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Friday afternoon was definitely a hunting trip to remember. Conditions were horrible for being outside, but great for deer hunting. There was a gusty northwest wind and it was raining as I entered my ladder stand.

The rain finally subsided after an hour in the hunt and shortly after a whitetail doe came running across the corn field. Hot on her tail was a 6 pointer. He ran her all over the field for nearly 10 minutes before finally giving up. After about an hour, the same 8 pt buck I saw the week before, showed up. When I first saw him, I grabbed my bow and ranged the edge of the field; 25.5 yards. I was able to watch him very closely as he approached. I had regretted all week not taking the deer. There I was, with the possibility of getting another chance at him. He’s a solid whitetail and would look great on the wall, but I just think he needs one more year. This deer will gross right around 130. If he had five, just five, more inches on him, he would be done. He entered my lane, but I decided to let him go, again, am I ever glad I did.
Ten minutes after my encounter with him, another deer walked along the edge of the field. I immediately thought it was the same deer. As I look through my binos, I almost fell out of my stand. This was definitely not the same deer. This one appeared to have the same amount of points, but more mass, longer beams, and taller tines, he was a brute of a whitetail. I think he will easily go 150 Pope and Young. He fed right along the edge of the field towards my opening. As he closed in, he started to veer out into the field. I tried a few grunts, but the wind was hindering my efforts. The closest he would come was 55 yards and he eventually went back on the same path he came out on. He headed along the field edge with the smaller buck towards a corner of timber. Luckily, I was able to sneak out of the stand without spooking either of them. The next day, I snuck out in the rain to check out a food plot and noticed a large scrape on the edge of the small, secluded plot. The scrape was located in the same area the two bucks walked out from, so I moved an infrared camera to it, in hopes of catching him on film. Hopefully my next hunting trip to the area will land him 25 yards broadside.

Posted by B. Hagemeier at 07:00 AM | Permalink

As the sun comes up on yet another October 30th, I can’t help but remember my hunting trip on this day, 2 years ago, when I was able to arrow my biggest buck to date. The Pre-Rut is in full swing and the 35 degree temps have the whitetails moving everywhere. As daylight starts to break and I can just begin to see the pins on my sight, I hear that familiar sound of the squirrels hitting the leaves for the first time this morning.

Shortly after 6:30 I see my first doe feeding down the ridge towards me. Her feeding is quickly interrupted by a running doe, followed closely behind by a rut crazed buck. This doesn’t look like the early chasing we have seen thus far, this looks serious, like this doe is already in estrus. As they ran through the bottom and over the hill, I only catch a glimpse of the deer, but it’s easy to tell what’s going on. After the woods calm down I see 3 more does feeding out of the pine thicket and into the bottom. As they feed past me, I am trying to get a clear picture of the current state of the rut. One doe was being chased Hard, and yet these weren’t being harassed at all. Shortly after they feed out of sight, four more does feed out of the same thicket. Still no bucks, just does minding their own business and getting their morning fill.

Over-all a very good hunting trip with lots of deer activity, but I think the rut is still a few days away, although approaching fast. Things are really heating up, and I think the first doe has come into estrus, but the majority, have another week to go. This coming weekend and through next week should prove to the best days in the whitetail woods this year. This is the time all Bowhunters dream of, the time when you really never know what might step out into a shooting lane. Make sure your in a treestand hunting as much as possible in the coming days and Good Luck out there…

Posted by S. Johnson at 02:00 PM | Permalink

It seems that for the last few years I am always finding myself looking for some more sun block during the duck hunting season. I can’t keep enough of that SPF-100 around. Last fall I sat on top of my pit over looking my decoys like a weathered lifeguard, it was miserable. Obviously not killing birds wasn’t enough torture, so I let a large group of mosquitoes drop into the deks and consume my face.

But last year was an artic blast compared to the 2001 fall-winter hunting season. I remember sitting on a truck tailgate in the first week of December, after sweating cold cuts in a deer stand, I crouched under a self made shower of some luke-warm Dasani. That year we all prayed we didn’t shoot a big deer fearing that if we did the bruiser would be bloated before the arrow pasted through it. The last few years have brought us some really mild winters. Hunting patterns have been less active or frequent, game numbers have been down, and we as outdoorsman have almost accepted this terrible fate. I have a great opportunity to hunt some of the best waterfowling ground in my area, but every opening day for the past few hunting seasons those several hundred acres of flooded corn went unhunted for that first morning.

The whole family would trek out into the swap and hunt the only ducks around, Woodies. It was really depressing to not be able to hunt greenheads, but there was nothing we could do. It is understandable to lose hope after so much disappointment. However, as my grandpa always used to say, “We only achieve great victory after eating so much crap”. I think those last few years were a meal and a half of crapola and this fall will be the great hunting season. I came to this conclusion this afternoon as just like hunting seasons before I sat on my pit, over looking my decoys. This time though, I was not a weary lifeguard watching over a beach of deks. No, I was definitely bundled up tight as possible while the cold 40 mph north wind cut into my back like an unexpected blade. My eyes, not on the spread, strained the wind to look over-head at five thousand ducks funneling down from the stratosphere right on top of me. Being the day before the season, there was no gun, nor call to reach for. I simply sat dumb founded as fat wads of mallards banked down in the wind and not making a pass, literally fell into my decoys. Behind them, several different species of ducks and geese were trailing from the river to join this function. By the time I crawled back to my truck, there were over ten thousand birds circling and haunting the air above our 4 lakes coming in not committed, but possessed. Next morning I will load my gun, not to put it aside for a nap or to freshen my coat of Banana Boat, but to put steel to beak, for this hunting season there will be ducks on opening day.

