November 5 Bow Hunt

I had a great hunt Saturday morning. I hunted my favorite stand, the one in a travel corridor between bedding areas. I got in to the stand at about 5:30AM.

Deer were already moving when I got to my stand. In fact, one spooked and snorted while I was pulling up my bow. The action was almost nonstop. I saw lots of chasing, and deer were generally on the move.

I saw lots of antlerless deer (more than 15), and 5 different bucks. All of the bucks but one were in bow range (20 yards or less) at one time or another. At one point, a small buck was chasing a doe in front of my stand while a larger buck chased a doe behind my stand.

I kept waiting for a mature buck to show up. About 9:30, I saw a shooter buck but he never got closer than 40 yards. He chased a doe around, then chased her away from me. I didn't get a great look at his rack, but he had a long main beam visible from the side that curved past his nose. The beam had decent mass and was very white. With a gun, that would have been all I needed to see.

At one point while a large number of deer were all around me, I spotted a large deer that was very dark in color moving about 30 yards away. I couldn't get a look at the deer's head, though. My view was obscured by trees. I was about to draw my bow if it started walking again, as it was heading right for my shooting lane. If it was a buck, I wanted to be ready. The deer was upwind of me and could not see me, but suddenly spooked and ran away from me. I couldn't tell if it was a buck or not.

Later a basket-racked six pointer came through my shooting lane. This was about 11AM. I decided to draw on him for practice. I drew and he didn't see me. But I was standing and there was a tree limb blocking his vitals. I crouched slightly to get a clear shot angle, and he spotted that movement. He spooked (but not badly). He ran about 40 yards, then slowly came back. His curiosity got the better of him. When he got close (about 25 yards), he was really looking hard, trying to spot whatever had spooked him. I was watching him, entertanied by his curiousity. Then I looked to his left and, to my great surprise, there stood the dark-colored deer. And it was a buck with a very nice rack. Don't know how many points, but long beams and a nice wide spread. (20 inches or so) I am guessing he has a ten point typical frame. But even though he was 15 yards away, I had no shot. And he walked directly away from me. The saddest part is that I think he walked through a ten yard shooting lane I have while I was paying attention to the other buck. He almost had to pass through that lane to get where he was standing, facing the direction he was facing. But I didn't notice him until it was too late. He was slightly behind me. I hunted until noon, then left the woods.

Oh well, at least I know there are a couple of decent bucks around. If the neighbors don't tag the dark buck, I may get another shot at him next weekend. He is on my mind a lot right now. I would love to tag a Pope & Young buck this year. Not much time left, though. Gun season is right around the corner.

October 30 Bow Hunt

Well, I hunted again last night from the same stand I hunted on October 2. This is a great gun stand overlooking some fine bedding cover. But for bow hunting most deer pass just out of range. Still, when trying to determine if a good buck is in the area, it is a good place to sit.

I got in to the stand about 3 PM. I spooked a deer as I entered the woods. I laid down a scent trail (doe estrous urine) to the vicinity of my stand. I hung the scent pad in a tree. I climbed up and got ready.

There were deer around almost constantly. I looked over my right shoulder and saw two deer moving about 75 yards away. I looked in front of me in the bedding cover (about 50 or 60 yards), and saw a small, odd-looking deer. At first I thought it might be a piebald (partial albino), but then I realized it was a very small spotted fawn. Strange for this time of year. I wonder what month its mother was bred?

I had a couple of does come to the edge of the woods from the bedding and spook from the doe urine. Later a larger group of five bald deer came and sniffed all around the scent pad and the ground where I dragged the pad.

Right about sunset, a doe was running in the bedding cover, chased by a grunting buck. I couldn't see how big his rack was, but it was small or I would have seen it better. I grunted at him. No results. A couple of minutes later I saw him by himself. I grunted again, and he walked toward the woods. But when he got to the edge of the woods he turned toward another deer I had not noticed that was on the edge of the woods. The first deer had his ears laid back and his hair bristled up. I was excited, thinking I was going to watch a fight. But the two deer just sniffed each other for a minute, then gently started sparring.

These bucks were only about 50 yards away, and I really couldn't see their racks. They were probably small 6 pointers. (or possibly smaller) If they had any kind of racks to speak of I would have been able to see them. Funny, if I was gun-hunting and interested in any legal buck (like a lot of hunters), I would have let those deer walk. I bet a lot of guys see bucks like this but fail to recognize them as bucks. Then they probably complain that there are no bucks in the area!

