RE: Indiana Hunters
 

good luck, are you hunting doe now?

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Went tonight, it was pretty dead. I saw 2 come into that grass field again right under that tree i had been seeing them at as i was getting dressed at my truck. They were 2 little does. This was at 3pm. Sat in the woods for 3 hours and didnt see a thing. Seen 1 lone deer way out in a cut corn field as i was leaving. I did find 4 fresh scrapes though that were not there yesterday afternoon. I made a few mock scrapes and mock rubs tonight and hung up my dripper. I have always had excellent results late in October/early November with the dripper. I've had bucks stand on their back legs and try to lick the thing. Im going to try it in the morning for my first morning hunt of the year, i believe they ought to be moving well with the colder temps.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Well, i seen yet another small buck this morning at 7:30. That makes 4 now in 5 trips. Looked like a 6 point, couldnt tell for sure, thought it was a doe when i first saw it. Beginning to think its going to be a lot like last year where i see a ton of basket racks and no big ones. It's still early though, i think only the young ones are out seeking right now. There has to be a nice buck somewhere out there considering how many i have let walk over the past 3 years. Anyone else have a lot of smaller bucks on their property? I have seen more bucks then does this year which is unusal for me. Im at the stage where i like to hold out for a nice buck, havent seen hardly any where i hunt the past couple years though. Seems like every buck has the same type of rack, short, not wide, and between 4-7 points. I may try and see if i cant get some more property to hunt on before gun season opens.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

I see about a 1:1 ratio of bucks under 8 points to does where i hunt so i dont usually shoot at anything under 8 points but old murphy pulled a fast one on me this season. six point (no browtines) but thats alright, the meat is in the freezer and i can just tell people that i killed him because of bad genetics, ooh!! did i type that out loud,lol

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

"good luck, are you hunting doe now?"


eh...unless a monster steps out in front of me..yes.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

well good luck with that.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

anybody know where i can get some good summer sausage made, in the indianapolis area?

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Wow, maybe i need to complain about only seeing small bucks more often. Set up again today on the same property where i have seen all the basket racks. About 7:30 am again i had a deer coming straight down the revine to me, it was a nice big doe. I found it odd she was by herself but didnt see anything behind her so i decided she was mine when i got the shot. Just as she entered bow range, a big bodied deer passed through the brush where she had just came. As it walked in front of me i could see a rack. Didnt look all that impressive from the side as far away as he was. I kinda got bumed again about it being a small buck but i was more interested in getting the doe.

The doe found her way into my mock scrape, tried to play with my dripper for awhile. Meanwhile the buck would not come off the revine and i was worried he was going to see me. These deer this year have reversed their normal pattern and are coming from the front and not the back. So i was not exactly set up great for where they came from. I saw the buck rubbing some trees in the thickets, then when he looked my direction i about crapped. This isnt no small buck, he is a beauty of what looked like an 8 point. Not a real tall rack, but man is it wide. A deffinite shooter and deffinite wall hanger for the place i hunt. As luck would have it, the doe turned around and went back the way she came, the buck followed her, he payed no attention to my grunt tube. This is the first buck with a doe i have seen so far, he was basically following her around lightly, not letting her get to far away from him. He wasnt pushing her yet.

I got down at 10 and went and picked up my other ladder stand and moved it up front where these deer are coming from. Gonna leave it set tonight and hit it in the AM. I will have no problems getting up now knowing this guy is out there. Its really good to know that 3 years of letting all bucks walk has at least left me with one really nice deer. I was getting frustrated that my efforts had gone for not.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Shot another doe today.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Buddy quit hunting last week; was not seeing anything or doing any good so he just quit:so lost his area. Went to my area to put up couple of ladder stands for firearms. Corn is still in. Not many good trails in the wooded areas and those that are almost straight lines leading from on corn field to the next or to the bean field. Looks like they are coming down to hit the water and then going right back into some corn or the beans. Boy hope he gets those crops out soon.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Today's my bday..and my buddy Jesse shot a 7 pointer. I have a pic of that deer, and the doe I shot Friday..but I'm getting an error when I try to upload them. POS forum restrictions...

