WNYBuckHunter's Outdoor Journal

[moog5050]

Great recount. Good luck in nailing that monster. As I was reading down, I was expecting to see a photo of a big buck down,

[WNYBuckHunter]

Haha I wish that was the case.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Crap, my recap of last weekend didnt post. Guess Ill have to rewrite it.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Last Friday, Nov 2nd was my first day off for the season. I was up early and in my stand on the farm a full hour before sun up. There was alot of water in the woods, which were previously dry before the storm came through. I heard some deer moving through the timber behind me, which was a good sign. Just after light, I get a text message from one of the other guys that hunts the farm telling me he was coming into the wood lot to sit in a stand about 150 yards north of me, but to get there he needs to go by me in the corn field or through the woods. Great. I tell him to go through the woods, but be slow and quiet, as I had already been hearing the deer moving through. I see him walk by and give him a wave. About 10 mins after that, I get another text saying he forgot his steps and couldnt get in the stand he wanted to, so he sat in a stand about 60 or 70 yards behind me. Oye. Well, I figured Id just make the best of it and told him to keep a close eye out, he was sitting where I had seen alot of activity the past couple of sits. A half hour or so after that, I heard a noise that I thought sounded like a branch breaking, but kind of odd. I looked in the direction of the sound and saw one of my target bucks moving through the timber. I gave him a grunt and he headed in my direction. I grabbed my bow and clipped my release on, only to watch the buck start running by me. I bleated at him a few times, but he just kept going, disappearing into the corn. What the heck. A minute later I get a text saying theres a buck coming through, so I reply that I saw him but he was running and wouldnt stop. The reply was thats because I shot him. I told him Id be over and we could go look for his deer, so I started putting my stuff away. We looked at the arrow, decent blood and fat, but white hair on the ground. We looked closer and it seemed the white hair was on the off side of the shot, and there was brown hair on the near side. We started tracking and found great blood, and alot of it. I figured we wouldnt have a long track and Id get to see this deer up close at last. The blood started petering out, then got good again, then petered out. I stopped feeling good about this track. To make a long story short, we tracked this deer for over a mile, most of which was with small drops of blood, and eventually just tracks in the mud. He never laid down, nothing. The guy told me that he thought the shot was low and that he hit briscuit. Well, after a few times of looking over the track, I had to agree. I asked if he wanted to call DSI and he said not right then, he wanted to look some more. I went back to my stand for a couple of hours. Later on, One of the other guys and I walked the property checking stands for storm damage, and they all made it ok. I was not able to do the afternoon hunt.

Saturday morning, I got up and went to my fathers place for the morning sit. I hadnt been there since Oct 1 when I shot my doe. I saw a doe early and was texting with a friend when I looked up, and there 50 yards right in front of me was a very big bodied buck. He shook himself, kinda like a dog does, to get the rain, etc off of him and I took a good look at his rack. He was an 8 at least, outside the ears and nice height with good mass and dark antlers. I slowly grabbed my bow and got into position for a shot if he came into my lane. He checked a scrape and then headed into the field. I grunted and bleated at him, but he paid no attention. He checked another scrape out in the field and disappeared. Ugh. After a couple more hours and no further sightings, I took off for the farm. On the way I peeked out into the field where we had lost the bucks track the day before, and noticed something. There, about 80 yards away from where we lost the track, was a buck, dead on the ground. How the heck did we miss that? So I turned around and pulled over to call one of the guys. He came down and we went to look at the deer. It was a buck, and had a wound within the white hair, but it was pretty far back, just in front of the rear leg. That explained why it went so far. It was also a smaller buck than I thought I saw, but there it was, everything added up. Ground shrinkage I guess lol. He called the guy that had shot the deer and asked him to come take care of it. We headed to our stands and I settled in for the afternoon. About 45 mins before sunset, I noticed a flick of white in the brush a little ways out. I kept an eye on the area and a big doe strolled out of the brush, got to within 60ish yards behind me and milled around, feeding. I was hoping she was heading out to the corn and would go by me but she started in the other direction. She looked over her shoulder, and a couple more does moved out of the brush and followed her. I watched as they moved away, then turned and hung my bow back up. I looked to my right, and there was Tank, following the same trail as he had come in using the previous weekend. Damn. I got my bow and tried to bleat at him. He barely took notice and kept on moving, sniffing the air, scent checking the corn field. I think its time to get another call to use if I see him again. He was not fooled by the same call twice. Saw another small buck in the timber right before I headed out.

