Saw a doe and 2 fawns last night but too far away for a shot. Headed to my farm in IL Friday night for the weekend. I'm hoping to put something on the ground this weekend. I'm not going pass on a doe but the buck needs to be decent size for me to shoot.
Yeah, we have a cold front coming thru this weekend so I am anxious to see what that will mean for the local deer movement. The last cool front we had came thru at the start of the season and was during a full moon. I saw little to no daytime movement. However the lunar charts are showing great times for this upcoming weekend. The high for Saturday and Sunday are mid 60's with the lows in the mid-upper 30's so I can't wait. Hopefully I can put something with some antlers down. If not I will gladly fill another doe tag.
I had quite a few backs gathering at the licking branch on the 26th. Hope my target buck will show up Saturday morning.
Thats a nice looking buck RB, good luck! Good luck to everyone going out Saturday! I'm heading to the farm in Ogle county Illinois. I couldn't have asked for better weather for opening day.
Opening day was incredible! The weather could not have been better,37 degrees, N wind 7mph, very little moon & the previous 3 days we had rain or high winds. That setup what I thought would be the perfect conditions for the morning hunt. I awoke at 3:30am & jumped in the shower, loaded my gear in the truck & started the 1 1/2hr drive to the farm. 40min down the road & I had a vision of my boots setting outside by the back door of the house & I'm wearing a pair of Crocs! I pull over & check the bed of the truck & sure enough no boots! I look in the cab, no boots but I do have an old pair of running shoes that I use work. These things are nasty, they've been sweated in, worked in the rain & mud & just flat out stink! I'm not turning around! So I decide I'm just going to soak them with scent killer & go for it. I get to the farm get dressed, spray my shoes down & begin the 400yd walk to my stand. The grass is knee high & I immediately begin to feel the dew soaking into my shoes. I'm in the stand by 5:50am. The stand I'm hunting is in a small patch of over growth in the middle of a cow pasture & I can only get my stand 8' off the ground. It has several trails passing it when the deer move from a hay field north of me about 60yds & going to some bedding which is south of my stand. As soon as I could see into the hay filed I can see a doe with 2 fawns & a small 7pt buck. The doe & fawns go into the woods on the other property & the buck is slowly heading my way. I look to the east of the hay field & I see a doe & a yearling jumping the fence & heading my way. The yearling begins to browse around at 30 yds & the doe is on a path that will give me a 15yd shot. The buck comes over & is checking out the yearling. The doe slowly is making her way to my opening & I come to full draw & she decides to browse around right where I have a limb in the way. She's so close I can't let down so I held what seemed like forever but probably was only a minute. She finally stepped out & I released the arrow & watched it disappear behind her shoulder. She ran out to 30yds & fell over. The buck & yearling hung around for another 10min & both offered me within 25yds. I now have a doe down & only 10min into the 2011 hunting season. About an hour later I'm sitting in my stand texting a buddy telling him what happened when I catch movement by my doe 30yds away. It's a coyote biting & tugging on her tail. I grab my bow, stand up, draw & released the arrow. He was so intent on getting that doe he never spotted me. I hit him in the back leg & the 2 blade rage did massive damage. I could see blood pouring out as he ran off into the hayfield, unfortunately the owners of the hayfield don't allow people on their property so I knew he was gone. As I'm heading up to the cabin to take some pics with the doe I see 2 turkeys moving through the woods so I decided to try & catch them where i thought they would cross a trail & offer me a shot. I park the truck grab my bow & run around to where I would have a 30yd shot. I come to full draw & the first turkey passed through the opening too fast for a shot but the second one stopped perfect I release & watched the arrow fly over his back. I then see a third turkey step out that I didn't know was in the group. I knock another arrow tipped with a G5 striker draw back & release & watch it make a perfect hit at the base of the neck. He flipped over & died giving me my first turkey after many years of buying a turkey tag it finally paid off. If I could have went over & got the coyote I would've had a "trifecta" ,as my buddy called it , on opening day. It was a great day!!
well I wish my opening day would have gone better. I sat all mourning and didn't see a thing. My afternoon hunt was great. it was like someone shot fireworks off at 6:20 I had deer everywhere. None of them came in range until around 6:55 but at this time it was getting dark and I could see some shinny horns behind two of the does. I decided to wait it out. around 7:08 I had a 25 yrd shot at a 120" 9 point that I have great trail cam pics of, but as me and jmbuckhunter had talked about I don't want to harvest a deer unless I can get it on film and well it was just to dang dark to shoot him. I wish I would have taken the shot but i figured if I don't spook him he will be back tonight and I will try my chances then. However, MY VIDEOCAMERA TOOK A TUMBLE THIS MOURNING............ so i sent my wife to bestbuy today and she is sending it in to get fixed. I went to mount the camera on my third arm and I thought it was on when I let go of it to twist the axis arm to make sure I had enough movement and well it fell like hail stone from the sky. The camera still works but everything is fuzzy and it will not focus for some reason. I figured someone on the geek squad could get it fixed keep your fingers crossed for me
Got us another 50 points tonight team. Doe down in IL on film. I'll post pics and get her entered tomorrow night. I'm going to bed now. Congrats on the doe and turk hammer.
Pics of my doe. Got her on an oak ridge in the middle of the woods. The video should be on Bowhunt or Die this Friday
Nice doe, John. I hunted a few hours Saturday morning, only saw two coyotes. They passed by at 50 yds didn't stop to offer me a shot. No deer sightings Sunday evening either. I am on vacation Oct 30- Nov 5. Should be a great week to spend in the woods.
Nice Doe JM!! Congrats! Going out this evening so hopefully something with some antlers will come by!
Had to rescue us from page 2. Anybody hunting? Whatcha seeing out there? I won't be back in the woods till this weekend. Not looking forward to hunting in 80-85 degree weather.
I plan to go out in the morning after work and before bed. If the wind is right. I saw 5 bucks bedded in my field Wed. morning.
Weekend Well my last trip in the woods, I saw 13 turkeys, about 15 squirrels, and one big a** coyote that I could not get a shot at. However yesterday I went to a spot where I started a mock scrape about a month ago and boy was I pumped. Not only had the 2ft x 2ft scrape turned into a 4ft x 4ft giant scrape that is about 2 inches deep, the acorns were dropping, and the trails were absolutely beat down. The only thing that sucks, it looks like the wind is not going to cooperate for the next couple of days. It is killing me not to go in there on a marginal wind but I definitely do not want to ruin a spot like this before the end of the month and November. I did not put a camera at this spot but the last two years I have got some nice bucks on camera about 75 yards from it. I just really have a good feeling about this spot. I made a quick map at work just to give you and idea of the spot. The red x is where my stand is. The pink oval is the scrape. The yellow lines represent the two ridges that run along the big creek and the ditch which are both blue. The big creek runs from N to S. The big ditch runs from SW to NE. The ditch is about 8 ft. Deep and 10 Ft. across except for just behind my stand. It empties out into the big creek which makes it a perfect funnel for the area. The green lines represent the trails that run thru here and they are beat down. I did not put the contours on the map but from the top of the ridges to the creek bottom there is about a 10 ft. elevation change. Just thought I would share a picture. I love using maps to scope out the area. I am just lucky I work with them everyday. Again don't laugh at my artwork. It was a quickie while on the job.