Posted by T. Fanning at 11:00 AM | Permalink

The long awaited time of year is fast approaching, and as much as hunters are trying to guess which days spent hunting will be best, the bucks are starting to make their rounds, guessing which doe will be the first to come into estrus. Yes the Pre-Rut is upon us, and that magic few days of hunting the whitetail rut will be here before we know it.

After spending a few days in the woods it’s easy to notice all the pre-rutting activity going on. Scrape and rub lines all over the place and for a lucky few hunters, those first sightings of mature bucks on their feet during daylight hours. I for one, still have yet to lay eyes on the first shooter of the year while hunting, but my time will come. Hours and hours on stand and preparation for these few magic days will hopefully payoff with that one split second where it all comes together, and we find out if we really can, close the deal.

The pre-rut chasing phase should start to sweep across the nation over the next week, and this cold front we are experiencing early should help move that right along. The next 2-3 weeks will be some of the best hunting time on-stand this year, and if your serious about putting your tag on the Whitetail of a lifetime, you should be in the woods hunting every chance you get. The Whitetail Rut is the most exciting time of year to be in the deer woods, calling, decoys and scents can be used to dupe mature whitetails into bow range and a bucks survival instincts seem to take a back seat to the hot doe trail he’s following.

My time spent hunting late last week had multiple small buck sightings and does still cruising through the acorns that are still everywhere! This week I think all that will change, the mature bucks that have been eating and resting for the past month will start to come alive with the desire to fight and breed. Make sure your out there hunting as much as work will allow to catch some of the best action you’ll see until November 2007.

Posted by S. Johnson at 09:00 PM | Permalink

I’ve been hunting hard the last 3 weeks, spending at least 4 days a week in a tree watching and observing the whtietail activity on our farm. This year we are faced with a very atypical situation, unseasonably cool weather, and this has got the deer fired up.

The bucks are becoming very territorial, and have viciously broken up their summer bachelor groups. This means you could be seeing new bucks you’ve never seen before each time you enter the hunting woods. It happened to me last week; I have new trail cam pictures of a great buck that I haven’t seen all summer.

So what’s this mean for us? Simple, the rut will be here sooner than in years past. After talking to many experienced hunters and outdoorsmen, I’ve come to the conclusion that we will be seeing much heavier whitetail rut activity in the first week of November than we have in the last few years. This cool weather could be a true blessing to hunters and we can expect an exciting few weeks of the whitetail rut. I’ve arranged my schedule to be out in the woods hunting for the next three weeks, so stay tuned for the results.

This Sunday I’m leaving for a bow hunting trip to Illinois. I’ll be sure to take many pictures and post a very detailed journal when I return. Good luck to all of you as the rut approaches fast!

Posted by E. Jones at 03:00 PM | Permalink

Saturday morning I made my first hunting trip to the main property I have access to. The corn was still standing, but I was made the decision I was hunting it anyways. I chose a stand that was 100 yards downwind of a bedding area.

I was hunting in the corner of a fence row where it meets the timber with a food plot directly in the corner. I checked my mock scrapes last weekend and they were starting to show some signs of heavy use. The forecast called for a cold front to move through overnight Saturday so I figured that would have the whitetails up and moving.

At 6:45, first legal hunting light, I heard a twig snap behind me. Soon after, a nice 8 point walked down the same path I used along the edge of the plot. He presented a nice 10 yard shot, but I chose to pass. He was a nice deer, probably score 130, but its too early in the season to shoot a questionable buck. If I see him again later in the year and still have a buck tag, I will probably take him. He fed for a few minutes, and then walked back down the fencerow where he came from. That was the only action I saw while hunting that day, but it was encouraging to see a buck that size up on his feet.

When I got down, I went and checked the scrapes. They had been used the past few days and a new one had opened up in between the two I had made. The plot is starting to show signs of heavy whitetail use. It is a brassica blend, so the deer usually don’t hit it very hard until late in the year when all the sugar goes to the leaves.

For the sunday morning hunting trip, I struggled to get out of bed, but since the cold front had just moved through, I made it to the stand. This time, I was hunting the other end of the property. I was set up between a chicory clover plot, and the standing corn field. As soon as I got to my stand and was able to see, a young 6 point entered the plot and fed for ten minutes. He then noticed something to the east and went to investigate. Unfortunately I couldn’t see what he was going to check out. A few minutes later he returned with a much larger 7 point. He was 2.5 years old and will be a great deer next year. They fed for awhile and eventually passed in front of a camera I placed in the plot the day before. The young deer, after getting one picture taken, walked right up to the camera to investigate. The camera then went off again with him directly in front of it. The larger deer then skirted the detection area of the camera at about 15 yards and escaped without getting captured. Neither deer reacted badly to the flash, but I do think the larger deer circling around the camera, had something to do with the camera. About an hour later, a small fork horn walked out of a bedding area towards my location. He walked within 30 yards downwind of me and stared in my direction. He never saw me or seemed to smell me. I just think he noticed a big blob in the treestand and knew something wasn’t right. He turned around and slowly walked back to where he came from.

