Phil's season 2021/2022

[hickslawns]

Was going to hunt a property I had not yet hunted this year. Life happened. Kept working. Didn't hunt. Land owner text me tonight. Said someone shot an 8pt on neighboring property and went into his property. Land owner and neighboring hunter walked around looking for an hour last night. No dice. Hunter came back today and walked all the thick stuff in a grid search. No dice. Sucks to hear of a lost deer when we don't have many. Glad to hear he did his due diligence looking. More glad I didn't hunt there tonight. Will take a bit before deer start moving in daylight again. This isn't a massive tract.

 

[hickslawns]

Hunted a stand for about half an hour. Packed it in. Too windy for me in that stand. Swapped stands. Not sure I've ever changed stands due to high winds. Had the resident forkhorn give me a chip shot. I took his picture. Nothing else. I guess I did see a larger bodies deer across the field at last light. Too far to tell if he had antlers or if it was just a big booty doe. Walking out I saw the resident doe with her twins. Pretty sad when I know every deer on the property. The EHD just put the hurting on the herd.
Farmers were working hard though. Three combines south of me in three different fields. Was hoping they would push some deer towards me. Nope. Oh well. That's hunting.

Hunts: 3
Hours hunted: 4
Season total hours: 10
Deer seen: 1
Deer seen season: 6
Bucks: 3
Does: 3
In bow range season total: 6

 

[hickslawns]

Looked like a complete newbie bumbling my way to the stand this morning. Plenty of birds and squirrels. No deer seen, heard, smelled, or hurt. In fact, walking out I didn't see the first rub, scrape, and the annual deer trails were faintly worn. Just not a lot of deer. At least I found the rope I tie my harness off to at the base of the tree from my last hunt there last season. I envisioned God playing the Benny Hill music and watching me while laughing. That is how bad my entrance was today.

Pulled a camera on the way out. Pictures the cell cam isn't catching. Confirmation the buck shot on the neighboring property is alive. Looks like the dude hit it in the neck. Above the spine. So much for the "solid pass thru chest cavity shot" he told the land owner. I suspect he had no clue where he hit it. Sad. This is why tracking dog threads happen daily on FB. Also why I quit taking tracking jobs. You won't find a deer that isn't dead. In this case? I'm thankful the deer is alive and I suspect he will not die. Mature buck too.

Hunts: 4
Hours hunted: 3.5
Season total hours: 13.5
Deer seen; 0
Deer seen season: 6
Bucks: 3
Does: 3
In bow range season total: 6

 

[hickslawns]

Hunted 3.5hrs. Never saw a deer. That was a short write up.

Beautiful evening though.


Hunts: 5
Hours hunted: 3.5
Season total hours: 17
Deer seen: 0
Deer seen season: 6
Bucks: 3
Does: 3
In bow range season total: 6

 

[hickslawns]

Settled in an hour before daylight. Just before legal light had a doe and two youngins mosey across the white frosted bean field which had recently been picked. They made their way about 50-80yds from me and sauntered back across the field.

Got a text from my buddy "buck on cam". I look to my left thinking I'd see a buck across the creek. Nothing. Looked at the app and it was the other cell cam on a other property. I didn't think he would see a buck picture show up quicker than I could see it 20-30yds away. . Shortly after those texts I did manage to see a young buck crossing the creek 80-100yds east of me. No real hurry.

The best part of our EHD has been getting to and from stands undetected. The worst part is the reason: there simply aren't a ton of deer anymore.

Hunts: 6
Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 4
Season total hours: 20
Season Deer seen: 10
Bucks: 4
Does: 6
In bow range season total: 5

 

[hickslawns]

Winds changed. Out of the east now. Changed plans. Took the decoy. Walked way too far carrying everything. Sprayed it down. Hung some tarsal glands. Sat in a stand I'm not a fan of but worked for the occasion. Had 2 young deer pop out into the picked beans. They noticed the decoy with one antler on it. They decided to trot on a diagonal across the field to another property. That is about it.

