Hunting Season 2007
Finally! Whitetail Deer gun season has arrived in Kentucky.
This blog will be dedicated to my days in the field this year. I want
Finally! Whitetail Deer gun season has arrived in Kentucky.
This blog will be dedicated to my days in the field this year. I want
everyone to know that I am looking for a wall hanger this year. I don't plan to shoot anything other than a big buck opening weekend. You know, you hunt to get the big ones but let me tell you, once you get a big one it sure is hard to shoot anything less in rack size. I don't know about you but I always want to do better than last year and since I got my Pope and Young I haven't killed a buck since. I just can't see spending all that money to mount a deer that is smaller than any deer on my wall. I only have three mounted and they have progressed since my first. I will be adding pictures and more info as I get time so keep checking back for new updates. All the deer pictures on this page are from my game camera.Please remember to e-mail me at http://www.firsttimehunter.com/ with any questions or if you have a picture of a deer you harvested this year. If you send pictures, I'll make a page and post your picture with a first name and where you killed it. So lets go hunt some deer!!!!!!!
Saturday November 10, 2007
I am hunting a homemade ground blind this morning that overlooks a big bottom. Just at daybreak I watch a doe walk out of a thick patch of woods and go to check out my corn pile that needs replenishing. She noses around for 5 minutes or so and I keep an eye out for a buck that might be tailing her. It's still pretty warm here and I don't think the rut has started. During my scouting I have noticed a ton of new scrapes but very few rubs so I'm not surprised when the doe heads back to cover by herself.
It's almost 8 o'clock and I hear something directly behind me. The blind I built has lots of branches in front of me but only a brier thicket behind me. I'm not expecting a deer to travel through this thicket hence my placement of the blind. I have a tree off my right shoulder and I lean back slightly to see what made the noise. No more than 15 feet behind me is a small doe. She is practically looking right at me with both ears pointing my way. It's cold enough to see my breath and I think at any moment she will spook and run but she does the opposite. She looks away and slowly starts going right through this thicket. I am careful not to move as she travels behind me and I turn and watch her over the next few minutes until she is out of sight. Times like this is why I hunt. I still appreciate this great country we live in. Where else can one enjoy such freedom? Being that close to a wild animal without them knowing it is much more exciting than shooting one will ever be. The does should be glad I gave them this weekend off. Next week they won't be so lucky.
8:45 and I have been swarmed with wild turkeys. I am trying to film some footage for this website and I am having a difficult time. When I try to focus on a deer that is 100 yards away I can't seem to get my camera to focus. I'm just using a small camcorder so I might have to wait till I can save for a better camera before I can get some video for the site. Anyway, the turkeys and making a lot of noise this morning. I did get some video of the woods while they are making noise just so you can hear what wild turkeys sound like should you not know. I will be adding that footage soon.
10:30 and I have seen nothing but about 50 squirrels for the last 2 hours make more noise than one would imagine. I have had enough and decide to head for the truck and make some lunch. 20 yards from my blind and I see 3 tails waving at me from above letting me know that I should have sat a little longer. I see a lot of this since I am not very good at sitting for long periods of time. My old bones start to ache and I get bored and I always leave sooner than I should. This is a big problem that I need to work on but I have been doing this for many years so I doubt I gonna change anytime soon.
11:30 and I'm back at the truck eating some bologna sandwiches. I used my walki-talkie to radio my brother-in-law Rick and he has met me for lunch. He is hunting about 200 yards from me and has only had one small doe show up at his stands. We talk about our morning and try to figure out why we haven't seen any bucks. All the wishful thinking in the world won't make a buck appear so you just have to believe you scouted properly and believe in your judgement on stand placement. If we did our homework the bucks will eventually come.