That made four bucks in the two first hunting trips on this farm. I’m sure the sightings will increase even more once the farmers get the corn out. When I checked the cameras on Saturday, I had a nice 10 point on one. He really resembled the 8 point scoring wise. He’s border line 130 so I would probably pass him this early. With all the young deer sightings, this farm should be loaded next year. On one of my other cameras on a near by property, I had a massive 8 pointer. He’s not real wide or excessively tall, but he has mass that I’ve never seen on a deer at this property. I had the camera placed on a rub line just outside of a bedding area. A half dozen new rubs showed up in the past week. I made 3 mock scrapes in the area and relocated the camera along them. I can’t wait to check it next week. If he’s back, I will definitely be hunting the area.

Sunday afternoon, it finally all came together. I was hunting a stand of pines in my climber. No one had hunted them yet this year, so I decided I would be the first. Shortly after 5 I noticed a doe and yearling skirting a creek that was 75 yards away. I saw them very briefly as they headed north. About a half hour later, they headed straight down a trail that was 17 yards from my stand. The doe was in front of her two youngsters. I turned the camera on and filmed as they headed my direction. I grabbed my bow and positioned the camcorder on the spot I wanted to shoot. When she entered the spot, I did a mouth bleat to try and get her to stop. She ended up taking a few more steps than I had hoped, but once she came to a halt, I let the Hoyt fly.

The shot was perfect. She ran 25 yards and piled up. When I replayed the video, she was just on the left side of the screen when I let the arrow fly. It’s not the greatest footage, but since I’m just starting out, I’ll take it. That’s my second kill on video this year. I’m really falling in love with the sport of filming my hunting trips. She dressed out at 137 pounds. She was really eating well. When I cleaned her, I plugged my nose and punctured the stomach to see what she had been eating. It was full of corn and wheat which is typical for an Illinois whitetails this time of year.

My cousin from Ohio is coming in late this week to do some hunting with me. He is still looking for his first deer with a bow, and I would love to catch it all on video, so I don’t know how much actual hunting I will do, but I will definitely be out there just above him in hopes of catching it all on film.

Posted by B. Hagemeier at 11:00 AM | Permalink

What is going to become more apparent to you as you read more of what I write this hunting season will be the enormous black cloud that hovers just above my head. I’m not talking good ducky day black cloud. No, oh no. I’m talking jet black-everything that can go wrong today will- kind of cumulus.

The first sign of bad weather occurred last weekend. I had made the pilgrimage back home late Friday night, which made my bones extra-slow the following morning. After I shook off the dust and crumbs we all headed down to the club. The first order of business was to get out into the field they had just cut and check out our pit. Based on previous occasions I was half way prepared for the worst.

Other times we had found many peculiar things awaiting us in our forgotten pit. Once a group of male muskrats setting up their deluxe bachelor pad on top of the step up, refusing to give up their new home. Luckily I had brought my personal real estate agent, Mr. Marlin .22 to sort out the matter. Another time the field we hunted out of went unsprayed during the summer creating a lovely gauntlet of burrs and Johnson grass. When we finally slashed our way to the pit we discovered that the foliage had swallowed the entire structure. This seemed rather disappointing but in a rare moment of sheer ingenious, I decided to cut five melon-sized holes for our five melon-sized heads and was done with it. Wasn’t the most comfortable hunting season, but I saved some time cutting corn and burning brush.

Well this year has topped every other year in the history of my hunting conquest. When we uncovered our pit what I saw was such a sight of disbelief I sat there for several minutes trying to register what exactly I was staring at. But before I say what it is that I saw, I would like to take this time to thank my buddies for coming up with the genius idea to keep all of our decoys in the pit during the off season. Obviously men too lazy to load them in a truck could only come up with such a completely flaw less idea as to just “leave em there”. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. What I saw when I dropped down into my pit for the first time this hunting season was thirty dozen of my decoys, without their strings. I’m not talking, cut off, chewed off or broken. I mean completely non-existent, gone-VANISHED. Not just the strings were gone, all of the gun rests they decided to leave in the pit with the decoys were completely stripped, nothing but shiny, bare metal. All of my robo wiring that was just rolled up and thrown into the bottom was with out any insulation. Not of shred of plastic was left, not even a crumb!!! Some where in the Illinois-river bottoms there are a few dozen field mice with the belly ache of the century. And me, sitting in my pit with the headache of the century am just starting to get the color back into my face when my buddy notes how half of our decoys are missing.

So I just want to apologize in advance if any of my stories sound “whiney” or just plain full of misery, but this is something I cannot change. As long as this cloud keeps hanging out I’m sure this season will be full of “shoulda-coulda-woulda’s” and plain-old “ah crap’s”. All I ask is to hang in there with me for the hunting season. Cause as you know, misery always loves a little company.

Posted by T. Fanning at 08:00 PM | Permalink

Saturday was a cool blustery afternoon. I was hunting the farm where I videoed the two big bucks the week before. This time I was set up in the area we saw them come out. I was in a nice staging area full of rubs and a few scrapes.

