Saturday Afternoon Bowhunt

[Fat Boy]

I hunted Saturday out of my same tree stand in the afternoon.  I spotted a small spike buck on the way to my stand that watched me walk by while he was hiding in a thicket.  For some reason he must have felt safe because he didn’t bolt.  I wasn't interested in either hunting him or risk spooking him, so I kept on walking quietly away from him.  When I got to my stand at 3 p.m., I kicked out a doe not 15 yards from my stand.  Usually, I get dejected when this happens, but I've learned that these animals often "forget" what has happened hours later or often flee without knowing what scared them.  Often, they are curious and come back.  In my case yesterday, I was hunting over a small field of clover with a classic funnel situation (nearby railroad tracks with a steep bank, creek, and steep hillside behind me), so there was a high probability that deer would have much desire to return.  I was looking for either a large buck or a doe for reasons that I've explained in previous posts.

After getting into my stand, I was somewhat disappointed in my efforts.  I felt that I made too much noise getting to the stand and as carefully as I normally prepare, felt that I may have blown my hunt.  Still, it was early and I've learned that by settling down, often you can make up for those mistakes.    But my chance for a big buck may have been blown.  One thing is on my side, Maryland's rut is just beginning.  Bucks often get curious during the rut checking out noises and activitity that at other times spook them.  Curiousity and hormones sometimes throw caution into the wind leading to their possible demise.  I rationalized this as I prepared in my stand but at the same time made a decision to take a doe if given the opportunity.  Plus, I'm about half done eating my bologna from the last deer

After kicking that doe, when I got into the stand earlier I noticed it looking to cross the creek but seemed unwilling to jump in the deeper water.  I assumed that it would wander down the creek and seek a shallow spot to cross.  Once in my stand, I carefully and quietly prepared for my hunt and noticed out of the corner of my eye down the hill behind me the same doe that I kicked out on the way in was feeding, working it's way back up the hill feeding on acorns and leaves that had just fallen.  That was interesting to me as I didn't realize that they ate yellow leaves.  This doe seemed to suck in every one on it's way up the hill.

I prepared for a shot as it moved through the woods toward my shooting lane.  At my first opportunity it crossed into the lane moving too quickly to shoot so I whistled in an attempt to get it to stop.  It ignored me, oblivious and kept moving into the thicket feeding all the while.  It eventually worked it's way to the path that I walked in on and didn't pick up my scent.  There is about a 10' window with a 20 yard shot along that path that I prepared for, but again she worked her way through it too quickly for a shot.  The path winds around a tree where I have no shot and then makes a right turn into the field.  My stand has lots of cover around me but prevents me from getting a shot as they enter the field.  Once entering the field, it worked it's way toward my main shooting lane but coming head first right to my stand.  I won't take that shot as it's a poor angle and your chances of hitting vitals are slim.  When it was about 10 yards away I drew back hoping that it would turn.  But, instead it caught my sent.  Unfortunately for me, the wind was supposed to be a Southwest wind, but had shifted during that past hour from the Southeast.  That's why the deer never smelled me before this point and that's why she smelled me now.  But, she was convinced that I was down the hill and behind me, oblivious that I was above her in the stand.  She was alert now, not a good situation.  A leaf fell from the tree that I was in and hit my arrow and that spooked her.  She jumped up and bolted to the center of the small field about 18 yards away.  I had a quartering to me shot now, but she was still looking down the hill behind me and very agitated.  I was still at full draw as she stomped repeatedly as her tail flicked up and down.  I hoped that the wind would return to what it was supposed to be and that she'd return to feeding on the clover and give me a shot opportunity.  She then walked toward my stand and actually smelled the ladder below me.  She looked up right at me, then down the hill, then up again at me, then down the hill.  Then, she walked to my left where I had no shot through the cover around my stand.  I let off the string and brought my arrow back and that spooked her again.  She stood motionless looking behind me for about ten more minutes, then began feeding, working away from me and not giving me a chance for a clean shot.  Oh well…maybe next time.

After she left, I rattled and grunted and didn't see any more deer that evening.

About an hour before dark, a groundhog emerged into the field and entertained me the rest of the evening feeding on clover and sprouts.  It amazed me that the squirrels folicking in the nearby woods startled it as did just about every other noise in the woods, causing it to raise up to an upright position looking for potential danger, yet when a train came by and made all kinds of noise, it didn't even draw a reaction in the slightest.

It was a fun hunt!

[PA_BOWHUNTER]

Sounds like a fun hunt Kevin!  I have a fat little woodchuck that has entertained me on several occasions this season.  Boy do those little gluttons love apples!  They're quite comical to watch.  It was feeding under my stand on the first day of the season when a big doe approached.  She was just about to enter my only shooting lane in her direction when the little whistle pig saw her and ran off causing her to jump through the lane with out giving me a shot.  That was the first time I ever had a shot blown by a woodchuck.   The next week she wasn't so lucky.

[Fat Boy]

Saturday afternoon I hunted out of the same stand and had an absolute beautiful 10+ point buck work through the area without giving me a shot.    It was a fun yet depressing experience .  I was so pumped when he showed up.  He rubbed a tree and tore up some brush about 40 yards away then worked his way around me without entering any shooting lane.  When he began to move off I grunted him back within 30 yards but I didn't have a clear shot.  He walked off again away from me and then bedded down about 40 yards away from me facing in my direction.  He remained there for about 45 minutes with me standing still not being able to move for the entire time.  My back was cramping up badly when a smaller 1/2 rack would be 6 point followed the same trail down with it's nose on the other bucks path.  He walked right up to the bedding buck and sniffed him, them moved off.  The big buck got up and followed him about a minute later.  I rattled and grunted without any response, positive or negative.

