smokepolehall

Ifen i were a goose and duck hunter this would be the day to go. I got up at 5am to go deer hunting,but rain is pouring down. Its 60 degrees outside and the winds are blowing 40 mph, i ain't going today.[&o]

Omegalover

Fri Morning I went out, saw 5 deer. Again they were all too far, closest was just a tad over 35 yards. But a wonderful day in the woods enjoying Creation.

Didnt hunt Sat, winds 20 MPH and gusting to near 30.

Sunday was in the tree by 6:40, let things settle down. Legal shooting is Half an hour before sunrise here to somewhere close to 7:10 is legal.

At 7:22 2 Does come out from behind me on the right and move to where I take a trail to my stand. The lead doe is smelling and stops dead in her tracks where I had walked by earlier (about 27 yards out). She smelled for a long time, raised her head and looked dead at my stand.

She neverpanicked, butafter about 2 mins of a staring contest, on her part I dont make eye contact, she backed up two steps, turned around and walked away nervous. She knew something was not right or normal I think, but didnt know what it was. She didn't stamp her foot, blow or flag but she didnt take too long to move off either.

Then at about 8:45 I had a shot at a nice 3x4 at 24 yards but I missed him. He really did some wild careening maneuvers when he heard my Crossbow thump, jumped about2 feetinto the air and kicked his heelsway out.

I found about a dozen cut white hairs and several small spots of blood, but nothing else. Bolt had one small spot of blood on it, mostly mud, so I think I just grazed him when he jumped the string like he did. I got my buddy anyway and we looked for over 4 hours without finding any more sign of him being hit. I was really dissapointed, but have never seen a deer jump a string like that one.

early in

Omega, I am curious, did you have rubber boots one when you went in to your stand? I always wear them and I've had several deer walk the exact trail I use to get to my stand and none of themhave smelled my presence.

Omegalover

No to the Rubber Boots, same boots I have hunted with for the last three years. I have not had a problem with deer scenting me before with them.

I did change this year and instead of using "NoScent" spray went to the "EarthenScent." I have convinced myself to go back to plain No Scent but the guy I hunt with uses the Earthen Scent with effectiveness. His stand is only 5 yards from an open field with Cattle, mine is 150 yards into the woods, so maybe that is the difference. Irreguardless I am going back to Scent Free because it has worked well for me in the past.

early in

Interesting!

squirrelkilla23

Tonight was the best hunt i've ever had in my life!!!!!!!!!!! WoW is all i can say. I got done working the chores on the farm and I gotdressed and packed my gear and headed for the atv. Jumped on and rode a ways down the road and up a farm drive. I met a few other hunters up there but they were talking about gun season and noone was bowhunting.Ichatted abit and headed up into the bean feild on foot. I made it to the feild edge and cocked my bow. I looked down the pipeline for an odd visitor deerthat sometimes hits the opentrail through the middle. no deer there. I walked down the line 300 yards andwent5 yards off the feild facing into the woods. I was expecting to see them move from thewoods where they bed to the feild. i got a few pictures of the trail before my camera diedI had some good pictures to take too. Btw,I sat for2 1/2 hours and decided it was getting a bitdark and i had a waysto gohome. I decided to pull amove that i'm known forin all hunting. Speaking the language lol. I grunted a few times and started raking theleaves withmy hand violently. A few seconds laterDeer took off franticly lookingfor the"ghost buck" that was me at the base of the dead tree. I got excited and kept grunting when their movement slowed to get them spurred up again. Finally theystopped and islowly stood up for a shot at one. I couldnt seethemfrom the ground.I stood all the way up and caught two does on each side of me and a100 class 8point buck. I wouldnt mind shooting him though. Idecided to slink down and move in for the shot. I got into range and The doe snortwheezed. I quickly thought and snort wheezed back. They still thought i was theghost buck. i knew that i was on thin ice but i kept moving. I stood up for the shot and there was a grapevine bundle in the way of my vitals. I took a step to the right and a doe caught my movement. They were on the move.Ilet out a long maaaaaaattt and they stopped.AgainI moved into range. Stood again but with only a shot at a doe. couldnt find the buck. Iturned around topull the shot offon the doe. She caught movement and i followed them tothat powerline and i stopped,grunted,snort wheezed, and stopmed my feet. they stopped in the middle of the powerline. It was now or never. Iput the arrow in the barrel and made a short walk to the edge of the woods and turned the corner. A HUGE buck atleast 140's and 12 points, tons of mass was standing there. I was too shakey to pull the bow up and flip off the safety before he took off.an AMAZING hunt and You can bet your bow i'll be back there soon!!!

Hotburn76

Well me and dad went out to the new spot that I talked about the other day and boy is that place kickin! This time I went all the way back in and walked around looking for sign. There is a swamp area in the middle and that area was past the rubs that I mentioned before. So I start to walk around it when I find a sidewalk! yes, a deer sidewalk! This thing had to be 12 to 16 inches wide, solid tracks! Walked down it for a while and came out of the swampy area into deer heaven! I bet I found a dozen fresh rubs in a fifty yard stretch of woods. Found two real nice scrapes too!So on the one end of this is a pound and on the other side is RR tracks, whole thing in this spot by rubs is say fifty yards, perfect funnel! Found a nice dead tree with a bunch of limbs down around it and me and dad worked at it for about an hour talking and having fun setting up a natural blind. Was done at five and figured it was to late to leave and go to other spot so figured I would wait it out there and see. Had two big does get to within ten yards, but I let them pass cause i want a "tender" one if ya know what I mean. LOL. Good day!

smokepolehall

Its another duck n goose hunting day, sure ain't fer deers! Its raining winds blowing 35-40 mph and its got to be 65 degrees outside.[&o]

crossbuck

Today was my first time out (10/17/06) of my second year of hunting. I got out to my ground blind at about 5:30. I didnt see anything and with the wind blowing pretty hard i couldnt really hear too much. As i swung my head around to scope out my left side, I instantly froze at the sight of a pretty big doe at about 17 yards. This was the first time i had seen any deer while hunting so my nerves were running wild. As the doe walked directly into my shooting lane, i decided to pass on her. She had two fawns with her and i really didnt want to shoot a doe with two fawns.
So i watched the 3 for about 15 minutes until they moved on. This may not seem very exciting but for my first time out this year it has really motivated me to be persistant. I am now hooked.

early in

I got in my stand by 6:00AM thinking they would be on the move with the rain on it's way. By 10:00AM I only saw a big raccoon, that was all.[&o] I left when the rain came hard.[:@] I'll try again tomorrow.