Welcome to TheOhioOutdoors
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Login or sign up today!
Login / Join

Wildlife 2021/2022 Deer Season

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
Wednesday, November 24, 2021: 'Evening Hunt'

I was able to get to my tree-stand this afternoon with no interference of any kind from any deer.

I got settled in just after 3:00 p.m., ready to hunt.

20211124_152055.jpg


I didn’t see my first deer until 5:15 p.m., which were the same three does as yesterday, but today, they came from the NE corner of the thick pine area and headed straight towards me through the woods.

All three of them stepped out into the beanfield right after each of them walked right by my tree within 10 yards of it.

20211124_172448.jpg


They arrived much later today than yesterday however, they stayed for about the exact same duration of time, or even perhaps a little longer, a little bit better than an hour.


I had to wait on them to leave the immediate area once again this evening.


I did not climb down from the tree until about 6:25 p.m., then swapped SD card at the TC.

After hiking back to my pickup and changed out of my huntin clothes, I finally got to jump into the cab, turned the ignition key and the radio clock said it was a quarter to seven.

I got home about an hour ago, about a quarter to eight.
___________________________________________________

So, the total count for deer for today is five, and all of them I believe were antlerless, including the first one I saw the darted into the woods after a coyote a showed up behind it at 6:05 a.m.

Only four were within bow range.

No good antler deer seen over the past four hunts or two days, however you care to look at it, which includes both morning & evening hunts of a few hours roughly each.

Perhaps a tiny bit frustrated at this point, especially after seeing a real super good buck acting all nuts on my very first sit at this farm in over two weeks, which was an evening hunt just this past Monday.
____________________________________________________

Anyhow, ending on a good note for tonight.

This afternoon I tended to both feed locations here at home and pulled SD cards from all TCs as well.

I reviewed most of the data, but not all yet because there are thousands of captures combined among all four TCs and I simply did not have the time to go through them all this afternoon, however the ones I have reviewed shows a lot of daylight deer activity over the past few days, which also includes some of the better and more mature bucks as well, such as;

SHYBUC – I have several daylight captures of him over the past few days, both mornings and evenings.

WGI_0194.JPG


And Mr. ROAMER – He showed up once again the other day at the feed station just behind our cabin. I’m truly surprised to see him in the area still.

WGI_1212.JPG


And finally, THUNDER – He’s still showing up at my ‘Western Stand’ setup location, but during the dark still.

WGI_0140.JPG


Most all the other up & comer bucks are still kicking as well and appear to be healthy. The only buck that I have not seen or captured on any of the TCs in the past two weeks is VEGAS. All the other mature bucks seem to be A-O-K, as of yesterday.
__________________________________________________________

Tomorrow I intend to hunt in the morning, then off to the in-laws afterwards for Thanksgiving dinner.

I will try to provide an update as soon as possible after tomorrow’s hunt, which will be back at the same farm once again, which will make hunt #6 for this week at that property. I'll finish up there at the E.O.D. Friday.
__________________________________________________________.

I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving!

Good night!
 
Last edited:

Sgt Fury

Sgt. Spellchecker
Wednesday, November 24, 2021: 'Evening Hunt'

I was able to get to my tree-stand this afternoon with no interference of any kind from any deer.

I got settled in just after 3:00 p.m., ready to hunt.

View attachment 140968

I didn’t see my first deer until 5:15 p.m., which were the same three does as yesterday, but today, they came from the NE corner of the thick pine area and headed straight towards me through the woods.

All three of them stepped out into the beanfield right after each of them walked right by my tree within 10 yards of it.

View attachment 140969

They arrived much later today than yesterday however, the stayed for about the exact same duration of time, or even perhaps a little longer, aa little bit better than an hour.


I had to wait on them to leave the immediate area once again this evening.


I did not climb down from the tree until about 6:25 p.m., then swapped SD card at the TC.

After hiking back to my pickup and changed out of my huntin clothes, I finally got to jump into the cab, turned the ignition key and the radio clock said it was a quarter to seven.

I got home about an hour ago, about a quarter to eight.
___________________________________________________

So, the total count for deer for today is five, and all of them I believe were antlerless, including the first one I saw the darted into the woods after a coyote a showed up behind it at 6:05 a.m.

Only four were within bow range.

No good antler deer seen over the past four hunts or two days, however you care to look at it, which includes both morning & evening hunts of a few hours roughly each.

Perhaps a tiny bit frustrated at this point, especially after seeing a real super good buck acting all nuts on my very first sit at this farm in over two weeks, which was an evening hunt just this past Monday.
____________________________________________________

Anyhow, ending on a good note for tonight.

This afternoon I tended to both feed locations here at home and pulled SD cards from all TCs as well.

I reviewed most of the data, but not all yet because there are thousands of captures combined among all four TCs and I simply did not have the time to go through them all this afternoon, however the ones I have reviewed shows a lot of daylight deer activity over the past few days, which also includes some of the better and more mature bucks as well, such as;

SHYBUC – I have several daylight captures of him over the past few days, both mornings and evenings.

View attachment 140970

And Mr. ROMER – He showed up once again the other day at the feed station just behind our cabin. I’m truly surprised to see him in the area still.

View attachment 140971

And finally, THUNDER – He’s still showing up at my ‘Western Stand’ setup location, but during the dark still.

View attachment 140972

Most all the other up & comer bucks are still kicking as well and appear to be healthy. The only buck that I have not seen or captured on any of the TCs in the past two weeks is VEGAS. All the other mature bucks seem to be A-O-K, as of yesterday.
__________________________________________________________

Tomorrow I intend to hunt in the morning, then off to the in-laws afterwards for Thanksgiving dinner.

I will try to provide an update as soon as possible after tomorrow’s hunt, which will be back at the same farm once again, which will make hunt #6 for this week at that property. I'll finish up there at the E.O.D. Friday.
__________________________________________________________.

I wish everyone a safe and enjoyable Thanksgiving!

Good night!
What is that night vision you are using? That is awesome. The last one I used was when I was in the service and everything was bright green. I need to get out more!😂
 
  • Like
Reactions: Wildlife

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
Thursday, November 25, 2021: 'Thanksgiving Morning Hunt'

Took off for the other farm early this Thanksgiving morning and I had all the roads traveled all to myself with no one else insight, which was really nice. It basically resulted in my getting to the farm a bit earlier than normal.

Once I got there, I double checked the weather forecast, which it stated that the rain was supposed to enter the area until 7:00 a.m., which that did not happen at all but it did appear at 8:00 instead.

After I changed into my rain gear and grabbed my bow and my tree umbrella and started hiking towards my tree.

