The First Kill

It rained all day today and is still raining into the night.  Probably a couple inches of rain.  Kristen shot a doe at about 4:00 during a short break in the downpours.

Kristen made a good shot on this doe at about 40 yards.  It took a few hops out of the field and then went over.  Eventually it field dressed at 84.6 pounds (new digital scale).

I went to stand at about 1:00 in a pouring rain.  It pretty much rained all afternoon with a few pauses.  Almost immediately a forkhorn 4 point came out into the field.  This small buck basically was in and out of the field for the next 4 hours.  He was joined by a small doe at one point.  This picture is from my phone.

With about 15 minutes of light left, I was sitting and watching the fields to the left, right and straight ahead.  I decided to turn my head to look behind me and there was a buck standing 25 yards away looking up at the stand.  He was a very tall racked 8 point and was definitely a shooter.  He saw my head move and was on his way before I could even reach for my gun.  At least one buck now has the high rise stand figured out.

Leo saw two bucks move into the main field.  He thought that one of them was a shooter but he didn't get a chance.  I don't know where the does were tonight but it was nice to see some bucks.

It continues to pour buckets of rain and it is supposed to go down into the 20's over night.  Maybe that will make for good hunting in the morning.

Kristen is currently the king of the camp and she isn't gloating (too much).

The Start of Gun Season

For Thanksgiving, Joan and I went to Amy's house in Peoria, IL.  We drove to the farm on Sunday (gun season opened Monday morning).

Dave was in IN/MI for Thanksgiving and he managed to get some hunting done in Michigan.  He dropped two does on Friday morning.

125 pound field dressed doe is a well fed animal.  Should go a long way to filling the freezer.












Kristen and Leo drove from FL to Knoxville TN on Friday.  On Saturday, they drove the rest of the way to the farm.  Dave drove down from MI to meet them and they did some archery hunting together on Saturday and Sunday.  Dave headed home on Sunday afternoon and I arrived at the farm in time to spend Sunday evening in a stand.  I had a spike and two does in front of me but chose not to take the shot.  Here's the spike - photo from my phone.

On the Monday morning opener of gun season, it was 25 degrees at sunrise.  I hunted from the ladder stand and only saw 3 does who ran by in the field in a panic.  Kristen hunted the driveway stand.  She had two small does in the field in front of her and was considering taking one when a stampede came by.  About 12 does came running across the field from an adjoining property and it cleared all of the deer out.  I'm guessing that they had a drive going on or something.  There were quite a few shots on adjoining properties.  Leo hunted the barn stand and had 3 does pass thru the field at about 100 yards or so.  He took a shot at one and had a clean miss.  We came in for breakfast at about 9:30.

We went back out for a mid-day hunt and didn't see anything.  Kristen had a headache so Chloe tried to comfort her.

The weather kept getting warmer all day and it was in the high 50's by afternoon.  There was a light south wind.  I hunted the high rise stand, and there was no movement until close to last light.  Two spike bucks came out into the main field at about 150 yards.  When it was almost completely dark, I could make out two does entering the bottom of the new pond clearing.  Kristen and Leo also had almost no activity.

Overnight, it started to rain.  It is supposed to rain all day long and into the night.  We went out to stands this morning and there was a short pause in the rain.  There were pretty good winds and it is warm.  I had 3 does wander thru the new pond clearing and then they went into the woods heading up to the barn stand.  Kristen was hunting there so I let them go hoping that she would get a shot and/or other deer were on their way out.  Neither happened.  Leo saw one spike buck at the driveway.

It is pouring rain and the radar/forecast says it may continue all day.  Overnight it is supposed to get cold and that may finally get the deer moving.  Unfortunately, Kristen and Leo are running out of time and haven't tagged a deer yet.  We'll see waht happens....

Hunting Report & Misc Stuff

It was a nice week to be in the woods but the deer didn't seem to be moving at all.  On Wednesday, I got an afternoon in the woods in Kentucky.  I rarely get to rifle hunt and I was really looking forward to an opportunity to hunt with my 30-06.  I went down to Marc/Irish's property and had a really nice afternoon sit in a stand.  It seemed perfect but I never saw a deer.

This weekend was pretty much the same at the farm.  I hunted Saturday evening from the turkey blind in the orchard.  Beautiful afternoon but never saw a deer.  I saw some sort of raptor hunting the main field - I think it was an immature harrier.  On Sunday morning, I hunted from the barn stand over a great stand of clover - never saw a deer.

Dave was out this weekend and he didn't see a deer on Saturday evening.  On Sunday morning, he hunted the ladder stand across the main field and he did see a 6 point buck.

I think that the peak of the rut has passed and the deer movement has slowed down considerably.  It was also unseasonably warm this weekend which didn't help.

