Opportunity to learn

I went out for half a day sit in my backyard yesterday to try and catch that big ol’buck I saw at breakfast the other morning. I only had a tall 6 point that was not wider than the ears come in out of range. Next time I sit back there, I may move back to his travel line and see. I learned an important travel route back there funneled by a down tree. Mike took off the day before for an all day sit and had a great hunt. He had a bunch of deer moving and got a really good chance at a mature buck. He will remember this hunt for a while. Here is his story: I made it to Jack's right at first light. I geared up and headed straight up the hill from his driveway. Just at the crest of the hill I spotted a healthy rub on a good sized tree.

The frost made the leaves damp and I was able to sneak quietly toward the back the property. I climbed up in my hang on and got ready for an action packed day! Around 7:15 I caught movement out ahead and saw a single deer headed down the hill at about 80yds. A few squirrels were active until about 8:30 then nothing...

I was spacing out at 11:00 when I thought I spotted some movement through the brown leaves on Beech tree. Sure enough a herd of six were heading up the hill at about 80yds. At 11:30 I caught movement in the same area as the previous herd. I was unable to get my glass up in time but I think it was a small buck.

Nothing at all for the rest of the afternoon... The steady cool breeze died down around 4:00 and the sun started getting low. A few squirrels started running around just about sunset and I was hoping one would offer a shot. Still no deer... I was just about to start packing it in when I heard movement behind me. I turned and saw a solo deer headed diagonally behind me. It was moving at a good pace down a trail. He made it down to my 5 o'clock then turned off the trail and headed directly towards me! As he stepped over a downed log he dipped his head and I saw his antlers were out to the tips of his ears...It's on! He took a few more steps towards me then froze and looked right in my direction. I was waiting for him to commit to a line so I could get setup. He was only 25 yds at this point and looked like he would come by on the right side of my tree. As he started moving again he turned hard down hill and was still closing the distance between us. I quickly moved my tether over to my left shoulder, grabbed my bow off the hook and readied for a shot. He stopped about 15yds at my 7o'clock. I was already drawing as he came to a stop and paused for a moment as I came to full draw to concentrated on hitting my anchor. I loosed the arrow and heard a rattling sound as he reacted? He didn't spook too bad and was slowly walking away after a few steps. I looked hard but couldn't see my arrow on the ground anywhere. The deer was definitely acting like he wasn't hit and continued over to the area where my cam is and then on down the hill. I decided to shoot another arrow at the spot where he was when I shot. I then noticed how difficult it was to aim for that spot while keeping my limb from hitting the stand. I shot and managed to find a nice rock which sent sparks flying:) I climbed down and went to check for my arrow. It was buried deep in the mud about three feet behind and directly in line with my second shot, fletchings clean as a whistle. I'm not sure exactly what happened but I guess it just wasn't meant to be... Could have caught my limb tip on the seat or support cable?... Could have not aimed low enough causing a high miss?...Did I fail to burn a spot before I loosed the arrow? Who knows but I wasn't tracking a deer!

With all the dues I'm paying I should soon have secured a lifetime membership to the happy hunting club! I pulled the card on my cam on the way out and guess who was on there... At least I have pics to haunt me if I never see him again.

Lots of luck and a sharp broadhead

I finally had some luck and it ended up being on my backyard property. I went in at first light because I was not sure which particular tree I wanted to sit in. I had found some additional scrapes I wanted to cover. I ended up flushing out a number of deer (over 5 by the sounds) as I approached the area by the neighbor’s property where I wanted to set up, near a downed tree from hurricane Sandy. Around an hour of sitting and watching the sun come up over my house, I see some movement to my left.

I counted 10 deer, all does, approach from the valley to the left. I was looking very hard but never saw a buck. I thought that one would be near all those girls this time of year. They ended up in a grassy area directly behind and downwind of my tree. Just figures. The group was about 20 yards away and caught my scent. A couple stomped, they wiggled their necks like Stevie Wonder for about 25 minutes not knowing where I was. They were looking hard in the deadfall, in my ground blind a short distance away, and all over the area. I was above them slightly and behind a tree trunk standing. They eventually filtered away and I never had a shot. I think they were the group that was in that exact spot when I kicked them out at first light. I think they circled the entire neighborhood to get back from that direction. I sat there contemplating the incident when about 45 minutes later 3 deer come from the right side. I thought it was the huge doe I had seen with my camera earlier, as she had 2 fawns with her also. She was much bigger than the two little ones. They all approached and came right up to the deadfall tree I was above and started to feed on the maple leaves. I had only a frontal shot at the big gal so I waited her out. Eventually she wandered out to about 20 yards and finally went broadside. I was already standing, but had a heavy wool coat unbuttoned that was in the way of the bow string as I released. I watched in horror as the coat took about ½ of the power out of the shot and my arrow was wagging terribly and seemed to impact sideways in the ham! I hit just above the knee on the side of the ham and I saw only about 2 inches of penetration as she leapt over some brush and the arrow fell out of the wound immediately. As she hit the ground I saw lots of red on the leg and she briefly limped and the paused with the fawns about 15 yards away. I got out another arrow and flung it at her knowing I had already wounded her once. I missed by about 5 feet and they all bolted. I waited about an hour and put away my stand. Immediately found my arrow, good blood, but not pouring out. A “stand –up” blood trail. I trailed it about 35 yards more than where it had stood for the follow-up shot and found it there dead! I almost felt like not trailing it at all because I saw what I thought was a minor flesh wound.

