Fun on the ATV

Hi,

We were at our property for a few days this past week.  Mainly we were there to cut trails for our ATV.  Several months back, in full summer mode, we cut some paths in the woods. Starting with the easy routes first.  Over the summer, for the first time ever, many weeds sprung up in the woods.  This was due to much more sunshine reaching the ground after we had timbering done. We really did not want to wade in waist high thick weeds to cut trails.  You know, snakes, poison ivy and other bad things lurks in that kind of stuff.  Now that the growth has died back we got in there and cut some more trails. It was a lot of work, cutting downed trees that were in our way, moving limbs, and clipping the small trees, but it's done and we have our first nice trail to ride on.

Of course, after cutting trails, we spent a few hours hunting deer.  In this particular county it is still bucks only.  I saw 6 does.  My husband saw 5 does.  They were fun to watch as they meandered around looking for acorns.  They were in no hurry.  I had many minutes to watch them as they came into sight then walk out of sight.  No bucks!  Well, with all the work we wanted to get done on the ATV trails I guess that not shooting a deer is okay.

My husband (tongue in cheek) has called me "Lead foot on the ATV".  As you will see in the attached video, I actually run through the woods pretty slow.  Someday I may get used to the ATV and really rip up the trails. Until then I am happy putting around at my own slow speed.  At the beginning of the video Bruce had to locate me, then he followed my ride on the ATV.

Enjoy the video.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting

M.

Still trying to get a deer for my father-in-law

Hi,

Both my husband and I have taken several deer this year, but my father-in-law has yet to get one in the cross hairs.  Yesterday we went hunting at the farm.  Over the past several weeks when we have arrived at the farm we have seen deer in the cow field, all the other fields have horses in them.  Any way, my husband took his dad over to the cow field, hoping to get a shot.  They walked over from our parking spot, through some woods, then on the high side of a horse field, edging up to the cow pasture.  The fence line of the cow pasture is thick with bramble, small trees, and good cover.  They crossed over into the field.  At that point there were no deer to be seen, so they were going to set up in the cover and wait.  The cows had a different plan.  Upon seeing people ie; food providers, they all came over to where the guys were standing.  The cows could not be persuaded to move. After 10 minutes of this nonsense, Bruce and Jim moved on to another area of the property.  Jim staked out a triangle of woods, very near a pond.  But, again, no luck for Jim.  No deer today.

I saw about 12 doe's on my walk through the woods to a tree stand.  Carefully I edged up to a tree to use as a rest, and cover.  I had to wait for the deer to cross over to our property before I could shoot.  After 45 minutes of watching, glassing and waiting, the deer finally ambled off deeper into the neighbors property.  So, my luck was not good today.  Same could be said for my husband.  He jumped up a heard of deer, which ran away for him through thick stuff, never to be seen again.

The weather was perfect, the moon phase was perfect, the deer were not cooperating.  Just another day of enjoying the great outdoors, not a bad consolation prize at all.

Enjoy, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

Almost a 4 point Whitetail.

