The amount of time spent in the woods provides you with information and opportunity. The more time in the better hunter you can become. I listened to folks at the office or family functions of look at this gadget or new gun and tales of how bad they want to hunt. That's great, but I can sit back and say, this is what I saw in the woods or check out pictures of the deer I harvested. I certainly don't do it to gloat. At the beginning of the year, my goals were set and I was going to do everything to complete them. Right off the bat I have an advantage, no kids (yet) and a great wife which lets me hunt a lot. So that leaves work as my only limiting factor to hunting time. Luckily my job role is flexible, I put extra time at night or on the weekend to make it possible.
So with the full moon shining and keeping a close eye on the trail camera, I am ready for the rut. A hunting program on TV yesterday with a deer biologist took the time to explain the status and timing of this years rut. Based on air temperatures and moon phases, this years rut is only days away. He even provided insight on big bucks showing their faces a few days before this full moon phase. He was right on, as we have two occurrences of the young 8 point buck during the morning and evening hours during daylight. This is something we haven't seen since August. I hunted hard after each day we saw him during the day, but nothing, he is like a ghost.
This buck can't take all the credit though, we have a total of five 8 point bucks that are now roaming the area. If it wasn't for the trail camera, one may have discredited this hunting spot a long time ago. Although we have been capturing their movements on camera for almost 4 months now. Its the second set of eyes you always wanted. I am sometimes more excited to download the camera rather than sitting in my stand. We knew there were bucks in the area though, based on tracks we observed throughout the season. For any area I plan to hunt though, I will always try to utilize a trail camera. Come black Friday, I will be looking for another camera on sale.
Its now crunch time, days away from the rut breaking loose. With only a few days of office work and meetings at the beginning of this week, I will find myself burning vacation to be in the woods come Thursday. Its the time to be in the woods and I don't plan on missing an opportunity on a monster buck.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Rut No, Six Please.
Well its been a while since I have posted on my blog, simply because I have been in the woods. I have spent the last two weeks hunting hard with 3-4 sits a week. I wish I could say that there is a bunch of deer on the ground to show for the effort. I did get a shot at a 6 point buck though. My first encounter with him, I had mistaken him for a smaller deer. This really made me wonder if it was the 5 point buck we had on camera for the past few months. His tines look so much bigger and body was massive. With only seconds to make a decision, I passed. I struck it up to better karma down the road.
One week later as I sat in my ground blind, the small spike crossed in front and then back again. He was checking out the food plot and then went back to his bedding area. I laid back in my chair to relax but then noticed movement to my right. A small flick of an ear or tail caught my eye. A buck had come up out of the bottom and was strolling around. From the first sight of him, I knew he was mature and a shooter. I quickly put my binocs on him and confirmed his 6 pt rack. I had to do a bit of shuffling in the blind to be able to shoot.
I have been using a camera tripod to steady my shot, but in this case it was on the wrong window of the blind. With a few adjustments I was then ready to make a shot. The buck seemed to be about 40 yards out and was quartering away from me. I put my 40 yard pin on him in the middle of his body, took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. Like before, I heard the arrow make a smack sound on impact. With only limited view through the blind window and thick forest cover I was only able to see a few steps of the deer as he left.
I was confident at first that I made a solid shot, it was only a week before this I dropped a doe at 65 yards. I exited my blind and took a walk to the area where I shot. To my dismay though, I couldn't find any blood. I took to the area I thought he ran and walked further into the bottom. Before I knew it, I was at the end of the bottom which is outlined by a creek on two sides. With a miss on my mind, I turned and followed the other side of the creek back up the hill. Ah ha, antlers on the ground and the body of the deer with it. The trail that I took was not where the deer had ran, he actually turned back over the hump of the hill and had gone after 20 yards. By following the blood trail in reverse it led me right to my arrow.
Now the real work would start, the bad thing about solo hunting is draggin a brute of a deer out by yourself. With no truck access and a long uphill drag I knew this would take a while. Two hours later, the mature 6 point was loaded up and beginning his trip to my freezer. Some lady gave me a dirty look as I drove down the highway, I found it hilarious. The drive gave me time to think about this deer. He had never been on camera, and I believe it was him the week prior that I could have shot. Where did he come from. The rut is about two weeks out, so why did this deer magically show up. The answer lies with someone smarter than me in deer logic, until then his backstraps are in my freezer.
Below is a picture of the what I call the Straight Six buck. He is the widest and most mature deer I have ever harvested.
One week later as I sat in my ground blind, the small spike crossed in front and then back again. He was checking out the food plot and then went back to his bedding area. I laid back in my chair to relax but then noticed movement to my right. A small flick of an ear or tail caught my eye. A buck had come up out of the bottom and was strolling around. From the first sight of him, I knew he was mature and a shooter. I quickly put my binocs on him and confirmed his 6 pt rack. I had to do a bit of shuffling in the blind to be able to shoot.
I have been using a camera tripod to steady my shot, but in this case it was on the wrong window of the blind. With a few adjustments I was then ready to make a shot. The buck seemed to be about 40 yards out and was quartering away from me. I put my 40 yard pin on him in the middle of his body, took a deep breath and squeezed the trigger. Like before, I heard the arrow make a smack sound on impact. With only limited view through the blind window and thick forest cover I was only able to see a few steps of the deer as he left.
I was confident at first that I made a solid shot, it was only a week before this I dropped a doe at 65 yards. I exited my blind and took a walk to the area where I shot. To my dismay though, I couldn't find any blood. I took to the area I thought he ran and walked further into the bottom. Before I knew it, I was at the end of the bottom which is outlined by a creek on two sides. With a miss on my mind, I turned and followed the other side of the creek back up the hill. Ah ha, antlers on the ground and the body of the deer with it. The trail that I took was not where the deer had ran, he actually turned back over the hump of the hill and had gone after 20 yards. By following the blood trail in reverse it led me right to my arrow.
Now the real work would start, the bad thing about solo hunting is draggin a brute of a deer out by yourself. With no truck access and a long uphill drag I knew this would take a while. Two hours later, the mature 6 point was loaded up and beginning his trip to my freezer. Some lady gave me a dirty look as I drove down the highway, I found it hilarious. The drive gave me time to think about this deer. He had never been on camera, and I believe it was him the week prior that I could have shot. Where did he come from. The rut is about two weeks out, so why did this deer magically show up. The answer lies with someone smarter than me in deer logic, until then his backstraps are in my freezer.
Below is a picture of the what I call the Straight Six buck. He is the widest and most mature deer I have ever harvested.
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