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Congrats and happy bday Pat, sounds like you guys are slayin em. Are your pics too big? If so some sites will let you resize them so they will fit. I went this morning and saw 4 does. 2 of em were about 3 yards away from me, i thought they were going to run into my ladder they were so close. I let them go as they were pretty small. No bucks today, thought it would be good with the frost. Wife is working on getting me some more property that one of her co workers owns as we speak. May go check that out here in a while.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

I can resize them with my picture program (irfan view)...but have to shrink them to midget sizes. I'll try again....


Biggest I could go to meet the 100kb limit....

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

My buddy Jesse and his deer this morning..

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Another..

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

I think that for me to take my only Indiana buck it will have to be a decent body size. Estamated weight of 180 or better while walking. By firearms I will not be nearly as choosy. But hey congrats to all that are getting deer, be they does or bucks. They all eat good but younger eat better than older really heavy bodied bucks. 180-210 lb class is what I like. Yes you can call me a meat hunter first antlers second.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

I saw the weird looking spike again tonight, the one with only one point. He was chasing 2 does, grunting the entire time. All 3 deer passed right under my stand. Then right at dark a deer came down the fencline in front of me, i could hear him tearing the crap out of a tree, so im sure it was a buck. The deer ended up coming right beside my stand and stayed there for a half hour, i could not see him at all, just heard him. Hate it when that happens. I 'll try again in the morning, then go again the middle of next week. rut should be really heating up then.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

I hunt for sport, meat, then antlers...in that order.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

I'm not seeing diddly squat lately. [:@] It's getting frustrating because i used to see so much out there, I've seen a total of 6 deer in the last three trips out! Most all of them were over 100yds away, except the two that were 5 yds off my trail this morning on my way out. Had no idea they were there until they jumped, they only went about 20 yds into the woods, but there was NOOO way in haites I could have gotten a shot with all the thick stuff around. I tried to get into where they were, but I ended up having to pee so bad (reason I got down in the first place), I couldn't go any further, I had to go... Hubby was hunting somewhere else too, and I had to pick him up.

I just don't get it! Every hunter in this area that I have talked to is seeing deer everywhere, the one guy saw 10 bucks yesterday, said he's never seen 10 bucks in a month, let alone a single morning! :eek:And, here I sit, seems every stinking Sunday night there's high winds and hubby doesn't "feel" like going out. I've gone by myself the last 4 in a row, but tonight I'm so frustrated I said to hell with it... I'll only get a couple chances in the next two weeks to go out, but such as life, at least I have one under my belt and I still have gun season.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

I didn't go this morning. I cleaned house b/c we had a bunch of family and friends over for the combination of my bday, my uncle's, and my moms. It also served as an engagement party.

I'll try to go out some time this week after work. Next weekend is the woman's dad's 50th bday party. His whole family is coming down from Wisconsin..so I won't be able to go hunting next weekend too much.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Man what a slow disapointing week end. I set for about 22 hours all weekend and saw 10 bucks none were close to being shooters and 35 does. I was seeing that many deer the first of Oct. The small buck were trying to chase does. Then while dirving home I counted over 100 before I got back into Madison. I hope the start moving better soon.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

If I had half that many deer moving thru the area that I hunt I would be extremely happy. Heck even a fourth or a fifth would be good. The only deer I seen were standing next to a house across the road from where I hunt. In my head lights and 2 more along the road home (eyes). But then again there are still 4 large corn fields still unpicked. Nor is there any water in the run off. Guess I need to find some water. Maybe tomorrow I will take the quad and go expoling in an area where I have never been.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Last year at this time the two weekends before gun started I saw over 100 each weekend. So I guess compare to last year it is slow.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Shut up already! [8D] Parrot Head, if you don't stop yappin' about deer all over the dang place, I'm gonna come over there and take care of 'em for ya! What I wouldn't give to see 100 deer in one weekend! I'm lucky if I see 10! I USED to see 30-50 in a weekend, but not anymore. [:-]

