Cotty's 2013-14 season

[cotty16]

Headed to the swamp bottom at the club yesterday evening. This is the hollow that has produced most of my buck kills and my last club kill back in 2007 was in this exact spot. I had action from the minute I sat down as 4 doe were feeding along the small strip pond to my right. The wind was swirling above me and carrying my scent all around the woods. The momma threw her nose up a couple times, but couldn't smell me for the smoke. They continued to feed around the pond and made their way above me on the ridge and on out into the field I think.
Right at dark I heard more movement on the opposite hill, but couldn't make out what it was. Darkness came fast as a quick squall of snow moved through, so with the commotion of the wind and snow/sleet moving through, I boogied out of the stand as quickly as I could as to not alert anything of my presence.

On my way out I got the distinct scent of buck glands filling my nose. Anybody ever experience that? I've smelled musty odors before, like wet dog, but this was a rare sniff of buck glands. I think one strolled above me the way I walk in and out, but I missed the sighting in the thicket.

Back at it this evening with the boys at the farm with all the doe. I'll be in the stand with Kody and my dad will be in the tent with Klay. Fingers crossed...

Total Hours: 13
Hunts with Kody: 2
Hunts with Klay: 2
Solo Hunts: 4
Doe seen: 45 (distorted by "crack" pasture)
Bucks seen: 6
Shooters seen: 1
Coyotes seen: 0
Skunked Hunts: 2
Shots Taken: 0

 

[Gordo]

Keep it up mike. Good Luck

 

[Hortontoter]

Interesting evening for you. The weather yesterday afternoon was crazy in Carroll county. I had rain, sleet, snow and sunshine in a one hour period.

 

[cotty16]

Time to get caught up as I sit in the tree this morning.

Friday: sat with Kody at the crack pasture farm. Klay was across the field with my dad in a tent. Had 2 spikes and doe in early. Both spikes offered shots for him but his patience to get a good doe or good buck won out. He let them walk... Thank God! We had more doe come out late and feed in between us and Klay. Nothing close enough for either to shoot.

Saturday morning: sat in the creek stand on private property solo. Got skunked. Wind kicked up and left.

Tried to get Kody up this morning to hunt for Semper Fi. He rolled over and moaned as if to say Fugg off. So, Right now I'm in the creek stand again. It sure looks good, but I'm 0-2 here in deer sightings.

 

[hickslawns]

Can't kill them from under the covers. Way to stay after it Mike. Good luck!

 

[finelyshedded]

Way to stay with it Mike! Next weekend on its time to get physical with the boys when you're trying to get them up....lmao

 

[cotty16]

Skunked again the creek stand. I'm truly baffled with this spot. It's a great travel corridor with bedding all around.
Did hear a buck grunt nearby but never saw it.
3 sits in this spot and nothing. Damn.

 

["J"]

Don't give it up yet Mike.... If there's lots of sign they'll be movement there here in the coming weeks....

 

[hickslawns]

Skunked again the creek stand. I'm truly baffled with this spot. It's a great travel corridor with bedding all around.
Did hear a buck grunt nearby but never saw it.
3 sits in this spot and nothing. Damn.

Go read Ric's journal. If your gut is telling you to hunt it, then I say go with your gut. You aren't a rookie. You hung the stand for a reason. You know it can happen anytime. Good luck Mike!

 

[cotty16]

Thanks guys... Been a bit of a frustrating start. Haven't seen any bucks other than a glimpse of one good one.

It'll get better. It has to.

 

[cotty16]

Things picked up some tonight. We went back to old faithful... The Crack pasture. Seriously, I have no idea what is in this pasture. It looks like regular old mowed grass to me, but it's a magnet! No food plot... no corn... no nothing. Just grass and weeds. Anyway...

I wasn't even going hunting tonight until Kody walked past me in the halls today at school and said, "Hey dad, are we hunting tonight?"
"It's up to you", I replied.
"Yep!" is all he said and he walked away.

OK, I'm game!

