Creamer's 2023/2024 Season Journal

[Creamer]

My out-of-town buddy had some plot issues, so he asked me to spread some rye to hopefully fill in his plots where his brassicas didn't come in. My poor little spreader took a beating but got it done.

I also found a bunch of milkweed and picked several intact pods for this season.

Beautiful day to be out and about.

I also got my ground blind set up on private in a location where I killed a doe last year and had several close calls and small buck passes.

This camera was so hot last year at this time and has been ice cold until this week. I've resisted the urge to go in and move it. Finally, I had a forky hit the scrape, then the next day he was back, and now this slightly bigger but still small buck has hit the mock scrape. Maybe it will pick up now.

Hard to really tell what this guy is, but I'll likely be in this area opening morning and I will be easily tempted. Lots of doe traffic on this camera, also.

This camera is in a tough location to hunt due to the typical wind conditions. I hung the camera here because it's a nice pinch and makes for a decent "inventory" camera location.

 

[Creamer]

The other thing I did, if anyone noticed in the pic of my Jeep, was remove my old hanging feeder from private. Honestly, there's been so many issues with that thing over the past 4-5 years, I no longer want to deal with it unless it's in my back yard where I can access it immediately. Squirrels, despite my best efforts with spike strips and screws, constantly chew the lid edges until they get into the feeder. Then the corn gets wet, then it rots, etc... Or the motor has an issue, I'm on my 3rd one in like 6 years. The current motor works but only feeds dawn and dusk, so I ordered a Moultrie motor that will be programmable. The feeder is in my yard now, where the deer hammer feed all night long if it's available. This will slow their consumption ($$$) if this feeder works at home.

This guy showed up last night on the fresh corn pile on private. He doesn't look like much, but I am 90% sure he's the old brute I have played cat and mouse with for many years out there. I'll dig up pics later, but if it's him, he's ancient and on the decline.

If this becomes a routine, he's in trouble come Saturday.

I shot the Stalker after the rain today. I feel pretty locked in right now, shooting wise. My cold arrow was a zip-thru on my old Block.

I shot the new target mostly after that and piped just about every arrow down the middle.

I'm not saying a deer is going to die on opening day right now, because that's foolish as a trad shooter. All I can say is, right now, I feel like I'm in a great spot to start the season off. Saturday can't get here soon enough.

 

[Creamer]

So here we go. If it's him, I think he's 9.5 year's old. Hopefully I will get better pics to confirm it soon.

2015-2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

I've nearly killed him twice and seen him a few additional times. To be completely honest, his first year I had him on camera I had a slug gun on him, waiting for him to clear some cover. It was a bad year for me, hunting wise, and I was willing to shoot him at 2.5 to salvage a season. As it turned out, a 1.5 year old buck below him got his attention and he ran him off at dusk, ending my hopes of killing him then. A few years later he chased a doe almost in a circle around my stand, never coming closer than about 65-70 yards. I had to watch him bed down with her at like 70 yards for 2 hours, finally standing up and leaving with her. I'd love to see him start daylighting on the camera, but this deer has been a dang ghost for me.

 

[Wiley E Coyote]

That's why I enjoy my cameras. Having a history with the deer that you would never know were around

 

[giles]

I smiled reading those updates!

 

[Creamer]

I got the pic I needed last night. Pretty darn sure it's him.

 

[giles]

I will agree. Kill that old goat!

 

[Creamer]

Sit #1: opening morning

This is a tough one to post. I screwed the pooch, and I know it. A poor decision was made and it was almost instantly regretted. The morning started out fine, I got into my location as clean as I thought possible. The tricky thing about this stand location is that I need to cross the path that I expect deer to be walking. What has worked, however, is that deer movement has been pretty predictable. They are coming down the hill, down the old logging road, returning to bedding below me from distant ag. I cross the path below where I expect to shoot, so I am ready to shoot before they reach a point where they can cut my track.

