Wildlife 2020/2021 Deer Season

[Wildlife]

Did you cut the wood by your stand to allow new growth more room?

Yes, and then some.

The downed trees from the 'F0 tornado' we received earlier in the year prevented the deer to travel like they used to by that stand and took a different route, leaving me a much further shot opportunity than before. So, the main run is now opened back up.

I also need to make my way over to my 'North Western Stand' and clean up that area from the down tree with 'pine licking branch' #1 that fell over during the last windstorm, a month ago, and get that setup back into shape once again for next season.

I intend to do that on my next go around.

 

[Wildlife]

Friday - December 18, 2020 - 'BONUS GUN WEEKEND, I'M READY!':

This afternoon, I loaded my pickup truck with my 'Big-Mike' pop-up ground blind, ALPS Outdoor swivel blind-chair, BOG-POD, my hunting pack with a hand saw in it, binos & rangefinder, tree-pruner, a leaf rake, one 'Lone Wolf' long climbing stick, a toboggan/sled and one 50lb. bag of whole corn and left the house at 12:15 p.m.

I reached the Fairfield Co. property around 1:00 p.m. and parked on the NE end of the picked cornfield.

Then I loaded up my toboggan/sled with all the items mentioned previously and headed South, right along the wooded/field edge, through the snow within the cornfield.

I hiked clear around the wooded finger that goes out into the cornfield a good ways and arrived on the backside of it, directly across from where I've been hunting the past week within the Maple Tree that has my 'Lone Wolf Alpha II' tree-stand set up in it.

I found the perfect spot with some good cover, right behind a small Cedar Tree, and inside some honeysuckle shrubs and brier patches.

Then I grabbed the 50lb. bag of whole corn & my LW climbing stick first out of the toboggan, hiked clear across the cornfield to the location where I laid out bags of corn within a few corn rows days prior, closets to the NE corner of the field, well within the cup area, just off a main deer trail just inside the woods.

While I started to lay out the new bag of corn, I happen to notice that the area was definitely hit hard since I last hunted it, which was all day Wednesday.

After I finished laying out the new bag of whole corn, I grabbed my LW climbing stick, walked over to each of the two trail cameras and swapped out the SD cards.

Then I turnaround and headed back across the field, retracing my previous footsteps, and started to carve me out a spot for my blind to rest in, right behind that small Cedar Tree.

I set the 'Big-Mike' pop-up ground in place, tied it off at a couple of locations, set the ALPS chair up, set the BOG-POD up, opened up the front windows facing the East, and the right corner window that faces SE. I left all the others closed.

Then I cleaned up the shooting lanes, just a tiny bit.

After I completed everything and was happy with it, I took a few cellphone photographs of my new 'Bonus Weekend' hunting setup. Then I packed everything else up, threw them into my toboggan/sled and got the hell out of there by 2:15 p.m.

Once I got to my pickup and placed everything that was left within the bed of the truck, I jumped into the cab, grabbed my old cellphone & 'BONEVIEW' adapter and went through both SD cards that I just swapped out from my TCs.

All I can say is, I'm pleasantly surprised and very pleased to see all the daylight deer activity captured on both those cards over the course of the last 48hrs. Including several daylight bucks, a couple I'd shoot, no doubt!

The following video is a collage of photographs collected & taken today at that property in Fairfield Co. that are in consecutive order by way of time stamp & date, however I'll share just one of them below to kick it off.

Video description:

This afternoon, I went to the Fairfield Co. property to set up my pop-ground blind for 'BONUS GUN WEEKEND' hunt, which begins tomorrow and ends Sunday evening.

I arrived at the property around 1:00 p.m. I loaded up my toboggan/sled with my blind, shooting stick, blind- chair, hand saw, tree pruner, leaf rake, one 'Lone Wolf' long climbing sticks and a 50lb. bag of whole corn.

Then I hiked out through the picked cornfield heading South towards the end of the wooded finger and hiked completely around the end of it, to the East side, and found an area right behind a small Cedar Tree, with some thick thorn brier patches and honeysuckle shrubs.

I first grabbed the 50lb. bag of whole corn and replenished the area where I laid some out the previous days. I noticed when I got to that location, that the area was hit hard just over the course of the last 48hrs.