October 2003 North Carolina Rifle Hunt

In 2003, I was living in North Carolina. A friend and I applied for a controlled deer hunt at the Pee Dee National Wildlife refuge. We got drawn for the first rifle hunt, which occurred in late October. The rut in the is area is typically peaking around the first week of December, so October can be a tough time to hunt.

The refuge covers 8443 acres, so I wanted to prescout in any way possible. It was about a two hour drive from where I was living, so I was only able to look around once before the hunt. But I spent hours scouring aerial photos and topographical maps. I own MapTech's Terrain Navigator Professional for North Carolina, and it really came in handy. It is an expensive piece of software, and it is worth the money. It really helps for remote scouting. Visit www.maptech.com for more information. You can get aerial photos and topographical maps for free at http://terraserver.microsoft.com also. It is not quite as handy as the MapTech software, but it is free.

I identified a couple of potential spots, looking for funnels and areas far from parking lots. We hunted October 30 and 31. I brought my .270. The first day morning I sat in a funnel between an open crop field and a beaver pond. I had deer approach from behind, and I didn't notice them until it was too late. I heard them, but they spotted me as I tried to turn around. There were three that I could see, and I couldn't tell if any were bucks. That afternoon, we hunted some small pieces of woods near larger crop fields and jumped a few does. We could shoot does, but were not that interested in them.

The second morning I walked a long way to an inside corner of a fenced cow pasture. The cow pasture was bordered on one side by a no-hunting zone at this corner. Also at this corner was an edge between pine forest and some mixed pines/hardwoods that had been logged out a few year back. There was a trail (fire trail or loggin road) along the edge. I sat just off the trail where I could see down the trail both directions. To my left about 70 yards down the trail was the no-hunting zone. I had very limited visibility, so I knew that if I saw a deer I would have to shoot quickly. It wasn't the best setup, but the area was beautiful so I couldn't resist sitting down and relaxing.

About 7:30AM I looked to my left and spotted movement. To my surprise it was a deer. It was in the no-hunting zone. Then I spotted its head and saw it was a buck. I pulled up and waited to see if it would come out of the no-hunting zone and step onto the trail. It did and sent a ballistic silvertip on its way. The buck kicked and ran as fast as he could. Fortunately, he ran in front of me through the pines. There was a lot of undergrowth below the pines, making him really difficult to see. But I heard him running, and then the noise stopped almost directly in front of me. I walked into the pines and looked around for him. It took me about 5 minutes to find him. If he had run the other way into the no-hunting zone, I am not sure if I would have found him. He was bleeding, but he was running so fast it would have been really difficult to find the trail.

But I found him and he was a pretty nice little 6 pointer. Two and a half years old I figure. He would have been really nice had he lived a couple more years. But I was happy with him as he was. It was a long drag out to the truck, with much of it uphill. There is a picture in this post.
I have some more pictures, but they didn't turn out very well. I might clean them up and post them later.

In my opinion, controlled hunts like national wildlife refuge hunts or state or city park hunts are the best deal going for deer hunters. Beautiful land with limited hunting pressure, often managed for big bucks. What more could you ask for? It might take several years of applying to get drawn, but it only takes a couple of minutes to apply. If you have never tried any of these kind of hunts, you are seriously missing out. It is the next best thing to having access to good private land. In some ways it is even better.

October 23 Bow Hunt

Hunted Sunday afternoon. I had not hunted since the previous Sunday. I did go out Saturday, October 22 to retrieve my rattling bag that I had inadvertently left in the woods the Sunday before. When I was doing this I noticed a treestand in the woods. As I am the only one with permission to hunt this area, I was upset. Especially because I have reason to believe that a very large buck is using the area. It is impossible to control the pressure that deer feel when other hunters are trespassing. I took the time to take down this treestand and the steps, and I piled them on the ground under the tree. I then nailed a "No Tresspassing" sign to the tree along with a note telling the offender to get out, stay out, and be glad his gear was not gone. Hopefully he is smart enough to do just that. I also noticed much buck sign around this tree stand. About 6 large scrapes and several rubs. I believe he was set up right in a nice buck's core area. Hopefully the buck is still around. Trespassing is one of the worst offenses you can commit as a hunter.

