Wildlife 2022/2023 Deer Season

[Wildlife]

8:45AM, Sunday, November 13, 2022: 'JR' IS WOUNDED'

Looks like I have a situation here at home. One of the resident bucks ('JR') showed up this morning with an arrow stuck in him. He looks and appears to be fine based on all the TC captures I have of him this mornin, but I'm considering of making a plan to get on him today since he's in the area, wounded, and I just might have to finish him off.

 

[Trueroots]

Best of luck getting him!

 

[Wildlife]

6:30PM Quick follow-up regarding 'JR':

Lookin SE towards the lower standing CRP field. 'JR' was spotted 60-70 yards away, just right from middle of this photograph, slow walking along the CRP field/wooded edge headed South during the last half hour of legal hunting time.

Looking S,SW from the tree-stand that is closet to my home.

Confirmed that 'JR' is still alive and seems to be doing okay. I got to see him during the last half hour of this evening's hunt, right here @home. I didn't get a real good look at'em, but he was on his feet slowly moving away from me, roughly 60-70 yards away when I first saw him. He was bedded just within the lower standing CRP field, just like I thought he would be. I believe I know where his beds is now and I'll try to cut the distance on'em tomorrow mornin.

Good night all!

 

[Wildlife]

8:00PM, Saturday, November 19, 2022: 'A WEEK IN REVIEW'

This weeks hunts noted on the shop's whiteboard, showing from 11/13 thru today, the 19th.

Up to this point in time:

Two weeks worth of hunts with a total of nine (9) sits so far for me this season.

That's a total of 27.5 hunting hrs.; 2hrs ground assult & 25hrs from within a tree-stand.

One evening hunt @home & the rest of the hunts @theotherfarm.

Deer encounters:

10 Antlered buck encounters - five of them being shooters out of the bunch, One @home and the rest @theotherfarm
2 Unknown
15 Antlerless

1 mature doe harvested on 11/10/22

Most all deer encounters were within bow range, approximately 98% of them were.

I also had one large coyote encounter during this evening's hunt with no shot opportunity.

__________________________________

My hunting plans for the rest of month will not changed. I'll hunt when I can, in between whatever I have goin on that needs taken care of first.

I'm truly enjoying my season despite a few of this year's setbacks, like EHD. Still having fun though and that's what's important right now for me. I'm in no real big hurry to fill my buck tag. I just want this year's antlered deer to be a real good one. Well all see what happens hopefully soon.

Good night all!

 

[Wildlife]

8:45AM, Sunday, November 13, 2022: 'JR' IS WOUNDED'

Looks like I have a situation here at home. One of the resident bucks ('JR') showed up this morning with an arrow stuck in him. He looks and appears to be fine based on all the TC captures I have of him this mornin, but I'm considering of making a plan to get on him today since he's in the area, wounded, and I just might have to finish him off.

View attachment 166060View attachment 166061View attachment 166062View attachment 166063
View attachment 166064

10:30PM, Sunday, November 20, 2022: 'JR' on the mend'

Video description:

Stuck arrow now gone! 'JR' showed up this evening here @home and seems to be recovering just fine, thank goodness!

_______________________________________

Very happy to see him among the living still, no doubt! Based on what I've seen so far about him and that wound, I fully expect a complete and healthy recovery. He doesn't act injured at all from what I have seen, both out in the field and on trail cameras.

 

[Stressless]

Just depends on if it goes septic... Hope he heals up - he's a dandy.

 

[Wildlife]

7:00AM, Friday, December 2, 2022: 'SHYBUC' - THE WARRIOR

Turns out that 'SHYBUC' came to be quite the warrior this year. Looks like he defended his home turf fairly well based on his current rack appearance.

I hope he makes it through the rest of the season.

 

[Wildlife]

2:00AM, Monday, December 5, 2022: 'JR' MADE IT

'JR' made it through 'GUN WEEK', and he continues to show that he's still recovering from being arrowed back in November. He, too, I hope, makes through the rest of the deer hunting season I've been taking care of both 'SHYBUC' & 'JR' over the past four years, practically raising them, and they seem to be the only two mature resident bucks out of the several previously that has survived the severe EHD outbreak of this year. I have over four years of trail camera photography of both deer at the feed-station, right here @home. I hope that I continue to collect more TC captures of them well into the future.

 

[Wildlife]

11:45PM, Wednesday, December 7, 2022: 'JR's Road to Recovery

'JR' showed up at the Western Stand this evening and he ate plenty. 'JR' last year was the buck that did most of round-up of the does regularly last season. I witnessed that behavior several times last year from within the stand. He was a very active and busy deer back then. I expect him to stay in the area for the rest of the year and going into the next. I really hope that he got to breed as many of the local does as possible though, due to good genetics.

Anyway, I'm pleased to see him again, as always!

 

[Sgt Fury]

11:45PM, Wednesday, December 7, 2022: 'JR's Road to Recovery

'JR' showed up at the Western Stand this evening and he ate plenty. 'JR' last year was the buck that did most of round-up of the does regularly last season. I witnessed that behavior several times last year from within the stand. He was a very active and busy deer back then. I expect him to stay in the area for the rest of the year and going into the next. I really hope that he got to breed as many of the local does as possible though, due to good genetics.

Anyway, I'm pleased to see him again, as always!

Do you find his sheds every season?

 

[Wildlife]

Do you find his sheds every season?

I don't have any sheds of his currently. There's a few folks that shed hunt the property that surrounds us, and I very seldom hear about or see them become successful. I usually find sheds when I'm out typically for different reasons, such as yote hunting, but hardly do I specifically shed hunt anymore nowadays. I'm usually too busy tackling whatever's next on my list of priorities each new year, George. I hope to find them this year though because I want to do a lot of yote hunting this season.