2 o'clock and I'm heading back to stay until dark. I have a good feeling about tonight and think my luck is about to change. I decide to hunt a pop up blind that directly overlooks the corn pile I was talking about earlier. It is about a hundred yards from my homemade blind on the opposite ridge. It limits my visibility to only half the bottom as before but it puts me 75 yards above the corn pile. I decide to walk over and check out the corn pile before heading up the hill. The corn pile looks like a giant mud hole full of corn cobs. Not to my surprise, there is no corn. I have a small stump above this pile that I have covered with mineral salt for deer. They have practically eaten the stump into the ground. As I turn to walk back to the corn pile I notice three more tails up in the woods waving that same ole see ya later wave that I have grown used to seeing. Suddenly the optimism I had earlier has been replaced with depression. Any deer in the area have surely been warned by these three and my sit till dark will be long knowing I have little chance of seeing anything tonight.5:30 and it's almost dark. I have sat miserably in my pop up blind watching the squirrel's have a blast while they have drove me absolutely crazy. I can't take it anymore and with less than 15 minutes left in the day I decide to leave. I am zipping up my blind when from right behind me I hear a loud snort. Can you believe it!!! There is a deer in the woods behind me and I can see it moving around about 40 yards from me in the cedars. I grab my gun to check it out though the scope. It is a big doe and she has absolutely no idea what just happened. On minute everything looks great then all of a sudden something just appears out of nowhere. The blind has been set up for months now and I'm sure to her it is part of the forest. Now she has witnessed something emerging from it. Fortunately I was humped over when I was zipping the blind up and I never stood up once I was spotted and she blew at me. This will keep her from placing a human at the blind. She will always remember that something happened but not that a human was there. Now back to the story........She is pacing and blowing and stomping her feet and I just keep watching her through my scope. It's pretty neat watching and learning how deer react when they are alarmed. She would bolt to her left and right for probably 40 to 50 yards then stop and blow in my direction trying to figure out what I am. I am always amazed at how loud a snort actually is. After about 10 minutes of this she is finally off on a dead run and my day is done. I should have stayed in my blind again. One day maybe I'll learn. On a positive note I have seen 9 deer today and I believe them all to be does. I don't think the rut is in yet so when it starts the chances of seeing a big buck may still be in the cards. I will be back tomorrow to do it all over again but may not get to write anything until later in the week. Keep checking this page for further updates and don't forget to check out the site. My manual is very inexpensive and offers a lot of information that I'm sure will come in handy. Any suggestions for the site would be helpful also.
Sunday November 11, 2007
Just like yesterday I'm in my homemade blind 30 minutes before daylight and
just like yesterday that same doe steps out of the woods at first light, checks the empty corn pile, goes to the salt lick and licks it a couple times then heads right back into the woods. I keep checking behind me half expecting to see the little doe again too but she never shows.
Around 8:30 the turkeys start up again but they too are gone quickly.
It is even warmer today and it's very cloudy with predictions of rain for later in
the afternoon. I make sure to stay in my stand for as long a possible and at 11:00 I decide to leave having seen nothing. Even the squirrels have taken a break this morning. I am hunting with Rick again and he has seen nothing this morning either.
Lunch is good but the day is very cloudy and you can smell the rain coming.
I decide to go back in around 1 o'clock and tell Rick I am only staying until 3. We both leave the woods at three without seeing anything. No sooner did I get on the road that the rain began. I decide then to take off a day from work tomorrow to refill my corn pile and put a game camera on the pile then give this area time to cool down before I return Thursday to hunt though Sunday. It is supposed to rain Tuesday and Wednesday with highs in the upper 60's and then the temperatures are supposed to drop into the upper 20's at night with daytime highs of mid 50's. This temperature swing might get the rut going and increase my chances of seeing a buck.Monday November 12, 2007
Finally I get a good nights sleep. Southern States doesn't open until 8 and that's where I get my ear corn. I pick up 300 pounds of feed corn still on the cob. 200 pounds for me and 100 pounds are for Rick. Corn still on the cob won't rot like shelled corn. If you throw shell corn on the ground it will get soft like it is going to seed. It puffs up and usually mildews and rots. This corn is not good for deer or any animal to eat. It will go sour in their bodies and will make them ill and possibly kill them. If you are going to put corn down make sure you put corn still on the cob. This corn will last for a long time which isn't very long in reality because 100 pounds will be gone in less than a week. Squirrels, Raccoons, Turkey's, Mice, Deer, birds and just about anything else will eat from this pile. I put my 200 pounds down so hopefully there will still be corn on the ground Sunday when I leave and hopefully I can get a lot of pictures of the deer in the area with my game camera. I will be posting them here when I get them. It is a beautiful very windy day and I decide to go to another part of the farm and hole up under a big ole oak tree. It's so windy that I'm sure most deer are bedded down tight for the day. I take my rifle anyway just in case and get comfortable under that oak. Before long I'm snoozing and wake up every now and then to the beautiful fall foliage around me and the mid 60 degree wind blowing on my face. It doesn't get much better than this!!