Then after that, I swapped SD cards at both of the TCs that are hung just along the East side of the cornfield, which covers the laid out whole corn area and one buck tree rub.

Then after that, I carved out a spot right behind the Cedar Tree for my pop-up ground blind. I used both my hand saw and tree pruner to clear some of the honeysuckle limbs and the brier patches. Then I used the leaf rake to rake up all the loose debris where the blind will be set up.

I ended finishing the hunting setup at 2:15 p.m., took some cellphone photographs of it, then loaded back up my toboggan/sled with the remaining items to take back home.

I intend to hunt out this setup the entire weekend because of the type of winds that is forecasted, and Sunday's weather forecast is calling for rain during the day.

Based on the trail camera captures over the last 48hrs, which are within this video in consecutive order by way of time-stamp & date, I expect to have an opportunity to harvest a good buck by way of my 12 gauge Remington 870 Express Magnum pump shotgun with a rifled barrel and a 3x9-40 limited edition 'Bone Collector' rifle scope on top, shooting a 12 gauge Brenneke USA 3"; 1-3/8oz. 'Black Magic Magnum' slug cartridge.

You can expect a follow up of these near future hunts shortly afterwards.

Yeah, I'm totally looking forward to tomorrow's hunt with my old shotgun once again.

 

[Wildlife]

Saturday – December 19, 2020 – ‘FINALLY GOT THE MONKEY OFF MY BACK’:

Saturday morning, I woke up early because I was all excited about getting out to my ‘Big Mike’ pop-up ground blind at the Fairfield Co. property that I set up the day prior, knowing I was going to see deer.

After drinking several cups of coffee while catching up on all the ‘TOO’ posts, then stoked the woodstove with more firewood after taking care of my animals, I grabbed a quick shower, got dressed in this year’s new camo ‘Realtree AP’ hunting clothes, then headed back out to the workshop to start loading up the pickup with my two hunting totes, rifle, toboggan sled, and a thermos full of hot coffee to go plus a couple of premade sandwiches that the wife made for lunch.

Fired up the truck, let it warm up some, then I hit the road around 6:00 a.m.

I arrived at the property about 6:40 and parked at the NE end of the picked cornfield, clear at the bottom of the hill, near the woods to the East, and out of sight.

Then I jumped out the truck cab and immediately got dressed into my hunting winter outer clothes, grabbed the shotgun, loaded it up with three Brenneke USA Black Magic Magnum 3” 1-3/8oz. slug cartridges, tossed the backpack over my shoulders, slung the rifle sling around my neck, chest and shoulder and started hiking to the blind through the picked cornfield, heading South to the end of the wooded finger, then around the end of it, heading back North along the field/wood edge about 50 yards, and finally arriving at my blind.

The snow on the ground was frozen solid, and it was incredibly crunchy and loud while hiking out no matter how much I tried to be as stealthy and quiet as I could.

Once I got into my blind, I set my backpack down in the back corner and the rifle in the other back corner, pulled out my binos, rangefinder, ATN Thermal Monocular out of the backpack and laid them down on my ALPS Outdoor adjustable swivel chair, then I turned and dropped the front window screen and adjusted the middle front window flap downward to about half.

Then I sat down and shortly afterwards, an owl starting hooting right above me. So, I pulled out my cellphone and started to record him communicating with another owl that was clear on the other side of the field, within the East woods. At the same time, I turned on my ATN Thermal Monocular and started scanning the area towards the cornfield in front of me, to the NE, East and the SE wooded area. I did not see any deer in the area at that time, which was about 5 minutes before legal hunting time.

As the sun was starting to rise, I continued to use my ATN Thermal Monocular to scan the entire area looking for any evidence of wildlife moving about. All I saw at that moment in time was some birds and a few squirrels getting active already, both around the laid out whole corn area where I laid out another 50lbs. the previous day and around my ‘Lone Wolf Alpha II’ tree-stand area.

After the first 30 minutes of legal hunting time, I switched from my ATN Thermal Monocular to my regular Nikon HD 8x42 binoculars and scanned the area in front of me, right along the field/wood edges mainly while sitting comfortably within my blind chair.

Then I caught movement coming from the SE, right along the field/wood edge of the East woods. The cornfield has a slight rising hump in the middle of it looking further to the SE. I could tell right off the bat though it was a buck seeing his antlers with the naked eye at 100 yards away heading towards my tree-stand at a good pace.

