Gun Week - First Blood!

Eric, Creigh and I were here for the opener.  Joan is camp manager.  The morning was quiet but we had an exciting afternoon.  We had a couple of bucks chasing does like crazy as if it was the start of the rut.  We all saw the one buck that Eric took and eventually dubbed "Speed Racer".  He ran laps all over the property chasing does.  The weather was super.

A bigger buck we're calling "Double Crab Claw" made an appearance for both Eric and Creigh. That's him in the photo below.  Due to a number of calamities, no shots were fired at him. He was bristled, grunting and looking for a fight.

Eric made a perfect shot and dropped Speed Racer with the 45/70.

It was an easy recovery not far from the barn.  No tracking required.

We did the "hang 'em high" method of gutting.

He hung overnight and we started processing today.  Eric planning to butcher himself - first time.

A daylight photo op.

Teamwork.

For the taxidermist.

The morning was windy and nothing moved.  Hoping for a good evening today.

Prep For Gun Week

 I was out confirming zero on a couple of implements that I may use next week.  First, the 45-70.  Those are 2" circles from 100 yards.  The high shot was the barrel fouler.

This is the muzzleloader. It's finicky with a clean barrel but fouls quickly.

The food plots look good - we have food! Brassica oats mix.

Best looking stand of it that I've had.

Beets and Greens are spottier but good bulbs in there.

Lots of good clover still around too.

The mock scrape doesn't seem to be a big hit.

Out for a walk.

Cleaning up the pumpkin remnants.

A few bucks.

Weather forecast for the opener looks good.

Trip to Carolinas, Hunt in the Rain

To continue the celebration of Joan's birthday, we took a driving trip to the Carolinas where we eventually met up with Joan's sister in Hilton Head.  The first stop was the Biltmore in Asheville NC.

It is on a gorgeous piece of property and we hit it when the leaves still had some color.

There's vineyards, a winery and a working farm on the property.

The French Broad River winds by.

I'd like a farm like this.

Nest stop Hilton Head SC where where we met up with Joan's sister Karen and her husband Bob.

It was a great birthday celebration and we lucked out on the weather.  We played a round of golf and did some touring.

So when we got home, I ran out to the farm to go hunting in 40 degree rain.

Not much moving tonight.  I saw a couple does.  We'll se what tomorrow brings - it's supposed to be colder.

Lots of rubbing activity.

This buck was taken by my friend in Kentucky.  Well done Marc.

I only got to 1/2 of the cameras.  Will finish the rounds tomorrow.  Here's some highlights.

Turkeys.

Coyote.

Fox.

Bobcat.

Does.

Bucks.

I may do another post depending on what shows up tomorrow.

Two Great Hunts, Lots of Trailcams, Eric Visit for Birthday

 It was Joan's birthday this weekend.

Our son Eric came down to help celebrate.  And also to spend some time in the woods during the rut.

As mentioned previously, my Ravin crossbow made it back from the factory.  I reassembled it and gave it a try.  Great job by Ravin to fix it and get it back to me completely on warranty.

I had a great hunt Friday evening.  First three does came out in the pond field, then it was 5, then it was 7 does.

I decided to give a few grunts just to see if I lure out a buck.  Shortly thereafter, I noticed this buck having a drink from the pond.  It is a large seven point that I've been seeing frequently.

After his drink, he ran down into the field and started chasing all the does.  He cleared the field out harassing them all. Video of 7 Point Chasing

I had him at about 60 yards for awhile but I'm holding out for a bigger buck (so far).  When I went inside, Violet was spider hunting.

We had a surprise dusting of snow on Saturday morning and we didn't see much moving.

But it was really a beautiful morning to be in the woods.

Here I am stealthily pursuing the elusive whitetail deer.

We decided to hang a stand that might be handy during gun season.  So we broke all the rules and went into the woods during the rut and made a bunch of commotion.  Eric did the lower sections.

I put on the harness and went up to the high elevations.  We got it set and think that it will be a good morning stand.

Here a rub on one of my smaller apple trees.  Those boogers - I finally get a tree to grow and they either chomp it or rub it.

The brassica really looks great this year and they are obviously using it.

My mock scrape doesn't seem like a big hit although there are some rubs on the trunk.

Beets and greens around the main stand - not the best food plot but there's definitely edibles there.

Just a view of the trees to show the stage of autumn for the Florida and California followers. 

Saturday night hunt in the driveway stand.  First a spike went up to the prairie plot, then a doe came down from the main field and she was followed by the same 7 point and another 4 point.

They sort of headed into the valley so I gave them a grunt.  The 4 point stuck around but a crowd suddenly showed up on the other side of the stand. Video of Nervous 4 Point

Out of nowhere, I had two shooter 8 points and a 6 point.  The one 8 was probably the same one that I filmed a couple weeks ago.  The other one was much taller and looked older.  He came directly at the stand and stood at 25 yards staring up at me.  He was on the upwind side but he didn't stay long.  I had no chance to get the crossbow up and he swung behind the trees and the stand and I never saw him again.  Video of Two Bucks

The other bucks hung around awhile and were fun to watch.

The Asian beetles (lady-bug like), are dying in swarms all around the barn.  If I swept them up, I would easily have a 5 gallon bucket full of them.

The trailcams had a bunch of bobcat activity this week.

This might have been a mating event.

Lots of young bucks running around looking for does.  There was a huge amount of activity on Nov 3rd for some reason.

Some of the usual suspects.

Lots of field edge scrapes.

Not long till gun season...