Wildlife 2020/2021 Deer Season

[Wildlife]

Saturday – November 7, 2020 – ‘SLOW’:

This morning I hunted back out at my ‘Northwestern Stand’ again, and I got in early with no issue.

Did not see my first deer until about 7:30 a.m., which were two antlerless deer that came from the lower CRP field to the East, approximately 70 yards away, heading around the edge of the field to the North towards my home/ bait station area.

(The first one that made it to the bait station.)

We had morning fog in the valley this morning with virtually no wind. Knowing that the temperature was going to quickly rise and the deer action was pretty dismal for the first two hours, I decided to climb down at 9:00 a.m., head home and catch up on some of the things I needed to get done since I hunted nearly all day yesterday.

The ground was saturated and wet from all the morning dew, which made it perfect for me to slip out quietly without disturbing any of deer that might have been in the area.
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This afternoon I hunted out of my ‘Northern CRP Stand’ and I got settled in at 3:00 p.m., however when I approached the creek shelf directly North of my stand and after climbing up onto the bank, then hiked approximately half way to my stand, I bumped an antlerless deer that was bedded right along the ledge, which is the same ledge that my tree is on top of, approximately 20 yards away from it.

It truly was a challenge to get to my tree because everything on the ground was terribly dry and very crunchy, making plenty of noise no matter how slow and delicately I tried to walk to minimize the noise. So, I am sure that deer heard me the moment I stepped onto the creek shelf. Eventually, the deer darted into the large honeysuckle patch, also known to be a heavy bedding area that holds plenty of deer, to the East of my tree-stand, with no blow, just the white flag.

I believe the temperature was at its highest point for the day when I left my workshop to go hunt, roughly 75 degrees. As you can imagine, I dressed very lightly and appropriately for those conditions.

I saw the next deer at approximately 4:30 p.m., which was a spike that came from the South within the CRP field, heading to the main deer trail the exits the field, just to my West at 20 yards. As he passed through the row of honeysuckles and through one of my shooting lanes, I attempted to get a photograph of him, however my camera setting was a bit off and it is rather difficult to make him out within the photograph, so I created a photo collage showing the encounter with the red arrow. I believe he was headed to the bait station because that was the direction he was going once he reached the wooded area.

(This is him the previous day.)

The next deer that I saw was a buck that was clear on the opposite side of the CRP field roughly at 5:00 p.m., to the South, walking slowly to the West. I spotted his antlers above the CRP while glassing the field. I tried my best to identify the deer and I believe it was ‘SHYBUCK’ once again. The same local buck I had an encounter with yesterday morning and last week also. Although, no sooner I sighted him, I then lost sight of him, but I know he was headed West, perhaps towards my ‘Northwestern Stand’ location once again.

Shortly afterwards, approximately 5:15 p.m., I hear a deer get up and move around within the heavy bedding area just to my East, where that deer I bumped ran into before I reached my tree. After few minutes or better, I watched her exit out into the CRP field, approximately 30 yards to the East. She slowly traveled through the CRP field heading South. I lost sight of her when she reached the middle of the field because of the CRP is so tall in that location.

She was the last deer that I saw for the evening, although I heard deer walking about on the other side of the creek within the woods to the North. I even heard a large tree limb/branch brake at one point. Sounded like there was a fair amount of deer movement happening on that side of the creek this evening.

So, in conclusion, I saw a total of five, maybe six deer, with only two or possibly three of them within bow range bow range. The lesser if in fact the deer I bumped this evening while going in was the same deer that walked out into the CRP field at 5:20 p.m.

I hunted a total of 5 ½ hours for the entire day and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Tomorrow, I intend to mix it up a bit further due to the current heatwave we are experiencing here lately.

Until next time, have a good night ‘TOO’ville!

 

[Wildlife]

Sunday – November 8, 2020 – ‘THE BACHELOR GROUP’:

(Two deer on the main deer trail in the middle of the photograph during sunrise.)

This morning I hunted back out at my ‘Northwestern Stand’. When I got halfway up my tree, a deer blew once within the immediate area from the North. It was too dark, so I have no idea what kind of deer it was or where it went. It did not run off in a big hurry because I could not hear it leave the area.

I got settle in afterwards with no problems.

Did not see my first deer until a little bit before 7:00 a.m., which was a button buck that came out from the bottom of the hill to the East. He slowly worked his way towards me and was met up with another button buck right underneath me that came from the alfalfa field to the West. Both stuck around for about 20 minutes before they headed to the lower CRP field, to the East, perhaps to bed for the day, then finally out of sight

(They're in the photograph above and below.)

While the two buttons were underneath me, I was able to see at least two more deer out in the alfalfa field to the NW, approximately 100 yards away. I never did get a good look at them, but I am sure that they were two more young antlerless deer grazing within that field. I also did not get to see where exactly they went afterwards or when they actually left the area.

That was all the deer I saw for my morning hunt.

I packed up and climbed down at 9:00 a.m., then walked over the TC that covers PLB #1 underneath my stand to swap out the SD card.

Afterwards, I headed to my ‘Western Stand’ location and swapped out the SD card in the TC that covers PLB #2, then hiked the rest of the way home through the creek bottom from there.
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This afternoon I hunted out of my ‘Northern CRP Stand’ once again and got settled in at 3:30 p.m. with no issues and with an outside temperature of 79 degrees with a mild SE wind.

As you can imagine, once again for today’s evening hunt, I dressed very lightly and appropriately for those conditions.

I did not see my first deer until shortly before 5:00 p.m., which again, it was a button buck that basically came out from the same location as the first one I saw this morning (most likely the same deer), at the bottom of the hill to the East, near the lower CRP field.

He casually walked towards the middle of the bottom wooded area when he was soon met up with another button buck that came out of the lower CRP field. Then once again, another button buck joined them that also came out from the lower CRP field.

All three of them wandered around the bottom wooded area grazing and bumping each other around in a playful manner.

Eventually all three of them made their way to the PLB, which is a 15-yard shooting distance from the stand platform.

I captured more video footage for the day of both morning and evening button bucks’ encounters. The morning video is approximately 2 ½ minutes long while the evening video is nearly 14 minutes long. My wife enjoys seeing the younger deer on our large screen television, so that is one of the main reasons why I capture these types of small deer encounters.

At approximately 5:35 p.m., all three of the button bucks made their way out into the alfalfa field to the W-NW area. They remained there until quitting time.

I climbed down while there was still enough daylight to see where the deer were within the field as I walked out and down through middle of the alfalfa field to the road, which is to the West. As I walked down the road heading North, I seen all three of the buttons that were just within the alfalfa field, closets to my ‘Western Stand’ location. All three of them watched me walk right on by within the road and not one of them ran off nor blew at me, even though they were within 70 yards.

I have not seen an adult doe, or any doe for that matter, since the 6th, which leads me to believe that the adult does have abandon their young ones now, just like these buttons that I encountered today, and perhaps the adult does are either in hiding and/or grouped up together, preparing to breed. I say that because if you watch the following video below of the ‘PINE LICKING BRANCHES 1105-1108’ that I posted just today, you will get to see that the local bucks are still quite active at night as of just last night.

So, perhaps some breeding took place today in my area or very soon to be. I did hear plenty of dogs barking in the neighborhood, which is a good indicator that deer were in the immediate area during the day, possibly being chased or locked up together in the open area someplace.

Typically, the full rut has not taken place around here until the 13th & 14th according to history. That is based on my four years of history since I have been living in the area.

So, for conclusion for the day, I saw a total of seven deer within five hours of hunting. Five of those deer were within bow range and not one doe or antlered deer was seen.

Tomorrow, I will be back at once again.

 

[Wildlife]

Monday – November 9, 2020 – ‘THE LULL BEFORE THE STORM’:

Hunted the ‘Northwestern Stand’ again first thing this morning. While climbing into my tree, I heard something moving to the East. No blow and no running. I do not know what it was exactly, possibly a deer, or something else, like a coyote maybe.

I hunted until 8:00 a.m. in the stand without seeing a single deer, which is not unexpected really. Then I decided to climb down and do a ‘Still Hunt’ while the ground was still nice and wet from the morning dew, and head straight North towards my home through the woods to discover whatever deer signs are in the area. That stroll would be considered the first time I have walked through the woods since summer and it was my very first ‘Still Hunt’ of the season. I really was not expecting to see any deer really because I fully believe that this is the lull period just before the full rut for our area. I pretty much know where the deer go during this time, however, I also know that they will be back rather soon. It generally happens every year around here, just before the full rut takes place and I do not expect this year to be any different.