It ran a total of only about 75 yards. I fried up the heart for breakfast and discovered 3 large blood clots in the heart chambers. I believe this was the cause of death and not bleeding to death. There just did not seem that much blood on the trail.

The “mom” was an adult and field dresses at 80 pounds.

Here is a close up of the wounds. The head did not penetrate to the inside of the leg and stopped at the bone! It just goes to show what a good sharp broadhead can do!

Thanks to Mike for helping me butcher her up!

Inexpensive homemade squirrel points

I decided to try the tip from the latest Traditional bowhunter article Marylander Rob Davis wrote about making small game heads out of field points. I took some needle nose pliers and bent out the base in a fan / flange shape and ground the tip flat to make a slightly smaller blunt. It was very quick and easy with my grinding wheel, and the entire process only took a few minutes to make a half dozen.

They are supposed to penetrate in the squirrel better and stay inside with the flanges. I am hoping they do not snag too much coming out of my back quiver. Hopefully I will give a report soon on the effectiveness on squirrel!

Urban Half Day

I went home at lunch to accept a furniture delivery for the nursery, and the thought of that big 8 point out there at 4:30pm on Saturday was too much. I decided to not go back to work and go directly to the tree. I was in my backyard right above the scrape about 12 yards back and 15 feet high. It felt like I was in the open too much. I put a frozen tarsal gland I had in the freezer from a buck in the scrape and got situated.

I watched the wife pull the car out and leave. Then about 15 minutes later I see a little 6 moving very cautiously behind me. He stops for a moment and looks like he does the pee-pee dance. I need to go back there and look to see if there is another scrape back behind. Then he eventually passed by very slowly and cautiously. He never saw or smelled me, so I am guessing he is just tired of getting his butt kicked by larger bucks. I saw the three turkey run across my yard, but no other action.

Mike was texting me pictures left and right of the bucks he was seeing at his “Jack’s place” urban property. He definitely had a great evening.

First weekend of November scrape cam

Awe man! So much of hunting is being in the right place at the right time. Mike and I almost had a shot at a small doe bedded in my front yard at the lunch break. Then we saw a large doe and a fawn in the back. I told Mike we could hunt hunt at my house instead of the R farm… Should have! 4:30 while we were in the tree…..at another area:

Also a pretty healthy looking fox:

Some other smaller bucks:

The first weekend in November

Mike and I hunted R farm all day. We had no shots. I did not even see a deer until right at dark when one was coming toward Mike’s tree. All I could make out was white antler as he passed a trail. He never got a shot. In the morning I was skunked also. Had two shots at a nice fat fox squirrel but my second arrow hit the tree between his front leg and head. That moved him away in a hurry. Mike ended up having a yearling doe run by him as 18 yards at full bore. He said it had “the look of panic on it’s face”….but no shot and nothing trailering her. Then while he was messing and calling to a group or turkey, a fork came by and nearly gave him a shot. The deer advanced in bow range but decided to stop and turn back giving Mike nothing but frontal shots. I was all set up on the major (middle) trail for the evening when the landowner came by and decided to clear the down trees with a chainsaw and dump a load of brush in the gully. They (husband and wife) came right under me and finally saw me. We had a nice chat and they agreed to “dump this load and leave me in peace.” Well they left about 25 minutes later after touching and throwing every stick out of the trail. Let’s just say I did not have too much confidence in my spot after that. Tree I missed the squirrel on:

My "company" in the evening:

The rut is heating up- mock scrape cam

My backyard mock scrape cam is in major use now. I have had 3 different bucks visit since Wednesday.....and they are getting bigger!

This buck actually pooped in the scrape before freshening it up!

The a small fork came by to sniff the poo:

Then this fellow in daylight checking things out:

I can't wait to hunt Saturday!