Thanks to averting a minor crisis at work this morning, I was able to get back in time to check cams tonight. Little did I know I'd be setting myself up for a kick in the Johnson...
When it came time for Sunday afternoons hunt, I decided against going to my stand on Hippie Ridge for two reasons. To start with, it had been 10 days since I had pictures of Moe in that area. Secondly, I found some big tracks and droppings near one of the few producing oaks on this ridge while walking in to Hippie Ridge. I felt the stand I had hung Friday would be a great place to catch Moe cruising later in the month, so I wanted to sit it that night. The plan was to get the Millennium bracket adjusted and double check all my lanes since we didn't get that done Friday. It was a good hunt, but it wasn't what I could have had...
The does I saw Sunday night were on edge and now I know why. At 6:08, the doe started looking back towards my sanctuary and she disappeared in the next series of pictures. It becomes apparent why she was nervous in the next series of pics. And it was also a punch in the gut. He is perfectly broadside at 41 steps right here...
And he had a long lost friend in tow...
One good thing about the encounter, is that he left in the direction I moved the camera tonight. I also picked out a south wind stand site on out the ridge. He is coming from my sanctuary and heading west out the ridge towards standing corn and a clover field. The next camera check should confirm that...
When I finished moving that camera, I headed over to the new stand site to pull both cams on that logging road. I had to leave one because I lost a key, but I noticed a fresh rub line and scrape within 50 yards of this stand. Both licking branches were the size of a Slim Jim or better. There were several big tracks and dropping directly under the last producing red oak on that ridge. (Timber harvest left nothing in the oak family over 12"...) I am positive it was his work considering this is the same ridge he was working last year when I saw him during late October.
The next stop was the new camera location in our creek bottom. The three hunts I saw Moe last year, he was working off Hippie Ridge via a subtle funnel I had never noticed. This camera is placed where that funnel dumps in to the creek bottom. I have stands lining the creek bottom like a gauntlet based on what I had seen last year. However, this camera has been SLOW for three weeks until Saturday around 1:30AM. (The date is wrong. I have an issue with this cam, but it is still taking pics, so I deal with the date being off since the time is good...)
It was great to see Jack again as well. Over the weekend, these two put on a show down there. I am incredibly please with how well Jack turned out and I'm not so sure I wouldn't shoot him given the opportunity. He's a great deer and I have built my story, so he fits the mold of what I want to accomplish. I feel I'd be a little greedy to let him walk. Moe on the other hand, well he's doing exactly what he did last fall. With the warm weather ahead, my cams will do the hunting. Come the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd, it will be time to use all this recon to get the job done...
Oh, and a new buck showed up that has some promise. I think this is a deer that I had pics of last year...
And one last thing. They say to hunt the does and since we've mowed this bottom, they have been tearing it up...
When it came time for Sunday afternoons hunt, I decided against going to my stand on Hippie Ridge for two reasons. To start with, it had been 10 days since I had pictures of Moe in that area. Secondly, I found some big tracks and droppings near one of the few producing oaks on this ridge while walking in to Hippie Ridge. I felt the stand I had hung Friday would be a great place to catch Moe cruising later in the month, so I wanted to sit it that night. The plan was to get the Millennium bracket adjusted and double check all my lanes since we didn't get that done Friday. It was a good hunt, but it wasn't what I could have had...
The does I saw Sunday night were on edge and now I know why. At 6:08, the doe started looking back towards my sanctuary and she disappeared in the next series of pictures. It becomes apparent why she was nervous in the next series of pics. And it was also a punch in the gut. He is perfectly broadside at 41 steps right here...
And he had a long lost friend in tow...
One good thing about the encounter, is that he left in the direction I moved the camera tonight. I also picked out a south wind stand site on out the ridge. He is coming from my sanctuary and heading west out the ridge towards standing corn and a clover field. The next camera check should confirm that...
When I finished moving that camera, I headed over to the new stand site to pull both cams on that logging road. I had to leave one because I lost a key, but I noticed a fresh rub line and scrape within 50 yards of this stand. Both licking branches were the size of a Slim Jim or better. There were several big tracks and dropping directly under the last producing red oak on that ridge. (Timber harvest left nothing in the oak family over 12"...) I am positive it was his work considering this is the same ridge he was working last year when I saw him during late October.
The next stop was the new camera location in our creek bottom. The three hunts I saw Moe last year, he was working off Hippie Ridge via a subtle funnel I had never noticed. This camera is placed where that funnel dumps in to the creek bottom. I have stands lining the creek bottom like a gauntlet based on what I had seen last year. However, this camera has been SLOW for three weeks until Saturday around 1:30AM. (The date is wrong. I have an issue with this cam, but it is still taking pics, so I deal with the date being off since the time is good...)
It was great to see Jack again as well. Over the weekend, these two put on a show down there. I am incredibly please with how well Jack turned out and I'm not so sure I wouldn't shoot him given the opportunity. He's a great deer and I have built my story, so he fits the mold of what I want to accomplish. I feel I'd be a little greedy to let him walk. Moe on the other hand, well he's doing exactly what he did last fall. With the warm weather ahead, my cams will do the hunting. Come the weekend of the 22nd and 23rd, it will be time to use all this recon to get the job done...
Oh, and a new buck showed up that has some promise. I think this is a deer that I had pics of last year...
And one last thing. They say to hunt the does and since we've mowed this bottom, they have been tearing it up...