Sunday, I was not able to get out. Monday morning rolled around, and in my stand at my fathers I went for the morning sit. Had a button buck come in early and hang out for about a half hour. Once he left, zip for activity, so I headed to the farm. Sat there for mid day, and nothing. I headed home to get a bite to eat, then went back up to my fathers for the evening sit, which is usually very good. The same button buck came back to the area and hung around for the last half hour of light. It was getting dark and I lowered my gear. Started down my stand and got half way before I noticed a big doe staring right at me. Damn, I hate when that happens. She took off and I got down as quick as I could, only to have another one walk out into the field while I was getting my bow. I waited for her to leave and went to my truck.

That will be all for me this week. Cant wait to get in the stand again Friday evening or Saturday morning!

[WNYBuckHunter]

BTW, the deer I found Saturday turned out to be a confirmed road kill that just happened to doe there, and happened to have a wound from the hit. We know because the rear quarter was all busted up inside and the farmer said he heard the collision the evening before. Thats why we missed it lol. Im a bit bummed that the deer wasnt found, but am hopeful that it lived and I or someone else will get a crack at him soon.

[First-light]

Great story, I see tank in your future, maybe this weekend! I hit my deer this year low in the brisket. Had a real good blood trail for a while. We tracked and tracked over two miles and never found him. Never bedded and the blood just stopped. Bet ya you see that deer again. My neighbor said he saw mine and it was doing fine. Good luck

[WNYBuckHunter]

Id love nothing more than to put Tank down this year, hes a book buck for sure, plus the history I have with him makes it that much better. Im not gonna lie though, I wont be holding out for him, I have my eye on a few others, plus who knows what I might run across through the season.

[Fletch]

Thanks for sharing your exploits with us. Good reading!

Try the snort wheeze on him next time. I had the 9 I got yesterday pretty much ignore the doe can and the grunt. He was headed straight away and I snort wheezed and he stopped on a dime I did one more and he came right back to me.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Ill give that a try! Hopefully I do see him again.

[WNYBuckHunter]

So, a recap of this past weekend.

Saturday I went over to my fathers place and sat in my stand. I noticed some movement about 100 yards out in front of me and started watching. I saw a nice looking deer headed my way, but couldnt make out if it was a buck or doe due to the brush between us. Once the deer got a bit closer, I noticed antlers, so I grabbed my bow and got into a shooting position for where I figured he would appear. He got to about 50 yards and I was trying to make out the size of his rack when I noticed a flash of brown out of the corner of my eye off to my right. I looked over to see another buck rushing in from the opposite direction. I could tell he was on the small side, as his body was plainly that of a 1 1/2 year old. The other buck was now standing 20 yards away, but behind a clump of trees so I couldnt see him very well. The second buck started to approach him, and I thought "cool, maybe Ill get to see them fight". I could see the second buck that came in was a crotch horn 4 point. The first buck turned to face him, but then turned back into the direction he was heading originally and stepped from behind the clump of trees. He was at 15 yards and I could plainly see his rack, he was about an 80 inch 8 point, still inside the ears. I didnt bother drawing, but still held my bow as both bucks approached my stand. They both got to 10 yards right in my lane, with the 8 dead broadside and the 4 quartering to me. I watched them as they began to move away, to my south.

Later that morning, after no more action at my fathers I headed to the farm. I had brought my climber with me so I could get into a spot I hadnt been in this year. On my way there, I remembered I didnt have a spare safety strap with me, so Id go to my creek stand for a while and take that one with me when I moved. Sat for a couple of hours at the creek stand, no action. Took my safety strap and headed to another area of the woods with my climber. Now, I hadnt used my climber this year, and it wasnt aired out properly, but I figured the wind would take care of that issue, as where I was going to set up was down wind of where the deer usually come from anyway. I got setup in a tree right in the middle of 3 different trails, ith the major trail right in front of me. After 20 to 30 minutes I heard some tromping through the leaves behind me. Great, I knew I was gonna get busted with the stinky stand. I turned to look, and a nice doe emerged from the thick brush and stopped. I could see her sniffing, but she wasnt alarmed. She simply turned and went the other way, no tail up or snorting, just didnt like what she smelled. Bummer. About 15 minutes later, crashing in front of me and to my right. Another doe ran right up to where I figured they would and began turning toward the trail I was hoping for. Unfortunately, she took a different turn and started down a trail that ran behind me, but I figured I would still get a shot, just not where I was hoping to. She got to within 20 yards and I found what looked to be a good basketball sized hole in the limbs and settled my pin. She stepped into the hole with her shoulder right where I needed it to be, so I grunted at her and she stopped. I pulled the trigger on my release and watched as the arrow nicked a branch I hadnt seen, and flew high right into her backstraps. She spun and ran with the arrow half way through. I figured Id give it a bit before I got down. Maybe there was the off chance that it got low enough on the exit to clip a lung, but I doubted it. Damn.

