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Fluteman's bowhunting log

Fluteman

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,094
146
Southeast Ohio
Well, I figured since all the cool kids were doing it, I should TOO! I work eight days for the next month, so I will be in the woods just about every day busting my butt to fill a tag or two.

This morning I'm sitting on an Oak flat that runs N,S with a field to the W and bedding to the N and E. Just had five does and fawns work in behind me. A good sized doe and her youngin worked through at 20y stopping in my lane, but the shot was pretty hard quartering away, so I let down. Got the camera with me this morning, and had it rolling on her. Would have made for great film! Oh well, sitting tight and waiting now.
 

Fluteman

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,094
146
Southeast Ohio
Well, I didn't do a very good job at updating my log this week. TOO lazy to fire up the computer and TOO difficult to type it all up on the phone. I'm back to work tonight, so figured this would be the perfect time to update the log.

10/24
After hunting that morning until the rain hit, I decided to move the stand on the Oak Flat 75 yards north up the ridge. I had hunted the stand half a dozen times, and each time, I had does feed in from the North, and hang up around 40 yards out. Upon scouting, I found the acorn supply to be better, so the stand move made sense. The flat is 40 yards wide from the fence row to the west, to where the hill drops off to the east. I hung the stand in a split Oak 25ft high at the crest of the hill. This is perfect for a West wind, and since the difference in elevation below me is 30-40', I feel very confident that I won't get winded.

After moving the stand, I also moved the camera into where the deer had been feeding to get a better idea of when they are feeding through. The camera check from the previous week revealed that the big eight I had pictures of in velvet had made another appearance, along with three new bucks. SWEET!

Once I finished up, I headed back to the house to grab a bite to eat and head out to move three other cameras and scout a little. After taking down the cams, I walked the field edges and started finding scrapes in the usual places. I set the BEC up over a ground scrape below a low hanging oak branch, figuring this would make for great entertainment since the pictures would be sent straight to the computer. Not 30 yards down the field edge from the BEC, I found a fresh rub on a tree the big bucks seem to hit every year. The tree is probably six inches in diameter, but there is a huge knot where they continuously hit it and it is closer to 10" wide at that point. Ended up finding a dozen scrapes along the field edge, and another half dozen up the creek bottom. Once I placed the other two cameras where I wanted them, I headed back to the house to get dry and regroup for an evening hunt.

I got a late start Monday evening, but decided I was going to go into where I expected Claw was coming from, a spot that I had been leaving alone until the time was right. After the rain, I knew I could slip in without being detected, and I figured this was my chance. I decided to pack light, taking only my range finder, pull rope, and the LW/Muddy combo out, hanging a stand on the flat above the creek bottom, with Oaks ahead of me and bedding behind me. Around 5:30, I catch movement out of the corner of my eye, and working up the creek bottom is none other than Claw. He had came from the thick nasty stuff to my 5 'o'clock and was working away from me. At this point, he was 50y out and headed the wrong direction, and without having any calls, all I could do is sit and watch as he disappeared. I was pumped; he looked damn good in person, and it felt good to finally be on the right track. I decided to leave the stand and head back in the morning to see if he would come back through.

10/25
Got up nice and early, and was on stand @ 0630. Sat until eleven, and didn't see a single deer. After taking the stand down, I decided to use the wet leaves to my advantage and do a little scouting. Approximately 200 yards down the flat, I find 200 lbs of apples and corn piled up 15 yards from the base of a tree with a stand it it. Great, I wasn't the only one hunting this area. I turned around, heading back to the top of the ridge to scout more. Looking for acorns, I stumbled on to another 100lbs of pears, and a stand not 20 yards away. What the hell? I had spent all spring/summer scouting this area, and someone else had come in and laid claim to it. At this point, I decided I had seen enough; filled with disappointment, I headed back for the house.

I had just pulled in the driveway when a guy from down the road, an out of town hunter, pulled in the drive. He was curious as to where I was hunting, as he had seen me come up out of the woods. He proceeded to tell me that he had stands down in there, and that he was leasing the property next to it, and it "stay out of there." I have never been one to hunt land I don't have permission, and I try to stay away from hunting property lines, as I feel it is the right thing to do. Something about the way he approached the conversation sort of set me off, and the nice guy in me instantly shut down, and I flat out quit talking. I think he finally caught my vibe, and headed on down the road.

