Sit # 17 - Heartache

This season has been full of disappointments so far, except for Steph's buck. That was great. I shot a doe and couldn't find her (low shot)... we saw a nice buck at about 60 yards, and now I had an opportunity and blew it. So here's what happened:

I finally got a SE wind and was going to hunt the spot we've gotten great buck pictures so far in the last two years' pre-ruts. This year, the deer (bucks included) have been traveling this logging road east to west in the mornings, and west to east in the evenings. Fairly simple. So, my best bet is to sneak in with an east wind (SE or NE works too) in the morning and wait to see what comes my way. So Monday morning finally brings that ESE wind I'm craving. I get set up and it's off and on misting. Loved it. I was hearing deer behind me in the brush and I heard a fawn bleat, too. At about 7:40am, I hear the unmistakable sound of a twig snap. I reach for my bow and I patiently wait to see what it is. It's a buck. It's a pretty nice buck. The light wasn't the best yet, so I couldn't get as specific as I'd like to. The buck came out at about 50 yards and got to about 37 and got behind the only two trees between me and him. I was standing and waiting.

My knees were weak and my breathing was chaotic. At some point in those two or three minutes he froze there, I figured out that he must've got my wind. While he was behind those trees I was able to range him at 35 yards.He turned to his left and it looked to me like he wasn't feelin' too good about the layout or the wind or something. I figured this was my only chance and as he stepped out from behind the tree I drew back and grunted at him. He froze and looked my way. I had to duck down a little bit because the one limb between us prevented me from a perfectly relaxed shot. I rolled off a shot and watched my Tracer zip through the morning mist and it sounded and looked like I buried it in him. He ran off and about 11 seconds after the 'hit' I heard a loud crash. I thought for sure I smoked him. Then I heard a deer blow several times. Was there two deer? Or had I missed?

I got down to look for my arrow and I found the Tracer blinking under the leaves - pretty cool. I pulled it out and as best I could tell there was zero blood on it, not one hair on it, it didn't smell, it looked like a clean miss. I had to have missed low. At this point I can feel the emotional scales tip towards the 'what in the world happened' side. I was dumbfounded. I still am to some extent. After my next sit there, I think I might look for the deer again. I might listen for birds and just watch video a few more times.

I'm not positive which deer it was, but my best guess from the few seconds I saw him, I would say he looked most like Splitbrow - a four year old that'll push 120 gross. Nothing fabulous, but would've been a great bow buck.

After the shot, I reviewed the footage on the camera, but I was zoomed way to far out to tell anything. I barely had time to turn the camera on the way it was. He came right in and there was no trees blocking me from him.

Anyway, after I waited about 25 minutes, I climbed down and checked the trail camera that was right there and got a picture of Scabby 10 out of velvet. He's a big bodied deer. He's either 4 or 5 this year. It would be great if he was 4, but I think he's 5.

Sit # 16 - Joe's Turn

Sunday afternoon I drove over to my good buddy Joe's house and picked him up for an attempt at a good doe. He hadn't been out in the tree all season yet and so I was happy to try set him up. We sat in a great spot; the same spot Steph and I saw a buck she named 'Mystery', and the same spot she killed her first deer with the bow the very next day. Almost every single time we sat in that 'nook', we saw a couple deer. The night with Joe was no exception. There was a front moving in and we were seeing deer out in the fields feeding at 3:00pm! We got situated about 4:15 and put in a good two and a half hour sit. At about 5 o'clock, we had three yearling bucks come out across the opening. The first one made his way straight to us and walked right through the shooting lane at 25 yards. He eventually got past us enough to get our scent and took off running. The other two bucks were still all the way at the other end of the clearing and once the first buck took off, they bolted to the east/southeast. We got just a little bit of video of them, but all in all, it was a fun sit. No does. No blood.

Sit # 15 - Runnin' Late

I got off of work on Friday the 22nd at about 4:05pm and I thought I might have just enough time to try make it up to the stand I have up NW of the bus. Well, I made it up there, but not without issues. I brought along reflective thumbtacks and was putting those up as I fell down and spilled all 50 or so on to the mossy swamp grass hump I was on. After picking up about 3/4 of them,I kept on heading in the right direction. I got up in the tree and was finally settled about 5:30pm. I sat until 6:50pm and I couldn't see a worth anything. I climbed down and marked any more trees on the way back that I thought might make my trek easier next time. All of a sudden, I sank down into a whole. Up to my knee! I got home and checked the memory card I pulled from up there for 4 or 5 days. 59 pictures. My hopes were really high as I put the card in the reader on the computer. The first 45 or more were pictures of the grass moving in the wind. Suck. Next was two pictures of a timberwolf. Then finally a doe that stood there sniffing the wolf for about 10 minutes. All in all it was reasonably disappointing evening. There's still hope for that spot towards halloween.

