Shooter Buck!!!!!!

 I was able to get down to the farm today.  I had a couple of stands I wanted to get hung and was pretty anxious to check my camera and watering holes.  With the rain they had gotten down there both water holes had water, but were now dry again.  Activity had picked up this check compared to the check I did 3 weeks ago during that really hot spell.  I got my first coyote picture as well.

The following pictures are of a really good shooter buck. He is a big 8.  He gave me 11 pictures and was in the area for more than 20 minutes.  So I got all kinds of angles.  He visits the mineral block and then goes to get a drink.  You can see there is water in the water hole, not a lot but enough.  Its pretty cool to see an idea working out.  I picked out some of the best shots and posted them below.

 The picture below is from 2 weeks prior to the ones above.  Its really blurry but I have a feeling this is the same deer.  The brow tines are very similar and if you look close you can see in the picture below there is a pretty good rack.  Another interesting thing is look at the times of day.  Hopefully that changes if he sticks around.

 Like I said above it was really neat to see the pictures this time almost every deer I have pictured is hitting the water as well as the minerals.  I was able to get another camera out over the other water hole so in 2-3 weeks hopefully I get some more pictures of some shooters and hopefully pattern a couple of them to get a good idea of travel routes, bedding and such.  I know where this guy is bedding right now so we will see how things change as we get closer to Sept.  In the meantime it sure is fun watching them grow.  

New season is starting for me

 I am a little behind this year but it seems like it has been a very busy spring and early summer.  We just got back from a fantastic vacation in St. Louis and now that work has wound down I am starting to get that bug again.

So on Memorial Day weekend I went down to the farm and after killing about 300 chickens I took a shovel and some plastic into the woods and dug two "water holes."  Nothing fancy just two 6x6 holes lined with some painter plastic.  I then covered the plastic with dirt.  I don't know if it will work because it hasn't rained a significant amount since but I did put a camera up over one of them and as you can see it has peaked interest anyway. 

One thing I have noticed is that the bucks are way ahead of last year as far as growth goes.   I don't know if its the mild winter and spring or what but these pictures are  a good month ahead of what they have been in the past.  This camera is on a narrow treeline that comes out of the sanctuary.  I dug the "water hole" but also took the chainsaw and cleared the center of it out to make it more appealing for them to travel.  I left the edges but made it more like a tunnel.  I will also have a stand up 20 yards from this camera location.

June 5 and this buck has his brows and a very good amount of growth.  Really nice looking buck.

 This is a small buck but I thought it was a cool picture.  Here you can see the "water hole" to the left.  Also notice in all these pictures the bucks are coming in from the right side.  You can see the sanctuary in the background across the open field that is where they are coming from.  Notice most pictures are in the morning.  They bed down in there at night and they are moving out.  

 The next set of  pictures is pretty awesome.  This is a bachelor group of four bucks and the most potential I have seen in a long time.  I think every one of these is a shooter and there are a couple of them that are really looking great with some pretty serious mass.

The first one is this lead buck look how much growth he already has on June 10 its pretty awesome.  Also really nice mass.

 The second I thought was a bigger one is the buck that is now farther to the left in this photo......

 Here he is the closest with his head down......

 Here he is the closest again.  He has a lot of potential really good mass...notice the one buck is standing in my water hole.

 This is the final photo of the sequence.  My camera is set to take photos every 1 minute so notice that each picture is a minute after the other.  I hope one of these guys decides to stick around come October/November. 

 Hard to say if this buck was in the bachelor group above or not because there is quite a time between the pictures.  However, even though its blurry you can see he has a nice rack growing as well.

This wasn't all the pictures I had a lot of smaller bucks and does but it was really interesting to me how much attention they were giving the water hole even though its bone dry.  I need some rain as does my brother-in-law for his crops.  I put some minerals out at this spot and another so that should keep them coming into this area and hopefully we get some rain and I can see if the water hole idea will work.  I have plans of hanging two more stands down there and then its just a matter of not screwing things up and not getting to close and screwing things up.

