The Bow stand Log thread.

[bigbucks]

Had a tall I think 6 pointer show up no more then 5 minutes into legal shooting Saturday am, only hunt of the weekend. Couldn't tell if he had brow tines in the low light or not. He was open at 30 yards, but kind of over my right shoulder, so I'm not sure if I could have gotten turned in time or not. I'd already decided he wasn't a shooter, so didn't try. Saw a couple chipmunks & gray squirrels.

Grabbed my scouting camera from home yesterday & saw there was a nice fat doe with two fawns under my main stand at home about 6:45 Saturday morning. We're a lottery area now, so I wouldn't have shot her anyway. She have been about 5 yards.

[sparkyaber]

My first time sitting in a stand for any sort of hunting was pretty boring. Saw absolutely nothing on opening morning. I heard my buddy who was about 200 yards west of my stand bleating and carrying on. He comes up to the house about 15 mins after me and said he watched a doe for about an hour walking back and forth on the back of the field we hunt. (it was behind a hill so I saw nothing.)

Sat. night was a little more exciting. I am sitting in the stand for about 10 min. and hear a whistle coming from my buddies direction, a whistle??? huh. Anyway, it is getting later and the sun is just about setting and I see a doe and her two fawns slowly making their way across the field towards me. It took them forever, with all the noises around. (jerk on a 4 wheeler/dirtbike on the road, people talking {don't have a clue where they were}, my moms new neighbors playing a radio, and talking, jeez, I could even hear my son squawking back at my moms house). It is getting pretty late so I quiver my arrow and am happy to just watch them. one of the fawns gets about 40 yards from me, Mama gets about fifty yards from me, but behind a tree. Then they take off. I thought, no way, I did not move a muscle, and the wind was at their back, blowing towards me. I get down from my stand and see my bud walking up to me. I guess he scared them off, (he could not see them as they were on my side of the hill). He missed a chance at a nice doe, same one he saw in the morning. She was on a mission, remember the whistle, he was trying to get her to stop moving, but she walked right passed him. We head back to my mothers house and look back up the hill, and the doe and her two fawns were still in the field.

Sun. morning, we got about 100 yds out into the field, and the alarm bell was ringing right under my stand. It was to dark to see her, but it was really loud and close. Heard it 3 more times in the next fifteen minutes. Never saw a deer that morning.

What a great time, I really enjoyed the mornings for the quietness, and the evening for watching everything come alive.

We also saw tons of honkers, chipmunks, and grouse. Mosquitoes were not that bad, I only got bit a few times.

[DoubleLunger]

Saturday night saw nothing but tree rats, cats and mosquitoes. Sunday tried a new local with better results. Had a doe and fawn walk right under me that i let pass. Then ten minutes later another doe on the same path was just about to get her lungs blown out when i heard one more coming. Buck right? Ya but only a small 6. Let 'em all walk to see another day.

P.S. The deer walked literally right under me with the new thermacell running and didnt bat an eye.

[alwaysonthemove]

was out in the drizzle tonight. Thinking it was a perfect night to arrow a big one. Sat for three hours and seen nothing. pulling into my driveway there was a doggone buck standing in my driveway. shoulda been hunting in my yard.

[Jameson]

Saw a fawn on my walk to the stand. After 4 hours on the stand, it was the only deer I saw. Doves were really flying tonight.

[FatDan]

lots of deer tonight but they came out to late they made thier way over to me but It was way to dark so I hung out in the tree for an extra half hour until they went in to the woods,turkeys were out early 11 hens and little ones fun to watch.

[USPENAMC]

back to vermillion this evening after the wife got home from work. got to a new spot at around 6 pm and sat until around 7:30 didnt see a thing. when I get to the parking lot i look down to put my arrow in the quiver as i look up I see a tail about 20 yards away bouncing away .... so goes the day.

