|
Whitetail Deer Hunting Season Journal
|
Bow season does not start here in West Virginia until Saturday the15th but I had the opportunity to take my kids to our hunting property Thursday evening which would give us all day Friday to do a little squirrel hunting and a chance to at least get out there and see if we could see any deer. Saturday we had two soccer games, which would end soccer season. As I write this, the soccer games are over and from now on it is whitetail deer season in our house.
When we arrived on Thursday evening we hopped on our ATV’s to retrieve our digital scouting cameras and set up a blind at the oldhouse. The digital scouting cameras pictures tell me what time I need to get up and be in the blind in the morning. It’s never as late as I would like it to be.
The morning came much too early after a late Monopoly game but I was in the blind by about 7:10. The first deer showed up at 7:20 and immediately noticed the blind situated about 75 yards away. This first deer was a decent nine-point buck that we have hundreds of pictures of. He wandered off but returned a few minutes after the feeder spun.
This nine-point buck looks like he may be as wide as his ears with probably six inch or so tall tines but the impressive thing about this buck this year is his body size. Our deer are generally small but this buck is now at least 3 ½ years old, possibly 4 ½, and has put on nice body size. I’ll be hoping to get a close look at him next week from a treestand.
A few minutes later a doe and her young one were staring at me from the edge of the clover patch when I put the binoculars down. I was focusing on the buck and didn’t even see the doe enter the clover patch. They eventually wandered down to the feeder but were never at ease. Every time the nine point buck picked his head up they would jump away. By 8:00 they had all left.
This is one of the digital scouting camera pictures of the nine point buck.
At midday we headed out to do a little squirrel hunting. Midday isn’t the prime time for squirrel hunting but the weather was beautiful and my kids aren’t much for getting out of bed early.
We headed down through our whippoorwill food plot to a ridge that I used to like to squirrel hunt when I was younger.
We didn’t see any squirrels on our two-hour journey but we did see a lot of deer sign along with a doe and a small racked buck. I couldn’t count the number of buck rubs and we also saw three or four scrapes.
This picture is of a rub and a scrape. Two for the price of one.
When the breeze blew, acorns would shower down from the oaks. There is plenty of food for the deer to eat this year. I can’t recall a year when I have seen this many acorns. My daughter had a lot of fun picking up acorns. They say they are going to plant them back home and they planted a few right there in the woods.
This is one of my favorite squirrel hunters. She is starting a new trend in hunting clothing.
In the evening we moved our blind to the middle clearing food plot and feeder area. We sat there for an hour and a half and didn’t see a thing. I think the bustle of setting up the blind and the ample acorns throughout the woods left us entertaining each other in the blind.
Next week will be our first go at bow season. I’m hoping to be in a treestand at the oldhouse to try to get a close look at some of the deer that we have been catching with our digital scouting camera throughout the summer and early fall. I’d also like to get a couple of other stands up as well.
Our October 14th outing was a lot of fun. Walking in the fall woods with your kids…..priceless.
Return from October 14th Journal to the 2005 Journal Index Page.
