Bowhunting Vacation - Day 1 (11/3/10)

Danny and I decided to take a few days during the rut for some hot bow-hunting action.  Danny was unable to get Wednesday off, so I flew solo for the first day.  I had to drop Lauren off at daycare at 6:30, so I didn't get into the stand until around 7:30.  I snuck quietly into the ladder stand in The Sand Box and planned to sit as long as possible.  Around 9:30, a small six point buck came in on the trail from the field road.  He strolled past the fire pit, down into the sand, and continue along side the pond.  While it was good to see a deer, shooting him never even crossed my mind.

Bowhunting - Saturday 10/30/10

Dates: Saturday 10/30/2010
Location:  The Land, ECO
Morning, afternoon, evening or all day: Morning

Time: 5:15 - 9:00

Wind:  Moderate from N/NE
Temp: 45-50 degrees
Weather: Pleasant, clear, breezy 
Who: ME

Game: Whitetail
Stand Location:  Ladder stand, Sand Box 
 
Sightings: One buck.  Unusual rack with a large growth between his front legs. 

Comments:
Since Halloween time historically kicks off "prime time" bow hunting, I thought it would be a good idea to get out for a few hours and see what the Sand Box had to offer.  This is one of my favorites stands at the Land.  It's comfortable and the deer have no idea you are there.  The one challenge is being ready because the deer are literally right on top of you.  The first hour was uneventful other than the flock of ducks splashing around in the pond.  Around 8:30, I caught movement through the brush and saw a deer making its way through the Sand Box.  I noticed a decent set of antlers which peaked my interest even more.  The deer moved quickly through the stand, up the embankment, and towards the fire pit that sits a mere 14 yards from my location.  I was able to get a pretty good look at him and noticed his left side antler was shorter and missing some tines.  I also noticed a pretty good sized growth between his front legs.  It was big enough that it "hung" down and swayed when he walked.  For a brief moment, he stopped by and smelled my doe scent on a small sampling near the fire pit.  He then turned to his left and walked straight towards me closing the distance between him and I to about 6 yards.  Eventually he realized he wasn't alone.  He turned around and scurried towards directly away from me, towards the field road.  Not only did I have a cool encounter with an unusual buck, I got a picture of him sneaking through the sand pit moments before I laid eyes on him.

Bowhunting Update - September/October 2010

I haven't been very diligent in my blogging this year.  Big Surprise!!  With the addition of our second child on September 7th, I guess I am lucky to spend a few hours in the woods each week.  Overall it has been a very eventful deer season.  I've seen more deer this year than ever and the weather has cooperated quite nicely.  All of my sits in the early part of the year were in the new ladder stand by the Wood Pile that James and Danny put up right before bow season opened.  After opening morning, I sat in that stand three other times (four times total) seeing deer each time.

Sit #1:  Detailed in a previous post.  My goal was to blog ALL of my sits this way, however it just didn't happen this year.  Below are brief descriptions of my additional sits in September and October.

Sit #2:  On this evening sit I saw a young buck with a tall 8 point rack appear in the oak grove over my left shoulder.  He worked his way towards me, slipped past Mike's old platform stand and off to the bean field.  It will be a nice deer in the next few years.

Sit #3:  (morning) A different small buck appeared in the oak grove over my left shoulder.  There was an obvious pattern forming!  The deer were just pounding the acorns in that spot.  Rather than moving towards the stand, the small buck worked it's way towards the north and disappeared down the ravine.

Sit #4:  This morning sit produced my closest encounter of the season (so far).  The action started early with a deer darting behind the stand just before shooting light.  I could see the outline of the body and the white tail, but that was it.  Of course, two bucks made an appearance in the majestic "oak grove" over my left shoulder about 7:45 am.  I watched them for ~10 minutes before the disappeared into the woods.  I decided to stand up and pay most attention to the "Oak Grove" considering all the deer I've seen out of that stand, came from that area.  After a few minutes passed, my "6th sense" kicked in and I caught movement out of the corner of my eye.  I slowly turned my head to my right and, to my amazement, I see three does making their way right to me!!  While grabbing my bow, I slowly turned my entire body to get prepared for a shot, however I could tell the Momma Doe could sense something wasn't right.  I froze as she looked up at me and bobbed her head up and down trying to figure out what was going on.  She then nervously turned towards the bean field to the north as her white tail alerted her offspring of potential danger.  I knew it was now or never.  As she turned, I quickly snapped my release on the d-loop and prepared to draw.  When she pass behind two small trees, I began pulling back only to be busted!!.  Her head snapped around the tree and our eyes were locked in a 20 yard staring match.  I knew I was "pegged".  With a snort wheeze and a 180 degree turn she was gone, taking her two companions with her.  It was great to have such a close encounter, however I was kicking myself for letting them sneak up on me like that.  In addition, this was a prime opportunity to shoot a doe to earn my buck tag for the year and I had just blown it!! 

