Phil's 2019 season

[finelyshedded]

Keep on keepin buddy!

 

[Joel]

Good luck Phil! I’ll be out all day tomorrow, and Sunday if needed.

 

[hickslawns]

Been a long day. Hunted morning. Took two deliveries of salt (50 ton). Hunted evening. Dinner with the Mrs. Put away the 59 ton of salt. Nothing like a 21 hour day. Now to get up and go racing tomorrow. Last race of the season for the rained out Halloween show. Making it up tomorrow.

 

[hickslawns]

Evening hunt. Couldn't have been any better unless I got a shot on a deer. Plenty of excitement. Never closer than 60yds for the big boy. Saw 7 does. Possibly more but I only saw them filter in and out. Most I saw at once was 7. They all grouped up at last light. Had 2 cruiser bucks. Young. One more buck. Either 3 or 4. Couldn't tell. Not sure it would matter if he got in range. He'd be done aging. Only had one doe in bow range. The rest were 60-200yds away.

Used the decoy. Didn't seem to spook any deer. Didn't draw any of the bucks in to square off. Hard saying if it drew the buck in or if it prevented the buck from getting any closer than 60yds. I threw the book at him. Grunted. Snort wheezed. Can call as he was leaving. Couldn't get his interest. I have a plan for tomorrow. No decoy. Climber will be used.

Evening hunt: 4hrs
Deer seen: 10
Bucks: 3
Does: 7
In bow range: 1

Season totals
Hunts: 16
Hours hunted: 46.5
Deer seen: 89
Deer in bow range: 27
Does: 68
Bucks: 22

 

[hickslawns]

Got in late. Used climber. That was a debacle. Hadn't used it for awhile. Comical now but not when I had to climb back down to get my jacket. Saw 3 bucks cruising in the first hour. More like one cruising and 2 wandering lost. One was a 3pt who ended up under my stand. The other I thought was a shooter. Upon inspection I'd put him at 2yrs old. Beautiful deer though. Saw one more deer at 80-100yds late in the evening. Got eerie quiet closer to last light. Walked out and bumped nothing.

Evening hunt: 2.5hrs
Deer seen: 4
Bucks: 3
Does: 1
In range: 1

Season totals
Hunts: 17
Hours hunted: 49
Deer seen: 93
Deer in bow range: 28
Does: 69
Bucks: 25

Likes:Big_Holla, giles, Isaacorps

 

[xbowguy]

Keep at it buddy! It's gonna pay out for you yet.

 

[Big_Holla]

Dropping anything from a climber sucks, not as bad as when you wait too long to get down to take a shit but it sucks.

 

[hickslawns]

Evening hunt. Brought the decoy. Got to hear my first live snort wheeze. Buck was hobbling around on a bum knee. Ears pinned back. Did NOT like that decoy. Some yearlings checked it out and I thought they were going to stick their head in the opening underneath. Probably the tarsals I tossed in there. 3 bucks. 12 does. One big boy and his lady friend 1/2 mile away (I'd guess) I'm the same field but they weren't moving. He had her right where he wanted her.

Evening hunt: 2.5hrs
Deer seen: 17
Bucks: 4
Does:13
In bow range: 6

Season totals
Hunts: 18
Hours hunted: 51.5
Deer seen: 110
Deer in bow range: 34
Does: 82
Bucks: 29

 

[finelyshedded]

Hunted dark to dark only left stand for 15-20 min while I snuck 150 yards away to 2 scrape cams at 11:30-11:50 to swap cards. Frozen ground thawed enough I was quiet and didn’t bump anything during that lull. I was up and in 30 minutes before shooting light and climbed down around 5:50. Spotted deer movement throughout the day with a 2.5 hour lull midday. Only thing close to rut action was a fork horn that chased a doe and her two youngin out of the field around 3:50. Spotted a decent 2.5 old 9 surveying field just inside the woods at 4:50 but he was 250 yards away to where I couldn’t get good video. Started seeing movement this morning around 8:30 then tapering off before 10:30. Saw two small bucks during morning movement and 6-7 does and young ones off and on as well. Saw 3-4 doe and little ones get up and browse around 12:15 to 1. Lull started shortly after 1:15 and lasted to about 3:30. Movement seemed to pick up better in evening but still no shooters spotted from stand yet. Overall had a great hunt with 16-17 deer observations and 3-4 shot opportunities.
I’ll be at it again tomorrow. Good luck to everyone else hunting and congratulations to those who scored today!