I felt I was hunting a great spot. I just happened to turn behind me to get a drink of water and noticed a doe coming through the beans. Not far behind her was a shooter buck. He was definitely feeling the excitement of the cold weather. Had I set up on the edge, I might have had a chance, but I was 40 yards into the timber and had no chance. I only saw them for a few second, just enough time to picture him on my wall in my mind.

With three sightings of shooter bucks in this same area in the past week, I will definitely be returning the coming weekend. The forecast looks promising too. 50’s for highs and 30’s for lows. The bucks should start to feel even more anxious. I plan to start doing a little light rattling and calling this weekend. The scrapes should start to become more and more numerous and the bucks should be on their feet. Good luck hunting to everyone this week!

Posted by B. Hagemeier at 12:00 PM | Permalink

Friday afternoon I left the house early to move some cameras around and freshen my mock scrapes. I had several different stands to hunt according to the wind direction that day. Depending on if the farmer had the corn out on one farm was the determining factor as to which stand I would be hunting.

Unfortunately, it was still standing, so I went in, moved my cameras, hit the scrapes, and left. I then went to another farm and checked the cameras there. There was nothing overly impressive so I decided on hunting the third farm with my climber. I thought I had remembered everything for each possible stand I would be hunting, but I was wrong, I had forgotten my climber. Luckily I had my ground blind, so I decided to set up just inside the field edge, in hopes of catching something on its way to dinner.

I was set up just after 3:30. The area I was in was about 75 yards north of the stand I was hunting the weekend prior, when I saw the turkeys for the first time. I made sure to pick up tags on the way out, this time, incase they showed themselves again. Ten minutes after getting set up, I notice movement straight ahead. I originally thought it was a small deer. I pulled up my binoculars and saw 4 turkeys through the brush. A few minutes later, I had three birds inside 40 yards, and the rest were close behind. They paralleled my location at 35 yards to the south on the way to the field. When they hit the logging road to the east of my blind they decided to head in a direction that would bring them with shooting range.

The camera was rolling when the lead hen stepped in my lane at 12 yards. My shot placement was perfect and she fell within feet. The rest of the birds immediately gathered around her. Had I wanted to, I could have done some damage to the whole flock. I eventually couldn’t take the excitement and had to scare the birds off so I could go check out my first ever turkey. She weighed in just over 13 lbs. I was so excited to get home and show everyone, I ended the hunt two hours before dark. Even though it was just a hen, I had felt like I shot the biggest buck of my life. I have many family members who turkey hunt and no one has ever been able to get one with a bow. I’ve always heard it’s really tough, but this bird had no idea I was ever there. Hunting them out of a blind is definitely the way to go. I will definitely be using it next spring when I look to harvest my first turkey with a gun.

Posted by B. Hagemeier at 07:00 PM | Permalink

The hunting day started off like any other, with a lot of excitement and optimism of the day ahead. This morning was a special Duck Hunting trip to Maryland’s Eastern shore that began about 3 O’clock in the morning. It was a two-hour drive to our spot and we were meeting a couple other people at 5am. My partner showed up right on time, and we pulled out of the driveway at exactly 3am.

Shortly after our hunting adventure began we saw the unmistakable blue flashing lights in the rear-view mirror. The officer claimed we had a tag light out, but upon further inspection and running my license and tags figured out that everything was good, and we were on our way again. The gas light was on in the truck and the miles till empty was reading 37 and of course the gas station I usually stop at was closed at 3am. I continued on my way, thinking I would run into a station that was open and also sold diesel fuel. Little did I know how bad this morning was getting ready to be. After passing 3 big name gas stations, which did not carry diesel, we found ourselves sitting on the shoulder of the road at 3:30 in the morning with no fuel. What a morning this was becoming. Finally after a few minutes we were somehow able to not only wake someone up, but also talk him into bringing us fuel. After a short wait, our fuel showed up and we were on the road to duck hunting once again. We stopped and fueled up and began trying to make up for lost time.
Lucky for us (probably the only luck we would see today) it didn’t take nearly as long to get to our hunting destination as we had thought, and we ended up there about 20 minutes late with plenty of time to get setup before shooting light. So after all the road-blocks of the morning, we figured it could only get better from here, after all we were sitting in a duck blind with friends, watching the sun come up. What could be better??
Daybreak started off like most duck hunting mornings with lots of ducks flying and shot-gun blasts in the distance. However on this particular morning, the ducks didn’t seem to like our setup too well. They would give us a look or two and then head off to the next destination. We ended up getting one chance at one bird, which I botched and missed twice. So after all the hard work and determination to get into the duck blind on opening morning, we came home empty handed.
However, it didn’t end there. About mid-way through the morning I felt some pain in my upper thigh, I didn’t think much of it, thought maybe my keys were poking my leg or something. After we got back to the truck and I took off my waders, I took a look at my leg to find what looked like a pimple with a one inch red circle around it. I still didn’t think too much of it, we hopped in the truck and headed home. Upon arriving at the house, I got the chills. I thought it was from the chilly morning on the water, and went up and climbed into bed to catch a nap. After laying down for a while my leg began to really hurt bad, a lot worse then a pimple. I complained to my wife that I was FREEZING and my leg hurt really bad. She felt my forehead and thought it was necessary to take my temperature, which turned out to be 101. We then took a look at my leg and the redness had grown to about the size of your hand, around what still looked like a pimple.
To make this short, on top of all the problems we had, I believe I was bit by some kind of spider that happen to be living in my waders for the summer months. I went to the Doctors and had it checked out and have to take antibiotics for the next 10 days and keep an eye on it. I still say a bad day hunting, is better then a good day at work, but I think this may be pushing it…

