46rkl

When it goes bad, it really goes bad. Had a nice 8 point at 15 yards walking slowly. I swung the crossbow and as I shot, the right limb hit the arm of the tree stand. Missed the buck and, even worse, broke the cam on the crossbow. Guess it’s back to the compound bow for the rest of this season.

I don’t think I’ve ever hunted deer in these conditions before. 79 degrees, sunny and dry. Good for tree stand napping. I imagine the deer are napping too. Best spot I could think of was this stand near the creek and near a cut bean field. Squirrels were running all over the place until this Sharp Shinned hawk showed up. Now dead silence.

Close encounters of the big buck kind. A doe wanders by behind and downwind of me at ten yards. I’m thinking this is not good if there’s a buck following.... Oh, crap! I hear the grunt and then he pops out of the brush twenty yards away. Takes one big sniff, turns and runs fifty yards to a clearing where he snorts twice. Beautiful big ten. Very tall. I tried grunting him back and he was interested but after a couple of minutes he turned and walked away. Adrenaline pumping few minutes! The doe is hanging out in my small food plot eighty yards away. Here’s hoping the big boy tries to get back on her trail.

Hoping for a little revenge this am. Driving thru the village of Honeoye last night at about 5:30 a doe came flying out of the ditch and bit my bumper. She flopped around for a couple of minutes, then jumped to her feet and trotted off thru someone’s side yard. Took out one headlight but that’s all. Third deer hit in 45 years of driving. Quiet this morning in my patch of 8H.

Y’all are killing me with this thread! I love a great breakfast but in reality it only happens 2-3 times a year. Typical breakfast? Greek yogurt with some cut up fruit and a small glass of OJ. The trade off is that I’m 48 pounds lighter than when I retired 7 years ago. I feel better and can spend a few weeks a year hiking around in the Rockies chasing elk, mulies, or just enjoying the scenery. A good del most days but when I look at the breakfasts posted here.......

Warm. Sunny. Swirling wind. I have no reason to believe that I have much of a chance of seeing, much less shooting, a nice buck. BUT, 0% chance of anything good happening if I waste the day doing work around the house. SO, out into the woods I find myself. Feels like I should have a fishing pole in my hands. Anyhow, the bucks are chasing so anything could happen.

I don’t think that it is the rattling so much as the movement. Deer are particularly good at seeing movement. Couple that with honing in on the sound and yes, they can certainly bust you at 200+ yards. I have been busted and snorted at from well over 200 yards while sneaking along about 30 yards in from a cut corn field with a bunch of doe in it.

Doe down. What a cluster! Shot her at 16 yards but spines her. Lost my other good arrow out of the quiver when I shot. Had to climb down and tried to use the arrow with a bad bane on it but as I pulled back, the string on the release broke! The arrow flopped into the ground on the far side of the deer. Had to go back to the tree and search for the arrow that fell. Found it and went back and finished her off with a finger shot. Didn't go out till after the Bills game and only sat for maybe fifteen minutes before shooting.

Live from the shooting range.... yesterday. Had a red neck pumpkin carving get together and the amount of firepower there was pretty impressive. Those pumpkins never stood a chance. No scent dragging, no rattling, no tracking required. Just blast a smile onto the pumpkin.

If I do it in August, I pull the rope with my tractor. Easy.

Once it’s all in place, only five to ten minutes. All depends on the brush around the tree.

Now he’s out there sparring with another spike. Pretty fun to watch.

Spike at about eight yards. He’s heading out into the bean field to harass doe.

Two nice doe in the field thirty yards behind me off of my land. Bring on the bucks chasing them!

I place the base of the ladder against the tree, tie a rope to the seat area and throw it over a limb on the tree. Pull it up from the other side. You can wrap the rope around a small tree for a pulley effect or to tie off on when you need a rest. I’ve even stood the stand up this way on a nearby tree that had goood limbs and walked it over to my target tree.

Hell, I wouldn’t go anywhere with that stud around.. Best of luck!

Two years ago a group of us applied for an antelope hunt with plenty of preference points. According to the WGandF commission we had a 99.4% chance of drawing. I had my name down as the group leader and I still haven’t lived it down..... we didn’t draw. Two of us went out and got over the counter lope tags and paid for access to private land but no luck. Saw plenty of antelope but always on the wrong side of the fence or across interstate 90 in another unit. Spent the last day blasting gophers. Took out a lot of frustration on those little pop up targets. i now have lots of points for antelope, deer and elk. Probably going next year.

Individual Oak trees go thru cycles of mast production based on many factors, including genetics. That said, it’s been very dry in many parts of the state and that’s a big factor in mast production. Not so much here in 8H where production seems pretty normal. The doe like acorns and the bucks like doe. Hunt the doe to get the buck!

The rut activity seems to be picking up every day. Got busted by a buck trailing a doe on my way in around 2:30. Doe blew at me an ran, the buck ran right past me at 15 yards. Not concerned with me, just determined to stay on the trail of that doe. Don’t let your enthusiasm wane! The prime time is just starting. Good luck to all. Get ‘er done!

The evening got really interesting at the end. I watched two bucks, a spike and an eight, chasing three doe in the bean field just off my property for more than a half hour. Decided it was time to go, lowered my bow, stood up and put my pack on. Turned around and had a nice eight jogging along right past me at 15 yards. I thought it odd when he took a couple bounds and then slowed down again. Oh well...wait. Oh crap! A very tall eight or ten comes grunting down the same path, passing at 15 yards while I have no bow in my hands. Good to see so much activity but sure would like a shot at one.

Medium size doe at twenty five yards. Twenty yards on the other side of the property line. Ah well.

No deer hunting for me today. It was time to renew a 40+ year old tradition of opening day for pheasants. There aren’t many wild ones any more like there were in the 70’s but it’s still fun to get together with old friends and enjoy the day.... even if it doesn’t last as long as it used to, for either the dogs or us. Total of six on the day. Only two had been taken at the time of the picture.

After a great morning pheasant hunt on the John White WMA, I got to tap my latest home brew and it is really good! It’s called All Together NEIPA and is based on a recipe from Other Half. They released the recipe to all craft beer breweries and home brewers back in April and the funds were used to help support staff from breweries that had been laid off due to the pandemic. If you ar into craft beers, it 8.2% alcohol and 62 ibu with a light haze and a nice citrus hop flavor. Cheers all! Anyone who can make it here in the next ten minutes can have a free pint with me....

Stopped to check a trail cam on the way in from today’s hunt. I’m pretty sure it’s the one that went galloping past me the other day. He really got up close and personal with the trail cam.

If you see something like this, that’s called a scrape and it sign of a buck in the area. Often made under low hanging branches. Bucks scrape the ground with their antlers and you will usually also see hoof prints in the scrape. Like other sign, the moister the dirt torn up is, the fresher the scrape.