Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Sign up

Phil's 2016 Journal

Went out last Thursday. Tried to slide in with the Ghostblind. Realized I stuck out like a sore thumb and would have zero shot at a deer in my location. Relocated. Sat for a bit. Light drizzle turned to steady rain. I didn't want to risk not finding a deer if I hit one. Call it an hour long hunt with zero deer seen.

Tonight- I went mobile. Set up where I felt I needed to be. The location was perfection. The deer simply didn't read the script.

3hrs. Zero deer.

Season totals:
Hours hunted: 10.5
Deer seen: 1
 
Finally made it out again. It was only a 5 day gap between hunts but felt much longer. Got into the stand late. Didn't seem to make much difference. Didn't bump anything getting in. It is generally a slow stand until last light anyway. Had 15-18 hens and poults come thru making all kinds of ruckus. At last light I did have 2 does feed along the edge of the corn. They offered perfect shots and were directly downwind. It was right at last light. I am not looking for a doe just yet. I don't really want to take one from this property anyway. Felt good. I drew on the first one just to make sure I had enough light left to shoot in case a buck followed them. Was great practice drawing on live deer without getting busted and letting down again.

Hunt: 2.5hrs
Deer seen: 2

Season totals:
Hours hunted: 13
Deer seen: 3
 
Hunted a new set for the first time tonight. It is a prehung Millennium bracket with some climbing sticks. I carry in one LW stick and my Millennium. Saw one young doe. Had her in bow range. Got dark. Lowered my bow. Heard antlers. Wasn't sure if it was a couple bucks sparring or one buck working over a tree reall good. Could have been both. When I was half way down my tree I leaned back on the lineman's belt to use the binoculars. I did see the source of the antler noise. It was a trio of bucks. Couple young ones and probably a 2 or 3yr old with not much tine length. He was respectably wide. Not a shooter.

Hours hunted: 2.25hrs.
Deer seen: 4

Season totals:
Hours hunted: 15.25hrs
Deer seen: 7
 
Hmmm. Must have missed logging a hunt. On the 14th I hunted the west side of my western property. Had a nice NE wind for the stand. Ended up seeing nothing. Hunted 3hrs. Saw nothing.

Tonight: Saw a doe early. Had a young buck harassing a couple does. Later saw a doe with twin fawns. Had the young buck wandering around and saw him several times. Great sit. I even got busted by something when I was wrapping up the climber. Deer were all over the place. Just not the right ones. Or as Brock would say "All the fun. None of the mess."

Hunted: 3hrs 15 min
Deer seen: 7

Season totals: 21hrs 30min
Deer seen: 14
 
Hunted my property to the east of me today. Settled in at 715. Little later than I would have liked. Saw a year and half old buck at 820am. That was it. Did a little scouting on the way out. Not as many rubs as normal. The big main scrape which is generally used annually has not been opened. Need to digest the info and reassess how to hunt this property.

Hunt: 2hr 45min
Deer seen: 1

Season totals:
Hours hunted: 24hrs and 15 min
Deer seen: 15
 
Had a chance to hunt tonight. Driving there I saw the farmer finishing taking the corn off. Saw 4 does in the field. My hopes were high. Had to take alternative route to my stand because the does were in the wide open and within 50yds of where I had planned on walking in. Got settled in. Had a coon climb down out of a tree not 10yrs away around 445. Was hoping this was a sign of early movement. It was not. I never saw a deer. I could scan a long way from my vantage point. Nothing. Had a buddy hunting the opposite end of the woods roughly half mile away. He never saw a deer. Just not in the cards.

Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 0

Season totals:
Hours hunted: 27hrs 15min
Deer seen : 15

This brings me to an interesting point. My seasons generally average about a deer per hour in sightings. I am down 50%.
 
Felt good tonight. Unfortunately, the only deer in bow range was the size of my dog. Saw 10 deer and around 20 turkeys. Tried rattling. Didn't bring anything out. Of all the deer, I only saw one small buck.

Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 10

Season totals
Hours hunted: 30hrs 15min
Deer seen: 25
 
Good luck Phil! I gotta admit I'm jealous with some of these deer sightings numbers. I think the most I've seen in one sit is 4-6. Normally I'm lucky to see one!
 
Joel said:
Good luck Phil! I gotta admit I'm jealous with some of these deer sightings numbers. I think the most I've seen in one sit is 4-6. Normally I'm lucky to see one!
Click to expand...

That took my total sightings for the season from 15-25 Joel. Up until yesterday I had only seen 15 with many sits seeing none. I could glass a LONG way last night. Only one in shooting range (maybe 80lb deer), and two others within 150yds. Sure felt good seeing some deer though. Even if they were in the distance.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.