Posted by S. Johnson at 05:00 PM | Permalink

Well I had been waiting for this past weekend for a long time. I heard earlier in the week that the temperatures where suppose to get down into the lower 40’s which should make for some great hunting, but when the weekend got here it was actually a low of 45 and a storm front was approaching. I was so pumped to get in the woods, when Saturday morning rolled around I was in the stand 30 minutes before daybreak.

I was hunting a funnel where 4 bottoms come together. The wind was perfect and I was confident and ready to go. As it began getting later and later and still no deer, I began to question my setup. I usually get out around 11, but I was getting frustrated and had made my mind up to get down at 10. Well at 9:45 I looked to my left and I saw 4 does coming in fast and I decided to take one, seeing that we needed the meat and we have so many does on our place. Well as I get my bow off the hanger on the other side of the tree, three more deer come down the trail, a 4 pointer and two spikes. The first doe got in bow range and I passed on her because she was on the small side. The next doe was a shooter though and as I drew my bow and I wasn’t nervous yet but talk about hard to get draw with 7 deer around. It was a 30 yard shot so I held steady and pulled the trigger on my release. She went up a hill she started staggering and immediately fell and did two flips down the hill. That’s when the adrenalin started pumping.
I waited 30 minutes to get down and find my arrow. It was covered in blood, and there to my left she lay, about 25 yards. While it wasn’t the biggest deer I have shot with my bow, it was the biggest doe I believe I have ever harvested. It feels good to get one in the early hunting season and builds my confidence for November when the rut comes into full swing. No more does for me the rest of the year, but I am ready to get back into the woods for some more hunting now that I have seen all those deer.

Posted by T. Briggs at 08:00 AM | Permalink

It’s the third week of hunting season here in Georgia and I haven’t seen much activity thus far. I have only seen 11 deer and been out nearly 20 times. It’s frustrating for me this time of year. The deer just don’t seem to move down here early in the hunting season.

I just have to remember all of the trail cam photos from summer scouting and the two big bucks I’ve seen. That is the motivation I need to get me in a treestand in this heat. Sitting in the treestand in 90-degree temperatures, with mosquitoes swarming all around, can make for a bad day. Sometimes while sweating in the treestand and in-between slowly swatting at mosquitoes I think to myself, why I am sitting in this tree. For me it’s just being in the outdoors hunting and the chance that I might see a deer that makes it seem worth it.

I believe success can be had in the southern states in the early hunting season, and I usually hunt in between a food source and a bedding area. The most success I have had this year is in a particular bottom where I have a feeder setup about 300 yards away and a treestand setup in a hardwood bottom. The pines, where the deer like to bed are about 300 yards away. I know that it is not the finest time to get out in the woods but the mosquitoes and heat aren’t enough to keep me from hunting. The chance that I may get a shot at a great buck drives me to the woods on a consistent basis. I simply enjoy the outdoors and hunting and wouldn’t rather be doing anything else.

Posted by T. Briggs at 09:00 AM | Permalink

My weekend started Friday afternoon about 4. I was late getting to the farm, but luckily I didn’t have far to walk to where I was going to be hunting. I had never hunted this property before. Its a 3 acre piece of a 300 acre tract of timber that my fiancés father owns.

In past years I’ve walked through it just to look it over for hunting and I’ve seen some nice rubs in there and it is full of oak trees. So many it makes it hard to hunt. There aren’t just one or two trees to concentrate on and the deer can feed on mast anywhere. I took my climber and told myself the first rub line I could find, I would set up there. Not long after leaving the truck I found 5 rubs within 40 yards. I picked out an oak about 10 yards downwind side of the trail and went up. This was my first time hunting this year from a tree. I was lucky enough to get a video camera for Christmas last year so I can film all my hunting trips this year. I saw an over abundance of squirrels tearing up all the acorns and shortly after 5 I heard what I thought was a herd of squirrels about 50 yards to the south of me. Upon further inspection I noticed a couple dark blobs. Looking through my binoculars, I realized they were turkeys and before long, I had 8 within 20 yards of me. This was the last thing I expected to see. I had never seen turkeys while bowhunting in the fall so I never felt the need to buy a turkey tag. After this encounter, I will definitely be visiting the local gas station / hunting store and picking one up for next weekend. I was able to get 15 minutes of footage of them feeding around me. The closest one was right at 10 yards as she stepped up on a log and peer around the woods. She presented an awesome shot, if I had only had a tag. They eventually fed off and the rest of the hunting adventure was uneventful.

I’ve never had much success during morning hunting trips when there is a full moon, but I have enjoyed a limited amount of sightings during evening hunts. Everyone I had talked to this past weekend was not seeing many whitetails and they were blaming it on the moon. We had clear nights where the deer could feed all night in the fields because of the moon light. The times I have had the most hunting success during the full moon phases is when the moon rises before the sun sets as was the case on Saturday evening.

