Well the neighbor killed the buck from the latest cam pic. Definitely looks bigger than the trail cam pic suggested. I was thinking 10” g2 on the left side lol.
Hello, friends! Allow me to regale you with tales of my hunting ineptitude this week. Friday evening I managed to get winded by multiple deer that were 180 degrees from one another. It was amazing! I didn't matter what direction they came from, they smelled me. I felt like I was sitting by a campfire and no matter where I sat, the wind was following me around and blowing in my face. Saturday evening, I also got winded by another 2-year-old buck out cruising. It was also an amazing experience! Last night I did not get winded (that I know of) and managed to see a young spike out harassing some older ladies. When my trail cameras checked in at 7 pm I was greeted by these. There is a treestand 25 yards to my immediate left in this photo that I was going to sit because I was running late. But I told myself to forge ahead because the hunting would be better somewhere else.
My wife's plans with friends Sunday evening got cancelled so I got in an unexpected sit Sunday afternoon. Went into a new spot that was just about 150 yards outside a buck bedding area that @Jezzy670 and I found scouting last week. Had a spike come into 25 yards, not legal for adults with a three point minimum antler restriction. If it had been a doe, it would be dead.
After getting a video of a nice buck searching around one if my stands thurs morning I wanted ti be in that stand friday morning. Watched the wind forcast and it was the worst direction possible for that stand. I vassilated back and forth whether to risk it or not. I really wanted to hunt that stand, everything was screaming inside to go there. But the wind was wrong and alas I did not. I went elsewhere and saw squat. Meanwhile this guy strolls in wind at his back. My stand is 20 yards further down the trail. Would have been a slam dunk 10 yard shot. I spent the day kicking myself in the ass. This vid is thursday morn And friday morning with me in a different stand a mile away kicking myself in the ass.....
First snow of the year moving in tomorrow! I'm going to hunt Friday morning even though it's going to be super windy. But with fresh snow on the ground I'm not going to miss that. The rest of this weekend looks like awesome conditions to hunt. Hoping the late rut is good to me at some point!
I wish we would get snow during November, occasionally in January, but rarely before then. I miss living further north and hunting in the snow.
Snow flakes are falling and this guys made it through half of gun season. I’m heading to the stand in about 20 mins.
Good luck! I am off today, thanksgiving party with my youngest at school. Thought about going out this afternoon, but I have been fighting a cold for the last week and I am coughing bad enough it would be kind of pointless. If this cough would just go away. Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I saw 2 doe this evening. 32-35 degrees, 15mph wind, 30 mph gusts. Sleet, snow, wet snow, eyes watering and lots of snot. I have been feeling sick the past few days as well. No cough, just weak, tired, and worn down. This weekend is sponsored by Dayquil and copious amounts of caffeine. Be back out in the morning
I went and bought a firearms tag last night so I could bowhunt this morning. Spent some time last night washing clothes, charging batteries, and getting everything ready for this morning. Got up at 4:45 am, showered, got dressed, and was in my stand by 6. Legal light was 6:22 today. I hunted until 9:45 and saw ZERO deer or any other animals of interest. The only positive is that I didn't see anyone gun hunting around me and didn't hear any shots. Man, what a miserable season this has been. I'd probably have better luck wandering blindly onto public land somewhere once gun season is over.
I feel your pain. I’m about to ride the 4 wheeler half way into the woods and sit down on a stump with the 30/06…. Works for everyone else it seems.
Out of the many befuddling IL hunting regs there are, this is one of the most perplexing. Just charge a little more for an all season license, restrict guns/MZs to certain dates, and let archers carry a bow all season.
So when it happens again, do you consider this one a kick in the balls? Long story short I was running late yesterday morning trying to get to an East wind stand that was pretty far from the truck. Got halfway there and bumped a few deer off the clover plot where Joey shot his buck. I paused for a moment and considered stopping and hunting there rather than pushing on. But that same little voice inside of me that said "Don't be a sissy, keep going" won in the end. An hour and a half later, he strolled passed that stand at under 20 yards without a care in the world. The stand is in the tree in the upper left corner of the photo. If you look close you can see the platform. I hunted a total of 20 hours between Friday and Sunday and saw 6 deer for a combined total of maybe 5 minutes. Only 2 of these were antlered, and both were 1.5 year olds. The season from hell just keeps trucking along. I may hunt tomorrow afternoon and Weds afternoon looking for a buck. It's tradition for me to go hunt with one of my buddies on Thursday morning on a different farm which will mark the beginning of the "If a doe walks in front of me I'm killing it" phase of the late season.
Next time, that voice will say “push on to the far stand” and you’ll tell it, “hell no, you’ve got me twice with that”. Then you’ll get the picture at the far stand. It seems like we’re in sort of a post rut standstill. All I’ve seen are little bucks. Does are grouped back up. There is a nasty little cold front coming the lows in the teens, so maybe that’ll get deer on the food plot. I watched two deer on Friday eat leaves off of the ground instead of oats and winter wheat.
This incoming cold weather should push deer back on to food sources in the evenings before long. I'm already seeing does grouping back up and starting to feed. I have to imagine you'll be able to catch a buck checking them out before dark for another week or two. Right now we're just taking inventory on what's left after the first round of gun season. Only 4 more orange weekends to make it through!
Wasn’t planning on hunting this weekend. But, my youngest begged me to take him out Sunday evening and skip wrestling practice. Kind of hard to say no when he took first place in his weight class yesterday. 2 for 2 in first place finishes so far this season. We tried a new spot, didn’t see anything. I decided to stay off the forum and focus on time with him. Pulled a cam and found out the buck I missed on 11/08 went by this cam on 11/06. This cam is about a mile from where I missed him on 11/08.