As I typically do as I first enter the beanfield, I started scanning the entire area with my thermal scope to see what, if any, is up ahead of me. I did not see any wildlife this morning while trying to get to my tree-stand this time, however it was a bit warm with a 48-degree outdoor temperature to start of with and some serious gusty winds in my face that was coming from the SW. That might have been the reason for not seeing anything right off the bat as I typically do when I try to get to my setup.

Once I got up into my tree-stand, I immediately drove my tree umbrella hanger into the tree, right above my camera mount apparatus so I would not have to deal with that later and potentially spook a deer within the immediate area.

After hanging everything else I intended on using for the hunt, I finally sat down to listen and waited for daylight patiently.

It was not long at all after I sat down I heard some movement to the NE within the wooded area. I most definitely recognized the sound and knew that deer were headed my way so, I turned my mono scope back on because it was still quite early yet, and very dark.

Just before I peeked through the scope lens though, I noticed with my naked eye that two deer already stepped into the field to my left, and I could hear more movement still within the woods. That is when I started filming all that took place afterwards.

As you will see, the two antlerless deer began immediately grazing within the field while the other three remained well within the woods, in an area that is chuck full with acorns still, a location that I hunted all throughout the month of October, which is approximately 50-60 yards further to the North, just inside the woods, under both several mature White Oaks and Hickory Nut Trees.


These deer originally came from the NE corner of the tall pines and after each of them finished with breakfast, they all eventually grouped back up together again at the same location pretty much, right near the tall pines by the NE corner, and like a train with train cars, in a single file, they slowly headed straight back into those tall thick pines directly in front of me.

Green 'X' marks the area where the deer first came from. The red dotted line is where they first headed, The white dotted line is where they went after leaving the immediate area.
20211125_085556 (2).jpg


I finally lost sight of them at roughly 100 yards away as they continued to travel further East into the woods. They were completely out of the area by 7:20 a.m.

Then about 10 minutes later, I heard some clucking coming from the same general area where I first heard the deer come from, which turned out to be ‘Mr. Lone Soul Turkey’ again.

He strutted right by me at 25 yards from within the woods as he was headed straight to the field.


20211125_073529.jpg


He too did not stick around very long and appeared to have a specific destination in mind, which he ended up traveling clear across the top portion of the field cup area to the far NW corner and into the wooded finger area, perhaps to head down the deep ravine that goes all the way down to the creek bottom, which is approximately 400 yards to the North and approximately 100 feet further down in elevation as well, clear at the very bottom of the holler.
________________________________________________________

The entire morning was an up and down thing, whether it be the wind, outdoor temperature, rain, deer and even ‘Mr. Turkey’.

The S-SW wind keep changing speeds drastically each half hour, mild at 7:30, then blasting by 8:00, and so on and so forth each half hour.

The rain did not begin until 8:00 and it started off as a mild sprinkle, but by 8:30 it turned into a steady rain, then back down to a sprinkle by 9:00, then at 9:30, back to a steady rain once again and stayed that way until I left.

20211125_082753.jpg


As the 10:00 a.m. hour was arriving, both the rain and wind intensified tremendously and got to the point where I simply called it quits. It was too much, with the rain coming in sideways and the wind just a whippin as temperatures started to fall.

20211125_094505.jpg


So, I climbed down at 10:00 even though I had every intention of hunting until noon today, afterwards, head home, change into some good clothes, then head out to the family in-laws to celebrate Thanksgiving with a wonderful meal.

Now I am trying to get this update out of the way, then I will proceed with the rest of today’s itinerary.
_________________________________________________________

So, for today, five antlerless deer where I believe all of them were within bow range at one point or another. They all stuck around just long enough for legal time, then off on their marry way back inside the tall thick pines area by 7:20 a.m.

Again, my next hunt will take place tomorrow at that same setup that I have been hunting all week, which is at a farm in a different county. A beautiful piece of property with woods that reminds me so much of where I am originally from, which is northern NY, right next door to the Adirondack State Park.

That will be my last hunt for a while at that location. Everything else hinges on when I will harvest a good antlered deer, whether it be there or at my home. Once I get that out of the way, then I expect to finish up my deer season rather quickly and get into some fun coyote hunting.

Have a great Thanksgiving everybody, and eat plenty!
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Mike

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
Friday, November 26, 2021: 'Morning & Evening Hunts'

Deer held me up while trying to get to my tree this morning for nearly an hour until ‘Wiley the Coyote’ came along and pushed them out of the way for me, which allowed me to slip into my tree-stand just before daylight.


15 minutes later, the same two deer returned and stuck around for another half an hour or better.

20211126_070716.jpg


(I'll post the daylight video at a later time, it's still uploading as I post this update. I had to trim 10 minutes off the original due to poor lighting conditions, too early yet for the camera.)


Before I broke for lunch, I did an hour recon/still hunt within the thick pines area. I discovered some good tree rubs within fifty yards of my tree too.

Top to bottom on the ground at the base of my tree looking West, South, East and North.
20211126_222239.jpg


A couple of good tree rubs within 50 yards of tree. One to the NE and the other East.

20211126_113008.jpg

__________________________________________________

This evening I got totally skunked! Not surprising though...

Outdoor temperature stayed at 30 all day with 11-26 mph ridiculous West wind. The wind never did let up either, from before sunup until I left well after sundown. Between that and having coyotes chasing deer all week at this property, I'm glad to be moving on.

I pulled everything out after this evening’s hunt, tree-stand, and all. Done with this farm for a while.

Back to hunting the home grounds starting tomorrow.

Very hungry still to chase down a real good antlered deer.

I am in great physical shape, and I feel absolutely great!

The next couple of weeks, I will be pulling out all the stops to try to close the gap on any of the ones I’m after.

If I cannot arrow one, then the big gun will be up to bat, and it is doubtful that any of my intended targets will be able to dodge any of my bullets if given the opportunity.

Good night!
 
Last edited:

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
Saturday & Sunday, November 27 & 28, 2021: 'Part I'

Catching up here...

Okay, yesterday morning I hunted out my ‘Western Stand’ for a few hours. Seen a couple of antlerless deer out of bow range within the South field early, and a domestic cat that I believe belongs to one of the neighbors, but I am not sure.


Yesterday evening, I was settled in the same stand by 3:00 p.m.

A little after 4:00, a newer type SUV vehicle stops in the road not far from my property, and two young people get out, a male and female, then they immediately run into the South field right along the field/wooded edge. The driver of the SUV then leaves the area quickly.

Those two young individuals started hiking along the field/wooded edge just South of me. The male was wearing all camo clothing and carrying a loaded crossbow while the female was wearing a camo jacket and some vanilla white colored pair of bibs carrying the bow quiver for the crossbow the male was carrying, while acting suspicious, sneaky and just down right strange.

