Phil's 2023 2024 season

[hickslawns]

Deer tag bought at 416pm in driveway of landowner. Saw my first little yearling at 442pm. Feels good to be in a tree moving in slow motion. Wondering if I have the right layers of clothes. Winds are right. Trail camera offered some hope. We shall see what happens. Generally I find out so much more info from the tree than the trail cameras. Looking forward to what I may find tonight.

 

[Big_Holla]

Good luck Phil, glad to see you getting some stand time!!

 

["J"]

About time old man!!!!

 

[Dannmann801]

Go Phil!

 

[hickslawns]

Hunt 1. Had the yearling bedded within 50yds most of the sit. Had a convoy of bucks come thru. 3 of them. Probably 300" of antler if you added all three up. They came under me and exited down wind. Did manage to see a doe and yearling couple hundred yards away feeding along a field edge. Not harassed by the bucks. Saw an unidentified deer thru the trees. While trying to figure it out I look over my shoulder to see a good one exiting 50-60yds away. Would not have presented a shot. Tossed a couple grunts towards him with zero response. I'd like a better look at him. Shortly after I saw a definite shooter couple hundred yards away. Old man. The reason I was hunting tonight. He crossed the middle of the cut beam field. Sent a doe can call his way and he stopped. Could have been coincidence. Hard to believe he heard it that far away. Tried a couple grunts once he started moving again. One more pause but continued the way he was going.

Excellent night.
Hunts: 1
Hours hunted: 2.5
Deer seen: 8
Bucks: 5
Doe: 3

 

[hickslawns]

Hunt 2 was a morning hunt. Same property. Ended up seeing 7 does. 120" 8pt scooted one of the small ones away from the pack. Doubt she was receptive. 3hr hunt. Nothing closer than 100yds.
Currently on hunt 3. Morning set. West property. Slow. One forky. Saw single doe 500-600yds away across picked beam field. Lots of standing corn over here. Maybe I should have hunted closer to it.

 

[hickslawns]

Forky moved thru. Ended up being a 6. Later see solo doe. Spike came into investigate her. Both offered a shot. I hear commotion behind me. Turn to see 6pt and an 8pt lightly sparring st 50ish yards. They got spooky and headed across the field to another woods. They were downwind but I'm smoked up good. Then remembered I had tarsal glands hanging from my 2018 buck. Decided to put them away. Did catch a glimpse of 4 does moving thru the trees. Patiently sitting here and hoping the deer on camera on the other end of the property makes an appearance. He would fill my freezer.

 

[hickslawns]

3hr hunt. No new excitement since last post. Was nice having 2 small bucks and one doe in bow range. The two sparring weren't far out of range. Farmer is kicking corn to the west. I may need to do work and head back out.

Hunts: 3
Hours hunted: 3
Hours hunted season: 8.5
Deer seen: 23
Bucks: 9
Doe: 14

 

["J"]

I never pass up an opportunity to hunt near corn being picked. Haven’t had any luck as of yet, but it doesn’t stop me from doing it!

 

[hickslawns]

I never pass up an opportunity to hunt near corn being picked. Haven’t had any luck as of yet, but it doesn’t stop me from doing it!

This farmer gets in the zone and doesn't like to be bothered by hunters when picking crops. I'll give him his room. I've seen people lose permission because they asked him to recover a deer while he was working. Permission on other farmers. Lol 300-400yds isn't that far and I'm on a heavy travel corridor.

Land owner was doing his leaves earlier too. He dumps where deer like to bed. He might have them pushed this way also.

 

[hickslawns]

Hunt number 4. Evening hunt. Same property as this morning. Bumbled around trying to get into a stand we call the killing tree. Realized it needs major trimming for shooting lanes. Moved to morning stand. Had a button and 2 does come in to bow range. Later had a heavy racked young 8pt with about a 10" spread follow a doe by me. She kept going. He lost interest and headed back the way he came. I did see her reunited with her buddies later. That is all I saw close. Although I did see a bonafide shooter across the field 500-600yds away. I knew before I pulled the binoculars up. Still couldn't tell much about the rack thru binos. Enough to know he was a shooter. A smaller rack big body was walking towards him bristled up but decided to not pick a fight. Pretty cool to watch from a great distance. Really could only see body language and bristled fur.