More pictures to come.

Winter Pictures

2 Weeks ago I put out two cameras and some BB2, which is a mineral mix that you poor out and it has some corn mixed in as well. You can see it in the photos. Today, Satureday, I checked both cameras. The one camera had about 8 pictures of deer but nothing to serious just some does. The BB2 was just about like I had left it 2 weeks ago. Then we checked the other camera where I had put the BB2 in the pines. What a difference. I had 162 pictures and the BB2 was gone. After looking at the pictures I found out why. The turkeys found it and they put a serious hurting on it. However, I was able to get some bucks on camera and one of which is new. I really don't think I have seen him or have any pics of him. It looks like he is a really good 9pt.


Group of Jakes going to town.
That is a nice beard on the bird to the right.

Two strutters.

This gets me excited for spring!

The deer were getting in on the action also, here is a group of does. This is a later picture look at what the "pile" of BB2 looks like compared to the picture above.

This is a picture after the snow we had last Sunday. This little buck is go after it through the snow.

Nice little buck here. It actually looks like he might have the start of a drop tine on his left side. It also could be the snow in the back ground. A guy can dream though right?

Here is the big 9pt I mentioned above. Those are some really good g2's and g3's on his right side. The left side almost looks like something might of happened in velvet or it could just be the angle of the picture. Either way I hope to see him again.

The boys and I did do some quick checking around for some antlers but no such luck. It is really early so I didn't expect much. My plan is to check back in 3 weeks and see what is going on. I did replenish both spots. It was pretty obvious though they like the mineral station that was in the cover as apposed to the other which was not so much.

Borculo Property Breakdown

I thought I'd run over the property in Borculo with a couple ariels of it and why I think its such a good little piece of property. You can see on the picture below which is more zoomed out, the general layout of everything. The red X to the north is my really good stand. The red X to the south is a new stand I moved this past year but never actually sat in it. I waited to long to put the stand there in my opinion. The green dotted lines are the trails and the general movement of the deer on the property. Green circles are bedding areas. Pink is crops, which is normally corn, beans or alfalfa. The blue circles are the ponds/water sources. The yellow lines represent the areas that the deer don't really cross and thus they are natural funnels. I also added where I shot my 10 pointer in 2010 which is the white square, his path after I shot him, the white dotted line and where Ross, Eric and myself found him, the white circle. This is also the trail i saw all the action on this year.


The new stand will allow me to hunt with a N, NW, and possible W wind. This past year the trail that runs through here was tore up like I have neve seen before and I really wish I would of pulled the trigger sooner but hind-sight is 20/20. But I have a stand there now and it will be waiting for me come late Oct or Nov.





Below is the zoomed in picture of my really good stand. You can see the deer trail/s, green dotted line, my stand, the red "X" and my access route, red dotted line. You can see why its such an awesome funnel. There is a small creek/ditch to the east of the stand that they really don't bother crossing because it would take them to close to the house and then to the SE of the stand you can't see on the ariel but there are trees that are knocked down and it forces them to go around which funnels them from that side. The distance between the two yellow lines is no more than 40 yards and my stand sits right on the edge and when the wind is out of the E, SE, or S it is absolutley perfect, especially in the morning during the rut. If they come through there they will be within 30 yards at least and if they take the money trail its a 10-15 yard shot depending on the direction they are traveling.

Hopefully, with the deer I saw and my plans of putting out minerals here I can get a bigger deer to set up shop this coming fall.

