I’m sitting all day today. Temperature is dropping during the day from 40 down to 20 by nightfall with high winds. Deer should be moving Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
Had a solid hunt this morning. Decided to wait till day break to walk in. I felt like I had been pushing deer out of the timber when I walked in an lately. So waited till day break and meet a nice young 8pt standing on my trail into the timber. Made my way to the stand and there were does moving by before I could even get setup. Several younger bucks out pushing them around. Eventually a really nice 3.5 /4.5 year old 8pt bedded with a doe about 25 yards from my stand. I was on the fence about shooting him if he gave me the chance, but I never got a shot and I was OK with that. What I learned was that doe was probably very close to estrous and he wasn't leaving her. He ran off a couple other bucks but came right back to her. Small bucks were out pushing everything in sight and there was finally some good daytime movement. I was pleasantly surprised when I got to my stand and noticed the corn was out on the neighbors so I think that contributed to more activity as well. As I was getting out of the stand, the neighbor looked to be planting either a cover crop or some winter wheat in the bean field behind me. I'm not sure how the planting will affect the deer on my place, so I'm heading up to hunt a piece of public ground for the evening. The orange army invades Tomorrow, so this is my last best chance for tagging a buck. I have yet to decided if I'm going to pick up the rifle or stick with the bow.
Busy weekend with the pumpkin army in the woods. Got started later this morning so went to the ground blind been seeing a lot of movement while working so hopefully something will give me a shot opportunity today.
Sorry team. I decided to gun hunt the opening day of firearms season here in MO since I threw out my back on Thursday evening. A small 10 pt was on a doe at 15-20 yards for 15+ minutes. I would have had multiple chances to shoot him. I likely would have shot him with a bow but I let him walk since I had a gun. I'm guessing he would have gone about 110-120. He'll end up being a nice buck when he grows up. He had a small body but already 10 points. -D
Thanks Fletch. I'm not sorry that I passed on the shot. That was my choice and I'll stand by it. I'm just sorry that I didn't get any points for the team during the MO rut. It was a lot of fun watching that buck lock down on that doe so close to my stand. He was grunting like crazy and rarely took his eyes off of her. He even started a scrape and rubbed on a small cedar for a minute or two. It was one of the best hunts I've ever had without letting a bullet or arrow fly. Not many people get to see what we do in the woods this time of year. Even if they could see it they wouldn't have the same appreciation or understanding that we do. It was a special day and I'll never forget it. I have no regrets for my decision, just a little upset that I couldn't make it work out for the team. Good luck everyone and be safe! -D
I am finally getting over a cold and will get out to hunt this week and weekend some. My goal is to kill a few does and get my 50 bonus points. Good luck to all and Happy Thanksgiving.
I finally got out this afternoon and put a good shot on a doe. I will get her entered after the holiday. I hope to shoot several more over the long weekend. Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving.
I took three more does this morning. Really a fun hunt. Two dropped within 40 yards in sight and the third made it about 60 yards and dropped just out of sight over a rise. I saw several bucks but nothing really big.
I entered my doe. Done for the year on points for the team at 212 1/8. Good luck to the rest of you! Keep after them guys.
Yep, me and Tony. With a high capacity quiver. lol They just kept coming, so I kept shooting. I shot one the evening before also, so I had a little work to do Saturday boning them all out! Fortunately, I had three friends pitch in and we had all of them taken care of in less than two hours.
You dominated the early posting and then went missing. Zip. A few guys did not even give us an update for the entire rut. Over a month with nothing posted. About a third of our team has basically been absent. Its kind of disappointing that we didn't have a little more participation. I've been on some teams that had a great thread all season because they participated whether they had a chance to hunt or not. This one, not so much.
Yeah, I haven't done a great job of staying active either. It's been a rough season for me. Had a couple good bucks early, but they disappeared and I haven't had much of anything using my place regularly for nearly a month. Took the week off before rifle season to hunt. My daughter ended up with a Kidney infection and spent 5 days in the hospital. I still hunted when I could, but I couldn't really put anything together. Had a chance at a decent younger buck, but let him walk. Really I can only think of two times where I've even had a decent buck in range and haven't seen a single shooter on the hoof all season. I'm hoping my standing soybeans will give me an opportunity in the late season, but right now I'm not sure there are any quality bucks area. That big buck I was hoping for has been running on a place that's about 1/2 mile from me. I know a guy that has passed him on two occasions, not sure why though. Maybe he has something bigger on camera. Either way, it's been a frustrating season so far. I've been skunked more times this season that I can remember ever being in the past. Just been a strange season so far. Hopefully something changes with the weather and I can get them on a late season feeding pattern.
Today is the last day of the season here in Maine. I’m sitting in an oak grove hoping they come to feed before the snow tonight. The woods have been quiet so far this morning. Overall I’ve had a good season, I harvested my first archery deer in October and then took a buck with my rifle in northern Maine around thanksgiving. I haven’t been out much since then. I never saw much rut activity this year, the bucks don’t have much competition around here so calling and rattling rarely works. It’s been fun everyone, good luck and hunt to the end! Sent from my iPhone using Bowhunting.com Forums
I shot a broken up old buck with muzzleloader on Saturday evening. This is a buck I passed the last couple of years. I have the matched set of sheds off of him from last year also. Its a shame he was broken, but a good buck to take. I think he was 6 1/2 years old.
