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Jesse's 2011-2012 Season Journal...

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
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48,879
274
Appalachia
Well, seeing that we are T-minus one month until the season, there is no time like the present to start keeping tabs on the way the season is going. It is no secret who my target buck will be this year, but that doesn’t mean I’m not looking for a few other bucks I have some background with. However, for the time being my focus will be on Moe and this last camera check has lead me to the conclusion that I have some work left in front of me. This weekend is dedicated to finishing up the last few sets I have to hang and to making one strategic move aimed at making Moe that much more killable come opening weekend…

As much as I hate to do it, I need to move my stand on Hippie Ridge in order to increase my odds of killing any deer, let alone my target buck. I really jumped the gun by hanging this stand early and should have waited for the cams to tell me where to hang. After a painstaking review of the thousands of pictures and hundreds of videos I have of Moe and Captain Jack this summer, I am of the opinion I am in the wrong damn tree to get the job done. When he comes from the southern bedding area, he is angling towards my stand right in to the weakest part of that set. I really feel I have no option but to move SE and set myself up for a 30 yard shot as opposed to the 8 yard shot he’d be giving me. I picked out two trees this weekend that allow me to have an observation set and a killing set. The goal this weekend is to wait for the rains to start, and then hit Hippie Ridge and move the current set to the new killing tree; then I’ll climb the observation stand and make sure it will work for that very purpose. As of right now, I’m planning on sitting the observation stand on opening night, then moving in when I feel the time is right.

In the past, I’d be ashamed to admit the strategy for killing Moe. But I’ve since learned a few things and I’ve come to peace with a few others. The reality of the matter is killing big deer on the way to a feed site is old hat and several of our “heroes” are doing the same thing. I won’t mention any names, but we all know one hunter in particular who has mastered what I am doing right now: feed them to their hearts content and let the cameras tell you what to do from there. I always thought I’d be skilled enough to out smart mature bucks on a near routine basis without the aid of a camera or feed site and the fact of the matter is that is simply not the case. Despite my past opinions that I was “taking the easy way out”, I now know better. This summer has been a lot of work and I’ve put in the effort I feel necessary to “earn” this kill regardless of how I come about it. So the plan for now, is to keep feeding on Hippie Ridge until mid-October and back off the feed site about 150-200 yards to the south and 60-80 yards to the east so I can cover his preferred route to the feed, but not have to sit right on top of it. In essence, it is still baiting and I’m a little disappointed in myself that I’m employing this tactic. But at the end of the day, I want to kill this buck and I think this is the best way to make that happen early in the season. If I can’t get it done the first two weekends of the season, I’ll stop feeding on Hippie Ridge and start sitting my observation stands in and around my food plots. I’ll be running one feeder in the core of the property that is visible from 100 yards plus out of two sets, one being a decoy only set. Regardless of how I go about killing this deer, it is almost guaranteed to center around his stomach.

So this weekend will find me finishing up the final preparations for the season, then it will be time to shoot, shoot, shoot in order to be fully prepared for the 24th. I’ll be out this evening putting the new blind up at Paradise, as well as making a few other changes. Pictures will follow. With any luck, this thread will conclude with several pictures of a season that I hope will be one for the books!!!
 

Rutin

Senior Member
2,029
0
Ina Duck Blind
After this last camera check I also had to go in to hang a "killing" stand. I still need to hang a few more to hunt different wind options but Im afraid of making to much ruckous diving in to where I need to be. Im still going to get out and hang some stand close to where they need to be and maybe an observation stand for bad wind days.
Next weekend I will be in KY hunting so im def feeling the pressure of getting everything done. I think as true bowhunters its our responsability to keep up on "target" deer and make the needed adjustments.
 

Buckmaster

Senior Member
14,362
191
Portage
As much as I hate to do it, I need to move my stand on Hippie Ridge in order to increase my odds of killing any deer, let alone my target buck.