As soon as they get directly South of me, at 45 yards, I yelled out to them and asked if they had permission to be on the property. I could tell that I scared the liven shit out of them and they had no clue where the hell I was at and yet answered my questioned immediately, calling me sir.

The male responded by saying “yes sir”, and then I asked him who the owner was. He responded with the correct last name only, and even then, he seemed a bit unsure or somewhat hesitate in his response, I thought.

I proceeded in telling them both that “I hunt this area so please move along quickly, thank you!”.

(No one is supposed to be hunting the roughly 40 acres that is closets to my property. That's the friendly neighborly agreement that I have with the property owner, whom he owns a total of 750 acres altogether. I occasionally will venture further out onto his property every now and then, but only to hunt coyotes or perhaps during muzzy deer season, and that's about it pretty much, I have hunting privileges'/access to over 2,000 acres altogether of private properties within the immediate surrounding area of my property, however I do like having the convenience of hunting right next door to mine.)

Both individuals ended up trampling right through my immediate hunting area, right in between three bow hunting tree-stand locations, right where I was expecting to see deer come from, just 80 yards straight out in front of me within the woods, headed East, towards the lower CRP field.

I did however, see my first deer just minutes later because no doubt those two individuals pushed that deer out of his bed early.

20211127_165247.jpg


30 minutes later, two more deer come from the North, headed South, 90 yards East of me, on the run with a flagging tail. "FUGG!"

Shortly after, I see the same pair returning from within the woods during prime time, within the last 30 minutes of legal time, headed straight towards the road, to the West. Again, stomping right through my hunting area and not having the courtesy nor respect towards me regarding my hunt area and it seemed as if the two of them were having some sort of a heated discussion as they walked by me once again along the South field/wooded edge, not knowing where the hell I was.

Needless to say, I was beyond furious at these unscrupulous two individuals to say the very least.

That SUV vehicle showed up shortly after, shortly as the two reached the road, they quickly jumped into the vehicle and they drove off to the North, right past my property.

Last night, I was so freaking pissed off that I simply didn’t even want to discuss it with anyone, let alone, try to write about it within my journal. So, I decided to to other things to get what happened out of my mind, and that helped, a lot!

After this morning’s hunt, while back at the ‘Western Stand’ once again, and I see two deer in the middle of the field on the neighboring property shortly after legal time grazing, then into the wooded area at sunrise off to the far West side of it, I got with the property owner of the property I hunt primarily and I told him what occurred yesterday evening with regards to those two unknown individuals being dumped off at the corner of our properties, then proceeded onto his property with just the one crossbow between the two of them.

The owner has no idea who those people are after I described them and told me if they ever show up again, tell them to vacate the property immediately or the sheriffs will be called.

This afternoon, I pulled out the rifle that I will be using for gun week, which is my 95 Remington 12g 870 Express Magnum shotgun configured with a riffle barrel topped with a Bushnell Special Edition Bone- Collector 3x9-40 duplex rifle scope, shooting USA Brenneke ‘Black Magic Magnum’ 3” 1-3/8 oz. slug cartridges.

I shot two boxes of ammunition this afternoon.

20211128_130824.jpg

20211128_135659.jpg


The first three rounds I targeted the boar 1/2" AR500 steel plate. The first round I just wanted to hit the middle of the target from 100 yards and see if the rifle scope was still dead on, which it was. The second round I shot for the bullseye and ended up exactly right of it by about 3 inches. My third shot, I hit bullseye perfectly.

Mind you, I always shoot my rifle the same way as if I were to shoot it within the field hunting, using some simple kind of gun rest and nothing else, and at closer range, nothing at all.

Then I wanted to see if I can make an accurate shot from 135 yards. Reason being, the lower CRP field that I intend on hunting this gun season will be from either one of my two CRP stands, which are directly across the field from one another. From one side to the other of the open field, the furthest open section within the field, edge to edge is 135 yards.

That kind of shot, or distance of a shot is the farthest I have ever shot that rifle ever. The furthest I shot a deer with this rifle was last year at 117 yards and it was a perfect heart shot. I always zero that rifle scope for that rifle at 100 yards every year with those USA Brenneke slug cartridges.

So, I set my range table out at 135 yards away for the 1/2" AR500 red steel human silhouette target and shot my fourth round out of the rifle at that target using a holdover of approximately 16”. It was a clear miss.

Then I tried it again with my fifth round with a holdover of 14”, and it was another clear miss.

And finally, with the sixth round with a holdover of 12”, I hit the target in the upper left shoulder area. Apparently I was too high on the first two attempts on that target. 12" at that range for those bullets seems to do the trick cause I was wanting to hit mid mass of that 8" wide target.

Now, the weather conditions were not ideal, with a 40-degree outdoor temperature and 13 to 26 mph West gusty winds, which is right to left of my shooting targets. It is apparent to me that those slug cartridges are impacted decently by winds beyond 100 yards, at least by 3-5” of windage to the left.

That’s definitely good to know because if I were to make that kind of long range shot on a deer this week, most of the winds forecasted for the week is supposed to be gusty West winds, and I have one CRP stand to the North, and one CRP stand to the South and if a deer were to be straight out in front of me at that distance, I am gonna have to accommodate for windage and altitude trajectory (scope holdover of 12” of intended target area).

The next three rounds I hit the steel target consistently at the same location in the same general area. The last round, I tried to accommodate for windage, which I went a little too far by about 3” to hit center mass on the steel target, which I'm okay with. Playing the wind at that distance will be a challenge, and I may not take such a shot, but at least I know I can do it with this current rifle configuration.

And oh, BTW, each time I hit that ½ “ AR500 red steel human silhouette target, it would fly off one of the chain hooks and I had to rehang it each time so, I know I still have plenty of stopping power at that distance because that steel target is NOT light by any means at all.
 
Last edited:

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
Saturday & Sunday, November 27 & 28, 2021: 'Part II'

Afterwards, I get ready to head out for this evening’s hunt, which I fully intended on giving the ‘Northern CRP Stand’ its debut run for the season. The first time hunting that area of the property this entire season.

20211128_151137.jpg


So, as I was getting up into my stand at 3:00 p.m., I see the owner and son walking towards me from the SE corner of the cut down CRP field. As they approached and said hi to me, they asked if I seen anyone else on the property today, which I responded, just only the two from yesterday evening. The son was carrying an AR rifle with him at the time too, and the owner said that they were out looking for trespassers. I reminded them where I saw them come in at yesterday, and he told me if I see anyone, tell them to leave or the sheriffs will be called out. Then both thanked me for letting them know and apologized for disturbing my hunt, which they really didn’t because I haven't even pulled my bow up yet from the ground.