[sparkyaber]

I came back to the metro area and went out to a large public area near a cohort's home. We walked through a ton of thick under brush to find a nice ridge adjacent to a large swamp with a stream running through it. This was to be mostly a scouting trip, but if a big boy came around he was going to stuck. We sat up our chairs and the mosquitoes were ferocious. My bud told me to leave the thermacell back at the car because "those things don't work". He refused to go back to the car to get the thermacell, so I made the trip, found a new route back to the car with much less underbrush (bonus). We sat (with no more than zero mosquitoes around us) scanning the swamp for over and hour, all the while whispering, getting up to scan with the binocs. Well about 7:00 we hear this rustle down in the swamp right below us. Sure enough a doe stands up, not more than 50 yards from where we were sitting. She starts walking twards us and to a trail right where we were set up on. My bud asks me if I want to shoot her, but I was not ready to waist my either sex tag right yet. So we watch her and would have had a nice 20 yard broad side on her. She turned up the hill towards us and got about ten yards from me and she look up and saw me standing there. Alarm went out an she was off. 15 min later we saw one more stand up about 75 yards from us. She took off right away. We decided this was our cue to leave.

[splakeshaker]

Got out in the ground blind yesterday morning. A lil' doe came across at about 7:30 and hung out for 15 minutes. Let her pass. Nothing other than that. 13 hrs in the blind with a sore backside!! I'm getting back out today. Wind switched, temps dropped and a little rain may stir things up a bit.

[Wanderer]

Sounds like you landed on a sweet spot Abe.

Still have your number but haven't had a "free" day to ask if you still wanted to take that float trip we talked about.

It's hard now with archery started, but would you still be interested if a chance was presented?

[splakeshaker]

Took my first bow buck tonight. About 7pm. Just a 5 pointer but good meat is in the freezer now! 15 yards from the ground blind.

[USPENAMC]

Rosemount area Vermillion Higlands,

Funny story after work headed to the spot sat down on a chair on behind me about 5 yards away is a tree and a horse/ski trail

I hear some people on their horses coming by they stop on the other side of the tree its two teenage girls. they get off their horses and one says "THATS THE KIND OF GRASS I LIKE" I am thinking theyre gonna smoke pot? Then they start talking of peeing (i never looked back) so theyre talking of how one of th girls behind is so big and wont fit in her pants anymore. The typical sounds of squatting and peeing. One says I think i peed my boots but who cares. I wanted to say I HAVE WIPES but i was embarrased. They would prob think i was watching them or something. I figured I would just let them be on their way. Horses did their thing too. they get back on and as they ride on one chick turns around laughs, gets red in the face and tells the other rider look.. I look up and smile and they just ride on.... I saw no deer! A memorable funny experience to say the least. I have heard from everyone that there are ALOT of deer in the area i just havent seen them.

[sparkyaber]

Sounds like you landed on a sweet spot Abe.

Still have your number but haven't had a "free" day to ask if you still wanted to take that float trip we talked about.

It's hard now with archery started, but would you still be interested if a chance was presented?

Tracy, I would always be up for a guided trip.

As for the spot, I doubt I will hunt it. My mothers place up north has much more promise.

[sparkyaber]

USPENAMC- that is a classic story! You will be telling that for years! Too funny.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

That is a funny story..

Well last night I figured with the cooler weather I'll try my luck on the stand. It was a beautiful night for hunting, nice subtle breeze coming out of the northwest, very few bugs, and hearing a few acorns drop was music to my ears.

Perfect wind for the stand I wanted to hunt. After work I cruised home got my gear and headed north. On the walk to the stand I noticed a ton of new tracks and sign!! Sat my butt in the stand at about 6:00.

It was a night of squirrels chattering and ducks flying, but no deer sightings until it was a tad bit too late. She came out at about 7:30 or so, it was a little to dark to make her out through my peep. I promised myself this is the one I wanted to shoot, if not the buck in my avatar! Right now I'm basically meat hunting and I've seen this doe on the trail cam a hundred times. This time she eluded me, the next time maybe she won't be so lucky.