I'd leave it there and hang another one nearby so you can make adjustments to wind direction and shifts in pattern.
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
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48,879
274
Appalachia
Yesterday was definitely a test of will power! Even my dog was tired of being wet by the end of the day!!!

I got to the farm yesterday at 10AM and left around 5:30PM completely soaked to the core, I even had blue lips by the time I finished! LOL! All in all, it was a very productive day and I'm happy to be done! The only thing left to do is a little over seeding on the food plots since it appears some of the seed got buried TOO deep thanks to the down pour that followed the planting of those plots. I hung 4 sets, tweaked 2, and set one ground blind yesterday. I wish I could have taken pictures while I was working because two of the stands and the ground blind turned out awesome!!! All told, I have 8 fixed stands and one blind on 130+ acres, along with a good handful of mobile options. The ground blind and 4 of the sets are hung mainly for other people, then 4 are solely for me. I'll spend some time in the other sets, but mainly as observation type hunts.

I decided not to move my No. 1 stand yesterday after looking around. What I did do was choke off the trail he was using that exposed the weak spot of the stand using brush. Then I cleared a path through the briar patch that he was walking around. Finally, I moved the camera/feed site west another 50 yards. The thought process here is that closing off that trail/opening a new one/moving the corn will force him to walk NW past my stand instead of veering off to the NE which brought him dead at my tree. I feel like this was a better move after looking over my other stand options yesterday. I just wasn't comfortable with the amount of trimming I would need do in order to get a good shooting lane and it really limited my shooting oppurtunities all together. In addition to the work I did on the ground, I drug some brush up the tree and zip-tied some branches to the top of the sticks to add some cover. I'm also looking at adding some sort of fake leaf type cover to the Millennium when I hunt that location. I feel much better about the set up now however...

The camera check this week was suspect at best. Moe did not visit much in the day time, but the weather wasn't the best for promoting that type of activity. When he does visit, he stays for a while. I had 2,600 pics on that camera this week and 620 of them were him. So he's still in the area for the time being. Just one more week I can rest easy...
 
I got to the farm yesterday at 10AM and left around 5:30PM completely soaked to the core, I even had blue lips by the time I finished! LOL!

So yer sayin you found the Smurf village and spent some time with Smurfette?!?! What would Tracy say?!?! LOL

Seriously though, sounds like you got a lot accomplished so you can let things calm down around there! Hopefully Moe likes the changes and things work out like you hope!!
 

bowhunter1023

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Appalachia
Got to see the ground blind again yesterday while we were marking all the creek banks and I have to say I'm even more happy a week later with the results than I was when I first set it. Once we get the field mowed, I'll snap some pictures of the set up, but I think it will be a deadly one come gun season and it should provide some exciting bow hunts as well. I plan on sitting this on Halloween with a decoy unless I come up with something else before then. All in all, I love what I'm seeing develop at the farm right now. At this point, I'm just shooting and getting ready for the 24th!!!
 

bowhunter1023

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Appalachia
It sure feels good to be off and running!!!

Looking at the wind directions on Friday evening, I knew going in to hunt Moe on Hippie Ridge was a no go. I decided to hunt an observation stand located in the creek bottom just below where he is bedding. As it turns out, he was most likely bedded up within 150 yards of me all morning considering he walked past my stand on the ridge at 5:30 and headed right in to the sanctuary I would be facing all morning. I ended up seeing 4 does in an hour and a half on stand. Despite forgetting my release and the entire morning being more or less a waste, it was still great to be in a tree.

The wind was still horrible for any attempt at Moe that evening, so I returned to the creek bottom stand. I only sat for an hour and a half before I got a text from Jamie saying he had shot a doe. I promptly climbed down and gave him a hand in recovering his first bow kill. Overall, my first day in the woods for the season was less than eventful on a personal level, but it was still a great day to be alive!

