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November 27th Update
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The opening day of rifle season is always exciting. I started this year off seeing five different bucks on Monday morning. The only one of these bucks that I had not seen during bow season was a four point with a narrow spread. The others were two eight points and two spikes.
One eight point was casually following a doe. They came by at about 9:00AM.
I didn't see the four point again the rest of the week.
In the afternoon Ryan and I sat for over five hours and only saw a three point and a spike.
The weather was cool, rainy and foggy. It could be summed up by damp and dark.
Tuesday
Tuesday morning was a spike show. I saw two spikes and several does. The action was hot and heavy for about an hour from 7:00 to 8:00. After that the woods became quiet.
In the evening Ryan and I went to our stands at the old house. We saw the large 8 point and Ryan saw a doe in the woods below him. Ryan learned a couple of lessons about how much deer will allow you to move. This was the largest 8 point, but Ryan decided not to take a shot at him. I think that he wants to let him grow even larger next year. He'll have to beat me to him after he grows even bigger.
A little while later another 8 point showed up as it was starting to get dark. Deer seemed to be coming at us from about every direction. It was one of those exciting times in the woods when it seems that the woods have come alive.
Ryan said that he wanted to take a shot at it. I told him to pull the hammer back and take the safety off and I would try to get the deer to turn broadside. I didn't need to do that as it turned perfectly broadside. At the shot the deer ran easily over the hill. I thought that I had heard a crash over the hill but the deer didn't seem to be hit as it ran away.
After descending from our stands we found where his shot had hit a tree, but also saw blood on the tree. Apparently the slug had went through the deer and then hit the tree. A few yards later we found the beginning of a blood trail. Since it was getting dark I took a short cut to where I thought that I had heard the crash and there he was.
The 8 point weighed 95 pounds and had a 14 inch spread. This is a real nice deer for Ryan. Other than does Ryan had only previously shot a spike buck. He and I were both real proud.
The next day I caped the deer and put him in the freezer. We'll try to sharpen our taxidermy skills and do a nice job in Ryan's buck.
I aged the buck using the tooth wear and replacement method at 2 1/2 years old. This is the first time that I have used this method. I'm going to try to learn more about it and use it more.
I was a little surprised. I thought that this deer was probably 3 1/2 since we believe that he was a small 8 point last year. I would not have thought that he would have been an 8 point as a 1 1/2 year old deer.
Wednesday
I got out early again and sat in the blind at the middle clearing. A 5 point buck came in early harassing a couple of does. It began to rain and continued to rain for most of the day.
As active as this 5 point was, it would not have surprised me if he would have wondered off of our property and gotten himself hung on someones meat pole. Somehow he didn't and I saw him off and on all week.
I took the rest of the day off and took care of Ryan's deer.
Thursday
Thursday morning started with a stiff breeze and rain. Two hours in the blind at the middle clearing resulted in seeing a few young bucks and some does.
After moving the blind to the oldhouse area I spent the evening there. A couple young bucks joined the large 8 point. It's nice to see him still there at this point in the season.
It was fun to watch the 5 point chase off other deer and then watch the large 8 point finally put the smaller buck in his place.
We have also been seeing a nice young 8 point in the evenings near the house. He has been showing up regular the last three evenings. My brother in law saw him following a couple does earlier in the day.
I had put out the digital scouting camera at the old house to see if any other bucks were showing up in the dark. In particular I was wondering about a 9 point that we had seen previously during bow season and on scouting camera pictures. Sure enough the 9 point got his picture taken at 9:00PM that evening. It was nice to see him still around.
We never saw this deer in person all week. Here is one of his pictures.
Friday
I spent four hours, starting before daylight, in the blind at the oldhouse. Five does were all that showed up to entertain me. I had decided to take a shot at one of them but never got a good opportunity before they walked off. This often happens when I wait for the perfect shot. I was hoping to see one or more of the bucks that we had been seeing and put off shooting the doe too long. I know that you have to take the shot when it presents itself or you often end up not getting one at all. (And regretting it the next day when you have to get up early again and then drag a doe up a steep hill.)
