Wind Direction: Out of S/SE all day
Arrived @ 6:45am (roughly 45 minutes before legal shooting time)
Departed @ 7:40pm
It was quite the set. I arrived well before light, made the very short walk from the property owners house and was up the tree getting set well before daylight was even hinting at rising. This would be the very first sit at this property as we just recently picked it up and would be hunting it for the first time this year. We knew the deer used this property we just didn't know exactly how or when and trail cam pictures can only show you so much (a point this hunt proved).
Not even a half hour after legal shooting time and right at sunrise time I had movement. First I spotted some deer skirting around the hill to my north, but sadly up about half way up it and well out of range and while hard to make out I don't believe any of the 3 were bucks. While trying to figure out if any of them were bucks I heard something to my left...but not just my left my left rear. Now I'm only about 20 yards from the owner's barn which kinda sits up in some oaks , and figured all movement would occur in front of me. Well that wasn't the case, I officially had at least 4 deer smack dab behind me coming from the East and moving to the West. This little button buck was photogenic:
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| Gonna give him a year or three :) |
The next few hours were quiet and with approaching storms scheduled to hit around 1-2 I decided to get down at noon switch the camera card from the camera directly in front of my set up on a scrape/trail about 25 yards to my front. I climbed down, took two steps to the camera and heard deer take off from behind me...immediately I knew those deer that had worked in behind me had never left, instead they had bedded down in under all those baby hickory trees...frustrated I switched the card, walked quickly to the barn to relieve myself (forgot pee container as I hadn't expected to hunt all day) and quickly climbed back up the tree to check the card on my digital camera. It had nearly all day activity here and there with a few bucks in them (only one decent one, but a pass he'll get for sure). Don't like the camera angle and given a rain or a sit in this stand I'll probably switch the location or angle of camera.
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| Little buck working the licking branch above the scrape. |
Anyways, I wasn't back up the tree more than three minutes and I had to put the camera down because I had deer coming back in from my left rear...it was the same deer that had worked in and obviously bedded down. They had no clue what I had been and I can only assume wanted to find out. I knew it was the same deer because this little button buck was easily spotted the first time and this time I pulled out the camera and got some nice shots of the little guy. The two older does eventually got uneasy not knowing what had spooked them and they turned and walked back to the East, I would late see them right before dark working back to the South against the wind to the corn field which is that direction. I would see deer also moving that direction up on the hill side again about 30 minutes before dark. One of the deer up on the hillside was a mature deer whether buck or doe as I could only make out it's legs and part of it's body and it was a loooong body. Those deer would have been just steps away from the stand (#4) we have up on the hill side which we get to from the South and I may have to sit sometime soon to see if the deer keep moving like that.
Here's some pictures of the hunt...including one of how I spent about two hours of the hunt taking cover in the barn which the deer that kept moving behind me could have been shot from (hmm....ground blind possibly haha).
Overall good hunt and another great day spent in God's creation...and I saw deer which is always a good thing.
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