Anyway, it sure does sound like you need help controlling your deer population.... :D

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Yep I agree. We are planning on taking 10-12 does off of there during late gun.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

It's a bad day if I don't have a deer within bow range where I hunt.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

I usually see anywhere from 2-8 deer everytime out, the problem for me lately has been the size of the deer. Ive killed several small bucks and i have a couple mounted, my first one with a gun and then my first with a bow. Now im waiting for a big boy and have been for about 5 years. I usually wont shoot a doe when it gets close to rut time, the odds are too good for a buck to be there. Normally i will hunt for a big buck clear up till muzzleloader, the last 2 years i have taken a doe on the last weekend of muzzleloader. I wait right up until the end. After seeing the nice Buck on friday morning, i probably will not take a shot at anything but him unless i see a better one.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Has anyone seen a mature buck running a doe yet?
I hunt ripley county, and I have yet to see any yearling's
running alone. The big does do not seem to be showing any
signs of being ready yet. This time last year I had already
saw 3 mature buck chasing, whats up?

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

A good friend at work said he saw a very nice buck tracking a doe Saturday morning. Said his nose was locked to the ground with his tongue flopping out.

Also Saturday morning..my buddy shot a 7 pointer with his nose locked to an estrous waffer.

I'm sure there will be a doe here and there that hits her cycle this week. The onslaught will come this coming weekend...then through Thanksgiving or so.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

I went this morning, it was pretty crappy with some fog and some rain. I sat for 3 hours and didnt see anything. Went back to the truck and was taking off my coveralls and a little yearling buck came running across the road and ran down the woodsline about 60 yards in front of me. This was at 10am, i didnt see a doe anywhere. Its supposed to be warm clear up until the middle of next week. I dont like that, these next 2 weeks are prime time for Bucks, tomorrow morning will be the last day we see lows in the 30's until at least next Thursday.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?!?! Lower to mid-70's for the weekend and beyond?!?!?! It's the first week of NOVEMBER?!?!?!?!?!?!

Doesn't look like I'll be ice fishing this year....[>:]

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

It will cool down in time for Every Idiot With a Shotgun Head For The Woods Day. (Thats what i call opening day of gun season)

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Weekend warriors.... :eek:

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

I had the half racked spike in for a visit again tonight. Thats 3 times i have had this same deer within 10 yards of me. Tonight i noticed he appeared to have a growth of some sort beneath his eye, it was black in color, i thought i saw it last time he was in but it was a little too dark, tonight i deffinitely seen it, something happened with that little guy.

Highlight of my night happened as i was leaving though. I saw a truck that had stopped on the road at the beginning of the drive to where i hunt. I thought maybe there were some deer they were watching out in that field with the single tree i have been talking about. I looked out there and couldnt see anything. I went ahead and got out of my coveralls and got in the truck and headed down the drive to leave. Get half way down the drive and an absolute monster runs right out in front of me across the gravel drive and out into the cut corn. He must have been of the bottom slope of that field where i couldnt see. Its been a weird year, this big guy was right out i nthe open less then 30 yards from the road. Im beginning to think my best stand location is on the back of my tailgate. I couldnt count all the points, but he was tall and real heavy.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Let another one walk tonight. An angry 7 pointer. He should be a nice deer next year if the weekend warriors dont kill him next weekend. He was rubbing trees and made a few scrapes. There were 2 does in his vacinity and he paid no attention to them. He was more interested in my grunt call. I was able to get some new land in Fulton County today, bad part about it is some other guy hunts there and the property owner doesnt want us both in there at the same time. So i have to call everytime i want to hunt and hope the other dude isnt there. Im not sure its worth the hassle. Hopefully he works weekdays and i could hunt there on days i dont have class.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Hmmm, According to what I found this is interesting. In Illinois during firearms season (split 6 day), maybe muzzleloader is included in this too. Archery was not mentioned only firearms. Illinois hunters harvested 114,113 total deer in 2004. Indiana with its oh so long season and muzzleloader harvested what looks to be 101,105. OOOpppss does that mean Indiana actually takes less deer. Indiana firearms season was almost split evenly between bucks and does. Bucks were between 2-3 thousand more.

