Days 11 & 12 – November 4 & 5, 2013

November 4, 2013

Weather: mid 20s in the morning, mid 40s by afternoon. Mostly sunny.

Winds: Light and variable

Time: Dawn to Dark

Today I found myself back at the same spot as Day 9.  The heavy action from Saturday continued.  About 30 minutes after first light I spotted a deer running through the brush below me.  Shortly thereafter, I spotted a buck behind her.  I checked him out with the binoculars and saw that it was a 3 on top on both sides without brow tines, making him a 6 point.  He chased her around below me, but the never found their way up to me.  He wasn’t what I was looking for anyway.

The 6 point (every picture I tried to take he would stop behind brush)

They disappeared into the brush and about 15 minutes later the woods erupted and I had deer running up out of the brush in my direction.  It was 6 does/fawns and a small 3 point.  The does and fawns went up over the hill rather quickly, while the 3 point milled around at about 15 yards.  He eventually worked his way up the hill and out of sight.

The 3 point

The woods went quiet for about 30 minutes before I spotted something moving in the brush below me.  A nice looking red fox moving through the area looking for a meal.

The fox

After the fox left it was all quiet again for another hour, when I spotted movement on the flat below me.  It checked it out with my binoculars and spotted a doe working along the brush.  While watching her, I caught more movement behind her.  I moved the binoculars over to the new movement and spotted antlers immediately.  It didn’t take long to realize that it was the same buck I had missed the other week. The deer casually worked their way up the hill heading in my direction.  I figured the doe would bring him right past me.  As they got up to the hill about 50 yards below me, I caught movement behind them.  It was another doe and the 6 point from earlier.  The new doe walked over to the other doe and the two had a very brief boxing match, before the two continued to feed.  Both does were working their way up the hill with the 8 point staying on one edge of the road and the 6 point on the other edge.  As the does got further and further up the hill, they crossed the road and worked their way over to my hang on stand.  The 8 point was about 20 yards from that stand.  Figures…

Once they got to the top of the hill, the two does crossed the road and were heading right to me.  Both bucks were slowly creeping behind them.  The does got to about 15 yards with the 6 point at about 20 yards and the 8 point at about 30 yards, but closing.  The 8 point was facing me and in too much brush, so he needed to come another 10-12 yards for a shot.  The 6 point was standing in the wide open, go figure.  As the bucks slowly closed, I caught something running in my peripheral vision.  I look up and see the 5 point from Saturday running across the flat in my direction.  The does took off running past my stand as the small buck gave chase.  The 6 and 8 point soon followed.  The 8 point came through my openings, but wouldn’t stop for anything.  I couldn’t believe it… Another encounter with this buck, but unable to connect.

I sat in the tree for another hour before catching movement in the brush below me.  It was the 6 point cruising across the hill behind me.  I watched him as he walked across and into the hollow on the other side of the road before he disappears down over the hill.

After that, it was a long four hours in the stand with nothing moving.  Around 3pm, I had two button bucks work across the flat beside me.  They fed in front of for a good 30 minutes before heading down the hill.  Around 4:30pm, I caught movement above me.  Wouldn’t you know it, it is the 5 point that messed everything up that morning.  He worked his way down the hill, browsing the whole time.  Just as it was getting dark out, I had a fawn doe come in under my tree.  She fed around my tree until I decided that I needed to go and spooked her away.  A good, exciting day in the tree.  The chasing phase seems to be here, so the bigger cruisers should not be far behind.

November 5, 2013

Weather: Mostly cloudy with temperature between mid 30s and high 50s

Wind: 5-10mph, mostly out of the southwest, but constantly shifting

Time: Dawn – Dark

I normally wouldn’t combine two all day sits into one post, but there wasn’t much to talk about on this day.  Whatever switch was turned on the day before had been abruptly turned back off.  I had a single button buck feed across the flat in front of me for the better of an hour between 10 and 11am, but that was it for deer movement on the day.

I tried moving spots for the evening and set up in a hollow that used to be a great evening rut spot.  I set up over two freshly worked scrapes in hopes that the deer that worked them would show.

Other than two woodcocks, a raccoon going back legs first 40 feet down a tree, and a ton of squirrels, there wasn’t much to write about tonight.

With the poor movement and warm temperatures rolling in on the 6th, I decided to head to work for two days and then try again on Friday after the cold front passes through.