Hunts: 7
Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 2
Season total hours: 23
Season Deer seen: 12
Bucks: 4
Does: 8
In bow range season total: 5

 

[hickslawns]

I hunted. Rained off and on. Was pretty light most times. I saw some squirrels. Didn't blow out any deer walking in or out. I'm running out of things to type about my hunt. When there are very few deer, you just don't always get to see one.

Hunts: 8
Hours hunted: 3.5
Deer seen: 0
Season total hours: 26.5
Season Deer seen: 12
Bucks: 4
Does: 8
In bow range season total: 5

 

[Hortontoter]

Great recaps, Phil. Seems that you are seeing decent action with the small amount of deer in your area. Hopefully you get a crack at the heavyweight you mentioned a while back. Good to know the wounded buck will survive.

 

[hickslawns]

Great recaps, Phil. Seems that you are seeing decent action with the small amount of deer in your area. Hopefully you get a crack at the heavyweight you mentioned a while back. Good to know the wounded buck will survive.

Thanks Dick. You take the good with the bad in life. I'm enjoying being in the woods. The sad thing is I have 12 deer listed as "deer seen from the stand." I know for a fact some of them were duplicates. Of the 4 bucks I have seen, 3 of them were the same forkhorn I saw on three different hunts. I'm seeing one mom with a set of fawns at each property.

But, I have seen some more deer on my scouting drives with binoculars on the nights I haven't hunted. Crops coming down are showing more deer than I initially thought were around. Just not on the properties I am hunting. Hoping the neighboring hunters hold off on the does too, but it is their tag to use as they wish.

 

[Hortontoter]

"Hoping the neighboring hunters hold off on the does too, but it is their tag to use as they wish."

I'd guess that most of wish we could control what neighboring hunters do. But, we all know that is not reality. I've learned that I'm better off not knowing what goes on around my area. Too many nights I used to lay awake and wonder if my target bucks were still alive or why I am not seeing as many does as I'd like. I've learned to enjoy my time more and be happy I'm still able to participate every season.

 

[hickslawns]

Took a drive at dusk last night. Saw a big boy (not close to where I can hunt) with a doe pinned down. 30min later I drove by and he hadn't moved but had another buck lingering 100yds away from him. Drove more. Saw a small and medium sized buck and 3 does in a field. Medium buck was running one of those does hard. Saw a couple deer here and there in other fields. Was optimistic.

Hunted this morning. 4.5hrs. Squirrels. A raccoon. I guess if you want to count the two fawns I could glass 1/4-1/2 mile away then you could count them. I'm not counting them. Saw them a few minutes and then back in the woods they went. Rained off and on. Stayed mostly dry. Picked up at the 4hr mark. Decided I would go home. Eat get the damp chill off me. Hang gear to dry.

Hunts: 9
Hours hunted: 4.5
Deer seen: 0
Season total hours: 31
Season Deer seen: 12
Bucks: 4
Does: 8
In bow range season total: 5

 

[hickslawns]

Best hunt of the year for me. Saw four deer. They were all young but had two bucks under 30yds and the does were at 40yds. If one of the bucks had another 20-40lbs I would have arrowed him. Just not big enough for the freezer.

Hunts: 10
Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 4
Season total hours: 34
Season Deer seen: 16
Bucks: 6
Does: 10
In bow range season total: 9

 

[hickslawns]

Hunted tonight. Cell cams were busy all day. Got to the tree undetected. Had a couple small bucks early. Moved thru out of bow range. Later saw a doe. Shortly after had another doe follow her.

Later had a small basket 8pt come thru in bow range. May have been one of the bucks I saw earlier. He moved on. Maybe 30min later had a small doe come in and do the same thing. By small doe, I may as well say she barely lost her spots.

Walking out I saw the one I am after. Big body. Several hundred yards away. Dark. Thru the binos I could see he was the big boy. Truthfully was just a silhouette. That's a good silhouette.

