I dont get to hunt northern zone as much as I used to, now that we have moved to the western part of the state, but I was up in the Speculator area this past weekend. Only saw 1 deer in three days of hunting, but was fortunate enough that the one deer was this 8pt on Sunday morning (Nov 9). I was sitting on a ridge overlooking several active scrapes, when he approached from behind me. I sat down at 6:45AM, and he came in at 7:05AM. He litterally came to within 6 yards. He was DIRECTLY behind me, and so I couldn't even get turned around for a shot until he turned to my left and gave me a short 10 yard shot. I was hoping he didn't spook before giving me a shot - two bounds and he would be over the ridge and out of sight. And it was quite thick right behind me.
Anyway, this river bottom area I was hunting had excellent scrape activity this past weekend. And this guy was definitely working that scrape line and looking for does. And his tarsal glands reeked. Wondering if you guys are seeing similar activity up north.
LiveToHunt