I was driving a tractor, helping harvest beans when my buddy called and told me he was in town for the day and wanted to go hunting. We used to hunt together all the time, but then he married and had two daughters and his hunting time became very limited. I picked him up at 4 and planned to be set by 4:30. We don’t have any treestands set on this property and we hadn’t really been hunting it for a couple years, so I brought my climber and a hang-on treestand with climbing sticks. I told him I wanted to film him so we had planned on sitting near each other. As we rounded a corner of the timber that extends out into a field, we noticed a ladder stand, so we decided to set up there. I took my hang-on treestand and sat about 6 feet above him. The treestand was set 5 yards in the woods about 50 yards from an inside corner on a late planted bean field that was still green. At 6:00 we had out first visitor; a small 5 point. He fed in the beans for awhile, but every few minutes he would look back behind him towards the corner. Eventually, a doe and two fawns entered the field. She immediately grabbed the attention of the buck and he worked his way toward her. Before he could get within 10 yards she ran back towards the woods so he continued foraging. After a few more minutes, he decided to try again. This time the doe ran back into the woods. The buck became frustrated and headed to the edge of the woods. He then proceeded to thrash his antlers in the low hanging branches, hit a licking branch, and pee in a scrape. It was the first time I have ever seen the whole process take place. I’ve seen deer make rubs and make a scrape, but never hit a licking branch or pee in a scrape. The best part, it was all on tape.
The doe eventually ventured back into the field and presented a perfect broadside shot at 40 yards, but my buddy is uncomfortable shooting that far. She eventually worked her way directly towards us and got within 10 yards, of our treestand but never presented a shot. She ended up seeing the climber in the weeds, below the stand, and bolted. My buddy hit his can call and the buck immediately turned his attention towards what he thought was a doe just inside the edge of the woods. He walked towards us and was within 20 yards before losing interest and venturing away from us and back into the timber. After a few minutes of the excitement being over, we looked further out into the field and saw two monster whitetails a couple hundred yards away that had just entered the bean field. It was only a few minutes before shooting light was over. We could vaguely see their racks in our binoculars, but it’s was too dark for video. The larger deer looked to have a 20+ inch spread but we weren’t able to count points. The other buck was 16-18 inches wide and nearly as impressive. They fed in the field until we were no longer able to see and the hunting trip came to an end.
This was one of the most memorable hunts I’ve been on. What makes it even better is I’ll be able to watch it on video whenever I want. My buddy is currently in negotiation with his wife about returning to hunt next weekend. I think it’s a long shot, but I really hope he can join me again. They’re forecasting a big cold front to move through Thursday. High temperatures are supposed to be in the 50’s and lows around freezing. That should really get the deer on the move. I would love to get some footage of these deer up close, and if we would happen to get a kill on video, I don’t know who would be happier; me or him. This was my first experience filming someones hunt. I experienced the same feelings and shakes when seeing a deer as I do when I have a bow in my hand. I think filming is just as addictive as hunting.

Posted by B. Hagemeier at 10:00 PM | Permalink

Worry and happiness comes over me as I stumbled onto hunting permission for 300 acres just down the road. Happiness because now I have a totally new piece of property to spend time hunting on, which will allow me to put less pressure on the other properties. Worry because it’s October 1st. and I have not set foot on this property yet.

With a land plat in-hand, I begin to find the property using some free aerial photo software on the computer. Google Earth, is going to be my computerized scouting tool. I am able to zoom right in on the property and find all the cornfields, pinch points, cut-overs and creeks with ease. You couldn’t ask for a better way to scout a property in my opinion. I was able to dissect the property in a matter of minutes all without putting any scent in the woods or alerting any whiteteails to my presence. Granted there is no substitute for finding a great rub line leading out of a bedding area, but Google Earth (and others as well) allowed me to pick my scouting points quickly and not waste valuable time in places that may not hold many deer.

After about an hour carefully going over what I have seen on the aerial photos, I pick my hunting locations based on the wind direction I will be hunting and where I believe the deer will be coming from. I got to the property about 3:00 with my climber on my back and head into what I think will be a great place to sit in a treestand for the evening. As I walk across the cornfield and into the woods I begin seeing deer tracks, trails and rubs. I continue back into the woods about 100 yards to a funnel I located with the aerial photos and begin looking for a trail and the right tree. It didn’t take long to locate a well-worn trail leading to the cornfield and the perfect tree for my climber not 15 yards away. The use of aerial photos makes hunting and scouting alot less work, and alot more specific...

As I sat in the treestand that evening I couldn’t help be take note of how I was able to pick that tree. Without the aide of computers and aerial photos from Google Earth it would have taken hours and hours to scout 300 acres of property and I would have spooked a lot of deer in the process. That evening I saw 7 whitetails come out of that bedding area and head up towards the field. Only 1 small buck, but anytime you can go in the woods and see deer it’s a great day in a treestand.

Try Google Earth next time you want to do some “From the comfort of your own home” scouting, you might be surprised what you locate on properties you have been hunting for years.