Since I knew that all the snow was going to melt that night with the hours of rain in the forecast, and it’s pretty much late in the game in harvesting a respectable mature buck for the season, I already made a pack with myself to shoot the first antlered deer that I saw. Well, that buck was the first deer that arrived within my shooting range so, I got grabbed the shotgun, turned on the Tactacam, and I got ready, it’s go time!

As the buck continued heading North and stopped perfectly broadside, looking around to the N-NE, nearly right in front of my tree-stand that is directly across from me to the East, the buck approximately 80 yards away, I pulled the trigger.

I watched that buck do the perfect mule kick and immediately turned into the woods to the East, right underneath my tree-stand and watched him crash. I knew I just placed a perfect shot onto him, and he didn’t go far at all afterwards.

Then I sat back, turned off the Tactacam, placed my rifle back into the corner of the blind, pulled out my cellphone to check the time, which it stated 7:55 a.m. Then I signed into the ‘TOO’ forum, and made a post within the Gun Season 2020 thread.

To kill time, plus I felt that the deer activity was just getting started based on the TC captures all week. While on my cellphone, I pulled up the ONDR app, signed into and purchased me another deer tag for the first time ever using that method, and let me tell ya, it was a snap, easy peasy! I was pleasantly surprised and pleased because that meant that I could continue hunting for the remainder of the day if need be since it started off so beautifully with an early deer harvest.

After waiting for about 30-40 minutes of making that shot onto that buck, I grabbed my shotgun, chambered another round, checked the safety, piled out the blind with my cellphone in my hand, and started recording the tracking business of the buck.

I slowly made my way across the cornfield, heading straight to where I thought I shot him at.

Once I arrived at the field/wood edge, I did not initially see any signs of a deer being shot so, I slowly creeped my way into the woods keeping a close eye out for that buck, just in case, which I highly doubted, that he’d get back up and attempt to run off. I honestly knew he was finished though, based on his immediate reaction after the shot, but we all know that deer are incredibly tough animals and one just never knows. I’ve seen deer do some amazing things before after being shot, and those are different stories I can share at a different time.

Anyhow, about 10 yards into the woods, I turned towards my tree-stand location and as I approached my tree, I saw fresh deer tracks and blood that went right underneath my stand.

Then I turned back towards the woods and started following the blood splatter and droplets, along with the deer tracks within the snow-covered ground.

About five steps into my tracking from that point, I saw the white belly and the tan hide of the buck laying on the ground, up ahead of me, against a mediocre size tree.

As I approached the deer, I saw that at the spot where the buck crashed, there was a few good buck tree rubs right next to him that I did not know previously that were there. Perhaps those tree rubs belonged to him.

After I took a couple afield photographs and did my very first e-deer tag check in utilizing the ONDR cellphone app, which again, it was a snap, just easy peasy, I turned back around and headed back to the ground blind because like mentioned previously, I just knew that more deer were about to start showing up in a matter of minutes.

Continuation onto the next post...

 

[Wildlife]

I got settled back into the blind shortly before 9:00 a.m., ready to hunt.

Well, it certainly did not take long at all for the next deer show up, and those antlerless deer did show up in a small group of four as usual, just like clockwork, right in between the 9-10 o’clock hour, just like they have been over the course of the past few days, and that is totally based on my prior TCs captures.

As I watched the first one make her way out of the woods at 9:50 a.m. and head towards the laid out corn area within the few corn rows, the three others popped out quickly from the woods and sprinted towards the middle of the cornfield cup area, then stopped right in front of me at 45 yards. That is when I made my second shot of the day onto another Whitetail Deer.

Another good shot placement that I could tell based on the immediate reaction; that typical deer hop into the air with the flinging rear leg kicks.

Then all of them took off as if it there was a ringing gunshot to start them off as if they were thoroughbred horses in a derby race, straight across the cornfield, heading South, SE of me.

I continued to train my rifle onto that shot doe while my Tactacam was still recording and watched her crash within the cornfield, approximately 80 yards from the moment of impact.

Shortly after the doe crashed, all the other deer fled the area, leaving the cornfield and back into the East woods toward the thick pines.