At this point, any excitement from seeing Claw the day before had vanished. I knew that there was one other person hunting that area, but in my conversation with this guy, I found out that he also hunted it, along with two other guys that were "filming." I was beyond bummed. I'm not the type of person to go in and hunt someone else's setup, or hang anywhere close to where someone is hunting. I try to have the same respect for my fellow hunters as I would expect from them, even though I hardly ever see the favor returned.

I was in a "funk" the rest of the day, and ended up napping instead of hunting.

10/26
I woke up @ 5am to the sound of rain pounding down on the roof. After taking a look at the weather, it looked like there was going to be a steady rain until around 9, when it would slack off and quit. I threw on my hunting clothes and packed a bag full of extra layers and headed for the stand. I had already changed through two layers without a sighting, when the lightening came. It came out of nowhere and was on top of me before I could make a move. I swear, I've never climbed out of a tree so fast, as I'm pretty sure my feet only hit every third rung on the way down.

That evening, I had stuff to do in town, so I went in and grabbed some stuff at Dunham's, did what I needed to do, and met the wife for dinner.
 

Fluteman

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,094
146
Southeast Ohio
10/27
Another wet and rainy morning. Again, I packed up a pack full of layers and headed for the stand on the Oak Flat. The rain was supposed to quit around eight, but it kept on until after I left around 11. At first light, I had a big doe work up the fence line, and out of sight, with her fawn feeding up the oak flat just inside of the fence line. The doe fawn ended up feeding around me for over an hour, before she took off bleating down the ridge looking for mama. Less then 20 minutes after she disappeared, a young eight came down the fence line like he meant business. He was here and gone in less than a minute. Probably ten minutes later, I hear all kinds of commotion to my right, and here comes that doe fawn flying down the hill with that buck on her heels, chasing her around below me. I watched that for 10 minutes before they disappeared again. At 10, I catch movement below me again, and here is that fawn. She mills around for a while before she decides to bed down at the base of two huge oak trees.

Around 11, I was soaked to the bone, and decided I was going to going to try to climb down undetected. I did great, until the last step, when the sticks shifted and squeaked. The fawn stood up, and decided to come investigate, working through at 20 yards and then circling back down the ridge and out of sight. As I was headed for the fence opening, I spotted a spike feeding off in the distance, and decided to take the long way around to get out of there.

Since the temperature was to continue dropping throughout the day, I knew the deer would be moving good. I headed home and dried my clothes, ate, took a quick shower, and was back in the same stand by 1430. By that time, the temperature was 40 degrees, but with the wind, it felt more like 30, making for a long four hours on stand. Things were slow until 1800, when the woods began coming alive. I heard what I first thought was a branch falling out of a tree, but after scanning the bottom, noticed a small tree being thrashed by the same eight I had seen earlier that day. He worked up a scrape, and took two steps out of it, freezing, tucking his tail, and bolting back up the creek bottom from the direction I assume he came.

The wind was blowing from me to him, but with the difference in elevation, I was certain he hadn't winded me. For some reason, I grabbed the grunt call and hit it softly a few times, just because, and directly below me, something started thrashing and tearing shit up instantly. My heart was racing, no wonder that buck bolted. I began scanning the creek bottom to locate the source of the noise, but he was behind a big birch tree. All I could see was this poor little tree getting thrashed by this big boy. You could here twigs snapping, and dirt flying from both sides of the tree; this dude meant business. At this point, he was 40 yards below me, but I had no clue how big he was. As he stepped out from behind the birch, I knew he was a shooter. He had a dark chocolate rack, and thick main beams, and that was all I needed to see. I went into "gametime" mode, focusing only on the deer, and not his rack, scanning for my shooting lanes and reciting the yardages from memory. As he cleared the birch, he was quartering towards me, and heading for the edge of the hill. It looked like he was going to come right up to me, so I didn't even think about attempting a shot though the thick stuff behind me as he stopped broadside at 25 yards. As he was standing there, my heart was still racing, but I was talking myself through everything, and trying to focus on the being ready when the shot presented itself. All he needed to do was take a few more steps. At this point, he turned away from me and started thrashing another small tree, and slinging dirt back my direction, and working his way down the flat, away from me. I grabbed the grunt call again, and it once, to see if I could get his attention. Boy did it ever. He perked up, listened for a second, and went about tearing stuff up with even more fury than before. This dude was making it very clear he was the “big dog” in this area, and he was making sure to mark his territory. I watched him make half a dozen scrapes over a distance of 70 yards, as he disappeared down into a ravine below me. Now I have seen dozens of bucks rub trees and bushes and make scrapes, but never with the fury and determination of this buck. What an awesome hunt!

