Phil's 2019 season

[OhioWhiteTails]

Good luck, Phil. Plenty of time buddy!

 

[Sgt Fury]

Yup, still plenty of time. A lot of good ones are taken in the late seasons also.

 

[hickslawns]

Gun season is here. Change of pace.
Morning hunt property west. Had 4 in doe range. Was texting back and forth with a buddy a couple hundred yards down from me on same property. He has two days off to hunt. Been working 7 12s. Teased him he better shoot one on his limited time. He did around 8-815am. Around 9 I got down and still hunted the wet leaves to and from camera card swaps.
Morning hunt:
2.5hrs.
Deer seen: 4
Bow range: 4
Does:4

Evening hunt on same property. Saw a yearling being chased by a solid shooter 8. No shot offered. Another buddy driving around but not hunting saw a bunch to our west. My buddy hunting saw none. I did manage to see 4-6 white tails booger out of the thick stuff roughly 100yds away. Not sure what had them boogered. No chance they caught my wind. Highly doubt they saw me in the huge triple trunked tree. Maybe a coyote? I'm calling it 6 deer seen total.
Evening hunt: 3 hours
Deer seen: 6
Does: 5
Bucks: 1

Tomorrow morning I'm helping a friend look for his buck. Sounds like a good one. We will see what happens in the evening.

Season totals
Hunts: 25
Hours hunted: 74.5
Deer seen: 133
Deer in bow range: 48
Does: 108
Bucks: 35
Deer tagged: 1

 

[hickslawns]

Walked this morning. Didn't find the buck. Didn't kick him up. I think he lives to fight another day. As far as he traveled, I don't believe it was a lethal shot.

Hunted this evening at property west. So no deer. Easy update. Swapped a couple cards. Encouraging.

Evening hunt: 2.75hrs
Deer seen: none

Season totals
Hunts: 26
Hours hunted: 76.25
Deer seen: 133
Deer in bow range: 48
Does: 108
Bucks: 35
Deer tagged: 1

 

[giles]

Putting in some serious time this year! Lots of fun being had

 

[hickslawns]

Morning hunt: new property to the south south. Had a stand hung. Never hunted it. Settled in 40 min before legal light. Just before shooting light have a guy walking toward my stand. Ugh. Short version? There were 5 other guys party hunting this property. West winds. I came in from the East. They all walked in from the west. Sitting on ground. Scattered all over the field. I couldn't have shot if I wanted to. Ironically, I had two yearling does come within bow range. Really glad nobody shot at them as they would have been shooting towards me. I left at 830-9 as I realized this was simply not going to happen. I walked to the guy and exchanged info so we can communicate before hunting again. As I was walking to my truck I look back to see him sitting in my stand. Ugh

Morning hunt: 1.5hrs
Deer seen: 2
Does: 2
Bucks: 0
In bow range: 2

So evening hunt was at west property. South wind. No stands on the north end. It is a bedding area and deer have been pouring out of here daily. I slid in but didn't see any deer on entrance. After 10 minutes had a 7 pt with one broken tine and one broken leg come work a scrape at 50-60yds. Started my way. Paused. Checked me out. Went back to grazing. Kept checking me. Curiosity got the better of him. He kept inching closer. I never flinched. He came within 10-15yds. Mind you I was leaning up against a big tree. Pretty awesome experience. Too bad he wasn't the one I was after. I would have had a shot before he knew I was there.

Evening hunt: 3 hours
Deer seen: 1
Possums I ran off: 1
Bucks: 1
Bow range: 1

Season totals
Hunts: 28
Hours hunted: 89.75
Deer seen: 136
Deer in bow range: 51
Does: 110
Bucks: 36
Deer tagged: 1

 

[hickslawns]

Forgot to mention I knocked my shotgun over pretty hard. Landed on scope. Last night at 730pm I was at my range with the LED lightbar on verifying the scope. Not a great shot but good enough to confirm scope. It was dark. Free hand at 50yds. Hurried shot to get out of there. Lol. I'll take it. Shot at a deer will offer me a better rest in most of my stands. Wish I could get the video of the 6/7pt to upload. So cool!

