Otto's 2022 Trail Cam Pics

[Otto]

I have video of him in daylight licking and rubbing on a branch.  Can't figure out how to post it.  If anyone can help me, I'll be glad to put it up. 

 

My unicorn......

[BizCT]

Cool. the forum used to allow videos, but now it doesn't. I just text screenshots of paused videos. OR you can upload it to youtube and post a link?

[Otto]

[Robhuntandfish]

boyah as the kids say! 

that end horn i think looks like something on a red stag! 

[BizCT]

awesome buck

[Otto]

Going to make this my journal too, I like reading the others.  

Hunt #1: 10/3/22.  Hunted afternoon 4pm till dark. North wind 3-5mph. 50 degrees.   Saw 12 different deer, including one very nice 8 pointer. He was a good 200 yards away and came out during the last 20 minutes of shooting time.  Had several deer in the field 50 yards away so I had to go out a different way in order to get to my car.  I drove the short distance to the far side of the property because of the wind direction.   

[Otto]

Hunt # 2: 10/5/22, hunted 4pm till dark on new property.  I set up a blind at an access point from the adjacent corn field.  I have several pictures of deer using that in the AM hours.   I love the Muddy blind with the one way fabric, but setting them up in a royal pain.  All of the rods have come undone and keep falling out when you are trying to set it up.  Took me at least a half an hour to deal with that and brush it in.  It’s ready for my first morning hunt. 

Hunted new stand on main trail and decided it is not a great spot.  I feel very exposed even though I put it in a cluster of trees.  I probably won’t hunt it again but will move it before gun to a better location with quick easy in/out.

Saw ZERO deer.  Early ripe, early rotten.  Thanks Bill B.  

[Otto]

Hunt # 3, 10/7/22 hunted Jasons Double 4pm till 6:30pm.  Freaking cold. Freaking windy too.  Saw a deer on my way in and she just looked at me and kept eating.  Got down at 6:30 because it was pretty dark in the woods.  Changed a camera card near the creek. 

Walking back I went the long way to see if there were deer in my pond food plot.  Just as I was 10 yards from the corn field, I saw a buck bound away.  Decided to arrow up and see if he stopped after a bit or if other deer were near and not spooked.  Walked out to edge and a buck was 20 yards away and directly facing me. No shot.  Stared at each other for a good while and then he bounced away quickly.  Walked to some other nearby cover and saw him stopped at the top of the hill, along with a doe even closer.   They both kept feeding and watched me slowly walk away.  

 

[Otto]

Hunt #4: 6am to 9am.  37 degrees and some rain, set up in blind at new property.  No deer seen at all.

4pm to 7pm, in Creekside stand. My nephew was in Pond Blind.  He saw a spike and a red fox, both in food plot at same time. He saw the fox catch something and eat it.  Nothing until almost 6pm and then I saw a total of 9 deer including the unicorn spike.  The closest deer I had were three doe about 30 yards away on other side of creek in thick stuff.  They moved out to the alfalfa field to feed, so I got down at 7pm. It was already quite dark.  

Had a nice daytime cell cam pic of an 8 pointer in a spot at the very back of the new property that I don’t have a stand or blind in.  The problem is access to the spot, something I’ll need to figure out. 

[Lawdwaz]

On 9/26/2022 at 3:20 PM, Otto said:

Looks like a good aiming point in that second picture.    

[wolc123]

Nice trick Otto, disguising your journal as “trail cam pictures”.  I am not much into those, so I skipped over it.   It sounds like you have been seeing plenty of action.  I am itching to get back out there myself.  Next Saturday, and opening day of northern zone ML season can’t get here soon enough.  

I thought I might have a little non-deer bedroom window hunting action yesterday.  There was a red fox, about 50 yards out back catching mice, when I looked out, just after sunrise.  My .22 was ready, but I checked the regs first and the season don’t open until October 25, so no shots fired.  I keep that gun there, in case I see coyotes (that opened on October 1).  
 

Good luck hunting and thanks for posting the journal, even though it was a little tricky to locate.  

 

 

Edited October 9, 2022 by wolc123

[Otto]

Hunt # 5, 10/9/22, 7am to 10am.  Decided to wait until there was daylight to go in with the hope that I would not blow deer out of the pastures and fields.  Did not work, blew out at least three deer before I got into the apple orchard blind. (New spot). Jason, I have your tall folding chair, it’s too dam high for this blind!!). Nothing seen, so moved to Pond Blind for one hour hoping I would get late movement from feeding to bed.  Nothing.

Really too nice of a day to be stuck in a blind, so I went back home and knocked off 4 or 5 honey-do items so I can hunt stress free in the coming weeks. 

 

[Otto]

Hunt #6, 10/12/22 4pm-7pm.  Gorgeous afternoon with south wind, so Justins Stand could/should work.  I’ve had consistent pics of late afternoon deer in this plot.  Nothing moving until 6pm when three small deer came in 50 yards out, they just slowly feed until they were a good 150 yards away.  Not sure why, but they decided to play and chase each other, at one point coming right under my stand at full speed and then to a dead stop, then 10 seconds later chase each other again.  Had a good 10 minutes of this and I did enjoy watching it.  Nothing else the rest of the night. 

I got a climber today and will be setting it up and practicing a bit before I break it out and try it in the field.   Also got some accessories from Third Hand, so hopefully I will be able to make around a bit more this season.  With the corn still up, warmer weather, and odd wind directions the last few days, I feel like all my usual stands are in the wrong spots.  

[Otto]

Hunt # 7, 10/14/22 3:30 to 7pm, Pond Blind  Warm and sunny start until about an hour before dark when it got quite a bit colder.  Nothing seen at all.  I need to trim back some cattails so I can have a bit of a longer view.  

