Rough Week!!

Bow Hunting is a sport that you never stop learning and growing it is full of moments where you go from the highest of highs and then you are feeling the lowest of lows.  Well, Julie and I learned that this past week.  It all started on Sunday morning at the farm.  Julie and I got the opportunity to hunt together for the first time this year so we took it.  Sunday was looking like it might be good.  It rained all night Friday and for the most part all of Saturday morning.  It finally cleared off Saturday afternoon but remained windy all day.  Saturday night the farm was open for a "flashlight" night with the corn maze and hayride open.  I got to drive the hayride and on the first one I started seeing deer in the fields around the property.  So I got a spot light and every ride I gave I was spotting deer in the fields.  It was cool because I could get a good idea of what was going on but also for the people on the hayride.  They really enjoyed me pointing out the deer.  So to say I had a good feeling about Sunday morning was an understatement.  I especially was feeling good about Julie's stand.  She has a stand that she sits in that has produced some very good encounters with big bucks over the years and she has dubbed it "her stand."  All the activity I was seeing the night before was in that same corner.  I sat in a stand that I knew was a gamble but its time to start gambling.  I got skunked so that gamble didn't work. 
Julie, on the other hand, had a fantastic morning and had deer all over her right away, probably 15 min. after getting settled in.  She was watching a group of doe work their way toward her and was going to take a shot at the biggest one, when she heard something from behind her and there he was a shooter buck.  Everything happened really fast and she had to guess the yardage but when he stepped into her shooting lane she shot low.  He ran out into the field snorted a few times and trotted off.  We all know what a sick feeling that is.  I felt and still feel really bad for her because she did everything perfect and the deer did everything perfect the shot was just off and we all know that can happen to the best of hunters.  Its always tough because you want to say something to make a person feel better, but anyone that has hunted for any matter of time knows how she was feeling and you know there is nothing anyone can say to make it better.  The best thing to do is jump back in the stand and keep hunting.  I know its going to happen for her soon and I honestly have a very good feeling about this year.  To many good things going on down there.

This is the deer she thinks it might of been.  This is the "tall 8"

On to Tuesday morning.  I went out at my mom's and had the same thing as Julie.  I had deer by me right after I got in my stand.  With the fog and the darkness I didn't see it very well but I have a very good feeling it was a buck.  I will explain that later.  At 8:00am i had a group of 7 doe come walking through and the last one gave me a shot at 30yds and I missed her low.  I hate making excuses but I really do think I hit a branch because I could see it swaying after I shot.  Either way I missed.  The really neat part about the whole thing was how they acted after I shot.  They hung around for nearly 45 min trying to figure things out I did get another arrow knocked and I could of taken another shot at 35yds but decided not to.  I was able to get a little video of them right after I shot. 

Here is the link to that video.  Its hard to see but there is a group of doe to the right and one to the left and my arrow is the blinking light in the center.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7U-ouZcsPI

Here is the reason I think the first deer was a buck.  When I went to get my arrow I noticed a couple rubs so I figured I might as well investigate since I had already ruined the area for the day.  One of the rubs was very fresh.  I walked a little farther and found a scrape that was also just freshened.  So this was some very encouraging sign to find.  I am going to put a camera over the scrape to see what I am up against. 

All this sign is in-between my stands so that is even better.

Here is the rub

 Here is the scrap.

I hate posting about misses but I figure I should post the good and the bad right?  One positive is that we are putting ourselves into situations that are giving us opportunities and if we keep that up it will pay off soon.  With the rut upon us I feel like the next two-three weeks are going to be fun, no matter what happens.

Things are starting to happen

This year I have been doing things a little different than in the past.  One thing is I am using a trail camera to try to pattern the deer.  In years past I stopped using my camera at the end of Sept.  Then I got a camera that keeps track of date and time this past Christmas.  So I figured I would use it as a tool during the hunting season.  The one thing I worried about is that checking my camera leaves scent and I didnt want to ruin the hunting checking my camera.  So I needed to find a spot that I could check it easily but also a spot that would tell me a lot of info.  So what I did was placed it at the end of a treeline that leads into the sanctuary.

You can see from the ariel below that the blue square is the camera the blue dotted line is where I walk in, the blue circle is where I park the ranger and the yellow dotted line is how I come in with the ranger.  The red X's are the stands I have up right now.  The property looks quite a bit different from what this ariel shows.  The Yellow lines are corn fields this year and the green is the pumpkin patch/alfalfa field.  The deer have been using this treeline to move, I knew this from information I gathered this summer using the camera.  All the videos in previous posts were taken on this treeline.  I also went in there early summer with the chain saw and cut out fall downs and such.  Making it more appealing for the deer to travel through this treeline.  Giving it more of a tunnel feel for them.  It really started working right away I got pictures and videos of several bucks and narrowed it down to 3 shooters (see previous posts)

I have been checking this camera once a week for the last 4 weeks.  My plan has been to watch for one of the shooters and then watch for "daytime" movement as apposed to midnight to 4am movement.  The first couple weeks I didn't get anything some does and a few coyotes.  Then last week I started getting some smaller bucks showing up.  Then this past week finally the bucks we have been waiting for showed back up.  Below is two videos the first is at midnight of Tues the 9th and the second is 7:40 am the next morning.  The first video you will see the tall 8 walk off camera and you will see the wide 9pt in the back ground and he slowly walks closer.  They are heading into the sanctuary which is to the right.  Then the second video which is the next morning you will see a large deer(buck) walking off to the left followed by a small 6 point.  I know I am guessing but I am thinking this is for sure the tall 8 leaving.  It could be the big 9 but something tells me it wasn't.  He could of taken up the rear of this group though.  My camera waits 5 min to take another video.  Either way its very encouraging to see them starting to move at that time in the morning. 

http://s863.beta.photobucket.com/user/chad182nd/media/WGI_0009_zpsa866eaf6.mp4.html

http://s863.beta.photobucket.com/user/chad182nd/media/WGI_0010_zps46b5254c.mp4.html

The other thing I have been doing different is waiting.  Basically waiting for conditions to be right before we go after these deer.  So as the corn comes off they will use this tree line even more.  I am waiting to hunt it until next week(Oct 22)  Then it is game on, whenever we get the right winds we will give it a shot.  Focusing first on the two stands in the treeline.  If we are unsuccessful then once November comes we will try the stand that is on the north end of the sanctuary. 

Its been tough to wait like we have but I have a feeling its going to pay off in more encounters and hopefully one of these guys walks by at 15 yards and the next post I put up will be of myself or Julie with one of these deer.