had the day off today, so I got up early and went to the woods to listen for gobblers at fly down.
I was standing next to the tree that redcloud killed his buck out of last sept looking out over a pasture when i noticed movement on the far side, in the area of his trail cam. Turned out to be 3 deer. They skirted around behind the little patch of brushand trees his camera is in and dropped down over a hill to the bank of a stream.
I had a good idea where they were going. If they follow that creek around for a couple hundred yards they can crossit and work over into a bedding area across the road.
I decided to slip around to my left and stand at the top of a brushy hillside where I could see them cross. I got in behind a low hanging tree branch for a little cover and waited.
As i was waiting I looked back across the field again and said, "damn that looks like the head and ears of another one just inside the treeline over there" It was. As a matter of fact it was 4 more of them.
They passed right in front of redclouds camera. 2 of them were 1/2 racks. 1 of which was a good sized buck.
These 4 worked their way across the pasture to the same are as the other 3. i figured I was in a good spot to see what they were doing so I knelt down on one knee.
The spot they were all congregating in is an interesting little area. it is a really small little meadow next to the stream. on the opposite side of the meadow there is a relatively steep brushy hillside (which i was on top of) and to the north the meadow comes to a point where they can come up the hill along side the creek.
I started to hear twigs snapping slightly to my left and saw the flicker of a tail. looks like they are going up the hill which would bring them out to my left about 35 yards from where I was. The next thing I knew there were twigs snapping directly in front of me. I looked to see the big half rack coming up the hill right towards me.
He got to about 10 - 15 feet from me before he saw me. The look on his face was priceless. He stopped and snorted. At that point I heard 2 more snorts just to the left of me about 10 yards away.
I stood up and said "HI THERE!!!" All 7 of them took off like a shot! back the way they came.
They all ran through an old gate that divides the 2 pastures and stopped and looked back for a second before trotting off.
I slipped back up the hill and followed along the top of it along a brushy fence row so i could see where they all went. I watched all 7 of them go back into the woods through a small opening in the brush that we have suspected as a point where they work in and out of the woods.
After that I went back to the road and headed for my jeep which was parked a couple hundred yards up. I glanced out into a large field and on the opposite side saw 8 does come out of the woods and head south, toward where all those bucks had just gone.
Never heard a gobble but that was fun. I'm glad I decided to get out there for a few minutes this morning. I'm pretty sure Adam will have a couple goood picks of the bucks in a couple days.
I was standing next to the tree that redcloud killed his buck out of last sept looking out over a pasture when i noticed movement on the far side, in the area of his trail cam. Turned out to be 3 deer. They skirted around behind the little patch of brushand trees his camera is in and dropped down over a hill to the bank of a stream.
I had a good idea where they were going. If they follow that creek around for a couple hundred yards they can crossit and work over into a bedding area across the road.
I decided to slip around to my left and stand at the top of a brushy hillside where I could see them cross. I got in behind a low hanging tree branch for a little cover and waited.
As i was waiting I looked back across the field again and said, "damn that looks like the head and ears of another one just inside the treeline over there" It was. As a matter of fact it was 4 more of them.
They passed right in front of redclouds camera. 2 of them were 1/2 racks. 1 of which was a good sized buck.
These 4 worked their way across the pasture to the same are as the other 3. i figured I was in a good spot to see what they were doing so I knelt down on one knee.
The spot they were all congregating in is an interesting little area. it is a really small little meadow next to the stream. on the opposite side of the meadow there is a relatively steep brushy hillside (which i was on top of) and to the north the meadow comes to a point where they can come up the hill along side the creek.
I started to hear twigs snapping slightly to my left and saw the flicker of a tail. looks like they are going up the hill which would bring them out to my left about 35 yards from where I was. The next thing I knew there were twigs snapping directly in front of me. I looked to see the big half rack coming up the hill right towards me.
He got to about 10 - 15 feet from me before he saw me. The look on his face was priceless. He stopped and snorted. At that point I heard 2 more snorts just to the left of me about 10 yards away.
I stood up and said "HI THERE!!!" All 7 of them took off like a shot! back the way they came.
They all ran through an old gate that divides the 2 pastures and stopped and looked back for a second before trotting off.
I slipped back up the hill and followed along the top of it along a brushy fence row so i could see where they all went. I watched all 7 of them go back into the woods through a small opening in the brush that we have suspected as a point where they work in and out of the woods.
After that I went back to the road and headed for my jeep which was parked a couple hundred yards up. I glanced out into a large field and on the opposite side saw 8 does come out of the woods and head south, toward where all those bucks had just gone.
Never heard a gobble but that was fun. I'm glad I decided to get out there for a few minutes this morning. I'm pretty sure Adam will have a couple goood picks of the bucks in a couple days.