| DEER HUNTING REPORTS 2004 page 1 of 5 |
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| Oct. 12, 2004
Hunting season has been in since the beginning of the month and again this year I’ll be hunting with my Martin Panther compound bow. I have three deer tags and hope to take a couple of does and a big racked buck this year. I have yet been able to arrow a buck with my bow. I went out to my spot in Greene Co. off of Trebein Rd this evening for my first hunt of the year. I sat down against a big maple tree on the south-east corner of the big unpicked beanfield. The wind was coming out of the east. Around 6:30 a yearling and a doe entered the field about 35-40 yards from me. The yearling browsed on the beans while the doe stood at the edge of the field in the alert mode. She kept looking behind her and sniffing the wind. Finally she came out in the field and was getting a little closer to my position when she locked up, snorted and ran off towards the smaller beanfield with the yearling in tow. If she would have come another 10 yards closer to me before she spooked it would have been an easy shot. When it became to dark for me to see my sight pins on my bow I started to gather my gear to head back to my van. Before I took my first step I heard a crunching sound coming from the dry beanfield. I then saw 3 dark figures coming towards me from the opposite side of the field. It was a doe in the lead with two yearlings following her. The doe kept staring my way but she slowly advanced towards me. I wanted to get out of there without spooking them but the only way out was to walk the edge of the beanfield. Soon another doe and yearling joined the other 3, now I had 5 deer walking towards me. Finally I took a rock and threw it in the bushes. They didn’t run. Then I tossed a dead log and started barking like a dog. They still didn’t move. I then thrashed the bushes and barked louder and more aggressively. Finally they all ran out of the field and I then slipped out. Not a bad evening for the first time out! |
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| Oct 18, 2004
I went out this morning at sunup to Trebein Rd. in Greene Co. I slipped through the field behind the Appleman’s house and made my way down to the beanfield. When I got to edge of the field I noticed 5 deer in the beans. Apparently they were in the woods behind the cottage and heard or smelled me as I walked behind the Appleman’s house. They eventually crossed the beanfield and headed north. I then sat down under the big maple tree in the southeastern corner of the field and waited for them to return to the woods behind the cottage. At 9:15 the cold rains came and I gave it up for the morning. |
| Oct 19, 2004
I went back out to Trebein Rd. about 5:30 in the afternoon. I sat down under the big maple again since the wind was sill coming out of the east. At 6:08 a deer came out into the beanfield across from me and made his way east along the edge of the field. When he got to the north east corner of the field he turned my way and headed along the eastern side. By then I could see that it was a young buck with a little 4 point rack. He eventually made his way to my corner of the field and passed just 10 yards in front of me. He was just a youngster but he had a big body, bigger than the does I have been seeing. I passed up on him, give him 2 years and he might be a shooter. Later when I tried to leave I had to bark and shake the bushes again to run him out of the field so that I could leave undetected. |
| Oct 20, 2004
Got one for the freezer! I went back to Trebein road in the evening and took the same position under the maple tree in the southeast corner of the bean field. The wind was still coming out of the east. At around 6:30 or so two deer came out into the field from the neighbors property to the east at the same fence crossing as they did before. One of the deer looked bigger than the other so I assumed it was a young doe. I decided that if the deer presented a shot that I would attempt to take it. When it was about 30 yards and quartering away from me I took the shot. I heard a crack and the two deer scampered off across the beanfield and stopped about 60 yards away. They both stood there for a few minutes looking around. I thought at that time that I had missed. After about 5 minutes the one that I shot at slowly started making its way back towards me taking a few steps at a time. It then stood around for a few minutes and suddenly it fell over! It laid there with its head up for a few more minutes and then got up. It took a few steps and stood for a couple of more minutes and then fell over again. By this time it was getting dark. I figured that I hit it but that it wasn’t a clean killing shot. It got up again and walked toward me and when it turned broadside at 20 yards I shot at it again and in a flash it bolted back across the fence into the neighbor’s property. Since it was almost dark I went out to find my arrows and looked for signs of blood. I found my first arrow and a blood trail at the fence crossing. I then decided that since it was on someone’s property and possibly not a clean quick kill that I would return in the morning to find it. The next morning, with the help from my brother-in-law Craig, we found the deer just 25 yards across the fence. Both shots hit it. The first one must have grazed the front shoulder and then cut its neck. The second one was a clean lung shot. It turn’s out that the deer was a button buck! I thought that it was a doe since it was bigger than the other deer. It’s my first deer of the year and now I can concentrate on hunting for a big buck! |
| OCT 23, 2004
I went out this morning at daybreak to Trebein Rd; the wind was out of the southeast. I decided to go back to the smaller beanfield just north of the larger field that I had been hunting. These fields are separated by a strip of honeysuckle and various small trees. As I slipped east along the north side of the larger field at about ½ hour before sunup I saw a large-bodied deer moving quickly along the east end of the field heading towards the smaller field. When it reached the corner of the field it turned and followed the edge and headed right towards me. It was just getting light enough that I could see a few hundred yards ahead of me. I ducked back against the brushy edge of the field and waited for the deer to come closer. After a few minutes when it didn’t show up I figured that it probably went into the smaller beanfield. I then walked about 50 yards to the cut that leads to the smaller field and scanned the unpicked beans for a sign of the deer. After a minute or so I took a few steps into the field when suddenly I heard a deer snort. I turned and saw the 4-point buck that I had seen a few hunts back. He had been in the brush between the fields. He ran about 50 yards into the beans, stopped and looked back at me. By that time I had dropped to the ground and was peering through the knee-high beans at him. He snorted again a few times and then ran off to the opposite end of the field and into the woods where I have my treestand set up. The rest of the morning I watched the smaller beanfield for any more signs of deer movement, but there was none to be seen. |
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