2019 Live from the Stand

Pulling my first all day sit of the year. Middle of property in an oak flat with a huge hollow drop off 80 yards west and the drop into our creek bottom 40 yards east with solid woods for miles both directions. North of me is solid woods for 250 yards and then my small fallow clover plot and then solid woods for miles. South of me is solid woods for 200 yards and then my south plot. While typing this a nice 8 pointer came by from directly downwind of me which is SW. He didn’t seem to smell me at all...this is a photo of the 8 point that just walked by.

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My target deer was right here yesterday at 7:05 am and 5:15 pm. Gigantic bodied 10 pointer...
 
Been in ladder stand since 5:30 am. Haven’t seen any other deer since that 3rd buck a little after 9...
 
Wow! Just got in...was on stand from 5:30 am till 7:00 pm. Tally was 4 bucks by 9:00 am. 1 buck at 1 pm. Another buck right after 4 pm and then nothing till just before dark when the buck I call “Ten” walked up and started working scrapes. I had passed him up before a little over a week ago so I wasn’t going to kill him now. As he was working scrapes a small buck walked up and Ten chased him around a bit and then they both started eating acorns...I could hear them crunching. About that time a really big deer I could barely make the shape of out came up and ran Ten around so I am pretty sure it was the gigantic buck I am actually after. It was well past me being able to see my bow pins and legal light so all I could do was vaguely watch them fight trees, work scrapes and eat. About the time I am hoping they leave soon a 4th buck walks in and I have no idea at all which one that was. I sit in my tree in the dark listening to thrashing and crunching all around me...after a bit it seemed like the sounds were getting further out and I needed to get down because I was still in my ladder stand well after dark. I got my bow lowered and just started down the ladder as quietly as I could and the blowing and snorting began from 3 directions...what a day!!!
 
Back at it! SSE no where near optimal because most deer travel N to S to about midway into our place (white oaks) and then turn and go back north or E to W or vice versa my only real option is to go right back down our east fence to a northernmost stand and hope to catch deer headed back to bed. Since deer bed in all 3 directions other than south I can only hope to catch a fraction...I had to come down our east fence to a stand 1/3 way along north border near fallow clover...
 
I know we all like to think we are ninjas while silently slipping to our stand but I think just like everything else it is all relative to what you have available. What I have available is the east fence row. You have to remember this is all deep woods, flint rock country and my only level ground is smack dab through the center of the property and is why sometime in the past this is where a logging road was put stem to stern and is easier walking but you also flow deer out left, right, and forward as you go and typically those deer don’t stop until they are across a fence. I would love to access from my west fence it starts off with an extremely deep hollow and then runs 80 feet in front of my west neighbors door where all the many cut dogs and pit bulls they scrounge up start barking, howling, and chasing you and if somehow you happen to ninja past them you fall into the Grand Canyon of hollows here on our place that literally involves ropes to get down into and up the other side. We fenced it with ropes tied around us standing sideways.

This leaves the east fence as only hopeful access. The problem on the east is deer like to bed there and the fence runs in and out of a flint rock creek bottom the entire way. Fingers up and own and drainages into that bottom. Deer absolutely love to travel that bottom so walking the dry fist and smaller flint that makes up that entire bottom as it moves toward and away from and even occasionally crosses back and forth across that fence isn’t an option. You must stay true to the barbed wire, 4 strand fence and since you are constantly on a side hill you have to use the wire as a hand rail the entire way....so began my morning...bad wind direction but it’s time to hunt...
I get 30 yards along the fence and the first 330 feet is fairly level and I jump the first deer which happened to be on my neighbors side and I listen as it runs like I absolutely hurt it’s feelings in the worst way and it is letting the world know...strike 1...
I continue my quest...200 yards in I have a large deer blow at me on my side of the fence and he was so close I could see his eyes with the dim red hat light I use to walk. He luckily his back deeper into our property without making a huge fuss. Strike 2...
Now mind you I am walking on extremely loose flint and dead leaves and sticks so to me it sounds like I am traveling with a wagon train through the dark. Luckily the myriads of other deer I must have spooked did it fairly quietly.