New Year New Plans

Here I am again at the beginning of a new year filled with anticipation for what this coming year will bring. As much as I love bow hunting I probably enjoy now until Sept just as much. To me the enjoyment of bow hunting is not just harvesting a deer but all the work and preperation that goes into it. I am very fortunate to have some really great hunting properties that my family allows me to hunt and I love the homework involved in figuring out how to hunt these properties.
Last season I had some plans that I thought were pretty rock solid and I still believe they were even though I did not harvest a deer, We saw the deer we were hunting for and I passed on some nice little bucks. I just couldn't close the deal on a couple of deer because they showed up to early or late or in one case just didn't come the right direction same goes for Julie. Like I said I also got to see and pass on a bunch of younger bucks, in fact I officially passed on a 3,4,5,6 and 8 pt. They were all in my shooting lanes and within 30 yards, just not what I was looking for. I feel like I can pass them because I have pictures of the deer I know are on these properties and knowing what bigger deer are there makes it really quite easy to pass on the little guys. Also, my plans may have not worked the way I wanted them to while I was in stand but Julie on the other hand got to see 2 of our "hit list" bucks, one of which was 2 steps away from her flinging an arrow at him but he decided to do a 90 degree turn at the wrong time. Oh by the way he was #1 on our list a big wide 10 pointer. (side note-my luck this year could of been a little better, I had some pretty crazy things happen that you cannot plan for and there is no question they affected my season, from coyotes, to weather, to neighbors and their dog it was one crazy year. Every time I went out I would wonder what was going to happen that time, I know I can't control everything but my attitude is going to be better this year so hopefully that will ward off some of the bad vooddoo)

Anyway, on to 2012. In Gobles I am going to focus on the same general areas for the shooters however, one big difference is that i am planning on putting in some food plots. I am hoping that I can get the bigger bucks to use these as staging areas and get them up on their feet a little earlier than normal in the evening. I am going to plant varieties that will peek late Oct and Nov. which will get the doe in them during the rut and hopefully a big boy not to far behind.

I am also going to be using "mineral stations" down there more than I did last year. Last year what I did was put a trophy rock out in June and kept it out all summer. If you look back I got some fantastic pictures of some great deer. This year I have already put out minerals, in the form of trophy rocks and also a product called BB2. Its a corn product mixed with a lot of minerals that Deer love. The only issue is the deer will blow through it pretty fast especially once they find it. So my plan is to always have at least the trophy rocks out because they last forever and then periodically put out BB2 thoughout the spring but more heavilly in the summer months when they start to grow antlers. My hope is by having these stations that the deer will become used to coming in to them when they need the minerals that are essential to their developement. The more I can get them to visit the property the better and maybe some will stay close with the combination of minerals and food I am planning.

The stands will be pretty similar to last season with a couple of new ones in areas that will allow me to hunt a spot with multiple winds. The biggest difference/change for me is that I am going to wait until the last week of October to hunt. I will hunt the first week but it will be in a low impact stand and maybe once in Gobles and once in Borculo. The first week is a good time to catch a buck still on his summer patterns, like the buck I shot 2 years ago so it is worth a shot, I just need to be careful. My good areas I want to wait to hunt until the big bucks are starting to get into the rut phase. This past season, I went in to early into my better spots and I think it cost me. This is going to be tough for me because I love to hunt and when Oct. rolls around I just want to be in a stand. However, this year was a learning experience for me. I did not see near the deer numbers I am used to seeing, they were there I could tell by the deer sign and whatnot. They were mostly coming through at night so all I was doing was educating them every time I sat out and it hurt I could tell. We(Julie and I) did see a lot of bucks and 3-4 of them were shooters, so that part was good I just feel like we need to hold off until late Oct. to kill those bucks not just see them.

My Mom's property in Borculo is my little gem. It is not the biggest piece of property but it hunts pretty big. I saw so many little bucks here in the few times I sat here it was a lot of fun. One morning I had a small 6 pointer dogging a doe and they went right by my stand he was just grunting away. Then 5 minutes later a 4 pointer comes down the same trail he wasn't even gone and the little 6 came back by again. Another time I had messed up 5 point bed down about 30 yards behind me, I was actually able to sneak down the tree but he saw me when I was on the ground. Another morning I had a small buck grunting and running back and forth in front of me just before light all I could see was a dark form. This is all the same stand and same trail I killed my 10 pointer out of 2 years back. Its a really good spot, in fact its my best stand because if they go through this area they have to come withing 30 yards of my stand. Its easy to get in and out and its on the edge of bedding areas so the bucks just cruise it looking for does. The majority of the property is pretty thick, swampy and great for bedding. My plan is to start a mineral station there as well with a camera. If I can get a good buck to come on that property there is a really good chance he will stay because of the great bedding areas, water and food all around.

