Down Baby Down!!

Date - 10/15/10

Time - 6:30am - 9:30am

Location - Sam's - Treestand on the back side of the property behind sugar shanty.

Weather - Clear, Sunny, Calm 

Temperature - 50 F

Wind Direction - N

Number of Deer Sighted -  Bucks - 1 Does - 6

Age Structure - 1 1/2 

Side Notes: It was a great morning in the deer woods!  I brought my climber to one of my favorite spots to hunt, hoping to shoot a mature buck.  But if a nice doe stepped within 15 yds I was going to take a shot.  At about 8:45 I had four does come out in front of me, probably coming from the mx track.  As I was watching the does move towards me I noticed them looking off to the right.  I turned to look and a doe and fawn were closing in fast being followed by a small six point.  He was grunting as he was following them which was pretty cool.  I also heard him "growl" which I have never heard before.  Apparently, bucks make a growling sound as well but I had never heard it first-hand until yesterday morning.  

The Story:

The does continued to move closer and I was surrounded by four deer.  All of them were 10 yds or less.  When I decided to draw on the doe, another doe and fawn were directly under me to my left.  I was holding on the doe at about 7 yds so I had to stand on my tippy toes to clear my cam over the rest of my climber.  When she cleared the tree, I let it fly and put it right through her chest around 9 am.  She ran off quite fast towards the grass field and I could tell she was hit hard.  My arrow was left stuck in the ground with the luminok shining bright.

  

Long story short, we had a hell of time finding this deer because we couldn't find any blood after the initial hit.  Dustin and Deven helped me do a search and rescue through the entire woods, but to no avail.  Jack ended up finding blood at about 1:30pm with the help of his dog Mercedes.  Apparently, the deer made a huge circle around my stand and ended up going in the complete opposite direction from where I last saw it after the hit. 

We recovered the deer at about 2:00 pm on the other side of the house towards the mx track but it had been tore up by a coyote or possibly a cougar.  The hind quarters were torn up and so was the front shoulder so we salvaged what we could for meat.  It was too bad that we didn't find the deer before the critters did but we tried our best.  I ended up hitting it through one lung, which is typical for that close of shot with a severe downward angle.  The weird thing is that it didn't bleed until it had ran about 200 yards.  

All in all, it was a great morning!  

The picture to the left is showing the coloration of the deer.  It was a full size doe with white spots on its back.  I had never seen a deer like this unless it was a spotted fawn.  I thought it was a truly unique deer and I will remember it forever.  

-Adam        

October 14th

Date - 10/14/10

Time - 3:30p - 8:00p

Location - Fitzner's - Treestand on the other side of the lane next to the creek.

Weather - Overcast, Cloudy, Breezy, Gusts 10-15 mph 

Temperature - 60 F

Wind Direction - WSW

Number of Deer Sighted -  Bucks - 1 Does -4

Age Structure - 1 1/2 

Side Notes:  I brought the climber back to the same tree as last Sunday.  All the deer followed the same pattern as last time and circled behind me at about 40 yards.  It is nice to see the does following the same patterns because as the rut gets closer, the bucks will be following.  The buck I saw tonight was only a little four point.  I will probably save that spot until November so I don't disturb any deer.  I am still not seeing many bucks but any day now it will pick up fast. They are out there but most mature bucks are moving at night.  I have more trail cam videos of some of the same bucks but were all taken at night or early morning.  I will post them sometime next week.  

Trail Camera Videos

I put my trail camera out on a very active scrape.  I was happy to see that I got some cool video footage of some "up and coming" bucks.  All of the videos are at night or very early in the morning.  Within the next few weeks, they should become more active during the day.

I left the camera in the same spot and lets hope that there will be new and bigger bucks on there next week!  

October 9-10 Update

1. Date - 10/9/10
2. Time - 6:30 AM - 9:30 AM
3. Location - Guzy's, Treestand on the corner of selens and fitzners.  
4. Weather - Clear, Sunny, No Wind 
5. Temperature - 50 F
6. Wind Direction - NE
7. Number of Deer Sighted -  Bucks - 0 Does - 0
8. Age Structure - N/A

Side Notes: I was skunked again!  Very slow morning with no action.

