Mantis Mayer

I haven't had deer in range thus far. I'm hunting the fringe areas due to the swirling 25mph winds. Mother Nature is an anti-hunter![:@] Looks like rain for the next week. [:'(]

Jeepnut

Action has been pretty slow for me too. I've seen a few deer but have yet to get a shot opportunity. I've had several close enough but just no shot. I had a doe at 20 yards this past weekend but it was still just a little too dark to see my pins. I've got 3 friends coming in from PA this coming weekend & we'll be hunting all day Fri, Sat, & Sun so one of us is bound to get something. I've been putting in a ton of hours in the woods compared to recent years so my lack of success certainly isn't due to not trying. Just a matter of time.

I'm sure you've all seen Rob's reminder about having your bow in the photo with your buck but I just thought it was worth mentioning again. I'd hate for one of us get a buck & not have it count because of something so simple. I figure that since it took a while for us to get organized as a team, it only makes sense that it'll take us a while to get rolling & on the scoreboard. I wouldn't be surprised if it comes down to the team with the most bucks & not necessarily the size of the deer so if we each can get some sort of decent entry before the end of the season I think we'll be in great shape.

Good luck to everyone this week!

Stonyrvr

Hunted once last week and a few times over the weekend. Last Thursday night I had a forkhorn walk along the ridge where I was sitting and eventually he ended up 25 yards away exactly downwind. When he scented me he stood there for atleast five minutes looking up in the tree where I was standing. He never did see me, but he ended up slowly walking back into the swamp that he first came out of. I'm very impressed so far with the ASAT camo, but apparently I need to work harder on the scent control. Over the weekend, I didn't see anything while on stand. I saw a number of does and fawns while looking around during the day, but no bucks. The good news is that rubs and scrapes are finally showing up and in a little over a week I will have about 10-12 days to hunt with 8 of those being before the rifle season opens up. Plus, I still haven't even gone near the stands that should give me the best chance at a shooter. But seeing as how things don't usually go as planned who knows what will happen. If I don't whack one that week, it won't be from lack of effort or lack of time sitting in a tree. Most people at work can't fathom how I can spend most of my vacation time sitting in a tree freezing my a$$ off. I try to explain, but they just don't get it. Good luck everyone. We are due.

SCBOWMAN

Hello guys, havent been able to check in for awhile. Been keeping me tied up at work. I was able to take a small 7pt on Oct.9th. He came in chasing 3 does and grunting like crazy. He is no giant but he is my best bow buck and I was proud to take him. The rut is starting to pick up so things should be heating up for all of us. Good luck to all of team 21 and God bless!

Rob/PA Bowyer

Congratlations SCBOWMAN, you put your team on the board with your 7 pt. Way to go, now you need to post it in the official score thread and we'll get it entered. Remember 1st buck counts only.

SCBOWMAN

Thanks Rob, I understand that this would be the first buck for our team but I still have alot of hunting left and I know that there are bigger bucks in the area. I am kind of hesitant to officialy enter this buck because I dont think he would even break 100 and I might just put one of these big boys on the ground. You dont have to enter the first buck you kill do you? As I understand it you can only enter 1 buck but what if this is not the one I want to enter??

Jeepnut

Sorry SC, but it's Rule #9:

But congratulations anyhow! You've put us on the board! So lets see some photos & hear the story.

I think a team full of 100" bucks could easily win this thing so we're off to a good start.

Stonyrvr

SCBOWMAN-congrats on the buck. Nothing wrong with a seven pointer. Now, if we could just give you alittle help. Weather doesn't sound great for where I'll be this weekend, but you just never know.

