Hunting reports....

[nbadger23]

I thought I remembered us doing a "hunting journal" or "hunting reports" thread where posters could post the reports from each hunt?? I didn't see one started so here it goes...

I've only been out once and that was last night. It was a perfectly calm, beautiful night with barely a flicker of wind. I hit the stand around 5:10 and of course forgot something. It was the first night out so one would expect to forget something.... and that was my foam seat. I ended up alternating between standing and sitting on a 1/2" piece of plywood, which wasn't all that comfortable. The bugs were hungry and the squirrels were active but that was the only activity for the night.

It was great to be back up in a tree and to just sit back and relax, listening to the quiet of the woods.

[walleyeking19]

I went out yesterday morning. It was a beautiful few hours, wish the deer would've cooperated. Saw a few turkeys but no deer sightings, think I'll try tomorrow night again.

I also forgot something. Left my headlamp on my dresser, so had to use my light on my phone to get into the woods. Not the easiest or most efficient but it got me there. Cant wait to get back out!

[ANYFISH2]

So far this season I have sat 3 evenings, first sit was last sunday, beautiful evening and had a velvet spike come in to 15 yds.

Second sit was monday spend the evening in the ground blind with the boy and had 6 does/fawns come out but never got real close, dead calm and I think our scent made them nervous.

Third sit was last night, been getting loads of smaller bucks and one borderline 8 one camera at a corner in soybean field. So I decided to just hide on the ground along this corner. Had 2 does, 2 fawns, and 2 bucks come out ( a large fork and a 6). Got to watch the bucks spar a little about 60 yds out. A great evening.

So far a successful season.

[Lunker]

Hunted last Sunday morning. Had a fork at 20 yds at first light, then a doe with fawns cross a hay field about 100 yds out later in the morning.

Hunted a different property on Thursday evening. Had a lone doe work in to 40 but never presented a shot, then a doe with fawn at 20 that I passed. Had another lone doe working in at 40 when the landowner fired up a tractor and she bolted. Plan to get back out in the morning.

[ANYFISH2]

Hunted this evening on a new property for the first time. At about 6:30 had a doe come in to 20 yds, boy was she a nevous nelly, funny to watch her jump and flinch when corn leafs would blow near her. About 20 minutes later had two smaller basket bucks come in to about 30 yds but stayed in the brush.

Watched two coons do a number to the corn as well.

Another great evening on stand.

[nbadger23]

Got out tonight but the hunt was cut short due to a nasty thunderstorm. The wind is not good for the morning so I am going to cross a few more things off of my to do list around the house and wait for a better situation.

[1eyeReD]

Out Fri and Sat night. Wacked one to fill antlerless permit in WI. She took a step and hit her way back. Went back and found her in the A.M. Whew close one. There were bucks out last 10 min of the hunt on edge of bean fields in the distance. Too far to count points. Oh well. Hopefully fully they do that on my usual end of the field in the coming weeks. Got rained out on Sat afternoon. In metro area. Lightning over a ridgetop while 20 ft up the tree sent me packin. Soaked by the time got to truck.

[nbadger23]

Another gorgeous night out in the woods last night but I'm yet to see a deer. A group of turkeys visited the food plot and they provided some entertainment for 15 minutes or so. I pulled the card on the camera and was surprised to a gap of 3 days w/o a picture taken. I don't know if it's a camera malfunction or simply nothing to take a picture of. The former would be strange due to the fact that the squirrels/rabbits/racoons (not to mention deer) are pretty much daily visitors and trip the camera.

I did get a picture of a fox and that's a welcome sight. We used to have a healthy fox population and no rabbits, now we have a healthy rabbit population and very few fox. I'd gladly like to see that turned around.

[going4it]

Wait a few years and it will. Cycles- as the rabbits pop climbs so will fox. As rabbit decline so will fox.

[Lunker]

Nothing but squirrels and mosquitos tonight

[ANYFISH2]

Beautiful evening tonight, nice breeze and the rain stayed away.