Sit #14 - Doe City

I sat this morning on the creek again and had a doe and a fawn skirt around me at about 35-40 yards without offering me a shot because they were behind a bunch of willows. They were moving pretty quickly too. Not sure what that was about, but I was on full alert to their backtrail. Then about 5-10 minutes later (about 8:30), I had another four slickheads come though. I think it was a doe and a fawn, and a doe and her yearling. At this point I'm thinking, come on big boy! Nothing. These deer took the same trail that skirted me wide without a shot. They started getting all figidy. I don't think they got my wind, because it was right in my face. There's a chance one of the first ones busted me trying to video the last of them. Who knows. It was just good to see some deer. I climbed down and cut a few more branches - gotta make sure I don't miss my chance at Mr. Big trailing the first doe coming into heat. I cut so I could get a shot if a deer does the same thing these did this morning. There was one little hole that I could shoot through, if I was able to stop them.

After I got back in the truck, I checked some cameras and moved the camera from the creek to over by the east scrape. I got a few pictures of a buck that started working the scrape 1 hour after I set the camera up! Crazy. I also got a picture of a buck that I'm trying to determine if it's Mr. 140. It's tough to say. Here he is in 2009:

And the new buck:

Sit #13 - 27 degrees

It's starting to cool off finally. On my way out to the stand, my truck read 27 degrees. It might be time to break out my winter boots when I know I won't be getting wet. As I drove past Orville's dump, I had a 2 or 3 year old run across the road from north to south. After I watched him run into the dump, I decided to turn all the way around and shine the field where he came from. Sure enough, about 150-200 yards out there was another nice buck. This one was at least 4 years old, maybe older. Big chest, big neck, big rack... just walking quickly to the east/northeast. I hope he headed to my trail camera that I have over there. He was a solid 130, probably more. Anyway, I drove until I got to my little parking spot and walked in to my stand. Perfect wind this morning. I didn't see any deer, but the conditions sure seemed right.

After I climbed down I went to the refuge and pulled down the camera I had over the scrape and sure enough, I got two pictures of Lefty.

I brought the camera, my gps, and a machette northwest of the bus and set it up where I had it last year. I took the logging road all the way up there, but then from my stand, I blazed a trail with the machette following my GPS back to the bus. This cuts the distance in half and allows me to sneak into my stand if I get a SW, W, or NW wind. My hopes are very high of seeing WideWeb, The Clown, Bullwinkle, or even Curly up there. Pre-rut, here we come!

Sit #12 - Some New Bucks

So I sat in the pinch point along the creek tonight, but unless a grouse can make Pope & Young, I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I didn't see or hear a thing.

On a better note, I checked the camera north of Pete's and although there were no big boys on there yet, I did manage to pick up a few new bucks. I had 35 pictures and 4 were bucks. The bears are still out. That should change shortly. Here's the four bucks I got:

Sit #11 - Zach and I

On Thursday, Zach Johnson came out with me to film and just hang out. It was a good time.

We set up a camera over a scrape, checked the camera in the Refuge and got all set up for an evening bowhunt. We sat at the same nook on the firing line. As we got set up, I sawed a few branches to clean up some nice shooting lanes. Not long after I climbed back up we had some grouse hunters walk by us at about 25 yards. They saw us, said sorry, and then walked their own backtrail out. We really didn't see any thing until the very last light and that was a doe and a fawn at 140 yards in the NE corner. Not much action that evening

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In Memory Of

Three years ago today, I killed my first mature buck (and with a bow). He grossed 144" NT and net 127 4/8 P& Y. Shot him at 30 yards with my PSE Nova at 6:10pm. I was nearly sleeping in the tree when I heard what I thought was just more birds messing around in the leaves. He came right to me. It was unreal. I was set up off the edge of a field that had been disced in the summer and had just grown back with some nice green grass. This spot was also hot in November, as my buddy Joe and I had another encounter with a 4 year old. The conditions were right in that spot, but as for this year, things look very different. Trying to find a location to hunt a buck in the middle of October is very difficult. A person can somewhat predict where those bucks will be as the end of October and the beginning of November rolls around, but it's a night and day difference - those two or three weeks. At this point, it's still a matter of finding a food source where the deer haven't been disturbed yet. Then to set up just off of it in hopes to catch a buck staging or scent-checking. Hmm. There are a few hunches I have for the early morning that overlook a slew where I'm sure some deer go to bed, but how early are they getting back to bed up? The temperatures are finally starting to fall back down to where they need to be, but at this point it's still just gambling.