Then about the same time as yesterday, roughly 4:15 p.m., I see those vanilla white bibs again with my naked eye at the NW corner of the same CRP field that I am hunting. I quickly grab my binoculars and noticed it was the same two individuals that showed up yesterday standing in the corner looking towards the back of my property, perhaps trying to hunt my feed station and any deer the may show up to it, which made me think he's been there before.

I immediately yelled out across the field,

“HEY, YOU ARE TRESSPASSING! LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!! THE OWNER WAS JUST HERE LOOKING FOR YOU TWO AND YOU DON’T WANT HIM TO CATCH YOU!”

Once again, I scared the living shit out them as they had no clue where I was. I saw the female about jump out her skin when I first yelled.

The male mumbled something that I could not make out, and I don’t even think he finished what he was about to say, but the both of them high tailed it out of the CRP field at a double the pace, heading towards the back of my property.

I then immediately called my wife, told her to be on the lookout for two young individuals, a male & female, headed right towards our property and to have your gun handy, then call the property owner and tell them that the same two individuals I told him about from yesterday just showed up again and you just missed them by an hour.

The wife texted my back moments later to inform me that the owner was very thankful for telling those two to leave immediately and he and his son was on their way out in the pickup wanting to locate those two individuals along our road while attempting to leave the owners property.

Now, I have not heard anything back from property owner yet this evening, so, I do not know if they ever did catch up with those two or not, but I will find out sometime tomorrow if I do not hear anything about it tonight.

I highly doubt I’ll see those two young people again in the area, at least I hope so anyways.

I did end up seeing three antlerless deer cruise down through the main creek bottom this evening just after sundown headed towards the back of my property and that was all I saw with regards to deer.

Tomorrow I will be back inside my ‘Northern CRP Stand’ first thing in the morning, looking for hopefully real good antlered deer to harvest. I attached all the photographs taken while heading to the stand, and then while up into the stand, which will be my views for the better part of deer gun week. The final photograph taken this evening is of the remains of a small antlerless deer. I have no idea how the deer died. Possibly a coyote, or sickness, or wounded by another hunter, but it's straight out in the CRP field, right in front of my tree, roughly 25 yards away.

Good luck to all you others that will also be out hunting this gun season.

Please be safe, have plenty of fun and don’t forget to wear your orange!

Good night!
 

Attachments

  • 20211128_145143.jpg
    20211128_145143.jpg
    245.3 KB · Views: 124
  • 20211128_151217.jpg
    20211128_151217.jpg
    680.1 KB · Views: 128
  • 20211128_151148.jpg
    20211128_151148.jpg
    561 KB · Views: 137
  • 20211128_151159.jpg
    20211128_151159.jpg
    710.4 KB · Views: 128
  • 20211128_151208.jpg
    20211128_151208.jpg
    672.7 KB · Views: 126
  • 20211128_165715.jpg
    20211128_165715.jpg
    591.5 KB · Views: 127
Last edited:

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - November 29 through December 1, 2021: 'GUN WEEK'

'*** WARNING*** - The following is my catch all update.


This journal update should get me completely current once again so please, bare with me because it will be lengthy with plenty of details, but it is what I consider to be accurate to the best of my abilities of what all I can recollect, and to be considered factual of all the events mentioned that occurred during my 'Gun Week'.
.
I am not expecting anyone to read the entire following per say, but if you do, I hope it does shed more light on what my past week has been like, which basically covers my last three days of deer hunting, which the last one ended at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning - December 1, 2021.

I am however not finished at all with the entire 2021/22 deer season. I have at least one tag left in my pocket and I can go for another state bag limit if I choose to do so, which I might. I have already harvested four deer, 1 antlered and 3 antlerless as of today.

___________________________________________________

Monday, November 29, 2021: 'Morning Hunt'

From the moment I got up into my tree-stand until about 9:00 a.m., I was pretty much covered in deer, however none of the deer had antlers.

There were two deer bedded within the Lower CRP field at the time I reached the stand platform. I watched them through my thermal mono scope for several minutes before legal time, which both eventually got up and headed SW towards the South Ridge area just before the 2021 Gun Season officially started.

Once it became light enough to see, I watched three deer head towards the back of my property using the creek bottom as their place of travel, coming from the East, approximately 40-50 yards to the North.

20 minutes after that, two more deer came down off the North Ridge, crossed the main creek and walked straight into the thick bedding area just to the East of me, roughly 40 yards away.

Approximately a couple minutes after 8:00 a.m., I witnessed a single hunter enter in the Lower CRP field from the SE corner. The hunter walked along the South field/wooded edge headed West and stopped approximately 30 yards from the corner and stood there, looking all around. I tried to make myself visible to the hunter by standing well away from my tree on the tree-stand platform, however the hunter is apparently blind because he seemed to not either take notice or did not care that he was attempting to hunt the same field I was hunting, even though he pretty much was in my line of fire for any deer that were to step out into the field from the East, or I was in line of fire from him if he attempted to shoot any deer that stepped out into the field straight across form him or towards the NW of the field.

Well, approximately 15 minutes later, that hunter walked a little bit further West along the South CRP field/wooded edge, then knelt down to the ground, lite up a cigarette while continuing to look around and never bothered to leave the area, even though by that time, I just believed he had to have seen me and certainly knew I was hunting the area well before he came along.

5 minutes later, one of the twin fawns, the doe, stepped out in the CRP field coming from the SW corner off the South Ridge. As I watched both her and the unknown stranger/hunter smoking his cigarette, he drew his gun, shouldered it, and attempted to shoot that young fawn from 165 yards away while still kneeling, emptying his entire unscoped shotgun rifle onto her, all five rounds rapidly fired as the doe had no clue what was happening.

The young fawn doe never attempted to flee the area, but only to looked back towards the loud sound coming from the idiot that was shooting at her, which was also the most direct direction straight towards my house where my wife and animals were comfortably sitting in at the time I’m sure of it, roughly 300 yards at most away, with roughly 70 yards of rather thin wooded area that is in between the Lower CRP Field and my property and house.

The young doe easily made it across the CRP field, slowly walking right in front of me, then stepped into the taller CRP and casually walked right by my tree at 10 yards and into the wooded area right behind me.

Meanwhile, idiot hunter across the field was reloading his shotgun, all the while the young fawn doe was casually making her way towards the back of my property and to the feed station for breakfast, I’m sure of it.

A couple minutes after the young doe crossed the CRP field and that idiot hunter tried to make an impossible shot onto her, the young brother fawn stepped out in the CRP field, also came from that exact same location that his sister came from.

He casually stepped away for the wooded edge roughly 30 yards within the cut section of the CRP field and stopped for moment. That is when I notice the idiot hunter shoulder his shotgun once again and began firing towards the young male fawn to his West. Shooting three more rapid shots while the young button just stood there looking towards the freaking idiot hunter shooting at him, also at the same distance of 165 yards between them.