Hunts: 11
Hours hunted: 3.5
Deer seen: 6
Season total hours: 37.5
Season Deer seen: 22
Bucks: 9
Does: 13
In bow range season total: 11

 

[finelyshedded]

Nice Phil! Good luck with your target deer!

 

[hickslawns]

Left to hunt. Forgot my bow. Went home. Got it. Headed back. Hung camera. Checked stand and straps.as I hadn't done that yet. Fortunate to see a broken strap. Pulled that section of sticks. Headed to a different property. Didn't see a thing. Not even a squirrel.

Hunts: 12
Hours hunted: 3.5
Deer seen: 0
Season total hours: 41
Season Deer seen: 22
Bucks: 9
Does: 13
In bow range season total: 11

 

[hickslawns]

This showed on cam tonight. Fairly certain I have pics of him early season too, but first he's showed himself in a bit. Given my desire to fill the freezer without shooting any does? He fits the bill. Good sized body. Not a doe. And I've never killed one with a funky rack. I think his rack is cool. Congratulations, you've made my hit list.

 

[Fletch]

Unique deer plus a freezer filler... Good Luck Phil...

 

[hickslawns]

Farmer combining corn across from me. Was going to hunt there. Life got in the way. With bad straps on my sticks, I would need to use my climber. Getting in late with the climber felt like a bad idea. Opted to hunt a stand which hasn't been hunted this year. Thought I was going to get skunked. Just under an hour to go and I had a big body 8pt come in. Rubbed 3 trees. I was at full draw the entire time. Never presented a clean shot. With crossbow or gun he would have been dead. Not so much with angle needed on compound bow. He fit the bill: big body, not a doe.

Debating if he was a massive body 2yr old or a small rack 3yr old. Doesn't matter. He avoided the arrow.

Hunts: 13
Hours hunted: 3
Deer seen: 1
Season total hours: 44
Season Deer seen: 23
Bucks: 10
Does: 13
In bow range season total: 12

 

[hickslawns]

ESE wind. Weird. Unexpected. Not horrible. I grabbed climber and made it work. Squirrels were all on speed. Busy. Lots of them. Hit rattling antlers at 5pm. Nothing. Roughly 530-545 saw a black cat. She worked east on the south side of the creek. Not long after I saw a doe 100yds east of me. North side of the creek. Thanks kitty. I'm sure you bumped her. Few minutes later saw a buck. Undetermined on the details but he looked respectable. Glimpses of both thru the trees and gone. Later I see her again. Now due north of me roughly 60-80yds. She met up with a yearling. And not long after I see a third deer. The buck. I hit the can call. Nothing. Grunted. Nothing. So I waited. They were headed toward the hunter I saw walk in to my north and west. Not sure where they ended or if he got a crack at them. I did see the buck bounding thru the woods back towards where he started. Didn't appear injured. Shouldn't have winded the hunter. I don't know. But I did see some deer and some "sorta rutty" behavior in the buck going to check her out. Good enough for me..


Hunts: 14
Hours hunted: 3.5
Deer seen: 3
Season total hours: 47
Season Deer seen: 26.5
Bucks: 11
Does: 15
In bow range season total: 12

 

[hickslawns]

Hiked a long hike. Climber on back. Hit a spot I've scouted in the past and hunted a time or two but not this exact spot. That's the beauty of a climber. Not heavily traveled area, but I was playing it safe with the wind. And. . .farmer was finishing picking corn 100yds or so west of me when I got there. He was done about the time I was up the tree. Ended up having 3 young ones come in. One well under 20yds. The other two 24-27yds. Never busted me even though I was on a telephone pole tree. That was about it.

Hunts: 15
Hours hunted: 3.5
Deer seen: 3
Season total hours: 50.5
Season Deer seen: 29
Bucks: 11
Does: 18
In bow range season total: 15