Hi
Yesterday, in the wind (25mph) and cold I, my husband and father-in-law braved the elements in an afternoon hunt.  We figured that the deer would be bedded down and hanging tight due to the wind.  So, a few drives might kick up some deer.  The first drive, my husband walked through some brambles along a creek and into a thicket area.  Jim and I were standing at the other end of the thicket.  There were no deer there after all.  Which we found unusual because it is a very good place for deer to be bedded, and we've seen them they earlier this season.  Oh, well.  On to another spot.  As Jim and I were walking to the fence were we would meet up with Bruce, Bruce kicked up several deer, very near the area he had just walked through.  The deer are really sitting tight. I saw the deer (Jim did not), but they were to far all and running at full tilt.
Bruce met up with us.  Jim went over to his usual spot for the last 2 hours of the day.  Bruce and I planned on walking in the woods, close to where Jim was.  The plan was for us to kick up deer and hope that they would go by Jim.  We only saw one doe, and it did run over to where Jim was.  You know how deer can change direction on a dime.  We never heard Jim shoot, so we assumed the doe did not make it as far as Jim's stand.
At that point there was about an hour left until sunset.  I got up in the same tree stand where I shot the muzzle loader and took down an 8 pointer.  I thought it felt lucky to go there again.  Bruce walked up the the front field to see what was going on there - nothing - then he got up in the tree stand where I shot my doe on the opening day of muzzle loader.
About 40 minutes into my stand hunt a deer came walking down the hill to my right. It was browsing, and it was on next doors property.  Because it was walking slowly I was able to set up some lines of sight where if the buck came through that path I would have a clear shot.  I waited.  It started to veer off behind me and to my right.  Once the buck was behind several trees I had to stand up and turn around.  This left me without a rest.  I am a pretty good shot without a rest, so I was not concerned.  The buck crossed over on to my hunting property.  It jumped a fallen tree and started walking at an angle toward me, then turn to my right.  At this point I had a very good opening to take a shot at it's lower right shoulder.  One shot, pow, and the deer went straight down.  I was so happy.  I was even prouder of my shot, right where I placed it!  Now the hard part, gutting and dragging.

Once Bruce was in his tree stand he only saw 1 squirrel.  Over all though he saw a total of 15 deer.
Jim, again, saw nothing.  We really need to work on getting Jim in front of a deer.

I'll let you know what happens.
Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

Opening Day Rifle

Hi,

My opening day of the rifle season was interesting and frustrating.

I have already taken a nice doe and an 8 point buck with my muzzle loader this year.  I decided to hunt for another nice buck.  On my way to the stand I came across not one but two 8 pointer's grazing at the edge of the field.  Here I am in the woods with very crunchy leaves! What to do?
I had some thick brush between me and the deer, and a distance of 135 yards per my range finder. I did not want to make any noise trying to get closer.  And with my 7mm-08 Remington rifle I did not need to get closer. (it's sighted in at 200 yards)  I started to raise my rifle.  I was going to wait for the deer to move into a clear opening.  Unfortunately, the first buck started prancing around and trotted off, away from me.  Of course the second buck had to follow. They disappeared over a small knoll. I never even had a chance to pick one of them up in my scope.

I thought, since I did not spook them that maybe they went off a short distance and stopped.  I tried to quietly move through the woods in the direction they ran up the edge of the field.  This took some time because I had to walk very carefully in the crunchy leaves.  I got to the top of the knoll, and wouldn't you know it, there was one of the bucks eating acorns at the edge of the field.  I ranged it at about 150 yards.  I was nowhere near a tree that I could use as a rest.  I had to get closer to a tree. Once I got near a small tree, I had to wait for the deer to move out into a clearing.  I waited, and waited. The buck was milling around, but not giving me any kind of a clear shot.  It took him about 10 minutes to move, but it was in the wrong direction.  He made it to the neighbors property, where I do not have permission to hunt.  Drat!

I walked over and got up into the tree stand, and hoped that the bucks would come back my way.  They did not, but from my stand I saw 6 does and one small spike buck.  We are letting the spikes and 4 pointers walk.  That will be good for future hunts, but it was difficult to control myself not to shoot.  As for the doe's, I am looking for a 1 1/2 year old deer. The doe's I saw today were this years.   I have a friend that want's the meat, so I do not want to shoot a small deer.

As for the others that hunted with me today, my husband saw one small doe.  That was it for him.  My father-in-law did not see anything but squirrels, lots and lots of squirrels.

We'll be back out on Tuesday.
Take care,  good hunting and good shooting
M.