Then I set the shotgun back into the corner of the blind and started packing everything up, putting away the binos, rangefinder, ATN Thermal Monocular, and even the piss-bottle got put back into my backpack.

Right after that, I closed & zipped up all the blind windows and began to prepare to take it down right after I first track that doe that crashed within the cornfield, which that’s exactly what I did.

After I found the doe within the cornfield, I headed back to the blind, grabbed my backpack, re-slung the rifle across my neck, chest and shoulder, then headed to my pickup, back around the wooded finger to the South and around back to the North again, straight to the truck where it was parked at the end of the cornfield corner.

Once I arrived at the truck, I started to change out of all my outer winter hunting clothes, placed them back into the tote, placed my backpack into the other tote after I pulled out my thermos of hot coffee, field dressing pack with gutting gloves, a ‘Havlon’ knife and a couple of 1-gallon zip-lock baggies for both the hearts & livers.

Then I changed out of my ‘Muck’ hunting boots, grabbed my other ‘Muck’ boots, which are identical, but that pair is specifically used for deer recoveries and any other deer stuff activities, like checking TCs, placing deer hunting setups, so on and so forth. They’re more worked than the other pair, which the pair I was wearing for hunting are much newer.

Afterwards, I jumped inside the cab of the truck with the coffee thermos in hand, lit up a celebrating cigarette and checked out the ‘TOO’ Gun Season 2020 thread again, which I happen to notice that I incorrectly stated within that post that I was finished at 10:53 a.m., instead of 9:53. Perhaps I was a bit too excited and wasn’t thinking clearly when I originally made that post or it was a simple typeo, but regardless, I signed back into the forum and replied to my original post to state the mistake - Gun Season 2020.

After a few swigs of coffee and completed smoking my cigarette, I jumped back out the truck, grabbed my empty toboggan sled and took off to go collect my ‘Lone Wolf Alpha II’ tree-stand with five ‘Lone Wolf’ long version climbing sticks, along with my ‘HME’ tree strap hooks, ‘Muddy’ bow hanger and safety harness tree strap.

After I loaded everything up from the tree into the toboggan, I then hiked straight across the cornfield to the West, just within the wooded finger area, to collect my ‘Big-Mike’ pop-up ground blind and the APLS Outdoor fully adjustable swivel chair. I placed each of those items into the toboggan along with everything else, and hiked back to the pickup, back around the wooded finger again to the South, turning back around to the North and straight to the truck.

Once I finished loading up all those items into the front of the bed of the truck, I grabbed my game field dressing pack, then took off once again, down through the cornfield, heading South towards the end of the wooded finger and around, then straight to the doe first within the cornfield to the SE.

(Bullet entry wound, right behind the 'R' shoulder that missed the heart but took out both lungs.)

After I finished field dressed her and tossed her onto the toboggan with the zip-lock baggy full of her heart & liver, I began to haul her all the way back to the pickup truck, which was 355 yards away.

All I can say is, thank God there was still snow cover on the ground because that hike back to the truck was not that bad at all.

After I got her up into the bed of the truck, along that zip-baggy, I pulled out another cigarette, smoked it while sipping on some more hot coffee out my ‘Federal’ thermos.

Once I finished that smoke, I took off for the very last time for the day with the toboggan and game field dressing pack to go collect my 2020 buck that piled up 30 yards inside the East woods, just off the cornfield.

(Bullet entry right behind the 'L' shoulder, through the top of the heart and straight out the other side. One of two buck tree rubs where he crashed.)

Another 400-yard haul with a harvested deer, heart & liver zip-lock baggy inside the toboggan.

Finally, at 2:00 p.m. sharp, the pickup truck was completely loaded with all my hunting gear and two harvested Whitetail Deer.

Continuation onto the next post...

 

[Wildlife]

While in the cab, letting the truck warm up, I checked in the last deer tag that I purchased this morning for the doe through the ODNR cellphone app. Again, easy peasy! I’m totally love’n that app!

Then I texted the wife letting her know that I was on my way home.