By 3 o'clock I'm on my way home. I can't wait until Thursday when I can start all over again. Come back then for all the details and remember to check out my site. My hunting manual is very inexpensive and I'm sure it will enlighten you to a different way of hunting.
See you Thursday!!!!!
Thursday November 15, 2007
I am hunting for anything this week. It was supposed to be cold this morning but it is quite warm. Things are not running smoothly. I unloaded my four wheeler and must have pinched a wire somewhere? Smoke went everywhere and it quit running. Rick and I will have to hoof it this morning and check the bike out when we get back.7:30 and I have a big bodied small rack buck check out my corn pile. I let him walk since he may grow a decent rack someday.
9:00 A snow, sleet, rain has hit all of a sudden. With it came an instant 20 degree drop in temperature and a 15 MPH wind. It sit tight until 11:00 and then call it quits.
We head back to the four wheeler to discover that the wiring harness has melted almost to the battery. I decide to take it to the repair shop in hopes I may get it back before Thanksgiving.
Gun season lasts through the 25th of this month so maybe I'll get it back before then.
Friday November 16, 2007
It's a great cool morning. Temperature is in the low 20's and hardly no wind. I decide to hunt my pop up blind so Rick and I go in the woods from the opposite direction on his ATV. I'm in my blind long before daylight and hope to catch a big doe in the corn pile at first light. It's close to 8:30 and I have seen nothing. You just can never tell what the animals will be doing. They consistently make a fool of me.
10 o'clock and I am half asleep just staring at my corn pile. I think I hear something off to my left and when I look there is a very small doe not more than 15 feet from my window. She is staring directly at me so I freeze in place. She has seen me move and is a little nervous but she doesn't know what I am. I continue to freeze and she does too. Finally she just turns nervously and heads down the hill into the woods. I decide to see if I can call her back with a doe bleat just to see if I can. I grab my can bleat and sit up tall to look where she went and give the call a couple turns. As I am leaning back in my chair, I notice a larger doe standing right at the bottom of the hill. (probably these two) I figure it's the mom and she is dead on locked on my location. (My Luck) I have no choice but to watch her since my gun is leaning against the tent and she will be gone if I move to get it. She never takes her eyes off the tent and stamps her feet a couple times. She then snorts, turns and runs off into the woods. I assume the little doe went with her. I am beginning to think I should have been killing does last week. This week has not been kind. I see nothing until I leave at 11. I go down and replace the memory card from my trail camera. I look around then decide to walk up the trail that the doe ran up. I find a few rubs and a couple scraps. From the size of each I don't think this is a big buck. I may have to move my blinds before muzzle loader season unless I get some pictures of a good size buck soon. I'll be back in this blind tonight. Now I'm headed for some grub. Climbing these hills sure makes me hungry.
I'm back in my blind at 1 o'clock. Hopefully my luck will change tonight. There is absolutely no movement until about 4 o'clock when a deer start snorting on the hillside I walked up earlier. Obviously it has smelled me but is not clear if I am still in the woods. it spends the next 30 minutes running all around the woods snorting. I can hear it walking around but it has settled down and has quit snorting. Maybe it will come to the corn pile soon. It's 5:15 and I still hear the deer restless in the woods above me. As if by magic a large doe has walked into view off to my right. She is standing on a slight uphill grade looking behind her. This is a classic sign that maybe a Buck is trailing her. She stands frozen for at least ten minutes and I can see her head and middle of body to tail. There is a tree blocking her vital area. I refuse to ever shoot a deer outside these vitals no matter what. I have a policy of one shot and I have yet to need two. It's not worth wounding the deer and having them suffer and die to go to waste. She suddenly turns and heads down into the bottom toward Rick. Within minutes a loud report scares the crap out of me. I guess Rick has shot something further down the hill. In Kentucky we get to use any center fire cartridge to deer hunt. When some of these things go off it gets your heartbeat going. A few minutes later Rick calls me on the walkie-talkie and says he has shot a small doe. It is dark now and we must do the rest by flashlight. We have to get the ATV, find the deer, drag it to our campsite and field dress it.