Along the way, I observed plenty of deer beds and tons of tree rubs, but no additional scrapes other than the ones that I am already aware of, which are much closer to the stand I hunted out of this morning, just off the alfalfa field and the ones over by my ‘Western Stand’, also just off both alfalfa fields, one to the North and one to the South.

I reached my workshop at 8:30 a.m., again, without seeing or hearing any deer along the way.
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This evening, I hunted out my ‘Northern CRP Stand’, again, not expecting much as far as deer activity, but that area is within very close proximity of some of the heaviest deer bedding in the area, both to the East at 40 yards and of course, within the CRP field itself, just to my South. The photograph above is looking to the East, which shows the areas that I just mentioned.

I got settled in 3:30 p.m. with no issues despite the loud crunching dried up leaves on the ground.

At approximately 5:00 p.m., I heard a deer get up within the thick bedding area to the East and started to move about, but I could not see it. I immediately grabbed my bow, hooked up and got ready.

(When I hunt the CRP stand and I hear a deer, I immediately grab my bow because I am basically right on top of them before I actually get to see them. There is plenty of cover for the deer in that area and I nearly always hear them first before I get to see them with minimal yards between us, and when they do appear, typically, I have just a matter of a few seconds to make a decision whether or not the deer is worth shooting. So, that is why I always grab my bow as soon as I hear them, and/or have the bow in my hand during the prime times, ready to go when I hunt that CRP stand.)

Well, after several minutes of hearing the deer walking around, and I could also hear the deer eating. It actually sounded like the deer was just yards away from me at that time, to the East. As a matter of fact, I caught a very brief glimpse of the deer down through the top of a large honeysuckle shrub, near the edge of the CRP field, thinking that the deer was going to walk straight out in front of me at 20 yards.

Well, that did NOT happen.

Again, as a matter of fact, the deer apparently moved a bit further away to the East. Within the large row of honeysuckle shrubs. Basically, within those shrubs is a network of tunnels for the deer to travel undetected while under cover. That deer must have moved through that row of honeysuckle shrubs without me hearing it because just before quitting time, the deer stepped out into the CRP field a bit further on down from me than what I was expecting, approximately 30 yards away.

It was an antlerless deer and I believe it was another young button or young doe, all by itself. I was thinking that there would be more that would follow, however it was just the one deer. I thought I originally heard a couple of deer get up and move about within that thick bedding area just to my E-NE, but no others appeared to the South or West of that bedding area. If there was more deer in there, they must have gone further East or to the North because I did not see them.

That one single deer traveled slowly through the CRP field heading South. Once it got far enough away from me and swallowed up by the tall CRP, I packed everything up, lowered my bow and climbed down shortly afterwards.

Once I reached the ground, I hiked over to the tree that has a TC hung into it, which covers a main deer trail that enters/exits the CRP field. I needed to reset the time for the daylight savings and also swap out the SD card.

Below is a brief 49 second video of TC photo captures at the ENTER/EXIT area of the CRP field, which is 20 yards to the West of my stand. Remember, I have not adjusted the time yet for the daylight savings, so, nearly all those photographs are off by an hour. What you will get the see basically are the local bucks in my area, such as THUNDER, SHYBUCK and the 2 ½ year old nine point with no name yet, plus some others that are not bucks. The photographs that are difficult to make out is an example of what it is like when we have foggy weather in the creek valley. No newcomer roaming buck in the area, or at least not captured yet on any of my five different locations that have TCs.

So, in conclusion for today and the 4 ½ hours that I hunted, I saw only one antlerless deer and it was just before quitting time, but I heard perhaps an additional one in the morning and at least another one in this evening.

Like I said, I am certain that I am experiencing the annual lull period just before the full-blown rut taking place for our location. I expect that the deer action to dramatically pick up right after Wednesday’s weather front goes through and most definitely during both days of Friday the 13th and Saturday the 14th. For the past four years, on those given days, the bucks in our area have gone full bore stir crazy after the ladies. That has been my experience over the past four years hunting these properties in southern Ohio.

Tomorrow I will be back at once again, which I expect the outcome to be much the same as of today, which is not much.

Good night y'all!

 

[Wildlife]

Tuesday – November 10, 2020 – ‘ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE STANDS’:

This morning I saw four antlerless deer between 6:45-7:00 a.m. in the alfalfa field to the South.

(Short video clip of the four antlerless deer in the alfalfa field running around before they started grazing for a little bit. One adult doe and three young deer.)

I watched them head to the back of field to the SE, into wooded area, perhaps to bed for the day after grazing within the field. One adult doe and three young ones.

Shortly afterwards, I heard Beagles & Hounds on the other side of the small creek wooded area, within the South CRP field, plus a couple of hunters wooten & hollering.

Those dogs finally caught up with the deer I saw go into woods earlier and they chased them down the hill and through the lower CRP field, straight to the back of my property where the main creek is.

Shortly afterwards, the wooting & hollering hunters showed up at the top of the hill/ridge to my East, approximate 130 yards away, trying to call their dogs off on those deer.

The dogs eventually worked their way back to the hunters, back through the lower CRP field again.

Needless to say, my hunt got spoiled early.

So, I packed up at 7:50 a.m. and headed home down through the creek the runs beside my home. I noticed some fresh deer tracks, big & little, which I presumed belonged to those deer running for their lives moments earlier, headed West, straight off the property.

Then I decided to go get set up where I normally coyote hunt. The property where those deer tracks headed, right across the road from my home.

I grabbed my 'Lone Wolf Alpha Stand' with five LW sticks and took off from the shop at 9:30 a.m.

I got set up and settled in around 10:30 a.m., in between a standing cornfield to the North, a mini cut cornfield within a bowl of ridges, also to the North, some water/a small creek and another cut cornfield, both of those locations to the South.

Below was my view from the stand, a few photographs and a 360 degree video with the view, which is approximately 40 seconds long.

(Looking to the North towards the standing corn and the mini cut cornfield within the bowl.)

(Looking to the NE towards the top of the ridge. On the other side is another cut cornfield.)

(Looking to the South into another cut cornfield with a small creek just before it.)

(Looking to the West of this evening’s sunset.)

(360* view from the stand video, starting from the West, then turning clockwise.)

(Midafternoon, this big guy was given me fits for a little while. He got the free pass, but just barely.)

The only deer I saw this evening was at last light, one good buck that came from the North heading South, right along the edge of the mini cut cornfield on the opposite side. It appeared he was on a mission with his nose to the ground and I tried to get his attention by throwing out a few doe bleats, then a couple of buck grunts. It did not faze him as he continued to travel South just over 100 yards away and finally out of sight into the wooded area.

I packed up and climbed down right afterwards and headed home.

So, in conclusion for the nearly all day hunt, I saw a total of five deer. None within bow range. Four antlerless and one good buck. Two adults out of the five.

I was comfortable in the stand even though it was nearly 80*, but with a nice steady breeze from the South. Probably the last gorgeous day of the year and I’m glad I got to spend it in the stand. Even though the deer action was minimal, I still enjoyed today’s hunt despite how it started this morning.

Tomorrow, I am going to play it by ear due to the weather forecast. I am sure I will be hunting somewhere; I am just not sure when & where yet.

So, check in tomorrow and see what I end up doing.

Have a good night everybody!

 

[Wildlife]

Wednesday – November 11, 2020 – ‘FOUND THE LADIES’:

This morning I hunted out of my ‘Northwestern Stand’ for about three hours. I wore my rain jacket when I walked out the door because it was sprinkling rain. I also took with me my tree umbrella because the weatherman forecasted more rain showers for the area somewhere around 8:30 a.m., but it never happened.

I got settled into my stand with no issues and still, a light sprinkle rain. At daybreak, the rain stopped completely.

The first deer I saw was a young 6pt buck at 7:20 a.m. that came from the North and appeared to be on the search for other deer. I watched him hit a scrape about 50 yards away, and then licked the branches right above it. After he finished up, he headed towards and into the lower CRP field, then out of sight to the East.

Roughly an hour later, I saw a button buck that came from the alfalfa field to the West, heading East, to the lower CRP field in a fairly big hurry.

