Phil's 2016 Journal
- Thread starter hickslawns
- Start date
Sat until 9am when the farmer came in to load up some logs from the trees he has been trimming back off the field. Saw 4 slick heads anywhere from 100-300yds away in the next field over. They were nibbling on the cut corn and headed into a thicket I often see deer enter/exit. No hunting allowed there. Oh well. Seeing 4 deer a good ways off is better than nothing. Life could be much worse.
Hours hunted: 2.25hrs
Deer seen: 4
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 69
Deer seen: 70
Hours hunted: 2.25hrs
Deer seen: 4
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 69
Deer seen: 70
Last edited:
Missed a hunt in the journal. Hunted the 17th. Saw nothing.
Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: none
Had an awesome hunt with Garrett this morning for youth weekend. He had one in the cross hairs, safety was off, elected not to shoot as he was waiting on a buck, and later regrets it. lmao
To hunt from the ground, have both of us within 50-60yds of a couple deer, AND not get busted. . . About as good and fun as it gets for a dad!
645-11am hunt. Cold. Windy. Spitting snow pellets off and on. Hunted from a stand initially, then from the ground. Still hunted. Made a couple makeshift ground blinds. Had a blast!
Hours hunted: 4.25
Deer seen: 2
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 76.25
Deer seen: 72
Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: none
Had an awesome hunt with Garrett this morning for youth weekend. He had one in the cross hairs, safety was off, elected not to shoot as he was waiting on a buck, and later regrets it. lmao
To hunt from the ground, have both of us within 50-60yds of a couple deer, AND not get busted. . . About as good and fun as it gets for a dad!
645-11am hunt. Cold. Windy. Spitting snow pellets off and on. Hunted from a stand initially, then from the ground. Still hunted. Made a couple makeshift ground blinds. Had a blast!
Hours hunted: 4.25
Deer seen: 2
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 76.25
Deer seen: 72
Garrett and I made it out for the last two hours of the day. Had a huge vantage point. We could see a long way and down 3 field edges. One borders a creek. The other two are larger woods. We were along the creek at a nice pinch point. We saw absolutely nothing. Got up with 10 minutes of light left and glassed the field. Saw nothing. Told Garrett "Let's try something." We moved to where we could see another 2 fields on the other side of the creek. We glassed up and down both wood lines. North to south we could see a mile. Didn't see a deer moving. Frustrating but enjoyable nonetheless. We swapped 3 camera cards on the way out. Looks like we should have been in there last weekend. Saw two deer in the corn stubble on the way out. One was a large bodied deer. Couldn't tell if it had antlers or not. There is a mega doe in there. Could have been her.
Hours hunted: 2
Deer seen: Zilch
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 78.25
Deer seen: 72
Hours hunted: 2
Deer seen: Zilch
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 78.25
Deer seen: 72
Never saw a deer. Got down. Swapped a camera card. Did a short walk around looking to verify which trees would work for a climber and which spots were most conducive for sitting on the ground. Guess I may have to tote the boom stick next week.
Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 0
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 81.25
Deer seen: 72
Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 0
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 81.25
Deer seen: 72
Hunted my west farm this morning. Never saw a thing. I could cover some ground with my view. Great observation stand. Nothing moving. Had to use the little boys room so I got down. Swapped stands. Swapped a couple cards. Hunted til 10. The second stand I could cover the rest of the farm visually. Both were good observation stands. Just didn't observe anything.
Morning hunt: 3hr 15min.
Deer seen: none
Hunted same farm this evening. Used my climber. Hunted a tree and an area I had never hunted. Had a button buck at 30yds. Had a big 6pt come in 75-100yds west of me. He worked several trees. I grunted him in a little closer. Not much. He made a semi-circle around me and was within maybe 50-75yds. I'm sure my camera got some pics of him. I turned over the can call a couple times. He didn't get any closer. He just thrashed some more trees. Then he exited to the cut corn field and trotted to the west pretty quickly. Must have seen something down there that caught his attention. He wasn't spooked.
Hours hunted: 1.5
Deer seen: 2
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 86
Deer seen: 74
Morning hunt: 3hr 15min.
Deer seen: none
Hunted same farm this evening. Used my climber. Hunted a tree and an area I had never hunted. Had a button buck at 30yds. Had a big 6pt come in 75-100yds west of me. He worked several trees. I grunted him in a little closer. Not much. He made a semi-circle around me and was within maybe 50-75yds. I'm sure my camera got some pics of him. I turned over the can call a couple times. He didn't get any closer. He just thrashed some more trees. Then he exited to the cut corn field and trotted to the west pretty quickly. Must have seen something down there that caught his attention. He wasn't spooked.
Hours hunted: 1.5
Deer seen: 2
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 86
Deer seen: 74
This will be easy. Hunted farm to the east this morning. Didn't see a deer.
Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 0
Hunted with Garrett at the west farm tonight. Didn't see a deer. Even stood up and walked 15yds to glass a 60-80acre picked corn field. Didn't see any feeding in that field either.
Hours hunted: 1.5
Deer seen: 0
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 90.5
Deer seen: 74
Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 0
Hunted with Garrett at the west farm tonight. Didn't see a deer. Even stood up and walked 15yds to glass a 60-80acre picked corn field. Didn't see any feeding in that field either.
Hours hunted: 1.5
Deer seen: 0
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 90.5
Deer seen: 74
Hunted this morning at the east farm. Haven't been seeing a lot. Decided to hunt on the ground in a clearing I made. I wanted to observe from a distance to see if they were moving thru out of sight from my stand. They aren't. I did have one deer slide up on me from behind. Heard noise. Sat perfectly still. Kept getting closer. Tried to turn my head ever so slightly. Bad idea. There was a deer about 10yds away. I saw it take off. Swapped a camera after my hunt. Guess there were actually 3 of them. Looked like they skirted me so it is possible this was number four. Waited another hour or so with no action. Knew I had paperwork to get done so I boogied out.
Hours hunted: 2.75
Deer seen: 1
This evening I didn't have much time. Decided to help a buddy out. He was hunting the east end of a woods. I came in the middle and split the bedding area in two. I don't often still hunt but when I do I always have a great time. I should do it more often. Well I covered a ton of ground at a snail's pace. Never bumped anything. Found a ridiculous amount of beds and several nice rubs. No scrapes. Made it almost all the way across the woods and had one jump 60-80yds away. Never saw antlers but really only saw fur as it made a few bounds to safety. Made my way to a trail camera and swapped a card. Snuck out to the edge of the field and scanned a large picked corn field. Not a deer to be seen. Eased my way along the edge stopping to glass frequently. Nothing. Made my way to my next camera card. Swapped the card. It was now past shooting light so I unloaded the Savage 220 and made my way out. Figured since I hadn't bumped but one deer I would likely not see or hear anything. I just made a brisk walk down the N/S field edge. Go about 50yds and a big bodied deer bounded off. Then another bounded off. Dangit! Oh well. It was after shooting light so it wouldn't have mattered. I just hate educating them.
Hours hunted: 1.5
Deer seen: 1
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 94.75
Deer seen: 76
Hours hunted: 2.75
Deer seen: 1
This evening I didn't have much time. Decided to help a buddy out. He was hunting the east end of a woods. I came in the middle and split the bedding area in two. I don't often still hunt but when I do I always have a great time. I should do it more often. Well I covered a ton of ground at a snail's pace. Never bumped anything. Found a ridiculous amount of beds and several nice rubs. No scrapes. Made it almost all the way across the woods and had one jump 60-80yds away. Never saw antlers but really only saw fur as it made a few bounds to safety. Made my way to a trail camera and swapped a card. Snuck out to the edge of the field and scanned a large picked corn field. Not a deer to be seen. Eased my way along the edge stopping to glass frequently. Nothing. Made my way to my next camera card. Swapped the card. It was now past shooting light so I unloaded the Savage 220 and made my way out. Figured since I hadn't bumped but one deer I would likely not see or hear anything. I just made a brisk walk down the N/S field edge. Go about 50yds and a big bodied deer bounded off. Then another bounded off. Dangit! Oh well. It was after shooting light so it wouldn't have mattered. I just hate educating them.
Hours hunted: 1.5
Deer seen: 1
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 94.75
Deer seen: 76
Big_Holla
Senior Member
Good update Phil, at least you haven't thrown in the towel on them!! Hopefully they do something different for you the next two days so you can seal the deal!
Slid in early. Too many layers. Sweated like a politician in church. Got into stand. Dropped my fanny pack. Climbed back down. Settled in. Sun was coming up by now. Guess I wasn't as early as I thought. Saw a lone doe in the middle of a picked corn field. Shortly after saw a big doe with 2 fawns come out. These are all several hundred yards off. Figured another hunter bumped the threesome. Then someone else came walking thru. He bumped the 3 and the single deer back towards another property where my buddy was hunting. They milled around along the edge of the field and woods. I see a good buck come out. Too far to tell if he was a shooter but I could tell he was pretty decent. The does fed towards my buddy. The buck noticed them and took off after them. I unloaded and started throwing gear out of the tree. If they avoided my buddy I knew roughly where I thought they would go. I was on the ground trying to make my way to another stand (which would still be 1/4 mile or more away from my buddy) when I heard a single boom. I smiled. Then I got a text. So my morning didn't go as I thought it might but it went really really well. Both my local hunting buddies have tagged good bucks this year.