Here’s a few links to other aerial photo tools on the Internet.
www.JDMCox.com
www.Local.Live.com

Posted by S. Johnson at 01:00 PM | Permalink

I sprung out of bed faster than I ever have this morning. No more than my alarm sounded, I was in the shower getting prepared for the season’s first hunting trip. I had all my equipment in my truck the night before so all I had to do was take the twenty minute drive to the cut corn field edge I had planned on hunting.

I saw 5 does in the little secluded corner the morning before, while scouting, so I knew it was likely I would at least see something.
In the early season, I don’t like hunting morning because of the setup in the areas I hunt. They are small blocks of timber connected by drainage ditches, fence rows, and creeks. The blocks of timber are relatively small, usually no more than 30 acres. The deer love to bed on the edges of these blocks, or even in the ditches and fence rows. They have great visibility and are right next to an abundant food source. I don’t like hunting these field edges in the morning because of the risk of bumping deer when walking in, but I knew if I got there early enough I could beat the deer to the field. I was on my way to setting up my blind an hour and a half before the sun was scheduled to come up. If my plan worked as I had hoped, I would set up 30-40 yards down a fence row that jutted out from the timber. There is a little finger of willows and cat tails that is 75 yards to the south, that too juts out into the field. The deer were using the cat tails as a bedding area, then feeding across the corn field, then crossing the fence row and heading towards the big woods. I got everything set up quickly and quietly, and then the wait was on.

After what seemed like an eternity, I could finally see a hint of color coming up over the horizon. At shortly after 6AM two does headed out of the bedding area. I immediately turned my camera on, but it was too dark to get any footage. Luckily they worked across the field slow enough I was able to get a little footage before they disappeared across the fence row. I raised my bow, but it was too dark in the blind to see my pin and I had no idea how far they were because my range finder wouldn’t work. Had it been 10 minutes later I might have had a chance. Once it was light enough, I found out my depth perception in the dark was off by about 20 yards. Instead of being 30 yards down the fence row, I was just over 50. At their closest point, the does were about 35 yards away.
My few hours spent hunting this morning were great. I’m excited about the year, and feel that this is the most prepared I have ever been for a hunting season. I also have a 10 acre honey hole of acorns, but I have never hunted it before. My future father-in-law told me about this small piece of property that is about 3 miles from where I do the majority of my hunting. I plan doing some glassing in the corn field next to it on Thursday afternoon in hope of hunting it on Friday.

Posted by B. Hagemeier at 10:00 PM | Permalink

October 1st of the 2006 Hunting season found temps in the high 70’s in MD, not the type of weather we think of when the whitetail rut comes to mind. However the whitetail bucks in the area are already gearing up for what is sure to be an awesome time to be a Bowhunter.

I took notice of two large rubs on my way into the stand last week, and figured it was about time for the mature bucks in the area to start scraping. I decided to setup a mock scrape along with a trail camera not too far away so I could monitor what I hoped was going to become an active scrape.

The setup was going to be pretty simple. I planned carefully to bring everything necessary into the woods with me. This included a scent dripper, all-season mature buck scent, trail camera, rubber gloves, and plenty of White Lightening to eliminate scent. I found a tree about 20 yards from a stand location in a creek bottom. I have a few trail camera pictures of a mature buck using the area. The tree is small poplar tree with an overhanging branch just off a well-worn trail. After deciding which tree I was going to use I began to get everything setup. I took out my rubber gloves and sprayed them heavily with the White Lightening, and then poured my All-Season scent into the dripper. I was careful not to set my things down next to where I was setting the scrape up so I didn’t leave any unnecessary scent around. Next I tied up the dripper as high as I could reach onto the over-hanging branch. I then found a heavy stick and scraped away the leaves under the dripper until I had a dirt spot a little bigger then a paper plate. I was careful to scrape all the leaves in the same direction, the same as a deer would do if he were standing there, pawing the ground. Once I had what looked to be a perfect scrape, I got my camera setup to catch all the action.

After everything was setup just perfect I grabbed my pack and headed out of the area. Now all that’s left is for the mature buck in the area to find that he has an intruder, and lay claim to the scrape. I am almost as exciting about checking my mock scrape to see if a whitetail buck has found it, as I am to hunt the area. If you’ve never setup a mock scrape, it can be a lot of fun and also very rewarding. Its also a great way to see which bucks are using the area, and start getting them fired up for the fast approaching rut…

Posted by S. Johnson at 10:00 PM | Permalink

It was opening day of the turkey season in Louisiana. I had a good night’s rest and slept in late. I woke up, sat in the living room, and talked to my mom about turkey hunting. She suggested going given that we have an abundant flock nearby.

I grabbed my diaphragm and headed out the back door to check things out. Still in my boxers, and not knowing what I was about to experience, I gazed in the field for no longer than a minute when I noticed a huge gobbler strutting for 3 hens. I lost my breath and almost choked on my diaphragm. I finally stopped staring at him and bolted into my house, put my camouflage on, grabbed my gun, and almost gave my mom a heart attack heading out the door.

