DEERHUNTINGREPORTS2001-5

NOV. 15,16 2001

Craig and I went back down to Hocking Co. Thursday afternoon. I headed up to hunt the saddle on the South ridge while Craig hunted further west of me near the next saddle. It was hot and dry. The climb up the hill while carrying my stand had me soaking wet with sweat. After setting up my stand and climbing up the tree I took off my shirt and had to air-dry for a half-hour or so. I then changed shirts and settled in for the evening's hunt.

The wind was calm and you could hear a leaf drop 100 yards away. Squirrels were out everywhere. They were making a ruckus all around my stand. All this noise kept me on alert. A turkey or two strolled by scratching around in the leaves as they went adding to all the other noise.

About 5:00 I kept hearing noises in front of me down on the other side of the saddle. I thought that it was just another squirrel until suddenly I saw white antlers move just above the greenbriar! It was an 8 pointer and he was slowly moving away from me.

I grunted and he stopped and looked my way. He then started to move off and I grunted again. He stopped again and finally started to come up the saddle in front of me and to my left. He slowly eased up the hill. When he passed behind a tree I drew my bow. He then stopped. I held at full draw until he started to move again and when he cleared some trees at about 25 yards I released the arrow.

He then turned and walked off with his head and tail down. Same as the deer I shot yesterday! I thought, oh no, I must have hit him too far back. I watched him walk off for a 150 yards or so. Then I lost sight of him. I wanted to climb down to see if I could find my arrow and to check for a hit. I much as I hated to I knew it would be better to stay in my stand so as not to spook the buck in case he bedded down.

Around 5:30 and it was getting dark and I decided to get out of my stand. As I lowered my bow another deer came up to my right and passed behind me. I was a small 4 pointer. When he cleared I then climbed down. When I got to the bottom of the tree another deer shows up and came right towards me. It finally smelled me and took off.

I walked over to the spot where the buck was standing when I shot and found my arrow. It was covered with blood and guts. A sign of a gut shot. My heart sunk! I made a bad shot! When Craig showed up we searched the area with flashlight to find signs of a blood trail. After about an hour we gave up and decided to pick up the trail in the morning.

After a sleepless night I was up on the hill around 7:45. Craig was going to hunt for a few hours then meet me to help track. I decided to go to the area where I had last seen the buck walking. There was a logging trail there and I followed it until I ran across some drops of blood. I felt somewhat relieved that I found some blood and it encourage my hopes of finding the buck.

I was able to find some small drops of blood about every 20 yards or so in a hundred yard stretch. Then I could not find any more. The blood trail indicated that he was staying on the logging road. I then walked the logging road another 100 yards or so while looking for blood. I walked up and down this trail about 4 times and I couldn't find any more blood. I then tried to look for a sign of a blood trail below the logging road and didn't find any.

When Craig showed up I went downhill to see if I could find the buck in the ravine below. I walked the ravine to the end and could not find him. I then began walking the hillsides. Finally after about another hour I luckily found some more blood spots where the logging trail meets a grassy gas line right-of- way. About 10 yards away Craig found a spot where the buck had laid down. There was a small pool of blood. Our continued search found about 5 more such spots in a 20-yard radius. We both felt that he should be close by, dead from his wounds. We found a few more bloods spots in the area but could not find a blood trail. We both searched the hillsides, ravines and creek for signs of him.

After 5 hours of searching we could not find him. We were worn out from climbing up and down the hillsides and ravines. We could not find any more blood trails or places were he may have bedded down. I am sick, I hate wounding a deer and not finding it. My hunting reports, I feel, should not only be about my successes but also my failures. I will be taking a break for a few days, then maybe I will feel up to it to go out and hunt for another buck?

Craig that evening had a doe come right up to him but she was facing him head-on. He had the crossbow up and was ready to fire if she would only turn. Just then two other deer came up on his right and busted him. The doe whirled around and was gone in instant.

Nov. 20, 2001
I went back out to Beavercreek Twp. again today. Just after sunrise a deer passed behind me in the pasture. I grunted and it stopped but eventually went on its way. An hour later a little forkhorn buck passes 20 yards in front of me. I watched him for a while and let him go on his way. After I got off of my stand to head home for lunch around noon I saw a little deer in the back cornfield. I went back out around 3:00 and didn't see anything the rest of the day.

Nov. 21, 2001
I went back out to the same place and saw a little 6 pointer with a wide rack as soon as I got into my stand. I sounded a few doe bleats and buck grunts and after ten minutes or so he finally committed and came my way. He hung up about 50 yards out and stared in my direction for at least 20 minutes. He eventually eased up to the cornfield and went out of sight. He was too small to shoot anyway. About an hour later I saw movement behind me and to the right about 40 yards. It was small antlerless deer slipping through the honeysuckle. I didn't even hear it as it worked it's way to my right and up the hill. I wonder how may deer slipped by me the last few weeks and I didn't even know that they were there? The honeysuckle is still green and offers plenty of cover for them. It is still hard to see anything from 20 feet up in my treestand.

Well that's a couple of more small racked bucks that I had a chance to take but passed up. I can't find any bucks in this area that are mature enough to shoot.