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.