In the evening I told Ryan that I would shoot the first doe that we saw. Of course we did not see one. All that we saw in the evening were three spikes. The does were dodging the PlotSaver fence in the yard back at the house.
I'll be writing more about the PlotSaver and our experiment in the next Food Plot Journal E-Zine that will be coming out in a couple of days.
Saturday
I had wanted to sleep in on Saturday, but since I had struck out on my quest to shoot a doe the day before I only allowed myself 30 extra minutes of sleep and was in my stand near the middle clearing by 6:50AM.
By 7:30 a spike, a young doe and a mature doe had showed up. This would work out well. I could have the doe hanging in the barn by 8:30 or 9:00 at the latest.
At the shot the doe turned and ran over the hill. I was sure that I would climb down and see her laying a short distance over the hill. Of course, I was wrong. She was nowhere to be seen. Surely she was just around the hill. Again, I was wrong.
After retrieving Ryan from his cozy spot in bed, we returned to start the search.
About two hours after I had made the shot, I finally found her about three hundred yards from where I shot her. After looking her over I discovered that I had hit her low in the gut and the bullet exited even farther back in the gut. I'm officially blaming the gut shot on an undetected maple tree branch.
We never found a single spot of blood. Looking for this doe was like looking for a needle in a haystack.
Beside from now having to field dress a gut shot deer, she had died about one hundred plus yards over a steep hill. This seems to be my mode of operation, to shoot a deer in a difficult place after most of my help has left. It took me almost two hours get her up the hill and to the barn.
What was supposed to be an easy kill and retrieval had turned into an ordeal. I would like to say that this was the first time that this has happened to me but that would be a huge lie.
The doe turned out to be a mature doe that was probably about 6 to 8 years old and she weighed 65 pounds. She felt like 165 pounds as I was dragging her up the hill.
Here is what I was looking at as I started to drag her up the hill.
Here is Ryan with the doe. He is better looking than I am.
I did see a real nice rub while I was looking for the doe. It was just over the hill from the middle clearing food plot and one of our feeders.
Gun Season - Final Thoughts
Even though I didn't get a chance at a Boone and Crockett buck, this year's gun season was a nice success.
Ryan got to shoot a real nice 8 point buck. This is fantastic for a 12 year old. I was 19 before I shot my first buck and did not shoot my first 8 point until I was 24. It's nice to have your son as your hunting buddy.
It was also a lot of fun getting to hang out with Ryan in our hunting blind. The blind gives us a good opportunity to move more and keep ourselves entertained and warm. It is getting harder and harder for me to climb up in a stand when the rain is falling or the wind is blowing. The blind does not allow you to see as much as you can in a treestand but the increased comfort in foul weather is a huge plus.
I'm thinking about buying another blind for next year.
I also got to see the large 8 point a couple of times and caught the 9 point on the digital scouting camera late in the week. These bucks should both be real nice bucks next year. It will be fun watching them grow next summer.
Turkeys entertained us on several occasions. It was interesting to see how the turkeys did not seem to pay much attention to our blind. They didn't seem to mind walking up close to it.
Deer, on the other hand, have been real leery of the blind if they get too close. We were about 80 yards from where we expected the deer to show up at the oldhouse and it worked out well. One button buck did come for a closer look and eventually crossed in front of me at about 10 yards. Button bucks can be too curious for their own good.
Even though we did see bucks following does on a couple of occasions, we had no success with deer grunts or doe bleats this year. Why? I wish I knew the answer to that one.
I had put out some Imperial 30-06 vitamin mineral supplement at the start of bow season to see if the deer used the licks during the season. Only once did I see a deer stop at one of the licks and only for a couple of seconds. The vitamin mineral supplement did not seem to hold any attracting qualities during the season.
I have removed the lower jaw from the buck that Ryan shot and we are going to try to determine the age of the buck. I have read about how to do it, but it never seems real clear to me. We will see how it goes this time.
There is still another week of buck season as well as doe season, muzzleloader season and another youth doe season after Christmas. Bow season is also still in until the end of the year. Hunting season is far from over but time gets tight as the Holidays get closer.
Take a look at the picture below. We're not sure what it is, but some think that it is a bigfoot.
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