We arrived a little late at 4:45. We hurried up to the stand and to our surprise, the doe were already out in the adjacent field and one doe was already out just below our stand. We hurried up to the treeline and kept her in our sights the whole time. She'd look up, we'd stop, head down, we boogie. This went on all the way to the stand and as we climbed up. She was within 100 yards but continued to bury her nose in the crack as we climbed and got situated.

We enjoyed the show as she and others filed into the field. Sadly, all out of range and right by where Klay and my dad were set up a couple nights before.
That means most of the deer are a good 200 yards away. Bummer...


A little later, I hear wlaking up to our left in the upper scrub field. A 4 point is making his way toward us. At 25 yards he veers off behind us and finally makes his way out into the field.

Around 6:00 two doe come bolting out of the pine thicket just below us at 75 yards. I told him to stand up and get ready because a buck had to be pushing them. Suddenly a perfect 120" 8 point appears out of the pines and slowly follows the doe that just busted out. He wasn't hot on them, but he was doing enough to keep them moving. He was veering away from us and I decided to try some calls. Quickly I grabbed the rattling antlers and crashed them together. By now he's about 150 yards out. He stop on a dime and turns our way. kody is standing so I'm using his body to shield my movement. I continue to rattle and he makes a few steps our way and then stops to feed. Damn!

I give it a break for a few minutes. Kody urges me to try the can. Mmmmaaaahhhh... He looks... he feeds. I try again... he looks and stares. takes a few steps our way and feeds. He's now about 125 yards then begins to turn the opposite way again. I crack the antlers again. He turns back to us and starts our way. Here he comes!

Out of nowhere another doe comes out just up from where he and the doe he was chasing came out. He catches a glimpse of her and off he goes again. SON OF A BITCH! Now he's sniffing around her and getting farther away.

A 6 point then popped out up by where Klay was set up. Dang! He would've been in business tonight! Poor kid had flag football practice.

The 6 point hears the rattling and now he's coming on a beeline. Kody asks if he should shoot it and I told him whatever makes him happy. He quickly said "I want the 8".

The 6 continues toward us and then a 4 point comes over to meet him. They bump heads for a couple seconds and then the 6 turns and goes the other way.

By now darkness is on us, coyotes are howling like mad, and we just can't see well enough. We laugh about how cool the hunt was and climb down and head for the truck.

We needed that! That was Kody's first good encounter with a solid buck. A buck he could really be proud of. At 13 years old he's trying his hardest to get his first compound kill and I just love having him along. I just hope things line up for us soon. He's hoping for a doe or a good buck. Time will tell.

 

[aholdren]

Good stuff Mike, good luck to you and your boys.

 

[Gordo]

Thats awesome mike. One of those hunts thatll stick in the memory. Stay after it!

 

[finelyshedded]

What a great hunt guys! Almost happened, keep at it which I know you will! Good luck on your next hunt together!

 

[MK111]

Good stuff you got going. Keep at it.

 

[cotty16]

Another good hunt with both boys. I sat with klay in the buddy stand and my dad sat with Kody in a blind about 75 yards below us in a very small wooded lot at the crack pasture. We set Kody up in the blind right where most of the action was last night with the doe and shooter buck.

Pretty early I caught movement up t my left in the upper field. A 4 point and 2 doe were making their way toward Klay and I. They went behind my left shoulder and I told Klay to get up and get ready because they were going to pop out in the field on his side. The momma doe was first to stand at the edge of the woods. Klay is facing behind us now and only he can see her. He said he had her at 15 yards broadside, but there were branches in the way. Then he said he could slip one in and I encouraged him to wait... mainly because I wanted to be able to see impact.

The 4 point passes momma up and stands broadside in the field at 20 yards. He has no idea we are there and it would've been a beautiful shot, but it's nice buck or any doe. So, he waits for momma to come a little farther. She finally pops out at 25 yards and offers a quartering away shot. I tell him whenever he is ready go for it. He draws.. she turns straight away! All he can see is ass. He tries to hold, but she fed stationary for too long and he has to let down.

She finally turns again, but now baby is in the way and he has made it clear he wants momma. She finally turns our way and makes her way broadside at 20 yards where the 4 point was standing. However, she knows something is up. She cautiously puts her head down and Klay attempts to draw... snort! GONE! She bounded off. DAMN!

