So Friday morning started out with quite a bit of frustration. There were 4 of us bowhunting that morning so there was a lot of planning and dropping off to get squared away. So when my buddy went to drop my son and I off I realized I had transferred everything from my vehicle to his, everything except my bow case that is. So we dropped my buddy off and went back to get my bow. Needless to say we got a little bit of a late start. Compounding the problem was the fact that I really needed the time to get set up as the stand we were hunting was just a single and I had to get to it, climb it, and put my climber on the tree directly beside it. After a less than stealthy approach and an early morning work out getting the stands right and our gear pulled up and situated I wasn't exactly "feeling it" but I told Zachary we'll just sit tight and be quiet and let everything calm down. It was still dark in the woods with just barely enough light to shoot so our timing wasn't too bad(all things considered). I had barely finished talking to Zack about letting things calm down when we heard something coming quickly. I couldnt see through the branches under my stand but I could see Zack looking straight down and behind us and then I saw her, a doe was coming right down our entry path and stopped right by the base of our tree. I sware I thought she was going to climb the ladder, but she flicks her tail and starts browsing out in front of us. She ended up just cruising away but I was excited about the early action. So I get settled back in on the climber sitting on the front rail facing the tree. After a few minutes of quiet around 0700 I did some grunting and light rattling. I told Zack to sit tight and listen good. Within 5 minutes we heard something moving through the thicket to our left so I slowly stood up and got my bow in hand giving Zack a reminder to relax and don't move. When the deer hit the break line I could tell he had a decent sized body and as he got closer I could see it was a buck. He walked broadside right in front of Zack angling towards the front of our location. I stopped him at sixteen yards with the standard issue huning DVD "meeee" bleat. He politely stopped and posed almost broadside but slightly quartering to. The Grizz Trick was already on the way, I was about 24' up so it went in high and came out low passing through both lungs and some other important looking stuff on the way. He mule kicked and took off like he was shot out of a cannon. After a few seconds we heard him crash and we were PUMPED! We stayed in the stand for another hour goofing off and texting and when we climbed down Zack found my arrow which had broken right in front of the fletchings and he found the start of the blood trail. He followed the blood trail with me behind him and he did a great job leading us right to the buck. All in all I think we were in the stand for about an hour and 45 minutes(that includes the sit after the shot) and I told him "don't get spoiled it rarely works out that good". Anyway, a great weekend hunting. We ended up passing on two does that evening because I was beat and didn't want to do anymore dragging, skinning, etc and then Saturday morning we bp hunted. We saw some does and passed on a young buck with an antler that curled under his jaw. I was rewarded for passing by seeing a monster 10 cross my opening at 75 yards and I proceeded to blow the bark off of the tree behind him. MONSTER is an understatement, lets just say that all in all it was a GREAT weekend but the replay of that buck slipping away has not stopped playing in my mind and to be quite honest.... it stings........a lot.
Alright NEW! This is great news. I remember you saying you have been working hard lately and have had a tough time hunting...this is really good news.
Congrats, on a great buck. great to have your boy with You nice story and Cool Pics. Yes More Points for Team #17
well fellows, I have the next 2 weeks off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i leave for OHIO on 7th and we hunt from the 8th to the 14th!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if i eat a tag sandwitch it wont because a lack of not trying!!!!!!!!!!! Its a great time to have 2 weeks OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Good luck Mudshark and everyone else! Dad just saw an 8 (most likely the one that came out with the one I shot) chasing a doe along the ridge near our driveway. It's here, guys.