After another hour, the outdoor temperature was starting to fall, and the wind shifted from the SW to the NW. That is when I decided to climb down and head home for some breakfast. A NW wind does not work well for that setup

Shortly after eating, I got dressed again to head back out with my climber to hit the North ridge area while the ground was still nice and wet, a location I have not hunted in quite a while. In fact, I have only hunted that location one other time since the season started. The NW wind is ideal for the location because to the North, to the NW on the backside of the ridge, and much further to the NE, and also straight to the South at the bottom ridge on the other side of the main creek, clear up on the shelf are some of heaviest bedding areas for our local deer.

I climbed an already established tree that I have hunted out of many times before, clear on top of the North ridge with no issues.

Once I got good and comfortable, I fell right asleep with a full belly from about the noon hour until 3:00 p.m., a real nice nap in the tree. My API climber is the most comfortable stand I have, and it is the preferred stand for any long or all day sits.

After I woke up, I was bright eyed and bushy tailed, ready to go for the evening hunt.

I saw my first deer at approximately 4:30 p.m., which was a button the came from the bedding area across the main creek to the South. Shortly afterwards, two other young ones made their way out of the same bedding area and join the first button.

At that point, I had two buttons and young doe at the bottom of the ridge, just below me, grazing and slowly working their way to a main deer trail the heads to the top of the North ridge, just to my W-NW of my tree by about 20-25 yards.

Once they reached the top of the ridge, I saw an adult doe come out from the NW, from the backside of the North ridge, also grazing towards the young deer.

Then the adult doe and the young deer grouped together, just to the NW of me by about 30 yards.

Then I saw more young antlerless deer come from the South and another adult doe came from the NW.

Eventually, approximately four adult does and six young antlerless deer walked through my best shooting lane to the NE at the bottom of the ridge, all within 20 yards, heading SE, back to the top of the North ridge, just East of me, roughly 30 yards away.

One of the adults for some reason turned back around, leaving the group, heading back to the bottom of the ridge, then crossed over the small creek, heading North towards the top of the big hill. Perhaps she winded me because by that time, all of them were downwind of me.

As the one adult doe passed back through, it was nearly quitting time, and the others soon followed. I could not see the rest of them really, but I could hear them traveling back through the bottom of the ridge to follow that one leading adult doe.

Once I could not hear any more deer in the area, I climbed down and headed home, leaving my climber at the base of the tree because I intend on hunting there once again tomorrow, in the afternoon for the same reason as today.

We are supposed to have northly winds again tomorrow. Hopefully, a good shooter buck will pop out of his bed early, like all the others did today.

Below is a short video of most of the deer encounters for the day, plus a real fat squirrel.

So, in conclusion for the day, out the six waking hours hunted, I saw approximately a dozen deer, all within bow range and only one of them had antlers.

I expect tomorrow to be another fun day of hunting.

 

[Wildlife]

Thursday – November 12, 2020 – ‘BUSTED?’:

Yesterday, I hunted out my ‘Western Stand’ in the morning and I got settled in plenty early with no issues.

I hunted until 9:30 a.m. without seeing a single deer even though I was able to glass 4 ½ large fields, 2 ½ of them were cut cornfields, the other 2 were alfalfa fields plus a creek bottom wooded funnel area.

It was surely cold enough for deer movement, and we received a heavy frost, unfortunately, that did not happen.

So, after I climbed down, I hiked my butt back home down through the creek bottom and made me a big breakfast. A few hours later after taken care of a few chores, I got dressed again and headed back out to the North ridge where I left my API climber at the base of a tree the day before.

I hiked to my tree real stealthy like and got into my climber quietly, then started climb right about 12:30 p.m.. Roughly 10’ off the ground, I looked behind me and I see a big adult doe at the bottom of the ridge within my best shooting lane to the NE, standing perfectly broadside, looking in my direction.

I immediately froze in place and watched her. A few seconds afterwards, she continued walking in her original direction, heading South towards the top of the same ridge that I’m on. Once she reached the top of the ridge, she stopped briefly, but never looked back into my direction, more like looking where her next step was going to be while she headed down the backside of the ridge, on the South side.

At that moment, I knew exactly she was going to circle me to get downwind to try to wind me.

I remained froze in place, right behind the tree at that point while she was on the South side of the ridge. I snapped a few cellphone photographs and captured a very brief video of her when she got directly behind me, totally downwind, trying to sniff me out. I knew originally when she first stopped on the North side of the ridge that she was not quite sure what the heck she was seeing at on top of the ridge. That is when I suspected she was going to circle me to try to figure out what she saw behind the honeysuckle shrub that was between us. She never did wind me and she continued on to her bed to the NW, back on top of the ridge and into the wild overgrown field. I ended up seeing her again around 4:15 p.m. with two other young antlerless deer.

The follow is a collage of photographs & video clips made into one singular video of her, along with some additional deer encounters I had during the evening hunt, while on top of the North ridge.

Altogether for the day and approximately 7 ½ hours in the stands, I saw at least six deer, all antlerless, between 12:30 p.m. through 4:50 p.m., all within bow range.

The farmer across the road spent his day harvesting the rest of his standing corn. So, I suspected that all those deer headed to that freshly cut cornfield, right after they grazed within the immediate area for about an hour, to the N-NW, away from me.

I climbed down right at quitting time, making sure first that there were no more deer within the immediate area.

I made home with no issues right after I swapped out the SD cards at the bait station along the way.

(Spike with no tail.)

(Screech owl.)

(The 12th is my wife’s birthday and we celebrated it right after I completed my hunt yesterday evening. So, that is why I did not do an update in my journal last night like I normally do. Today’s hunt update is up next. Stay tuned!)

 

[Wildlife]

Friday – November 13, 2020 – ‘THE BIG GUY’:

This morning I hunted out of my ‘Northwestern Stand’ and I got settled in plenty early with no issues.

Another heavy frost and cold morning with a mild swirling wind.

Pretty much the exact weather and nonexistent deer movement scenario as yesterday morning. Not a deer in sight anywhere throughout my entire morning hunt.

So, I climbed down at 9:30 a.m., hiked my sorry butt home and got me another big breakfast for today.

As soon as I completed all the things I needed to get done for the day, I got dressed again and headed back out to the North ridge once again.

Much like yesterday, I slowly creeped my way to my tree super stealthy like, and got into my climber real quiet, then climbed up into my tree with no problems whatsoever. Along the way however, I came across a brand new freshly made up deer scrape that was made either overnight or during the morning, right at the bottom of the ridge, on the South side, just off the main creek, approximately 40 yards away from my tree. It was not there yesterday evening when I walked out after hunting.

I got settle in and ready for my hunt right at the noon hour.

I did not see me first deer, which was the only deer, until 4:40 p.m., which was a big bodied 5x5 frame mature buck, a newcomer. One that I never seen before. At least one that I have been expecting to show up this week, a big roamer!

Just moments prior of my seeing him, I just completed glassing the entire area, more specifically and thoroughly, to the South bottom creek shelf and I did NOT see any deer movement whatsoever anywhere from that location. That is exactly where that big buck either came from or he was bedded just on the other side of the ridge, just out of my sight, over the top at approximately 50 yards away, most likely all afternoon.

The reason why I suspect he was bedded just over the top of the ridge, within the following photographs, you will get see why I believe that was the case.

(Original photograph of the North ridge looking East.)

(Edited version showing what actually happened during the big buck encounter.)

(Another photograph that captures the bigger picture of the same area.)

I did not hear him come from the bottom creek shelf area and he was not trying to be stealthy quiet like either by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it sounded like he just jumped up to his feet when I first heard him and next thing I know, I look over and he is standing right there at the top of the ridge, approximately 40-45 yards away, directly to my East. I had just enough time to grab my binoculars to glass him.

No sooner I was able to get a good look at him, he turned East and marched quickly away, like he knew exactly where he wanted to go. I continued to watch him head completely out of sight and leave the immediate area. I waited patiently, hoping that perhaps he would circle back around at some point following a doe, but he never did.

If he were to continue traveling straight to the North right after he hit the top of the ridge rather than turning East, he would have crossed right through my best shooting lane, putting him somewhere between 25-35 yards away for a real good shot opportunity for me, but obviously, that did not happen.

Regardless, I am totally thrilled to know that he is the area right now, for at least a day or two, and you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be hunting for him come tomorrow and the next if need be.

So, for the day, I hunted approximately eight hours with only one deer sighting within bow range, however obstructed. It was an excellent encounter, unfortunately, I have no photographs to show of it, however I have a similar photograph of another roamer from a previous deer season during the same rut period/date that looks an awful lot like him.

( I attached an example of what he kind of looked like, which is a different buck from a previous season within the same immediate area during pretty much the same time of the year.)

