Almost got it done the other day boys. I had a big 8 pt within 60 yards but just like an old tom gobbler he hung up and wouldn't come in. The odd thing is that he was chasing does around. That's way late here in SC. Back at it tomorrow!
OK way to go, just got in here at home.... checked it out, great buck bud; really good season ya put together!
Nothing new, he made his appearance on the 17th and I hunted it the evening of the 19th and the morning of the 20th. I set up about six yards back and up in a tree above the camera and it faces West so I need a wind in the NW to SW spectrum, possibly even a South wind. I live an hour and a half from this hunting spot so I won't get a chance to go again until this coming Sunday evening. The wind is supposed to be out of the SW so hopefully I can get a crack at him and at least check the camera. I checked the weather history and the day he showed was the warmest, sunniest day in three weeks. To the West and North West of were he came from is a Southeast facing hillside that is almost totally covered in cedars. I'm pretty sure that is where he is bedding, however it is not on our property. Good thing is those guys don't bowhunt so he shoudn't get bothered. If I can get a clear day with a good SW or W wind that would be perfect. I've got a three day weekend the weekend of New Years and two more weekends after that to hunt him before the season ends. I'll be in there every chance I get.
Bow, man I hope you get a crack at that dude, sounds like you still have some good days to get on him, hopefully the winds will cooperate and he as well. When do your bucks start shedding?
They usually start shedding after the first week of February. I'm going to be monitoring the weather pretty heavily and if I get the right combination of weather I might just use some more vacation time and head down there. The thing I don't like is hunting him in the open field at a food destination. It's just not how I typically prefer to set up. I would much rather hunt his approach to it. Bad thing is it's super thick and I would need a chain saw to clear it out enough to shoot a bow in there and that obviously is not an option with three weeks left of the season. If you don't mind shed, could you give me a few quick pointers on thermals? It might effect when and where I go into the set up. I'm really not very knowledgeable on them and I don't want to blow an opportunity on this buck if I get one.
I hear ya bow, thermals and hunting on the food destinations is tough this time of year... I hunted my late season a good 400 yards from where the deer where hitting a grain field in the evenings, that and apple trees that still are holding some apples.. Ok thermals.. basics.. Usually in the morning you will get a good 2-3 hours of downslope current this late in the season. It takes a long time to heat up the wind enough to switch it upslope in these temps, as a matter of fact if you have a prevailng working with the downslope in the morning ..and its really cold you might keep that wind all day.. ON the other hand if your prevailing is opposite of your morning thermals then I usually get swirls.. YUCK! Evenings... I usually dont see much movement back down slope till about 1.5 hours before dark here.. again I am hunting some serious steep ...mountain effected thermals.. When I was out in Iowa and hunting those slopes.. I still saw pretty much the same but the prevailings out there seemed to overide the thermals more than they do here in the mountains.. Not sure if any of this helps.. but I absolutely love Morning downslope thermals, like I had out in Iowa, I could slip in on the back side of feeding deer under the cover of darkness set up and the thermals were working in my favor as long as the prevailings werent to strong.. the deer would come off the fields right at the crack of dawn or just prior (Big boys) and I would be set up 50 to 200 yards down in the timber between them and a sanctuary like thicket.. worked great all week.. The evening downslope thermals can be a beach when trying to catch a big boy coming upslope before dark towards feed.. I got away with my wind blowing right at the big buck I shot and the bigger one I passed.. I was up really high ... and on a steep hill for Iowa country.. didnt hurt having two young bucks above me sending their scent those big bucks way either when I was calling them in.. but I do account a tib bit of it to my scent precautions..
Thanks shed, I will keep that in mind when setting up. I don't have anything too steep in this spot so it sounds like my prevailings will be pretty dominant. I'll have to watch it a little in the mornings when it is calm though. Thanks a bunch for the info. I'll let you know if I have anymore pics or have an encounter with the big one.