The morning started out slow, but it usually does here. I expect most movement between about 8:30-10AM. Right on schedule, I spot movement around 9:15AM, just one issue...they are coming from the opposite direction. It's a yearling buck (3 or 4 point) and an average sized doe. They closed the distance pretty quickly, but they get to where I crossed and they cut my track. My boots only go in the woods, only on hunts, and I spray them religiously with Dead Down Wind...but they were suspicious. The buck seemed to care the least, he moved on and I let him walk through a huge shooting lane. The doe paused, then started to continue. I drew back when she was 2 steps from clearing into the lane and she stopped again. I held at full draw for a few seconds, then let down. She repeatedly checked the ground, then the air, for several seconds. She was on high alert. When she stepped into the lane, I drew again, and she was ever-so-slightly quartered to me at about 16-17 yards.

I know better. I should have never tried to shoot her with her being so on edge and high-strung. Overconfidence won out and I let the arrow fly. On the shot, she wheeled hard towards me, into the shot. The arrow impacted into the base of her neck, buried to the fletchings, and she raced off. Initially, I thought/hoped the arrow buried down into the chest cavity. I waited about an hour to track, and initially found no blood. I knew where she entered into the brush and found her track. Scarce blood, and it looked more like muscle hit blood. 20 yards later I found the arrow, pulled through the rest of the way.

She ran really hard, and blood was not great. I tracked slowly and eventually she slowed down and I could tell where she stopped. There was better blood, but not what I had hoped for. No bubbles.

The blood trail kept going, not finding a ton of sign, for (according to OnX) about 350 yards. She never bedded down. Eventually, she reached a steep embankment dropping down to a creek bed bordering on private. I followed some tracks, having lost blood near the top of the drop off, along what seemed like the logical route. I got one small speck of blood near the road where she crossed. I got permission from the landowner to take up the track across the road, but found no more blood. Having gone over 400 yards, blood sign going cold, and not bedding down, I lost her.

It was a nice kick in the nuts to start the season off after having felt completely locked in shooting for the last month. Hopefully the deer survived, if not, I'm sure the locals won't let her go to waste. I'm really questioning where the heck that arrow hit her and how it hit nothing all that critical. The fact that she didn't bed down at all tells me she wasn't hurting all that badly. Lesson learned, I guess. She was way too keyed up to attempt that shot.

 

[giles]

I've got nothing to say that you haven't already told yourself.

 

[brock ratcliff]

You’ve learned from it.

 

[OhioWhiteTails]

Live and learn. School is always in session when bow hunting, especially with trad gear. Get back in that saddle, pun intended.

 

[Creamer]

The plan is in motion to try to kill the old buck this weekend. He's showing up to corn daily on private ground where I have a blind set up. I don't like hunting that way, but it feels like the best (maybe only) chance to kill his ancient ass. Last week, with the cooler days, he was daylighting in the last 20-30 minutes of the day. Seeing the forecast, knowing we have a temp drop coming this weekend, it feels like the time to try to strike. My son and I went and dumped corn on Sunday, plenty to last for the week. I'm using this week as real-world practice with my old Bear Kodiak Mag. The reason I wanted this bow was for its short length and usability in a ground blind. I'm practicing all week with it from my blind chair at distances I expect to deal with this weekend.

 

[giles]

Good luck! It's time for him to make a mistake.

 

[Creamer]

Sit #2

I went after the old man buck on Sunday afternoon. Early movement was expected with the cooler temps. I practiced all week with the little Bear Kodiak Mag from my ground blind chair to be sure I was ready. That bow, made in '68, probably carries a lot of stories with it. My hopes were to add one more.

My entrance was clean, thanks to the dampness and windy conditions. I made my way to the blind and got my black pullover and face mask on. Entry time to the woods was pretty early. If the deer moved early on Sunday, it was not near me.

Sometimes it feels like you're being watched when you're in the woods. Especially when this creepy-ass leaf with a demon face on it is right in front of the blind.

Finally, in the last half hour of shooting light, I spot deer legs through the paw paw trees. Unfortunately, not the old man. It was a 1.5 year old 3-pointer that came in to eat the last remaining corn in the pile. He got really close to the blind multiple times, easily inside of 5 yards. Shortly after, a button buck came in. I thought it was a doe at first, but as it got closer the buttons were noticeable. It was tempting, 12 yards slightly quartering away, but I let them walk.

