| DEER HUNTING REPORTS 2008 page 3 of 6 |
| Nov. 9, 2008
We headed back down to northern Adams Co. at four o’clock in the morning for another attempt to put some venison in the freezer. Once again I was busted by a deer as I was walking to my stand in the SE corner of the front woodlot. I heard it snort but couldn’t see it in the early morning darkness. Around an hour after daylight I heard the sounds of hoof beets along the fence line just to the north of me. A couple of deer had just jumped the fence into the grass field. A few seconds later one of them snorted and they ran off down the fence line. As I leaned to see them I bumped my bow and it went crashing to the ground. Luckily it landed in some greenbrier and no harm was done. Another hour later, after standing and looking back behind my stand for about 10 minutes, I slowly turned my head to look behind me. Much to my surprise there stood a doe about 22 yards away looking right at me! She checked me out for a few minutes before putting her head down to browse. When I was sure that she wasn’t looking I turned and grabbed my bow. She would occasionally glance up at me and I was hoping that she would turn to give me a chance to draw back my bow. I also noticed that behind her a ways was a yearling. Soon she move behind a cedar tree and continued on to my right but there was no room for a shot because of other saplings and brush. All of a sudden she came back out behind the cedar but she, once again, was facing me. When she turned broadside I started to draw back but by the time I did she moved behind some cover again and eventually jumped the inner fence and disappeared with her youngster in tow. If only I had been looking in front of the stand instead of in back of it I would have seen her coming and I would have been ready for the shot! Sometime later that morning I looked behind me into the field and noticed a buck standing at the fence to the east. It was staring my way. I hind behind the tree truck and grabbed my rattle bag and doe bleat. I hit the call and rattled the bag. At the sound the buck took off! At the same time a deer snorted down the fence from me! The buck bounded across the field and disappeared into the neighbor’s property. I couldn’t tell the size of his rack, it happed to quick. Around 11:00, as I was scanning the field behind me, a buck appeared down along the fence on the north side of the field. He trotted down the fence and then turned right along the fence to the east. He stopped at a thick brushy spot in the fence and poked around a while. I thought that he was going to cross there because of a known fence crossing among the thicket. Soon he came out of the brush and traveled along the fence. When he paused I rattled at him and gave out a couple doe bleats with the can call. He stared my way for about 20 seconds before he started to continue along the fence line. I had the binoculars on him by that time and could make out that he was at least a nice size 8-point with dark tines. I rattled again and he turned and came my way. I grabbed my bow and hoped that he would enter the woods by my stand. He kept coming but stopped about 75 yards away! He stood there for a minute or two before eventually slipping down in the strip of woods that runs along the road to the south. I called with the can and rattled off and on for ten minutes or so hoping that he might come back out of the woods, but it didn’t happen. That was exciting for a few minutes at least. Sometime just before noon I did notice some deer running through that strip of woods. I anticipated that maybe the buck was chasing some does and that they might lead him over towards my treestand. I waited until around 1:00 then got down and headed back to meet Piff for lunch and to see how his morning went. Piff had an exciting morning when a couple of does and yearlings stopped right in front of his ground blind. Because of the tall weeds in front of him he was not able to get a shot. When they finally moved off to his right he was able to grab the crossbow. He aimed at the biggest one and estimated that it was about 30 yards away. He fired and the arrow missed, low and to the right! Apparently the doe was further than 30 yards. He also saw a young 6-point buck later that morning that came to his scent wick and danced around in circles for awhile before moving off. After lunch Piff went to the stand that I was in earlier while I headed down to a stand in the same woods but at the northeast end. As I was walking down through the green field on my way to the stand I jumped a doe and a yearling that were apparently bedded in some tall weeds near some trees. About 5 o’clock I heard a deer walking towards me. The stand is located around some cedar trees and the visibility is limited. Soon I could see the legs of a deer slowly moving through the cedars. It was going to come into view to my left and on a path that would put it just inside 20 yards. When it came into view it was a little buck with two points on his left side. He didn’t have any antlers on his right side. It would have been an easy shot, but again, too small. That was it for me for the evening. When I met with Piff at dark he told me that a doe came by him but on the downwind side and smelled him. She snorted and carried on for the longest time before wandering off. He also informed me that he saw a big doe come across the field behind him and run into the strip of woods along the road. We are going to investigate that stretch of woods to determine where to put of a stand. |
| Nov. 11, 2008
Hunted the morning and evening in Greene Co. today…..nothing! |
| Nov. 12, 2008
Hunted Greene Co. in the morning...nothing! They were picking the corn on the next property to the north. |
| Nov. 16, 2008 It was a cold blustery morning today down in Adams Co. I only saw one deer in the morning and that was while walking to my stand in the predawn light. I stayed in the stand, located in the northeast corner of the front woodlot, until about 11:00 and then went down to the bottom in the pasture to joint Piff in his blind. He had set up a pop-up blind to get out of the sleet and wind. He told me that as soon as he got settled in three does and yearlings came up to him and stopped about 35 yards away to his right near the fence. He told me that it was still to dark to get a good shot at the biggest one and that they eventually spotted him and ran off. A little while later a small 4 or 5-point buck came down the hill and walked in front of his blind and proceeded to lick the branches on one of the saplings in the ditch in front of the blind. He eventually wandered on back up the hill not to be seen again. After our lunch break I headed back to my stand where I hunted in the morning and as I approached the edge of the woods a small deer took off through the brush. I waited awhile for things to settle down before making my way to the stand. I climbed up the ladder and when I step up on the last rung I peered behind the stand into the grass field behind it. Much to my surprise there was the dark-tine buck that we had seen on two previous hunts. He was walking away from the woods and paused to look back towards me. I grunted, rattled and tipped the can call to try to get his attention but he just ignored me and disappeared over a hill in the field. Later on that afternoon around 5:00 a small deer slipped through the cover in front of me and stopped behind some brush. It browsed around awhile before moving up the draw. That was it for the both of us for the day. Piff didn’t see a deer all afternoon. |
| Nov. 18-19, 2008 Craig and I went down to Hocking Co. for a quick trip not only to hunt but to scout the area for the upcoming Gun Season. It has been a couple of years since we have been down there deer hunting and some of the land that we hunt has been timbered. After arriving in the early afternoon we decided to make the climb up to the top of the hill to check out the opposite side where the logging took place. We discovered that there were numerous drag roads along the ridges and ravines. After checking out the area I decided to set up my climbing stand at the head of one of the ravines just above a drag road. Craig set out to spend the rest of the afternoon at another location just over the ridge. Around 5:00 I noticed a deer walking up the hill along a drag road that ran along the right side of the ravine. As it walked closer I could make out that it was a young buck. He eventually traveled below my stand. He was a small bodied buck with a nice 8-point rack. I decided to try to draw on him just for practice. When I did he either saw me draw or smelled me. He took off down the middle of the ravine. The next morning we woke up to a pre-dawn temperature of about 24 degrees. I made the climb up the steep hill and settled in my stand around daylight. About an hour later I noticed a deer moving up the drag road along the left side of the ravine. It eventually made its’ way up the hill and crossed just below me. He was another small buck with a nice rack. Both bucks look like they would be dandies when they grow up! |
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