So there you have it my "plans" for 2012. Once again I feel like they are pretty rock solid but who knows what will be thrown at me this year, but hopefully Julie or myself can put it together and put one of these guys down. Good luck to all and have a great year!!

Here are a couple pictures of Scotts deer that I mentioned in the previous post. I also forgot to mention he and Ross both shot does this year as well. So a great year for both those guys.

Hunting Season Wrap Up

Its been a little while since I have posted anything but to honest there has not been a lot to post on. I have had a relativley slow season when compared to the last 2-3 seasons. I have seen some smaller bucks and have actually passed on a 3pt, 4pt, 5pt, 6pt and an 8pt. All have been in my shooting lanes and within 30 yards but just not old enough. The 8 point was a really nice deer for a 1.5 so hopefully he makes it until next year. I have seen shooters, just not close enough or it was too dark when I have seen them. The last encounter was probably my best this year. It was a very steady rain and I was hunting in a ground blind near an area I call the sanctuary. About 45 minutes til dar I spotted a deer stand up in the middle of a bunch of briars. I could barley see him but caught his tail flick then he turned his head I noticed he was a nice buck. However, instead of heading up the hill to the cut corn and to me he exited out the back and went to the apples trees. That bummed me out but it was good to see him.

Julie has gotten out a lot more than she did last year and it has paid off for her. She was out with me late October and she was abel to see the 9 point pictured above. He was within 30-35 yards just on a good run, so no shot opportunity on him. She also had a great chance at a big 10 point we call Tommy Boy. His picture is above as well. She had some turkeys behind her making a lot of racket so she kind of started not paying attention to them. Then when she looked over her right shoulder there he was working along the field edge behind some big sasafras trees. He stayed right behind those trees until he got 20 yards from her and turned strait out into the corn field that made him work his way away from her. She tried grunting him back but he kept on going. She needed him to take 2 more steps along those trees and she would of had a shot. She played it cool though and you can't control where they walk so that was a great encounter for her. She also had a couple doe with in 10 yards that she passed. So she has had a great year.

There have been a couple of success stories this year. One was Scott Gruppen he shot a really nice 8pt during gun season. He has had a bunch of encounters with bucks this year. Just like year's past and has passed on some smaller guys. It's always nice to see it pay off for people. The other was Ross Graveling who shot a really nice 9 pt in Illinois. He had multiple encounters with this buck the days prior to shooting it and had him at 40 yards in his food plot the day before he killed him. They moved his stand and the rest is history. Both of these guys showed patience and the ability to adjust to the deer they were seeing and it paid off big time. So big Congrats to Scott and Ross.

For the rest of the year I am planning on hunting whenever possible but time is running short and with the lack of snow and cold temps, my late season plans are not producing the encounters like I had planned. Nothing ever goes according to plan but this year for me this has been the rule of thumb. October was very slow and I didn't see a doe until November and that was in Borculo at my mom's. I finally saw one down in Gobles the week after that, this is compared to around 30 the year before. It was so strange. My theory is that it was a very tough winter last year and a lot of the smaller does didn't make it. What it did do though was get the bucks up on their feet because they had to work for their women this year. We have never seen as many bucks in years prior as we did this year. That is why we are out there so it is hard to complain, it just has made for some really long sits with seeing no deer. In fact Julie put in an all-day sit without seeing anything, you want to talk about frustrating, but she did it and I was very proud.

So we will keep at it for the rest of the year, but I am not going to get my hopes up to much, so we will see what happens.