The old man never showed, only the BB and 3-pointer. He continues to ghost it up for me.

 

["J"]

All the fun with none of the mess! You’ll get there Jeff, plenty of time…..

 

[Creamer]

Yesterday I took a light day off work to do two things: shuffle some trail cameras and do a little coyote hunting. Over the summer, I picked up a Foxpro Patriot relatively cheap and loaded it up with some sounds. As much as I love to make calls, hunting solo is really tough without an electronic caller. I caved in and bought one. One of the trail cams I wanted to move on public had been getting lots of coyote pics, so I had a solid plan where to go.

I set up blind in that trail cam location, hoping to catch one of the resident dogs close by. I called for about 20 minutes, no responses, so I packed up the show and moved on out the ridge after grabbing the camera.

I went maybe 250-300 yards out the ridge and came to a spot that looked ideal to send a couple of locator howls out. The ridge was relatively open, with visible fingers coming off both sides of the ridge. After my second howl on my customized E.L.K. Power Howler, I got a CLOSE response. A coyote howled back at most 200 yards off on the finger to the right. I scrambled to get set up and found a tree to get against. I started up the Foxpro and hit them with MFK Holler Back group howl for one short sequence, then jumped into MFK Food Fight. Barely 2 minutes in, 2 coyotes appeared but came across the ridge and paralleled me at 60ish yards. Ordinarily, no big deal...except I took the shotgun yesterday instead of a rifle. They seemed nervous because they couldn't see the source of the noise. I lip squeaked, but they trotted off out the ridge. They did not see me and never got downwind. As they were almost out of sight, a 3rd dog came and followed them. I jumped to Lost Pup on the Foxpro, and the 3rd dog stopped and looked back, but followed his pals. Of all days to carry a shotgun. All three were easy rifle shots. In my rush to set up, I didn't have time to get the decoy up. It probably cost me a coyote. They crossed the ridge at the end of the path in this pic.

The Power Howler with custom fitted cow horn amplifier that got them stirred up.

I moved on, and eventually got to where I wanted to hang the moved camera. I located a good travel pinch in the area I wanted to investigate and set up a mock scrape. This scent combo has worked really well this fall. The mocks I set up on private with these scents were all torn up and leaf-free when I hunted on Sunday.

I took a lunch break mid day, planning to head to another piece of public to shuffle two more cameras. One camera has not "dried up," but is in a higher theft probability area and I don't trust it to stay. Also, it was only monitoring a trail coming out of a thicket, not really in a huntable spot. It was more for inventory. Of course, as I'm eating lunch, the camera sent me this.

It's great to see but the camera still was going to get moved. A few hours later, I had my days work done. By evening, I already had deer photos on two of the new mock scrape locations. Good signs, even though they were not bucks.

Not all steps are created equal. There was a lot of ridge climbing and gear hauling in those 8+ miles. I'm a little sore this morning. That was some "day off."

 

[Creamer]

The boys are moving a little. Those mock scrapes have paid off with good intel lately.

Something good is going to happen where nearly all of these pics came from. I found the location while scouting and coyote hunting last winter. It was littered with buck sign, tons of scrapes, and it's a hellhole to get in/out of. I think when things start to get rolling I'll be pulling an all day sit in there. There's not a convenient/easy way to get in or out of there, so I want to make the most of that first trip in to hunt it.

 

[Creamer]

Sit #3

My neighbor across the street usually scoffs at hunting...until deer raided her garden. I was reminded last week that I have free reign to come over and try to take a deer off her small property. Not wanting to dive in deep on public and potentially burn a spot I want to save for the rut, I decided to give it a shot. Assuming the deer were bedded really close, I decided on a ground approach to avoid excess noise and movement setting up.

Not knowing for sure which side of the property they would come out of, I guessed more towards the middle to cover the middle and the west side. This was basically some Seek1-level backyard stuff. I figured, if I could get an easy doe, I'll give it a shot. I ended up seeing 9 deer on the night, most of them staying on a neighboring property. 4 came out on the property I was on, but of course, on the far east side. They never came closer than about 28-30 yards, and I wasn't going to sling steel that far in this environment.

