Whitetailsinsight.com

My favorite trail cam pic from this summer.

 

Looks like the weather is setting up to be quite similar to last years opening week here in Simcoe County. Starting out with south to south/west winds and 25c temps. for two or three days and then a cold front is heading in by Wed. or Thursday. They are predicting a low of 6C for Thursday. This is the conditions that set the stage for me to take a 10 pointer last season.

I climbed into stand one at 6:40 am which is the one where my trail cam is. Did not spook any deer on my way in as far as I know and there was a half moon shinning down. The wind was already blowing at 15k and it was fairly bomby out. The pressure was 29.9 in. I hunted this stand until noon and did not see any deer. I had my lunch and then headed for stand two for the afternoon hunt. I did not see any deer here either, so at the end of legal light I packed up and headed home.

Note: Way too warm and windy, two big factors that suppress deer activity. The deer are likely bedded down near a food source such as a bean field ( which was being harvested the past couple of days) and have gone nocturnal. I think they are visiting the water source at night.

We had some rain overnight which made for a quieter walk in to the stand. It was another all day sit between the two stands and still no deer seen. Did some scouting around stand two and found some rubs on saplings about 100 yards S/E of my stand. Mature bucks are inclined to rub earlier in the season, an  encouraging sign for sure!

 

Weather notes:  cloudy , high 72F  low 59F , wind S/E  5-10mph , pressure 30.10 in.

Going into Stand One I flushed up three turkeys out of their roasts, there by alerting any deer in the immediate area. The turkeys entertain me for most of the morning with their yelps and gobbles near by. With no deer seen at either stand I did see a first for me. Two Fishers came running by Tree Stand Two at sundown which was pretty cool.

I did the all day sit at Stand One and there where no deer to be seen. At 1:00pm I did some scouting in the immediate area and found that one of the key marshes that the deer use for a bedding area and watering hole was completly dried up. See pics below.

Weather Details: winds S 5K to E to S 5-10K, sunny and clear all day.

                           temps : morning 50F high 77F

 

No hunting today as it was way too warm with temps in the mid 80's F but I did some scouting in the late afternoon to determine where the deer are feeding, bedding and drinking water. I found all three and will hang a stand near by tomorrow. Saw a bunch of turkeys in at the water hole but no deer. Lots of fresh sign with corn still up for cover and about 50 acres of winter wheat ( green sprouts). Thunderstorms predicted for overnight and tomorrow.

Todays plan was to hang a third stand where I had it last year, which is closer to where the deer are feeding and bedding. I just got the tree stand installed before the thunderstorm hit and headed home for the day. I would do the all day sit at Stand Three tomorrow.

I climbed into Stand Three at 7:00am on a cloudy, misty morning as the wind started to pickup from the S/E. I was on stand all day with no deer sightings. As I was picking up my gear to leave the stand, I heard a loud snort directly behind me. I looked to one side of the tree and there was a deer standing there about 40 yards out and it imediately turned,snorted again and bounded off  over some deadfall into the dark woods. I blew some grunt calls as he departed. I started to uncase my bow as there was still 20 min. of legal hunting time left and then I heard another snort, looked over in the same direction but it was too dark. I heard a deer run off in the same direction, snorting as it went. Yes, I had left my stand a little to early but I was concerned about climbing down a wet tree with slick T- steps in the dark. I was a little ticked at being busted but encouraged that I had finally seen a deer. I made the right choice for tree stand location and the season was young.

Today we where back into the hot and humid weather and chance of thunderstorms. I decided to hunt in the evening only, hoping it would cool down enough to get the deer moving. Hunted from Stand Two from 5-7pm with no action. It was a beautiful evening to be in the woods but it was still too warm for deer activity. Well that's it for the holidays, back to work tomorrow and I will be back in the woods next weekend ( Oct. 13 ) when it's expected to cool down.

