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2022 Muzzleloader Season

Wildlife

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,396
191
Ross County
giles said:
Just sharing my story and experiences like you asked. Good luck next week. I'd tag whatever was legal to keep the property owner happy. Good luck
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Sorry Dave for the delayed response. I was headed out the door to get to the other farm when I made my last post on here. I just got back from there a little bit ago.

I do appreciate completely your sharing with me and I hope that you understand that I do consider myself to be a novice muzzy hunter.

Being that this year's muzzy season is like a week later than the last and the current weather forecast for next weekend for the location I will be hunting currently predicts possible snow, I just wasn't sure how often shed bucks actually get shot during muzzy seasons, if at all. I realized earlier this morning before I posted the questions that it could possibly happen with the kind of hunting arrangement I planned on setting up once again this year along with not having a real good idea of local herd history is like I do at home and/or the experience of hunting this late into the deer season with a rifle rather than being in a tree with my bow like I am more used to doing. I just wasn't sure how a harvested shed deer gets checked into the DOW system and now I know.

Anyhow, I'm now done with 'Part I' of setting up my muzzy hunting area. 'Part II' will happen this Thursday, setting up my pop-up ground blind behind the little Cedar Tree facing out to the East towards the golden corn that I laid out and the big pines behind that.

Thursday's predicted weather forecast is calling for freezing rain/snow mix and I will have to do a little clean up, getting rid of some tree deadfall around the spot I wish to put my blind in and then knock down some taller weeds just inside the field so I can see beyond it towards one of the main deer trails that leads in and out of the picked soy-bean field.

Friday and Saturday's weather forecasts, if holds true should be ideal for this planned setup. Mild winds are supposed to be out of the NW with cloudy overcast and possible snow flurries both days. The temps for Friday are bitter cold and Saturday's remain around the freezing mark. Sunday the 9th, calling for a chance of rain with temps in the mid 40s.

I truly hope to be finished with my deer season come Saturday morning.

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Side note:

Before I left the property this evening, the owner asked for some help, which I was more than happy to do. They bought a brand new microwave range for their kitchen because their old one gave them fits. I ended up carrying their new one in the house from their vehicle, pulled out the old and installed the new one for them. The owners are quite elderly and this is just another example where I help them whenever they need it. I'm grateful that I can do these kinds of things for them and I totally appreciation them in allowing me to hunt on their land. Just super duper good folks and I treat them as if they were of my own family! I've known them for at least 15 years, both are retired and continue to remain in their beautiful home since the early 70's.
 
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whitetailjunky3

whitetailjunky3

Junior Member
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Have to work this weekend but after looking at the weather from Saturday thru Tuesday put in comp days for Monday and Tuesday! Looks like the weather will be great!
 
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Hedgelj

Hedgelj

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Mohicanish
I'll be out Monday or Tuesday, the weekend is shot with kid stuff and my best friends birthday party.

TC Omega Z7 with a leupold 1.25-4 fire dot scope. Shooting Blackhorn 209, mmp sabots and 240 gr xtp mags. It does well for me.

Wildlife said:
I didn't want to create a whole new thread for these questions, which I hope that's okay with you all.

Has anyone ever shot a shed buck thinking it was a big doe? If so, would you mind sharing your story?

Does this type of scenario happen more often than not, and did the deer get put into the DOW system as a buck with an antler less than 3"?

I don't recall seeing such a discussion over recent years and I did not attempt to go searching for one either.

I've only hunted the very late deer season two times before, which were the last two deer seasons and this year will be my third. I'd like to get a better understanding or some clarification regarding this type of scenario, thanks!
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When we did drives it happened about once a season. Generally it was a "big doe".

I've also seen a big buck get shot, land, and the antlers fall off.
 
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Hedgelj

Hedgelj

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Mohicanish
My concern is this. I kinda want some more meat but it's not a necessity. However we've taken a lot of deer off the farm in the last two years.

Drive around the farm between 5-6 and you see very few if any deer in the fields. Drive on the next roads over or on the 12 minute drive to my son's basketball practice and I'll count 10-20+.

I'm worried that they just aren't there. I'm only going to shoot a smaller doe or a big buck so.....
 
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Bigcountry40

Bigcountry40

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Hedgelj said:
My concern is this. I kinda want some more meat but it's not a necessity. However we've taken a lot of deer off the farm in the last two years.

Drive around the farm between 5-6 and you see very few if any deer in the fields. Drive on the next roads over or on the 12 minute drive to my son's basketball practice and I'll count 10-20+.