Its been a tuff season so far for me, from being able to hunt just part of the first day due to wedding Annv., then my mother who lives with my family and I, she had a small heart attack. and spent a week in the hospital. i think i hunted 2/3 times the first 10 days. I should have shot a doe on the first day but as she headed to PT i turned and was looking in another direction, and when i turned around to answer my Cell virb from PT telling me the Doe he saw. She saw me move and busted and ran. After that i had a shot a 40Lb fawn, couldn't do it. I set up a scrape and i hadn't seen any thing in it then yesterday i saw tracks and poooop. i didn't see anything yesterday in or around the scrape except 2 amish turkey hunters. This mourning found me up in a tree again 15 yards from this scrape. i didn't see anything until 830am when i had an amish bow hunter slip around me. then 10 min later i heard a noise from the oppisitee direction from the other hunter and i saw the buck that has been visiting my scrape. A 7 point with about a 10 spread (outside)(Monster he ha) he freshed up the other scrape that i put in yesterday. then he came by my stand at 2 yards, it was cool he had been rubbing something because he had weeds or a small tree in/ on his horns, around his base and brow tine. That made my year!!!!!!!!! i thought about killing him??? i might regret that !!!!!!! maybe 70 -80 inches neat little buck
Went to what i call the Farm this mourning, well i do a little rattleing first off, waited 10 min so rattled again, nothing so i pull out the can call. I turn it upside down 3/4 times and this 5 pt came running down to me. he walks off and out the same area that he walked to a few min later a 5/6 pt gave chase to a doe they hung around for almost an hour. Not sure if it was the same buck or not. He wouldn't let her go up the hill side. its getting better everyday now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't wait til tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!! can't got out tonight MOM has DR app with a Lung DR.
Gentlemen!!!!! Well, as John had said quite a few days ago it was a rough go so far in IL. The deer are extremely nocturnal and there is a ton of standing corn due to all the rain. We decided to come home yesterday and get a couple days of work done and head back down the beginning of next week. We have some real slammers on camera, but don't have them on the computer yet. I'll be writing a blog in the next day and will post a link to it here and in the main forum. I'm going to "call it" and say that by the end of next week I'll have a 150"+ down in Illinois. I'm also going to hunt here in WI a couple days this weekend at the cabin. We have a number of 3.5 year olds running around, but they may not score real high......115-135". Congrats NEW!!! Good looking buck!!!!
Ran home to take a shower and restock the cooler. The small bucks are starting to cruise but haven't seen any chasing yet. Mobow said he saw a monster this morning with a doe, so maybe it's about to bust wide open. It has to soon, it is November 5th for gosh sakes.
Well the 9 days in IL didn't go quite as planned. I saw a lot of small bucks and a few does and actually killed my second turkey with a bow. Had Greg/MO kill a buck with me on Halloween. But the big guys were pretty scarse for most of the week. I did see a nice shooter buck Wednesday morning nudgeing a doe. I took my eyes off the doe to follow the buck and when I went to range an opening he was approaching the doe must have seen me move. She took off and he followed. (It was 35 yards, not that it mattered) Then this morning right after a rattleing session I see a big bodied deer slinking down in the hollow I am sitting above on a ridge. I find him in the binos and HOLY COW it's a monster. I don't know many details about the rack except it was massive and tall. I don't think I have any pics of this guy. He went down in the hollow and I could see him moving around but no good looks or shots. At one time he was 66 yards away but wouldn't come up on the ridge to check things out closer. The farmers are just now starting to get the crops out, so hopefully by next weekend there will be more deer in the woods and the rut may be going stronger than it has been so far. Sightings by everyone I talked to have been way down so far this season.
Keep after 'em John, it's only a matter of time. I'm leaving work on Thursday and hunting till Sunday in Oklahoma. I'm pretty pumped up about it. I'm headed to OK and my Dad is headed to NE Kansas on an archery hunt at on my cousions land. Hopefully it will be a good weekend
Keep it up guys, they're bound to start falling soon! Mud, prayers are with your mother. Good luck! I'm pulling for all of you guys.
A little up date from the tree in ohio. The first evening sit was the best for me. I saw a pile deer. I had a couple spikes chasing does. Does were filting by also. With about 20 min of shooting light left I saw a 10 pt (135 Class) slip by at 35 yards, to much brush for the shot. The next day I saw a few does that's it. A friend of mine missed a nice 130 buck (8pt). I haven't seen much after that first day. Its been 3 days since I saw anything. All day sits are getting hard to do with no deer GOOD LUCK EVERYONE
I'm leaving work in an hour and heading to Oklahoma. I'll be in the stand by 3:30. Good luck to you guys this weekend!
