Muzzleloader Season Summary

The Ohio Muzzleloader season is 4 days - Saturday thru Tuesday.  Eric's best man, Creigh, and his father, Bruce, joined me for the weekend.  Creigh was hunting and Bruce was planning to photograph the results.  There wasn't alot to photograph.  Here we are making the tour to check the trailcams.

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.

He seems intent on marking this as his territory and it is driving Sydney and Chloe nuts.

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.

Chloe is part cat and frequently climbs on the back of the couch to visit Rudy - one of the buck mounts.
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 put him on the crest of the hill and he was visible from the field edge in all directions.  He stood out even from the barn.

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.

I've seen this guy and his two brothers repeatedly.

This is a parade of four different bucks past the ladder stand during daylight on January 4th.

New Year's Day 2012

My plan was to get in two good days of archery hunting - Jan 1 and 2.  My plan was slightly modified by 20 to 30 mph winds (gusts to 40 mph) followed by snow.  In spite of the wind, I sat in the driveway stand on New Year's Day.  I eventually saw seven does but they were very skittish.  Two groups of them came out into the field and then took off running.  I never saw a buck.

On Monday morning, I sat in the barn stand but it was cold - 29 degrees and 20 mph winds.  I stayed in stand until the snow started falling and then went in for breakfast.  The dogs and I went out to play fetch during the occasional snow squalls.

Sydney goes nuts when she sees me with this ball launcher.

She is a great fetcher and sometimes she even gives the ball back to me.

Chloe is greased lightening.  She is so fast and she has very little desire to follow commands like "come".  That's why she wears a 50' training lead while running around like a lightening bolt.

On this day, I threw two balls and they both actually retrieved.

After running the dogs to near exhaustion, I went for a walk and checked cameras again.

I went past the area where we did some gutting two weeks ago.  Although the snow was obsuring a little bit, I couldn't find any evidence of the gut piles.  Those coyotes, crows and vultures are pretty efficient.

I got all of the machines out and ran them for awhile.  It's important to do this in cold weather or the batteries just die.

This is my Christmas gift from Santa - it's a Benelli Ultra Light 20 gauge.  I decided not to make Joan come out in the snow to pull trap for me.  I loaded up a few shells and gave it a try.  More thorough evaluation will have to wait - but it shot pretty nice and was as light as a feather.

Another view of it as I was cleaning the barrel.

Poop of the week - a massive buck bomb.

A runner-up for the award - another buck bomb.

This is the brassica field that used to have turnips.  They're gone now.

Sydney sitting in my bed, on my pillow, letting the snow melt.  She's a little indignant that I would roust her from here.

A couple of drive-by's from New Year's Day.

Year-end 2011 Trailcams

There's still quite a few fine bucks out there.  I'm hoping to find at least one of them next weekend during muzzleloader season.

This is the start of a Christmas Eve parade in front of the ladder stand.

The buck even showed up during daylight.

Second buck in the parade?

Here's a few action shots.  Not sure who was doing the chasing.

Two fighting and one flashing by.

Some does for equal opportunity.

A fox drops by.

Next year's targets.