Hunts: 4
Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 4
Bucks: 1
Does: 3
Hours hunted season: 11.5
Season total seen: 27
Bucks: 10
Doe: 17

 

[Dannmann801]

Yer seein' deer, that's good!
The right one is coming.

 

[hickslawns]

Friday morning. Saw a big body driving to hunt. Crossed the road but too far in front to see antlers. Too dark. Got into the stand. Deer were pretty vocal. Could hear grunting from the stand off in the distance. Several areas. Could hear grunting. Ended up having a button buck grunting and under me. Also had a small buck grunting and walked in bow range. Later saw a deer I thought had an arrow thru the top of its skull. Nope. Spike buck with one pointed on a 45 and the other came about straight out the side. The spike and button ended up playing in the creek. They would nudge heads and the button would take off doing zoomies. Almost like he wanted the spike to chase him.

Morning hunt. 3 hrs. 4 deer seen. Two with antlers. Two without.

This afternoon my buddy and I went and pulled a stand at a property we no longer hunt. We placed it on another property. I hunted that property tonight. Saw a young 8pt at 32 yards. Had a doe with her two littles come out at roughly 80-100yds. They decided to feed away from me.

Evening hunt 3hrs. 4 deer seen. 1 buck.

 

[hickslawns]

Not a bad sit. Morning hunt. Fog rolling in and out. Saw momma doe and two little ones early. Fog rolled back in. Rolled out later. Saw a 110-120" 8pt at 40yds. Button buck same spot coming from other direction. Basket rack about 930ish. I did rattle at 850am. It brought the two little ones in but they decided to leave in a hurry. Not sure what they saw but there was a cat in the area.

3.25hr hunt. 4 without antlers 2 with

 

[hickslawns]

Evening hunt. Hunted the new stand. Hour to go and saw a probable shooter 300-400yds away. Came out. Worked 20-30 yds my way. Thought it might happen if he steadily fed along the edges. Something spooked him. Ah yes. High school aged kid. Probably 100 acres of open field. Woods and creek on there sides. This kid ends up walking all the way to my tree stand in the back corner. 1/4-1/2 mile walk and he walks to me? But the deer won't? So I did just like if it were a buck. I hit the grunt tube and the kid locked up. I pointed my arm at him and pointed towards the road. Very exaggerated arm movement sort of like an umpire ejecting someone. . Thanks you trespassing pain in the booty. The deer he ran off was possibly getting shot of he came my way.

So we have half hour left. Saw 5 does 100 yds to my NW. Saw 3 does and a smaller buck 500-600yd SE. Nothing close besides the kid. My buddy was hunting down the way a few hundred yards and saw a wide 10pt with short tines. He said it was a shooter to him.

3.25hr hunt.
10 deer? 2 being bucks

Hunts: 8
Hours hunted: 3.25
Deer seen: 10
Bucks: 2
Does: 8
Hours hunted season: 24
Season total seen: 49
Bucks: 17
Doe: 32

 

[triple_duece]

Evening hunt. Hunted the new stand. Hour to go and saw a probable shooter 300-400yds away. Came out. Worked 20-30 yds my way. Thought it might happen if he steadily fed along the edges. Something spooked him. Ah yes. High school aged kid. Probably 100 acres of open field. Woods and creek on there sides. This kid ends up walking all the way to my tree stand in the back corner. 1/4-1/2 mile walk and he walks to me? But the deer won't? So I did just like if it were a buck. I hit the grunt tube and the kid locked up. I pointed my arm at him and pointed towards the road. Very exaggerated arm movement sort of like an umpire ejecting someone. . Thanks you trespassing pain in the booty. The deer he ran off was possibly getting shot of he came my way.

So we have half hour left. Saw 5 does 100 yds to my NW. Saw 3 does and a smaller buck 500-600yd SE. Nothing close besides the kid. My buddy was hunting down the way a few hundred yards and saw a wide 10pt with short tines. He said it was a shooter to him.