Action started about 5:45 as I had a coyote and 2 pups (I assume, they were about 3/4 the size of the first).

About 5:50 I was surprised by a small basket racked buck walk by at 25 yds, to north and headed in the same direction as the coyotes. A couple on minutes later a fork horn strolls through on the same path as the first buck. Suprised me theh followed the same route as the yotes.

At 6:08 a small 8 walks out into the soybean field but stayed 60yds out then worked to tbe west eating or leaving scent on dozens of branches as he went.

So this season I have seen deer on every sit, 11 does/fawns, 8 small bucks, 3 coyotes and 2 raccoons.

I hope this keeps up.

[nbadger23]

Got out last night after the rain cleared for the day. Not a stitch of wind, quiet, and pretty gray out. Add in about only 30 yards of visiblity in most directions and I felt like any deer that I might see would basically be right on top of me before I saw it.

I wasn't wrong with that thought. At 5:30 a doe appeared at 20 yards in the brush on my left. Unfortunately she spotted me as I reached for my bow and although she moved into an open spot at about 15 yards she had her eyes on me the whole time and never gave me an opportunity.

No other action until 6:20 when another doe appeared out of thin area, about 20 yards away. This one gave me a glance as I reached for my bow but continued walking past me. I drew when she went behind a tree and she stopped to eat, quartering away from me. The shot looked to be perfect and I was fairly certain I heard her crash down a short ways away. The good news was that she ran towards the house, which is nice!

I gave it about a half hour and then got down. I got to the spot where I shot her and found my arrow. Happiness is a blood soaked arrow from tip to tip :-) It was a short tracking job to find her and she had expired in a spot only 100 yards from my house and all downhill, which was greatly appreciated.

She's quartered up and in the fridge and I'll get the meat packaged up today. My hunts will now be a bit limited until we get into later October. The odds of seeing a decent buck between now and then are outweighed by the downside of pressuring my small 10 acre hunting area. I suppose that leaves me no reason not to get all my projects done before then as well :-)

[minky]

Great report!

Congrats on the doe.

[tazimna]

Beautiful night on stand yesterday up here. Had 3 different doe/fawn pairs within 20 yds eating alfalfa near me without a clue I was above them, and a spike come to about 35 yds and nibble for awhile.For the 3rd time this season, had the same lone timber wolf come across the field while I was on stand at about 75 yds. All three times I've seen it I'd had deer in my field and neither deer or wolf could've cared less the other was there. Near dark 2 coyotes came across but couldn't draw them close enough with my rabbit call for a shot with my longbow. All in all,fun night on stand. Taz

[tazimna]

another nice night in the stand up here. Had 9 deer in field including 2 6 ptrs and a spike. a doe/fawn combo and the spike came close enough to take, but not what I'm looking for. Had 4 turkeys come by and a martin was trying to get a red squirrel out of a hollow tree which made for quite a ruckus. The lone timber wolf came across at about 100 yds towards dark, and again neither deer/wolf cared the other was there. Saw 2 more territory scapes on field edge, so another week or so, may see some chasing going on. Taz

[DonBo]

Have not sat since taking a doe opening weekend. Sat a ground blind in an old apple stand last night. Big doe and two fawns came in about 6:30. She was kind of nervous of my pop-up (it's been in place for well over a month) but she finally gave me a nice broadside shot at 20 yards. A short blood trail, and just a couple hours later she's all quartered up and in the fridge.

Love having those bonus metro tags

[NELS-BELLS]

Congrats DonBo! Nice success rate! Your making it sound easy.

Nels

[DonBo]

Congrats DonBo! Nice success rate! Your making it sound easy.

Nels

You think two deer in three sits is a good success rate? Yeah, I'm pretty fortunate to have a great spot right near home.

[pumper317]

Way to go Don! Nice to have the sits close to home, and successful all in one.

[paceman]

Went for a quick hunt last night. Sat from 5:30 until dark. Had a doe and 2 fawns walk by at 15 yards 5 minutes after climing up and then later a yearling followed the same path. Nice evening to be up in a tree!