I'm worried that they just aren't there. I'm only going to shoot a smaller doe or a big buck so.....
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If you are concerned about your doe population, drive 5 minutes down the road to Mohican or an hour to woodbury, I have hunted both for muzzy and they were ghost towns, I had an opportunitty to shoot does in Mohican but there was like 6 inches of snow and I just followed tracks.
 
hickslawns

hickslawns

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Ohio
@Hedgelj if this were my property and my concern I would stay out. Could be they are yarding up on other properties with greener pastures. Could be better cover, better food, or less pressure. Maybe a combination of the three? Just thoughts. I might be totally off.
 
Hedgelj

Hedgelj

Senior Member
Supporting Member
8,610
202
Mohicanish
hickslawns said:
@Hedgelj if this were my property and my concern I would stay out. Could be they are yarding up on other properties with greener pastures. Could be better cover, better food, or less pressure. Maybe a combination of the three? Just thoughts. I might be totally off.
Click to expand...
I think I'm going to slowly stalk around with the intention of using it as scouting for current bedding areas and in use trails.

We definitely have a deficiency in cover so after the crops come down the numbers decrease. I'm actively working on improving that but it's a process.
 
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Wildlife

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,396
191
Ross County
All set for Saturday morning Muzzy Opener!

I left for the other farm shortly before noon with my pickup bed loaded with hunting gear, some hand power tools and more whole corn.

20220106_111811.jpg


I arrived at the planned hunting location at 12:30 p.m. and begin the 'Part II' phase of cleanup in order to setup my pop-up ground blind. I started off by cutting up the tree deadfall first while my weedeater was warming up. I used the chainsaw to drop the tree's bigger limbs below my shooting lane/view. After that, I grabbed the weedeather and knocked down the taller weeds just inside the ag field so I can see towards the area where deer generally go and come from within the woods, and then whatever other weeds & debris within the area for the blind to be set at.

20220106_124559.jpg


As I was doing that, I noticed that the little Cedar Tree had a nice buck tree rub on it that wasn't there last year when I first hunted from this very spot. Just another showing example of how much bucks truly love to rub on Cedar Trees.

20220106_125214.jpg


Then I set the blind in place, staked and tied it down just in case we were to get more snow than what was forecasted.

20220106_133023.jpg


Then I went ahead and set the chair and Tri-pod in up right afterwards, making sure I won't have to fuss with either of them come earlier Saturday morning in the dark. I also made sure too that I could view the areas I wanted to on Saturday before I started to pack up my tools and head for the truck.

20220106_132537.jpg


After that, I went and checked the status of the corn I laid out last Sunday and saw that the deer pretty much polished off nearly the entire 100lbs. I put out.

So, I hiked back to the truck with the my tools inside my toboggan, placed those tools back inside the bed of the truck, grabbed the 100lbs. of corn that I brought, plus my old hand spreader, turned back around and headed back to the area where I first laid out corn last Sunday.

Once I completed replenishing the area with corn, I took a quick snapshot of the area I expect the deer to be come Saturday morning at some point.

(My blind is right behind the smallest Cedar Tree to the left within the photograph below just beyond the knocked down yellow tall weeds.)
20220106_133116.jpg


Last year during my last muzzy hunt, just after I shot a doe, two more deer came out from beyond the finger point area, headed SE through the ag field towards the woods. As you can see below, my blind is fairly well hidden just inside the wooded finger area just in case any deer were to come into the area from behind me and round the point of the wooded finger, just like last year. I believe they will have a difficult time seeing my blind if it happens again.

(The photograph below was taken from the end of the wooded finger looking right towards my blind.)
20220106_133241.jpg


As I was working and hiking throughout those areas I needed to be, I definitely noticed plenty of fresh deer tracks, most are new since I walked the area last Sunday.

(Below is small portion of fresh deer tracks next to the wooded finger and near my blind.)
20220106_140149.jpg


Finally, I checked both the weather and wind forecasts for this Saturday and the rest of the entire muzzy days. If these conditions come to fruition, then I should have a real good Saturday morning. Fingers crossed!

20220108weatherforecast.jpg


Side note:

I was completed with all the hunting stuff and back at my truck by 2:00 p.m. and it hadn't snowed yet. I ended up doing some minor kitchen carpentry work for the property owner for the new microwave range I installed for them last Sunday. By the time I completed that work and left the property at 3:15 p.m., it just started to snow. By the time I reached home, the snow began to accumulate on the ground. According to the weather forecast, the estimated snow amount for this evening is supposed to be 1 inch at most.
___________________________________________________

I'm now waiting patiently for Muzzleloader Season 2022!
 
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