1. Date - 10/10/10
2. Time - 1:30 - 8:00
3. Location - Fitzner's - Treestand on the other side of the lane next to the creek.
4. Weather - Clear, Sunny, Breezy 
5. Temperature - 80 F
6. Wind Direction - WNW
7. Number of Deer Sighted -  Bucks - 1 Does -2
8. Age Structure - 2 1/2 

Side Notes: I took my climber out tonight and set up on the other side of the lane.  I decided to try out this location because there is a creek that runs through a low bottom behind the cow pasture.  Since it was hot, I was hoping a nice buck would get thirsty and need a drink during the mid-day but nothing ended up showing up until about 7pm.  Two does worked along the cow pasture and circled behind me about 40 yds around 7pm.  Then at about 7:20 noticed movement out in front of me on the other side of the creek.  A 15 inch 8 pt was walking parallel along the creek, scent checking the area.  He came up out of the creek and circled behind my stand, similar to the two does.  At about 7:45, I had another deer walk by at about 30 yds but it was too dark to tell what it was.  A few minutes after that, another deer walked directly under me but I still couldn't tell what it was.  

When I got down out of the stand, I checked a scrape that was underneath me and there was fresh urine in the scrape, covering the leaves.  The deer must have worked the scrape as he walked by my stand after dark.

   

Still Slow

1. Date - 10/5/10
2. Time - 6:30 AM - 9:30 AM
3. Location - Sam's - Tree stand located on the edge of a cut bean field.
4. Weather - Clear, Sunny, No Wind 
5. Temperature - 33 F
6. Wind Direction - N
7. Number of Deer Sighted -  Bucks - 0 Does -2
8. Age Structure - N/A

I only saw two does that were about 200 yards away.  They came out of the grass field and were headed across the road towards Power's property.  There is not much rubbing and scraping activity over there yet.

I am heading home again this weekend to hit it hard again.  I put my trail camera in a different location this week.  I set it on video footage instead of pictures so I am expecting some cool videos from a different scrape area.

-Adam 

Opening Weekend Update

I was able to make it out three times over the past weekend.

1. Date - 10/01/10
2. Time - 6:30 AM - 9:30 AM
3. Location - Emerson's, Olivet - Tree stand located on the edge of a cut wheat field.
4. Weather - Clear, Sunny, No Wind 
5. Temperature - 40 F
6. Wind Direction - NW
7. Number of Deer Sighted -  Bucks - 1 Does - 0
8. Age Structure - 1 1/2 yr old spike.  

Side Notes: While walking in, I scared off a deer that was right under my stand.  It sounded like a bigger deer and there was a fresh scrape about 20 yds away.  At least I didn't get skunked on opening day.  This property is 50 acres that is primarily field with only 5 acres of woods and some fence rows.

1. Date - 10/02/10
2. Time - 6:30 AM - 9:30 AM
3. Location - Gordon's, Kalamazoo - Took the climber and sat at the end of the lane behind the horse pasture.
4. Weather - Overcast, Drizzle, Windy 10-15 mph
5. Temperature - 50 F
6. Wind Direction - N
7. Number of Deer Sighted -  Bucks - 0  Does - 2 
8. Age Structure - N/A

Side Notes:  Took the climber and sat at the edge of the lane behind the horse pasture.  Two does came by me at 15 yds.  Could have shot them both but I was strictly trophy hunting that day.  This property is approximately 20 acres, mainly all field and fence rows.  Urban deer hunting at its best!

1. Date - 10/03/10
2. Time - 4:30 PM - 8:00 PM
3. Location - Fitzner's, Bellevue - Sat in the stand next to the cow pasture in the the woods.
4. Weather - Sunny, Windy 
5. Temperature - 50 F
6. Wind Direction - NNW
7. Number of Deer Sighted -  Bucks - 0  Does - 0 
8. Age Structure - N/A

Side Notes:  I was skunked!  Didn't see a single deer.  It was quite windy and calmed down as the sun was setting.  Very surprised I didn't see anything since this is one of the best stands on the property.  This property is primarily woods with a five acre hay field.  A bean field is to the west on a neighboring property about 80 yards away.   

To say the least, it was a very slow weekend but I still had a lot of fun.  Keith, who also hunts on my neighbors property said he saw a total of two does in two different hunts.  My brother Phil was hunting up north and only saw a few little does.  Nathon and Dustin also said they did not see much either.  

I checked my trail cam again last night and there were no pictures of deer from my mock scrape location.  Deer movement is definitely on the low end, which is kind of strange for opening weekend of bow season with temperatures reaching the low 40's.  Lets hope for more action this coming week/weekend!