I guess we will call it like this since my hunt was pretty much down after he shot. One hour hunted. 5 deer seen. Then I went to get a truck, trailer, and quad to haul the deer out. lmao
Hours hunted: 1
Deer seen: 5
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 95.75
Deer seen: 81
I guess we will call it like this since my hunt was pretty much down after he shot. One hour hunted. 5 deer seen. Then I went to get a truck, trailer, and quad to haul the deer out. lmao
Hours hunted: 1
Deer seen: 5
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 95.75
Deer seen: 81
Big_Holla
Senior Member
Ended up using Hank to track a buck for the neighbor kid. He lost blood. Hank picked up the trail. We followed another several hundred yards to another property. We gained permission and took up the trail again. I was skeptical as there wasn't a lot of blood. There was over the distance he had traveled but we were only finding a drop here and there with some small pools where the buck had stopped. We got him another 1/4 mile or so of blood but then w saw someone with orange in a tree so we backed out. He is on his own tomorrow. Hopefully he can find him.
I came back home and the wife was not pleased as she wants me to hang Christmas lights. After listening to that noise a little I decided it was best if I geared back up and hit the woods again. I needed to clear that clutter out of my head. I am sure glad I did. I saw 7 deer come thru but something boogered them. Later I saw half a dozen turkeys and another deer. Listened to the turkeys roost and heard some more leaves. Not sure if it was part of the same group or another. This woods normally doesn't hold a ton of deer so i am guessing I saw them come thru again from a different direction. Group of 4 does. Looked like a bunch of yearlings. Then two 1.5yr old bucks. The bucks came within bow range. The does i simply could not move. Too many eyes in too close of vicinity. What a hunt!
Hours hunted: 2
Deer seen: 14? Or 8 with some of them twice? I saw 8 slickheads without bucks earlier so I will say 8 does and 2 bucks.
10
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 97.75
Deer Seen: 91
I came back home and the wife was not pleased as she wants me to hang Christmas lights. After listening to that noise a little I decided it was best if I geared back up and hit the woods again. I needed to clear that clutter out of my head. I am sure glad I did. I saw 7 deer come thru but something boogered them. Later I saw half a dozen turkeys and another deer. Listened to the turkeys roost and heard some more leaves. Not sure if it was part of the same group or another. This woods normally doesn't hold a ton of deer so i am guessing I saw them come thru again from a different direction. Group of 4 does. Looked like a bunch of yearlings. Then two 1.5yr old bucks. The bucks came within bow range. The does i simply could not move. Too many eyes in too close of vicinity. What a hunt!
Hours hunted: 2
Deer seen: 14? Or 8 with some of them twice? I saw 8 slickheads without bucks earlier so I will say 8 does and 2 bucks.
10
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 97.75
Deer Seen: 91
Had high hopes this morning. Felt good about things. Was up at 330am to hunt less than a mile from my house. Yesterday I saw all kinds of hunters hopping in and out of every wood lot they had permission on. Probably plenty without any permission. I knew I needed to get in early and beat the other hunters in. I was settled in with everything done (except chambering a round) about 30min before dawn. I really really thought I'd see great movement at daybreak. Surprisingly it was very quiet. At 8am I had not seen a deer or heard a gunshot. I noticed a shrub moving and thought it was a squirrel or maybe some birds in there playing around. I kept looking back that way just in case. Maybe 5-10 minutes later I see a small deer walk around the bush. In my mind it was likely one of the pair of fawns I had seen from this stand frequently. I expected her button buck brother to be checking in soon. Then I noticed heavy white antlers trailing her. Not pushing her. Just tagging along. I glassed them and was seeing 125-130" 8pt in my head. I was debating. Wanted to see how wide he was. When he turned his head I thought I saw a droptine. Forgot all about the width of the rack. I wanted to verify it was indeed a droptine I was seeing. Once I realized it was a 6" or better drop, I didn't care about the rest of the rack. My mind was made up to shoot. They were relaxed and feeding along. I had the right wind for it. I had adrenaline racing through me. I had time to ask the Lord to help me relax and make a good shot. After the quick prayer I felt a calm come over me. I settled the crosshairs on him a few times awaiting a clear shot. He finally offered it and I let the Savage 220 bark. His hind quarters dropped and then his front half. It was roughly 815am and I was done! Then the dang buck acted like he was going to get up so I chambered another round and issued a second shot. Fur flew up above him and I thought my shot may have been off. He was still kicking so I chambered a third round and let it fly. I knew all three shots hit him so I didn't feel the need to reload. That is when I hung the gun up, sat down and called my Cousin Bubba in North Carolina. I knew he wanted to hear about it. I could barely talk. It was incredible! I have been very blessed.
Hours hunted: 1
Deer seen: 2
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 98.75
Deer Seen: 93
Hours hunted: 1
Deer seen: 2
Season totals:
Hours hunted: 98.75
Deer Seen: 93