I hope I can get some shuteye tonight…

 

[Wildlife]

Saturday – November 14, 2020 – ‘ALL DAY SIT’:

(There's a good buck in the middle of this early morning photograph at the bottom of the ridge.)

This morning I headed out to the North ridge once again to where I left my climber at the base of the tree. I got there and climbed up into my tree with no problems plenty early.

It was darn cold, super calm and real quiet out. I buddled up accordingly, plus I also took with me my ‘Body Heater Suite’ to crawl into shortly after sunrise.

At approximately 7:10 a.m., I heard something to the SE, which sounded like a deer crossing the South main creek. I looked over and saw a good size buck heading North towards the same ridge that I am set up on. I quickly grabbed my binoculars and watched the buck stop just short of reaching the bottom of the ridge by about 15 yards, just on the other side of a honeysuckle shrub that was between us.

Then he stuck his nose straight up into the air and started sniffing. Afterwards, he just stood there for the longest time, which he seemed to be listening for any type of sound that may possibly resemble another deer.

Then, what seemed like eternity, he finally turned back around and slowly walked W-SW, thinking he was going to appear within a small shooting lane/window, the only one I really have down into that location for that distance, approximately a 35-40 yard shot opportunity.

(I captured a brief video of the buck with my bow Tactacam camera. He is in the most lower middle portion of the photograph, showing him headed back towards the main creek.)

(Red represents the direction the buck traveled; the red vertical rectangle represents my shooting lane/window; the blue represent the main creek and the white 'X' represents the thick bedding area on the other side of the creek.)

Well, he happened to stop again just shy of entering into that window, then turned again back towards the South, heading to the creek and back over it once again, then finally out of sight within the thick bedding area just on the other side of the creek.

That encounter lasted approximately 10 minutes and I figured since there were no antlerless deer within the immediate area, he decided to go back to his bed or go search somewhere else, more towards the South of the property, within the CRP field.

I then grabbed my doe bleat can and gave a couple flips. No obvious response seen.

That thick bedding area is just East of my ‘Northern CRP Stand’ by about 40-50 yards. I thought about climbing down and head over to that stand for the afternoon since the East wind of perfect for it to hunt that thick bedding area and out into the CRP field, but I thought otherwise and did not do it.

Then for the next eight hours, I did not see any other deer.

At approximately 8:30 a.m., I crawled into my ‘Body Heater Suite’ because by that time, the outdoor temperature was at its lowest point, 23*. It was cold out and I was starting to get pretty darn cold.

I remained within my ‘Body Heater Suite’ well into the afternoon hour, then climbed out of it, hung it back up next to my stand and sat comfortably for the rest of the day in my regular heavy hunting clothes.

At approximately 4:15 p.m., I glassed two antlerless deer about ¾ ‘s of the way up the North big hill crossing the cut bean field, heading SE in a big hurry. I did not see what might have caused them to be in such a rush.

Then about 15 minutes later, a single adult doe popped over the top of the ridge from the North side, NW of me by about 35 yards. She started grazing immediately when she hit the top of ridge, right along the edge of the wild overgrown field right to my West.

About a minute afterwards, two more smaller antlerless deer followed up, coming from the same location, and met up with the adult.

They stuck around until about 5:10 p.m., then headed further away to the NW and finally out of sight within the overgrown field.

(Squirrel sun bathing in the sunset.)

I packed up right at quitting time, climbed down, gathered everything up, including my API climber.

I hiked all the way home with no problems.

So, in conclusion for the day. I hunted all day, from morning legal time to legal quitting time, all in one sit, and I saw six deer in total. That one buck and three antlerless deer were the only ones that made it within bow range.

Even though it was pretty darn cold out this morning, I was as comfortable as can be once I crawled into my ‘Body Heater Suite’. For mostly the entire day, the East wind definitely had a cool chill to it. I admit, I was expecting more deer action/movement than what I witnessed, but I still enjoyed the hunt, and the buck encounter was pretty darn awesome.

I believe that buck was an entirely different buck than what I encountered the previous night. In fact, I believe that buck this morning was actually ‘THUNDER’, but I cannot be totally certain.

Tomorrow, we have a high wind advisory from 4:00 a.m. though 7:00 p.m., plus we are supposed to receive rain the first three hours of daylight.

So, what that means is that I will most likely take the day off from hunting and try regroup on Monday.

Come Monday, I intend to get more aggressive going after these bucks, trying to cut them off much closer to/from their bedding areas while playing the wind.

Tomorrow, I will also try to get caught up on all the latest ‘TOO’ posts that I have completely missed out on over the past week due to hunting my tail off.

With that said, have a great Saturday night everybody!

 

[Wildlife]

Sunday - November 15, 2020 - 'WINDY - WINDY':

Well, I couldn't take it anymore and I know that I said I was going to take the day off from hunting but,,,,,, being indoors in the middle of November, just didn't seem right to me.

The rain quit a little bit after 1:00 p.m., the sun came out, and yes, the wind was still gusty, but mainly above the tree tops and I was set up in a huge bowl, at the lowest point of the creek valley, just off the lower CRP field to the E-SE. Pretty much a funnel area for the deer.

This morning, I washed all my hunting clothes. As soon as rain stopped, I got dressed, grabbed my 'Lone Wolf Alpha Stand' and only three LW sticks out of the five that I have, and hiked out about 75 yards right behind the house.

I got set up in a huge sycamore tree, only about 12' off the ground in between two heavy deer trails, one that leads to the bait station area and the other going to & from the lower CRP field just to my East.

There are plenty of tree rubs just on the outskirts of that CRP field too. Some very close to me as well, most them are within bow range.

But, like I said, I couldn't take it anymore being inside and the wind was more above the tops of the trees than down inside the valley floor.

I was hoping to catch a good cruising buck off guard with those type of weather conditions this afternoon.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen and it was a whole lot of nothing. I still had fun though!

The winds basically died down to almost a stand still right after sunset too, thinking for sure I'd see somethin, but it didn't happen.

Like I mentioned within the last post of my hunt journal; this week, I'm gonna get far more aggressive in chasing after any good shooter buck within the immediate area, which basically means, more 'Lone Wolf Alpha Stand' action and perhaps I'll break out the pop-up ground blind too.

If I see any good shooter buck from any one of my hang-on stands while hunting that setup, and they're not within bow range or provide any shot opportunity, I'll climb down immediately and go after the sucker, and try to put a decent stalk on him, if at all possible.

Just so you all know, I haven't even begun to explore the other 3/4's of this property yet that I have complete and unfettered access to either. If I feel the need to venture out further away from my home, then I will, but I typically wait until after all the other bow hunters are pretty much finished up with their season first before I do that.

I also have access to two other properties at two different counties as apart of my fallback plan as well, if need be. Those properties have always produced quality deer. I know that for a fact because I've encountered them personally, and have harvested a few as well over the years.

I just really want to take a good buck off this particular property though, which is the one right next store to my home, the one I have focused most on throughout this season thus far.

It'll mean an awful lot to me if I do pull it off. This particular property has a lot of meaning behind it and it has been by far the most challenging for me to successfully harvest a quality mature buck off of out of all the other properties I've ever hunted, hands down. It's also a real fun place to hunt because it totally takes me back and reminds me of my home area, were I grew up at as a kid.

So, we'll see what happens this week. The way I see it, there's still PL E N T Y of time yet to take down a real good shooter buck. So, I have no worries whatsoever at this stage of the game.

I'm totally looking forward to another fun week of hunting, you can absolutely bet on it!

 

[Wildlife]

Monday – November 16, 2020 – ‘PINE LICKING BRANCH’ DOWN:

This morning I hunted out of my ‘Northwestern Stand’ and I got settled in early with no issues.

As soon as it got light enough, I noticed that the tree that has my ‘pine licking branch’ that hangs from it, was down. Definitely due to the severe wind that we received the day before, no doubt.

It was the only tree that was down in the immediate area. Upon a closer look, right after my hunt, the tree was noticeable hollowed out inside the base/trunk area, and the tree had a severe bend to it right above the hollow portion, approximately 4’ above the ground. Those strong winds yesterday were too much for the weak tree obviously.

So, that was that, and now I have to figure out what I am going to do about hanging another ‘pine licking branch’ in the area, plus I will cut up the rest of that tree to clear the area for easy deer travel at some point. Not sure when though.

Shortly after I noticed the PLB tree was down, I glassed out into the alfalfa field towards the West and saw that there were what I though was only two antlerless deer within the field grazing, but in fact there were actually three. I did not see the other until all three of them got within my shooting window out towards the field at 7:52 a.m.