 

[finelyshedded]

Sorry Phil, thought this was on the Live Hunt thread. Hoping one of our great mods or ads can either move it there or delete it from here. Sorry buddy. I was dead dog tired last night and was half asleep evidently

 

[Boarhead]

Good luck Phil.

 

[hickslawns]

Got a plan for the afternoon. God gave us a NE wind. That limits my options. Decoy and ghost blind it is. Might take Garrett's crossbow to increase my odds. Never killed one with a crossbow. What the heck? Why not? Got a rage knock off threaded on there.

Saw a dandy of an 8pt on a main artery in our township. 1130am. Tons of traffic. Casey's and Dairy Queen and dentist offices and other businesses around. This buck was on a brisk walk across a small cut bean field which has been disked up already. He was on a mission. Biggest buck I've seen on camera or on the hoof this year. 135-140ish 8pt. I'd shoot him in a heartbeat if he was close to a property I could hunt.

 

[hickslawns]

Never killed one from ground before. Buck or doe. . . If I get a shot tonight I may just take it. Decoy is lonely so far. Only been 20min. Plenty of time and should be fun seeing if I can keep from getting busted.

 

[Gern186]

Good luck Phil

 

[5Cent]

Good luck!

 

[Joel]

Good luck Phil! You’re due, any time now.

 

["J"]

Get-r-done Phil!!!!

 

[hickslawns]

Evening hunt on east property. On the ground. Ghostblind set up. Decoy out. Had a doe pop out and bed down 200yds away. Later had a genuine shooter come out and do the same. Too far away to grunt. Tried to rattle. Nothing. Later had him get up and put on a show. Made a scrape. Hit the licking branch a long time. Moved a bit. Then he tore up a tree. Once he left I saw a couple more does pop out. Then another. And another. Shooter must have wandered thru and gotten them all riled up and moving. Ended up seeing 7 does total. Later had a small buck come out and get all sorts of curious about my decoy. No clue I was there. All sorts of 25-30yd shots offered. Just happened to be the wrong buck. What a blast!

Hours hunted: 3.75
Deer seen: 9
Does: 7
Bucks: 2
Bow range: 1

Season totals
Hunts: 19
Hours hunted: 55.25
Deer seen: 110
Deer in bow range: 35
Does: 89
Bucks: 31

 

[giles]

I love ground hunting! In your face.

 

[hickslawns]

Hunted east property 145-545pm. Crept in. Got settled. Nocked an arrow. Saw two slick heads pop out. Good timing. They meandered around the field and eventually went back in where they came from. Other than squirrels, it was pretty quiet after that until 350pm. Had a button buck and friend come out. They were followed by 2 does and a yearling. The three of them tried their best to pick me off. I never flinched. They never blew. They came into under 10yds. Backed out. Came in from 3 different directions trying the same thing. Never blew but the one kept staring me down. The others seemed to care less after a little bit. After awhile they headed back out into the field. Was hoping they would lure a big boy in but no luck. I did have a basket rack come into bow range. He didn't like it either and left. With the leaves off I need to move this stand. Not enough cover. All told I know for a fact I saw 6 slick heads and one buck. The nosey doe came in with another big doe at last light. Big nanny doe was chill. The medium sized one who kept staring me down was still skittish. She should have been. I was done with her crap. She quartered away and I let the Slick Trick fly. She won't do that again.

Evening hunt: 4 hours
Deer Seen: 7
Does: 6
Bucks: 1
In bow range: 5
Killed: 1

Season totals
Hunts: 20
Hours hunted: 59.25
Deer seen: 117
Deer in bow range: 40
Does: 95
Bucks: 32
Deer tagged: 1