Fast forward to 6:30. What I believe to be the same mom and baby come back in the lower part of the field right toward Kody. According to my dad she hangs up at 50 yards and I can only watch as she feeds away from them. The baby comes in and feeds at 40 yards forever and finally closes to 30 yards. I have my binos locked on her waiting to see an arrow fly. All I see is her flinch, bound walk 10 yards, and continue feeding.

My dad texts me that Kody shot and missed. I thought she acted weird. Anyway... I get down and head down to them as the darkness fell upon us. Grabbed my headlamp and started looking and found the arrow nestled in the grass and dirt. Clean miss right under her.

It was a great experience for both boys and every little bit helps teach them one thing or another.

Total Hours: 23
Hunts with Kody: 4
Hunts with Klay: 3
Solo Hunts: 6
Doe seen: 62 (distorted by "crack" pasture)
Bucks seen: 11
Shooters seen: 2
Coyotes seen: 0
Skunked Hunts: 4
Shots Taken: 1 (Kody)

 

[Huckleberry Finn]

That sounds like one heck of an evening for both of them. I'm sure they are close. You and Old Scout do a hell of a job taking them hunting!

 

[cotty16]

Thanks huck. It's trying at times, but I love the fact that they want to go. I'll never tell them no, that's for sure.

 

[cotty16]

Another crazy night at the Crack Pasture.

Kody and my dad were once again settled in below me in the tent. I was alone in the buddy stand. Before I sat down, I checked the trailcam and saw that a decent 10 was in front of the stand at 11:00 this morning.


Using my phone, I took a pic of the deer on the camera viewfinder and sent it to my dad. My wish for the evening was to at least see him for real and a bonus would be for Kody to get a shot at him. Based on the pic, I was firmly convinced this was deer for him and not me.

Around 4:45 4 doe popped out of the thicket in front of me and were on a beeline down to Kody. The doe all fed fairly quickly down to the small wooded lot he's situated in and I was freaking out because they were going to backdoor him and he wouldn't have a clue. They fed around the left side of the cluster of trees and the lead doe, the biggest one, stood in front of Kody at 10 yards for a couple minutes. the problem was they caught him by surprise and she was staring a hole right through him so he couldn't get his bow up to draw. She stood there, downwind of him, and began getting nervous. Without warning she bolted. I watched all of this through my binoculars and couldn't figure out why he didn't shoot. When he told me the story that I just told I then understood. We have all been there where a doe just won't let down and we can't move.

Fast forward to 5:15. I stand up to stretch and look behind me. Down the woodline I see two doe feeding. A third one comes out and bolts across the field. A buck had to do that! Pretty soon a 6 point pops out and goes to the other doe to sniff around. Then, I see a big body emerge from the woods. I put the binos on him and it's the 10 from the pic above. The pic does not do him justice. He's a nice buck! He bossd the 6 around a little and I quicjkly hit the grunt call. He turns and looks my way and starts in on a beeline. He closes from 100 yards to 50 in no time. Then he veers down the hill to get downwind of the sound. What he doesn't know is that is where Kody is sitting. Now I'm fired up! he's going to walk right to him! The buck freezes at 50 yards from me, broadside, and stares my way. He throws his nose in the air several times trying to smell whoever grunted. He's on y southern side and it's a north wind. Now I'm nervous. I'm afraid he smells me. He starts walking again. Quartering away from me and quartering toward Kody.

The buck closes to, what my dad later said, 40 yards. He stands there and the 6 follows him down and a spike makes his way over. Now 3 bucks are 40 yards. They eye each other up and the 6 and spike go at it for a minute. It's a quick tussle and the 10 just watches. Darkness is coming quick... too quick. It's to the point that I'm having a hard time seeing and sadly, but thankfully, they walk off. I hated to see them leave, but I also didn't want to run them off.

Kody was all fired up. He had a doe close enough he could hear her breathe and he had a shooter almost close enough for a crack.

Almost...

 

["J"]

Sounds like a great day Mike... I think you've got them narrowed down pretty good.... Waiting for the first Cottis too release an arrow!!!!