| DEER HUNTING REPORTS 2008 page 2 of 6 |
| Oct. 26, 2008
Piff and I went down to Adams Co. for our first bow hunt of the year. The wind was blowing out of the southwest. He headed down to the north end of the property where his ground blind is and I made my way to one of the two stands in the west woodlot. I chose the stand in the northwest end of the woods. The stand faces west. Not long after I got settled in a young doe and two yearlings came into the SW corner of the woods and walked down a tractor path about 60 yards behind me. They hung around behind me feeding for about 20 minutes before eventually ending up about 12-15 yards to my left. The slim doe was not much bigger than her yearlings. She stood there broadside offering an easy shot but I passed up the opportunity because of her size. They eventually when back up to the SW corner and disappeared into the adjoining property. About 20 minutes later I noticed movement in the pasture to my right. It was a coyote and it was coming my in a hurry. I first started to grab my camera but it was still in my pack and I didn’t have time to get it out. The coyote was closing fast. It was making its way through the tangled underbrush and soon he was crossing the dry creek below me. I grab my bow and drew. When he came out of the creek bed he ran right out in front of my stand. When it was about 8 yards away I made a sound with my mouth and he stopped. I triggered the release on my bow and heard the arrow smack. The yote took off to the left through the thick brush in a hurry. Soon I saw him hauling ass to my left at the south end of the woodlot. I climbed down out of my ladder stand and found my arrow sticking in the ground. There were tuffs of fur on the broadhead and on the vanes, but there was no blood on the arrow itself. It appeared that I grazed the mangy critter. I must have just parted the hair on its back! After a couple of hours without any more deer sightings I decided to scout around and make my way over to Piff’s blind. I noticed that where the deer were entering the woods in front of my stand last year that the fence had been repaired. I also found spots along the north fence where the cattle had busted through. The deer are most like using that crossing too. When I met up with Piff he told me that he had seen the coyote that I shot at run across the hillside in front of him in a hurry. He also told me that while putting out some scent wicks on his way to the blind this morning that a buck spotted him, snorted, and took off into the neighbors pasture behind the blind. Around 11:30 we were talking about heading back up to the owners log home to eat lunch when I spotted a doe running by the gate that is up the hill to the south the blind. I nudged Piff and a few seconds later another doe came across and stopped for a second and looked back. A split second later it trotted off into the woods following the first doe. About three or four minutes later a buck with a big body came into view on the trail of the does. He hesitated for a second where the second doe stopped then took off in hot pursuit. They all ran into the woods where I had been hunting all morning! We waited in the blind with great anticipation that maybe the buck would chase the does our way. Suddenly, I caught movement in front of me and noticed a small fork-horn buck running passed us and head up into the same woods where the other three deer were. Now we hoped that maybe the bigger buck would chase the smaller one around and eventually end up down below us for a shot. Soon the smaller buck appeared along the edge of the cover and milled around for awhile before going up into the woods where the other deer came out from earlier. After about a half hour without any action I decided to make my way back to my stand. We agreed to meet back up at the gate for lunch at 2:00. As I slipped along the southern edge of the property I glassed the woods where the three deer went into. Soon I noticed the two does slip off along the trail that leads out of the SW end of the woods. I hunted out of the stand until 2:00 and then met up with Piff at the gate. He told me that the big buck came back out of the woods and went back up the hill to the woodlot where he first came from. After our lunch break I headed back down to the same stand where I hunted in the morning. Piff decided to hunt out of a stand that we had previously set up in the southeast corner of the front woods. This was the same woods that the big buck went back into a few hours before. As I eased my way to the stand I noticed movement to my left along the ditch that ran in front of my stand. I could see the back end of a small deer and could tell that it was feeding along the brushy hillside across the ditch. When the wind blew and rustled the leaves in the trees I would take a few steps. When it stopped I stopped. Eventually I made it to my stand without be detected and settled in for the rest of the evening. A short time later I saw the little deer move in and out of the cover until it eventually made its way into the pasture to my right. It was a small buck with a fork on his left beam. I managed to snap a picture of him about 60 yards away. Around 6:00 a small yearling came out of the ditch in front of me and stopped and peered behind me and to my left. I slowly turned my head and saw a young doe with two yearlings making there way towards the other yearling. They finally met up and milled around my stand for about 20 minutes. The young doe offered me another easy shot but, again, I passed up the opportunity because she was too slim. They fed around for awhile then moved up to the crossing in the SW corner of the woods. When I met up with Piff after dark he informed me that he had deer all over him. Most of the deer did not come into the woods but stayed on the other side of the fence and fed on the clover and grasses in the adjoining field. He also stated that he had a young doe right by the stand but he passed up the shot because it was not very big. He told me that there were eventually some 10-12 deer out in the field, and a few of them were big mature does, but they were way out of range. |
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| Oct. 28, 2008
Hunted Greene Co. for two hours this evening…nothing |
| Oct. 29, 2008
Greene Co. again this evening…nothing! |
| Oct. 30, 2008
I went out for three hours this morning in Greene Co. Saw one doe enter the picked bean field from the cut between the two fields around 8:10. It fed across to the south side of the field where it nibbled on the browse along the field edge. About 20 minutes later it went back across the field and disappeared through the cut. |
| Nov. 1, 2008
Piff and I made the early morning trip back down to Adams Co. today. Today was supposed to be in the 60’s. I chose to hunt out of the stand in the southeast corner of front woodlot and Piff went down to hunt out of his blind at the north end of the property. As I started to climb the ladder to my stand in the early morning light I scanned the adjacent grass field and noticed that there were deer in the field. I raised my binoculars up and focused in on the closest one, it was a doe and she was looking right at me! I froze on the second step and hoped that she didn’t spook. After at least five minutes or so she started to get edgy and jump and prance around. She didn’t snort but she sure acted like she was ticked off. All the deer eventually headed into the woods that run along the road at the south end of the property. That was the only deer that I saw all morning! Piff had even a worse morning. He didn’t see any deer at all. We both thought that we would see some does being hounded by some of the younger bucks in the area. After a short break for lunch we headed back out around 3:00 for the evening hunt. At 5:30 or so I heard movement up in front of me. I eyed a yearling coming my way. I grabbed my bow and stood up and faced to my right. The yearling came closer and soon I noticed a doe following not to far behind it. They walked to my right and stopped at the fence and peered out into the grass field. The doe was standing broadside but there were a few small limbs in the way blocking any chance for a shot. The doe then threw her nose up in the air and turned her head towards me. She stared at me for about five minutes before eventually moving a few feet which put her behind a tall cedar tree that was between me and her. The yearling then laid down about 25 yards from me. The doe would not offer me a shot. Time after time when she cleared the cedar she would face me and stare me down. This went on for about a half and hour or so. Then suddenly I heard a low grunt. Soon a small 4 point buck appeared. The doe and the yearling then moved back into the woods. A short time later I saw a young deer come out woods and walk into the grass field. It slowly headed up towards the area where all the deer were in the morning. Soon three deer came out of the woods along the road and they all met up in the field about 125 yards away. After 15 minutes or so something spooked them and they ran down through the field and disappeared out of sight at the northeast end of the property. After about 20 minutes it was getting dark and I gathered up my things to start down out of the stand. I took one more look in the fading light and saw the 4 deer coming back across the field. I scanned the area with my binoculars and did not notice any bucks among them. That was it for the day. Piff said that he did see one deer before dark. It was a disappointing hunt but at least we tried. |
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