Did We Miss The Peak?

We had four full days in stand in mid-November and never really saw a shooter buck.  I was joined by Dave, Eric and Creigh so we had lots of eyes out there.  And we saw quite a few does, small spikes, and a small eight point.  Dave glassed a large racked buck for a glimpse at 300 yards but that was our only sighting of a shooter.

We had a variety of weather and Dave helped do the camera tour.  We exercised the dogs in mid-day.  Playing Ball With Dogs

I had previously repaired my mock scrape/licking branches.  They keep breaking the branches off this one.

And, as before, the hawks still like this perch.

All of the licking branches got some activity.

This is the broken rack 10 point.

It's more obvious in this shot.

Lots of rubs too.

Including complete annihilations of some small pines.

View from the pond stand - there were does here most evenings.

The driveway stand - also lots of does.

Here's an example.

I also spent time still hunting or just sitting in the woods hoping to see some chasing action.  I did see one small 8 point on the search.  Video of Buck Cruising

We had some rain, sleet and snow.  But it was plenty cool and the winds were mild.

I often had numerous does out for up to an hour.  Here's a few videos of the doe action:

Doe 1

Doe 2

Doe 3

Doe 4

But there was no hint that they were being chased or harassed.

The leaves were wet so it made walking a little bit quieter.  Walking still sounds loud in the quiet woods.

One day the fog got progressively worse.

The camera actually improves it - visibility got quite poor.

When I walked out of the woods one day. I encountered this cape buffalo.  That was a bit of a shocker.  Eric and his helper elves made me this to practice for a future trip.  There's a metal target that hangs behind the hole in the vitals.

Some fawns are still trying to nurse.  I saw one doe give her fawn a swift kick in the head.

Creigh spotted a Momma bobcat being followed by its baby - a kit.  We'll see if they show up on the next camera card pull.

As usual, the coyotes are prowling about.

And our resident fox.

Some turkeys were also spotted from stand.  This is Dave's video of turkeys from the stand. Turkeys

It was a good time in the woods but I suspect we missed most of the chasing action by a week or so.