fshafly2

I had Ed down to my farm yesterday for an all-day hunt. We had a slow morning, and changed stand locations for the afternoon, just so we could look at different vegetation. Deer movement sure picked up. I saw ~14 deer, and although I claimed I'd shoot a doe if she came in range, I reneged on several opportunities. Two fawns came into the clover plot with a 5 ptr in tow... and over time more does and fawns were showing up. I had hopes for a shooter making an appearance with all the "bait" out in front. (I picked up trail cam memory mid-day and a shooter had walked thru our area the previous evening). Eventually a spike and then a nice 8(?) ptr cruised by inside the woodline opposite my stand - they put the doe herd on alert, but didn't bother them and stayed well out of range. The nice buck headed towards Ed (we were about 200yds apart), but must have diverted. Ed saw several deer at his end of the field. We both had a good time - it was nice for some deer to show up and make it better...

-fsh

HuntingEd

Hey all, I didhave a good time at Andy's. Thanks againg for havin me! I saw a nice 8, probably not the same one Andy saw, but he needs another year, (Andy make sure you save him for me next year there was another deer behind him that circled down wind and never came out of the thicket, Andy and I both assumed this was the big guy.
On they the way home my cousin called and told me the small ten was chasin a doe at our farm, so I'll be out there tonight. I tried to get out this morn, but after gettin up at 230ish the night before I turned the alarm off quickly gonna try to be in the woods by noon, i, will keep you posted!

HuntingEd

Hey guys,
Yesterday evening was a good one, had plenty of action, just none of the big guys... I really thought I was gonna close the deal, about 415 a lone doe came walking in, I glanced up and behind her I saw a buck, nose to the ground following, at first I saw decent bone too! Really got my heart thumping as they made their way through the mountain laurel, but when they appeared i realized the buck was about 17" wide and probably equally tall, a nice young 8pt, I could tell he was probably a 2.5 yr old, just not the deer I wanted to shoot this year... So I held off, had a few other young bucks come in to check things out and saw about 8 does... I might make it out one morning this week w/ the bow then gun season starts and I'll probably carry both with me....

fshafly2

I had a close encounter this afternoon with a 10 ptr... I saw him crossing 40yds out in front of me and grunted. He came straight in, and turned broadside at 20yds. My shoot-meter was twitching all along, but in the end, I gave him a pass - he had some broken tines, maybe 17 to 18" inside. When he was walking away, I had second thoughts - maybe 125 to 130 ish... oh well. I've had several dinks in range over the past week; the MD gun season started today - hunting will be difficult until the deer crawl out of their foxholes...

Ruby did very well tracking and finding a doe and 9 ptr this the past week. We spent some time looking for a friend's buck tonight, but no joy (no hair or blood, maybe a miss (shotgun)?).

-fsh

WV Hunter

Hey guys....I'm back in town. Had a good last week...

First, a week ago Friday evening I had a great bow encounter here at my house with a decent buck, finally. He followed a doe and crossed the creek right to me...20yds broadside. I had him stone dead, he just wasn't big enough. Probably 90" or so...7pt.

I headed to WV last Sat for our opening week of rifle annual tradition with the family. I saw quite a few bucks, and lots of does. My son got a nice 4pt on opening day (ironically 2.5 yr old aged by dnr) and my cousins son got his first deer, a nicer 4pt (aged 3.5). Both of them also killed does. I shot 2 does for meat, and one was with my daughter which was cool. This was her first time ever being on a hunt with a kill...she did great and had a blast. She just turned 9...now she thinks she wants to try and shoot one next year. We'll see. We killed 14 total...all does except those two bucks and 1 button. I saw about 15 bucks total, one being a shooter that I couldn't get on, and probably 3-4 that were 80-90" bucks. I did sneak up to a buck that was sleeping...it was cool. He was a really nice 6pt (no brows) probably 90"....it was his lucky day as I gave him a pass. It was fun to watch him sleep for 45 mins, him never knowing I was 60yds away. Overall it was a pretty good week despited crummy weather (a good bit of rain and fog). Now I have 4 deer in coolers on my front porch, so I'll be busy the next couple days. Here's a few pics. I got lucky on my doe....she fell out and the log stopped her roll. She could have gone another 50yds down the hill and then there is a 40ft cliff at the end of the slope. Woulda been real fun getting her out of there, LOL

I'll be back at it with the bow now mostly. Hoping to get on a decent one. Will do some late season gun and m/l hunting also.

Good luck guys

Mike

crenth

Well it seems like the rut may have started near where we hunt. Dad finally saw a little buck chasing a doe. We've got our sights on a real nice 8 pointer. Got a picture of it in the daylight at 1:47 PM. That's about the 4th or 5th picture this year so he seems to be staying in the area. Supposed to be getting a cold snap this week so hopefully activity will finally pick up. I just hope none of the neighbors shoot him during gun season. Good luck guys!! We need some more inches up on the scoreboard!!

WV Hunter

Hey Crenth....same here. In the last 10days I've seen rutting activity, finally! We even saw some breeding in WV last week, and a good bit of chasing as well.

fshafly2

Mike - very nice pics!, great for you to get the youngsters involved! I worked with my brother to get his son (now 32) involved in bowhunting when the kid was 14. My nephew let it lapse and re-started last year. He just took his 5th deer for the year with a bow over in VA, woohoo!

The rut has wound down around here, but twice recently I had does in sight get run off by young bucks crusing the woods.

Our gun season is now going on, but there are still a few bucks to be had:

-fsh



and another...

crenth

Got lucky this morning. First day of second gun season in IL. Had 2 nice bucks walking together that went around me up towards my dad. He shot one and the other ran down to me and I shot it. Really would rather have taken them with a bow but I'm not gonna pass them up with a gun.

Mine is the 12 pointer on the left. He's got the 8 pointer on the right. We've seen the 8 pointer on our camera 4-5 times. Nice to actually bring him down.

AK NIMROD

Andy , nice bucks hopefully you will get a chance at one. before the end of the season. hang in there.
i've been out sick and will be 2010 before i can return to work bored being at home but no enery to do much.