Days 8 & 9 – October 29 & 30, 2013

October 29, 2013

Weather: Clear skies, temperatures in the mid 30s

Wind: Light and variable

Time: Dawn – 9:15am

With the heavy winds finally died down and temperatures still on the cool side, I knew that I had to get out in the woods this morning.  I set up in the same stand that I hunted on Day 5, which will most likely be my go-to rut spot.  The morning started off rather slowly with squirrels running in every direction and a loud murder of crows behind me.  Around 8:30am I heard a branch snap behind me.  I turned around to see a lone hen turkey working her way across the flat.  She seemed to be looking for something as she was chattering the whole way.

Turkey in the center of the picture

At about 8:45, I figured I would not be seeing any deer for today.  I was texting a friend to see how his morning hunt was going, when I spotted movement across the trail from me.  I could see a decent body size on the deer, so I threw up the binoculars and spotted two more deer behind her.  A doe and two button bucks.  As they were feeding, I continued to scan the hollow below me for movement, when I realized that there was another deer standing over there as well.  I brought up the binoculars again and spotted a decent rack.  It looked to be a 12-13″ 7 point with a fairly thick rack.  While watching him in the binoculars to judge whether or not I would consider a shot if he came over another deer crossed in front of him.  Wouldn’t you know it, it’s the buck that missed two Fridays ago.  He walks past the smaller buck, lowers his head at him, drops his ears and takes two steps towards him.  The smaller buck immediately backed up, wanting nothing to do with the bigger buck.  The big buck then straightened up and turned up the hill.  No sooner did he go out of sight did the 7 point start chasing the doe.  As soon as they started running, the button bucks took off.  The one walked in front of me and stood about 20 yards away.  The buck and doe disappeared down over the hill and the woods went silent for a minute or two.  The button bucks continued to feed as I once again caught movement on the flat.  I spotted through the binoculars the 7 point had come back from the chase and was now munching on acorns.  I then spotted the doe about 50 yards up over the hill feeding under an oak tree as well.

The one button buck

While watching to see what the deer would do, I heard a branch snap down over the hill.  The button buck in front of me took off running across the road, meeting up with the other button buck before running off to the hollow on the other side of the flat.  I scanned the hill below me for movement when I spotted a large bodied deer moving through the saplings.  It was another good buck.  It looked to be an 8 point with a spread of about 15-16″.  A shooter in my book, but as he worked his way up the hill, he also worked away from me, before finally walking out of sight.  It was now 9am and the woods were once again quiet.  I sat in the tree for another 15 minutes before deciding to call it a day.  After all of the action on the other side of the road, I think it is safe to say that I will be hunting over there tomorrow morning.

October 30, 2013

Weather: Cloudy with temperatures in the mid-upper 40s

Wind: Light and mostly out of the East/Northeast

Time Dawn – 9:30am

After yesterday’s action, I moved across the ATV trail and set up in my opening morning spot.  On the walk in I jumped a deer along the road.  It ran a few yards and then just starred at me as I continued down the trail.  As I was climbing my tree, I could hear walking.  I turn around and here comes the same deer down the ATV trail.  Thinking nothing of it, I continued up the tree with my climbing treestand.  Not much longer, I hear the walking again.  I turned around and deer is heading right for me on the exact path that I had just walked.  I was maybe 12 feet off the ground and I knew it was only a doe, so I continued up the tree and figured if I spook it, it’s not a big deal.  Plus, I figured it was probably a fawn with how curious it was acting.  I am moving up the tree when I realize that the walking is eerily close.  I look down and the deer is at the base of the tree sniffing my bow.  It then walks down the hill a little and looks up at me.  I was almost done with my climb at this point, but was still adjusting the positioning and the deer was completely unfazed by me.  What really surprised me now that it was up close and I could fully see it in my headlamp, it was a definite adult doe.  As I continued to get ready for the morning, she worked her way out the flat eating acorns before she finally disappeared before daylight.  Definitely one of the stranger pre-light encounters I’ve ever experienced.

Once it got light out, it was a slow morning.  The dozens of squirrels that populate the area sounded like elephants as they ran around the flat gathering acorns.  Three hen turkeys passed through out of range around 8:30, but other than that it was a quiet morning.  The deer never showed up.  I climbed down around 9:15am and spent the last 15 minutes opening a few new spotting lanes in preparation for the days ahead.  While yesterday made it feel like we were very close to the rut, today made it seem like we are no where close to the rut.  With plans to hunt every day for the remainder of the season starting on November 2nd, the best is yet to come and this should be my last double post.

My view for the morning