But I also had a lead on a mature buck in a different spot. He was spotted in the woods by my father-in-law, the land owner. I have a stand near this area, so I hunted it. I got to the woods about 4PM, jumping a rooster pheasant on the way to the woods. I slowly crept to my stand. My stand is very near (about 100 yds) a section in the woods that often holds bedded deer. It was at this spot that my father-in-law saw the large buck. So I got into my stand as slowly and quietly as I could. I spotted a deer moving south of me right before I climbed into my stand. I couldn't tell if the deer was a buck or not, and I am fairly certain it did not see me.

At about 5:30 I spotted a deer directly west of me. I couldn't see horns, but somehow instinctively I knew it was a buck. It looked my direction and came right to me. I believe it saw me and came over to take a better look. I have had a lot of deer spot me recently. ( My ladder stands are only 15 feet off the ground. Another 5 feet up would be really beneficial. ) This buck walked right to me, and then I saw its 6 point rack. Typical two and a half year old. It stared at me, stomped its foot, then forgot about me. It turned broadside at twenty yards, and its head was behind a large tree. I drew my bow, but just for practice. I had no intent of shooting the deer. It stood in that spot for about 5 minutes. I could have shot it easily. He walked off.

About fifteen minutes later, I heard a commotion and saw a doe running to me from the south. She passed my on the east side at about 20 yards. She was being chased by another buck. I could see his rack at a distance. It was bigger than the previous buck's rack, but still a six point two and a half year old. But his rack was thicker and whiter making it easier to see. I tried to stop this buck by blatting with my mouth, but he was too distracted. He paid not attention to me at all. He followed the doe and I lost sight of them to the north.

A short time later I heard a noise to the north and saw a buck coming. I believe it was the same buck that was chasing the doe. He came by my stand on the west side at about six yards. He stopped in my shooting lane and looked up at me. His neck was swollen. I didn't move, and he soon dismissed me and kept travelling south. He too was lucky I was looking for a mature buck. Even an untalented archer like I has no trouble with a six yard shot.

It soon got dark, and strangely I never saw or heard any more deer. I expected some does at dark, but never saw any. So I climbed down, went through the woods, and crossed a cropped corn field to my truck. Spotted a couple of deer feeding in an adjacent field on my walk to the truck.

There is definitely some rutting action now.

One of the neighbors who hunts the adjoining woods is a talented bow hunter. If he spots that mature buck before I do, the buck is most likely in trouble. I hope the buck keeps a low profile. The neighbor is usually done hunting before gun season (tagged out), so if this buck can make it that long there is a good chance I will see him with a gun. At least that is how it has worked out in the past. But this area also serves as a deer yard when it snows. This draws lots of deer from all around, typically including some nice bucks that I haven't seen before. So worst case there will be some action with a muzzleloader in December, weather permitting.

October 16 Bow Hunt

Well, I finally got back out last night. This time I hunted a unique area. It is a treeline that connects a piece of woods with a swamp. This treeline widens at a point, though, and becomes about 100 yards across. It is more of a woods at that point, but I still think of it as a treeline.

This treeline runs north to a woods and south to a swamp. It is bordered on the east and west by crop fields. This year there is corn on the west side, and an empty, harvested wheat field on the east side. There is some grass sprouting in the field on the east, and this is attracting some deer currently. This treeline is a real hotspot, for a bunch of reasons. First, it connects bedding to food (deer moving north from the swamp). Second, it connects two different food sources. (for deer moving east-west). Third, at the section where the treeline widens, there are a lot of acorn-bearing oaks.

So I walked in and sat down on a 5 gallon pail on the westernmost edge of the treeline at the wide point. My back was to the harvested wheat field. I had some trees of varying sizes in front of me and a large tree behind me. I got in early, just in case the hunters moon had deer on the move. I got in about 3PM for the evening hunt. I saw nothing but squirrels until close to dark.

But about one half hour before dark, there were deer all around. I spotted them coming directly to me. I knew that they were going to spot me. They got too close. There were 5 deer that I could tell had no horns, but there were others (5 or so more) back about 50 yards that I couldn't make out well enough to say. The leads doe closed to 5 yards, spotted me, and started the footstomping/head-bobbing game. I sat stone still. I was wearing full camoflauge, with all parts covered, including my face. The wind was out of the west, and I had taken a bunch of precautions with regard to my scent. So I know she didn't smell me. But she was concerned, and after about 10 minutes, finally started snorting. She ran off a few yards, then came back, head-bobbed, foot-stomped, and snorted some more. I could have shot here both times. And, with all the snorting, I was getting tempted.

