RackLuster

I have all day tomorrow to hunt and it's supposed to rain. sucks. a buddy of mine will be bear hunting. I have a funny feeling he's going to close the deal tomorrow or Sunday. we'll see. good luck all.

RackLuster

I got another doe last night. A buddy of mine made a huge box blind this spring and planted clover on the atv trail in front of it. I thought it was impossible to shoot a bow out of thatthing, but it worked great!she came browsing along the clover and gave me a 25 yard broadside shot.

Now that I have 2 does in the freezer I can start looking for a buck.

trouthunter

Well, I can now concentrate on deer hunting as my elk season has ended. I was unsuccessful in filling my tag, but the last day of the hunt proved to be an exciting one. After a month of huntingnewcountry I had finally found a good travel area to try and get a bull elk. It was a funnel and had great cover to set up in. Problem is I was just not getting any elk to talk to me. Reports were in that “the elk were just not talking much this year”. Some blamed the unusual higher temperatures; others blamed a wolf pack that had just made this area a recent home. (I follow the latter theory)
The last day of the hunt I got into my spot as day was beginning to break. I let out a locator bugle and heard the low guttural sound of a bull above me on a heavily timbered ridge. I decided to just cow talk from then on, hoping to entice the bull to me. I moved up to a natural blind I set up earlier on in a spot I liked. It offered a great angle on a travel path with two main shooting lanes; One about 40 yards and the other at 15. The 15 yarder was my main choice especially since I was carrying my longbow this season.
It wasn’t long and I heard the snap of a branch above me about 100 yards away. I looked and spotted a cow coming down the trail feeding to my ambush spot. As she filtered thru the trees, I then spotted two more cows following her. It was the last day of the hunt, and the tag was for either sex. I began to think that I was going to be eating some tender back straps that evening from one of the cows. Just then a young 6 point bull came out above the cows, following their same path. (we count just one side out here, so it would be a 12 point for you eastern deer hunters J) I then forgot about the cow elk stew, and zoned in on the bull.
The wind was right, the setup seemed great, and everything seemed to be falling in place. It wasn’t long and each elk had crossed past my 40 yard window. The rest of the trail was covered by thick brush, then wrapped around my position and came out behind a large pine.
The first cow soon appeared in front of me from behind the pine. She continued on past, offering a great quartering away angle. Each cow followed suit, and settled into a small clearing about 30 yards below my position. The bull then came into view thru the thick brush, stepping ever so closer to my shooting lane. Just as I seen his body disappeared behind the pine, I slightly elevated my bow to get ready for the shot. He then froze, and all I could see was his big nostrils sticking out from behind the pine. I waited, anxious for the shot the three cows had offered me, but he wasn’t committing. I slowly took a glance to my left thru my head net and spotted one of the cows looking straight at me. She had to have spotted my slight movement, and now she was fixed on my position.
She took a step toward me, wondering what the heck I was. I could almost make out the inquisitive look in her eyes. She slowly came closer, closer, closer. Each step a timid tippy toe towards me. The Bull was dead still behind the tree. He obviously was watching her, watching me. I noticed the other two cows were zoned in on her as well. She came to within 20 yards and then the game was up. She knew something wasn’t right and she had enough. Turning, she gave one big SNORT-WHEEZE and the forest erupted in the sounds of clambering hooves as the four elk made a bee-line straight up the ridge. GAME OVER!
I tracked them for a while, but to no avail. I made my way back to the truck, stomach growling to the sound of what tag soup will taste like, but my head was high. I had a great opportunity and wonderful experience. It would have been the icing on the cake to take a nice bull elk like that with my longbow, especially since it would have been my first animal with a traditional bow. I guess my Martin Savannah will have to wait to draw first blood.

RiverBottomBowHunter

Sounds like an exciting hunt. I hope to get to chase elk one day.

thanks for sharing. I'm going to get to hunt this weekend. Hope to see some good ones.

RackLuster

wow, what a story. you'll never forget that hunt.

I had a bit of surgery wednesday and i'm on 5 pound weight restrictions. no hunting for the next couple weeks for me. glad I have a couple deer down already, otherwise this would really suck.

Dr Andy

Great story! No new reports here. I've seen deer every time I've been out,but none so far have given me a decent shot. The next time out will be last weekend of Oct. hopefully one will make the fatal mistake then!

trouthunter

OK boys, after almost a year of silence, I took out my compound from under the bed...blew off the dust...changed out the bisket on the WB rest...went out to the yard...stepped back to 20..thwack,thwack, thwack...right on the mark!...stepped back to 30..thwack, thwack, thwack...right on the mark!

I think Ol' Reliable is back in service and the longbow will be taking a back seat for deer season :-)

Sport4

Tonight was an eventful night. I walked to my stand at about 4:30 right away I kick out a doe in the creek and it stops about 30 yds. from me. I draw back on her while she is stopped behind the tree. She then runs about 10 more yds away so I settle my 40 yd pin right on her vitals just to see a little branch in between my pin and her heart. I decide not to take the shot since I had the rest of the evening. When I get to my blind I sat about 15 minutes when I decided to text a buddy about what just happened and he said ok if I get one notify him. It was not but 10 minutes later when two real little bucks step out into the field. This is at roughly 5:05. At about 5:10 I hear noise to my right. When I saw the two bucks looking in that direction I quickly realize that the noise being made were from deer. Sure enough I see 4 does step out of the woods. It all happened really quick after that. The lead doe jumped out to 30 yds right away. I pull back and let the arrow fly. It ended up flying true and fast right where I had aimed. She did not go but 30 yds. before piling up. In the meantime the two bucks and three other does were just watching this all go down. After wondering what had just happened for a little bit they just all went back to feeding. Now though 4 more does walked out of the same spot the first 4 did so there are 10 deer out in the field counting the piled up on the ground. Instead of them all taking off after the shot they took off when the two bucks were chasing them around grunting the whole while. It (rut)is almost here already in central Illinois. I have heard many reports of the little bucks chasing does around.

RackLuster

I'm back in businesss. saw a couple does the other night.

i only have pics of 2 shooter bucks this year. lots of does hanging around. my land is a popular doe bedding area and makes a good funnel. so I should have some good rut activity. too bad I can't hunt during the rut

hope you all are getting out and seeing bucks. are you?

Dr Andy

Couple of nice 8-pointers hanging around the neighbors apple trees. I have a stand nearby and they've been scraping near it too! Didn't see anything this morning but I'll go out again this evening!