It's now 8:00 and we are done. The deer turns out to be a button buck and Rick is upset that he shot it. We try not to shoot any bucks unless they have poor antler genetics. We could have watch this one grow over the next few years. Who knows he could have turned into a nice buck. We called the tag in before we started (which is a must) and decided to de-bone the deer here in the field to avoid the processing fee at the slaughter house. This deer has about 40 lbs of nice tender meat on him. We keep the back straps for eating and save the rest to make jerky and summer sausage with once we get a few more deer. By the time I get home, take a shower and get in bed, I will have about 4.5 hours of sleep before I have to get up and do it all over again. Hence the reason I am writing this late.
Saturday November 17, 2007
I am very tired this morning. My old body just can't move like it used to. It's warmed up again this morning and the wind is howling. There are about six of us hunting this farm today and the wind has messed things up. We hunt 500 acres and 6 people won't get many deer moving. The deer will be bedded tight this morning and unless we or someone else jumps one our odds of seeing anything are not very good. Rick and I decide to hunt a couple old ridge tops we've hunted before. Maybe someone will run a deer our way. By 10:30 we have seen nothing and head back to the truck for lunch. I eat quick and decide to go to another ground blind that I haven't hunted from yet. It overlooks another corn pile that has almost been depleted. It has to be close to 55 degrees and I am extremely hot. I shed most my clothes to try and stay cool. Once in my blind I know I'm in trouble. The sun is beating down on it and with the windows barely cracked I am cooking inside it. I can't take it much longer and call Rick on my radio. Rick is hunting out of my homemade blind and he tells me to go to a tree ladder stand he has set up down where he shot the deer last night. I head there while packing most of my over-clothes and I am still sweating once I get there. I remember when deer season used to be cold. This hot weather hunting is for the birds. I finally climb into the tree stand with the sun hitting me right in the face. At least the wind has not died down and that brings some relief for the sun. I am not a tree stand person but this stand is nice. It overlooks an automatic corn feeder, a corn pile, and several feeders. This is a perfect ambush point but it will be very late before the deer come in especially after last night. I wait an hour or so before putting on my outerwear and face mask. The sun is dropping and it's not as hot as before. Now I am ready for the long sit till dark.
Man, Rick puts his stands up high!!!
It is now 5:45 and I have to leave because of darkness. I guess last nights actions have these deer on alert. I thought I heard a few deer moving across the ridge top but they never did show. I need to start shooting deer when I see them. I could already have 3 does at the slaughter house if I did so and now I have none. At the truck Rick and I decide to take tomorrow off from hunting. We have been in this part of the woods for many hours and think we should let it cool off a bit. We will hunt from Friday through Sunday next week. If I get my ATV back I may go get a few hundred more pounds of corn and bring it down Thanksgiving morning.
Thursday November 22, 2007
It's cold and rainy this morning and I really don't want to go and sit in the woods. I did not get my ATV back but I did pick up 400 pounds of cob corn. Rick has reluctantly agreed to meet me there and we will sit for a couple hours in hopes of seeing a deer. Once there it is very windy again and it is still raining. We head to the woods anyway but see nothing. I radio Rick and tell him that I am going to walk through the cedars and try to drive a bedding deer his way. This is a good size clumb of cedars and it takes me about 30 minutes to get through it. Neither of us see or hear a deer. With Thanksgiving dinner coming soon, we get to work on the business at hand. I need to get 100 pounds of the corn down at a blind I'm planing to use during muzzleloader season and Rick needs 100 pounds on an old salt lick tree stand he plans to use during the same time. I am also going to take down my pop-up blind above the corn pile pictured above because I have somebody trespassing in this area and the spot has gone cold. When you have land out in the middle of nowhere it's so hard to keep people off and when they are walking around with high powered rifles I don't want any confrontations so I'll just move camp and start elsewhere.
I position this blind on a ridgetop just over Rick's feeders. Since the deer are coming in later and later I hope to catch one before they drop into the woods and before darkness sets in once I hunt here. There is a fairly large grassy area up here with lots of travel trails. I am really happy with this spot.
I have another pop-up blind that I wasn't using and I am placing it not more than 200 yards from where everybody parks. We are always seeing a deer cross our dirt paths and head into the woods up here. I place my blind at the bottom of the hill and I will use this for late morning and afternoon hunts. I think hunters coming out of the woods unknowingly scare these deer and I plan on being here when they do.
Our work is done and now it's off to our Thanksgiving feast.