Whitetail Buck, success in my hunt : )

Hi,

Yesterday was a successful hunt for me.  I shot a very nice 8 pointer only 15 minutes after getting into the tree stand.
It all started on Monday when my husband, father-in-law and I went muzzle loader hunting in the afternoon.  We set up Jim in a blind near a spot where I had seen deer ever time I had been in that area during bow season.  Then Bruce and I walked into the deep woods to stand hunt.  We came upon the tree stand mentioned above.  Bruce wanted to know if I wanted to get into that stand or should he.  I had an idea where I wanted to hunt which was further up in the woods, near a field.  I told he to get up in the stand.  I also said half heatedly  that by doing that I knew who was going to shoot a buck, and it wasn't me. Well I got out to the edge of the field where I thought deer would be running in the tree line between two fields.  A good choke point and plenty of signs that the deer did travel through there.  I kicked up does as I walked to my spot, but for the rest of the afternoon I did not see anything.  Well, about 4:45pm, Bruce shoots a nice 7 point buck.  It chased a doe about 40 yards from the stand, circled around and they came back by the stand.  Nice shot.

On Wednesday we were out hunting in the same location again.  This time I took the tree stand. Good luck for me.  As Bruce and I walked out to the tree stand, we kicked up many small does, and a spike buck.  There were not really concerned that we were there.  The deer run off a short distance, turn and look back at us.  We could have shot two of them right then and there.  But, I really was hunting for a bigger buck.  

I got up in the tree stand, and Bruce went off into the deep woods.  Our plan was for him to spook deer my way. You know that this trick can work just not today.  I was watching the woods looking for movement.  About 15 minutes after getting into the stand, here comes a nice buck.  He was just ambling up an old path coming out of some thick stuff about 40 yards away.  He had no idea I was there.  When he passed behind a tree, I pulled up my muzzle loader aiming at the edge of the tree where he should come out from.  There he was.  He stopped, ate a bit, then stood there.  Long enough for me to sight in on his left shoulder.  My shot brought him down immediately.  Success!!

My husband came back to tree stand within about 10 minutes.  I dragged it a short distance so we could gut it.  He did all the hard work. Then I dragged it almost all the way back to the truck before he took over that chore.  He is a big heavy deer!

I was very proud to show the buck off to the landowner, who was pleased to see such a nice buck. 

My buck is now at the butcher, and the rack will soon be on our antler wall.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.

M.   

Opening day Muzzle Loader was a success!

Hi,

Yesterday was the opening day for Muzzle Loading guns.  It started out cool (about 45 degrees), cloudy and with a breeze.  My tree stand was set up to put me in the best position should there be a wind, so I felt pretty good at the outset.  Yesterday was before the clock change.  I did not have to get up until 4am.  Today if I were hunting I would have to get up at 3am.  That's just a bit to early for my liking.  Any way, you do what you have to.  We had a nice breakfast of fried eggs and toast, then headed out to pick up my father-in-law.  We arrived at the hunting property around 6am.  30 minutes before sunrise would be at 7:10am.  We had plenty of time to get out to our stands and set up for the hunt.

I got in my tree stand and settled down at about 7 o'clock.  I was watching mostly the area where I expected the deer to walk through after being in the fields overnight.  I was also scanning in the deep woods in case deer were walking around there too.  It was just getting light when I spotted a deer body, standing broad side to me coming from the deep woods, headed towards the fields.  At first I was not sure if I was seeing an optical illusion, those that you get during this time of dawn.  I pulled up my binoculars to verify my sighting.  Sure enough it was a deer.  Just standing. Not grazing, not moving, just standing there.  I had to check my watch to make sure it was after legal shooting time.  It was by 5 minutes.  I slowly raised my gun, taking the safety off.  From my bow hunting at this stand, I knew the spot the deer was standing at was about 50 to 60 yards away. Chip shot for the muzzle loader, if I did my job right this would be a good hit.  I aimed and shot.  It disappeared!  In the dawn light and the flash of the gun, I did not see what happened to the deer.  But, about 10 seconds later I heard a crash sound in the leaves about 50 yards from where I shot.  Somewhere behind a big thicket I was expecting to find the deer.  It was so thick that even with the binoculars I could not see through it to locate the deer.  I was fairly confident that I made a good shot.

