DEERHUNTINGREPORTS2005-2

DEER HUNTING REPORTS 2005 page 2 of 5

Nov. 6-8, 2005
Went down to Pike Co and hunted our Meade Lease Sunday afternoon thru Tuesday morning. I set up my climbing stand on a tree on the south side of a ridge near the top. Sunday evening and Monday morning most of the deer were seen moving at the bottom of the hillside below me. They would eventually head around the end of the ridge. A few deer were observed crossing the top of the ridge to my right where I saw a deer or two cross last year.
Monday afternoon I moved my stand down the hill closer to where I had seen most of the deer moving. That night I had a few deer move up the end of the ridge behind me but no deer came close to my stand. Tuesday morning I hunted until 1:00 out of the same stand and I didn’t see a deer at all.

I did see a few small 6 point bucks (they could have been the same one) but did not see any chasing going on…

Nov. 10-11, 2005
I went back down to the lease in Pike Co. and hunted Thursday and Friday. I set up in the same location as the previous hunt where I have seen deer travel. Thursday I had a small 6 pointer and later a small spike buck come past the stand. I did see 4 or 5 deer being chased by another but I couldn’t see what was doing the chasing. Friday I only saw a few antlerless deer roaming around, it might have been the same one all three times.

Nov. 13-14, 2005
Went back down to Pike Co. and hunted Sunday afternoon and all day Monday. I hung my stand near the top of the ridge towards the east end. On Sunday I didn’t see any deer but Monday morning I saw some activity. Just as I got settled in my stand two deer came out of the thick stuff behind me and to my right. I could barely make out the image of a doe and a yearling in the predawn darkness. They eventually slip down the hillside below me.

Not long after that I noticed a lone deer easing it way along the ridge top in front of me and to my left. It was an antlerless deer and it made its way into the thick stuff behind me. After another 10 minutes or so I saw movement below me. It was a small buck making its way through the pines going away from me. I used the grunt call and the can call and he stop. He then started to come back my way but as soon as he did another doe came over the ridge behind me. When the young buck saw her he followed her into the thicket.

That was it until around 10:30 when a doe and two yearlings came towards me along the ridge top and went into the thicket behind me. I didn’t see any deer movement that afternoon. It stared to rain around five o’clock and I packed it in and went home. Sleeping in the van on these trips is getting old.....

Nov. 16, 2005
I went out with Piff this afternoon to a place in Greene Co. near Old Town. It was cold and very windy. We saw about 9 different deer in the picked corn fields at different locations around the property.

Nov. 17, 2005
I went out to my spot in Greene Co. this afternoon. The temperature was around 26-28 degrees with the wind blowing out of the northwest. I sat down under the big maple tree at the southeast corner of the corn field. The corn had been picked since I was out there last. Before I set up I noticed that there was a small scrape at the fence crossing so I applied some “doe in heat” scent on my drag rag and drug it through the scrape and then to a spot in the corn field about 20 yards away. I was hoping that a buck would come across the fence and lock in on the scent.

About 5 o’clock I spotted a deer in the corn field. It came out of the little strip of woods to my left that runs behind the owner’s cottage. I put the binoculars on it and saw that it was a young 6 point buck with a tiny rack. He walked across the field and went into the smaller corn field to the north.

About 10 minutes later I heard a car honk its horn and a few minutes later I noticed a large deer near the road at the far end of the corn field. As I was looking at it another deer came across the field from the north and went into the woods behind the cottage. Soon the big deer near the road ran into the same patch of woods. A few minutes later I heard a car horn again and saw a car slow down on the road. Shortly another deer appeared at the far end of the field. It stood there a few minutes and then it ran back across the road with more horns honking.

Soon it was getting dark. I stood up and gathered up my gear and just before I stepped out of the cover I took one more look around. As I was about to step out into the cornfield I noticed a dark object at the edge of the field to the north. I stood there for a minute and tired to make out if it was a deer or just some dark patch of weeds. Soon it moved, it was a deer and it was coming straight at me. It came across the field and then browsed on the field edge just 20 yards from me. I couldn’t see it through the cover but could hear it walking around. Soon it came back out into the field in front of me. It was only about 15 yards away and broadside, but it was too dark to shoot! I couldn’t tell if it was a doe or the small buck that I had seen earlier! After a few more minutes the deer moved further into the field. It was now dark and I had to bark like a dog to scare it off so I could get out there.

Nov. 18, 2005
Piff and I went back out to Oldtown and hunted the last two hours before dark. The landowner said that another hunter had shot a buck this morning. He also said that his neighbor told him that he saw 3 bucks hounding a doe in his field in the morning. Piff set up on the same hillside as the previous trip and had 4 or 5 does and yearlings go by him. There was too much brush between him and the deer to take a shot.

I went down the brush covered ditch that separates two cornfields and stood in the shoe top depth water. I was near the area where I had seen a few deer feeding on the previous hunt. I didn’t see any deer and was about ready to call it quits when I heard something behind me up the ditch. I turned and saw a few birds in the brush and figure it was them. Just then I heard the faint sound of footsteps coming my way. By the time I grabbed my bow a deer trotted by me about 12 yards away and headed into the nearby creek bed. I waited a few more minutes to see if anything else would show up. When it got too dark I called it quits.

Nov. 19, 2005
Piff and I went down to Adams County around midday to secure permission to hunt on two adjoining properties. While there we decided try the two man push where I would walk up wind through a section of a woodlot while Piff would position himself at the down wind side. When I first stepped into the woods I heard deer running. Soon I saw about six or seven deer run out of the woods into a field. I then walked through the woods and started walking over to Piff’s position.

He was set up at the gate overlooking a draw. There was thick brush and trees on the left side of the draw with an open pasture on the right. When I got about 40 yards from him he signaled me to stop. He then pointed down in the draw. I looked down the draw and saw a big bodied buck with a very wide rack. It was the big daddy! The buck made his way down the draw and turned right at the drainage ditch at the bottom.

I then took off across the pasture and made my way down another draw to the ditch. I was hoping to head him off. I waited for awhile and when he didn’t show I thought that maybe he bedded down along the ditch. I then eased my way along the ditch using the brush and cedar trees for cover. When I got to the spot where we had seen him last I saw a deer further up the ditch. I hid behind a cedar and rattled and used the doe bleat can call. A few seconds later I saw a buck come across the ditch and head my way. When it got closer I saw that it was not the big boy but a young 6 pointer with a thick narrow rack. He passed about 40 yards away and went on down the ditch out of sight.

After awhile I made my way back up to Piff. He told me that the 6-7 deer that I had kicked up came across the pasture and that the last one was a nice 8 pointer following a big doe. They stopped below him, just above the ditch, and must have winded him and then turned and went down towards the ditch to his right. He also said that he saw another 8 pointer before he saw the big boy. He informed me that the big boy picked up his pace and that he must have beaten me before I got down to the ditch.

That was the most bucks that I have seen all year. We are going back down to hunt the properties for gun season. I hope that they are still around!

Nov. 22, 2005
I hunted Greene Co. again today. This morning when I went down towards the corn field some deer busted me. A sat under the maple and didn’t see any deer after daylight.

In the afternoon I didn’t see any deer until about 5:30. I heard a car horn honk and a short time later I saw two does and two yearlings feeding by the road in the corn field. I watched them for a few minutes and then decided to gather up my gear. When I started to walk out of my spot into the field I noticed 6 deer coming out of the tree line across the field in front of me. Seems like I am in the right place, just need to get lucky and have the deer come out into the field closer to me.