 days in October that I haven't killed a deer on. I think that has just become a career lifetime goal of mine. To have killed a deer on every day in october.
I really like the days of September 9th, 10th and 15th ( 3 bucks and a doe ) Best day... September 15th 1st buck/deer in 1982 doe in 2010 Tim