It is tough to hunt on the ground. I needed more brush around me. I didn't expect them to get that close. I had a trail about 20 yards upwind, and I was hoping a buck would walk that trail. I had plenty of trees to give me the chance to draw my bow. Of course, with ten or so deer around, it would be hard to get the draw in any case.

I can say that I saw no sign of rutting action. Just normal early-season feeding movement.

This treeline is also very hot with a gun. Deer will travel down it to get away from the hunting pressure to the south. I shot a buck November 16, 2001 at 2:30PM that came in from the south. His picture is at the top of this post. You can see the treeline I am talking about in the back of the picture. You can even see the wide section. In the right-rear of the picture you can see the swamp. The woods that the treeline connects to on the north is not visible. My nephew is the gunslinger in the picture.

October 9 Bow Hunt

Well, I got out this evening. I didn't hunt where I had planned to hunt, though. The spot I was planning on hunting was a marshy area surrounded by beans. But when I got there the beans were cut. Deer still come out to feed after the beans are cut, but I just decided to try a different spot.

I hunted a stand in between two bedding areas, bordered on one side by a cut bean field. I got in the stand about 4:00PM. It was really dry, so the leaves were really crunchy. Heard a lot of noise from squirrels. About 6:30 saw a couple of raccoons moving through. Very soon after that I started seeing deer. First I saw a couple moving through about 50 yards away. They looked like young deer. Not too much later a doe and two fawns immediately followed by another doe came right by my stand. They all passed broadside at 15 yards. But they were downwind, and the doe in the rear was bound and determined to bust me. She sniffed and sniffed. Then head-bobbed. Then sniffed. She circled my stand. This went on for about 20 minutes. The entire time I was standing with my bow in hand ready to draw in case a buck appeared. But I couldn't move or she would bust me. I was getting tired from the way I was standing, and my left arm was starting to shake. But I held still, and eventually she went away without blowing an alarm.

By that time it was too dark to shoot. But then a larger deer came through by itself. I suspect that it was a buck, but it was too dark for me to tell for sure. Then another lone deer came from the other direction. Again, I suspect that it was a buck, but who really knows.

I waited until I didn't hear deer anywhere near me, then I snuck out. I really have to be careful about overhunting this spot. It is a great rut spot, if it is left alone. I may stay away for a while.

October 6 Bow Hunt

Well, I got out again last night. This time I tried a spot on some public land near my house. I have found that most hunters on this public land flock to the food sources (there are corn and beans planted) I have had a couple of bad experiences with rude hunters, so I now seek out areas devoid of hunters, even if it means hunting a spot with a low likelihood of seeing deer.

I remembered a spot where a small marsh and a small lake come fairly close together. The marsh has some pretty nice oaks on the edge, and I thought maybe the area between the marsh and the lake would act like a funnel for deer moving through. Also, the vegetation on the edge of the lake looked like it would be pretty good browse. But I also remembered that there was very little deer sign. But the weather was cool, my hunting gear was already in my truck, and it was right on my way home from work.

So I parked and changed clothes in the small parking areas, and nobody was there but me. I walked in and sat on a 5 gallon pail. I trimmed a couple of narrow shooting lanes, and I was sitting in some pretty thick stuff. I faced into the wind and relaxed.

I didn't see a deer. (or a squirrel either, which is odd) Didn't see any sign at all either. My three year old daughter told me "The deer were probably behind you." I told her it wouldn't be the first time. But I will say what the area lacks in deer it makes up for in geese. Had Canadian honkers flying around the whole time, alternating between landing in the lake and flying around. Should have been goose hunting I guess. (it is goose season too)

Funny, though, the area I hunted looks like it would hold some deer and there are deer in the area. I can only theorize that it gets too much human activity. I think that a lot of people walk and ride bikes in there for exercise outside of hunting season. Has some pretty good trails. Maybe that keeps the deer away. Might be worth another look later in the season. Could be a retreat for deer when the pressure is on. Maybe I will check it out again in December with a muzzleloader...

I might get out tomorrow afternoon. If so, I will hunt the private land I have permission on in Hillsdale county. Have a little spot in mind on the edge of a fairly large marsh smack dab in the middle of a bean field. I cleared out a spot and cut shooting lanes back in August. Could catch something coming out to eat. I still have meat from last year, so I won't shoot at anything but a mature buck. (and I may even let them walk) Bottom line: I plan to be really picky this year.