I got down and left my pack on the climber, on the tree. I found the POI, lots of hair but no blood. Luckily the leaves were dry and I could see right where she ran, so I started following the trail. After 5 yards, finally, blood. Another 10 and there was my arrow, completely coated and a blood trail a blind guy could follow. I knew what this was, as Id had a trail like this the first year I bow hunted, but I went on, tracking her just in case it was a better hit than I thought. after plenty of blood going through the thickest cover in the area, I found 3 big boogery blood clots, then a few drips and finally nothing. I was still able to see her fresh tracks where they ruffed up the leaves, so I followed the trail as quietly as I could. Her path led to a tall goldenrod field, so I stood up and looked into the weeds, and she jumped up about 20 yards out. I could see on her left side (off side at the time of the shot), the wound was above the spine, and no longer bleeding. She ran off and I went over to her bed. No blood.

I got back to my stand and packed up my stuff. There was still a little time to sit, but I was upset with the shot, upset with injuring a deer, and just plain over it with bow hunting for this season. Dont get me wrong, I had a blast this year, had some fun encounters with great bucks, got to see some bucks that should be great next year, and shot my first ever opening day deer. It was just a bummer to end the season on a bad note.

Sunday was too warm, so I got the last of the yard work done. I cant wait for this Saturday. Hopefully one of those big boys shows up where they did during bow season!

[First-light]

Have a great opening day!

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks, you too! Only a couple more days!

Went out and got my slug gun sighted last night. Saw a buck with a doe singled out in a field on the way to the club. He was young, looked to be a 1 1/2 that only had one side and a short antler stump on the other side. I pulled up to the edge of the field and watched him for a few minutes. The doe milled around, eating, he never moved, just stood there watching her. It was not that far from my fathers place, maybe I will see him out looking for more tail this weekend. If I do, he will get a pass anyhow.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Opening weekend for me went like this.

Woke up and got coffee started on Saturday, got my daughter up and had her get started getting dressed. We left for my dads place and got there well before sunup. Parked the truck, got into our gear and headed to the stand. In previous years, she always wanted me to climb up first and bring a rope with me that was tied to her safety strap on her HSS vest. This year, she wanted to do it solo, so I told her OK. She climbed up there like a champ and we settled in. Just as it started getting light she taps my arm and says "Daddy, theres a deer right there" I said where and she pointed to my left. Sure enough, theres little Billy Button staring right up at us. I told her that he was just a button buck, and besides, its too early. So we sat and watched him skirt around us. About 20 or 25 minutes after he disappeared, her toes were starting to get cold and she started complaining. While whispering to her, I noticed a deer off to our right, about 100 yards behind us, just feeding along. I told her to slowly look behind her, as there was a deer heading our way. She looked and said it looked big enough to her. I agreed, as it was a very good size deer. I got my gun up and looked through the scope, I could see it was the big 8 that I had been after since bow season. I adjusted my scope and noticed that it felt like it had rotated a bit. Sure enough it had. I got it back to where it should have been and the buck stepped into my lane. I took the shot, figuring it should be close, and the shot went low, under his chest. Really? Did that just happen I thought as the buck bounded off. We sat in the stand, me kicking myself and her telling me it was ok. After 15 mins or so, we got down and started checking, just in case. Nothing. We looked at the spot of the shot and along the area we had seen him leave, nada. I knew I had missed just by the way he acted when he left. We headed back to the truck so that we could go over to the range and get the gun sighted in. The range was closed, so we called it a day.

Sunday we took my gun to the range and got it dialed back in. I also discovered the reason why the scope was loose. I had neglected to put loctite on the threads of the screws when I set the gun up, and from all of the practice, moving the gun around, cleanings, etc they had come loose.I got it all set with a dab of loctite on each one. That afternoon we headed out for our stand and didnt end up seeing anything at all.

On our way home, I asked if she had fun and she said she had. I asked if she was disappointed with the miss on the buck and she said no, she was happy to have seen the biggest buck she had ever seen out hunting. That made me smile, as Ive been trying to teach her that its not all about the kill. Looks like its working.

Im back at work for today, but have the rest of this week off. Cant wait to get back out there tomorrow. Hopefully I wont have any more equipment failures, my fault or not.

[Zem18]

Sounds like a great Opening day with your daughter. How old is she? I am still debating on taking my daughter who is 10. She says she would go but isn't 100% sure she wants to. I am leaving the decision up to her but I know if I asked her to go sometime, I believe she would say yes.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Shes 8, this is her 4th season. Give it a shot.

