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Hammer · Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

I like this idea. I will try to keep up by reporting how things were after I hunt. I am excited about the season and it looks like it will be promising. The reason I say that it will be promising is because of the amount of food that is in the woods, especially the acorns and beech nuts. Also, the apples are out of control. When the acorns are falling, the bucks like to feed on them. And since they are in the open woods, there are a lot of trees to choose from.

When the acorns are plentiful, I always see more buck movement during hunting hours. Just remember to be careful with how you enter in and out of your stand.

Hammer

Hammer · Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

October 29, 2008

The season has been going well so far. It is October 29th and the satelite bucks are roaming all over. As soon as this weather breaks, we are going to start seeing bucks chasing does. I have had 1 1/2 year old bucks making scrapes, rubbing their horns on anything and everything, and bucks fighting. I have seen a lot of does and fawns and the fawns are still with their moms so it has not started full tilt yet. The other night I sat in a major hot spot which my dad and I narrowed down which we feel will produce a big buck - we just need to be patient now. I saw many bucks and I plan on sitting their again this Friday or Saturday. This weekend looks good and I am excited to sit the spot which I feel will produce me an opportunity.

We will see....

Hammer

Hammer · Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

I took the day off on Friday because the weather had it as a perfect day. THe weather man was right and it was a perfect morning. Besides the snow on the ground, it was a great morning to be in the woods. SInce we had the snow, I could see everywhere. I was seeing deer and a six point was in the area making scrapes and checking out every doe that walked by. It was a very active morning but no sightings of any big bucks with the exception of the ride in when I saw a huge buck with a doe in the field. At about 9:00, I saw a big deer coming thorugh a thick area heading towards me at about 80 yards. I could see that he had a rack but was not sure how big he was. THings were looking to be perfect because I had a doe under my stand that had been hanging out all morning. WHen he noticed her, he walked into the apple orchard that I was sitting by and made a scrape on the ground at about 60 yards away. THe doe started to circle towards him and went into a thick blow down and he came out of the orchard to me whidh surprised me. I thought that he would have wnet straight to her but then I realized that he preferred the easier route to her by walking around the thick area. By this time, I established that he was a nice 8pt buck with 6 inch tines and a 16 inch spread. His rack was perfectly symmetrical and a boarderline buck for me to shoot, but I decided to take it since our season is cut a little short this year. He walked into my lane and I stopped him by making a grunt. I took the shot which was what I flet a sure shot and I heard a crack but got confused because the deer jumped to the side and did not act hit. I then noticed a branch wiggling and realized after looking at the side of the deer and their was no hole in him that I hit the branch and missed him. I quickly knocked another arrow and shot again and this time I saw my arrow hit a branch and I lost the arrow. He muled kicked and I knew I hit him but was not sure how far back. Two hours later, we began looking for him and we found drops of blood that we followed that were in the snow. At about 100 yds, he bedded down and in the bed was blood in his hind quarter, but not much. We decided to stop looking and wait longer. We went back to camp and waited another hour and then started again. One would think that with snow on the ground it would be a piece of cake. However, there was not much blood, tracks all over the freaking place and the snow was melting and bringing the little blood trail that we had with it. We followed him another 100 yards through the thickest of stuff where he bedded down three more times with each time less and less blood. He finally walked out of the thick stuff and into an overgrown field/apple orchard where the blood just stopped. We then combed the woods looking for more blood and continued to look for 3 more hours. We did not find him but based on his behavior of bedding down, he was definitely hurt. I hope that he does not die, but I think we will eventually find him dead. I never found my arrow and it is possible that the arrow was still in him. If that is the case, he will definitely die. Since I suspect that the hit was high on his back end and most of the time he was walking down hill, the blood was pooling inside him and did not drain out because there was no hole on the oppisite side of him. Who knows. I am disappointed and feel bad for the deer. It is unfortunately part of the sport but I have been fortunate to have only gone through it twice over the last 20 years.

Hunting has still been great this year and probably one of the best for seeing deer and big bucks. Hopefully the universe will cough up another opportunity for me.

Hammer · Joined: 09 Jan 2008 Posts: 36

Had a long fought bow season and did not think that I could say I got a buck with my bow. A bitter sweet story. Today is November 16th and it is opening weekend of gun season. My uncle who came to hunt with us for the first time was walking back to our camp and 20 yards from where I stop looking for the deer that I shot with my bow, he found my deer. I was sick to my stomach because I must have walked by him 4 or 5 times when I was looking. I do not know how I overlooked him, but I did. He was three quarters eaten by the coyotes but it explains why we have not been seeing deer like we usually do in that area. My arrow was still in him and went all the way through him and the broadhead was sticking out the front of his chest. There was hardly any blood and he went approx. 300-400 yards with a freaking arrow that went all the way through the middle of him. I am going to do a European mount with his skull. He is a 2 1/2 year old 8 pt buck with 6 inch G2's and 5 inch G3's. His brow tines are tiny, but he is a very symmetrical rack and I am grateful that I at least found him. I miss the fact that I did not get any good pictures with him because the day I shot him, it was a beautiful sunny day and one of the best days of the hunting season. I guess that I am happy and disappointed at the same time. It would have been a good day with my dad if I found him when I shot him. Instead, that day ended with us being disappointed and I was angry because I was convinced that I killed the deer, but we just could not find it. I then started second guessing myself and thought that I hit him maybe too far back but we could not find the arrow and I kept saying to my dad that it was still inside of him. All in all, no blood and a dead deer at the end of the season.

Hammer