I just went out last night and sat over my turnip patch...nothing. The winds were perfect and everything. I checked the trail cam and was surprised again. This is a different buck. Not quite as big as the last one but he will do. It seems like the days that they come into the turnips...they ALL come. There were 12 does that came through in three different groups, every two hours more deer showed up on the camera and all on the same day this buck came in. I just need to be there on the right day. The way the weather is looking I may take a couple of days off and leave tommorow to get in a few hunts before the wind changes and it get's even colder. It is supposed to get down below zero this coming weekend.
I think that I am done for the season....I just got back from North MO. Passed 4 bucks, two were about a 115" bucks and the others were all from the ground. I tried sitting in the cedars and evergreen trees, as they came back in to bed I would draw then decide wether or not to shoot. Just never got an opportunity at a buck over 130". I did see the buck I named Shorty and posted pics of in a previous post. He came in with a bachelor group of four other bucks. Shorty was third in line, but the second buck walked within five yards of me and got spooky and took them on another path. On the way out that morning I bumped into the group again and got to full draw on one of the 115" bucks. That's just been how my season has gone. I had alot of fun though, I saw nine bucks in two sits from the ground and most of them past within ten yards of me. They just came too close, I think I might have had an opportunity at Shorty had they continued on their usual path and stayed about 20 - 30 yards out from me. That's just the way it goes I guess. I have one more weekend, but the bitter cold -20 temps took alot out of me the past week.......I think I'm done.
Bow, you sure have worked very hard at it all season, sometimes they just dont give us the right shot opportunities. If you do happen to be finished u sure some great bucks to look forward to next year!
Yes, that is true. I also look forward to shed hunting. I figured out exactly where they (the bucks) were bedding. I glassed them on a SE facing slope of evergreens and cedars bedded down on one sunny day. They have quit coming into my turnips I think because there is a foot of snow on them and with as cold as it has been that snow is really hard now. They are going to the 200+ acres of standing corn to feed now. That is how I got on them this past week. I snuck in down wind of them bedded the day I glassed them and got between them and the corn. I passed one buck that night. Then the next morning I went back in about 8am and they came back in to bed at 9am and that is when I passed two other bucks and saw Shorty. It has been nice chating with you guys. Thanks for the tips and support. If I get back out and have any luck I'll let you guys know. Thanks again.
Bow I hope ya stick around and visit now and then, keep us posted on your shed hunting, I didnt check but did u sign up for the shed contest in the shed forum here, should be just a lot of fun guys posting pix and sharing good winter time whitetail stuff! Best of luck on the sheds and "IF possibly" u happen to get back out before it closes.. I sure hope you get a shot at one of those good bucks. Been real enjoyeable season here with team 5, bunch of good fellas.
I absolutely will stay in contact throughout the year. I will also get signed up in that shed contest....sounds like fun. I might post a quick video of the 115" that I passed in the turnip patch. I got some good footage of him digging his head down in the snow and then raking a tree.
Sorry I haven't been around much lately, nothing really to report. Our season is over and done here in Va. I hunted with the bow up until the last 3 days of the season until I switched over to a ML to help with our management goals and I managed to film myself taking a doe with the muzzleloader. That makes two does for me this year, one with the bow and one with the ML. It's been a blast sharing the season with you guys this year.
No buck here either, it's been a tough year. I ended up going a couple of times this weekend, I saw nineteen deer Saturday, only 1 was an antlered buck. He was the same one I passed the weekend before, just not big enough. Anyways, I did shoot one of the does I saw this weekend. It doesn't help out the team, but I tagged out in MO and fullfilled one of our management goals. We ended up taking 14 does and one buck (158" rifle kill of my dad's). We'll have several really big deer for next season. Good luck to you guys for the rest of your season if you are still hunting.
Another tough year for me too. I had a real nice buck at 60 yards in the last week of the season. He was chasing does all over the place and I just couldn't kill him. I grunted him in from over 150 yards away but he just wouldn't cover those last 30 yards. Hopefully he made it through the last week and he'll be even bigger next year. I put a trail camera out a couple of days ago to do an inventory. It's been fun guys. Sorry I didn't contribute. Things just did not go my way this year...at all.
