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Back in the stand for a short evening sit. No hunting the last two days as I was piling up points with my lovely wife. I was her driver as she made calls at the far limit of her newly expanded territory. Started out Tuesday morning heading up to Rochester. Then to Watertown, Ogdensburg, Massena and back to Watertown for dinner with her parents. Hotel stay and then stops in Watertown, Auburn (and Bass Pro Shop), Geneva and Canandaigua. Very tired of driving. Only two live deer spotted from behind the windshield but 14 dead ones. Not the best conditions this afternoon, 55 and swirling winds but it beats sitting in a car. Last bow sit so couldn’t pass it up. Good luck to all.

Pretty quiet day in southern 8H. Two spikes about two hours apart are all I’ve seen. Hoping for the action to pick up and the swirling wind and rain to calm down.

I was 100% certain that was a squirrel messing around behind me…. Until I shifted in my seat and she blew and trotted off. Ah well, back to enjoying the sunshine on my face.

No shot but my wife’s molasses cookies are keeping me happy.

Slept in till the rain cleared and headed out about 8:30. Got in my ladder stand and had text from my buddy that he had three small bucks all chasing one doe. Oh yeah, he’s in one of my stands. Two minutes later this guy strolls by at twenty yards. Good thing for him I’m hunting doe. And now I’ve got a spike trailing two doe just west of me out of range. Grunting like crazy but they want nothing to do with him. Wild first hour.

Actionheat wool socks. Love them. My wife bought them for me and they have made a great difference in how well I hold up in cold temps. They have three settings for all conditions. actionheat wool 3.7v rechargeable heated socks 2.0 with remote Not cheap by any means but if you have suffered from frostbite like I have, it really helps.

A doe just trotted past with a buck grunting away behind. Less than twenty yards but too dark to even think about a shot even though it’s still shooting time.

I thought so too but I’ve had great results with them regarding accuracy, speed and killing power. Gotta stay with what works. 21.5” including the broadhead.

We’ll, I got the lawn mowed today (finally) after the flooding rains nearly two weeks ago. Hopefully for the last time this season. Quick change and out into a nearby stand. Climb up, pull up my pack and sit down. First thing I see is a nice doe staring at me from 25 yards. Flag up and gone. Oh well, nice evening to be out.

What a day! Got some yard work done, played nine holes and now sitting in my tree stand. Only a little spike so far but no complaints here.

This one was taken after a successful spot and stalk. That refrigerator was very loud opening up but not enough to spook this trophy. Always make hunting this one a priority when it’s in season. Actually spent the day on yard and garden wrap up for the season after a great day hunting yesterday. I scored on a nice ten point and my friends son got a really nice six in the evening from the same stand.

So, turned out to be an even better day. I shot my ten point at 12:35 and with the help of three friends had recovered and had it hanging by 2:30. My friend and his son then went out on my property for the afternoon and his son scored on this nice six point. His first archery buck.

Recovered and hanging in the barn. I saw a body pass thu a small path a hundred yards away so I gave a couple of grunts and about five minutes later, here he comes. Circled my stand and stepped into a shooting lane at 24 yards. I saw the lighted mock disappear and the buck ran off. Texted a few buddies and they both came over to help track. Forty yards of blood and then nothing. We circled all around the spot and found nothing. I decided to search towards the creek and 85 yards away from last blood he was piled up. Single lung and liver. My first crossbow buck. Debating between a wall mount or a Euro only because it’s my first crossbow deer.

I’ve encountered this several times over the years and my experience has been that a moderate rain falls and the deer are right back in these fields.

I turn the covered porch into the hunting lodge this time of the year. Hang the clothes and keep all the gear out there. Wash in scent free detergent and use earth scented dryer sheets. The biggest problem I have is remembering to shake things out before putting them on. Damn stink bugs get in everything.

Recent trail cam pics. I’ve had close encounters with the two big ones, the unicorn is a new one to my land.

In th southern edge of 8H there has been plenty of scraping, fighting and chasing going on. It seemed to pause for a couple of days with the flooding rains but back up and running now. Had a half hour of grapple pelting me just after 1:00 but conditions are great now. About 40 and light wind out of the south.

Had this little one following a small doe. 12 yards and he was nervous but strolled past. Swirling wind making it tough. A mature buck wouldn’t have made that mistake.

My basement flood was a month ago. The day after returning from a trip out on the Olympic Peninsula. For some reason the outlet the sump pump was on failed. The Venturi backup couldn’t handle the volume and the water level alarm went to my phone but after a tough travel home I never woke up to it. Half the basement is finished so there was a lot of loss there but also on the storage side as I had gotten careless over the years and left too many boxes sitting on the floor. Long cleanup but got it all up and functioning again. One week ago today, a supply line to a first floor bathroom sink split and, of course, the water drained down into the basement. Luckily only on the storage side. Everything vulnerable was off the floor and on a shelf. Too bad the water came from above. Another round of cleanup and throw out followed. And finally, last nights rain caused my chimney to leak and the bottom of the driveway flooded all the way across the road and into my neighbors house. Just can’t win against water. Sitting in a tree stand in a light drizzle this morning was just one more little slap from the water gods.

Close encounter of these kind. Gets a pass till next year. Hoping a buck would be following but no such luck. Great morning in 8H, mid 40’s and a light drizzle.

30 with a hard frost yesterday. 52 with a light breeze out of the southeast this morning. No sightings yesterday. Deer all over the place today. Had a doe sprint past like she was running for her life, but no buck following. Heard three different grunting bucks and there was a fight in the corn behind me. Just need them to step in the open.

Of course, I’m sitting out on the southern edge of my property and my wife sends me this from the backyard.

Great night with a disappointing ending. Had deer in the corn behind me all afternoon but that’s not my property so all I could do was watch and listen as they crunched corn and chased each other back and forth. Around 6:30, a nice 8 point came out of the field and right down the trail I was sitting on. Perfect setup and poor execution. I had him at 17 yards and he had no idea I was on him but I made a bad aim, too high for the duck that I knew was coming. He was so fast that all I got was a bit of hair. Rough first shot with the new bow. Nothing more disappointing than an arrow in the ground that never touched a deer. Long, slow walk back to the house……

Two doe ran in and stopped just behind me. At the same time I could hear. A buck scraping and thrashing the brush just in front of me. The buck never stepped out and the doe eventually wandered off. Fun night.

Sat for a few hours this morning in the strong wind and decided to go get some yard work done today. Made a circuit to collect the cards from the cameras and was really disappointed in the findings. One little four point shows up on every camera, a unicorn and one nice ten but only once ten days ago and at two in the morning. Lots and lots of doe so I have no doubt that the bucks will be here eventually but I’m trying to limit my hunting time until I’m seeing some nice bucks during hunting hours. Saw a few nice scrapes so things are heating up somewhat. Just need to be patient.