After dropping Jamie’s deer off at the processor and getting some pizza and beer in me, I decided to sleep in Sunday morning due to horrible winds again. After waking up yesterday and getting some breakfast, I check the wind for the rest of the day and decided I would be better off working on my “Honey-Do” list than deer hunting. The majority of the Moe’s movements this summer have him working the northern and western areas around my stands, so any southerly or easterly wind is horrible for that ridge. In order for me to hunt the E-SE wind we had this weekend, I would have to bumble fuck around that ridge trying to find a spot to hunt and with the heat yesterday, that was not a good idea. I’m in complete relaxation mode right now. I’m not pushing things like I might have in the past. When things are right, I get up there and hunt him. Until then, I’ll play it smart and bide my time…
 

Gern186

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
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NW Ohio Tundra
Good call. That's where your experience is starting to pay off. That deer isn't going anywhere soon. Look at it this way, you are just letting him put on more weight before you kill him.
 

rgecko23

*Supporting Member*
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Massillon, Ohio
good call dude, going out this weekend was a waste!! sweated my butt off and got bit by blck flys and skeeters the whole time....I'm giving a cpl weeks before I even think about going back out.
 

jagermeister

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Ohio
Good decisions, bro..... good decisions. There's no reason to chance anything this early in the season.
 

bowhunter1023

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48,879
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Appalachia
Just hopped out of the blind in Paradise after a hunt with Tracie. Had two does come in like we expected, but they ended up not coming all the way in to the shooting lane. While I was watching them in the brush, a big doe snuck in from behind us and slipped right into the middle of the food plot. When she gave use the shot we wanted, I told Tracie to draw and it was like watching a reply Crazy Rack on opening night last year. She goes to draw and the deer turns and walks straight away from us. WTF?!? So no luck, but a great hunt for Tracie's first time out. And the new blind is awesome!!!
 

Huckleberry Finn

Senior Member
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Just hopped out of the blind in Paradise after a hunt with Tracie. Had two does come in like we expected, but they ended up not coming all the way in to the shooting lane. While I was watching them in the brush, a big doe snuck in from behind us and slipped right into the middle of the food plot. When she gave use the shot we wanted, I told Tracie to draw and it was like watching a reply Crazy Rack on opening night last year. She goes to draw and the deer turns and walks straight away from us. WTF?!? So no luck, but a great hunt for Tracie's first time out. And the new blind is awesome!!!

Was it the huge bitch nanny doe? If so, someone PLEASE kill her. How many hunts has that doe spooked!
 

bowhunter1023

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Appalachia
Was it the huge bitch nanny doe? If so, someone PLEASE kill her. How many hunts has that doe spooked!

It wasn't her, but we saw her I think. You can rarely be certain about a particular doe, but the first doe we had come in had one fawn for sure and I'm not so sure a second wasn't up the hill. She is using the same trail as the bitch from last year and it's the biggest doe I have on cam down there, so I believe it's her...
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
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48,879
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Appalachia
Jesse's Season Stats

Does Seen: 7
Bucks Seen: 0
Deer Killed: 0
Hours on Stand: 4.5
Average Time Per Hunt: 1.5
Deer Seen Per Hour on Stand: 1.55

Morning Hunts: 1
Evening Hunts: 2
All Day Sits: 0
Stands Hunted: 2
Properties Hunted: 2

Hours Spent Guiding: 1.5
 

bowhunter1023

Owner/Operator
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48,879
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Appalachia
Looks like a solid N-NW wind for this afternoon, so that'll find me atop Hippie Ridge for the first time this year. I'm heading out now to help my cousin track a deer, then it's back to the house to get my game face on! Can't wait!!!
 

bowhunter1023

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48,879
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Appalachia
Thanks Dave. I'm in the truck headed that direction. We hung a new set in the rain Friday evening that over looks the intersection of two ridges. I'll try and post a pic or two once I settle in. This will be the first hunt on Hippie Ridge, so I'm pretty pumped. This stand is a great observation set, but it's deadly at the same time. I'll be using two LW sticks to get up past the 20' of sticks we hung Friday. Puts me right at the 30' mark in a split trunk maple. It's a hell of a perch. I'll update here in an hour or so...