While pulling out of the Fairfield Co. property, I called the landowner to let him know that I was done deer hunting for the weekend. After speaking with him and sharing the good news, I offered to give him the entire doe harvest in appreciation of allowing me to hunt his property again, knowing that his family enjoys fresh venison too from my previous deer harvests years ago, off his property and afterwards, I gave him some then too. He was elated by the offer and thrilled that I was successful in taking a couple of good deer once again off his property. He asked for just steaks and burger so, I completed the processing the doe up earlier today and she’s already to go for when I make it back out for muzzy season to hopefully harvest another antlerless off the property since they have so many within the immediate area.

I also happen to mention the number of coyotes I encountered and/or captured on my TCs during my time hunting the place over the past week. Ten years ago, I arrowed my very first ever and my largest coyote I’ve killed on his property, which it was a 50+ pound male that was about to pounce on top of an adult doe that I watched bed right underneath me one morning, trying to hide and/or get away from that big coyote. I made a 30-yard broadside shot right through the chest and recovered it approximately 50 yards away. That same coyote is still at the taxidermy today, yet to be finished, believe it not. He has a beautiful winter coat to him that makes him look like a ‘Timber Wolf’, combined with his sheer size. He’s absolutely huge!

Side note: I no longer do business with that taxidermy because he hasn’t finished that full coyote mount for me in a timely manner. He’s had it for nearly ten years. I recently spoke to him over the phone about it a month ago once again and he assured me that he will get it done. I’ll most likely follow up with him once again if I do not hear from him soon around the time I get started in prepping for this year’s coyote hunts, which is right around the corner.

So, inconclusion for the ‘Bonus Gun Weekend’ opener. I harvested two deer, an eight-point buck and another good doe, and I saw a total of five deer in total during the two hour and forty-minute hunt.

Just so everyone knows, I have not harvested an antlered deer in nine years, mainly by choice and/or lack luster opportunities within the newer properties I’ve been hunting over the past few years, plus I did NOT hunt the following years at all due to working out of town quite often throughout those years.

1. 2013
2. 2014
3. 2015
4. 2016

Granted, the buck that I harvested is not the big mature buck I was hoping for initially for the year, but being this late in the stage of the game for hunting mature bucks, combined with this weekend’s weather forecast, I told myself the previous night that I was going to take the first antlered deer that offered up any such opportunity, which obviously I did. He’ll be a real good eater no doubt.

Below is a video of the TC captures of the previous 48hrs. and you will get see a couple of better bucks, but not during daylight and/or just outside of legal times.

Video description:

The following are trail camera captures of wildlife during the last two days just prior to 'Bonus Gun Weekend' opener.

I pulled down both trail cameras and packed everything up including both the 'Big-Mike' pop-up ground blind & the 'Lone Wolf Alpha II with 5 LW climbing sticks' tree-stand right after I harvested two good deer on the morning of the 20th.

I will be hunting the same property during muzzleloader season, which is during January 2-5, 2021.

I hope this year’s buck harvest gets that ‘monkey off my back’ and totally back on track in harvesting future mature good bucks. I also hope that ‘THUNDER’ makes it through this season. I’ll be monitoring my local TCs regularly now that gun season is over with, hoping that he shows up again rather soon.

Regardless of what I just shared, I had a great hunt Saturday. I AM incredibly happy and thankful with both deer that I harvested yesterday. I feel extremely blessed to be able to hunt the way that I do at my age and get to hunt the areas that I have access to. Sometimes, it’s difficult to put it all into appropriate words in how much this sport really means to me along with, what it does for my soul, my metal health and total physical being.

So, the way that I see it with regards to this year’s deer season to finish out, I intend to hunt with my 30-year-old muzzleloader during the muzzy season in a couple of weeks at the same property, most likely at the very same location, within the pop-up ground blind. If I am successful, I will then again accomplish the state six deer bag limit rule, which makes it two back to back seasons in a row for me in accomplishing that, utilizing each legal hunting implement for each type of hunting season; bow, rifle & muzzleloader, which is also a part of my original 2020/21 hunting goal that I posted within the
2020-2021 Season Goals thread back in August of this year.

I know this journal post update is a lengthy one, but once again, my whole intent mainly is to be thorough and transparent while documenting this year’s hunting season of mine. That’s what I committed to do and hope to accomplish in my hunting season journal.

For those that took the time to read this latest update, I appreciate it and hope that you enjoyed it.

And to those that have commented with positive remarks in my recent accomplishment, I deeply appreciate it, thank you very much!

