I should be goose l hunting. just had a > formation of 9 skim the tree tops over my head, honking away.. turkey gobbling, season opens Saturday. We're having a little talk. I can't see him yet. I'm never hunting alone from this stand. The previous owner, that put me in her will is buried here.
I have heard does make a sound that I would describe as barking. I call it an "identify yourself" challenge. They know something is there, but cannot see or smell it. Elk will do the same thing. I consider it to be a precursor to blowing and taking off. Since you got close enough to light up the buck in your headlamp, it may have very well been doing it to another animal you did not see.
I have seen/heard doe bark before. I thought it was a cough but then she did it again and it looked to be on purpose. it only made the weird bark noise once, right? Probably a sneeze. Critters within the same species sneeze differently, just think about dogs and people. My two dogs sneeze completely differently from each other as do my wife and I. My old man's sneezes are hysterical, he always does them in a quick series of 3s and squeaks like a little girl but he was built like a truck in his prime and you probably wouldn't have wanted to tell him that.
I have been, because I've gotten a real nice 8pt on cam a couple times at this spot, so I'm thinking he's got to come through again at some point with the rut starting to get underway.
If you can try just tweaking your setup even 50-100yds, change your scenery up. I’d go mad hunting the same spot and looking at the same setup. I hope it pays off for you, if your ever in SW Pa get ahold of me.
Self admitted dumba$$. That camera I thought was tampered with and the card was missing was might not have been. Card was still in it when I looked during the day and possibly I didn’t close it up. 600+ pics nobody on cam but some deer and turkeys. I apologize to all the thiefs.
I left at 9:45. The old knees were stiffening and well, to say my climb down could have gotten dicey. Dropped bow off and headed to let chickens out and check cam. That flock of geese came back through and right over my head. Actually so close I could see the glint on their eyes from the sun cresting the trees. They cleared the ridge trees and dropped down low over the clover plot ...So cool!! Season actually opens the 25 this month. BTW AI TOTALLY WRONG . IT SAYS THE 18TH. That is when fall turkey in Southern zone opens not CG. Always check the state sites.
I’m home, nothing today. Unless you count squirrels and chipmunks. I’ll be back tomorrow morning. I had the frozen dew drop fall on my hand this morning
I'm not sure I could get close on a size guess. Maybe 125"?? That is a really good buck for me. I do have a good idea where they bed but it's so thick on that side of the ridge it's practically unhuntable. Kind of like where I was yesterday evening and this morning. I did walk around that treetop and saw no rub or scrape. I have no idea what the sound was.
Now I've heard deer sneeze before. Well, a big buck anyway. Sounded nothing like what I heard yesterday. That buck had some sinus problems. It sounded to me like someone was down in the valley whacking trees with a board. I know it was a buck because I heard it sneezing it's way up the hill and saw him through my binoculars. His stuffy nose probably explains why he crossed my wind stream without busting out. I managed to call him in to 5 yards but I didn't have a buck tag.
I'm 99.999% sure that we had this exact same discussion last year lol. I totally agree that a set up tweak is needed, or add 3,4,5 stands for different wind directions. All of those stands could be with 100 yards of each other with totally different sightings/results.
Not going out tonight clover cam had only late night/ pre dawn movement. 1 nice young 8pt. The winds will be great for the chestnut plot blind in the morni g. A quiet entrance right off the road and the last mowing was followed by drought. Nary any ground growth . Plot actually is pathetic. That said the apples are still holding a few and the chestnuts are starting to drop. Besides the scattered oak are still dropping. The blinds actually in field so the best winds for a morning hunt are ssw or sse. The afternoon late hunts are good for a wnw or just a west wind. Now two neighbors have done significant property work, north and north/east of the property and blind. It could very well have changed movement. Good luck guys
What kind of chestnuts? We have a lot of young American Chestnuts that try to grow here, they only get so big before the blight gets em though.
You're right, we did. You have a good memory! But, last year I was hunting almost every day from a natural ground blind in the same spot, this year I'm hunting from my LW at 15' and not hunting every day. Regarding having stands sites for different winds, in the hollow I'm hunting the wind is constantly shifting, I'd have the same situation at different stand locations.