3.25hr hunt.
10 deer? 2 being bucks

Hunts: 8
Hours hunted: 3.25
Deer seen: 10
Bucks: 2
Does: 8
Hours hunted season: 24
Season total seen: 49
Bucks: 17
Doe: 32

I love how you keep a running tally.

 

[hickslawns]

I love how you keep a running tally.

Had EHD 3 summers ago. First year we were decimated. Managed to shoot a 130-135 8pt. Wasn't going to shoot any does. Second year I did something that I still laugh about and I shot a spike. No bucks presenting shots or they were nice up and comers I didn't want to shoot. Not seeing a ton of doe. Last year I did shoot a doe as I was seeing a decent amount. No buck for the first time since 2012 but it wasn't for lack of effort. Hit one high and he survived. Had a swing and a miss on another. The year of humble pie. This year I am seeing does again in decent numbers. Not many big ones. Same as last two years. Most of them look like yearlings. Very few big nanny does left and they haven't rebounded much to see the big old girls like we used to. So there is the long version as to why I tally them. Glad you like it.

 

[hickslawns]

Been a good morning but there is a major construction project taking place. No deer came from that direction when equipment fired up. I doubt anything heads towards it. Plus the 3.5hrs of sleep interrupted for two hours of dealing with a flat tire on a sweeper truck isn't cutting it. Some an hour nap. Fix tire. 2.5hr nap. Hunt. I'm about pooped.

Saw awesome action 500-600yds away in the off limits camp across the field. That is becoming a broken record. Saw a medium size buck. Then a shooter. I believe it was the 8pt I hit high last year. Later. This comes out to interrupt the 8pt working a scrape or licking branch or something. Hard to tell so far off. Next I witnessed ridiculous fighting. As in the 8pt had a buck pinned to the ground. Thought he was going to kill it. Freaking awesome! Shortly after they disappeared but then reappeared on other side of this little block of woods. 6 deer total. At least 3 confirmed bucks. This little doe jetted towards the road with 5 deer in tow. A car was coming and she did a u turn and headed back to the woods with all 5 in tow. Running for her life. They disappeared after that.

So I see a solo doe in bow range. Cool! Promising. She circled and came back with 2 more. Then a fourth popped up harassing them. Took me a second to figure out and then realized it was a spike. The does scattered. No in any great hurry but they left and chilled out for a bit. Then moseyed off. I'm calling it 4 deer in range or just outside of bow range. Within 50yds. Not sure the ones in the next county over should count for my tally.

Morning hunt: 645-1015.
3 doe.
1 spike.

 

[hickslawns]

Much less exciting this evening. Looked out and saw 3 does feeding towards my truck and the houses. They started to mosey my way and two more joined them. They ended up going back in the way they came from.

Evening hunt 245-6pm
5 does

Hunts: 10
Hours hunted: 3.25
Deer seen: 5
Bucks: 0
Does: 5
Hours hunted season: 30.75
Season total seen: 58
Bucks: 18
Doe: 40

 

[hickslawns]

Another night with less than 3hrs sleep. Hunted 4 hours. Dreadfully slow. Had some road crew guys come work next to a bedding area close to the road. That got 4 moving my way. That passed at closer to 50-60yds Had one solo doe come back thru when the noise settled. Then the noise picked back up and she circled around. This time she went by my stand at 32 yards. Was about to hang it up and saw a nice young 8pt come thru at a brisk walk. Nose working hard. Stopped once or twice to smell a branch and then back to quick walk. Probably should have stuck around but I needed to eat. No bread this morning to pack sandwiches. Needed food and rest. The 8pt was on cell camera last night at 1130pm. On another camera I did a card swap on my way out it showed him reasonably close proximity at 418am today. Also two small bucks since the last card pull 2 days ago. All appeared to be following little miss thing who must be getting close.

Total Hunts: 11
Hours hunted: 4
Deer seen: 5
Bucks: 1
Does: 4
Hours hunted season: 34.75
Season total seen: 63
Bucks: 10
Doe: 44