On Thursday morning, I had my wisdom teeth extracted. I wasn't sure how this was going to affect my hunting plans but I got off the pain pills on Friday morning and had no trouble hunting (even in the cold weather). Joan was kind enough to drive me out and cook me soft foods. Dave and Mike also were out for the weekend. Joan had the cabin looking festive for the holidays.
The picture below is of me checking the card on the camera beside the ladder stand. This stand has a great view of the valley down below it and you can really see the deer moving when there's snow on the ground. This is the stand that I shot a doe out of a couple of weeks ago. We hunted this stand this weekend too and never saw a deer but look at the activity on this camera after dark.
The picture of me below is approaching the camera near the orchard (on the fence). I included it just to show the field behind it. This field has soybeans, turnips, and brassica in it. The snow was deeper this weekend. You can see that there's been plently of nighttime activity up here too.
Mike, Dave and I hunted all day Saturday from multiple stands and we never saw a deer. The temperature was in the twenties and the winds were fairly calm. We found lots of tracks in the snow but the deer just were not up during daylight.
Mike left Sunday morning and Dave and I hunted all day. We sat in stands in the morning (14 degrees) and didn't see a thing. In the mid-day, we decided to go to the back of the property and take a walk thru the woods. We found tons of tracks and lots of evidence that they've been feeding on the acorns. The snow was 6" or 8" deep and they just dig it up looking for the acorns. We "still-hunted" thru the woods for awhile and saw three white tails bounding away from about 200 yards.
In the evening, we went back to stands. Dave tried the hanging stand because it was inside the tree line and under some oaks. He never saw a deer. I used the climbing stand on the field edge (picture above from the stand). There were lots of deer tracks leading from the woods up to the brassica field. I had a good view into a wooded valley behind the stand. At last light, two does came out in the field above the pear tree in the picture. They were at about 125 yards and I could have shot them with my muzzleloader. Once again, I waited for the buck that never came out....
We've been hunting hard this season and have only taken two does off the property. The deer are definitely here but we're having a hard time finding them during daylight hours.
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