Recreating a Deer Woods

[Chainsaw]

Cameras have continued to amaze us;the pictures are as super as the hunting is so,so poor. I can't recall ever experiencing such tough hunting as the last couple of weeks. If it wasn't for the zillion tracks and the deer viewed from the sun room daily, I'd believe someone was putting fake pics in the cameras somehow. Reminds me of the old days before treestands, Scentlock, super grunt calls, super lures and real looking decoys. Nothing is working! Winds are howling again today; yesterday now and then it sounded like a low flying jet would be coming and it was just short wind gusts, alternating from northeast to south west. Only deer interaction was getting blown at once between wind roars. May need to resort to still-hunting soon if this keeps up. For today it's fresh Scentlock and sitting in a funnel. Will even be wearing sno-camo today--That's what we call pulling out all the stops.

Good luck to everyone today!

 

[OkieKubota]

Cameras have continued to amaze us;the pictures are as super as the hunting is so,so poor. I can't recall ever experiencing such tough hunting as the last couple of weeks. If it wasn't for the zillion tracks and the deer viewed from the sun room daily, I'd believe someone was putting fake pics in the cameras somehow. Reminds me of the old days before treestands, Scentlock, super grunt calls, super lures and real looking decoys. Nothing is working! Winds are howling again today; yesterday now and then it sounded like a low flying jet would be coming and it was just short wind gusts, alternating from northeast to south west. Only deer interaction was getting blown at once between wind roars. May need to resort to still-hunting soon if this keeps up. For today it's fresh Scentlock and sitting in a funnel. Will even be wearing sno-camo today--That's what we call pulling out all the stops.

Good luck to everyone today!

View attachment 17524

Good luck!

 

[jsasker007]

Great buck there. Still hunting is by far my favorite way to hunt---amazing how wearing clothes that almost glow in the dark are pretty much invisible to deer as long as you stay still. Get a big one!

 

[Chummer]

Maybe they have a camera on you. They sit in your sanctuary looking at pics saying “ Dave thought he had us patterned” and laugh. Keep after it, one of them will slip up for you sooner or later.

 

[Chainsaw]

That's funny Chummer! Today was like old times, finally. No shots at shooters but close to twenty deer walked by my ground position within mostly twenty yards. Got one glimpse of a large antler thru the brush but he was walking the other way. So it was close. This was the first day in almost two weeks that the wind was not circling;that must have been the difference.

Day started off at ten degrees but hit 29 by noon; deer movement began around 11 am. No fresh tracks were spotted before then.

 

[Elkaddict]

Dave, that’s a beast of a deer. Full moon is killing us...mature bucks are simply doing there thing at night. Nothing moved this morning although we did see 20 does and a couple small bucks tonight. Keep at my friend, it will all come together!

 

[Native Hunter]

Cameras have continued to amaze us;the pictures are as super as the hunting is so,so poor. I can't recall ever experiencing such tough hunting as the last couple of weeks. If it wasn't for the zillion tracks and the deer viewed from the sun room daily, I'd believe someone was putting fake pics in the cameras somehow. Reminds me of the old days before treestands, Scentlock, super grunt calls, super lures and real looking decoys. Nothing is working! Winds are howling again today; yesterday now and then it sounded like a low flying jet would be coming and it was just short wind gusts, alternating from northeast to south west. Only deer interaction was getting blown at once between wind roars. May need to resort to still-hunting soon if this keeps up. For today it's fresh Scentlock and sitting in a funnel. Will even be wearing sno-camo today--That's what we call pulling out all the stops.

Good luck to everyone today!

View attachment 17524

Dave, I absolutely love that picture. That buck is a beast. Best wishes on your hunting.

 

[Chainsaw]

Thanks for the encouragement guys. This coming weeks weather is forecast to be more tolerable at least and historically here weather permitting whenever we have had a tag left for this coming week and part of the next the hunting really ramps up in terms of buck sightings. Sat in the sun room yesterday after coming in from hunting around 3:30 pm and enjoyed a doe chasing show with one of the mature bucks as the star. It is always fun to watch even when you've already hunted most of the day. In the recent past years it took very little in close ground hunting(twenty-five to 45 yards) in the early mornings to take a shooter rifle buck( 31/2 and up) whereas this year with two weeks of mostly steady morning hunting in I've not even pulled the hammer back. The difference between then (recent years before this year) and now is that then I only hunted on good wind days whereas this year until yesterday there were no good wind days and I went hunting on all of those bad wind days.

In contrast our friend Skip hunts everyday he is here, good wind or bad and he does not care for morning hunts and prefers to hunt afternoons from the Redneck blinds first and our one other homemade blind second. In the same past two weeks, on the same property with the same swirling winds that I just hunted Skip has had four standing shots at shooter deer (3 1/2 and up) from 40 yards to 126 yards. Of course the obvious here is nothing new; "On poor wind days here stay home, walk some of the property lines or hunt all afternoons from the blinds and on perfect wind days hunt from the ground in the mornings". Skip and I see this play out in favor of one or the other of our hunting styles over the other every year and the plan is to re-post this post next year just before hunting season so maybe I won't need to re-learn this concept yet again.