[totally_addicted]

Went out last night over the bean plot. First time sitting there now that the leaves are pretty much off the plants. Thought to myself... The deer aren't going to be feeding here anymore with the alfalfa and corn being the source of choice. Boy, was I wrong! Starting at 6:15 the deer started filing into the beans. Had 4 does first, and they worked their way across the field to about 35 yards. Meanwhile, my brother was sitting a couple hundred yards from me and after the does came through he was watching a very large mature buck slowly making his way towards the plot. The does worked south and east of me... wind was NNW so off they went with a few puffs of air. Which in return sent Mr. Big back to the woods. I was pretty dejected when they blew and thought my night was over. However, it wasn't 5 minutes until a young 8 pointer maybe around 90 inches or so made an appearance on the far end of the field. Then came a spike. I was instantly rejuvenated when I saw those two. A few minutes later around 6:45 came a very tall and wide 10 point. Probably between 140-150". He was with the other two bucks but about 110 yards away from. I knew it was going to be a race against darkness as the bucks were feeding in my direction but very, very slowly. So, I took out the grunt tube and gave them a few grunts to no avail. All three bucks showed zero interest in my deer talk. They kept on gorging themselves on the dried up beans. As light was disappearing, I ranged the bucks one more time, and they were still 72 yards out and in no hurry. The darkness fell and I could no longer see them. I packed up quietly in hopes to not spook them. I never did see the big one or the young 8 bolt out of there, but the spike had made his way inside of 30 yards and caught my movement before tearing out of there.

After meeting back at the vehicle I talked with my brother, and he could see all the deer that I could see. I told him I thought the big buck I saw was borderline 150" and he said, "Wow, than the other big one, that spooked when the first 4 does blew, was WAY bigger than that!" In all, he had seen 15 deer. 8 of them being within 22 yards of his stand but all does and fawns. The four bucks seen on the night all came out in a different spot.

We both had a great deal of adrenaline flowing. Even though we didn't fling an arrow it sure was a blast and a great night in the field!

Tonight, I am going to switch spots, be a bit more aggressive, and attempt to cut them off. Hopefully, they are still hungry and have the same meal planned for supper. Boy, would I love to put my hands on one of those bigger bucks.

[96trigger]

Good luck, I am itching to get out, but still haven't gotten there yet. Maybe next week....

[MUSKY18]

Went and sat out on Wednesday night with my son. Little backstory....he wanted to get into bow hunting this year, so I set my old Bear bow to 50 pounds and told him when he could shoot it consistent and draw with no problems, I would consider taking him out. He did his part, got good with the bow, so we got a license and out we went. Got into the stands about 4 in the afternoon and it was pretty quiet with the exception of my buddy the chipmunk racing around. About 615 I was watching and caught movement down the field edge. Grabbed my bino's and saw that it was a nice mature doe feeding on the top of one of my small food plots. My son was sitting in a stand on the opposite side of the field edge. The doe was about 100 yards from me, but only about 40 yards from him, but he was into the woods and I know he wouldn't be able to see her unless she moved into the woods towards him. Well.....after feeding for about 10 minutes she started walking his direction. The trail she was taking should have taken her to the salt lick I have out, which would have put her broadside at 20 yards for my son. After she entered the woods, I lost her and was hoping my son was watching and ready. I was on pins and needles waiting for the text to come from him that he put a broad head into her. Well the text never came. When I picked him up I asked if he even saw her and tried to shoot her or not. He did she her, she came in right at 20 yards, but was standing behind some trees licking on the salt and he didn't have a clear shot. After a couple minutes, she moved and was broadside, he drew back but said he was shaking so bad he couldn't keep his pin on her steady so he didn't shoot. Very proud of him for letting down and not taking a bad shot just to try and get his first deer with a bow. Needless to say, he is now hooked and wants to go hunting every day after school. I am absolutely loving it and my new hunting buddy!!!

