In the Zone with Zem

[Zem18]

I can't believe this season has crept up on me this fast. I am washing my hunting clothes as I am typing this and the car is packed with the rest of my gear. As soon as I get out of work tomorrow, I am headed out for my first hunt.

We had some strong storms rip through here again this year and a lot of trees fell over, including my favorite stand at my in laws place. My buddy and I have worked hard and cleaned things up and put up a new ladder stand so I am excited to see how things pan out. The trail cam has not produced much thus far, just a few small bucks, and some does. I did get a body shot of a bruiser but could not see any of its head so hopefully I will see it in person.

It's good to be back on here and I look forward to writing more entries and reading everyone else's too.

Good Luck to all this season and be safe.

Zem

[Fletch]

Good luck Zem! Looking forward to following you posts.

[fasteddie]

Where the heck have you been ?

[Zem18]

Life is pretty busy there Eddie so I have been flooring it in the fastlane. But I'm back now, woohoo!!

Thursday Oct. 4th - My first hunt of the year

It was mostly sunny when i got out of work today and I hauled tail on the highway to get to my spot. I was in the stand right at 5pm so i figured I could saty out until 640 or 645ish. I sat in my usual ladder stand from years past as my favorite hang on stand is no longer an option. It felt great to be out there, except for the mosquitos. The smell of fall in the woods is so relaxing.

As my eyes started getting used to the deer woods and my ears decifering the squirrels and chipmunks, I saw a flash back in the woods. I checked my watch and it was 540pm. My first deer spotted for the year was heading on a trail right towards me. It was a small doe, and it's coat was shining in the setting sun. As I watched, another small doe followed and then a larger doe. They stopped at about 45 yards out and started gorging themselves on every leaf in sight. They would move off to the left, and then back to the right. A few minutes later I spot a fourth one moving in and it was another larger doe. They continued to feed back and forth for almost 40 minutes until something spooked them and the flags went a flying. The closest they came was 40 yards and no shot opportunities. I have to say that was a great begining to the season.

[Zem18]

Friday - October 5th

I snuck back into my ladder stand after work again tonight. I had the itch after a successful night on Thursday so I said what the heck. Lots of squirrels tonight. Was getting very low light so I reached for my pack and I heard something run behind me by my trail cam. By the time I turned around, the cam flash was going off but I could not see anything in front of it due to all the leaves and branches. 30 seconds later, there is a doe right under the tree my old hang on stand was in. (UGHH) and it proceeded to run towards my other ladder stand we set up to replace my hang on stand. It stood 10 yards from that stand for over 3 minutes and then walked away into the darkness.

This seems to be a recurring theme with me. I have two to three stands to hunt from and I always choose the incorrect one. I will have to try and trick my own mind next time and sit in the one I did not choose.

3 hours on stand so far this season and 5 deer sighted.

[Zem18]

Saturday - October 6th

So I am not an early bird by any stretch but I try. I rolled out of bed at 610am. Was at my spot by 635am and it was way more light out than I expected. I am here so I am heading into the field cautiously. Obviously I wasn't cautious enough because two deer were bedded on the trail I was walking in on and they were gone within seconds of me hitting the filed edge. I proceeded with more caution and sat until the rain startied to drive through the woods and blow me around. 2 hours on stand this morning and only the 2 deer sighted on the way in.

[Zem18]

Sunday - October 7th

Nice chilly morning this morning and no rain thus far. This time I was in my stand by 620am, about 15 minutes before decent light. I sat until 930am and saw nada, zilch, zippo, nuttin!!

Went to help my buddy cut down a small dead tree around 1030am. Went to another property we hunt together and as we pull in the driveway, there is a doe feeding under the apple tree in the yard. Good to see a few apples but not many this year.

Later in the afternoon as we were finishing the cleanup, 15 turkey came waltzing through the yard like we weren't even there. I made my worst turkey calls using my mouth and they would stop and look and then move on. My 6yr old son was counting them and saying " Dad, do you still see them, they are right there". I must've heard that 100 times over and over. I love that he is excited to see wildlife like that. He gets books out of the school library and brings them home about deer and turkey for me to read to him.

ALso for the past few weeks, my buddy and my son and daughter have been going out on the back roads and doing some spotlighting so they can see the deer up close. What an awesome time we have. We have gone out 3 times and here is what we have seen:

1st night - 121 deer - 5 which were confirmed bucks

2nd night - 168 deer - 9 of which were confirmed bucks (2 nice 8pts and a beauty 6pt)

3rd night - 103 deer - 4 which were confirmed bucks

[Zem18]

Thursday - October 11th

Man - I had the craziest day at work but I did get out on time (4:30pm) only to run into heavy construction traffic on the way to the stand. Just my luck I guess. Anyways, I did get out to the stand by 5:15pm tonight. Stopped by the trail cam and pulled the card. Got in the stand and popped it into my daughters camera and I get the dreaded (Card is not Formatted error). Story of how my day has gone.