Bowhunting - 2010 Opener

Dates: Saturday 9/18/10
Location:  The Land, ECO
Morning, afternoon, evening or all day: Morning

Time: 5:15 - 9:00

Wind:  Moderate from W/SW
Temp: 64-67 degrees
Weather: Scattered t-storms to the north. Experienced heavy rain which tapered off to drizzle by 6:30 am
Who: Danny and myself

Game: Whitetail, opening day of 2010 bow season
 
Sightings: Two smaller bucks on the way to our stands, got within 10 yards.  We spooked another deer out of the beans.  Danny had three deer in the "Sand Box" before shooting light, more than likely the two deer we saw on the way to our stands.

Comments:
While the weather wasn't ideal, there's something about Opening Morning that is special.  Danny and I met in the Quarry nice and early (4:45) accompanied by thunderstorms, a pretty steady rain and occasional lightning.  We decided to push forward for the first "sit" of the season.  We both had planned to sit on the north side of the property.  Danny in the "Sand Box" and me in a new ladder stand by the wood pile.  A few days earlier, Danny and James had set the stand as well as planted a small food plot around it.  I was pretty excited to try it out.  I was thinking that the deer were going to wait for the storm to pass and then start moving. However, when Danny and I saw two sets of eyes staring at us from just inside the wood line on our way to our stands it was evident the deer were on their feet.  We literally got within 10 yards of the deer, which was close enough to see they were two smaller bucks.  The nice thing is, we didn't completely spook them, however our presence was enough for them to turn and trot deeper into the woods.  Then a few moments later, as we rounded the second finger, we spooked a third deer out of the beans.  Danny and I went our separate ways as he followed the field road into the woods, towards the Sand Box, I stayed along the woods and made it to the Wood Pile stand.  As soon as we split, the skies opened up and we were greeted with a good old fashioned downpour.  Luckily for us, it only lasted a few minutes.  Danny had early action, as the deer that we had spooked earlier (we think) were hiding out in the sandy area in front of him.  A third deer joined and they kept Danny awake for the waning minutes of darkness.  Of course, they were gone by the time it was light enough to shoot.  I never saw another deer, however I did have a larger animal move behind me in the early morning darkness.  Since we were deer hunting, I'll say it was a deer ;)  The rain stopped, but the skies remained overcast for the rest of the morning.  

3D Shoot - Marshall Bluff

Today I was able to shoot the final 3D Shoot of the season at Marshall Bluff.  This was a one day shoot co-sponsored by Monticello FFA.  I ended up meeting Casey and Jacob Marty for the shoot.  I shot my highest score ever at Marshall (280), which included 6 bonus points for the novelty target at the end of the course.  They had "FFA" spelled out with playing cards about 20 yards away.  If you hit one of the playing cards, you received the value of the card in points.  Pretty good idea!  Overall I had a great time.  Jacob admittedly didn't shoot very well and once again, Casey came up short!!

Jason: 280 (253, 267)
Casey: 211 (197)
Jacob:  197?? (234)

Pre Season Prep

Danny and I had some time before Belinda Reuter's funeral, so we decided to head out to The Land to hang Danny's new stand in the pines overlooking the Sand Box.  The stand turned out really nice.  It's in an awesome location overlooking a couple well used trails and scrapes.  We also moved my camera from the First Finger to overlooking the Sand Box after noticing many fresh tracks through the wet sand.  Hopefully this spot will produce more pictures and a few dead deer this season!!

Trail Cam Pics

Needless to say I was a little disappointed in the amount of pictures that I got from the trail running through the first finger.  It appears to be a well used trail, however I only got a handful of pictures over three weeks.  There is a chance that I did not have the camera set up in a the best location or had it set up incorrectly, however I did get pictures at all times during the day and night.  Maybe this trail isn't used as much as I thought?  Maybe it's too early??  Only time will tell.

The only pictures from week #1.  More than likely the 8 pointer that I saw underneath Jame's ladder stand on the south side.  Looks like a nice buck.

 

Nice doe using the trail.....somewhat alert.

 

There are FOUR deer in this picture.  Two of them are obvious, however you can make out two white tails towards the top left of the picture.  

 

The 2nd picture of the sequence.  Notice the last two deer's tails in the upper left hand corner.