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Post by M4Madness on Nov 6, 2023 8:39:48 GMT -5
Hope it all comes together for you, Woody! Just seeing deer is 90% of the battle. Seeing big bucks is a thrill in and of itself.
Still pretty calm here. Sun peeking through the clouds to my right, and a slight wind in my face from the south. Thankfully, no big wind yet. Hope it holds off until at least noon. I'm catching whiffs of a woodstove in the distance.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 6, 2023 7:44:53 GMT -5
Made a complete 360 around me less than 20 yards the entire time.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 6, 2023 7:36:27 GMT -5
Small 8 right below me to the right now.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 6, 2023 7:32:27 GMT -5
6-pointer just passed behind me, nose to the ground.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 6, 2023 6:53:54 GMT -5
Same ladder stand on the saddle as yesterday evening. Got to the stand a half hour before legal shooting light and was 20 yards from the stand when I heard deer bust out from the stand of beech trees behind it and head downhill. I grabbed my grunt tube and gave a few calls as I tromped through the dry leaves that last 20 yards. It's a wonder I didn't get gored for that stupidity. LOL!
After getting situated in the stand, a deer blew twice down in the hollow below me. A few minutes later, I heard a deer walking "stiff-legged" in the leaves up the hill towards me, one deliberate step after another. It paused every so often, thn walked again. It got pretty close to me and hung around a while before casually walking back the way it came from.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 5, 2023 18:58:45 GMT -5
With about 15 minutes left of shooting light, I suddenly heard lots of grunts and brush crashing all around just on the other side of the ridgetop logging road I was 20 yards from. The grunts weren't very deep, so most likely it was a young buck. This went on for a few minutes, then silence. Not long after, I see a deer walking along the logging road with its head down following the exact path I took in. It stopped where I turned into the woods and was there smelling around or something before walking on. It was dim, but if it had antlers, they were spikes. Then a second deer repeated the actions of the first deer exactly, and I saw no rack on it either. Perhaps it was a spike and doe and they're what I heard running around. Or it could have been two totally different deer. Who knows? Lol!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 5, 2023 15:53:51 GMT -5
First evening sit of the year. I'm in a ladder stand on a wooded ridgetop funnel. I've taken some nice bucks from this spot over the last 17 years. Still pretty leaf covered though, and the thickness from timbering 5 years ago doesn't help.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 5, 2023 11:47:27 GMT -5
Just saw a lone doe run across the neighboring cow pasture angling towards the woods I'm in, but farther back.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 5, 2023 11:20:00 GMT -5
Wish it was colder but it beats work any day. Just love being in the woods. I'm off this coming week for my first ever deer vacation. I'm sitting in this tree right now with nothing happening for the last three hours. A look at the weather shows 13-14 MPH easterly winds tomorrow morning. I'm actually sitting here contemplating giving one of my vacation days back (tomorrow) and working it. Lol!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 5, 2023 9:25:33 GMT -5
Wind from the East, deer move the least. ☹️
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 5, 2023 8:26:42 GMT -5
A pair of 8-pointers just came from the broomsage field I entered from, and stood next to my camera smelling around where I'd walked. Another step or two and the camera would have gotten them. They never spooked, and simply walked on down the field edge.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 5, 2023 7:36:18 GMT -5
Very calm here. Except for a few grey squirrels rummaging in leaves, it's dead silent. Not even a cow mooing this morning. Same area as yesterday morning, except that I relocated my climber about 30 yards. Large-bodied deer visited the camera twice overnight, but his head was never in frame. I did hear two different owls while walking in.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 5, 2023 5:55:59 GMT -5
Congratulations from me as well!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 4, 2023 14:40:01 GMT -5
First sit of the year. I'm in the worst tree known to man -- crooked, too close to where I anticipate the shot, facing the wrong way, etc. I'm sweating. My advice to everyone -- plan ahead, don't try to find a tree for your climber in the dark on the morning you plan to hunt. And did I mention that this crossbow weighs a ton? I don't know how you guys pack them around! You gotta want it lol. Mine weighs in at almost 8 lbs and the fore grip is as far forward as I can get it and it rests right in my right shoulder blade. Just think about the task at hand and the reward when that task comes to full circle I've shot a compound bow since 1989. Today was my first time packing a crossbow. I never dreamed it'd outweigh probably every firearm I've ever lugged around in the woods. Lol!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 4, 2023 14:14:47 GMT -5
Great buck!
I'm sitting at Cracker Barrel. Lol!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 4, 2023 11:36:21 GMT -5
I got that buck on camera at 12:36 PM yesterday. Well, it's 12:36 PM today and I'm less than 10 yards from that camera. Apparently the buck has missed his appointment with destiny. Lol!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 4, 2023 10:46:23 GMT -5
Neighbor son killed 1 of our targeted mgt. bucks, think 6 yr old. Field dressed north 210 and his biggest bick to date. Happy hunter. Look at the body on that thing!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 4, 2023 9:31:23 GMT -5
Story to come but here’s a quick pic…. Congratulations! Things have quieted down here. Bright sunlight and getting more breezy.
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 4, 2023 8:30:33 GMT -5
Small 6 dogging doe and fawn 30 yards past me. Saw the antlerless kind of hustling a little and I knew what was coming next. Lol!
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Post by M4Madness on Nov 4, 2023 8:23:44 GMT -5
Spent the last 15 minutes pinned down with a forkhorn eating (beechnuts?) 15 yards away. Very light breeze blowing from me to him. He smelled the air numerous times, but never busted me. I'm glad he finally wandered into the field.
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