Then the young button finally turned West and trotted off towards the end of the CRP field and into the wooded section once again, and finally out of sight.

By that time, I was freaking livid with this freaking idiot, I could NOT resist any more and shouted right towards him at the top of my lungs where he was just standing there nearly directly across from me roughly130 yards away, “JESUS H CHRIST,,, YOU’VE GOT TO BE FUCKING KIDDING ME!!! COME’ON MAN!! ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS!!!”?

Then the hunter looked straight at me, shrugged his shoulders, immediately turned away and then walked straight into the wooded area, up the South Ridge headed towards the upper South Field. He finally got the freaking picture and left the immediate area, thank GOD! What a real freaking dumbass he was and obviously I was completely relieved to see him go!

15 minutes later, two mature does stepped out into the Lower CRP Field where dumbass idiot hunter went, trying to leave the area, within the woods just off the bottom of the South Ridge. I'm certain that he bumped those two mature does while trying to leave the area.

The two mature does did look back several times once they were well within the cut section of the CRP field, looking back to where they originally came from as if there was something within the woods that pushed them out, such as the freaking idiot that just climbed the South Ridge.

Both continued headed straight towards me cautiously and got directly in front me at 30 yards, then turned slightly to the East in a danglingly fashion and walked straight into the thick bedding area just to the East of me roughly 40 yards away.

Approximately 10 minutes later, I see two more antlerless deer cross the main creek to the North, headed up the North Ridge, perhaps those same two previous does, but I wasn’t certain of that either at the time.

I ended the hunt at around 11:00 a.m. and headed home for some lunch and take care of some things.

During the lunch hour, I found out more information on the other hunter that was messing up my hunting area.

Basically, the person was from WV, and he was there with another hunter that was also from WV that dumped him off on the side of the property where I hunt mainly, which that was NOT supposed to happen at all, while that other hunter, whom was more familiar with the property supposedly, went to the hardwoods section towards the far East end of the property to do his hunt. The guy he dumped off was not familiar at all with the area, and apparently, he must be blind as a freaking bat because he should have been able to see me as clear as day within my tree just after 8:00 a.m., just over 100 yards away from him, or either he simply did not care and ignored the fact that I was already hunting the CRP field. Either way, I don’t care what his issue was, he made me very angry where I wanted climb down and go kick his freaking ass for acting stupid with a gun.

Anyhow, what I just shared is one of the main reasons why I had to wait on updating my journal until I was more calm about it, because that experience alone truly upset me. If fact, just thinking about it still raises my blood pressure, I’m sure of it. I pretty much wanted to give up hunting the property right after that very moment, but I finally got my shit together sometime later in the afternoon and headed back out for an evening hunt.

Continuation onto the next post...
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Big_Holla

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
During the evening hunt, I only saw one deer, and it was another young antlerless on the far side of the Lower CRP Field headed West during the last half hour of legal time.

I also seen that same hunter earlier when I first started my evening hunt, but he was just beyond the dividing hedgerow/drainage ditch between the two different CRP fields, headed South. I only saw him for a brief second while I know he was investigating the Lower CRP Field to see if I was back within my tree or not. I never saw him or his partner again after that.

So, for the first day of ' Gun Week' I saw plenty of antlerless deer, roughly a dozen, and single deer had a set of antlers the I encountered on the first day of gun season. I did hear plenty of shots though, all day long too, and I did catch up with one of the other hunters that harvested a younger 8-point buck earlier in the day, a buck that I had several encounters with during early archery. The guy was tickled pink with him and I was all to happy to see that way too. He the same old man that I helped last season when he shot his first deer in several years, which was a good size doe. It was freezing out that evening and I tracked the deer down for him, dressed it out and help load it up into his pickup. He 10 years older than I am and not nearly in the same physical shape either. In fact, he told me that he dislocated his left shoulder trying to drag his buck out to his pickup. After he told me that, I exchanged cellphone numbers with him and told to not ever hesitate in calling me if you find yourself in a jam. I'd be more than happy to drop what I am doing to come help you out anytime. Of course, he appreciated that tremendously and said he'd do the same for me.
_____________________________________________________

Tuesday, November 30, 2021: 'Buck Harvest':

I got to my tree-stand real quiet with any problems both morning and evening.

From this point forward within this update, I will be sharing previous 'TOO' posts of what occurred on Tuesday, November 30, 2021, which will save me a lot of time.

Each post does cover pretty much all of what happened during both my morning and evening hunts. Each 'TOO' hyper link below will redirect you to what events were documented.

The morning hunt though was noneventful, I don't recall seeing any deer and hardly hearing any shots within the area either, maybe just a few, but I know it was not many, however I do know that I shot my gun twice that morning and you can read about it for yourself if by chance you have not already, just by simply clicking below.


Tuesday evening, I was back within the same 'Northern CRP Stand' by 3:00 p.m. ready for another evening hunt with the shotgun. I did not see nor hear a deer in the area until 5:25 p.m., which again, you can read about it in the following link below by clicking on it. This particular link, in order to get the full story, you will have to navigate through several pages, but it's all there if you're interested.


_________________________________________________________

Wednesday, December 1, 2021: 'Button Buck & Deadhead'

Just click the numbered hyperlinks below and you'll be redirected to the appropriate posts that contain all the details of what occurred during my last hunt of gun week 2021, thanks!

__________________________________________________________

Finally, the follow video below is the latest SD pull from one my TCs located at one of my setups, that basically gives an indication of what happens during gun week and how the deer react or behave to a some extent with regards the known traumatic increase of human hunter pressure within the immediate area.

Nearly all but the very youngest deer, go full nocturnal, and all of the most mature bucks begin to leave the property and go into full hiding mode somewhere else that is off the property. I am sure of it base on my experience over the last five years living and hunting here.

I have several resident bucks that have already fled the area after the first day of gun season, and by Saturday 12/4, all of the local mature bucks are gone.

This setup location I shared is frequented by nearly all the local deer of the given area over the course of just a few days. Just the simple fact in the reduction of TC captures over last week is dramatic, far less than what I have been getting a week ago.

Now, a few of the local bucks may have been killed over recent days, and I do know of at least one that has, and perhaps the rest have already moved to their hiding areas for the next month, but I really won't know who actually made it and who did not for at least a good month in half I believe. Some may not return at all as well. I do know that I picked up far more bucks this year than the previous two combined. Hopefully that trend continues.

Regardless what the case may be, I will get a much better idea/understanding of who has actually made it and who has not by mid to late January and going into February. Until then, I really won't know with certainty.