 

[Letmgrow]

Dave, You could copy and paste this into your E-Mail and have Anne print it off for you to hang on the wall. That way you could read it every day. I might do the same but sometimes my patience gets a little short and I just have to be out there to see whats moving.
Every year after the season is over I have an argument with myself. I should have hunted more. I should have hunted less.
You have much more self control than I have. LOL
Lynn

 

[Chainsaw]

Anne is maybe,,,, NO definitely smarter than both of us. She quietly hunts the blinds when it is windy and the ground when conditions are perfect. Tonight she hunted the blind. I hunted from the ground from 11 am until sunset and saw a nice doe. Anne hunted the Redneck from 3 pm until sunset and saw eight does, one 3 1/2 four point and one three and 1/2 nine point. Another great buck was taken by Anne's Thompson Center 243. It is normal for one of us and sometimes two of us four to take a "shooter buck". This is first for us for three of us to each take a shooter buck.

Skip went home this morning but we skyped him for the celebratory Jagermeifter shot. In grand fashion over the internet connection Skip toasted Anne's deer with "I'm proud of you and I'm proud for you". And I am proud of both of them.

 

[Elkaddict]

That’s awesome Dave! Are you sure that’s only 31/2? Face looks older, and the mass suggests an older deer IMO. Granted, you have far superior genetics to what I’m accustomed to.

 

[HB_Hunter]

Congrats to you all Chainsaw!

That’s a very nice deer!

 

[OkieKubota]

Very nice! Tell her congratulations for me!

 

[Chainsaw]

That’s awesome Dave! Are you sure that’s only 31/2? Face looks older, and the mass suggests an older deer IMO. Granted, you have far superior genetics to what I’m accustomed to.

Tom, I'm never sure on age once they hit 3 1/2. And the age signals are mixed on this one. It has another point coming so it is likely going to be a ten next year which says still "young". It has more mass than most 3 1/2's but not at all like the next age or two up.
It had a great neck but not at all like the deer pictured on this page in post # 781 so that is telling us it is still younger. And it also looks tall, very long and and almost lanky which is also points us to "young". The neck and mass ruled out 2 1/2. So that's how we came up with 3 1/2.

To top it all off this past summer never had a dry period here which has helped the deer grow extra well this summer and fall so that is maybe making them look on the edge of the next age bracket as well.


Edit-Anne skinned and cut it up today and as suspected--zero fat left.

 

[Letmgrow]

Dave, please send my congratulations to Anne for a job well done.
Pretty slow around here this past weekend. Marc took Maddie out yesterday and they saw several does and one small spike. Maddie passed on them all as she wants antlers on her first deer.
Lynn

 

[Chummer]

Congrats Annie. Heck of a buck! They have cleared the way for you Dave, I know you are holding out for Mr. 10

 

[Chainsaw]

Dave, please send my congratulations to Anne for a job well done.
Pretty slow around here this past weekend. Marc took Maddie out yesterday and they saw several does and one small spike. Maddie passed on them all as she wants antlers on her first deer.
Lynn

Thanks Lynn. Several does and a small spike is not so bad; it can be so close to seeing a good antlered buck.

Chummer I wish I could tell you I was holding out for Big Ten only. It just isn't so; Most of my great setups are played out or grown over. Need to put up all of my ladder stands, some more Rednecks, cut/recut a lot of shooting lanes and plant food plots more seriously again. My set ups have me hunting too tight to handle these swirling winds/breezes. Old deer will just have to get another year older unless we get a couple of days of steady south breezes in the next ten days. I still have a super setup for that if it ever comes.

Managed to have a few does up close today but as luck would have it none of them had a shooter following. One had a spike and one was being chased by a six point. At least there was some action.

 

[Chummer]

There is at least one south wind day coming. Wouldn’t want to be on the prawl that day if I was a big buck in your neighborhood.

 

[farmhunter]

Great buck for Anne! Congratulations to her and hats off to your management plan!
Lots of East and SE winds this year - some of our best stands went unsat in as of last weekend!

 

[Triple C]

Dave - Congrats to Anne on a fine, fine buck! Perhaps she's the smarter of all you guys up there. Speaking of your comment on still hunting, back in the day I took quite a few deer still hunting with a wheelie bow. It was my favorite way to hunt and I became quite good at it. This past Saturday morning, we had a NE wind with a steady 8 to 10 mph breeze following rain the day and evening before. Perfect conditions for still hunting. I slipped back in the most remote part of our property along our south border filled with bottom land hardwoods and beaver sloughs. Had my Black Widow recurve in hand. It was once again, an enjoyable "walk thru the swamp" kind of hunt, even though I never saw a deer. Was on pins and needles the whole time as i expected to see multiple deer during this hunt but for whatever reason, it didn't happen, even with perfect wind conditions. Still hunting requires a unique mindset. I try to imagine I'm the prey and the deer the predators with my goal of slipping thru a block of woods without being discovered by the predator. Maybe 1.5 to 2 hrs to cover 300 to 400 yds. I snapped this pic while back in the bottoms. It is such a surreal area to still hunt with thick river cane in areas and typical bottom land, mature hardwoods. I'm determined to take a buck with my bow while still hunting but it ain't happened yet.