I'd add, last year I bought a PortaRoof after an uncomfortable rainy hunt. This was my first time using it. It actually worked pretty well in light rain on this hunt. Easy and quiet to set up, light weight, and it kept me dry.

 

[Creamer]

I haven't been out much. Family and work have kept me from most of the good early-mid November hunting. I did have a couple more suburban "after work-before dark" sits for an hour, but those hardly count. I'd guess Tues afternoon was roughly...

Sit #6

In late September, I set up a non-cellular camera in what I would describe as a hell-hole of a spot on public ground. Access was difficult, and it was a brushy bench that connected two areas I know does to bed. Seemed like the perfect spot to catch a cruising buck in November. I took Tues afternoon off and went in for a sit there and to pull that camera. First surprise, camera was gone. It was the only camera I hung this year NOT 8-9' off the ground, due to location and thinking it was safe, and it got pinched. Congrats, thieves, have a cheap trail cam. I got to the tree I prepped in Sept and got set up.

Not long after I got set up, I glanced up for whatever reason and saw this.

That ain't mine. So, some a-hole came in and pinched my camera, and hunted the tree I prepped. The joys of public hunting, boys. The hunt was slow. I had a decent buck locked down with a doe come as close as maybe 50 yards, back in the brush, but he wasn't leaving her and she didn't lead him to me. They finally worked off, and at dusk, I heard multiple deer on the bench above me. I couldn't tell what they were.

Sit #7

One of my favorite Nov public locations is a marathon hike with a huge ridge climb, followed by an "almost impossible to locate in the dark" trail through some gnarly thick cover. A band of thick cover is up along the base of a high bench in an L-shaped spot in the ridge, with some open woods in a strip along the bottom of the bench. Some deer use the thick stuff, a lot of bucks cruise the bottom edge. The trick is that the open area is too big to cover with a stick bow (for me) and the only tree I find with good cover is along the transition from brush to open woods.

Right at first light, I hear foot steps coming. A really solid public 9-pointer is following the script. If he takes the lower part of the bench below a big tree top, he'll be out of range. Upper part, it's a sub-18 yard shot. He stayed low. I had to watch him walk away at 35-40 yards. With the woods being dead calm and quiet, that range, my odds of killing him were slim.

Some time passed before I saw deer 2 on the sit, a small 1.5 year old buck that stayed high in the brush behind me. Maybe an hour later, a lone big doe followed nearly the same path as the big deer at dawn.

It was late in the morning, pushing 11AM, when I heard grunts from the brush back to my right. I grabbed the bow and got ready. A small 2.5 year old 8-pointer stepped out, looking for love. He walked directly underneath me, stopping to lick my bottom tree stick. How he didn't spook, I'll never know. He went up through the brushy path and up over the ridge. It was the best sit of the year for me for buck action, close but no cigar. The life of a stick bow hunter, I guess.

 

[Creamer]

I can say this now because I got the cameras down. A big part of this was my fault for not having a solid backup plan, but my other cameras just weren't producing and this one location was "it." The area was tough to get to on public, but did butt up against some private that I assumed might be getting hunted. Access was a nightmare, so I got the cameras and mock scrapes going early and made the decision to stay out until I started getting daylight movement. Because of the lay of the land and cover, my cameras were covering by far the most likely areas for these bucks to move through between two bedding areas.

The first couple of days in Nov, the boys were starting to move in daylight...of course when I'm unable to hunt. I was chomping at the bit to get in there with the first opportunity.

And right before I get the chance to get back there...

And then again.

And again.

I think the guy was in there something like 5 times in 7 days. Look, it's public land. He had every right to go in there and hunt. But the guy freakin NUKED the area. I assume he was coming across from private, given the access possibilities. Buck sightings on those cameras went from daily to non-existant. Not even at night. I had hoped that maybe he'd only be in there a day or two and things would normalize, but that didn't happen. And oh by the way, this is close to where my non-cell camera was stolen in this time frame. No way I can say this guy took it, but it's a coincidence in the least.

This was a massive kick to the pills for my November plans.