RE: My Field Journal
 

Nov. 5 2007

Afternoon hunt on The Eastern Shore. Winds SSW 8-10mph Hunt cut cornfield near road(mistake). About 45 min befordark a6 pointer and a doe comeinto the field, around 15 minutes later (primetime) a truck drivesby , stops, backs up and shoots atone of thedeer then procedes to just drive off (I guess they "missed"). Needless to say I was pissedbecause they spooked all the deer but more importantly that is just dangerous, Itried toget across to that side in case they drove back by so we could"discuss" the issue but they never came back.

Nov. 6 2007

Hunted themorning on an old cut through between an oak flat and pine block. Very windy and off and on showers, saw one doe but we left early because the little man already has a cold and the rain was getting worse.


We love this little blind, we just pop it up and hunt, keeps us out of the wind and rain for the most part and he can sleep or fidget or eat snacks or rattle the antlers or grunt or......the list goes on and on. I always think the deer will notice us but even at 30 or 40 yards the most we've ever got is a couple of suspicious looks and head bobs, and usually by the time they are even doing that it is too late.


It's funny because each season you have ups and downs and I was pumped for this week and then after finding my stands messed up at the farm and then having an encounter with the road hunters at the other pieceit was just kind of a "buzz-kill week", even though the deer still seemed to be moving,my buddy Jack killed a nice 6(no brow tines) yesterday morning from a stand in the front of the propertyand then he killed a doe in the evening from the same stand I shot my bow contest buck from last month, and Idid get to see a couple of deer anywaysoit wasn't a complete bust.

Cold front forecast for the end of the week Nov. 8-10. Season is a little pastthe half way point (Sept. 8, 2007-Jan. 5, 2008), time flies this time of year.

RE: My Field Notes
 

Nov. 8 2007

Afternoon bowhunt in Chesapeake (base). In stand about 1430, 46 degrees, NE wind blowing about 7 mph. New moon week so I was thinking morning movement is probably good but I could not get out until evening. Sit...sit...sit.......nothing. Last minute of light I have one deer move by me at about 40 yards, and on the way out I see0 deer. Lots of sign, active scrapes, etc. but no dice on the deer. There were 16 hunters at the base today and there werequite a few last time I was there maybe the deer are getting wise to us, or maybe I am just way off with stand selection lately.

Frustrating couple of weeks, stands broke & parts stolen, slob (road) hunters, and just not being in the right place at the right time. Prime conditions right now, should be primetime I'm justin a little slump,but there is always next time. :D

***EDIT*** After reading lots of other threads it seems that many people are seeing less deer than anticipated right now.But on the otherside of that agood friend of mine has been hunting this week and has seen a few and one other club member killed a monster 150+" over the weekend so who knows,(Next year dates to watch: Oct. 13 - Oct.31=hot and Nov. 1 - Nov. 9=seemed to cool off a little). This is the second year in a row when October has been good to me, 06' bow buck killed Oct. 21, 07' bow bucks Oct. 13 & Oct. 27.

RE: My Field Notes
 

Chesapeake weather at this point Still a little warm:



Today
Nov 9
[/align]PM Showers
56°[/b]/38°
30%
[/b]
Sat
Nov 10
[/align]Partly Cloudy
60°[/b]/37°
20%
[/b]
Sun
Nov 11
[/align]Sunny
61°[/b]/39°
10%
[/b]
Mon
Nov 12
[/align]Mostly Sunny
65°[/b]/46°
20%
[/b]
Tue
Nov 13
[/align]Partly Cloudy
70°[/b]/51°
10%
[/b]
Wed
Nov 14
[/align]Few Showers
70°[/b]/48°
30%
[/b]
Thu
Nov 15
[/align]Few Showers
68°[/b]/44°
30%

[/b]Fri
Nov 16
[/align]Partly Cloudy
67°[/b]/45°
10%
[/b]
Sat
Nov 17
[/align]Showers
66°[/b]/44°
60%
[/b]
Sun
Nov 18
[/align]Scattered Showers
66°[/b]/46°

RE: My Field Notes
 

[align=center]Moon Phases Calendar November 2007[/align]

RE: My Field Notes
 

Nov. 10 2007

Evening hunt in w/rifle. Temp=46 degees wind NE at 7 mph.

I only hunted the last 2 hours of light but I saw 5 deer right before dark. All werewell within range butI saw no horns and I didn't feel like dragging and processing a doe(DMAP paperwork & jawbone, not to mentionbutchering) at the time. I am hunting there again on Nov. 12th so hopefully some bucks will be cruising, I'm just glad to see them moving again. Temps are forecast to be up in the 70's again by Wednesday[:@].

RE: My Field Notes
 

Temps. are supposed to be dropping Thur. Nov. 15 and staying down for good hopefully. Calling for a low of 28 degrees on Friday the last day of blackpowder and lows in the 30's for the gun opener on Nov. 17th. Game on!!