I got a phone call from my grandpa about an hour ago saying that he had heard they're going to be doing some logging up near our cabin on some state land. Interesting. This could do many things good and only a few negative. It could bump deer our direction during rifle season. It most certainly is good for the habitat - there are way too many mature trees up there and we need some diversity. It also could improve early archery season for 2011. It will be interesting to see if they're going to take cedar, popple, or some of both. This time of year, I'm sure it will be popple.

I'm taking Zach Johnson out with me tomorrow to film me. I'm hoping I can do the best educated guess possible.

Sit # 10 - No Movement

I figured I'd try the creek this morning. With a WNW wind, I thought I could get lucky as something tried to come from the north bedding area toward the south. Nope. I didn't see or hear a thing. I saw three deer out in the dirt field to the east of the stand where I parked the truck, but that was it. The wind was not ideal, but it was at least a convenient sit. I was able to break out my new Hooyman saw and clear a few lanes for when the prerut starts to heat up. It's crazy - less than two weeks before the action starts to get cranked. I can't believe how it just flips like a switch. I can't wait for this first cold front to come in. The plan right now is to head down to Red Wing, MN to hunt a day or two with Steph's brother Donny. I'm really lookin' forward to getting a glimpse of something pretty large down there. I set up a camera at the scrape site NE of Orvil's dump. It'll be interesting to see what's been cruising through there. I kicked up one deer on my way in.

Sit # 9 - 75 degrees!

On Sunday we did an engagement shoot, which was really fun, and then I was able to hit the woods. The wind was supposed to be out of the NE for the entire evening. I figured I'd sit in the nook that Steph and I did when we spotted a decent buck Steph named 'Mystery'. When I got all set up the wind finally started to pick up - except it was blowing over my left shoulder - the complete opposite of what it was supposed to be doing. I debated getting down, since I was up in the tree pretty early. I gave it a little while and sure enough it switched and the dominant wind blew in from the north. I got sprinkled on a little bit, too. It was hot. I text Google to see the temp and it said for Roseau it was 75. Sick. And that was 10 degrees colder than it was on Friday in Fargo. I sat it out 'til dark, but I only heard one/two deer behind me in the brush. Probably a doe and a fawn. It's crazy how the activity can be so good one week, then come to a screeching halt the next.

Sit # 8 - Desolation

I wanted to get close to a certain bottleneck in the Refuge so I tried to put the SE wind in my favor (not a perfect plan) and see if I could just observe some deer on the move this morning. I saw a set of eyes on my way in to the stand. Who knows what it was, 'cause about 30 minutes later I hearda timberwolf howling about a mile and half away to the northwest. I sat in what seemed like decent conditions for deer movement. There was a lot of shotgun blasts going on (duck season opened on Saturday). I sat for about 2.5 hours and didn't see a deer. After I packed my stuff up and crawled down, I wanted to walk down this logging road that runs perpendicular to this bottleneck. I wanted to check for good trails. There were about 3 or 4 all right near each other. There was also a fresh scrape from this year on the trail. I found a nice way to access the three trails if I have a more direct south wind in the morning, or a nice north/northwest wind in the evening. I went and took down a camera I had set up another place and brought it back to that scrape. My thought is that it's a decent buck (maybe Lefty) using that area. Probably was a bachelor group's hangout at one point. We'll have to see. I won't be back to check it until after the weekend at least.The temperature has been higher than average and we aren't supposed to see that fall until into the middle of the month. I guess I'll be patient and hope for a quiet evening hunt.Oh yeah! I forgot to post that I did finally get a picture of "Lefty". I wrote about dad and I seeing him back in the middle of July. That makes three consecutive years of getting pictures of him. I resigned to aging him at 2 years old in 2008, 3 year old in 2009, and now 4 years old in 2010. However, every time I look at his 2008 picture, I can't help but think he's a yearling. His head is so small, his neck is so tiny, and his body is much lighter than a deer I'm sure was to standing with him (not shown). If that were possible, that would put him as only a three and a half year old this year!