[96trigger]

SEMN,

Went out lots of drizzle right away. Pretty buggy, but not too bad. Muggy though. Got in the stand about 4:30. About 5:30 I see a fawn walk into the alfalfa field, she was followed shortly by 2 big does. Surprised to see that there was one fawn with two big does. Later, I see two more deer in field but they are behind me and I can't get a good look at them, but the look small. The first 3 deer fed past me in the hayfield, get about 50 yards past, turn around, feed back. Finally realized that the two small deer must have been the other big does fawns. They were pretty small but giddy as all get out. Bucking and chasing each other, fun to watch. Thought for sure a big guy was going to wander in but he never showed. When I was leaving it was still fairly light, I saw a large group of deer feeding in another field adjacent to the one I was hunting. Maybe the big guy was in there, I don't know, however, they couldn't have cared less that I was walking by. The cows will eventually get turned out in that other hayfield, then all those deer will feed in the little one that I hunted over, when that happens, I know I'll see some bucks. Right now, the trail cams and the field sightings have taken a big dip for bucks. Same thing happened last year. Major lull in the action until the rut hits.

Oh yeah, the alfafla fields down here are going to be deer havens as long as they are still growing, especially after the beans come out. I have only seen one or two fields that have dropped their leaves and are ready, I expect more in the next week or so. If you can hunt an alfalfa field that was cut late August and is about 6 inches high, get on it.

[dspohn]

Went out on sunday night and saw 1 doe at about 6:30. then about 10 min later a doe gets up from its bed which was 15 yrd infront of my stand, but gave me no shot. then at about 7 a little 6 came out of the swamp and gave me a broad side 20yrd shot and i nailed him. My uncle went to the same spot the next evening and shot a spike only 3 trees down from were my stand was.

[sticknstring]

Yeah it was a beautiful evening. I took the wife out and sat in a double ladder hoping to film her shoot her first deer but didn't have anything in range. One flattop about 80 yds out and lots of geese overhead kept us entertained though.

[Stratosman]

Have only got out twice now, Sat evening was uneventfull, saw two already in the field at 5:15 when I came to it, close to my stand, but nothing else. Sunday evening hunted a different farm over a 2-3 acre soybean plot that was planted late that they are hammering, as all the beans around it are yellow, only saw a doe with 2 fawns though. I'll give er a go again on Thursday, would like to tag my doe soon.

[HOT SPOT]

My Dad and I went out Mon night in the rain. I didnt see any thing within 400 yrs. My Dad ended up have two buck come in and started sparing. He said that they were really going at it. And then the bigger one a small 8 pter went and made a scrape and worked the tree over.

Think it could be pre-rut allready? My dad said its the weirdest hes ever seen them act this time of year.

[Froggy4371]

I think the sparing is un-usual for this early but I have pic's of two bucks sparing two weeks ago and two different ones sparing last week. It us just weird!

Froggy

[DonBo]

I think once they lose their velvet that they start to spar pretty regularly. They set up their hierarchy now before the rut so that big battles at that time, when they may be worn down some from the rut, are more rare.

[mnhunter79]

I got a 45 sec. video of 3 bucks sparring already on aug. 10th at 2:20 am.

[DoubleLunger]

79, Share the vid if you can. That would be cool to see.

[mnhunter79]

[crappieflop30]

very cool video 79. sat morning saw a group of 3 does that never presented a shot. sunday morning, i just sat down and pulled my bow up when i heard a deer running through the woods that ended up running about 20 yards behind me. about a minute later, a figure walked about 10 yads in front of me. at first i thought it was another deer, but when it turned, it looked like it had a tail, so thought maybe a coyote. couldn't get a good look at it because of the lack of light. may have explained the deer running through. all in all a nice weekend in the stand, one mosquito the entire weekend which was nice.

[USPENAMC]

Cool front is coming cant wait to get out there again.

[DoubleLunger]

Very nice, thanks. Two of them think they're reindeer by the looks of their straight up racks?

[Archerysniper]

Went out last night passed 3 does first 2 came through at 6:15 and then the third one at 7:00 all offer great broadside shots as they were chowing down on the white oak acorns.

[FatDan]

slow night tonight only had a doe and a fawn come out about 630 or so they did'nt stick around long and then just befor dark 3 deer came into the field I was on and I thought if the doe gave me a shot I would fill that bonus tag I got,she did 30 yards I watched her fall she went about 50 yards those rage broadheads did a heck of a job.