 

[Wildlife]

4:00AM, Saturday, December 10, 2022: 'Jr' being Junior

Junior seems to be back to being his old self once again, acting & behaving quite normal despite the fact that he was shot with some type of vertical bow & arrow nearly 30 days ago by some unknown person within the area. I don't know who or when exactly, but I'm just glad that it was a real poor shot and he was able to free himself from the arrow that was stuck just above his front right shoulder. You'll get to see him tend to it briefly within this latest video too.

I shared a previous video of him showing the arrow stuck in him.

_____________

I have a four year history with this buck, experienced several different encounters of him while deer hunting, but never once did I ever think about shooting him at the time because I wish for him to fill out and grow up to his upmost full potential, and spread his genes all throughout the area along the way. I also have every trail camera capture of him filed away of the past four years as well.

"Jr' never intended to be on any harvest list until next year possibly, because I was attempting to conduct as best as I could, QDM over the past five years, him being apart of the program. This year's (EHD) outbreak just may put 'Jr' at the top of next year's list though. that is, if he continues to survive and remains within the area. All the other more mature bucks that I also was taking care of, have either died or possibly moved onto greener pastures, but I honestly believe nearly all of the other big bucks have actually died from the disease over this past summer, early fall. That's when I stopped seeing them in the area, which is unlike anything they have ever done before. Those bucks were also captured on trail cameras consistently and quite frequently in prior years.

There stands a good chance that other stranger bucks will move into the area during this winter, and/or next spring and/or next summer, to fill in any gaps, taking up residence, always remaining nearby, just like the previous others.
_____________

I do not know how bad our entire county got hit with the outbreak. I just know it was bad enough for me to decide early on not to harvest any deer out of our county this hunting season, and I haven't.

I try not to put all my eggs into one basket in life, and this is a prime example why, especially if I care to hunt quality deer every year within the state.

@theotherfarm, which is located in a different county, the environment, terrain, habitat and deer behavior is quite a bit different. That farm is right up the road from where I used to live and hunt over a decade ago, just prior to where I live today. It's beautiful area that I always enjoyed and looked forward to hunting each and every year back then, and still do today.

There are other properties that are within the same general area that I have yet to hunt in recent years. I've harvested some of my best bucks at a couple of those locations over decade ago too. I may have to revisit them come next year if our local deer herd here does not rebound going into next year's hunting season.

I'll just have to wait and see how things go over the next six months or so and cross that bridge then.

 

[Wildlife]

1:30AM, Sunday, December 11, 2022: 'Junior'

Junior appears to be back to his regular daily routine once again.

_______________________

Another decent day of deer activity/movement within daylight around here and @theotherfarm, both bucks & does alike. I attached a couple of examples to represent all the others that showed up during the same time frame of the day approximately.

How many deer do you see in the photograph?

 

[Wildlife]

12/11/22

Once again, some decent morning activity here and @theotherfarm. I expect this evening to be much the same. I'm not hunting again until muzzleloader season gets here. Good luck to those that are still at it!

 

[Wildlife]

8:45PM, Sunday, December 11, 2022: 'Playing Catchup'

24 Individual Whitetail Deer Hunts:

101.5 total hunting hours combined when I include the last day of gun week, Sunday the 4th.

4 total hours in ground assaults/still hunts

44.5 total hours within a tree-stand

53 total hours within the pop-up ground blind

One evening hunt @home & the rest of the hunts @theotherfarm.

Wildlife Encounters:

29 Antlered buck encounters - eleven of them being shooters. One @home and the rest @theotherfarm
8 Unknowns
26 Antlerless

63 total Whitetail Deer encounters

1 doe harvested on 11/10/22 by way of compound bow
1 buck harvested on 12/03/22 by way of shotgun

Most all deer encounters were within bow range while archery hunting, approximately 98% of them were, and all deer were within range when rifle hunting during gun week.

I also had one close encounter with a large coyote back a couple of weeks ago, but no shot opportunity.

My next Whitetail Deer hunt will be at the other farm during muzzleloader season. I'm going for another Ohio Slam.

My buck harvest write-up will be the next journal update.

 

[Wildlife]

10:00AM, Tuesday, December 13, 2022: 'Making their way back'

A couple of video clips that were captured earlier this morning that I wanted to include within this journal update for future reference that shows some of our local deer herd making their way back from all of gun week's chaos.

Then of course, the latest of 'Junior'

______________________________

Today is gonna be a real busy day for me and I'm not finished with my buck harvest write-up just yet, but I'll be working on it again later on and try to make it available real soon.

 

[Trueroots]

How old do you think Junior is?

 

[Wildlife]

How old do you think Junior is?

Four in a half. I have TC captures of him when he was just a little guy. He was a protégé of 'THUNDER' for the last four years, or perhaps one of 'THUNDER's offspring. I'll grab later on some of the earlier TC captures of him. I gotta go and get stuff done today.

 

[Stressless]

Man that's great to be able to get some bucks past 3.5 y/o - the poaching around me has been off the charts the last two years and only 5-10% escape the carnage. We're hopeful the two Poaching rings that got busted in the last couple months were doing that around here so that the herd/ QDM can eleveate the age classes. Only 2 buck on ~2000 acres made it to + 3.5 '21->'22. We had good QMD results with poor food etc '15-'20 then the elevator dropped.

Really nice to your work paying off Denny.

 

[Fletch]

Stressless,, Sorry to hear you had poachers in your area.. Hopefully the low life will learn their lessen if caught.. Unfortunately they will get a slap on the wrist and be back at it...

Denny... Be curious to see if that arrow in Junior will affect his horn growth next year.. Glad he made it....