I want everyone reading this to take a moment to think about all the things you have in this world to give thanks for. Think how good you have it and remember that it could always be worse. Be thankful for this great country in which we live because you wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
Pray for our soldiers fighting for us so that we may sit down and enjoy a good meal without the fear of terrorism in this country. Regardless of how you feel about this war you need only think back to how you felt the day the towers in New York fell. Think of all those families who are missing loved ones as they sit down to give thanks today.
Have a Happy Thanksgiving Holiday!!!
I am taking tomorrow off and will hunt Saturday and Sunday.
Stay Tuned!!!!!
Friday November 24, 2007
It's a great cold morning and the deer should be moving today. The moon is full and I don't even need a flashlight to find my blind I set up not far from where we park. I was going to use this blind for late morning and afternoon hunts but for some reason I want to try it today. Everything is crunchy and loud as I walk through the woods so I should hear a deer long before I see one.
It is now 10:30 and I haven't seen anything. The ground is still frozen down here in the bottom and I know nothing has crept past me. I radio Rick who is hunting the ridge above me and tell him that I am going to walk the cedars toward him in hopes of running something to him. I would never do this with anyone other than Rick. We have hunted together for so long that I trust him not to shoot in my direction or mistakenly shoot me. My short drive has produced nothing and both of us are befuddled on where the deer have gone. This area holds a lot of does and you never see a buck chasing a doe. One day everyone who hunts here might wake up and start shooting does. We desperately need a better buck to doe ratio.
My sister made a comment (after reading this column)to her husband Rick about how much time we spend eating. She thinks this may be a big reason why we haven't had much luck so far? So I am not going to tell you all about the good lunch Rick and I had today. :-)
It is 1 o'clock and I have decided to hunt near an old barn we have on the property tonight. I have not been down there yet this year so I don't know what to expect. Since Rick and I never hunt very far from each other he is going to sit in a tree stand on the hill about 300 yards above me. After arriving at the barn I am disappointed from the lack of deer sign. I decide to sit in the barn but give up on the spot around 3. I radio Rick and tell him that I am done and will be leaving. I wish him luck and leave. He called me later and told me he had 4 does under his stand but it was so late he let tham walk.
I guess you may be wondering why we are not hunting where we have our corn down because I haven't mentioned why. We mentioned to the guy who runs the lease that others were coming into our area and that they were making our area too hot to hunt. He told us he would talk to them. We think this area is a great spot to maybe see a good size deer and want it to totally cool off. We will hunt it hard during muzzle loader weekend in a few weeks. With the cold coming in the deer should be wearing the corn out by then.
Sunday November 25, 2007
I only plan to hunt this morning over a corn pile somone else laid out a while back. No one is here but Rick and I and the weather is perfect. Around 10 o'clock we call it quits without seeing anything. I keep telling Rick that we should have shot those does during opening weekend and we would have meat in the freezer right now. Oh Well! That's how it goes. I am ready to get back to work and start charging my batteries for the muzzleloader season.
Friday December 7, 2007
Welcome back! Tomorrow is opening season for muzzleloader here in Kentucky. Thankfully I got my ATV back so I don't plan to lose any weight by walking a lot. I am going to tell you now that I will shoot the first deer I see tomorrow unless it is a young buck with a chance of becoming a nice buck someday. I need meat in the freezer. The forcast is calling for lots of rain this weekend so I will be hunting from a pop-up blind to keep me dry.
Good luck to all that are hunting. Bring in a big one. Remember if you want, send me a picture and I will post it on the site.
Saturday December 8, 2007
Thank goodness I have a ground blind. The weather was just horrid today with rain, wind, and cool temperatures. If I had been in a tree stand it would have been an unbearable day. I am the only one hunting our property today. I guess everyone else has a little more sense than me?
I don't know what is going on? I hunted my corn pile (which was a giant mudhole today) figuring a doe or two would stop by for a bite before bedding down but no such luck. The woods were motionless all day. I'm starting to get a little discouraged and need to get my head right mentally.
One thing I have learned is if you don't believe you are hunting in the right spots and start second guessing yourself, chances are you will not see many deer anywhere because you move around too much, leave early or just don't go hunting. I am starting to do all the above.
Even though I had plenty of clothes on, the cold damp air has made me miserable. I sat till dark and saw nothing. There is heavier rain forcast for tomorrow so I think I will just sit around the house and watch movies tomorrow and gear up for next weekend.
If I don't get some meat next weekend I'll be dusting off the bow until the end of January. That is starting to appeal to me right now.
See you next week!