Each of them made their way into the wooded area, just NW of me, and casually worked towards the lower CRP field, more towards the middle of it, NE of me, and finally out of sight.

Approximately 15 minutes later, I see another deer coming from out of the lower CRP field, to the East, slow walking into the wooded area, then stopped at a deer scrape, licked the branches right above it, then headed towards the PLB that was now on the ground, right underneath my tree.

I was able to recognize the deer immediately, which is a large bodied spike buck, the biggest spike deer I have ever seen in my life and I call him ‘MAD DOG’ because he’s the deer that has been most active in the chasing of all the local does all over the place in the area over the past week.

Once he nearly reached the PLB area, he appeared to be spoked by it, seeing it on the ground. He then quickly turned back around and hopped back to where he originally came from by about 20 yards, then stopped once again and looked back for a minute.

Once he settled back down, he gradually started wondering around, trying to track down the deer that went through the area just prior. He eventually got on their trail and walked back into the lower CRP field where those previous deer went and finally out sight.

About that time, the West wind increased in strength and speed. In fact, I felt the tree that I was in give a little and heard it crack about halfway down. It too is an old Ash tree that is slowly dying and I could only imagine that yesterday’s severe winds weakened it even more.

So, I immediately packed up and climbed down at 8:45 a.m.

Right after I got down, I walked over to the PLB area to observe the damage and pull down the TC that covered it. The following video is the final and the latest update from the no longer PLB #1, which will be replaced sometime later after I figure out a new setup location, both for the tree-stand and the PLB.

This afternoon, a little after the lunch hour, I headed out to my ‘Southern CRP Stand’, which is a setup I have not hunted out of yet this year. It is located just on the South side of the lower CRP field, near the SE corner of it, right at the bottom of the South ridge, neatly tucked in just off the North CRP field.

Due to the stiff West wind conditions this afternoon, I figured that setup would be ideal. It is another great observation stand that allows me to glass out into both the 7 acre CRP field just to the North and a fair portion to the North side of the cut 19 acre CRP field to the NE, just on the other side of a hedgerow of honeysuckle shrubs and a small stream that separates them.

I got settled in around 1:15 p.m. and it is another comfortable tree-stand that leans back with the afternoon sun in my face. It is also at the very bottom of the South ridge, which protects me from any strong West winds.

The following photographs are views from the stand starting with a NE view, then a NW view, a West view and finally, a SW view. A West wind creates an excellent crosswind within the CRP field just to the North of my tree. Directly across the CRP field is a super thick cover area that typically the big bucks bed and/or hide within when cover truly becomes limited during this time of the year.

My ‘Northern CRP Stand’ is just East of the thick cover area by about 40 yards, which a straight West wind does not work well for that setup. That is another reason why I chose to hunt out of my ‘Southern CRP Stand’ for this evening.

Well, I hate to admit really, but I ended up falling asleep once again this season within my stand from about 3:00 to 4:15 p.m. I seemed not to be able to help it when the sun and cool breeze hits my face and nice rocking back-n-forth tree. Oh yeah, it put me right to sleep for at least a good hour or better.

Once I woke up, I refocused for the rest of the hunt. It was not until about 5:25 p.m. when I saw my first group of deer making their way out the that thick cover area, straight across the lower CRP field, on the opposite side to the North, heading straight East, through the hedgerow of the honeysuckles, to the other side and into the other cut down CRP field.

I continued to observe from afar when I saw two more deer join them from the same South ridge I was hunting out of, but on the other side of that hedgerow of honeysuckles.

There was a total of eight deer all grouped together within that field, at least three adult antlerless deer and four young antlerless deer and one other I was not quite sure about.

They stopped about 80 yards just on the North edge side of the cut CRP field and started grazing.

By then, it was quitting time and I immediately packed up and climbed down. Once I hit the ground, I walked out into the lower CRP field to the North, turned East towards the hedgerow of the honeysuckles, crossed the small stream, then turned again to the North along the cut CRP field where those deer were, heading to the main creek bottom.

By the time I reached the area we I was directly upwind of those grouped deer, which put them within bow range, they winded me. A few of them flipped their tail and hopped further out into the cut CRP field, away from me. None of them blew though.

Shortly afterwards, I reached the main creek bottom and turned West and hiked all the way to the back of my property without disturbing any more deer that I am aware of.

So, inconclusion for the day, I saw a total of twelve deer, all within bow range at some point, and only one antlered deer, which was ‘MAD DOG’, the huge bodied spike buck.

(A video of all the deer I encountered during this morning's hunt.)

I will be back it again tomorrow.

Good night y'all!

 

[Wildlife]

Tuesday – November 17, 2020 – ‘ACTION PACKED EVENING’:

This morning I hunted out my ‘Western Stand’ and I got settled in early with no issues. Unfortunately, no deer were seen during the 1 hour and 45 minutes that I hunted.

Right at sunrise though, the weather took a turn for the worst with a rain, sleet & snow mix for about 20 minutes right after the wind shifted from the W-SW to the NW and the temperatures started to fall.

I felt that I would stick it out for about an hour even though being a little wet and see if any deer just might show up and if not, I’ll pack it in early.

Sure enough, no deer were seen after glassing nearly 4 ½ large fields along with the wooded creek bottom funnel area that I was hunting during that time, which is unusual if there were deer in the immediate area.

So, I climbed down, walked over the TC that covers PLB #2, swapped out the SD card, then hiked home through the creek bottom.

Once I got dressed into some regular work clothes and poured me some hot coffee, I compiled the TC photographs from PLB #2 into a video format that captured all the deer activity from 11/11 -11/17/20, which ‘THUNDER’ is among one of those captures, midafternoon on a dead run of the 14th, perhaps chasing a doe, with his tongue pretty much hanging out. So, he’s still around, which is good thing.

(***WARNING*** The following video is apart of my 'Whitetail Deer 2020' music playlist and it contains explicit content. Not intended for younger audience.)

__________________________________

This afternoon, right after I ate some lunch, I changed back into my hunting clothes, grabbed my bow, threw my API climber on my back and took off for the North ridge again for an evening hunt with the stiff cool NW wind that we were having, which is the preferred wind for that particular location.

I got settled in right at 2:00 p.m. with no issues.

Shortly before 3:00 p.m., I hear a deer coming from the NE at the bottom of the ridge and making its way towards me. As it got within bow range, I see that it was a lone button buck traveling on one of the main deer paths that goes right by my tree, 10 yards away.

As the young deer reaches the top and gets directly downwind of me, he stops, looks right at me, and starts sniffing the air.

The following five minute video captures the entire encounter and everything that took place afterwards, which you will see that he never once was able to figure me out, and never got panicked in anyway whatsoever.

He eventually leaves the area heading NW.

About an hour and half later, around 4:30 p.m., I hear deer just behind me, to the S-SW. My stand is on the shaded northside of the tree. I was sitting in my stand at the time when I heard them. I then turned oh so slightly to my right where I could just peak around the tree when the sun hit my face (even though I have a face mask on and a ball cap too) and I was able to just barely see a large doe right at the bottom of the ridge on the South side, directly behind me, approximately 25 yards away looking right up into my direction. She must have caught some of my movement because she froze and of course, I froze in place too, waiting for her to look away for a moment before I moved again.

Eventually, she slowly turns away, and that is when I got totally behind the tree once again, stood up, turned, and faced around the other side of the tree to watch her. That is when I noticed that she was walking on another main deer trail heading slowly West towards her two twins, one button and one doe. They were hidden from me originally for a little bit under the honeysuckle shrubs that were just below me and it was those two I originally heard first running around within those honeysuckles.

(Mother Doe)

Well, the mother doe gradually made her way towards the South, heading to the main creek area with her two little ones in toe.

Eventually, after several minutes of them grazing on the South creek shelf, all three of them crossed the main creek, heading right towards my ‘Northern CRP Stand’, then finally out of sight once they reached the other creek shelf on the other side.

I believe the mother doe caught my movement when I first turned around to look, but she never panicked for a second, nor did she blow, fly her tail, or did any stomping, she just slowly worked further away from me, leading her little ones to safety, no doubt.

That encounter entailed approximately 10-15 minutes’ worth of time before they all were eventually out of sight, clear on the other side of the main creek.

About 20 minutes later, I hear another deer coming in hot and heavy from the N-NW at the bottom of the northside of the ridge. The deer stopped just beyond my best shooting lane at the bottom of the ridge to the NE, approximately 40-45 yards away.