Makes me believe that a there is more wooded land in Illinois than Indiana, Secondly I think that they have a better buck to doe ratio, ergo more feed for bucks, more food means bigger deer, bigger antlers for you puke and yuck hunters. So if you want big antlers for your den walls (personalized shed in my case) take more does. If you do not want to eat them give them to hunters feeding the hungry and know that your donation is really helping someone and not filling others pockets.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

An old friend from High School (**sigh...6 years ago**) is a local DNR officer in my section of the state. He told me this past spring that the 1 buck rule has had poor results (compared to what they expected), and will be gone once the 5 year plan is up. Other possibilities include antler restrictions (which in other studies, namely Penn..have shown slight improvement of size at best). The total # of deer killed has gone way up from year to year..in every hunting season (this year is no different thru urban archery and early archery..plus more antlered deer have been taken so far this year than '04..even with a week left of hunting! I believe it's the weather..especially fri/sat/sun..those have been GREAT this year so far).

Another interesting tidbit was that even though we are killing more deer from year to year, the total # of deer are actually growing. I found that interesting due to thefact of less land to hunt b/c of residential/industrial/business practices, on top of the growing # of kills.

1 more bit of info I remember from the conversation: Although the # of deer taken has increase, and new state record bucks are taken every fall, the mean size of deer in Indiana has decreased over a pound from '03-'04 (I'm really not sure how they figured that out...I'm guessing by capturing tagged deer and weighing them periodically?). Look for more restrictions on bucks...and more liberal efforts on does...to get the ratio close. Bottom line he said, is hunting is not for trophy's..but to stablelize #'s of deer.

I also can't stand the guy...just wanted to add that...lol(sorry Jon ;)) He also used to post in the 'bowhunting' forum last year..but haven't seem him yet this year.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

Pat, did you get the Sunday Journal Gazette? I was reading the Outdoors section, and of course it's main focus is on deer season since shotgun opens up Saturday. Last year Indiana was only 30 deer short of an all time record harvest! The DNR guy in the paper was pleading with people to encourage hunting, bring new hunters into it, and support all hunters... It was a fairly good article, I wish he would have put a plea into land owners to allow us to use their land without hesitation.... HMMMM... :eek:

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

That is the biggest issue I think we all face is getting the landowner permission.

RE: Indiana Hunters
 

There are some farmers that welcome all hunters that want to hunt on their land. But then again those that do have not had Idiots drive their trucks thru the farm fields and dig huge ruts with oversize tires, or thru their unpicked fields to put up their stands. I once seen a truck driving thru a standing corn field to get to the woods. Why he was driving that way I do not know. You could park on the main road and walk down a small levy to reach the woods. That is where I was when I seen the truck and driver. I took great pains to be there when the farmer was picking and described the truck as to color and type to the farmer. Guess what the farmer actually knew who it was. Oh yeah hunting was closed on that area the next year. Lots of not trespassing signs and no permission given to anyone.

One thing that is hurting the working hunter is the leasing of property. Not that I am totally against leasing but I sure can not afford them.

You can tell that the number of antlerless deer are on the increase by watching the number of antlerless permits allotted for each county all of the counties around here have increased by one. And I still have not seen anything. Darn.
As to the one antlered deer per hunter per year. My guess is that it was caused because there were several years that you could get an anlered deer with each type of license that you purchase. Archery, Shotgun, Pistol, Muzzleloader and then you could get some antlerless tags for each also. I personally heard several talking at a get together about shooting several bucks each. I asked them why and their response was simply I can get a license so why not there are plenty out there.

Urban hunts-probably like the state park hunts needed because the deer are eating all of their habitat. Starvation and disease would soon follow.