[nbadger23]

What a great night for your son Musky. It's been 25 years since I flung my first arrow at a deer and I still remember that same feeling :-)

[DonBo]

What a great night for your son Musky. It's been 25 years since I flung my first arrow at a deer and I still remember that same feeling :-)

Yep, been over 40 years for me, and I hope the shaking never goes away for him. It hasn't for me. That's what keeps us going.

[DonBo]

A really fun night for me tonight. Had a lone fawn come in early. Soon after a small forkie came in and checked her out. Then a bunch of turkeys showed up and chased the buck around for a bit, then he chased them around for a bit. The buck finally chased the fawn out of there.

The turkeys finally got together single file and walked right past me - 5 yards. Too bad my tag is already filled. They watered behind me and came back again at 5 yards, soon roosting right above me. Man did they make a racket!

Near quitting time a doe and fawn came in, but well out of range. All my attention on them when a nice doe shows up right in front of me. Tried to draw and...busted. They all ran away and my night was done.

Can't wait to get back out there in the morning.

[PropsterII]

My second sit of the year. A little warm for my tastes, but a nice evening. Came close to having to worry about ruining a perfectly good hunt! Had a pretty nice ten come in tending a doe. Maybe 145". Doe hung up at 60 yds, he never took his eyes off her. They were around for almost 30 minutes before leaving. I would have been really tempted, almost glad I didn't have to make the call. Saw 1/2 dozen other deer. Cooler in the morning, looking forward to it.

[nbadger23]

The third deer of the morning was a take your breath away, make you shake for 20 minutes after seeing him sort of buck. I had seen 2 small bucks early and then nothing until 9:45. I could here foot steps off to my left and caught a glimpse of a deer. Keep in mind that this area is thick with buck thorn so visibility is very limited...i.e. at 30 yards I could barely make the deer out. I still had not seen it's head but I grabbed my bow and clipped on my release and waited.

When I caught a glimpse of the rack I said some words I can't repeat here and tried to lock into looking at the body only and getting my feet squared underneath me.

The wind was perfect so no worries there, and he had no idea I was there. The only part of the plan that didn't work was that he didn't continue on the path that most deer do when coming from that way. Instead he turned left , paralleled me in the brush about 20 yards away and walked off. He was literally plowing brush over with his rack when he walked. I tried a doe bleat and a soft grunt and he did stop to listen but that was about it.

Here's the tricky part. I am guessing he is bedded down within a hundred to 150 yards, in some thick, nasty stuff. I would love to sit all day but I didn't pack for it and the blood sugar levels are going to yell at me soon.

I will try to sneak out of here for a short break and get right back in, on the slim (at least it seems that way right now) chance he comes out of there my way later today.

[ANYFISH2]

Hope it works out for ya nbadger.

Good luck

[Big Country]

So many close calls being reported here. That's what keep's us heading into the woods, right?

14'th hunt last night. I'm in the metro hunt and passed on a spike on opener out of the metro hunt then had two seperate does within 20 yards straight on that never presented shots. Last night was insane. Set up after work in a very thick snotty area that is in the metro, but on the outer edge of the city. Very wild area. Wind, conditions were perfect. Sunset the wind died. Ten minutes later northern shear winds twenty to thirty miles an hour. A large tree snapped off sixty yards away then a huge branch from another one forty yards away went. Then the snow came. Virtually white out conditions. The snow blew straight into my face and I could not see a thing in front of me. Just when I was thinking I better get down before my tree explodes I see movement to the West of me. A very mature doe had just passed through my 25 yard lane . I grabbed the bow and clipped on the string. She went behind some brush and stood for around three minutes, snow all over her back. She then freaked from the wind and ran back in the direction she came from just like a dog that was chasing something. Never threw her tail up. She entered the 25 yard hole. I was about to draw back and realized there was a large branch sticking out that was totally in line with the boiler room. At a brief moment I thought, maybe I can sneak it through, but my years of pursuing game had told me no way. So I waited. She then took ten steps and decided to bed down under a pine to wait out the storm. Watched her for another five minutes until it was to dark then got down. I will be back in the woods tonight BC