SCBOWMAN

Well Ill guess I need to keep my big mouth shut! IM kidding, I guess I just skimmed over the rules and didnt read #9 correctly. Oh well, heres the story.
I have permission to hunt my in-laws 80 acre farm. It is about 60 acres on one side and 20 on the other. The majority of the deer acivity seems to be on the 20 acres. I have taken does off of this property for the last 2 years but never a buck. I hadnt really seen any bucks or buck activity. I hung a lock on stand about 2 weeks before the season opener in anticipation of getting a crack at another doe. This time things were different though. There were several rubs in the area and I found a nice set of buck tracks in some soft ground. Man I was pumped to say the least. I let this stand rest for about 2 weeks and then hunted it in the evening. Man it was HOT and I didnt see a thing except the 1000 mosquitoes that were straight tearin me up. I hunted 2 weeks later in the evening with the same results. I vowed not to hunt the stand again til a cool front came in. Well the weekend of Oct. 9th was calling for some cooler temps and I decided to hunt this stand in the am. This is a tricky situation as I have bumped alot of deer in the past on morning hunts. Well I crossed the small field leading to the wood line. So far so good. I enetered the edge of the woods, took a few steps and i heard a deer run off. It didnt blow however. I waited a few seconds and continued on in. To soon! It started blowing! !#@$ I was pissed! I started questioning my decision of hunting this stand in the a.m. I got to my stand and got settled well before daylight. Well it was slow and I saw nothing til 9:18. I had just looked at my watch when I looked up to see a deer moving in the thicket. I thought it had saw me and was leaving. I sat and out pops a doe, then another, then another. They start heading right to my shooting lane. I reached for my bow and stood all in one fluid motion. They didnt have a clue. They kept moving and I decided I would take the first one to offer a good shot. Well I was getting ready to draw on the lead doe when she stopped and the other one got right behing her. I wasnt going to take the chance of wounding the other deer so I waited. As I was watching the does, something caught my attention where the does came from. A tree limb was swaying side to side. I was like thats odd, squirrels usually bark at deer, that one jumping around. Well it kept doing it and I noticed the does were looking back checking it out. Then it hit me like a brick, you idiot thats not a squirrel its a buck rubbing a sapling!!! Sure enough here he comes. Ears laid back, head up grunting like a fool. The does scattered and one comes right under my stand. The buck follows her and I could have spit on his back! I contimplated the straight down spine shot but I got hold of myself. He went behind my stand and all I could see was 1 side of his rack. Now Ive got 4 deer all within 5 yards of my stand!!.
Scent-lok dont fail me now, was all I could think. He moved off a lil to my right and I had to move my bow around a small tree that I was using for cover. I thought for sure one of the does would bust me but no. I could barely see him in the thick stuff. Then one of the does bolts back under my stand and goes straight out in front of me. He circles and tries to cut her off. This is it! I let him get to about 15 yards and draw. He sees me and stops. As I settle the pin on his vitals I notice two limbs are making a perfect V right at his chest. You want to talk about a small window, no lie, I had about 4 or 5 inches to shoot through. I had to decide to try to split them and make the shot or let down and know he was gone, all within about 3 seconds! I settled the pin right in the middle of the V tight behind the shoudler. SWACK! Perfect hit! This is the first time I new for a fact that I had made a sweet shot. He turned and ran then at about 20 yards started walking slowly. I thought he was going down but he walked out of site and I knew he was heading for a thick pine thicket. I waited an hour and got down to check the arrow. It had bright red blood but also some pounch. This didnt worry me too bad because I knew he was qaurtering to just a hair and I probably caught some gut on the exit. I went home and tried to eat and laid down on the couch. My nerves were shot and the doubts started creeping in. I started questioning if I really saw what I thought I saw. I called a friend and he came down and we went to find him. I had given him abot 3 hours. There was a little blood at impact but the blood trail was non-existant. I started to worry. This was the first time me and this friend had trailed together. I had heard he was good and man was he ever. He was like a bloodhound. He was finding blood the size of a bb or smaller! We followed this for about 30 yards then we came to where he had laid down. Alot of bright red blood. I strted feeling better. Then the worsed thing, we lost all signs of blood! We were dumbfounded! It just stopped. We were setting there on our hands and knees trying to figure our next move when I decided to go into the thickest stuff I could find. This was oppisite the direction he had been going. I went about 10 yards and there he lay! YES! I called out. Here he lays! We got em! I thought he was a little taller than what he was but I was happy to have gotten him. He weighed in at 160#

SCBOWMAN

Sorry for the quality of the pic. My dad took it and he's not to great with the camera. Heres another I took with him, that shows off the deer a little better. I would like to thank my friend Brian Herrin for helping me recover this deer. I really doubt I would have found him without "bloodhounds" help!