I finally got to my stand at the far north about 75 yards from the north fence and 150 yards from the east fence. I have fallow clover in front of me, small to medium post oaks and hickory left, right, and behind me and I have not seen a thing...
 
Now my game begins...I call this one “Musical Stands”. I have various stands set up from South to North on the property and since most of the deer I am hunting today are still south of me I sit for a period of time in one stand and then still hunt to the next. I am now in my second stand which is a hang on stand and is the stand I killed the first buck off our property from. I have moved west straight across the fallow clover and then continued 100 yards into the woods. I did not come here first because invariably when I come here in the dark of the morning inspook a deer while accessing this stand. I am in a very good travel route for deer to use to get from the oaks on our property to a thick bedding area. This is also one of the best rut zones and I have seen many a chase here...I am 200 yards due west from my previous stand...
 
Wow. Too much action this morning for my poor heart (just kidding). I was walking to my spot about 30 minutes before sunrise, and I catch these 3 bucks lollygagging in the corn field. I blew my load earlier this year on a couple tiny bucks, so I can't shoot any of them until firearms season starts at the end of the month.
So I'm sitting here watching them so like OK's bucks: eat, play fight, go back to eating, and so on. But while I'm watching them, I notice that they keep looking back into the woods that they popped out at. I hear some scraping, and watch the leaves shaking vigorously. Then I see the biggest buck I've ever seen in person. Yes, I'm still kicking myself for not waiting until now to take a buck. Lesson learned for next year. But in my defense, I took my first deer ever this season, so I couldn't care less what sex deer it was.
The Big buck had a doe in-tow. Now I'm back in the game. But I couldn't understand why the two were moving so slowly. Oh, about 10 minutes later I watched the big buck chase the others away from his doe. Finally the two made their way to the clearing where I had a possible shot. But they stayed at about 70 yards the whole time. Oh well. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get to a better position. And wake up earlier.
I finally made it to my spot, but I'm fairly certain I'm not going to see much until this afternoon. Luckily for me it's awesome weather here in Central Maryland. 50° and breezy. Not a cloud in the sky.
 

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Okie, I like the way you describe your stand hopping as "planned".
But so many times I have hunted my property alone, I will start at one stand and invariably talk myself into moving to a "better" spot, only to spook deer as I am getting down....:(
 
KillEatRepeat said:
I have to ask: why do you watch so many deer go by without turning them into steaks?
Click to expand...
You asked so I will tell...I have hunted deer for 43 years and when I started hunting any buck was an amazing feat. I remember when we spotted a small 6 point before the rifle opener when I was 14 and everyone in our community was stoked about getting a chance at that 1 deer! Could not shoot does back in those days as Oklahoma was trying to pull itself out of a deer drought caused by over hunting many years before...

I have used all weapons in deer including self bow, river cane arrow with turkey fletch and knapped flint head. I have killed more deer than I care to count over the years but only recently have I owned my own ground and the goal is for an older age class of deer. In my area a buck can live to a very old age and I have passed 5.5 yr old bucks already this year. My wife and I are not starving and we have a freezer 3/4 full of deer meat. I am still trying to build the doe herd so we do not shoot any does on our 90 and we would like to see these young bucks live a few years. Some would call it trophy hunting but I had an old buck here on the place I called “Bully” who had about an 80” rack at most that I would have killed before any other buck on the place and we have much, much larger deer. I go for the oldest deer regardless of score...

And the fact my deer processor charges $80 per deer and a 160 dressed deer gives you more usable meat than a 130 dressed...lol
 
lakngulf said:
Okie, I like the way you describe your stand hopping as "planned".
But so many times I have hunted my property alone, I will start at one stand and invariably talk myself into moving to a "better" spot, only to spook deer as I am getting down....:(
Click to expand...
Oh I had this planned from the get go today...I sat 13.5 hours in the same tree yesterday and will sit as long as the rain holds off today but I am going to see different scenery throughout the day! Getting down and moving is a calculated risk...
 
For the record everywhere on my place I have 1 bar 4G service through AT&T...it sucks...

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Okie, if I hunted every day I would burn out ! I went to the gym this morning to perfect my Schwartsenegger physique (it ain’t working BTW) and I have to help my son this afternoon but I’ll be going tomorrow and Friday. Good luck on getting that biggun !
 
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