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Live from the stand 2021/22

TinyTucky

Active Member
953
70
The Flatlands
In the stand. At the property where I “passed” that super wide 8 a couple weeks ago. Haven’t pulled any cards or anything in over a week here. May be totally dead or the complete opposite. Stiffer W wind than anticipated, and I am definitely under dressed. 40° isn’t as warm as I thought it would be haha. Gonna sit till 10 or so then run to the other properties to pull cards and assess the situation, I would sit longer but my fiancé snd I have to get our marriage license done today- ready for sll that to be over with lol. Good luck to anyone else out.
 

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,396
191
Ross County
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Mornin!

Rutting is still happening in my neck of the woods. Witnessed a good buck @7:30, nose to the ground, cut across an open area to the NW of me @70yrds, then over the ridge he goes, down to a well known major bedding area just NW of me.

Shorty after, two antlerless deer came flying from that direction, right up to me @15yrds, standing there all freaked out. Finally left after several minutes, headed further East.

Then 5 minutes later, two big does come from North, off the big hill, cross the small creek at the bottom of the North Ridge that I'm huntin today right on top, and they too were on alert, looking back and not knowing where to turn to next. They just finally left.

Temps are steadily falling and looks like there's going to be a break in the rain here real soon.

I'm in the middle of multiple bedding areas, just waiting on more to pop out.

5 so far and expecting more .
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Good luck to whomever is huntin today!
 

Bowkills

Well-Known Member
2,577
85
Nw oh
Herd Age structure and pressure matter where ur at very false to assume old big bucks are on their feet breeding doe after doe during daylight that get hunted regularly. Staying alive is more important than reproduction as they age i believe. The 2.5-4.5yr olds do most of the daylight breeding here. Big Mature deer slip up and get caught on a hot doe out in the open during daylight and you can see they dont want to be there. The younger breeder bucks dont give two shits where and when it happens, and theres a big difference the way they act on lockdown 2 to 4 yrs of age. Rut seemed the same as last year. Alot of it was hidden with the corn standing late. Big boys always show up near the end and second cycle not sure if its the last does to breed or alot of the competition has been killed. This is just what ive seen over the years.
 

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,396
191
Ross County
Deer report follow up of yesterday's both morning and evening hunts.

6 in the morning, one being a good buck. 4 within bow range.

6 in the evening, one being a good buck. 5 within bow range.

While hiking back home under the moonlight, I had an encounter with a wildlife species that I have never seen before in Ohio first hand. I though it was a young coyote at first. I was about to shoot it as it was coming straight to me. The animal got within 10 yards of me as I let out a squeak noise with my lips, which it stopped immediately, turned sideways. That's when I hit the animal with my headlamp while taking aim with the bow. To my surprise, I quickly realized that I was looking at a beautiful mature Grey Fox rather than a young coyote. I immediately backed off on the bow, and the fox simply walked away as if it didn't have a care in the world. I don't think it knew what I was really. It was a rather cool encounter. I was downwind of him the entire time and seen him coming down along the creek approximately 50 yards up ahead of me when I first spotted it coming towards me.
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Now for today's deer report:

I started off hunting out of my 'Northwestern Stand' As soon as it became legal time, the West wind picked right up, higher than what was originally forecasted. I climbed down quite early due to the fact that tree is truly unsafe now to hunt out of and most likely damaged more severally over the summer storms, perhaps during both of the two different tornados that came through previously within the year. There are several other down trees all around it as well.

Anyhow, around 7:00 a.m., while still in the stand, I spotted two deer along the Lower CRP filed to the East, very much below me, approximately 70-90 yards away. One headed towards my home, and the other headed towards the top of the South Ridge, to the cup area of the South upper field.

I thought I'd attempt to put a stalk on that deer headed South, which was a large bodied deer, last seen at 7:10 a.m., just before it walked into the thick honeysuckles.

The rest of this morning's hunt, I documented with photographs and created a short video of the still hunt, the recon, plus trying to find another tree for me to relocate 'Northwestern Stand' hang-on to.

Hope you all enjoy, and best of luck to all those that are hunting today!
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Video description:

First annual 'Still Hunt' of the 2021/22 deer hunting season. Due to the higher wind speed than what was forecasted, I climbed down early because the tree that I was hunting out of is one that I no longer trust. It has been severally damaged by the two different tornado storms that occurred over the previous summer, with several other trees surrounding it that are also down over the recent summer. Earlier, I spotted two deer right along the lower CRP field between 7 & 7:10 a.m. approximately 90 yards away, the second one being a large bodied deer that I suspected it of being a good buck, but I was not certain. Once down on the ground, I knocked an arrow and took off, headed SE through the South field towards the cup area, which was the direction that deer was originally headed about a half hour earlier. Along the way I also gathered as much intelligence as I could regarding fresh deer signs, and all the while looking for another tree for my 'Northwestern Stand' to be relocated to. All the photographs are in chronological order by timestamp as I continued making a large loop of the area that I hunt primarily nearest to my home. I did discover several deer scrapes within the South field, right along the field/wooded edge. Once I started to cut through the wooded area at the very back of the South field, I came upon a very fresh deer scrape that I believe was made within hours of my discovering it. As I continued onward, back up the South Ridge, through some extremely thick honeysuckle patches, I heard some movement. I stopped right in the middle of that patch, knelt down and tried to see if I could see legs of a deer, which I did. The deer was within 20 yards of me, standing there, facing my direction, coming down the same path the I was going up on. Seconds later, the deer blew, turned around and bound off. I believe it was a real good buck and his steps sounded quite heavy as he left the area. Once I got down to the bottom of the South Ridge and into the Lower CRP field, I tried to look for that deer with my binoculars or any deer movement, which I did not see any. It took me longer than what I tried to do to get to the bottom of that ridge. BTW, this is the first time that the Lower CRP field, nearest to my home as ever been cut down. I have not hunted out any of the two CRP tree-stands yet this season, but I will be rather soon, especially now after seeing the two deer within it this morning from my 'Northwestern Stand'. So, I continued onward, turning towards the adjacent and much larger CRP field to the East. That is the field that I often setup a ground blind for deer gun season, and I do a couple of sets for coyote hunting as well during the winter months when the field is cut down, like it is now. I continued to travel North to the main creek bottom, and then turn West, headed to my home. Along the way, I took several photographs of Buck tree rubs that are always there each year, at the very same spots and locations. My 'Northern CRP Stand' and my climber is located on each side of the main creek. The climber being on top of the North Ridge, right above the creek shelf. The buck tree rubs lead to major bedding area, which my 'Northern CRP Stand' is just West by about 35-40 yards of the most popular for the bigger bucks. The video concludes with me arriving at the back of my property, which the feed station is located on the West side of the main creek, just off the creek bank. There are a ton of buck tree rubs that surround the feed station area along with a few deer scrapes as well. I was done with my morning still hunt by 9:30 a.m. on 11/19/2021

 
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