RE: My Field Notes
 

This is from the other day:
(click link)

Bucks in Rut

Nov. 17 2007

Opening day in VA for general firearms. I wanted to hunt the Eastern Shore but I couldn't make the trip this weekend. I made plans to hunt with my dad at the farm and the weather was great(overnight low of 27 and a NW wind). We hunted hard all morning with no luck and then a decent buck crossed our back field at about 1130. Well how can I put this.....I missed. It's ok, we had a good time, split some firewood, and hunted til dark.I saw a doe right before dark and theywere in today in the county I was hunting but I have a feeling the end of the month will provide enough does, The county I hunt in Eastern Shore is a rifle county and does arein all season plus DMAPs andin Chesapeake and Va Beach the last 6 days Nov 24-30 are doe days plus the areas I hunt there have DMAPsas well. With the general firearm ending in those two counties on Nov 30 that means it's almost time for bow season again, Dec. 2 - Jan. 5 (Ches. / VA Beach).

My buddy Jack killed his second buck today on the Shore a nice 8 with some junk on the back of the bases,the 8and another buck were chasing a doe at 0930 this morning. I will add pic later.

**Here is one for now. I have some from in the field I will get soon.**


Notice the bucks right eye is swollen from fighting, he also had gashes on his neck and hams.

**Dates for next season**

Oct. 13-31 (Heavy scrapes & rubs lots of deer movement, saw several bucks, mostly young, pre-rut)

Nov. 1-10 (Sightings seemed to slow but still saw signs of pre-rutting activity)

Nov. 11-? (Bucks with does, fighting over does, hung up on fences, etc. rutting hardIMO)

Another weather roller coaster forecast forthis week(Nov. 18-24), temps. back up in the 70's by mid week then dropping again by the weekend, they did the same thing earlier in the month and the daytime activity seemed to slow. Nov. 19-30 the moon wil go from about half (Nov. 19)to full (Nov. 24) to about half again on (Nov 30). Also, watch Moon rise/set times i.e the moon is up a lot during the day recently and over the next week which could make for dark nights and improved daylight activity, who knows.

RE: My Field Notes
 

Love this site:

Calculate Sunrise, Sunset, Moonrise, Moonset - The Old Farmer's ...

Great for moon phases, rise/set times, and lots of other stuff.

For example:

Nov. 19 2007 RISESETS

Moon 1:41 PM 12:50 AM

That means the moon is up roughly 11 hours (in my zip) with it being almost directly overhead around 1910 (7:10 p.m.)and directly underfoot around 0715 the next morning (Nov. 20). So I am going hunting tomorrow morning and I will probably nap on stand from around 0545 until 0700, then I will wake up and shoot a buck about 0705 and call it a day;). I need to get that timex hunting watch I think it figures all that out for you.

RE: My Field Notes
 

Here are 3 bucks my buddy, his dad, and granddad killed. They were not in VA. They went to Ohio on some kind of "hunt". Lets just say they could have bought a nice usedtruck for what these three bucks cost and the place wasn't free range. Not my thing but to each their own and at least he got to see his dad and granddad take 2 nice bucks. As you look at it his is on the left, his dads in the middle, and his granddads on the right.

RE: My Field Notes
 

Well I was off on the time, the morning was slow and warm. But the afternnon picked up I shot this nice 6 around 2:00 p.m. at 10 yards with the .25/06 and then later on around 4:45 I had two groups of does near me and shot this one around 25 yards. What was weird was that the doe turned out to be an old button buck(120 lbs), the deers teeth were nearly worn down and his "button" were more like flattened bases, it looked real weird. Luckily I had the option touse a DMAP or an antlerlesss tag on him because his horns weren't visible above the hairline, I don't know if he was injured/sick or just old. The 6 was solid and tipped the scale at 176, he has some tiny little stubby brows (probably not scorable butI can hang a ring on em';))but we see a lot of that in this area, many bucks have no brow tines at all.

I apoligize for the pics I forgot my camera and all we had was my buddys' cell phone. I didn't think I was getting any pics so I had not cleaned the deer up, sorry. The .25-06 is nothng buttrouble for Mr. Johnson and his cohert.



The 6 was RUTTING, he stunk so bad and his tarsals were soaked somuch thatthe whole back of his legs were black and sticky all the waydown to his hooves, the other bucks tarsal were a little black and took up an area about the size of a quarter, nowhere near as ripe as the 6 but he still smelled a bit. Cold front this weekend I'll be back at it, maybe in NC or on the farm.

Weather Today/Eastern Shore---Temp. H 62-L 44-----Winds out of S & SW from 2-8 mph. Moonrose around2:00 p.m. and was directlyover head around6 or 7and was forecast to set around 1:55 a.m., didn't see much deer movement til after 2:00......interesting:eek:.