 With a morning temperature of  46F and winds from the west at 12K I headed back into Stand One at 6:30 am. Winds from the N/W 30K gusting to 50 where predicted with heavy rain showers. The wind was getting stronger along with some light rain as I continuely scanned the forest floor for whitetails. At 11:30am I had some lunch before it decided to down pour and with my second sandwich in my hand, a fawn appeared to my left at 30 yards. I slowly grabbed my crossbow just in case I was able to get a close shot but the fawn slowly continued south. I was hoping other deer would appear but that was it. The heavy rain started so I got out of there and headed home.

Sunday, Oct. 14, 5:15pm - I harvested this doe with my Excal Exocet 200. It was a 20yard shot and the recovery was 100 yards. I was hunting from a tree stand near an apple orchard. The live weight was 169lbs. based on the girth/chest measurement of 39 inches. I'm still sore and stiff from dragging this deer out . Looking forward to some tasty meals. What was really nice about this hunt is that I almost got busted by her. The five does trailed in behind me on my left and she stopped 10 yards in front of me. The other deer turned slightly not presenting a shot. I got the bow up to get ready for a shot and my seat cusion made a noise. Well she did a bit of dance and then she looked straight at me with her nose high trying to sniff me out. I was down wind and she did not appear to smell or see me. She slowly moved on but was stompping her r/f hoof as she went. I had one last chance as she was approaching a space between two birch trees and I called out "mee" to get her to stop and she did. All I could see was her front quarter and put the crosshairs on her left shoulder and squeezed off a shot. She did a jump, I heard my arrow hit a tree and the deer all ran off out into the field. I thought maybe I missed. After waiting 20 min. I started looking for my arrow and blood sign. After 20 min. of looking, I found a really good blood trail and soon after found the deer. The arrow did a pass through but I did not find the arrow as of yet.Went to get a change of clothes and gear to haul the deer out. My wife came with me to recover the deer and helped with the processing of the deer. It was all a new experience for her and she was glad to be able to contribute. We trailered the deer down to the butchers that night as they have a 24hr cooler service.

 

I picked up the venison today from the butcher and had sausages off the barby tonight. They where awesome. The cut and wrapped deer weighed 95 lbs. I took a walk back into Stand Two to have a look for my arrow and was very happy to have found it, stuck in the ground. I did a remeasure and the shot was 20 yards and the deer travelled 100 yards before laying down. The coyotes and what ever sure did a good cleanup on the gut pile.

Today warmed up to 80F and S/W winds at 30 K becoming light. Went into Stand Three at 5:30pm and stayed in the stand until 7:00pm. No deer sightings but it was a beautiful evening (65F) spent in the stand and a 75% moon to guide me out of the woods.The cold temps. are coming Wed. just in time for the seeking phase of the rut.

 

 

I managed to get off work early and headed into Stand Two for a late afternoon hunt. I came across a rub on a sappling and scrape on the way in, not to far from my stand. I will be setting up my trail camera there on Sunday. No deer seen tonight but I heard a couple walk by at night fall heading for the apple orchard. The full moon sure is bright tonight.

I hunted at Stand One this morning after it rained all night. No deer sightings but the rain held off and even had some sunshine.A Pileated Woodpecker landed in beside me by about 10 yards. The bright red on his head was very impressive. I could hear grouse hunters near by bangging away so that ended my hunt for the morning. I hunt on public land and this time of the year is always busy on Saturdays with hunters, mushroom pickers and hikers. This puts a lot of pressure on the deer and it dials their activity way down. Rain and high winds forcasted for this afternoon and tonight. I will pass on the evening hunt.

I'm going to hunt at Stand Two today and set up my new trail cam.

Moultrie M40

 

Got the new trail cam set up off a rub and scrape this morning and will check back with it in a week. I continued on into Stand Two for a six hour sit. No deer sightings as the temperature dropped to 32F. It's shapping up to be a good week for the rut.