I do have some concerns already though for a couple of the local bucks that have been MIA for a while, such as VEGAS & TANK. Both have been missing for almost four weeks now. All the others, such as

LEFTY
NINER
CRAZYEIGHT
SHYBUC
JUNIOR (whom I think is truly THUNDER's kid)
THUNDER

And two other smaller 10 points with some future potential and another good eight have been accounted for just over the past few days, but then again, I truly won't know that with absolute certainty until about a month in a half from now, when all the lead stops flying around my neck of the woods, but you can bet you bottom dollar that I will be keeping a very close eye out for all of them over the coming days and weeks.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy my sharing.

Good night!
__________________________________________________

Video description:

The following is all the local Whitetail Deer activity that occurred at one of my hunting setups. Gun Week Season started on 11/29, and as you will see, there are many of the more mature resident bucks that eventually leave the immediate area shortly after Friday early morning, 12/3/2021, five days after the opener of Gun Season and have pretty much vacated the immediate area, most likely due to all the hunter pressure mainly. Most all of the antlerless deer however, such as, many does, fawns, spikes, forkies and young bucks have grouped up together ever since the bigger bucks have left, which is in my opinion based off of five years worth of digital TC photography data coupled with my hunting experience from within the immediate area during this time period from previous years. Other resident bucks are not within this video, and are assumed to have already left the area or possibly have been killed.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Big_Holla

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
Wednesday & Thursday, December 8 & 9, 2021: 'EVENING HUNTS'

Wednesday afternoon, I tended to this setup by laying out another 50# of whole corn and pulled the SD card from the TC afterwards, which is shared below containing all the deer activity since the 5th thru the afternoon hour of the 8th. You will get to see 'THUNDER', 'JUNIOR', LEFTY, 'NINER' and a few other resident bucks that seem to continue to stick nearby still. I still have not seen 'VEGAS' or 'TANK' yet and it's been four solid weeks now for 'VEGAS'. I'm kind of thinking that I may never see him again at this point, but IDK that for certain yet. I keep hoping that he will show up, perhaps sometime in late January or early February.

___________________________________________

Because it was such a beautiful morning yesterday with snow covered ground, I decided to do a hunt during the last hour in half of the day looking for a nice mature doe to harvest. I have not hunted since last Wednesday when I harvested a button buck and found a deadhead eight point on the ground near where the button crashed that morning.

So, I got up into my 'western tree-stand' and got settled in right at 4:00 p.m. with no issues and the first deer that came along was a young doe fawn. She came from the East within the wooded area, slowly browsed her way right towards the setup roughly around 4:35 p.m. and stuck around until 15 minutes before I climbed down to end the hunt.

20211208_170330.jpg


I did see other bigger deer that were within the South upper field headed East towards back section of the cup area within the field about 10 minutes after the little doe first showed up and that was about it for the entire hunt for deer.

It felt really good to be back in the stand after taking a week long break of hunting. I truly did miss it.
_________________________________________________

Today, Thursday, December 9, 2021, I did the same thing as yesterday, I got settled into the stand right at four and the first and only deer that showed up was the other little fawn, a button buck, which I believe is the twin of yesterdays doe fawn.

20211209_171837.jpg


He stuck around underneath me for a solid half hour feeding and then headed South, into the South upper field to finish his evening meal, grazing all throughout.

I climbed down shortly afterwards and headed home.

Just a couple of other observations I took notice too this evening, which was the fact that all the whole corn I placed out was nearly polished off pretty much, and there was a brand new fresh deer scrape just beyond where I always lay the corn out near the PLB, just towards the South upper field. You can obviously see it in the middle right section of the photograph above, just under a honeysuckle shrub.

And then there was a huge opossum having a grand ole time within the creek bottom making all kinds of ruckus noises, getting the attention of the young button often while trying to feed.

20211209_172541.jpg


At that's about it for the last two evenings of hunting for me.

I intend on continuing to hunt down a good mature doe in the area, which the local herd can most definitely handle the reduction. Once I get that out of the way. I will be finishing up my new 'Yote Eliminator' rifle and start hunting the coyotes in the area, which is something that I'm really looking forward to.

Until the next update, have a good night!
 
Last edited:

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
Sunday, December 12, 2021: 'NO HUNT THE PAST FEW DAYS'

Yesterday's windy weather caused me to be rather busy today, collecting all of tree debris throughout my entire property and even at one of my hunting setups as well. The strong winds that pushed through yesterday forced the hanging pine licking branch off the tree that it was tied off too, and earlier today, while replenishing the corn and just before pulling the SD card from the TC of that area, I had to rehang it once again.

The following is all the Whitetail Deer activity that occurred at that setup, which is from the evening of the 8th through the afternoon of today. It appears to me that some of the deer seemed to like the fact that the PLB was down.

'JUNIOR' was on his feet just after 3:00 p.m. yesterday as well during those strong winds, which I found to be interesting.

Most of the deer activity continues to occur during the dark hours, and the only deer that really venture out during the daylight are the most youngest in the area. I will be holding off on doing any hunting for deer until I start to see more daylight activity, which hopefully the deer will be more settled and comfortable to move about shortly, within a week or so.

Nearly all the honeysuckles leaves in our woods and property are now on the ground, which makes our woods look rather thin and quite desolate, especially for the more mature deer I'm sure, with hardly the cover for them to appreciate. That is one of the best indicators for me regarding when those bigger bucks will leave the immediate area, to find better cover, not necessarily a better food source.

I have not seen some of our most mature deer over the past few days at least, such as 'THUNDER', SHYBUC', 'TANK' and of course, 'VEGAS', which I have mentioned before that 'VEGAS' has been MIA for over four weeks total now.

The following video has over 700 individual TC captures of the following days mentioned, all in consecutive order by date and timestamp with a half second interval between them.

Video description:

Whitetail Deer Activity from the evening of 12/8 thru the afternoon of 12/12/2021, the following deer of a major weather front that pushed through the day before with server winds, which blew down the 'pine licking branch' off the tree that it was hanging from. This afternoon, while tending to the setup, I had to rehang the PLB as well.

____________________________________________

Also, 'JUNIOR' continues to be the most active buck within the area in my humble opinion. I have witnessed him several times in action throughout the hunting season, herding, harassing and tending to many of the resident does. He continues to do so even still today. I added another new video which are also TC captures from the feed station location, which is nearest to my home. He still frequents that location quite often too, but not nearly as much as my 'Western Stand' location. I have had multiple encounters with this deer during this hunting season and he is a project buck of mine, hoping that he too will make into the following hunting season and perhaps the next as well.

