wanted to run something by you guys. My season this year is a toss up. I don't have one mature buck on camera so I decided to book with an outfitter in Virginia for the week of Nov 9th. Is that considered cheating? Its not a preserve and is all fair chase but I still feel guilty.
If it's fair chase it's fair game. I don't see anything wrong with that at all. Let the deer on your property grow another year and enjoy the thrill of hunting an outfitter. Go whack one!
If I were you guys, I wouldn't skip over your own property just because you have less than impressive trail camera pictures. Bucks go where the does are and they travel farther out of their normal home range during the rut. The biggest buck I ever got on camera on my property was during the rut, and he was a buck I had never ever seen before (on hoof or on camera). He stuck around for a day or so and then moved on. If you stick with the does during rut, you're bound to have a few bucks coming around too.
I agree with Spear, keep the cams going. Something is bound to show up. I run over 20 cams all year long and always have a handful of new shooter bucks show up. This guy showed up late November last year. Never seen him on our property before. He was a regular for a couple days and then nothing. Neighbor 3 miles away as the crow flys shot him opening morning of gun season. He had 100's of pics that year and previous years of this buck. Figured he took a cruise looking for a hot doe. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
The areas i hunt are mostly doe areas so it definitely common to see a lot of does but I usually at least get some mature deer at night. Now with that said the last week of Oct through the first 2 weeks of November the old boys start to show up when cruising. I hunt every weekend till the freezer is full so I will definitely be out and about.
What's everyone's field report so far? Anyone seeing much activity? I'm going out for an all day hunt on Saturday, staying the night in the cabin and hunting Sunday morning. This will be the first of many overnight stays at my cabin for hunting this year. The other few are planned for early-mid November for obvious reasons but I'm hoping to take a doe this weekend.
A lot of does moving. My dad has been hunting more then me so I'll report what he's seen. He missed a shooter and saw another big buck. It's supposed to be warm around here this weekend hopefully after that it will cool down in time for pre rut to kick off. It's not far off now.
Pretty slow here in southeast WI public land but cant hope for much on public. I haven got up to our private land yet this year but am heading up this weekend for a wedding and plan on sneaking one or two sits in. Reports from my dad and brother are lots of deer moving but nothing mature. My dad passed the same 125" 10pt twice now and has seen two other "shooters" but to far for shots.
Not sure if I will be hunting NC or VA this weekend. Cousin shot a small six in Va tonight. And landowner reports several does hanging about there to. Supposed to rain so that will make a difference. temps are supposed to drop to highs in mid 60s on Saturday.
We are getting a cold front with dry air so finally a cold spell with no wind or rain attached to it! Weather says partly cloudy on Saturday with a low of 44 and high of 66 with 7 mph wind. That smells like action to me.
Turns out that 6 pointer was not really a 6 pointer. It was my number one don't shoot buck. little fella was on cameras religiously and I knew he was gonna get whacked just didn't think it would be by us and the first deer. Sad and disappointing at the same time. Oh well thats life I guess.
Went out yesterday. Had two fawns come in early at about 8. Then nothing until 4, another fawn, and then at 6:45 a yearling doe came in. I stood up when I seen her legs in the brush as she was coming up the ridge. She came into about 30 yds and stopped broadside but there was a branch between me and her. If I was sitting I could've drilled her. She kept looking back and wasn't long before a little 3 point came in. She went berserk when he came in about 10 yds from her. She ran straight at him, around him, kicking her heels up. Then flat out full speed over the side of the ridge into the bottom. He was looking at her the same way I was, kinda scratching his head. Then he mulled around got down wind of me and just hung out about 15 min then walked off. He came back after a bit, stopped down wind again, and then bolted circling up wind about 15 yds stopped and started browsing over the side of the ridge and he was gone. Yesterday was weird in the woods. Everything seemed to be on high alert. Coyotes howling in the middle of the day. Does were blowing every where. Squirrels were going berserk, barking and flagging everything and fighting each other. 8 Hens were fighting just North of me. I was talking to my BIL and he said the same thing. Even chipmunks were backing down the grey squirrels. Just wondering if anybody else was experiencing something similar?
I put in over 12 hours in the stand this weekend and I saw nothing but squirrels and birds. Not a single deer. My brother in law almost had a chance on a doe who had 2 fawns with her but they spooked at something and left before he had a chance. But, little movement is typical on our property in October, once the pre-rut starts up they all seem to show up during daylight again.
Nothing Saturday morning but dogs, squirrels and birds. Saturday afternoon I saw a doe walking down the fence line around 5:30. She never stopped in an opening and walked up and down the fence line to find a place to cross. I was up and ready if she ever stopped but no such luck. She eventually crossed the fence and walked out of sight.
Hunted our good woods Friday night. Didn't see any shooters but there are plenty of does and does bring bucks come pre-rut. We should start seeing signs of pre-rut in a about a week or so.