Saturday December 15, 2007
Today I'm having a family Christmas get-together. With all the rain and wind outside I'm glad we are having it. The weather has not been in my favor this year. Hopefully something will give before the seaaon is up.
Sunday December 16, 2007
The rain is still falling and the wind is non-stop and gusting. Rick and myself have decided to hunt this evening hoping the weather will settle down.
It's now 2 o'clock and the rain has stopped. The wind is still blowing very hard and it's quite cold. I am going to hunt my ground blind out of stubborness and Rick is hunting his treestand with the corn feeder. I see tracks right past my blind in the mud as I make my way toward the blind. It's funny how a deer will use a path after it has been made by a person?? The inside of my blind is swamped but I decide to hunt it anyway. The corn has been totally eaten and all that is left is a mineral block and a mudhole. Maybe one will stop by to check it out??
The wind is about to lift my blind off the ground. I have seen nothing all day except for 6 turkeys that shuffled through around 3:30. Things are not looking good.
It is finally dark and I am damp and cold. Sitting inside a blind when it is wet inside and cold outside does not make for a comfortable sit. I have given this gun season a good effort and come up empty. Sometimes that's how it goes. Next year I will shoot the first deer I see just so I can hunt the rest of the time knowing I have meat in the freezer. Hey! Sometimes you get the bear and somtimes the bear gets you.
If it was easy everybody would be doing it!!!!
Monday & Tuesday December 17 & 18, 2007
I took this week off to get my Christmas shopping done. It has taken me till tonight to get it done. I wonder if anyone works anymore or did everyone take this week off. I would have rather been at work than fight all the women in those department stores.
I am going to try a mid-morning bow hunt tomorrow. I plan on hitting the woods around 10:AM and hunt until around 2 or 3:PM. Rick has to work and I don't like hunting alone because you just never know when something can happen. When I hunt alone, I give my wife a firm time I will call her and tell her where I plan to hunt and how I will get to my stand. She will wait 30 minutes past this time and if I still haven't called she will call Rick and tell him to come look for me. I will leave a walkie-talkie under my windshield wiper in a plastic baggie to help Rick or others locate me. This may sound crazy to some but it may well save your life one day.
Wednesday December 19, 2007
I did not get a deer today but I did see 6 deer. I was in one of our other hunters tree stand and that thing was high. I am very uncomfortable in tree stands and this was no picnic. If your going to bow hunt it's best to be in a tree stand so here I go into this stand and after I get my safety harness on and start to get setteled in a doe runs directly under my tree. I haven't even but my head mask on yet!!! This doe ran about 5o yards into the woods and stopped then turned back to look over her shoulder. I just new a buck was trailing her and immediately stood up and got ready for a buck to appear where she had. In less than 1 minute 5 deer ran over the hill away from me so fast I didn't even begin to draw my bow. I was still thinking a buck was moving these deer when suddenly two stray dogs came busting throught he woods not making a sound but definitely on the deers trail. When they ran over the hill after the deer they busted up a big flock of turkey's that upon being spooked exploded the silence of the woods. Now I know why we haven't been seeing deer!!! These dogs are running the deer off the property. I don't reeally know how to handle this problem? I don't want to shoot the dogs unless they are wild. I will stop at several of the houses along the road on my way home today and ask if these dogs belong to someone. If they do, I will ask them to keep them up at least until deer season is over. If no one claims them I will try to scare them with some bird shot in their rumps next time I see them. Hopefully that will do the trick.
It brings peace of mind knowing it was nothing I was doing for the lack of deer sightings. Maybe now I can get a deer or two before season is over. I will try again Friday afternoon.
Friday December 21, 2007
It is a beautiful day. It rained all night a part of this morning but it has now cleared up and looks great. I've been out here since noon and haven't seen anything. I have heard a couple dogs barking in various places and I have run around the farm trying to pinpoint them but with no success. If I am going to at least get one deer this year I am going to have to figure out how to rid this place of the dogs???
I get back to my blind around 3 but see nothing and leave disgusted.
I am not sure when I will be back with Christmas and all taking place.
Sunday December 30, 2007
After reading what I have written so far, it is clear that I am getting discouraged. I try my best not to do this but sometimes when I put a lot of time and money into a season without getting rewarded it gets me down a bit.
I am now going to switch gears and try something different. The Pope and Young deer shown in this webiste was killed about 300 yards from where I live now. Back then this place was barren and overgrown. Now it looks like a gold course with a few wooded area here and there.
