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2017 Phil's hunting journal
- Thread starter hickslawns
- Start date
NWOHhunter
Junior Member
Sounds like your closing in!! When ever you see deer and get to interact with them its a win!(decoy)
Thursday morning I got a hunt in. Underestimated the wind. Felt like a big sally out there. I was ready to wimp out after 30 minutes. lmao Sat there questioning why the heck I was there. Tried to talk myself into making it an early morning camera card swapping trip. 744am had a young buck pass at 56yds. Watched him head south. He fed a little and sniffed the ground in a specific area which made me wonder whether there may be a hot doe in the area. Lost sight of him after maybe 5 minutes and turned to see another 1.5yr old doing the same as he did. Only difference being this guy crossed at 20yds. He continued south and I spied a yearling doe heading north. Figured the first buck harassed her and made her decide to move. She passed and I sat another 20min or so and decided I'd had enough of the wind. Must be getting soft as my years increase. 2hr hunt. 3 deer seen. Not too bad at all.
Hours hunted: 2
Deer seen: 3
Season totals:
Hunts: 17 (8 morning, 8 evening, 1 all day sit)
Hours on stand: 55.5hrs
Deer seen: 65
Deer in bow range: 20
Hours hunted: 2
Deer seen: 3
Season totals:
Hunts: 17 (8 morning, 8 evening, 1 all day sit)
Hours on stand: 55.5hrs
Deer seen: 65
Deer in bow range: 20
Took Garrett out last Sunday. Already shared that story. About 1.5-2hrs and he couldn't hold back on a button buck. I wasn't going to tell him no.
Hours hunted: 2
Deer seen: 4
In bow range: 3
Hanging with Garrett's tag on them? 1
Today I had everything go screwy. Got out late. Skipped smoking up. Wanted to hunt my blind to observe. Blind had moved. Appears to have been ripped out of the ground by the weather. I need to get some rebar rather than the "stakes" they provide. Headed over to a stand. Hated hunting the stand without a harness but didn't wear it in since I had intended on hunting the blind. Oh well. I'm alive to write about it. Saw zero deer. Swapped a card, re-secured the blind, and headed back home.
Hours hunted: 2.5
Deer seen: zip
Season totals:
Hunts: 19 (10 morning, 8 evening, 1 all day sit)
Hours on stand: 60hrs
Deer seen: 69
Deer in bow range: 23
Hours hunted: 2
Deer seen: 4
In bow range: 3
Hanging with Garrett's tag on them? 1
Today I had everything go screwy. Got out late. Skipped smoking up. Wanted to hunt my blind to observe. Blind had moved. Appears to have been ripped out of the ground by the weather. I need to get some rebar rather than the "stakes" they provide. Headed over to a stand. Hated hunting the stand without a harness but didn't wear it in since I had intended on hunting the blind. Oh well. I'm alive to write about it. Saw zero deer. Swapped a card, re-secured the blind, and headed back home.
Hours hunted: 2.5
Deer seen: zip
Season totals:
Hunts: 19 (10 morning, 8 evening, 1 all day sit)
Hours on stand: 60hrs
Deer seen: 69
Deer in bow range: 23
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15 minutes into opening day of gun season you may be wondering why you spend so much time bow hunting! Hang with it.
