November 12th Deer Season Journal

Ryan and I made our way to our hunting property on Sunday evening to try to get some hunting in on Monday morning. In the past I've seen rutting activity during these early days of November and we hoped to see some activity.

Well, the call to sleep was too much for Ryan so I got up, had breakfast and decided to head out for a walk after daylight.

I arrived near the middle clearing/feeder at around 7:45AM where I noticed a spike buck standing at the edge of the food plot staring at me. We stood looking at each other from about 80 yards for several minutes before he headed off so I continued on slowly towards the feeder.

When I got closer I could see deer near the feeder through the brush. They turned out to be a small five point buck and what must have been the same spike. We watched each other through the brush for a while and I eventually started to slowly move closer. As you could surely guess they soon had enough of me and headed over the hill.

After checking the feeder and finding that it was actually 3:00 in the afternoon and not 8:00 in the morning I headed on out the road. (I certainly have issues with the timer in this feeder!)

As I was walking out the road, crunching leaves behind me notified me of a small buck over the hill running away from me. In the short glimpse I got of him he looked like a small narrow racked buck. I also saw one doe sneaking away over the same hill. I'm guessing they were bedded on a flat below me.

When I arrived at the feeder at the old house there was a spike buck eating there, he let me approach to about forty yards before he spooked and ran.

The most interesting thing I found on this walk was what I initially thought was a nice buck rub. On further inspection and some input from Ryan we now think that this tree may have been clawed by our resident black bear. The tree is some six inches in diameter and the bark is gouged deeply with parallel cuts. I've never seen a deer rub quite like this so we suspect the black bear may be the culprit.

I've included a picture but the quality is poor and does not do justice to the depth of the markings on the tree.

At about 1:30 PM I was riding out the road when I saw the wide nine point buck cross the road some distance in front of me. When I arrived at the location he crossed I could still smell him. In the pictures we got of him the past few days his back legs are both dark brown, reminding me of an elk. This buck is heavily in the middle of the rut.

When I reported seeing this buck Ryan hurriedly got his bow and equipment together and headed for the closest treestand, which happened to be at the middle clearing/feeder.

During the evening hunt he saw a small four point two button bucks and a doe.

After setting up our cameras I went to our treestand at the old house, with video camera in hand, to see what might come along. As it turned out I ended up getting some footage of a spike and a doe. Two other does also visited along with a button buck but they didn't hang around long. I'm sure the Outdoor Channel will be looking for that footage soon.

Although Ryan didn't get any shots and I didn't get any footage of any trophy bucks we still had a real nice day. I always enjoy setting up for rifle season and today we got three blinds set up for next week. The oldest blind had a broken zipper so if it's windy this week I may have to hunt it down next week.

We had another great day in the woods!


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Return to the October 30th Journal.