Earlier this year I saw a nice size deer, in full velvet, possibly in the same scoring range as mine, running across an open field we have here. I have spotted this deer at least 5 more times since then but it's usually late at night when we are driving in to our house or early in the morning when I am going to work. I have put my game camera everywhere I can think of and have yet to catch a glimpse of him. Now I think there is something wrong with the camera or it just doesn't work properly when it's cold.
I put a corn pile on the back of my property about month ago hoping to catch a glimpse of something but to date I have not seen anything. There is plenty of sign in the corn so they must be coming and I'm just missing them or they are coming late at night.
I called Rick and told him that I think we should hunt this place tomorrow. He agreed that we couldn't do any worse and said he would come. I have a ladder stand about 50 yards from the corn pile and have another about 300 yards over the hill in another thick little patch of woods. This is where I'll put Rick in the morning and I will hunt the corn pile.
The best thing about this is that we are only a short way from the house and that means a good warm lunch will be waiting.
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Monday December 31, 2007
Oh! My! Goodness!
Good things do indeed happen to those who wait!
I can't write about our day knowing what I know so I am just going to get it out and then tell my story.
Today, I missed a chance on the big deer I was telling you about. I settled for a big deer with a small rack (actually 1/2 a rack) but Rick, being the ever opportunistic person he is, took my trophy away from me with a perfectly placed arrow that dropped this massive animal in his tracks. I can not believe he killed this deer that I wanted so badly and possibly could have killed but it has happened and I will be showing you some super pictures of this deer. This deer has to be family to my deer I took in 2001 and I will do a side by side comparison so you can see too. Right now I am exhausted from today's adrenaline rush and I am still too excited to write properly. Tomorrow I will bring you the play by play with pictures.
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First Time Hunter Strikes again!!!!!!!
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Tuesday January 1, 2008
Happy New Year!!!!
I could hardly sleep last night for thinking about our magnificient hunting day yesterday. It all started about 6:30 in the morning when Rick and myself walked to the back of the farm and got in our stands. I figured I stood a good chance of seeing something since I was at the corn pile. Rick would have to rely on a little luck and hope to catch one just passing by. The one good thing about this place is there are no hunters anywhere. We are located in the middle of horse country and what deer are here travel a lot. That's why I only see them every now and then. When you see them though, they are big bodied deer because of the abundance of clover and lots of crops grown in the area. I am hoping that today one brusier happens to come by for a shot of grain.
A long four hours later and I have seen nothing. I radio Rick and he tells me the same. Well by now you know what time it is? A short walk back to the house puts us in a warm spot with lots of food. Hunters Heaven!!!!
Now that our bellies are full and we have warmed up we decide to go back out at
2 o'clock and hunt until dark. After a few minutes watching football on TV we are off. It is a beautiful day with hardly no wind. Little do either of us know what is going to transpire in the next few hours. Like I say in my manual...."If you are not in the woods, you can't kill a deer." Had we decided to stay inside and watch the game, we would have missed the opportunity of a lifetime.
It is now 3:30 and if the weather had not been so nice I probably would have went back to the house. Suddenly from out of nowhere a small doe comes trotting over a hill right toward me. She jumps a fence about 60 yards away and scampers my way down the fence line. It is strange because she stops and runs back up the fence line only to stop and run back toward me. It is as if she wants to go back the way she came but has forgotten how to get over the fence. With her head down she continues this for a minute and then darts straight past me and over the hill giving me no chance for a shot with my bow. Suddenly I am ready to sit until dark. Seeing deer changes everything.
Within 20 minutes I notice movement from the same direction the doe came from. Suddenly my heart starts racing as the movement turns into a deer with a rack as big as my Pope and Young. This is the same deer I have been watching all year and him and a small buck are walking to the same spot the doe just came to. I am shaking to the point where I'm afraid I might drop my arrow if I don't calm down. There is something about a bow that brings on the adrenaline. I never feel this when I gun hunt. I never get excited until after the shot but with a bow, I get light headed and over excited. I close my eyes and take 5 deep breaths through my nose and it calms me somewhat.
