On Saturday afternoon, I hunted the hi-rise and Creigh hunted the driveway stand. Nothing moved until the last few minutes of the day. Creigh saw 2 does and a young buck. They squeaked out across the driveway down toward the front gate at a creek crossing. They went up into the main field and fed on clover. The young buck worked his way all the way down the field and went out into the pond field. Out there he joined another 4 point who had been out for about 10 minutes. Those two young bucks were all that I saw that evening.
We were blessed with a big pile of poop on the front porch. I removed it and the next night, another one showed up about 6" off the porch. This one qualifies as the poop of the week.
I am pretty sure that the culprit is this guy.
On Sunday morning, Creigh hunted the hi-rise and didn't see a thing. I hunted the ladder stand and didn't see anything until 9 am when 3 does walked by at 60 yards. I saw a similiar parade a couple years ago and the does were followed by a buck - not this time. The does crossed to a neighbor's property, got spooked, stamped and honked, and turned around. They went right by me again. Since I already had a doe in the freezer, I was waiting for the buck. I got down, crossed the main field and walked in via the trail below the driveway stand. I pushed 3 different does on that walk.
On Sunday mid-day, we decided to try a drive. We posted Creigh on the hillside near the ladder stand at the barn field. Bruce and I went back to the driveway stand and walked the hillside down toward Creigh. I have seen a buck bedding down there and thought it was worth a try. We didn't see anything. I did pick up a doe skull in the woods to add to my "treasures board".
Sunday evening I hunted the hi-rise. Once again nothing moved until very late. I ended up with three 4 points in the field. At one point I heard something on the field edge but it turned and crashed away thru the brush. I have no idea what startled it. The 4 point bucks never moved.
On Monday morning, I went back to the ladder stand. I sat until 10:00 and only saw one lone doe wandering on the same trail at about 9:00 (again).
For Monday afternoon, I decided to get aggressive. I took my Glendale Buck archery target out to the pond field and set him up.
I went to the stand early (1:30) and I stayed all afternoon. Not a thing moved until almost sundown when a 4 point came into the field from the atv trail. He froze when he saw the decoy. He stood there staring at it for about 10 minutes. This picture isn't too clear but trust me, he stood there quivering a long time.
Eventually he came about halfway into the field but he was still really nervous. He would feed a little bit and then stare at it some more. Eventually a doe also entered the field and stood beside the 4 point staring at the decoy. I decided to try grunting to see if I could lure anybody else out into the field. The grunts made the two deer in the field nervous but nothing else happened. Eventually it got dark and I slipped out of the stand. Those two were so nervous about the decoy that they never even busted me as I came down the stairs.
I left the decoy in the field over night. I guess it was somewhat predictable what I would find.
My Glendale Buck got assinated over night. His head was knocked off, his body was knocked off the legs, there was a gouge in one of his eyes. The only permanent damage appears to be the brackets where the legs slip over the stakes.
On Tuesday morning, I hunted the ladder stand one more time. I didn't see a thing but it was a lovely morning. After I cleaned up Glendale, I cleaned the guns and headed to Lexington. I have a couple of archery weekends left but it's looking like I'll go buckless again this year. There's no shortage of them out there - I think that I need some new strategies.
Yahoo! It's starting to look like there may be a 2012 elk hunt. I'm sending in my deposit today. We need to draw tags but it's supposed to be good odds. http://jhhunting.com/
Here's some of the recent trailcams.
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