lmao
Worked out about that way last year except it was the last day of the season. Not sure I hunted until the last 2 days. 30min on Saturday until my buddy shot one and I got down. Then for a little bit on Sunday morning until I killed that droptine buck. I'm pretty much ready to shoot a deer at 2000fps rather than 300fps. Looking forward to throwing the orange on. Don't usually feel that way. Right now I feel that way and I won't lie about it. ha
Gordo
Senior Member
I'm with you there buddy. Looking forward to dusting off the boom stick next week
I couldn't sleep last night. I was like a kid before Christmas. 701 I heard my first shot probably over a mile to the west of me. Maybe 730 I heard 2 shots fairly close with a 2-3 second pause and 2 more. They were maybe 1/2-1 mile east of me. I was beginning to think maybe I chose my spot poorly. I really wanted to sit on the ground in this area to see how the deer were moving thru. They have been exiting to the west a hundred yards or so nearly every night. I figured they had to be bedding in there somewhere close. Then I saw a deer followed by 2 more. I'm not shooting a single mature doe with 2 of this year's fawns. But then I see 2 more and they appear to be mature does as well. Hmmm. . . .Up to six deer with 4 being mature does? Nah. I better pass. So I am watching and they are moving west to east at maybe 75yds. The first 2-3 clear a fence and I'm reaching for my binoculars to see if there are any bucks in the background. The lead doe was huge and busted me. Nothing crazy. Just some head bobbing thru the fence as she turned to move closer to me. Doe number 5 sees the lead doe and decided to be a real tattle tale. She stomps and head bobs. Then she proceeds closer to me. I have her in the sights of the scope the whole time thinking "Just leave!" Another mature doe with a head like a horse is next to her and they are coming closer to me. Ol' Big Head doesn't seemed bothered by me at all even though she appears to be larger, older, and more experienced. After 5 minutes or so of this they turn and decide to head back where they came from. Every second step or so she would stop and blow, turn and stomp at me, and generally be an annoying twit. She was the only one blowing and acting this way. I should have let her be but at this point I remembered thinking last night "Don't get greedy. If you have a shot at a decent doe, the freezer is getting low on meat." What better way to fill the freezer than reach out to a loud mouthed doe with the Savage? I squeezed one round off when she stopped again to turn and head bob/stomp at me. She took off and I heard her crash before any of the others cleared the area. There ended up being 8 total in the group as they exited. Well, only 7 of the 8 exited. lmao
I didn't even go look for her. I knew the shot was money. I turned and jumped in the truck for home. Fresh coffee, changed clothes, loaded a quad on the trailer, and went back. Looked like a massacre. Two tufts of fur on impact. Looked like she had open red paint cans on either side of her as she ran the 20-30yds to her death. Accutip out of the Savage 220 is a fantastic combination. One lung and the back half of her heart was taken out.
Hours hunted: 1.5
Deer seen: 8
Tags filled: 1
Got her taken care of. Went and got a lease signed and tenant put in an empty house. Came home and napped 45min. Then my phone rang. Chatted with a buddy and decided to print off another tag and head back out. I have a spot I have been seeing deer but they are out of bow range. They are crossing an open field. Access is quick and quiet. Decided to tuck in behind an old tractor that has sort of become a barnyard ornament. 10yds of grass to the edge of the picked bean field from where I was sitting. 200yds to the back edge of the bean field where it meets a strip of woods bordering a meandering creek. Fence rows on either side of the beans. CRP to the left. Standing corn and CRP type ground to the right. Just a great little spot. Were it not for a new house going up 100yds behind me or so, it would be even better. Even so, with excavators working while I was hunting, the deer still came out. When an engine fired up or they banged the deer would stop and stare my way for a minute then go back to their nibbling. They had to run a tile while the beans were standing. This leaves a cleared path where the dozer went thru and a strip of beans 15yds wide the combine couldn't pick. Had a doe come out and gorge herself at 200yds for a long time. That was 430pm. Later had another peak her head out and saw another thru the woods maybe 250yds out. Majority of my sit I watched 2 does eat beans at 150-200yds. Ran out of daylight and snuck out.
Evening hunt:
Hours hunted: 1hr 45min
Deer seen: 3
Season totals:
Hunts: 21 (11 morning, 9 evening, 1 all day sit)
Hours on stand: 63.25 hrs
Deer seen: 80
Deer in bow range: 23
I didn't even go look for her. I knew the shot was money. I turned and jumped in the truck for home. Fresh coffee, changed clothes, loaded a quad on the trailer, and went back. Looked like a massacre. Two tufts of fur on impact. Looked like she had open red paint cans on either side of her as she ran the 20-30yds to her death. Accutip out of the Savage 220 is a fantastic combination. One lung and the back half of her heart was taken out.
Hours hunted: 1.5
Deer seen: 8
Tags filled: 1
Got her taken care of. Went and got a lease signed and tenant put in an empty house. Came home and napped 45min. Then my phone rang. Chatted with a buddy and decided to print off another tag and head back out. I have a spot I have been seeing deer but they are out of bow range. They are crossing an open field. Access is quick and quiet. Decided to tuck in behind an old tractor that has sort of become a barnyard ornament. 10yds of grass to the edge of the picked bean field from where I was sitting. 200yds to the back edge of the bean field where it meets a strip of woods bordering a meandering creek. Fence rows on either side of the beans. CRP to the left. Standing corn and CRP type ground to the right. Just a great little spot. Were it not for a new house going up 100yds behind me or so, it would be even better. Even so, with excavators working while I was hunting, the deer still came out. When an engine fired up or they banged the deer would stop and stare my way for a minute then go back to their nibbling. They had to run a tile while the beans were standing. This leaves a cleared path where the dozer went thru and a strip of beans 15yds wide the combine couldn't pick. Had a doe come out and gorge herself at 200yds for a long time. That was 430pm. Later had another peak her head out and saw another thru the woods maybe 250yds out. Majority of my sit I watched 2 does eat beans at 150-200yds. Ran out of daylight and snuck out.