I made a huge circle around him and his ladies, set up, and started calling. He gobbled and gobbled, but wasn't interested in another woman since he had plenty right in front of him. After two hours passed, he finally went off with his hens. I had an idea where he may be headed, so I ran what seemed like a marathon just to get ahead of him. After I set up and called a little bit, he became interested and ventured my way quickly! My heart started beating, and I began to sweat. He finally was about 10 yards away from me when I let the hammer down on him. It was the greatest feeling of my life and he was the biggest gobbler I’ve ever taken! It’s not often that you get to sleep late, walk out your back door, and let the hammer down on an impressive gobbler. That day was in my favor, and I thank the good Lord for it each time I think about it!

Posted by Z. Hall at 09:00 PM | Permalink

Many hunters have debated over the use of fawn bleats as a way of calling deer. Some argue that it spooks the deer and ruins future hunts, while others make the point that it works remarkably well. Fawn bleats are used with the intention of calling does directly to the hunter.

. This past weekend was the opening of archery season in the lower portions of Georgia. This is the time to use fawn bleats-just before the rut. My boyfriend and I were in a local sporting goods store and saw a Knight & Hale's E-Z fawn bleat on the shelf. We had seen television commercials for fawn bleats and witnessed how does come running to the sound of a fawn in danger. We bought it and went home to prepare for our hunting trip that afternoon.

We chose a lock on stand about 10 feet up in an oak tree. He sat in the stand while I sat on a hill above and behind him on the ground. He was determined to take his first deer with a bow this season, and all the camouflage and cover scent had sparked his "buck fever". We sat in a creek bottom; it was hot as usual during this time in South Georgia. The mosquitoes were eating me alive and it took all I had to not swat at them. I watched through my head net, careful not to make too much noise or any rapid movement. We were hunting close to where we had planted some Biologic mix. We were hoping to catch the deer on their way to feed. We hadn't been sitting there for very long when I saw him open up his backpack and pull out the fawn bleat. I thought, “let's see how this thing's going to work.”

He began to call. It wasn't five minutes before I heard crashing in the woods nearby. It was coming fast! I glanced up at my guy in the tree and saw that he obviously didn't hear her. I tried to signal to him that she was coming, but he didn’t hear me, and I didn't want to make too much noise. I hurried to think of a way to get his attention when I noticed that the crashing had stopped. I slowly turned my head to see a big doe, and behind her were two yearlings. I stared at her and my heart was racing. I began to breathe out of my mouth because I thought the noise my nose made was too loud. I could feel every muscle in my body tense up as the doe stood in place and didn't move. Then I heard the growling sound. I had never heard a deer make that kind of noise before. It sounded like a dog growling! She then began to stomp her foot and blow. She walked around, never giving him a good, clean shot. She blew again and then ran off, the yearlings in toe. He began to call again, but she probably was spooked and wasn't going to come back.

All of a sudden, she returned! She blew and stomped some more, and each time he drew his bow back, she would pace and walk around so he couldn’t get a clean shot. This departure and return happened 6 more times, each time failing to provide a clean shot. The doe finally picked one of us off and didn’t return. We waited a few minutes and then got down to survey her tracks. She was a big doe-her prints went deep into the black mud. I slung my stool over my shoulder, pulled off my head net and gloves, and began slapping at mosquitoes. He grabbed his bow and we walked back up to the house. We hadn't brought back a deer, but we did have a darn good story!

We must've told that story 50 times before the night was over. We also bragged about and made over the fawn bleat. Despite our initial attitude about the bleat, we now see both sides of the argument. It had brought the doe straight to us, but it made the deer very nervous and skittish. We suggest that next time a fawn bleat is used, take two people: one to hunt, and one to call. Set the caller up to the sides of the hunter, depending on where you think the deer will come from. This allows the caller to be undetected, and the hunter to be ready to have a chance at a better shot. Although you may not kill a deer when using a fawn bleat, you’re guaranteed to have a world-class story when the hunt is over!

Posted by J. Ansley at 08:00 PM | Permalink

This past month has proved harder to hunt than I could have ever expected. Let alone to keep a journal about it. Every week I would run home, try to work on my blind, hunt, then fix whatever I broke trying to hunt out of the blind I am still building- only to rush back up to school.

. I did get some shooting done along with as little work as I could possibly do. So I think I can scrap what I did get out of the experience and pass it on to anyone else who thinks they can live a double life from the class room to the duck blind.

Life Lessons of a "Run-n-Gun" Fowler:

1. If you think your gonna make a cute little list of things that you
need to get done and think your gonna get 1/4 of that list done-Please, step into REALITY my friend. Its nice and warm here.

2. When cutting brush a machete can be useful. A chain-saw can be even better. But trying to wield both of these tools at once is just no good at all.

3. If someone just, out of the blue, lets you use their boat- you will break something. Its guaranteed. Its more than a life lesson, its a Law of Nature. Just ask my buddies boat trailer at the bottom of the lake. Eh, make that ex-buddy.

4. If over the summer when you had work to do your only friend was your dog, expect to find new "cousins", "buddies" and "comrades" coming out of the wood work just as the blind is finished.

5. Note these same people hunting your blind as soon as you head back home.

6. Also note these guys making sure to tell you how good the week was as soon as you get back.

7. Finally, do not mix romances. Even though your dog swears she loves you the best, she wont be the one cooking those teal when you get back home.

You might want to refer back to this list in a month. Even though the pursuit will vary, your scenarios will never change!

Posted by T. Fanning at 07:00 PM | Permalink