On my way into Stand Two I checked the trail cam for pics.No pics stored. I hunted in there all day with no deer sightings. After lunch I change the location for my trail cam to a scrape infront of my stand. This scrape looked fresh and there where also some rubs near by.

Nov. 4

I went into Stand Two to take the trail cam out before the start of the shotgun hunt on Monday. Checked for images and this is what I got. I think this is the same buck as the one in the pic at the top of this page.

Sat. Nov.17

I was late getting into Stand Three and was ready to hunt at 9:00 am. There was a couple of inches of snow on the ground and it was crispy and noisy to walk. The temp. was -4C and a light wind from the east with a mix of sun and cloud. By all reports the rut was in full gear and I was ready for some action.

Backgrounder: Nov.3 at nightfall, 7:15pm, I spotted a nice buck standing in the ditch of the side road near Stand Three. This buck was at least 10 points and it was a basket rack, symetrical and tall. This was the buck I was hoping was still alive and that it would survive another shotgun hunt.

Well at 11:00 am. I got my answer. I heard some branches snapping behind me so I turned around to look and saw this buck with a big set of head gear. There was no shot to be had but the rack was really impressive. He was at least a 10 point and the inside spread was noticeably wide. He had trotted on through near some trees that had been uprooted. This looked like the buck that I had seen on Nov. 3 and one that I had seen back in July 2006. My plan now was to set up behind one of those uprooted dead falls and wait for his return that evening. I had some doe urine so I made a mock scrape on the bucks track, five yards out infront of my setup. At 5:00pm I could hear a deer coming in so I got ready for a shot. As I peaked around the tree stump anticipating the sight of a big buck, there stood a nice doe sniffing my tracks and the mock scrape. This doe was only 5yards away and I thought she was going to walk right into my lap. She knew something wasn't right and walk away over to some my other tracts and then started snortting and then took off along with another doe. The does are safe for now, my 1 remaining tag is for a buck like the one I had seen today.

I will try this setup again tomorrow.

 

Here's a pic of the up rooted tree I was hidding behind .

I hunted all morning from the ground behind this tree stump with no deer sightings.It was a cold clear morning with a light wind from the S/E and the temp. was -8C. After lunch I moved over to Stand Two to hunt the rest of the day. Right on 5:00pm the deer started rolling in . Two does and a fawn where slowly walking in from behind me on my left. I patiently watched them go by as I hoped that a buck was close behind. The three of them turned into the field edge to bed down about 100 yards from me. The little bit of snow on the ground was frozen and made a crunchy sound so you could easily here the deer coming. About 15 min. later, more deer where coming in to my right heading down to the field edge to bed down. As far as I could tell they where a couple of does. Then at 5:30 pm I here more ground crunching and it's a buck aproaching on my left. I could tell right away that this was the buck in the trail cam pic( Buck at the Scrape). The buck stopped to smell the doe trail and then walked over to my stand to within 5 yards. He then bedded down near the field edge in the cedars. After waiting a 1/2 hour I snuck out of there without spooking any deer. I could have had two deer tonight no problem, they where that close but I have my sights set on that wide 10 pointer still out there. I had an awesome night and it was a lot of fun being up close to these deer.

With a light S/E wind and a temperature of 25F I headed into Stand Three for a morning sit. In the afternoon I planned to move this tree stand to the prevailing down wind side of the deer trail that a big 10 buck was using. As I was walking in along the road a small doe ran across in front of me. When I turned into the trail to the stand I found a fresh set of coyote tracks, so obviously the yote was chasing that doe. Put up a grouse just in off the road and I'm thinking the game activity chart was right on today, indicating peak activity. When I got to the stand I made two mock scrapes, 10 and 30 yards out. I put some doe estrus urine on each. I was in my stand and ready to hunt by 9:00 am and did not expect the big 10 buck until around 11:00 am.