Finally, I care to thank the ‘TOO’ administration/owners once again in allowing me to be apart of this virtual internet deer camp as a participating member. I hope that I do not cause your infrastructure budget to go through the roof due to the large amounts of data content that I have shared over the past couple of years. So, I thank you in allowing me to be a part of your camp, allowing me to get to share much of the different forums of wildlife captured media within my posts. I certainly do appreciate it, thanks!

Video description:

DOUBLED DOWN ON A COUPLE OF DEER.

First off, please excuse my sinus issues and heavy breathing throughout most of the blood tracking business, and secondly, the video starts off when shortly after I sat down this morning within the blind, and right before legal time, there was an owl right above the blind that I captured hooting. Perhaps he was trying to tell me something good was about to happen.

Tactacam footage of both shots this morning's two deer, plus the follow up blood tracking, deer recovery photography and more.

Nearly all of the photo images and video clips taken are in consecutive order by way of time-stamp throughout today's 2 hour & 40 minute hunt, along with those of the recoveries, the notorious tailgate photo and then, of course, the hero shot of the double shotgun deer harvests.

I'll fill in the rest of the details after I finish up taking care of today's deer harvests and after putting away the rest of my hunting gear.

 

[Fletch]

Congrats Denny.. One cold night I'll sit down and read this thread while sipping on a nice glass of Drambuie....

 

[Sgt Fury]

Congrats Denny.. One cold night I'll sit down and read this thread while sipping on a nice glass of Drambuie....

 

[Chancegriffis]

Alright boys, I’m back to the grind this week. Had a little play time with the boys in the woods but nothing really to speak of. My youngest boy wanted to squeeze off a round on every fawn and doe he saw move this weekend but I didn’t allow it. He has deer fever horribly. We sat last night and never saw any bone from 1130am to 540pm. Got out of the woods and wouldn’t you know it, 11 minutes later and my big 8 shows up with a new 12pt I’ve never seen before on my cell cam.... so overall a good sit with over 22 does seen and movement all day and cold weather with no shots fired. I do have a big question for all you seasoned hunters. I haven’t sat over bait ever. It’s always been catching them in transition and the corn just keeps them fed. But for me it seems this buck is always ahead of me. Would it be worth my while to have a 3-400lb pile of bait, give it a week without going in there and try to hunt the pile for him as we get towards the end of the week? He seems to be at or on the pile for the last few weeks right at last light or within a half an hour. Curious of y’all’s thoughts about big bucks coming to food after snow finally hits the ground and stays on the ground and weather is consistent.

 

[Fletch]

Hunting over food, whether a food plot or a corn pile at this time of year IMO can be very productive... I don't, but if I did I'd probably do evening sits....

 

[Wildlife]

Alright boys, I’m back to the grind this week. Had a little play time with the boys in the woods but nothing really to speak of. My youngest boy wanted to squeeze off a round on every fawn and doe he saw move this weekend but I didn’t allow it. He has deer fever horribly. We sat last night and never saw any bone from 1130am to 540pm. Got out of the woods and wouldn’t you know it, 11 minutes later and my big 8 shows up with a new 12pt I’ve never seen before on my cell cam.... so overall a good sit with over 22 does seen and movement all day and cold weather with no shots fired. I do have a big question for all you seasoned hunters. I haven’t sat over bait ever. It’s always been catching them in transition and the corn just keeps them fed. But for me it seems this buck is always ahead of me. Would it be worth my while to have a 3-400lb pile of bait, give it a week without going in there and try to hunt the pile for him as we get towards the end of the week? He seems to be at or on the pile for the last few weeks right at last light or within a half an hour. Curious of y’all’s thoughts about big bucks coming to food after snow finally hits the ground and stays on the ground and weather is consistent.

I'd say that this time of the year, especially with snow covered ground, you can easily get most deer patterned and figured out by setting up and/or locating a good food source that also offers up plenty of good cover nearby for the them to hunker down and not feel so pressured nor threatened. That is why I do not go into those thick pines at the property that I've hunted over the past week. It's excellent cover for those deer that I knew that they were in there, but I did not want to disturb them or push them out from the area. Instead, I tried to lurer them out and/or, setup near or above a main deer trail that lead in & out to the cornfield, knowing that I'd get that opportunity just by being patient, along with setting up a couple of TCs for intel.