I waited about 45 minutes in the tree stand before tracking the deer.  When I got out of the stand I walked over to the location where the deer was standing.  I found a bit of blood on a leaf.  I tried to track the blood trail but there was not much to track. I walked slowly, scanning for the blood trail, and looking ahead to see if I could spot a body. It did not take long,  I was looking ahead I saw the deer on the ground.  Wow, was she a big doe.  I had a lung shot, she did not make it far.  I called my husband to let him know my good news.  He was going to continue hunting until about 10am then he would come over and help me with the doe.

He was hunting a field edge and creek when around 9:30am a 7 point buck came his way.  He had about a 30 yard shot.  The deer ran full out, oh, maybe about 40 yards total, but always with in sight.  Bruce saw the deer fall.  No tracking needed.

My father-in-law was not so lucky.  Bruce had his dad stand where he had just shot. One reason Bruce wanted Jim at that spot was to keep an eye on the downed deer, and two, to continue hunting while Bruce came over to where I was.  While we were getting my deer gutted and put into the pickup truck, we heard Jim shoot.  When we got back to Jim, maybe 30 minutes after the shot, we found out that Jim had missed a doe. Oh, well, it happens.

By the time we got Bruce's deer gutted and in the truck the winds had picked up considerably.  This very windy condition makes the deer very weary.  They will not move unless pushed.  They cannot hear very well with the wind howling, so they typically stay put.  We had planned on hunting the whole day but the wind made us change our minds.  It was after 12:30pm, We decided to call it a day.

Monday (tomorrow), we will be back out there for an afternoon hunt.  We have already decided where we will put my father-in-law, and hope for the best.  I'll let you know how that hunt turns out.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.

So close, but I was spotted.

Hi;

I was bow hunting last Friday from a tree stand.  The area behind the stand is pretty thick, so I concentrated my hunting to the 180 degrees in front of me. I was keeping an eye on the area behind me thinking that if I spotted a deer in that thick stuff at least I would know to be prepared should it come into my shoot area.

I did not see any deer until the last 45 minutes of light.  Not surprising due to the heat.  The first two deer were walking in front of me from right to left down the property line, which is about 85 yards away.  No shot there.  They were moving fast towards the open field. About 10 minutes later a deer came running through the woods at my back, from left to right.  Through the thick branches and leaves I could see the tail bouncing through the woods.  I saw it stop in the pathway off to my right, but in thick bramble.  I hoped it would settle down and walk my way down the path.  No, that did not happen.  I saw the tail bounce off going the other way up the path.

I've settled down in the tree stand again.  Another 10 minutes pass. I hear the leave rustle behind me off to the left.  It was a different sound from the squirrels that have been playing around me all afternoon.  I slowly turn to my left.  There is a spike buck walking oh, about 25 yards behind me.  He looks like he will walk very close to my stand as he goes from my back left to my front left.  I am looking for a clear spot to possibly take a shot.  I found three areas that he might walk into.  As he goes behind a small tree I turn, he looks up. I freeze.  He goes back to grazing. I move a bit more and raise the bow.  He looks up.  He is starring but not nervous. I stay still.  He goes back to grazing.  As he moves just about even with my left side, still in brush that could deflect my arrow he looks up again.  I have not moved, but he was down wind of me.  I hoped that he would not wind me, due to the fact that the wind was hardly blowing at all today.  I guess it was enough though!  He looked and looked, just not sure what was going on.  At that point he bounced/ran about 30 yards and stopped, partially behind a tree.  Then a few steps, then a slow trot.  I grunted twice.  He stopped on the second grunt in an area that I could have shot.  Unfortunately, he only stopped for a second, then it was off to the races and out of sight.  That was it for the hunting day.

I had planned on bow hunting again one more time before muzzle loading season, but with Hurricane Sandy running up the coast, it looks like I should stay out of the woods.  If the storm passes and the winds die down by Wednesday afternoon (Halloween), then I may grab the bow and go out.  Other wise I am going to be hunting all day on the opening day of black powder season.

Take care, good hunting and good shooting.
M.