[Zem18]

That is awesome you have taken her since she was 4. My wife doesn't mind me hunting but she is an animal lover. My daughter is just like her in a sense but she has gone squirrel hunting and did not mind it at all when I shot one. She actually watched the landowner clean it and was not squimish at all. I will definately give it a shot. Thanks.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Day one of vacation. Woke up at 4:30 and got ready to go. Headed down to the farm for a sit in my ladder stand. It was crisp and quiet this morning with me having the woods to myself. The squirrels were really active, so I was watching them and having a bite for breakfast. Right about 7:15, i heard some racket behind me and turned to see a yearling doe at about 100 yards, heading to the thick bedding off to my left. I knew we had a DMAP for the farm left, but I let her walk anyhow. About an hour later my feet were getting cold and I was starting to think about going for a walk, but i decided I would wait until 9:30. 15 minutes after that I heard crashing behind me, so I grabbed my muzzleloader and turned to see a nice sized doe bounding toward the thick cover. I grunted and got my gun up and she stopped right behind a tree. I waited for 5 minutes for her to move forward, but she wouldnt take a step. All of a sudden she took half a step back, which was all I needed to stay away from the guts, so I put the crosshairs just under her spine (not the top of her back) and squeezed the trigger. Boom, big cloud of smoke and a deer planted right where she stood. It felt good to fill the last DMAP and take the first deer with my new muzzleloader.

One of the guys came down and helped me drag her out, then I took her home and got her hung in the garage, cleaned up my gear and headed back out. Went to another farm with my buddy and decided to do a bit of scouting before getting into a stand. Got into a stand on a ridge at 2:30 and sat till 4, as I had to be home before 5:30. Saw a great buck on my way in, and about 15 does across the cow pasture on the way out. I had about a 150 yard shot at the does but didnt have time to get things done, so I headed home. Will be back out in the morning for day 2.

[Fletch]

Way to go, nice doe. I took out the muzzleloader tonight as well!

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks! Im hunting with it all season except for doing any drives. Its much nicer on the shoulder than my shotgun, even just my little 20ga.

[WNYBuckHunter]

Day two....

This morning was very cold and foggy, but uneventful.

this afternoon, my buddy and I set up a new ground blind on another part of the farm, and the idea was I was going to sit it this afternoon. When we returned to the farm a bit later, I noticed a guy in his ladder stand about 140 yards across the field. Damn, couldnt sit there, so I headed toward the stand I sat in yesterday. When we got to the spot where I saw the does, I showed him what I had seen and we discussed what the plan for today was. He was going to another ground blind, just down the hill from where we were and I decided I would stay there and see if I couldnt get lucky and catch the does heading into the back pasture again. I wasnt sure if it would work, as I was pretty exposed, but I thought maybe the distance was going to help me out. I was texting with my buddy asking if we had seen anything, and we both said no. As I put my phone away I spotted a doe coming into the pasture. I got low and moved up to the fence post that I could use as a rest. The doe moved into a swail in the pasture and I was waiting for her to emerge when I saw a rack come out from the brush to the left, right where I had ranged the does at 186. I switched my attention to him and as he put his head down to feed, I held just over his back right above the shoulders and slowly squeezed the trigger. POP! Are you kidding me! Misfire! The powder had gotten damp from loading up the previous day, then having 20 degree temps this morning and 50s in the afternoon. The buck looked over at the noise, then put his head back down. I got low and went back to my backpack, yanked the breech plug and pushed the load out. I threw everything out of my pack to get what i needed and reloaded, got back up to the post and slowly stood up. The buck was gone. My buddy called and asked what that pop was, so I told him, and as we were talking, the buck headed up out of the swail, i threw my phone, pulled up and grunted at him. I set my crosshairs in the same spot as he stood there slightly quartering to and let him have it. Boom! Through the smoke I saw the hit take him off of his feet. He got back up and headed into the brush. I picked my phone up and told him what happened, and he headed up to me. We went out and found blood, but thought we would give him time. I decided to range the shot, 180 yards on the dot from the post I rested on to my buddy standing where the deer was. We gave it an hour and followed a 50 yard blood trail to the other side of the brush right to my buck!

Hes a solid 2 1/2 year old, with a very symmetrical rack. I couldnt be happier! What a vacation so far, a great doe yesterday morning and this guy tonight! Gonna take Thanksgiving off and get back after it Friday.

[growalot]

Nice Buck!...Congrats

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks!

I forgot to mention, his antlers right near the brows, are still all full of wood shavings from the rub he must have been making before he came out into the pasture.

[Nomad]

He's nice ,tall. Great shot and re-grouping after misfire !

[WNYBuckHunter]

Thanks Larry! I never reloaded that gun so fast!

[DTG3k]

Awesome buck, and awesome Christmas decorations in the garage. lol