Video description:

This is a deer that has been in the area all year long and he is extremely active by tending, herding and harassing nearly all the does in the area. I have had a few encounters with him during this season and have witnessed him doing exactly what I just mentioned each time. His name derives from looking very much like the younger version of 'THUNDER' when he first showed up within the immediate area during a thunderstorm in the dark, back on Halloween of 2019, and too seems to stay within the immediate area still to this day as well. I've had multiple encounters with 'THUNDER' right after this years rut however, I was never able to get a clean shot opportunity during archery. Since the 21st of November, much like all year long, 'THUNDER' has once again returned to being nocturnal, but does visit one on my other setups often during the night hours, almost daily still. He was this year's number one target for me and will most likely be the same next season, that is, "if" he were to make it into the new archery season of 2022/23.

___________________________________________

I also captured back on the 9th our local Bobcat on TC's at the feed station as well, which is also shared below. He continues to stay very local, living I think on our property on the furthest NW section of it, in one of the deep holes within the ground along our steep creek bank. I am fairly certain that is his primary home and I have seen him come and go from it earlier within the year. His tracks are all over that area along the creek bottom and on our property.

Video description:

Our young local Bobcat at the feed station early on a December morning.

___________________________________________

Have a great evening everyone!

Good night!
 
Last edited:

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
Friday, December 17, 2021: 'STILL NO HUNT YET'

I pulled SD cards from all four TCs earlier today from both the feed station area and one of my hunting setups and all the deer photo captures shared below are between the 12th through this morning, the 17th.

Based on the data, the deer activity is at an all time low for the year in the area and still no real daylight activity to really speak of, which is quite typical for this particular time of the year within my neck of the woods.

The rather good news though, 'THUNDER' continues to show up at one of my setups, on the 12th, 13th, 14th and the 16th, and he looks to be rather healthy still.

Again, much like the previous others, I attached the following data of said time period.

I'm not sure when I will get out and do another deer hunt, perhaps this Sunday with my bow sitting on top of the 'North Ridge' within my climber since the weather does look fairly decent for any kind of hunting. The winds are supposed to be out of the North, and the intended tree is located in between several different quite thick still, deer bedding areas. I am considering that idea much so.

Until then, best of luck to all those that will be out for bonus gun weekend! Be safe, have fun and I really hope your harvest the deer your looking for!
_____________________________________

Video description:

Whitetail Deer Activity at both feed locations among three different trail cameras between 12/12 evening through 12/17 morning. There are roughly three hundred individual photo captures of deer that are in consecutive order by date and timestamp with a half second interval between the less significate deer such as antlerless, and a one second interval between the more significate resident bucks, which includes 'THUNDER', 'JUNIOR', 'NINER' and one of the young ten point bucks with no name yet. This most recent SD cards pulls from the four different trail cameras that I leave out within the field all year long is nearly the least amount of trail camera photo captures during a five day period for the entire 2021 year, which is quite typical for this time of year based on a five years of known history. Most of the resident deer leave the immediate area for approximately a month before returning, which I equate that behavior due to increase hunting pressure and the minimal amount cover in the area this time of year, not necessarily due to any kind of better food source at a different location off the property. I do expect most if not all of the local deer herd to return by no later than the end of January 2022.

 
Last edited:

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
Monday 4:00 p.m., December 20, 2021: 'STILL NO HUNT YET'

I did not hear any shots all weekend long within the immediate area, however that's not saying much either because I was out shopping with the wife during the daylight hours.

During those travels though, I did notice that there were hunters within the immediate area as I was coming and going. How many exactly, IDK, but I never saw any deer while passing their vehicles.

The following video is from the latest SD card pulls from all of my TCs that I have out, which covers the feed station and one of my hunting setups between the evening of the 17th through this morning, the 20th, all in consecutive order by date and timestamp.

Deer activity is still at a all time low and with no daylight captures.

It rained pretty much all day last Saturday and there was minimal deer movement on that day based on the TC data, even at night, however it seemed like many of the deer left within the immediate area tried to make up for lost time on the 19th, during the dark hours.

I have every intention of hunting during the muzzy season, looking for a good antlerless deer to harvest. Until then, you can expect me to continue to monitor all the local deer activity going forward including getting out to do an archery hunt sometime this week. I do have some gear that I need to pull out of the woods and I figured I'd hunt from those stand locations one more time before I pull them down and out of the woods for the year.
_______________________________________________

Video description:

Whitetail Deer Activity from the evening of December 17 through the morning of the 20th, which cover 'Bonus Gun Weekend'. There were hunters hunting the immediate area over the weekend as well, however I did not hear any shots all weekend long. Still hardly any deer daylight activity occurring and it did rain steadily nearly all day long on the 18th. Most of the deer activity that has occurred was during the early dark hours of the 19th, which includes some of the more mature bucks, such as 'THUNDER', 'JUNIOR', 'SHYBUC' and one of the young ten point bucks with no name yet. All captured photographs and video clips are from the four trail cameras that cover both the feed station and one of my hunting setups. I have not done any deer hunting since the evening of the 9th. I may get out sometime this week though.

 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Stressless

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
6:00 p.m. Thursday, December 23, 2021: 'LOCAL DEER HERD ACTIVITY UPDATE'

The following is the latest SD card pulls from all four of my TCs that cover the feed station area and one of my hunting setups.

Most all deer activity is still occurring mainly during the dark hours.

I do have complete conformation though that ‘THUNDER’, JUNIOR’ and one of the young ten points with no name yet made it through both gun week and bonus gun weekend. Hopefully the get through the 2022 Muzzy Season as well without incident.

The other more mature bucks are basically unaccounted for currently, and I do expect to see them make their way back sometime at the beginning of the new year.

If the local area deer herd historical trend continues, I should see them captured on my TCs no later than late January or sometime early February, that is 'if' they're still alive.

I have not made it out since the 9th for any kind of a hunt. Been rather business preparing for the Christmas holiday.

Both of my boys will be home tomorrow afternoon, which is something that I am truly looking forward to.

With that said, from my family to yours,

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
____________________________________________


Video description:

Whitetail Deer activity from the evening of 12/20 though the noon hour of 12/23/2021. The good news is that I have conformation that 'THUNDER', 'JUNIOR' and one of the other younger ten point bucks made it through both gun seasons of 2021. Now they just need to make it through the 2022 Muzzleloader Season in January and life will be good. The other bucks have yet to show up however, I confident that some will appear once again towards the end January or some time in February.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Big_Holla

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
4:00 p.m. Sunday, December 26, 2021: 'STILL NO HUNT YET':

The latest SD pulls from all four TCs from both the feed station and one of my hunting setups that clearly shows what little deer activity has occurred the past few days, although I'm happy to report that not only has my #1 target buck ('THUNDER') made through both gun seasons, but so has both of my project bucks, 'JUNIOR' & 'SHYBUC'.

The following video below has both TC video clips and photographs combined in consecutive order by date and timestamp between the evening of December 23rd through this afternoon, the 26th. Only one young deer during daylight while all the others still remain hidden in the cover of darkness.