I realize that it’s a large doe, all by herself I thought at first anyways, and I did consider shooting her if she were to step into my shooting lane because of her share size but, no sooner I thought about it, another deer came in from the same location as her and stopped just short from reaching her, but a little bit further back within the wooded area, also approximately 40-45 yards away, just shy of reaching my shooting lane. I immediately grabbed my binoculars because I thought it was a buck.

Sure enough, it was ‘SHYBUCK’, chasing another doe. My third encounter with him this season, the second encounter of him chasing a doe, which I have that one documented on video and posted previously within this journal on the 6th.

He pretty much acted that same way as the first chase encounter. He stood back away from the doe, about 15 yards and watched her very carefully.

Then, all of a sudden, another antlerless deer shoots out from the other side of that big doe, from the East, already at the bottom of the ridge, and runs passed the both of them, heading in the direction where both ‘SHYBUCK’ and the adult doe originally came from. I assume that deer was already in the immediate area when those two came flying in or, it was the leading deer of the two when they all first came in and I didn’t see it.

Anyways, I believe it was another small young deer, perhaps another button or young doe. Whatever it was, it did not stick around and was gone in a matter of seconds while both the bigger deer played a stare-down game with each other for a few minutes.

Eventually, the adult doe continued to travel East very slowly, while ‘SHYBUCK’ tagged right along just behind her. Then eventually, both were out of sight at the bottom of the ridge heading NE right along the small North creek. I was able to capture a couple of not so great photographs of them both, but within separate photos.

Once they were completely out of sight and after a few minutes, I pulled out my doe bleat can and gave it a few flips. Within a matter of seconds, I heard a deer come running from across the main creek to the South, blast across the south creek shelf heading right towards me, up the southside of the ridge, and stopped very briefly once he reached the top, approximately 35 yards away, due East, perfectly downwind from me. It was another buck that I quickly recognized, which is the other young 10 point, approximately a 2 ½ year old, but still a good-looking deer.

I could’ve shot him because he was perfectly broadside at 30-35 yards unobstructed and stopped just long enough for me to send an arrow but, I felt that he wasn’t what I am after so, he got the ‘free pass’.

He never once investigated into my direction though, which I thought was interesting, despite he was perfectly downwind of me, nor did he even bother to sniff the air once he hit the top of the ridge from what I could tell. Instead, he trotted right over the top of the ridge, down the northside and headed straight in the direction where both the adult doe and ‘SHYBUCK’ went, to the E-NE and eventually out of sight. He must have winded that hot doe immediately in the area over me is all I could imagine.

About a minute later, I then grabbed my buck grunt call and did a couple of combinations of both the doe bleat and buck grunt, thinking that maybe I’ll attract even a bigger buck within the area since there’s that hot doe around, or perhaps call the same bucks back.

Well, after a few my grunts and bleats, no deer ever showed up.

All that wild excitement occurred within a span of about 20 minutes or so, from about 5:20 – 5:40 p.m., give or take a few minutes.

Shortly afterwards, right at quitting time, and once I felt positive that there were no more deer within the immediate area, I quietly packed up, lowered my bow to the ground and climbed down, leaving my API climber at the base of the tree because I am going to give it another go come tomorrow morning within the same area.

So, inconclusion for the day, I saw eight deer, pretty much all within bow range during this evening’s hunt only and no arrow ever took flight, but it was a whole lot of FUN being surrounded by them all!

Tomorrow morning is going to be another chilly start. It got cold towards the end of this evening's hunt and that seemed to get those deer all riled up and moving early. So ,I hope tomorrow morning brings much the same.

I shall see.

Good night everybody!

 

[Wildlife]

Wednesday - November 18, 2020 - 'GLAD I MISSED':

Okay, this morning's hunt video just completed uploading. It's 27 minutes long that encapsulates half the deer I encountered during my 2-1/2 hour morning hunt.

I will fill in all the details later on after this evening's hunt.

In the meantime, for those of you that wish to see what my morning hunt was like, including the huge buck that I did not reconize at all at the time, not until after I viewed what I captured on my bow Tactacam camera back at the shop, which is the buck just before the last buck encounter that I nearly shot at 15 yards, but he winded me first, then fled the area, and you'll also get see that too within this video at the tail end, it's now available below.

All photographs and video clips are in chronological order of the time of the event/encounters (by time-stamp) that occured, between 7:15 - 8:45 a.m.

The video does not have all the deer that I encountered this morning, only half.

The first singular photograph just before the Tactacam photo series of the huge buck is a forky buck that was attempting to pick up the scent of the two adult does that came through earlier, and the huge buck was trailing him. They both were in the immediate area for approximately a few minutes, within bow range but, obstructed.

Those does I believe are in estres and I watched them head to thier beds well before those bucks showed up.

I am within 80 yards of them currently.

So, sit back and enjoy what I enjoyed this morning.

So, stay tuned for all the details later, plus what this evening's hunt will entail.

Thanks for watching!

 

[Wildlife]

Wednesday - November 25, 2020 – ‘HAPPY THANKSGIVING TOMORROW!’:

I know that I have been slacking here lately with regards to my hunt journal updates, and I hope to get back on track going forward, right after ‘Thanksgiving’.

With that said, the following is a brief run down of the past week while afield deer hunting.

In case you all didn't know, I typically hunt the first 2 ½ hrs. of each morning, and the last 2 hrs. of each evening near my home, averaging approximately 4 ½ hours per day with roughly 1.2 deer sightings per hour. One of the days I had to quit early due to severe rain weather conditions and on Tuesday, the 24th, I headed out earlier than normal to go setup my 'Lone Wolf Alpha Stand' in a new location.

The combined total of deer sighted over the last 8 days was 44, with approximately 30 of them within bow range.

On the 18th, I nearly shot one good buck @15yrds. that was totally downwind of me. Unfortunately, he did wind me first when I was at full draw before he stepped out from behind a tree, then turned and fled the area.

The buck encounter just prior to that one though was much bigger that I did not know it at the time. I found out much later after reviewing camera footage from my bow Tactacam of that morning's hunt where he stopped @43yrds. broadside but left me with no real good shot opportunity. My shooting lane was severely obstructed with an 8” tree limb that was between us. He was the best/biggest buck I encountered this season thus far. I had one other brief encounter with him while on top of the ‘North Ridge’ during the evening of the 13th, just before quitting time.

As you will get to see below, and it should be fairly obvious, I gave it my best hunting for that deer within the same area, on top of the 'North Ridge', where I first encountered him, however with no success, but I am still in the hunt for him and I have no plans on giving up on him.

At some point, hopefully soon, I do intend to transfer from deer hunting to coyote hunting. I am feel a little bit anxious about getting after the coyotes in the area with my new rifle system. Should be some really good stuff that I'll be sharing from those hunts with regards to my new video recording capability with my new thermal scope.

So, going forward, right after 'Thanksgiving', you can expect me to continue my hunt journal with the typical details and not just for deer hunting either, but all throughout my coyote hunting season as well.

I wish all 'TOO' members a happy and safe 'Thanksgiving' tomorrow with all of your loved ones! May you all get stuffed with good food and good family time!
__________________________________________________________________________

Hunt Date Summaries from November 18 – 25, 2020:

11/18 Wednesday’s Morning Hunt: Climber@North Ridge = 8 deer in total

4 Antlerless within bow range

4 Bucks w/ 1 8pt; 1 4pt & 2 shooter 10pts, all within bow range. One big shooter was obstructed and the other winded me @15yrds.downwind

Wednesday’s Evening Hunt: Climber@North Ridge = SKUNKED



11/19 Thursday’s Morning Hunt: Climber@North Ridge = 7 deer in total

6 Antlerless within bow range

1 8pt Buck just out of bow range

Thursday’s Evening Hunt: Climber@North Ridge = SKUNKED



11/20 Friday’s Morning Hunt: Climber@North Ridge = 1 deer in total

1 ?pt Buck out of bow range

Friday’s Evening Hunt: Climber@North Ridge = 1 deer in total

1 9pt Buck out of bow range



11/21 Saturday’s Morning Hunt: Climber@North Ridge = SKUNKED

Saturday’s Evening Hunt: Climber@North Ridge = 2 deer in total

1 8ptBuck @4:00 p.m. out of bow range

1 9pt Buck @5:35 p.m. out of bow range



11/22 Sunday’s Morning Hunt: Climber@North Ridge = SKUNKED

Sunday’s Evening Hunt: @’Northern CRP Stand’ = 8 deer in total

8 Antlerless deer between 4:00-5:00 p.m. with half within bow range

Got down early due to severe rain weather conditions



11/23 Monday’s Morning Hunt: Climber@North Ridge = 2 deer in total

1 8pt Buck @first legal light @15yrds.