Still, I had fun...

[PA_BOWHUNTER]

Awesome, it's always exciting just to encounter a big buck at those ranges even if you don't get a shot.  That was the story of my season last year.  I had 4 large buck well within bow range on different occassions and none presented a clear shot.   This year is proving to be a little more difficult but some reall nice ones are turning up and a few people I know have taken some great bucks.

[Fat Boy]

Yesterday I rattled in two squirrels...

[PA_BOWHUNTER]

Yesterday I rattled in two squirrels...

LOL!  Sounds about like my luck!!

[Fat Boy]

I got a chance to get out on Saturday.  What a great hunt, not productive but very fun and exciting! 

I got into my stand quietly at about 2:30.  My stand is at the edge of a grassy field down a hill.  At the top of the field is the gate to our property along a public road.  Across that road is a public hunting area.  My stand faces that road at the other end of the field.  Looking Northwest (dead ahead) is the road, and to the right of that is another stand along the field about 80 yards away.  To my left about 60 yards away tucked into the bottom left corner of the field at the edge of a logging road is another stand.  To my right, over my shoulder about 150 yards away is the stand that I had been hunting up until this past Saturday.  Normally, I'd be in that stand, but the wind was out of the North and that is not a good wind for that stand.  The wind was perfect for the stand that I was in.

At about 3 p.m., a doe walked into the logging road over my right shoulder about 40 yards away through the trees.  It fed on the grasses in that road for about 15 minutes when all of a sudden, I hear commotion behind me.  A fox scurries through the woods and under my stand, and into the field and eventually into the thicket to the right of that field.  That thicket, in my opinion, is the prime feature along with the field that I think attracts nice bucks on this property and what I like to hunt.  About a minute later, two does follow the skunk but head right to the doe that was feeding in the road and stop.  They all look down the hill behind me at whatever spooked them.  I thought that it could be another hunter, but hoped that it was the big buck that I've been seeing.  All three does walked into that thicket minutes later.

At about 3:30, one of the does walks out of the thicket into the field to my right just under that other stand.  Another fox walks out of the woods from behind me under my stand and into the field.  I had 3 scent canisters placed strategically in front of my stand with the attempt to get a buck to stop and give me a shot.  The fox trotted right up to the second scent bomb, sniffs it, then grabs it in it's mouth and attempts to carry it away but drops it a few feet later then gives up and heads out into the field.  After that, it snuck up on the doe and spooked the doe momentarily as the doe jumped up in surprise.  Then, the doe stomps at the fox, then charges it and chases the fox out to the middle of the field.  This game went on for about 10 minutes before the fox trotted off into the thicket and the doe resumed feeding.  Shortly after that, 4 more does entered the field off to my right…under that stand!  Then, to my left about 100 yards up the field, another doe walks into the field followed by a young 6 point buck hot on her trail.  The does continued to feed while the young buck stood there.  Meanwhile, yet another fox enters the field and heads right out into the middle of it.  All of the does seem fixated on it and the direction that it came.  About two minutes later, a large 8+ point wide spread antlered buck emerges right under the stand to my left into the field about 75 yards away from me.  The doe to my left all of a sudden takes off and jumps the gate and crosses the road into the public land.  The 6 point did the same thing, hot on her trail.  Meanwhile, the big buck bolts after the does in the middle of the field as they all scatter into the thicket to the right of the field with the big boy hot on their trails.  Only one doe remained feeding seemingly uninterested in all that activity.  I could hear the buck chasing the does as they all crashed through the thick woods.  Eventually, they all made it down to the stand that I normally like to sit in…DOH!  Meanwhile, another fox and a groundhog appear from my left and enter the field as the lone doe gazed at both of them.  She resumed feeding.

About 20 minutes later, I could hear the deer coming out of the thicket and the first doe emerged about 45 yards away, entered the field and headed right toward that treestand where they all were earlier.  Shortly after that, the buck appeared and began to follow.  I used my bleat and grunt calls desperately to get that bucks interest away from the doe.  The buck seemed confused and turned and took a few steps in my direction still 45 yards away and looking right at me.  The buck then turned toward the doe and walked towards it as I resumed grunting and bleating to no avail.  However, the lone doe in the middle of the field decided to check out my calling and walked right to me under my stand, fed for a few minutes, then walked away behind me.  Meanwhile, the big buck bedded down not five yards from that other stand…DOH!  Shortly after that another doe walked out of the thicket and presented me with a 10 yard broadside, feeding there until dark.  Now, my wife gave me specific instructions to be home at 6:30, so shooting that doe would have made me late (after field dressing her and dragging her out), so I passed on her.  Plus, there was always the chance that the big buck would get up and give me a shot but that didn't happen and he stayed there bedded down at the edge of the field, so I didn't want to risk spooking him.  If that buck walks up to me, not a problem, I'll risk being late. 

Well, it got dark and these deer were all around me and the clock is ticking.  I was worried about being late, so what do I do?  Should I just get down and say heck with it?  All these deer were in the field and my way out was through that field (normally) so taking the "back" way out would take more time and make me later.  Plus, my scent canisters were out into the field and getting them would surely spook that buck.  So, I decided it wasn't worth spooking him.  By getting down quietly waiting until after dark, I was sure that the buck wouldn't see me if I snuck out the back way.  I dragged a stick with me as I walked out over the crunchy leaves so that the deer wouldn't recognize me as being human, took the back way out, and left my scent bombs in the field.

Did I pick the wrong stand to sit in or what!  That big buck presented an opportunity at every single stand except for the one that I was in... 

I can't wait to hunt there again plus, hope nobody took my scent bombs!!!  Oh, I made it home by the skin of my teeth!!!