Walked back at dark and scared up two deer near Justins stand.  I think I have busted deer walking back or in almost every sit so far.  I am going to let it cool down a bit before hitting it a little harder 3rd and 4th week of October. 

No hunting 10/15 and 16 - family funeral in Long Lake and a long list of chores on Sunday. 

[Otto]

Pic posted for click bait.....

[Otto]

Finally finished this stool for my grandson. And future grandkids!

Sent from my SM-G990U using Tapatalk

[Otto]

Hunt # 8, 10/18 4pm to 7pm, Apple orchard blind.  No deer seen except for two that I busted up walking in.  That is getting to be a very bad habit.  

Hunt # 9, 10/21 3pm to 7pm. I was invited to my cousins hunting camp in Chenango County for the weekend. It was great to be one some new ground and scenery.   Busted three doe on the walk in (AGAIN) but it was early and I was hopeful at least one of them would return.  No deer until 5:45 when a small doe walk up behind me.  She came around and I had to completely turn around on the stand in order to get her in my sight.  She cam to a stop and I drew, settled my pin and sent it.  Arrow flew completely over her back and into the ground.  She moved about 10 feet and just stood there.  Lots of branches in the way and I had lots of time to reload.  After 3 or 4 minutes, she slowly walked away.   

I had a good hour to figure out what I did wrong.  First, I never reset my pin to the 15 yards she was standing at, I had it at 25 from my last 3D practice session.  Second, I didn’t bend at the waist.  Both things together account for the clean miss.  Small silver lining, I didn’t have to track a badly wounded deer.   

Hunt #10, 10/22, 4pm to 7pm.  Sat in the same stand as night before and only saw one hen turkey.  No deer.  Had a great time with my cousins and everyone else.  They have a true hunters paradise there! 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Otto

[Robhuntandfish]

Hunt # 8, 10/18 4pm to 7pm, Apple orchard blind.  No deer seen except for two that I busted up walking in.  That is getting to be a very bad habit.  
Hunt # 9, 10/21 3pm to 7pm. I was invited to my cousins hunting camp in Chenango County for the weekend. It was great to be one some new ground and scenery.   Busted three doe on the walk in (AGAIN) but it was early and I was hopeful at least one of them would return.  No deer until 5:45 when a small doe walk up behind me.  She came around and I had to completely turn around on the stand in order to get her in my sight.  She cam to a stop and I drew, settled my pin and sent it.  Arrow flew completely over her back and into the ground.  She moved about 10 feet and just stood there.  Lots of branches in the way and I had lots of time to reload.  After 3 or 4 minutes, she slowly walked away.   
I had a good hour to figure out what I did wrong.  First, I never reset my pin to the 15 yards she was standing at, I had it at 25 from my last 3D practice session.  Second, I didn’t bend at the waist.  Both things together account for the clean miss.  Small silver lining, I didn’t have to track a badly wounded deer.   
Hunt #10, 10/22, 4pm to 7pm.  Sat in the same stand as night before and only saw one hen turkey.  No deer.  Had a great time with my cousins and everyone else.  They have a true hunters paradise there! 

We are both at 10 hunts and we've had about the same issues. Busting deer. Blah.

Sent from my motorola edge 5G UW (2021) using Tapatalk

[Otto]

Hunt #11, 10/27, Jasons Double, a very cold feeling 50 degrees at 4pm start.  Wind died down and it was more comfortable.  Saw a total of 8 deer, all does. Two almost at the start about 75 yards off, watched them go into the corn field, which is still standing.  Had one moving behind me and a moment later another one, probably those same two.  They stayed in the corn the whole time.  Had a small doe behind me for a good 20 minutes, she had no idea what was happening.  I had a few shot opportunities but she was very small.  

Watched a lone doe in front of me head to the alfalfa field where she was joined by two other deer.  Got down at 6:40 when it was dark enough.  Thought I heard grunting and was going to grunt back but decided not too.  

If wind stays the same I am going to try the climber tomorrow afternoon and set up nearer to the alfalfa.  

[Otto]

Hunt #12, 10/28, Back Corner Original - 3pm to 6:30pm.  Warm and sunny afternoon so I went and changed cards on a couple of cameras on my way to the Back Corner Original tree stand. Had a semi rare East South East wind, predicted for 5-6 mph, but I could barely feel anything.  Somehow lost an arrow out of my quiver so I will be on the lookout for that.  No deer seen at all during the sit.  Left at 6:30 and had a doe stand still in my headlamp for a couple of minutes.  Even had a short conversation with her about being careful out in the woods after dark.  She finally left after a couple of minutes.  

Planned to hunt both days of the weekend, but a late invite to SU v. Notre Dame (definitely should have hunted) and a much too nice Sunday morning changed that plan.  I did get a chance to add new ratchet straps to two tree stands and clear a shooting lane on another.   Also set out 2 new cameras in new locations.  For the next 14 days I am trying to avoid all appointments and other projects.  I have a covid booster scheduled for tomorrow, hopefully Wednesday will not be a sick day as it was for the other two boosters.  

[Otto]

11/1/22, 3-630pm Fred’s Backyard.  Had three doe about 100 yards away for the last hour or so. There is no climbing down easy with this stand, it’s been there a few years.  Creaks a lot when standing or being on the ladder.  It’s in a great spot, just needs to be replaced after this year.    

[Otto]

Hunt # 14, 11/3/22, 4pm to 6:30.  The corn fields were finally cut today and there were deer all over, just not within my arrows reach.  All does or antlerless, only one got within 30 yards but that is not within my usual range.  I was in Creekside Stand and had deer in both the alfalfa and corn fields and they were not moving.  I finally texted my son-in-law to get the UTV and come get me.  They cleared out while he drove up.  

Three days off due to my nephews wedding, back at it on Monday and it’s a Full Moon! Yea.