Check it out:

Sit # 7 - Defeat!

I went out in the woods on Saturday afternoon to go retrieve the stands that Steph and I sat in the evening before. On my drive out, I noticed that the wind wasn't blowing from the south as it was supposed to be. It was more variable - South to West, so I decided to hunt the pinch again. After I got the stands and drove over there, I saw combines out on both sides of the creek taking beans off. I thought that might be a good thing to get the deer moving. The last two nights showed the deer were on their feet and I hoped the trend would continue. At about 7:00 I had a doe and a fawn come out behind me from the south side of the field corner and work their way into the field. Whether the combines or something else spooked them, they went back into where they came out of. About 20 minutes later further down the field edge to the east a doe and a fawn were making their way west (toward me). These were most likely the same two deer. They came all the way into the corner and right by me. I turned the video camera on and got ready for the shot. The doe was leading the way and as she got behind some brush, I drew back. She was walking slowly and slightly quartering away. As she stepped into the shooting lane, I let her have it. She did a high rear leg kick and jumped right in front of the trail camera. The fawn didn't know what to do. I tried to keep the camera on her but I was using the crappy old hi8 video camera. Very grainy. I climbed down to examine the arrow with the little bit of light I had left and it didn't look that good. There was blood only up the shaft about 4 inches and the broadhead was gone. I couldn't decide what to do so I walked back to the truck and when I came out of the woods, I saw a lone deer walking out towards the beans and then back towards the woods. It was kind of acting funny. I called my dad and I told him I was going to pull the memory card and watch the video to see if I could decide what to do about it. The video made it look like a great shot, but the quality is so poor. Dad came over to watch the video and we both had a tough time seeing the arrow entry. We decided to go look for her because at that time it was only about a quarter to 9pm. We got out there and found some brisket hair and a bit of blood and started on the blood trail. We tracked the blood for about 200 yards or more until it got to be about one or two drops every 15 feet or so - really tough to track. I think my shot was a little low and too far forward. I also think that when I shot, she was taking a turning step so that the quartering away angle was even more severe than it looked from the camera. Odds are I missed any vitals or lethal areas. Which is too bad, because I was really looking forward to some good doe management. There will very likely be another shot at a mature doe. I've just gotta stay out there as much as I can.

Last night I got a good long look at Skyscraper out in the same bean field he's been spending all summer. It' s going to take a doe for him to move I think. Hopefully, I get a picture of him across the creek to know that he does travel across. There were deer everywhere last night. Two days before the new moon. We've gotta go outta town for a wedding on thursday, but maybe saturday evening the wind will cooperate.

Sit #5 - A close encounter

So Thursday evening, after finishing a one year old photo session, Steph and I high-tailed it to the Refuge. We just about settled in at about 6pm (way too late), and all of a sudden we heard a deer blowing to the west. As soon as we could pinpoint where it came from, the young deer bounded off. I'm guessing he was bedded there on the edge of the field. It looked to be a basket-racked 2 year old. We got settled after that and the mosquitos came out to pay us a visit. At about 7pm Steph said, "There's a doe." She was up in a stand and I was on the ground. Not the best for communication. After trying to look around two popples a few times, I caught movement and the deer lifted it's head at the same time. "That's a buck." I said. I tried to get her attention without her moving much. I told her, "I've gotta get down (as I was standing at the time to stretch my legs)." "Should I stand up?" she asked.

We got into position as best we could and the buck still hadn't seen us. All of a sudden Steph said, "There's a doe right behind you." The buck was staring at the doe for a long time. We were anticipating deer to come from North to South, but this buck came from west to east and looked to be continuing east. I was worried that he wasn't going to come our way, so I grunted to him and he turned and looked. We didn't have much time before dark and so after another 5 or 10 minutes of him just standing there, I grunted to him again. He didn't like that so much so he took two or three bounds towards the woods and stopped and looked back. During all of this, I was on the ground and so I could barely see his head at only a few different times. Steph had a great look at him. Luckily we got most of that on video, just from a bad angle. I'd say he was between 120 and 125 net. It sure was exciting anyway.