I had one hell of a good hunt last night!
ickle:
Like most people, the weather got the best of my hunting this weekend. Saturday morning was a short hunt before the rains let loose and while I caught a break in the weather that evening, I elected to stay home and watch the Buckeyes. Sunday morning was more of the same with the rain and wind driving away at 6AM. So I slept in and went to help a buddy move a stand at lunch. While I was hanging his stand, the rain subsided and the winds slacked just enough to put a spur in my ass to get home and get in a stand. At that point the only issue was where to go! After debating and debating on which farm, and which stand to sit, I decided to go with my tried and true stand at my parents. I have a great view of a CRP field here and it is always the first place I see signs of the rut. It turned out to be the right call!!!
After I got through the gate that separates the cattle pasture and the woods, I spotted two does slipping along the ridge above me. Thanks to the wind and rain, I was able to get in bow range of them before they spotted movement and knew something was fishy. Once they moved off, I started down over the hill towards my food plot and caught motion in the middle of the plot. There stood Ron (or Ric depending on who you ask) feeding on rye grass and acorns...
I was able to slip past him without getting busted and climbed aloft my stand overlooking one of my favorite areas. Within a few minutes, I spotted movement in the food plot again and glassed a button buck. It was less than 20 minutes in to my hunt and I'd already seen 4 deer, not bad for the wind and rain!!! While I was watching the button buck, I spotted a spike feeding under some oaks behind me. For once, the deer were like squirrels!!! The button buck milled around for a while before moving off, but he was soon replaced by a small doe. As I was watching her through the binos, I got that feeling I wasn't alone and turned in time to see a solid buck standing at 30 yards. Sum bitch had come out of nowhere!!!
It didn't take me long to spot the broken G3, the weak brow and lack of mass on his left side, so I elected to pass even though he is a 3.5 year old deer with a right side that really gets your attention. I reached for my phone just as he hopped the ditch below me and let out a deep grunt as he landed. He proceeded to walk right under and past my tree, giving me all the shots I could ever want!
This was him this summer...
He eventually worked downwind of me where he stood for 5 minutes trying to make "sense" of what he was smelling. He finally gave up and worked off towards one of the bedding areas. I actually walked within 30 yards of him on the way out and neither one of us had a clue the other was there until I turned to shut the gate!!!
Right as I was starting to climb down, I spotted movement in the CRP and it turned out to be a small buck, so I decided to mess with him. I hit the doe bleat and he stopped on a dime and came straight to the tree!!! I couldn't help but screw with him at that point!!! (Where he is standing when the video starts is right where the big buck came across.) All in all, it was a great night to be in the woods!!!
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Antlerless Sightings: 17
Bucks Sightings: 10
Different Bucks: 9
Shooters Seen: 3
Total Sightings: 27
Deer Killed: 0
Deer in Bow Range: 10
Morning Hunts: 3
Evening Hunts: 6
All Day Sits: 0
Skunked Hunts: 0
Total Hunts: 9
Hours on Stand: 18.5
Average Time Per Hunt: 2 hours and 3 minutes.
Deer Seen Per Hour on Stand: 1.46
Stands/Blinds Hunted: 5
Properties Hunted: 3