1 Antlerless Doe @9:00 a.m. within bow range

Monday’s Evening Hunt: @’Western Stand’ = 5 deer in total

4 Antlerless deer between 4:30-5:05 p.m. out of bow range within alfalfa field

1 6pt Buck @5:10 p.m. just out of bow range within alfalfa field.



11/24 Tuesday’s Morning Hunt: Climber@North Ridge = SKUNKED

Tuesday’s Evening Hunt: ‘Lone Wolf Alpha Stand’@SW CRP Corner = 1 deer in total

1 decent 8pt Buck @5:03 p.m. within bow range.

1 young American Bald Eagle, just out of bow range eating something in the CRP field

SIDE NOTE: ‘Pine Licking Branch’ #1 that fell to the ground during the windstorm last week. Well, the deer are still hitting that scrape because it was very recently freshened up when I walked past it for this evening hunt.

11/25 Wednesday’s Morning Hunt: ‘Lone Wolf Alpha Stand’ @SW CRP Corning = 4 deer in total

1 Antlerless and 3 unknown deer, 1 in cornfield, 2 in alfalfa field and 1 in CRP field, all out of bow range

Wednesday’s Evening Hunt: @’Northern CRP Stand’ = 5 deer in total

4 Antlerless deer within bow range; 2 adults with 2 young ones and 1 button all by himself

 

[Wildlife]

Friday – November 27, 2020 – ‘LOST ARROW’:

This morning I hunted the SW corner area of the lower 7-acre CRP field out my ‘Lone Wolf Alpha Stand’ until 9:30 a.m. without seeing any deer; I got SKUNKED!

After I packed up and climbed down, I went over to where there is a large natural deer scrape and hung TC over it, then turned back around and hiked home to get me some breakfast.
_________________________________

This afternoon, I hiked out to my ‘Northern CRP Stand’ and I got settled in with no issues right at 3:30 p.m.

Around 4:10 p.m., I heard a deer quickly travel through the thick bedding area, just E-NE, approximately 45 yards away, heading North. I heard the deer cross the main creek and where it went from there, I have no clue.

Shortly afterwards, I caught a brief glimpse of another unknown deer within the same bedding area, also traveling North very quickly and once again, I have no clue where that deer ended up going.

Both of those deer could have winded me because we had a mild SW wind at the time.

As the sun was about to set and after it got behind some clouds, I stood up into my stand platform and started glassing the entire area, starting with the lower 7-acre CRP first. Because the CRP is so tall, I specifically look for the white deer antlers of the bucks that would possibly be getting up from their beds. They are so much easier to spot than any antlerless deer while within that CRP field.

After glassing the most immediate area, I started glassing the entire South Ridge area, then the West wooded area and finally, towards the East Honeysuckle hedgerow with the open 19-acre cut CRP field just on the other side of it.

Once I glassed over the East Honeysuckle hedgerow and into the open 19-acre cut CRP field, I immediate saw a good shooter buck traveling what I thought was all by himself, through the middle of the field, heading due South. Then he suddenly stopped halfway in the field, turned back around head back North. I glassed out in front of him and noticed that there was another deer he was heading towards, thinking it was a doe, but as it ended up being a much bigger buck.

As the smaller buck approached the bigger buck, the bigger buck reared his head down and went after the first seen buck.

That smaller antlered first seen buck did not back off by any means either. In fact, both bucks went hard at it, smashing heads together, trying to twist each other around, a full-blown fight was obviously on and I knew that I had to get there as quickly as I could if I wanted to shoot either one of them, which I did.

That bigger buck looked like the giant buck I encountered on both the 13th and the 18th.

So, I immediately packed everything up, lowered my bow, climbed down, and took off through the lower CRP field heading due East as quickly as I could, just shy of a slow jog, more of a double pace hike.

Once I reached the small wooded area just prior to the Honeysuckle hedgerow, I started hiking at a regular pace.

After I made it through the Honeysuckle hedgerow and over the small stream, I slowly approached the edge of the 19-acre open cut down CRP field and I didn’t see those bucks anywhere. I estimate from the time I started to pack up, climb down and get to the edge of the field, it took me approximately 5-10 minutes.

I then looked over to the NE and I saw an adult doe standing approximately 100+ yards away, looking into my direction. I immediately got down on my knees, pulled out my binoculars and started glassing the entire area, trying to find where those bucks went to.

After unsuccessfully of not being able to locate those bucks, I then focused my attention on that doe, thinking that I’ll try and put a stalk her instead.

I gathered back up my pack & binoculars, got down as low as I could and headed towards a small dirt mound that was between the doe and I. She was approximately 60+ yards beyond that pile of dirt, and I figured I try to take her from there. I ended up crawling the last 15 yards to get to that dirt mound, staying completely out of her sight, even though she knew something was there, but she was not sure what exactly it was.

Once I made it to the dirt mound, I turned on my bow Tactacam, pulled out my rangefinder and tried to range her through the tall weeds just on the other side of the dirt mound. I successfully ranged her and 60 yards. I planned to get to the North edge of the dirt mound and try to launch an arrow from there, in between the tall weeds and straight into her.

After several minutes of her standing straight towards me, face front, and every once in while she would take a few more steps towards me, but always remaining straight in line with me, she eventually got to about 40 yards of me.

That is when three other antlerless deer stepped out from the main creek wooded shelf area, right behind her.

That is when the doe that I intended to shoot, finally turned almost completely broadside, but still remaining totally focused in my direction.

I knew I was running out of daylight for my camera, so I took the shot while she was facing me, and she definitely saw it coming. Oh yeah, she ‘jumped string’ on me and the arrow went just over her back, missing her completely.

All four of those deer took off, back to the main creek wooded shelf area, just to the North.

So, I decided to walk over to the edge of the main creek wooded shelf area, just West of where those deer went to and waited.

Sure enough, they all of them came back out just minutes later, but much further down, to the East, but turned and started walking straight towards me again.

This time, there were four more antlerless with them and there was still approximately 10 minutes left of legal time, however I really wanted to get the hunt on film, so I just sat there watched them as all of them got within 50 yards of me, trying to figure out where and what the heck I was.

After about 15-20 minutes, they finally left the area, heading East, away from me. That’s when I turned around and headed to the main creek bottom and hiked all they home without disturbing any more deer.

I google mapped measurements of the following:

• Bucks first sighted together, fighting = 260 yards away from my ‘Northern CRP Stand’
• 110 yards of the 7-acre CRP I had hiked through to get to them, plus
• 35 yards of wooded area, plus
• 10 yards of Honeysuckle hedgerow and a small stream that I had to cross to get the edge of the cut down open 19-acre CRP field.

So, for the day, I saw 11 deer and heard one: one unknown, two shooters plus eight antlerless. Only the antlerless deer got to be within bow range, but most during the last few minutes of legal time.

All my CRP hang-on tree-stands are great observation setups. Each of them, including my ‘Western Stand’ allow me to glass vast areas along with other nearby fields. I purposely positioned those setups to allow me to do just what I did this evening, if need be, which is to ‘spot & stalk’.

Well, I finally got my first ‘spot & stalk’ hunt in for this season and I had an absolute blast even though I was not successful.

(If you wish to watch the raw unedited version of the 'spot & stalk' on the adult doe, you're more than welcome to. I will tell you that you will not get to see the deer really and it is 17+ minutes long, right from when I first reached the dirt mound and waited on her to present me a broadside shot at 40 yards. I was running out of daylight and I knew I had to get the shot off soon if I wanted to get it on camera, which I gave it my best to do so.)

I did end up losing my arrow too, even though I have a ‘lumanok’ on it. The ground where the arrow went is soupy/swampy and incredibly soft. I suspect that the arrow buried feet into the ground, never to be found.

I’m glad I found out where the ladies have been hiding out. I previously suspected that was the area they have been holding out at lately because cover is quite limited this time of year and where they came from is super thick and extremely difficult to even walk through.

Tomorrow, I intend to find a location to setup my pop-up ground blind at. Right where I believe those bucks came out from and out into the open cut down 19-acre CRP field. For the morning hunt though, I will be hunting from open ground, hidden someplace near that same area, using the wind to my advantage and hope that I get a repeat from either one of those bucks first thing in the morning.