Evening hunt:
Hours hunted: 1hr 45min
Deer seen: 3
Season totals:
Hunts: 21 (11 morning, 9 evening, 1 all day sit)
Hours on stand: 63.25 hrs
Deer seen: 80
Deer in bow range: 23
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Up early and settled in 30min before shooting light. Had 2 does move thru before legal light. Excavators showed up to work on the property. They happened to be working 20yds away from where I was sitting. Moved to a stand. Saw another deer while I was chatting with the excavator just before heading to that stand. Got in the stand and Mom text me to tell me she had no hot water. Wasn't meant to be. Saw 2 more does. Waited until 915-930 and got down. Swapped a card on my way out. Took care of mom. Checked the card. Grabbed lunch. Did a drive to see if there were any other hunters out and if the deer were moving on another property. See a truck pulled over along road by my other location. There was a good one in an open field with a yearling doe. He was claiming 165. Not seeing it. Darn nice deer though.
Morning sit: 3hrs
Deer seen: 3
So I rush home to change again and grab my stuff. I was going to put the stalk on but he wasn't in that field anymore. I called a buddy who hunts the neighboring property. He was on his way out there. We chatted and I decided to take a long walk around the woods to a stand I felt the buck may run by if my buddy bumped him. Well, that didn't happen. I did bump a buck doing my walk but he was a dink. Got settled into my stand. Dean got settled in and bumped something but couldn't see what it was. He ended up seeing a doe and button buck. I saw the big boy and doe but they were probably 500-1000yds away crossing another open field. I'm thinking instead of the buck getting bumped to the west he made a bee line to the south. Well dang. So much for that plan. Was hoping one of us would get a shot at him. I did end up seeing a doe. Decided to make a move. If the buck went south. . . I needed to go south too. Long shot. Slim chances. Only option I had to increase my odds was to get as close to him as possible and hope he came out of the woods to the south where he headed. I did see 3 more does on a property to the south. They headed east. Then came back west with 2 friends. I decided to wait until dark and then make the 1/2 mile trek back to the truck. Just before dark I saw a pair of does come out at 170yds. They were followed by a pair of young bucks who proceeded to scrap and then eventually both followed the does. I slid out of there and swapped the last camera card on my way back to the truck.
Hours hunted: 4.25
Deer seen: 13
Season totals:
Hunts: 23 (12 morning, 10 evening, 1 all day sit)
Hours on stand: 70.5 hrs
Deer seen: 96
Deer in bow range: 23
Morning sit: 3hrs
Deer seen: 3
So I rush home to change again and grab my stuff. I was going to put the stalk on but he wasn't in that field anymore. I called a buddy who hunts the neighboring property. He was on his way out there. We chatted and I decided to take a long walk around the woods to a stand I felt the buck may run by if my buddy bumped him. Well, that didn't happen. I did bump a buck doing my walk but he was a dink. Got settled into my stand. Dean got settled in and bumped something but couldn't see what it was. He ended up seeing a doe and button buck. I saw the big boy and doe but they were probably 500-1000yds away crossing another open field. I'm thinking instead of the buck getting bumped to the west he made a bee line to the south. Well dang. So much for that plan. Was hoping one of us would get a shot at him. I did end up seeing a doe. Decided to make a move. If the buck went south. . . I needed to go south too. Long shot. Slim chances. Only option I had to increase my odds was to get as close to him as possible and hope he came out of the woods to the south where he headed. I did see 3 more does on a property to the south. They headed east. Then came back west with 2 friends. I decided to wait until dark and then make the 1/2 mile trek back to the truck. Just before dark I saw a pair of does come out at 170yds. They were followed by a pair of young bucks who proceeded to scrap and then eventually both followed the does. I slid out of there and swapped the last camera card on my way back to the truck.
Hours hunted: 4.25
Deer seen: 13
Season totals:
Hunts: 23 (12 morning, 10 evening, 1 all day sit)
Hours on stand: 70.5 hrs
Deer seen: 96
Deer in bow range: 23
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I so admire your discipline in keeping up this journal and keeping track of the hunts. :smiley_coolpeace:
