Gun Week Fun - But No Shots So Far

Eric joined me for the first three days of gun week. Creigh came out just as Eric was leaving he he hunted for two days.  We've had pretty ideal weather, cool to cold, calm winds, and even snow.  We've seen multiple does every day but have not put an eye on a shooter buck.  Here's some of the action.

The first night was the warmest.

Then we had snow.

Which reveals where they've been walking.  I've always been told that these "hoof dragging" tracks are likely to be bucks.

Eric and I did the camera tour.

Here he is heading out for a still hunting session.

And on the way back in.

I found this scrape and/or bed.

It has some blood in it.  Somebody in the neighborhood must have wounded a deer.

I had a new tire for the zero turn and took this opportunity to replace it.  Getting the old one off the rim and the new one on was a bit of a challenge.  A little help from YouTube reminded us to use some soapy water and things progressed nicely after that.  We also got some other things done like getting the plow on the tractor.

That's me checking wind to decide which stand to hunt.

Most sits had doe visits.

And the tracks showed highways as the days progressed.

There are rubs and rub lines everywhere.

Typical of the bucks that we did see.

This doe was fussy and tromped and honked - but wouldn't leave. Fussy Doe Video

Nice evening.

Traffic.

Joan asked me why these icicles bent back at 45 degrees.

The ones on this side of the barn were vertical.

I had a lot of back and forth with ChatGPT about it and I eventually go this answer.  What do you think - is it right?

This seemed like a buck bed to me.  Looking over a big drop-off.

Here's Creigh on point when he spotted a bedded button buck in the woods.

The dogs were getting cabin fever but I couldn't risk letting them off leash during gun season.  So I took them on leash for part of the camera tour.

More doe activity tonight (Saturday).

I'm losing patience - where are the bucks?

I've pursued them from the stand and on foot.

When Eric got home, he had received his Euro mount from this year's elk hunt.

Now for some trailcam activity.

Does.

You can see that this is a button buck.

The snow makes a huge difference in spotting the deer.  They just blend in otherwise.

Some bucks are around.

Coyote.

Bobcat.

I do need to take some does but I have been waiting to get my buck first.  Running out of time for both.

Lots of Movement - No Shooters

I had a couple of perfect days in stand.  Good weather, light winds.  There were a bunch of deer on the move. But no shooters to be seen.

The first afternoon, it was a kindergarten of young bucks.

I had a young 8, a forkhorn, a spike and a button buck on one side of the stand.

Romper Room Video. Romper Room

Young 8 Point Video. Small 8

And another young 8 on the other side of the stand.

I convinced myself that the mature bucks and does were shacked up somewhere else.

I walked the camera tour.  There are some huge turnips in the food plots.

Recent rains refilled the pond.  It's obvious that I still have a leak though.

On the way to stand.

On the camera tour.

I didn't have much action in the mornings.  But there was plenty in the evenings.

On this sit I had a group of 6 does bleed out into the field.

Then they moved on up to the main field.

Then another group of 7 does came out into the field.  So much for the love shack theory.

You can see the first group up in the main field while the 2nd group is still hanging out with me.

They eventually moved up too.  No bucks showed at all.

A few more trailcam captures from the boys weekend.

Here they were on the way home.

Propane delivery this week.  The best move I ever made was to put it on auto-refill.

For my grandson Tommy - squirrels do exist here.  Actually, I was seeing them everywhere this week.  

Coyotes.

The elusive bobcat.

Some doe activity.

And some of the younger bucks running around.

Gun season is approaching.  It was youth weekend and I heard some shots in the neighborhood.

Late addition - I stumbled across this guide to Ohio trees.  Looks like a great resource. Ohio Tree Guide