I couldn’t believe how close I had come again, without being able to pull it off. I had left the video camera at the house because it was so wet out, so I don’t have anything to look back at, other than the memories in my head. I’m not sure if this was the big eight I had pictures of from August, or if it was possibly the big nine from last year. Like I said, I didn’t count points, but I did see his last tine was around 6” long, and I caught a flash of a g2 or g3 that appeared to be around 12” long. As he was walking away, I could see good mass, and that he was probably around 18-20” wide, but I couldn’t tell what he had as far as brows. My brother in law saw a hoss of a buck the night before crossing down into that bottom on his way home from work. He told me it looked identical to the big nine from last year, but much taller. If that was him, then I know he’s an absolute stud. I guess time will tell!

10/28
This morning was the last chance for me to get out and hunt until Tuesday evening, as I am working nights Fri-Mon. I geared up, and headed back for the same stand, hoping to catch the big guy coming back through. It was cold as hell at 28 degrees, and the frost was thick, making the leaves crunchy on the walk in. As I approached the fence crossing, 100 yards from my stand, I busted a doe out feeding on acorns. I tried to slip in to the stand as quietly as I could, but I failed, bumping another deer out right underneath my stand. As the sun began to rise, I noticed to scrapes not ten yards from my tree, real close to where the deer busted out of. It may have been the buck from the night before, I will never know. I sat tight until eleven, not seeing a single deer.
Since I wasn’t going to get to hunt for a few days, and the rain was heading our way, I decided to spend an hour or so sneaking around the bottom checking things out. I surveyed the damage Big Boy did last night, and it was pretty impressive to see; far more impressive than what the pictures show. I ended up finding ten ground scrapes and rubs galore in all the same places as the big nine did from last year. It really has me wondering if he did survive the winter and is holed up back there.

Tomorrow, I’m gonna slip out and place another cam back there and see if I can’t get some pictures of the deer causing all this destruction. I will be shifting my focus to hunting this 30 acre piece of woods over the next two weeks, so I need to get a gameplan going fast. I would like to set up a stand in the creek bottom so I can slip in and hunt it in the evenings, and hunt the oak flat in the mornings. Once I feel things are getting real good, I’m going to take the Millennium and set up on the edge of the thick stuff for an all day hunt.

I am hoping that all this bad luck will eventually run out and I will get my shot. My will is strong, and I’ve got a newfound confidence that I will make it happen this year. Time will tell.

Here are a few pictures from today, this was the aftermath of what I witnessed:















Here is a picture of the big eight back in August, don't have the pics from last week with me here at work:


Here is a picture of the big nine from last year. I am praying it is him...


Pic from behind with a busted brow


I don't know if it's just me hoping it is the big nine or what, but I'm almost certain it wasn't the eight from this year. Like I said, his last tine appeared to be about six inches long on the left side, and the big eight's g3's appear to be longer than that. The main beams also appeared to curl up more than the eight. It's hard to say really, but if you can't tell, I am pumped up about it!
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,841
260
Sounds like you are in his wheel house Greg.... Now it all comes down to ass in a stand.
 
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hickslawns

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
39,721
248
Ohio
Glad I was able to read this! Sorry to hear about your new "lease neighbors". That blows.

Screw them. Get in there (on the property you're allowed) and arrow one of the big boys! I am pumped for you Greg!
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
Super Mod
17,381
193
North Central Ohio
Awesome updates man. I'm with Hicks. Fug them guys. Hunt where your allowed. I'm sure your stand and cams where in there way before they drove their deep pocket asses to the woods. Last time I checked money got ya land but not the deer that walk on it. Like I was told last year. Hunt the hunters and make their fugups work in your favor. I know it sucks and I have been there myself.

I have a feeling your in the right spots and you know your shit man. Just need time in the stand to put the final DOT at the end of the story bro. Good luck and I will continue to send some good luck vibes to ya. Go get um buddy.
 

Fluteman

Senior Member
Supporting Member
7,094
146
Southeast Ohio
My 13 day break starts in seven hours. Gonna get home in the AM and get some sleep, do some shooting, then shower up and head for the Oak Flat stand. Hoping the big boy made an appearance at the scrape cam over the weekend. I would like to get a better look at him.