   It was 11:50 am when I heard some noise behind me to my right. It was a coyote at 10 yard looking straight at my trail leading to the stand. I very slowly turned around to try and make a shot but it is almost impossible to do that with a crossbow. Add to that the coyote is going to catch my movement. The coyote never presented a shot and worked his way by the mock scrapes and out of sight. I would wait an hour before having lunch but I feared that I would not see anymore deer today. At 12:30 am I heard a noise behind me to my left. It was the big 10 buck coming to my scrape, 30 yards out . He than moved into my 10 yard scrape but did not present a clear shot with the trees and branches in the way. He than walked right behind me and than charge in the direction of where the coyote exited.I hit the grunt call a few times as he disappeared to my right. Once again, having the tree stand positioned in the wrong direction impaired my ability to make a good safe shot. At 1:00 pm I spotted this buck again, over at the scrapes.This was possibly the first time I have ever called a buck in. He was concealed pretty good as I slowly positioned myself to get the crosshairs on him. Then disaster struck, my crossbow case dropped to the ground and the buck froze and looked straight my way. I had knocked the case off the platform with my big new boots. I froze too and waited for him to make the next move which seemed like for ever and then he stomped his foot and turned away and bolted, snorting as he went. I hit the grunt call a few times to try and calm him down and waited 1/2 hour before climbing down. I than moved the stand to a better spot on the down wind side of his trails.

Note : The doe estrus by Knight & Hale proved to be very effective.

          Activity game chart for Nov. 24 a full moon indicated the peak major time to be 11:31 am .

         With two inches of snow on the ground and colder temperatures, bucks moving later in the morning.

 

 

Weather conditions :

-8°C

Decided to hunt Stand Three again this morning with a east wind at my back. A storm was on it's way from the States for late afternoon and I was hoping for some deer activity. I set up a mock scrape and then settled in for a four hour sit. I did not see any deer during that time but I did notice a couple of fresh rubs 10 yards from the stand. That was good to see and I will be back in there Sat. Dec.8 .

Weather conditions:

Feels Like	-6
Wind	W 15km/h
Wind gusts	30km/h
Relative Humidity	69%
Dewpoint	-6°C
Pressure	102.04 kPa

Checked my trail cam at Stand One on a partly cloudy day with temp. of -4C and a S/W wind at 20K. A few doe pics stored and changed out cards. Looks like some good traffic coming by the camera as I began my afternoon hunt in the stand. No deer sightings after a four hour sit.

Here is one of the pics I got :

Back into Stand One at 7:30 am and after I climb into the stand I notice fresh deer tracts directly under the stand. I later checked the trail cam and it caught the ass end of a deer at 5:30am that morning. By the time 11:00am rolled around the off and on noise from sleds was getting pretty bad so I packed it in for the day. Did some scouting along a concession road where I had previously seen a nice shooter buck standing in the ditch. I went into the cedars and discovered a bucks bed.

Here is a pic of the bed :

Full day hunt to fill remaining tag.

Did some scouting to the south east of Stand Three and I came upon a large deer bedding area .

Large swamp with buck sign all through it .

A creek with a deer trail along it leading to the bedding area. I will revisit this area for sheds at a later date.

Spent the last 2 hours on stand but no deer sighted.

With my deer hunting season coming to a close, coyotes started howling in the distance . The coyote would be my next prey of pursuit and this stand has proved to be a good location to hunt them.

Checked my Moultrie M40 trail cam for pics. Here's a sample :

Home

Forum

Trail Cam Pics

NEW ! 2008 Trail Cam Pics

Full Moon Deer Activity

Deer Hunting Tips

Trophy Buck

Articles

Scent Elimination

Deer Hunting Journal-07

Shed Hunting Tips

Deer News

Deer Management

Hunters Marketplace

My First Deer Gallery

Deer Rubs

Deer Videos - UPDATED

Crossbow Hunting

Deer Science

Camping

Tracers Hunting Zone

Links

Guest Book