 

[Wildlife]

Saturday – November 28, 2020 – ‘NO MORE BULLETS’:

This morning I did something I have not done yet this season. I hunted right from the ground, laying up against a dirt mound and some weeds, overlooking the main creek shelf wooded/field edge area, just off the North Ridge.

You're more than welcome to read all about that hunt within the ‘LIVE from the stand 2020-21’ thread. Hyper link below.

LIVE from the stand 2020-21

The following ten photographs basically incapsulates a good buck rub-line that leads straight to the back of my property. They are all in consecutive order from when I left the area that I hunted this morning, which was the open cut down 19-arce CRP field, just off the main creek wooded shelf bank to the East of my home. There were more of them than what I captured on film, but these were the most obvious that stuck out like sore thumbs from the main creek bottom while 'still hunting' home.

This afternoon, I pulled out my old 12-gauge, rifled barreled, Remington 870 Express Magnum Pump Shotgun w/ a collector's edition ‘Bone Collector’ 3x9-40 duplex scope on top and one full box of five of the Brenneke 3”, 1-3/8oz. ‘Black Magic Magnum’ slug cartridges, just to see if it’s still zerod for 100yrds.

All five rounds grouped were within 6”, which is plenty good enough for me.

I do have plenty of the new Brenneke slug cartridges within arsenal, however since the ammunition market is currently in the shitter, who really knows when or if it’ll ever recover. I intend to use the ones that I do have very sparingly. They're great home defensive rounds too!

______________________________________

This evening, I hunted out my ‘Lone Wolf Alpha Stand’ at the SW corner of the lower CRP field, just off the bottom of the South Ridge.

While quietly hiking into the woods, right where I go in at to hunt out of my ‘North Western Stand’, I bumped what I believe was an antlerless deer around 3:15 p.m. I do not know if the deer was bedded right near that stand or was hitting the scrape where PLB #1 is currently laying on the ground just yards away from that tree-stand, but regardless, the deer never blew nor flew its white flag. It just bounded off towards the alfalfa field to the West and from there, who knows where it went.

I got settled in finally at 3:30 p.m. and I didn’t see my next deer until a couple minutes before 5:00 p.m., which was three antlerless deer: two small ones and an adult doe, headed towards the alfalfa field to the West.

Shortly afterwards, roughly five minutes later, another adult doe came from the same area, within the lower CRP field, heading slowly while grazing towards the alfalfa field as well, to the West.

Those four deer came out the lower CRP field just to the North of me, leaving me no real shot opportunity even though they were within bow range. Too many trees between us.

So, I started to glass all the surrounding areas, looking for something with antlers. After a few minutes of not seeing any, I noticed that the antlerless deer within the alfalfa field were running around at full speed. I couldn’t tell if they were being chased or not by any buck, so I quickly packed up, lowered my bow, climbed down and slowly creeped my way back to where I originally came into the woods from, which is near my ‘North Western Stand’, then from there, to the alfalfa field/wooded edge.

Once I got to the field/wooded edge, I glassed the deer that were running around within the field, which there was two more than what I originally first saw. Just to the NW was one of the adults, approximately 40 yards away. She must have heard me make my way to the field/wooded edge because she looked intensely my way in the froze position.

She then slowly worked her way even closer to me and got to be about 30 yards away when she finally winded me. Then blew once, which alerted all the other deer out in the field, which made them all stop to investigate. The doe that blew took off seconds afterwards, towards the middle of the field, past me, heading South, then stopped and looked back towards me again.

All the others immediately grouped up with her, approximately 70-80 yards away, to the South. By that time, it was pretty much quitting time anyways. So, I casually stepped out into the field, which they immediately took off to the opposite side and watched me leave the area, right down through the middle of field and all the way to the road.

They never fled the field though when I finally reached the road under the full moon.

So, inconclusion for the day, I saw a total of 8 antlerless deer and heard what I believe were more within the wooded area of this morning’s hunt.

Tomorrow midafternoon, I have plans on setting up an area for my pop-up ground blind due to the gusty wet weather were supposed to receive on opening deer gun season and the next, which is going to be within the same area that I hunted this morning, right within the 19-acre open cut down CRP field, overlooking the South main wooded creek shelf edge at the bottom of the North Ridge. An extremely super thick cover area where I believe those bigger bucks originally came from along with a large group of does just the other day. It’ll will be setup just within 100 yards of the wooded/field edge, completely downwind. Were supposed to have some strong blistering Northern winds for the first couple of days of gun season, which should work out well for me and keep me out of those horrible weather conditions. It will be basically setup nearly at the lowest point of the entire creek valley, just off the bottom of the North Ridge.

 

[Wildlife]

Monday - December 7, 2020 - 'Deer Gun Week Recap & More:'

Well, I've done another poor job in keeping up with my hunt journal again over the past week and I'm sorry for that for those that have been following along, however I'll try to recap most everything that happened within this post. All I can say is, I had a bunch of fun chasing deer the past eight days and was fortunate enough to harvest a couple of big does that will help fill the freezer and get me through the year.

November 29, 2020 - 'Compound Bow Doe':

Video description:

Tactacam footage: Harvested a doe during the last half hour of legal time from a pop-up ground blind past earlier this afternoon @20yrds. with a 30yrd. recovery. Broadside double lung, through & through shot with a 70lb., 28" draw, Mathews No-Cam compound bow, 350 Carbon Express Red SD arrow with a 100g Chisel Tip Rage two blade broadhead. She has to be one of the biggest does I ever harvested. She's huge!

December 4, 2020 - 'Shotgun Doe':

Video Description:

Tactacam footage: At approximately 10-til 5:00 p.m., a group of antlerless deer came out from the South, headed to the main creek bottom approximately 120 yards away. I took out one of the biggest ones of the group. Another huge doe with a 117 yard heart shot. Recovery was approximately 45 yards. That makes my third deer for the county, which is the bag limit. I'll have to hunt a different county to fill my buck tag.

December 1, 2020 - 'Deer & Turkeys':

Video description:

During the last hour of this evenings hunt, I encountered seven antlerless deer. No antlered deer to be seen. I had wild turkeys that surrounded my ground blind during the same time the video was taken and you will be able to hear them in this video.

'American Bald Eagle' photograph capture from the ground blind on December 2, 2020.

Inconclusion so far for my 2020 deer season, I have approximately 223.5 hours afield with 293 deer sighted and only 35 bucks, averaging 1.3 deer/hour. Nearly 95% of the deer sighted were within bow range. No bucks seen during the entire time throughout gun week. Not sure when I'll get back out but, I hope to be back at it again by mid-week for another archery hunt within Fairfield Co. looking for a good buck to harvest.

Now that I'm all caught up, I'll try to do a better job in keeping my hunt journal current going forward now that gun week is over.
________________________________

The following index below are dated thread post of mine with internet hyper-links that will take you right to them, which covers the course of the past week if anyone wishes to read any of the details behind some of the hunts.

11/29 A.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
11/29 A.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
11/29 P.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
11/29 P.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
11/29 P.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
11/29 P.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
11/29 P.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
11/29 P.M. - 2020/2021 Harvested Deer Only
11/29 P.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21

11/30 A.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
11/30 A.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
11/30 A.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
11/30 P.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
11/30 P.M. - Gun Season 2020

12/01 A.M. - Gun Season 2020
12/01 P.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21

12/02 A.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
12/02 A.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21
12/02 P.M. - LIVE from the stand 2020-21

12/03 A.M. - Gun Season 2020
12/03 A.M. - Gun Season 2020
12/03 A.M. - Gun Season 2020
12/03 P.M. - Gun Season 2020
12/03 P.M. - Gun Season 2020

12/04 A.M. - Gun Season 2020
12/04 P.M. - Gun Season 2020
12/04 P.M. - 2020/2021 Harvested Deer Only

12/05 P.M. - Gun Season 2020

12/06 A.M. - Gun Season 2020
12/06 A.M. - Gun Season 2020
12/06 P.M. - Gun Season 2020
12/06 P.M. - Gun Season 2020

Pressing onward!

 

[Bowkills]

are you actually going to rest today by the stove?

 

[Wildlife]

are you actually going to rest today by the stove?

Not really. Sharpening up my saw chains here very shortly, then heading out to go cut down some more firewood, then I'll rest up by the stove.

 

[Bowkills]

be safe cutting by yourself.

 

[Wildlife]

be safe cutting by yourself.

Roger that, thanks!