Hickslawns Hunting log

In the stand before 7am. Settled in, closed my eyes for awhile and listened. Relaxing. Nocked an arrow at legal shooting light, and waited. No grunting, no rattling, just watching and listening this morning. Had minimal action last night. Thought this morning it would be alive. Pretty much the same as last night. Doe with twins worked the opposite edge of the food plot past our oak tree stand. Had one unidentified deer come out of the bottom and turn west towards our camera rather than continue up the path north towards me. Saw one small buck 1-200yds off follow the woods edge, cut across the food plot and towards the bottom in the middle of the property. Think it is time to give this property a rest for a few days. Winds were out of the south again. Slight drizzle/rain off and on. Winds were mild at maybe 5mph occasionally.

Time on stand: 3hrs.
Deer seen: 5
Shots taken: None

Total time on stand: 29.5hrs
Deer seen: 64
Deer per hour: 2.169
shots taken: 1 miss

Mixing it up tomorrow. Have only done morning or evening hunts so far. My schedule allows neither tomorrow. So. . . I am going to go for a midday hunt. Deer have seemed to have mixed up their patterns. They are feeding on the food plots to the south right now. We have a NE wind tomorrow with a cold front and rain moving in late afternoon. Guess who is sitting from roughly 10am-2 or 3pm tomorrow on the south end of the property? Yup! Hoping some whisperings I hear of bucks chasing last night and this morning as well as tonight carry over into tomorrow afternoon!

Thanks guys. PBJ an apple and some water time! Wind is switching with front moving in. Think I will either see action or get skunked today.

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Okay. Started the morning getting the kids on the bus and wrapping up some work stuff. My foreman takes off down the road and calls me to tell me of a buck tending a doe in the field. I hop in the Jeep with my binoculars to see a nice 8pt (130-135" if it was the one I thought it was from trail cameras). He was all puffed up and running off a spike from the doe standing in the middle of a field. The field had winter wheat picked this year and they turned it but currently has nothing in it. Nothing like seeing this to get you motivated to hit the stand!

I finally made it to the property around 1115am. Shut the truck off, ate a sandwich, and tried to let things calm down before heading to the stand. Crept to the stand spending more time with the binoculars up than I did walking. I did NOT want to spook anything. Get settled in and it was slow slow slow. Finally saw some action around 2pm. 3 does stood up, fed for maybe 5-10min and grazed north of their beds away from me. Hmmm . . . Once I spotted another deer, they just kept rolling in and out. Only saw one small buck and he didn't stick around long. In the end, there were a total of 9 skinheads feeding together from side of the food plot to the other for over an hour. Talk about being forced to sit still. They fed within 100yds of me, but that was it. Then 4 of them bedded 100yds away and the other 5 disappeared. This was around 5pm. After repeated phone calls from my wife and daughter I decided to sneak out of the stand and head home. Whose lamebrain idea was it to start having "family fun night" during the rut? Love my family, but geeesh! I get home to find out "family fun night" consists of eating home made pizza and watching "Gnomeo and Juliet". I CANNOT believe I left around 530pm after 9 does left the field to watch such a retarded friggin' movie. Maybe I am just venting here, I dunno. Family time is important, but watching that retarded show was not what I would consider "family time".

Deer seen: 12
Time on stand: 5.5hrs
Shots taken: none
Winds- Started out of the south, from 3-530 were ENE

Beentown said:

You may not Phil but I bet your kids do.

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Agreed 100%. After all, I DID leave the stand with 1.5-2hrs of daylight left while there were just recently 9 does feeding within 100yds, and 4 of them remaining bedded 100yds away. I was in a prime location on November 3 to have a buck cruise the fence row I was sitting in 100yds downwind of those does to scent check them. YET. . .I left and spent time with them. I know buddy. I know. It is still frustrating, but it was the right thing to do.

Parents are going to watch the kids from 630 when my wife goes to work until I get done hunting this evening. What a blessing! I have cleaned leaves, gutters, repaired some siding on the second story of the house, done dishes, fed the kids, and caught bits and pieces of the buckeyes. I need to hit the woods like a heroin addict needs their fix right now! Be glad to take a doe tonight. Just give me something to see at a minimum please!

Guess I didn't update this last night. I didn't see what I wanted to see, but I saw a little action. Only shot opportunity was a small buck with a huge body that dwarfed his rack. I think I measured him in my head and he would weigh in about 200-250lbs with about 30" of headgear up top. lol

Had twin fawns and a button buck feed into me directly down wind at around 50-60yds. Got close and was ready to take a shot at "the big one" when I realized he was a button and not the momma doe. They hung out for over an hour. At last light I had a crazy racket in the woods behind me. I thought several does were coming in and I would get to loose an arrow. Nope, just one small buck with an oversized body. Watched him pass by in "spitting distance". Had to wait until around 745pmn for him to move on so I could leave the stand.

I guess I did see two other does early on in the hunt but they were several hundred yards away.

Winds- ESE
Deer seen: 6
Time on stand: 3 hrs

Frustrating hunt this evening. It was the first time I have been skunked on this property this year unless you want to count a buck I saw in a field that was no less than 1/3 mile away and two properties over.

Winds were 10-15mph. Temperatures were mild. Had the wind in my face all night. Tried some rattling in between wind gusts. Nothing. I saw no deer. It was an absolutely frustrating night. Same property we were seeing 10-15-20 deer a night two weeks ago is bringing on a skunk tonight? Since Friday we have 2 different occurrences of trespassers and I am thinking they have been getting away with it now for. . . oh. . .maybe a couple weeks.

Hours on stand: 3
Deer seen: Zilch

Season totals:
Hours hunted: 41
Deer seen on stand: 82
Shots taken: 1

JD Boyd said:

If you are seeing 200-250 pd bucks with only 30 inches of antler you need to either get some kids hunting or start a handicapped guide service... That's not good...

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I saw this little buck and seriously thought of the guy from "Goonies" with some basket rack on his head. Came bumbling through the woods like a whole herd of deer. I was going to get out of the stand, but heard him coming. Thought I might have gotten a chance at a doe, so I better sit until last light. Nope, just an overgrown junior high school deer trying to figure out puberty.rotflmao

I don't know what it is, but I am feeling the mojo this morning. Couldn't sleep. Up at 230am. Been taking my time watching some TV, surfing TOO, drinking my coffee, and eating my breakfast. Now I am ready to poop, shower, smoke up my gear, and get nestled into the stand. Last night the moon was high in the sky and big at an early time. Now, it is overcast and rain/warm weather is moving in. I think this morning is going to be a good'un. It should be another good sit Tues/Wed night. Need to recheck the weather to verify, but it looked like 70 tomorrow and then dropping back off Wed/Thur. Get the seat time when you can get it peoples!

Must've been gas I was feeling. Sure wasn't mojo. It has been brutally dead so far.

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11-7 Hunt was frustrating. Was in the stand at 645am in efforts to sneak into their hallway right next to their bedroom. I just didn't want to blow anything out. Turned out I could have been in the stand at 945am and not blown anything out. Had a small buck come in around 10am. Did a loop around me and left. Still lost and horny. I should have just told him there were no does in the area and saved him some time because I certainly was not interested in shooting the little guy.

Got down around 1130am and spent the next hour moving a couple cameras and redeploying 4 additional cameras. Not really for the deer. really didn't want to be on the property any more than I had already been. Unfortunately, we were obligated to drop the last 4 cameras on this property in efforts to nail some trespassers which had shot a buck there the night before and had the balls to ask permission to recover it that morning. Finally off the property at 1230.

Hours on stand: 5
Deer seen: 2 (if you want to count the one doe 200yds away)