Hunted thursday afternoon at the deer lease in Talbot county. We have a small chunk of woods in an area that produces nice bucks and has plenty of does.
The morning started off on the wrong foot and I was grumpy from the get go. Got to the lease and headed into the woods. Oh yeah....it's 60+ degrees.
Now this is the first time I've been to this stand location in the dark and needed to use the glow eye reflectors that mark the trail. I knew there were some from last year along the same trail, so this years were all marked with doubles.
I found my way accross the ditch without a problem and started following the "trail"....it's really just a serious of zigs and zags that looked like a straight line when I was setting it up. I find the doubles as planned and a few singles too. I know there's a spot where I take a left, but where the heck is it? I put three reflectors where I take the left....WTF....what are these 4 doing here. DAMN IT'S DARK.
Ok ok, relax and think where you are, be slow, don't walk around or turn around too much. Why doesn't that house have lights on??? which house is that? the third or the 4th....I think the stand is near the 4th....CRAP. Ah HA...there's the triple reflector that's supposed to mark the stand....WHERE'S THE STAND????
DAMN IT....that is last years location....OK OK 50 yds to the east and I should be there....WOW this crap is thick...it's not this thick at the stand...damn it...this thermacell is getting hot...I've gotta sit down.
It finally starts getting light, and nothing I see looks familiar. It's like I made a wrong turn and ended up in a far off Jungle. Did I cross the property line into the neighbors woods? I know they're pretty darn thick.
It's 7:00 by now and the school bus is out on the street that I paralleled on the way in....SWEET....I start heading in it's direction. I scan for 5 min to find the stand, and almost run into the ladder as I turn around.
Phew....finally there....OK time to shake that off and get the day going right, At least my Thermacell is working and these damn skeeters aren't around.
I settle in and finally relax a little. Of course I forgot the camera, and it's been an hour now without a deer sighting. Oh wait...there they are, 7 does...4 big ones and 3 yearlings. Well that doesn't help, I'm here for horns through saturday...it's a good chance at getting a decent pre-rut buck with a gun.
Well 5 of the does continue on, and a mother and her young one decide they want to figure out what that smell is coming from the tree upwind of them. The Thermacell is kickin out some stink and smoke, and the deer are intrigued. I held my crosshairs on the mother for what seemed like an eternity before she headed away and bedded down less than 50 yds away.
It's not almost 9:00 and we planned on leaving at 10....Am I gonna have to spook these ladies as I get down from the stand, or will they leave before I'm ready.
10 comes and nothing else joins the party. I slowly get my things together and head down the ladder, halfway down I see the whole herd bedded 50 yds away, not just the two I thought were there. One spooks and the rest follow. Oh well.....I don't think they'll remember.
I slowly head out to the field, and start laughing at my stupidity from the morning...how the hell can a guy get a day off and spend the morning in the woods in a grumpy mood??? what a moron.
DAVE I SEEN A SMALL COW HORN OFF TO THE LEFT......I THINK YOU MISSED HIM AND HE SLIPPED BY YA ....AHHH DOESN'T MATTER ....VERY COOL REALTIME GOOD MORNING REPORT!! THANKS!
It was a little cooler...about 50, with a little breeze. A beautiful morning to be in the woods. I got to my stand in plenty of time, set up the camera and waited. As the woods started to get lighter the turkeys started....They were spread out a little more than normal, and it took a good bit of yapping to get them back together.
As I watched for turkeys flying down, and started filming for the audio more than anything, I saw the first movement where I expected it. A group of does fed their way into the area with a very cautious light colored lady in the lead. They seemed like they took forever to get to me. I noticed one of the deer had her head down and was acting like a buck....Binos up....There he is....**** the hammer, find him in the scope.
At this spot you better be ready when you get the chance. It's thick and there are only a few shooting lanes that will allow a good clean shot. he slowly comes into view and I see that he's not the big boy I was expecting. A nice young and wide 6pt. I'm guessing a 1.5 yr old deer. Basically a main beam with a tiny brow tine and a small fork.
Anyway, the group mills around the stand for over 30 min...all on tape....A damn yearling came up and tapped the ladder of my stand. The whole herd left on the trail I came in on smelling places I had touched branches as I walked by them....AMAZING, but still proof of how a good cover scent can work wonders.
The group worked their way back to where they like to bed, and that was the last of them.
An hour later more does came in the picture, this time to the left in some thick stuff with no shooting lanes. I glassed the does and noticed they were contently watching the woods behind them. Was there another hunter?, a home owner?....Nope...another buck. This one was a little basket racked 8 who will probably need to be culled sooner than later. I didn't get the best look at him, but he looked like the red headed stepchild of the woods.
Once again....cocked the hammer, but no worthy specimen.
It was now 10:30 and time to go get lunch and see what the others had seen.
As I headed out of the woods, slowly of course, I walked up on a young doe who was scratching her head and actually sneezing. Not blowing at me or anything else....the poor young lady was SNEEZING....I wanted to give her a tissue it was so bad. I guess she was alergic to acorns. I got to within 20 yds of her until a snapping twig gave me away. She then blew at me and bounced away.
Dad and Phil didn't see much, a few does and a small buck or two.
It was off to lunch then I'd be all alone for the evening hunt....headed to the stand nicknamed "The Zoo"
Saturday Afternoon took me to "The Zoo". A stand named that after Mike missed 3 shots in it one night and saw more damn animals than the zoo.
I climbed up...helll it's only 12' high....loaded up, set the camera, and took a nap. It was 3:30 and I didn't expect much movement until at least 4:30-5.
I woke up from my nap to the sound of turkeys scratching their way around my stand, tree rats gathering acorns, and a two twins feeding to my right.
the turkeys got outta there in a hurry as I tried to get them on film, but the fawns kept on feeding.
They slowly worked their way into the neighboring property and a few more does wandered out of the clearcut and into the woods near the stand. More turkeys worked their way by me, and a few more deer worked through the woods just out of sight.
As I stood up to stretch, a moving white thing caught my eye about 200yds into the clear cut. I picked up the binos and saw a young but promising 7-pt feeding and working his way through the brush and grass. I ranged him @ 198yds and put him in the cross hairs, not that I was gonna shoot him, or coulda hit him if I wanted to.
A button buck then came under the stand and fed around until it got dark. 5 more does showed up as the day ended. and that was it.
DAVE.....YOU RAISED THE STANDARD LADDER STAND FROM 16 TO 20....GREAT ACTION! ....WHAT A GREAT HUNT TO ENJOY THIS MORNING!! IT'S A SHAME THE OTHER 7 THOUSAND MEMBERS HERE HAVE MISSED IT....
HOW BOUT A PICTURE OF THAT LADDER STAND ...IT LOOKED DIFFERENT AND INTERESTING...
AND I SEE YOU HAVE LEARNED RIGHT OFF THE GITGO TO HAVE CAMERA READY AT ALL TIMES...ONE NEVER KNOWS WHO IS SNEEZING AROUND THE NEXT BUSH..........
Next time I'm at the stand from the vid pictures will be taken.
The other stands on the property are API and are 16' One of them was only at 12' saturday afternoon, but I raised it on monday since it's a very productive area.
I don't know what brand the one from the vid is. It's nice and comfortable.
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....VERY COOL REALTIME GOOD MORNING REPORT!! THANKS!