I do not always hunt over food or bait them, but when I do, I will try to figure them out, their feeding schedule as best as I can, then try to get setup just prior when I believe I'll have my best opportunity to encounter that deer that I hope to harvest. Utilizing trail cameras is a great tool in trying to figure that equation out not doubt about it.

So, I believe you are on the right track and typically, those mature bucks do move for food during the later part of the day this time of the year, but not always. You stand a safer chance by not spooky away that mature buck by going in during daylight, then in the dark of the early morning hours IMO.

Good luck to you Chance! I hope you get the chance in busting one of those two big deer very soon!

 

[Fletch]

Hunting over food, whether a food plot or a corn pile at this time of year IMO can be very productive... I don't, but if I did I'd probably do evening sits....

Opps.... This was supposed to go in another thread.... Sorry Denny...

 

[Wildlife]

Opps.... This was supposed to go in another thread.... Sorry Denny...

Not a problem... It's good information and I'm happy to have it shared right here on this thread.

 

[Big_Holla]

Nice job Denny!! Congratulations again!!

 

[Wildlife]

Tuesday - December 22, 2020 - 'Merry Christmas to All & Have Yourself A Happy New Year!':

I wanted this to be apart of my journal documentation, which is all the deer activity at my only 'PINE LICKING BRANCH' that is left hanging still, #2. #1 fell down back on November 15th, during that heavy windstorm that we received and I never got around to replacing it just yet.

Video description:

All the local deer activity at the 'Pine Licking Branch' #2 since I last updated on my channel, which was back on November 17, 2020.

No real mature bucks have really showed up at this particular location since the November rut, and/or the first two weeks of November. I do have however, TC captures of 'THUNDER' back on November 29, 2020 at the bait station. I have not seen him since then.

There are 3 seconds intervals in between trail camera photographs mainly throughout the entire video, with the exception of some of the bucks, which are 5 seconds.

________________________________

On a different note:

Both of my sons will be here tomorrow, at home for the holidays, which I pretty damn stoked about. I missed them very much and that alone will make my Christmas.

So, from my family to yours, we wish you all, A Very Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!

 

[twireman]

.

 

[giles]

12,000 views and you don't know if you are gonna do one next year?

 

[Wildlife]

12,000 views and you don't know if you are gonna do one next year? View attachment 118834

I still have to do my follow up for my last hunt, which I have been quite busy catching up on things since I tagged out. I will do it tho, mark my words.

Maintaining this journal has been a bit time consuming for me at times, but I have enjoyed referring back to it while learning from it myself.

So, we'll see. I may continue it, but I will tell you all now, I intend to up my game in going after big bucks. Much like Chuck said in the previous post, I intend to spend more time scouting for next season. I have other properties I have yet to hunt and they will be part of the equation going forward.

I say that because the hour glass is getting down to where I believe I won't have the same opportunity to be able to pull it off on another true trophy in my lifetime again.

My focus for next season will be off the charts while I am still healthy & strong.

I'll let you know as the new season draws closer.

Thanks for asking!

 

[Fletch]

I still have to do my follow up for my last hunt, which I have been quite busy catching up on things since I tagged out. I will do it tho, mark my words.

Maintaining this journal has been a bit time consuming for me at times, but I have enjoyed referring back to it while learning from it myself.

So, we'll see. I may continue it, but I will tell you all now, I intend to up my game in going after big bucks. Much like Chuck said in the previous post, I intend to spend more time scouting for next season. I have other properties I have yet to hunt and they will be part of the equation going forward.

I say that because the hour glass is getting down to where I believe I won't have the same opportunity to be able to pull it off on another true trophy in my lifetime again.

My focus for next season will be off the charts while I am still healthy & strong.

I'll let you know as the new season draws closer.

Thanks for asking!

Denny your still young,healthy and strong you still have numerous years in the tank.... Guess I'll wait till you write your final 2020 report then I'll sit down with a bottle of Drambuie and read it....

 

[Sgt Fury]

Denny your still young,healthy and strong you still have numerous years in the tank.... Guess I'll wait till you write your final 2020 report then I'll sit down with a bottle of Drambuie and read it....

You’re

 

[Fletch]

You’re

Are you saying Denny's over the hill...