I also cared to repost one of the previous videos that I made up just before the hunting season began that shows what I consider future up and comer resident bucks, which does include both 'JUNIOR', 'SHYBUC' and a few others, such as the other young ten point that also made it beyond both gun seasons. In fact, within that video, you will get to see 'SHYBUC' starting to shed his velvet off his antlers.

These particular bucks mentioned have been regulars of the local area for over two years and I truly hope that each of them continue to stick around for obvious reasons.

Hope you enjoy!
___________________________________________

DEER ACTIVITY - 12/23-26/2021

Video description:

Whitetail Deer Activity from the evening of December 23 through the afternoon of the 26th. Still minimal amount of daylight deer activity and I have full conformation that both my project bucks made through both gun seasons, 'JUNIOR' and 'SHYBUC'. 'THUNDER' continues to visit one of my hunting setups as well. I'm very pleased to see that these three bucks made it through both gun seasons and hope that each of them continue to stick around for another year at least.


____________________________________________

2022-24 FUTURE UPCOMERS - Posted September 13, 2021:

Video description:

These are the bucks that will get a free pass this hunting season and hope that they make through the entire season. This video is mainly of future up and comers that I hope to see next year. I have not taken an antlered deer out of the local deer herd since I moved into the area, 2015. You will also see 'SHYBUC' shed his velvet within this video, and spar with another buck momentarily. All trail camera captures are in consecutive order by date and timestamp from 9/9 thru 9/12, as it does not include all bucks or all the deer that showed up at the feed station during that timeframe.

 
Last edited:

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
3:30 p.m. Thursday, December 30, 2021: 'STILL NO HUNT YET':

The following is an update of what the local deer activity has been like since the evening of December 26th through this afternoon of today. Still very minimal numbers of deer within the local area, and all the activity appears to be still under the cover of darkness.

I do have one more conformation of another buck that I hoped to see again, which is 'NINER'. He too made through both gun seasons and visited one of my hunting set ups yesterday. Others, such as, 'THUNDER' 'JUNIOR' and the other young ten continue to stick around as well, which is great!

So far, out of the nine resident/local bucks that I have been keeping close tabs on since the beginning of 2021, six of them have been completely accounted for up to this point in time.

1) THUNDER - accounted for and continues to stick around
2) VEGAS - missing since just before the November rut
3) TANK - missing since just before the November rut
4) JUNIOR - accounted for and continues to stick around
5) SHYBUC - accounted for and continues to stick around
6) NINER - accounted for and continues to stick around
7) CRAZY EIGHT - missing since just before the November rut
8) TEN POINT - accounted for and continues to stick around
9) EIGHT POINT - Shot during gun season by known hunter

The ones that are missing were last captured on TC on the same day, just before the November rut officially started in my area. Since they were somewhat together on the same day back in November, I suspect each of them together either moved to a different area on the same property or possibly one of the neighboring properties, or, possibly killed. If they are still alive by chance, there stands a good chance that each of them will return at some point into the new year. 'TANK' did the very same thing last year. 'VEGAS' and 'CRAZY EIGHT' were newcomers as of last January 2021.

__________________________________________________

DEER ACTIVITY - 12/26-30/2021 Video description:

'Whitetail Deer Activity' from the evening of December 26 through the afternoon of the 30th. Another conformation of a buck that made it through both gun season, which is 'NINER'. He currently has a broken tine and it's been broken since before the November rut began. 'THUNDER', 'JUNIOR' and the other young ten point are also in this video. Most all of the deer activity is still occurring under the cover of darkness. I'm still expecting others to show up sometime over the next month or two.

 
  • Like
Reactions: Big_Holla

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
For whatever reason, I am still having system issues on the 'TOO' form. Totally unable to edit a few of my previous posts within my journal, including the most recent one just prior to this post.

Anyhow, despite the obvious missed words within my last post, I also failed to mention about one other eight point buck that has also been accounted for, which was the deadhead that I found on December 1st during the recovery of a button buck harvest of mine. He was another good looking eight point, however he had a small body but, with a decent rack. He was noticeably sick from a typical and well known deer virus (Called Cutaneous Fibromas/Warts) and I suspect that he died from it early on into the 2021/22 hunting season.
 
  • Like
Reactions: finelyshedded

Sgt Fury

Sgt. Spellchecker
The big one I’ve been chasing the past two seasons always disappears mid November and doesn’t come back until mid January….he’s done it the past two seasons and is MIA again this season. Don’t know where he goes but am very happy when he reappears on camera. Hopefully I’ll get some pics of him in a few more weeks.
 
  • Like
Reactions: finelyshedded

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
3:00 p.m. Monday, January 3, 2022: 'BRIEF UPDATE':

This afternoon I replenished both feed locations for the deer and pulled all SD cards from the four TCs. After going through all the data, I will share that some of our local deer seem to be moving about during daylight hours and have been since the first of the new year. Both bucks and does seem to be more active during the day just over the past few days and I tend to believe that the dramatic wet weather we received over the past week may have contributed some to this kind of behavior change . Our local creeks and the Scioto River in our county have flooded over their banks a couple of days ago and it's still that way today. The water levels are receding slowly but not back to normal yet. The number of deer in the local area is still minimal though.

This Saturday, 1/8/2022, I will be hunting in a different county with a muzzleloader first thing in the morning hoping to harvest a good size antlerless deer.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Big_Holla

Wildlife

Denny
Supporting Member
5,247
191
Ross County, Ohio
8:15 a.m. Thursday, January 13, 2022: 'QUICK UPDATE'

Video description:

This good buck showed at 68 yards broadside straight out from my ground blind during the third day of Muzzleloader Season 2022 at 5:02 p.m. It appears that the Buck has an injury in either the front left leg or shoulder as you will see when he leaves the immediate area towards the woods. I already filled my Ohio Buck tag prior to this encounter. The following evening, 1/11/2022, I encounter another shooter Buck at 4:15 p.m., also straight out in front of my ground blind at approximately 80 yards however, I have no photography to show for it.


The following hyperlink below covers all of what occurred during my attempt in trying to harvest a decent antlerless deer during muzzy season, which I was not successful in doing so, but I gave it my best.

2022 Muzzleloader Season

I still have an unfilled deer tag which I will get out with my bow and try to fill it before the season ends.

I pulled SD cards from TCs yesterday and most of the bucks that I hope to see next season have made it through the muzzy season.

I have to return to the other farm to do some wood work and retrieve my pop-up ground blind, which I'll do that tomorrow.

I also will be gearing up to start hunting coyotes with a rifle by hopefully next week, right after I get some more firewood to get me through the rest of the winter.

Video description:

Trail camera capture of a Fox that has been frequenting the area quite a bit lately since the beginning of the new year.

 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Big_Holla