Just as things couldn't get any worse, I can hear the cadence of footstps in the leaves. Things are looking up and as I look up in the direction of the sound, there is one, no two, wait a second three, holy crap its four deer, all does. Yup you guessed correct too, I was in the lower ladder stand and they all walked within 10 yards of the new ladder that I haven't sat in yet. WTH is my problem. I sat for a whole 20 minutes before I saw a deer tonight. I satyed until 6:55pm tonight as it was clear and cool but no other deer sighted.

So the day was bad, then got wayy better in the stand, and then went to the lowest of lows tonight. Our dog Smokie who turned 14 in March has had bone cancer for a few years now.She has not been doing well the last week or so and has been disoriented when she gets up and uses all her eneergy to go outside to the bathroom. I took her out tonight at 9pm and she went pee and then I carried her up the stairs because she was having issues with her back legs and was wobbly. I laid her down and 2 minutes later she is whining and that was the end. My wife laid by her the whole time sobbing and I had to wake the kids to tell them to come say goodbye. What a shitty night.

I am skipping my Friday evening hunt so I can dig a hole up at my inlaws where our other dog is buried.

RIP Smokie

[Nomad]

I'm sorry to hear that.R.I.P.

[growalot]

Geez...I'm really sorry your family lost a dear friend...what a beauty...RIP

[fasteddie]

Sorry to hear the sad news of your dog . We had one for 14 years and had her put away as she was losing her sight , legs were failing and she would fall down . Taking her to the vets was the final blow and I cried . We had her ( Holly ) cremated and have her in a container with her tags .

Good luck choosing the right stand .

[oneidacountyhunter]

RIP Smokie, always tough

Zem Keep up the hunts and writing sounds like your having a great year so far

[First-light]

Zemm,

Sorry to hear about smokie. I'm sure you picked a nice spot by the in-laws to lay her to rest. Most of us have been in your situation, we all know it sucks.

Good luck this weekend-your journal is great!

[Fletch]

Zem

Sorry to hear about Smokie. They are such a big part of our families..

[Zem18]

Thank you guys for the kind words - It is really tough on my wife and kids right now and I am trying to be the strong one. I was able to dig a grave tonight after work and put her to rest. Now when I walk in to go hunting at the in laws I can say hi as I walk past her and our other dog buried there.

Headed to bed so I can get up and freeze my buns off tomorrow morning. I have to coach a soccer game at 1030 so I'll at least get a few hours in. Good luck to everyone this weekend.

[Zem18]

October 13th

Wow it was chilly out this morning but I love it. I was headed into my stand and as I got to the edge of the woods I could hear deer running in the leaves. If there is one negative about my location, it is getting into the stand undetected but we hunt where we have access and do our best I guess.

I thought I was doing good time wise but realized that because it was so clear, I was late getting in the stand by 635am. I no sooner hung my bow and got settled and I could see a deer feeding 35 to 40 yards away. I watched it for over 20 minutes and as it started back into the woods and it went behind a small tree and disappeared. I knew it didn't continue into the woods because I would have definately seen it go past this smaller diameter tree. I kept an eye on the tree for 45 minutes, on and off, and then I heard the back door open at the inlaws to let the dog out. Well the deer heard it too and got up from it's bed right behind that tree.

The deer was on the smaller side and it continued to feed in a small corner of hardwoods on the edge of the field. It was munching on everything in sight, slowly headed in my direction. Honestly, this deer fed for the next hour and never came to within 20 yards of me. It was getting close for me to head out as I had soccer and I told the wife I'd leave the woods at 9am. I grunted several times at this deer and it paid me no attention whatsoever. Here I was playing my grunt call like a freakin trumpet and finally the deer fixed it's gaze towards the deeper woods. I stopped my tune and looked to the right side of tree and there stood momma doe and a little skipper. The deer reunited and headed right towards me.

Momma thought she had me busted 3 seperate times from both sides of the tree. She was so close I could see the moisture dripping out of her nose as she stared right through me. As this is happening, I hear the leaves thrashing behind me and she turns to look so I do the same. 2 small skippers come prancing down another trail. So now I have 4 doe and a button buck (the deer that has been there all morning) all within 15 yards of tree. I have a conscience so I never even picked up my bow. Hell, at 10 feet off the ground, I would've been busted in a heartbeat.

So I am trying my best not to spook momma and she finally walks behind some Autumn Olive and her Button and little skipper are within 5 feet of me so I make a funny face at the skipper by sticking my tongue out and she and the button make a dash into the field, about 25 yards away. Momma never got spooked and she walked out into the field to rangle up her kids and I watched them walk off as I was climbing down out of my stand. It was 910 and I called the wife explaining the whole thing and she didn't give me any crap. I was shocked. Not sure where the other two that were behind me went but I did not spook them either. I was home by 920 and all was good. What an exciting morning to be surrounded by deer the ENTIRE TIME.