When I open my eyes the two deer have turned a little and are walking about 20 yards off the fence still on the other side which is not my property. The little deer which looks like an eight pointer turns toward the fence and gracefully jumps the fence just in front of my cornpile. I notice now that he has either broken one of his antlers or it has fallen off but this is not the deer I am interested in. I have already stood up and I am frozen in place. The small buck is picking around the corn but the Big Buck and I mean Big Buck has stopped and keeps looking toward the little buck and then over the hill where the small doe has run. He is about 50 yards from me and I need him to be 30. He then starts moving on an angle away from me but toward the fence. There are now branches between the buck and myself and I have no idea how to make him come this way. I have a grunt call but he already knows there is a buck over here and I feel it would only scare this small buck away. So I just stand there and do nothing. Suddenly the big buck jumps the fence but I have no shot at him. He stands for what seems an eternity then turns away from me and heads the way the little doe went at a slow walk which makes me sick to my stomach. I have forgotten all about the little buck but when it makes a sound I focus on him. He is still picking around the corn pile and is giving me a perfect broadside shot. If I have learned anything from hunting earlier this season it is take what is given you. I have an easy 25 yard shot at this deer and my arrow hits him perfectly just behind his shoulder. He humps up and runs about 40 yards under my stand and lays down. I sit down disappointed that I have missed a chance at another Pope and Young deer. I try to think what I could have done to have made him walk toward me. I replay the events over and over and keep coming up with nothing. Suddenly Rick is screaming at me over the radio. Getting caught up in my thoughts I have forgotten about him. The radio blaring with his voice practically scares me out of my stand. He keeps screaming I got him, I got him!!!! and for me to hurry up and get over there. I know he has just killed the big buck I saw. I hurry down my tree and head his way as he tells me his story. I am so happy for him since he has hunted many years and put in a lot of time and effort only to be foiled so many times. Finally he has something for all his effort. I can no longer throw my deer up to him and say "Where's your wall hanger". This is a great day for him and me. We both have food now and he got a record book deer!!!
This deer will make two record book deer taken less than a half mile from one another. I must put some thought into some food plots for this place next year. Money is always a big issue for me but I am sure going to try to make this happen.
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Rick's Story
Rick had been sitting in his stand doing pretty much the same as I had been. Thinking to himself that this was another day where we would see no deer. Suddenly over the ridge a small doe comes running. She stops several time and turns back only to stop again and keep running down the fenceline. In a split second she turns and bolts right thorugh the small patch of woods Rick is sitting in and continues through and heads toward the front of the farm. Rick tells me later that she was acting crazy. I told him my story and neither of us know what was going on with this doe. Rick said that the doe fired him up a bit and like me he had setteled down to wait on darkness. He was looking around when all of a sudden he noticed this massive deer in the wide open field making it's way toward him. He couldn't believe his eyes!!! He said the buck was trailing the doe but wasn't in a big hurry. Every now and then he would put his nose to the ground and then stop and smell the air and continue on. Maybe she was this years deer coming into estrus??
The buck would stop and pick and some leaves every now and then, smell the ground, sniff the air and slowly continue on. He did this all the way down the fenceline heading right toward Rick. Needless to say Rick was near convulsions by the time the deer turned and entered the woods. If he followed the doe's path Rick would not be able to get a shot for it was too thick where she went in. Sure enough he went in right where she did. He lost site of the big buck for a moment then noticed it was walking right toward him. As if on a path directed by Rick himself the deer walked around a small hump in the woods and turned broadside to Rick. In slow motion the deer walked right into a clearing giving Rick a perfect quartering away shot at less than 20 yards.
Rick's arrow did a through and through and the deer took a few steps and went down. No one could ask for a better ending than this. So many times the deer go the other way or just don't give you the shot. This deer was meant for Rick from the beginning. All his hard work and time spent in the woods finally paid off. Plus he was hunting with the First Time Hunter!!!!
On the first picture notice the right antler near the base has been shot. This bad boy nearly became someone elses trophy!!!
Enjoy the pictures and be sure to purchase my manual. A new edition of my manual is on the website now @ http://www.firsttimehunter.com I guarantee there is something you can use in this book. You might not agree with everything I say but you will find something that will make you a better hunter.
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To ignore information even if you disagree with it is foolish. Read everything you can about the things you enjoy and take pieces from all that you have read and build your own personel manual that will make you the very best you can be.
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Look how big the body is on my deer. His right antler had been broken off almost to the hairline. I totally de-bone all my deer in the field now. It saves me money at the meat packers and I know exactly how the meat was handled up until I deliver the meat.
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