 

[OO2]

Man that’s a tough one Phil. Glad you guys were able to get in contact to communicate for the future. I can’t believe he climbed into your stand while you were leaving

 

[hickslawns]

Man that’s a tough one Phil. Glad you guys were able to get in contact to communicate for the future. I can’t believe he climbed into your stand while you were leaving

Before I left I was considering taking it down (21' ladder) and dragging it several hundred yards across the field to my truck.

 

[Joel]

Before I left I was considering taking it down (21' ladder) and dragging it several hundred yards across the field to my truck.

That sounds like something I would do. Maybe even drive the truck up to it first.

 

[hickslawns]

This should be fairly easy. Morning hunt at property west. Saw zero deer. Heard some shots. Some fairly close. Bothersome as there isn't supposed to be anyone else in there and it is a neighborhood across the street.

Morning hunt: 3hrs
Deer seen: zip

Season totals
Hunts: 29
Hours hunted: 92.75
Deer seen: 136
Deer in bow range: 51
Does: 110
Bucks: 36
Deer tagged: 1

 

[Big_Holla]

Man I just don't understand people anymore. The least he could have done was ask if it was OK to jump in your stand. Years ago up here I had the farmer telling new guys they could hunt any stand that was out there. Sure enough after thinking I was the sole hunter in this particular spot I snuck out there early the first morning only to find a bow hook and safety strap already in the stand. After asking the farmer who it might be he told me everyone can hunt anyone's stand, he just wanted deer killed. I did take it down not long after that as it was already clearly over hunted by the deerless hunts I had.

 

[hickslawns]

Prepping to head back out. Taking climber. Got to be better than this morning. I have had so many killer encounters this year. Bucks I've seen while hunting, scouting, driving, cameras. . .still no dice. My gut says this isn't my year to kill a buck. Time to pay the Piper. I've been the bride too many years. My turn to be the bridesmaid. Hoping I can help some buddies drag out their bucks though. I'm okay with however the season ends. (I think.)

 

[Gern186]

Phil plenty of time for killing a good buck. I think its about to happen for you soon. You've put your time in.

 

["J"]

Prepping to head back out. Taking climber. Got to be better than this morning. I have had so many killer encounters this year. Bucks I've seen while hunting, scouting, driving, cameras. . .still no dice. My gut says this isn't my year to kill a buck. Time to pay the Piper. I've been the bride too many years. My turn to be the bridesmaid. Hoping I can help some buddies drag out their bucks though. I'm okay with however the season ends. (I think.)

Any money on Phils hunt tonight? I say he kills another good one...

 

[Joel]

Yeah it’ll happen soon. Looking forward to it!

 

[hickslawns]

Even Michael Jordan missed some years. I am FAR from being an MJ.

25' ish up in a climber. Overlooking 2 creek crossings to my north. North winds are steady around 10mph. Unplanted field to south with low grasses popped up. CRP to the SW. Food plots on neighbor to SE. No recent Intel on the area.

 

[giles]

Silence in this thread too...Friday of gun season and we have t had an IKS yet.

 

[hickslawns]

So I had an evening sit at property East. Sat. Sat more. Sat some more. Heard shots to the east. Heard shots to the west. Finally. . . Last 30 minutes I saw a doe. Then on the other side of the field I saw two more does. They were on high alert. Kept looking behind them. So did I. They quickly moved across the field. Then I see a buck. A 10pt buck. A pretty nice buck. I didn't want to make a hasty decision. I thought quickly and grabbed the can call out of my hand warmer. He kept trotting across the field. Never saw him again. I want to say I made the right decision not to draw. I have pics of a nice 10pt that looks about 140 or so. This one looked 130". He looked 2-3yrs old. I think I made the right choice. I did. It WAS the right choice. I did end up seeing a smaller buck as well. They were all around 90-110yds. Very doable for the Savage 220. The 10pt was probably in the 50-70yd range. What would Brock say? All the fun, none of the mess?

Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 5
Does: 3
Bucks: 2

Season totals
Hunts: 30
Hours hunted: 95.75
Deer seen: 141
Deer in bow range: 51
Does: 113
Bucks: 38
Deer tagged: 1

 

[giles]

Those deer sighting numbers are staggering...