I did get out again around 345pm that afternoon and sat until 640pm. Saw nothing.

Looks like I finally picked the right stand for the close encounters.

[Zem18]

October 14th

With the rain this morning, I hit snooze once, and then shut the whole thing off and went back to sleep. I was beat and didn't have the motivation this morning. When I did awake, it was warmer than I expected out. What a beautiful day it turned out to be. My buddy got a new 4wheeler so we went to check on a few stands for the gun season. We rode around for an hour and saw 9 doe and a one horned spike. All were up feeding this afternoon between 1:30 and 2:30pm.

When I got home, my son had been bugging me to take him squirrel hunting. I cooked an early dinner and took my daughter and son out for some small game action. We must've sounded like a heard of elephants walking the small hills in the hardwoods. When we got up on top where I wasnted to sit, we found a nice pine log and sat down. Saw 2 squirrels from this location about 75 to 100 yards away running at top speed. Maybe the fidgetting had something to do with it or them peeling the bark off the log saying, "Look at the size of this piece", "Oh yeah well look at the size of this piece".

As we were heading down the hill, my son spotted a squirrel so they both sat on their knees and I got the .22 scope on the squirrel and took my shot. Direct hit at 20 yards. They were super excited and then , "ewww blood" I think I heard a few times. My son ended up carrying it back to the landowners house pinching the tip of the tail with 2 fingertips. But boy was he proud to give that animal to the landowner and proceeded to let him know, " I spotted that baby, yes I did"

I gave both the kids hugs tonight before tucking them in and thanked them for going with me today. I asked if they enjoyed the woods and the hunt with me and both agreed that they wanted to do it again. Nothing will beat a day like that in the woods!!!

[Fletch]

sounds like you had two good days!

My son loves squirrel, we have gotten a few this fall!

[Zem18]

Hey guys - Sorry I have been slacking but work has picked up and my hunting time has gone down. Plus the weather hasn't helped any.

I'll make it brief - Sat approx 3 or 4 times since I last wrote. Got skunked twice, and the other times I saw the same 4 to 5 doe and button buck but no shot oppourtunities on the doe. Had an SD card issue in the trail camera but was able to retreive some of the pictures and had a dandy 8 or 9 point on there October 22nd at MIDNIGHT of all times. Got a new card Tuesday this week and put it in. Can't wait to go out this weekend as the weather has been getting nice and chilly to get them deer moving. I'll do my best to include more details next time.

[Zem18]

11-3-12

Got out for the afternoon hunt with my neighbor. The wind was relentless and it was chilly. My neighbor put out a scent wick with some doe in estrous on it so it was blowing around the woods. At about 5:45pm I turned around to see a large bodied scrub racked spike only 10 yards from me headed towards the scent wick. He went crazy once he smelled that doe scent. Was fun to watch him for sure. Only deer I saw that night.

Took a drive to my cabin on Sunday morning. Got out to open the gate and looked in the creek and saw a spike staring back at me at 10:30am. Drove in and had 2 doe run across in front of me as well. Got everything cleaned up and ready to go for next weekend. Set up the mousetrap to catch any critters and cut plenty of firewood. 1 week of work left and then 9 days off.

I should get out Saturday morning for a few hours before my daughters 2 soccer games and then after the games I will be out the rest of the day in the stand. Good luck to you guys going out this weekend.

[First-light]

Good luck Zem! I'll be up this weekend with my brother, friend and his son-Zach! We will have dead eye Zach with us so hopefully we connect!

[Zem18]

Hope you connected this weekend Burt - I sure didn't

Man what a lousy weekend. I am so disappointed. I sat for 7 hours on Saturday and Sunday combined and didn't even see a deer while on stand. NOTHING AT ALL. Grrrrrr. I would see them driving to and from the hunting spots moving before light and after dark. My neighbor saw a 7pt and an 8pt on Saturday after he got out of the stand and drove 100 yards down the road. Both were the largest racked deer he has seen and he has hunted over 30 years.

Saw a nice 6pt at 745am this morning going to work in someones front yard. Had a driver tell me he had a 10pt run across in front of his truck today at 3pm by work too. They are all over the place except where I have been. Frustrating for sure.

Time to break out the firepower for this weekend. I'm geting things packed slowly and will go grocery shopping Thursday night and then off to camp on Friday night. If I don't update before then, good luck to everyone this weekend and be safe.

Zem

[Fletch]

Good luck Zem!! Feed em lead!

[Zem18]

Thanks Fletch - I'm going to give em heck or die trying.

[First-light]

Good luck Zem! Give you a shout out around 5am Friday morning!