Last weekend I sighted in my TC Encore and my 30-06.  They were both shooting great.  I also tried to sight in my old TC for Kristen.  It was shooting randomly and I just put it away last week.  This week I got it back out and Dave and I worked on it again.  It took some doing since I had to change loads but we ended the day with me putting two rounds thru the same hole at 100 yards.  I think that it's ready for Kristen.

Dave and I did a little target shooting.  My Iphone isn't quite the same as Eric's camera but you get the idea.

Dave was shooting about like Creigh - all in the heart at 25 yards.

Some of these are my arrows too - I was definitely shooting better this week.

We got about 3/4" of rain last week - still definitely in a deficit for the season.  The pond is still low.

Here's a season's record.  It was pretty good thru July and then just pretty much stopped.

I took a set of photos from the barn stand to cover the 360 degree view.  This was about 8:00 this morning when nothing was moving.  The clover in this field is pretty good this year.

 This is a new shooting lane out the left side of the stand.

ATV trail out the back of the stand.

Right side/back of the stand.

Right side.

I turned the stool over and found these wasp nests.  I'm sure I cleaned these out a couple of weeks ago.

These trees caught my eye this week on my morning walk.  Not sure what they are - ash?

I keep finding this poop in the most unusual places.  This is on a pricker bush in the middle of the driveway 25 yards from the barn.  I also found a huge pile of it on top of a big ant hill.  This is the "black rasberry" or "caviar" variety.

Here's another pile in the middle of an atv trail right by the ladder stand.  Somebody marking territory?  Raccon?  Possum?  Fox?  They are substantial piles and appear to be an all berry diet.  Need a poop expert to pass judgement.

Syndey wandered in front of a camera at some point.  She didn't get out for a run this weekend since it was youth gun weekend.  I don't expect any trespassers but you never know.

Trailcam Update 11/21

The cameras were acting up a little this week.  There was not one picture on the Bushnell under the apple trees.  I powered it down, reseated the SD card, and moved it to a new spot.  It took 29 pictures of me when I was driving around with it so it's working again.

I changed the card on the Steathcam and when I looked at it the next day, it said it was full.  There was nothing on the card.  I powered it down, reseated the card, and it seems to be working again.

The Moultrie's display completely crapped out so I can't tell what condition it's in.  They finally sent me replacement parts on warranty so I will replace the display when I find time.

 Hard to see but this might be the "backward buck".

 This picture could be clearer but definitely a nice buck.

 It appears that we have two "one sided" bucks running around.  The picture below is the original one (5 x 0).  This is a younger, smaller deer  for sure (3 x 0) .  I've looked closely at both of them and I've concluded that they're broken off.  I guess that we have a bully on the property that is just beating up on the other bucks.

 Hard to see but this looks like a nice rack.

This is the new location of the Bushnell.  It is right by the relocated ladder stand.  In the first night at this location, it caught quite a bit of traffic.

I'm a little surprised that this bruiser is coming out of the field into the woods at 10:00pm.

The coyotes were back.

Dave on the way into the ladder stand for the morning hunt.

On his way in for breakfast.

Here's a couple of the 29 shots of me when I was driving the camera around in the Ranger.

This looks like a fox.  I'm wondering if this guy is the source of the strange poops.

Checking the card.

Hunting report and Misc Stuff

Joan and I arrived at the farm right at sundown on Friday night.  We pushed about 12 deer out of the main field as we drove down the driveway.  I hunted the turkey blind on Saturday morning and only saw one deer - a 7 point buck crossed thru the field.

I'm pretty sure that this is the guy.














On Saturday evening, I hunted the driveway stand and only saw one deer.  A young buck that looked like a 6 point (no brow tines) came out for about the last hour of daylight. 

On Sunday morning, I hunted the box stand in the barn field.  I never saw a deer.  I tried rattling and I heard movement in the woods almost immediately.  It sounded like a deer moving around the woods edge looking into the field but I never saw him.  I went into the cabin, sat down with Joan and Eric to look at honeymoon pictures, and a huge buck crossed the field directly in front of the stand.  My guess is that it was the 12 point "backwards buck" but I couldn't see him that clearly.

It seems that the major chasing phase of the rut is over.  The activity has definitely slowed down from last week.  But it was amazing to see that huge buck cross the field in daylight (9:45am).

Sunrise Saturday morning.

Poop of the week - the black rasberry variety.  Possum?

This kind of tree damage is everywhere.

The soybeans are no longer green.  The frost did in the last of the leaves.

 But there are still beans hanging ont the dead stalks.

 The brassica by the driveway stand barely got out out of the ground this year.

The deer leave a little fur on the barbed wire where they cross it.

This is a well fed dog pile - easily distinguished from the coyote stuff.  Thanks Leo.

More of the caviar poop.

The fleet was out in anticipation of Eric and Creigh.

Here I am touring with the ladies (Joan, Jeni and Pam).  This is why I decided to shim the camera a little higher.  We had great weather on Saturday - a little cooler on Sunday.