Where Are The MA Hunters?

MassBowhunter · 10-23-2003, 06:29 PM

Anyone have anything to report in MA yet this year. I haven' t seen many posts.

nhhuntr · 10-23-2003, 06:34 PM

Alot have gone over to jesses hunting and outdoors.

Mass.hunter · 10-24-2003, 05:32 PM

Hey!

I' m here!
Only saw one deer all week in Western MA. A small 6 pt. and I missed him. Quite a few guys in the woods over here. Not much action yet. A few boundry scrapes and small rubs.

I' m bettin' the rut should start 1st week of Nov.

Good Luck
Jack

MassBowhunter · 10-25-2003, 06:31 AM

Ya, there' s been a lot of activity around here (zone 11) but mostly by buttons and small does. I have noticed a lot more deer moving mid-day instead of the power hours though. And this is with no hunting pressure at all.

Good luck to you!

Phil J. · 10-28-2003, 09:16 AM

Hey Derrek

I' ve had a pretty good season so far, seen some early buck activity in certain areas and none in other, so I' ve been adjusting my stands to those areas, also noticed good mast crops in some areas and absolutely none in others.

On the 18th I noticed alot of rubs and scrapes in one of my stand areas when I was exiting from my morning hunt, so in the afternoon I set up over the line, which also had alot of acorns and beechnuts in the area and around 6 p.m. a 170 lb. 8 pt. came strolling by. I got a good shot on him, he was very close. Came back later that night and tracked him the 100+ yards that he went before going down, had a hell of a drag that night but it was worth it as always.

Here' s a photo of him, got alot of meat out of him, I was happy with his weight, haven' t taken one that large of body weight in a few seasons.

Phil J. · 10-28-2003, 09:19 AM

Also had a great saturday afternoon hunt this past weekend. I set up in a staging area that was about 100 yards in from a field that the deer like to browse in.At around 5:30 a doe with two skippers came in, she was really jumpy due to the wind and was prancing all around, but around 6:00 she got within 10 yards of me and offered me a broadside shot. She didin' t go very far before going down.

Here' s a photo of the doe, had to take it myself so it didn' t turn out the greatest, but none-the-less.

Hope the next week will present some good chasing/seeking activity from the bucks, good luck out there everyone!

MassBowhunter · 10-30-2003, 03:58 AM

Phil, nice buck!! Looks like between the two you' ll have some good eatin' for a while!

I' ve been sick and haven' t been out except for opening day and one other day to scouthunt an area for gun season, but I' m hoping to get out there this afternoon and then hunt Friday & Saturday too.

I' ll tell ya I wish the temp around here would stay steady instead of this 35 degree' s one day and 60 degree' s the next. It' s supposed to get up as high as 75 degree' s on Saturday!! That just doesn' t seem right to be hunting deer around here in those temps.

Could do without all the darn rain too! At least it makes for good still hunting.

Good luck.

Derek

Mass.hunter · 11-01-2003, 08:27 AM

Hello

Just a little report form western Ma (zone 7). It' s startin' to look a little " rutty" Quite a few scrapes, and rub lines established. Had a pair (4 pt. and doe) bust me Friday morning. Decided to hunt the ground in a new area. I had just sat down and had the feeling I was being watched. He came in behind me of course. He checked me out pretty good but was about to make a mistake. I started to draw when he went behind a big pine and...snort, snort,...blow, blow!!! I didn' t realize he had a girlfriend with him. Fun to watch though.

Jack

MassBowhunter · 11-05-2003, 06:27 PM

Jack, sounds like you' re about to start having some fun with it getting " rutty" . I' ve only seen a few rubs here and there and no scrapes at all which is weird because this time of year my area is usually full of rubs and scrapes.

I did discover there are at least 2 resident coyotes in the area though. Not sure if that is the problem but I know the cat population has begun to shrink.

I' ve still only made it out a few times so far. I' m usually not a fair weather hunter but I' m just tired of all this rain and hot weather. The deer don' t seem to be too happy about the 70 degree weather either. At least the ones in my area. They seem to be moving more at night.

I did have a big bodied doe come in on me last week when I was hunting a ground stand but ended up getting busted. She couldn' t smell me, as the wind was in my face, or make out what I was but she knew I didn' t belong there so she did a little snort snort blow blow as well.

Then I rattled in a buck the next day that I didn' t know was there until I began to move on to my next spot and he spooked. I should have known better but......

The forecast looks like the temps will be dropping a little but the rain just seems to keep coming and coming. I keep telling myself " it' s still early there' s plenty of season left" but it sure is starting to go by fast.

Hopefully I' ll have some pics and a story to post soon.