The following is my Personal Hunting Log, along with a few entries of my friends on
their successful nights.
I hunt using many methods, including baiting-scrape hunting-rattling & calling-trail
hunting. Baiting is legal in Wisconsin, and is just one of the methods I use. I realize that
some people don't agree with baiting, but as long as it's legal I will continue to use it as
one of my methods.
*Please Note* that if I mention that the deer were hit in the paunch, that this doesn't
mean that these deer were gutshot! Any experienced hunter knows that sometimes you're
not presented with a broadside shot, and due to the angle of the shot you must pass
through the paunch to get to the vitals!
I personally know of no deer that I, or my friends, have shot this year that were not
harvested! We do not take a shot if there isn't a killshot presented.
We can all make bad shots, please strive not to take a bad shot! This is what the
Anti-hunters are looking for and talking about!
October 23rd (Continued)- It turned out not to be the 9 pointer, but a decent massed 6
pointer with about a 10 inch spread. He followed the trail right to the scrape, smelled the
doe-in-heat scent, then looked at the fawn. The fawn spooked and ran, and the buck
came into the bait. He gave me several perfect kill shots, but I was determined to get the
9 pointer, so I passed on him.
10 minutes later another fawn and doe came in. Shortly after that, 2 more adult does
came in. It wasn't much longer then another adult doe came in. Now I have a 6 point
Buck, 4 adult does, and 3 fawns, all underneath me. The does just hung around the area
while the Buck was feeding. He decided to check out a couple of the does, and
proceeded to chase them around. He disappeared for about an hour, and the does came
back in to feed.
At 6:00 the 6 pointer came back in. He fed a while again, and then decided to chase the
does around. This went on all night, with the 9 pointer never coming in. It was sure an
exciting night in the stand with all the action, and hopefully a sign of things to come.
Going to take tomorrow off as far as hunting, due to work, but will be back.
I took the 24th and 25th off due to high winds and snow.
October 26th- I sat the newer stand tonight. The wind was still gusting to 10 mph, but
the skies were cloudy and planning to clear up. When I went and checked on this spot
today, I found 4 new rubs and 2 new scrapes. It was a good sign, and I wanted to be
here tonight.
I crawled into the stand at 3:45. I saw lots of bluejays and squirrels again, but at around
5:00 a deer approached from behind me. It was a decent Buck. When he got close
enough I could see that it was a very nice Buck. He came within 15 yards and was a nice
10 Pointer, with brow tines that were about 6 to 7 inches (I guessed). He gave me a nice
angling shot, so while he was looking away I drew on him. He continued looking away,
so I placed my pin on the top of the lungs and let the arrow fly. The arrow went clear
through the Buck, and he bolted off straight into the wind. I saw him run about 60
yards, then stop. He was at about as far out as I could see, and the last thing I saw was
the white of his tail flipping left to right very quickly. I believed him to be in distress at
that point and looking for a place to lay down. I gave him 20 minutes, then snuck out of
my stand. I inspected the arrow that was stuck in the ground, and I had good blood. I
saw where the arrow entered the Buck, and I know I had a good hit, so I am confident
on finding this deer.
The shot was taken at 5:10, and it is now 8:16. I have help from Lance and Doug
coming, and we are going to go out on the track at 9:30. One problem that I face in the
area that I am hunting is the presence of wolves. They can be a real problem when
tracking a wounded deer, and we definitely plan on having a handgun with us, just in
case. I usually would have gone on the track 2 hours after the hit, but due to my friends
having other plans, had to wait till 9:30. I just wanted to get this entered on the page,
with hopes to be following it up with some pics!! I will continue this story when I get
back from the track, wish me luck!!
Well, it's nice to see that persistance pays off! The Buck only went about 125 yards,
slowed to a walk, and died in mid stride. We had a good blood trail to follow, so the
track went very quick. We didn't have any problems with the wolves either. The Buck
was standing at a bit more of an angle than I thought, and the arrow passed through the
liver and exited just behind the heart (catching 1 lung). He was dead minutes after
getting shot.
Now I have to start concentrating on the upcoming rifle season, which starts soon.
Below are 3 photos of my 10 Pointer.
October 27th- Rick Brown, a friend of mine, shot a nice 8 pointer tonight. He said it was
the first deer in, and that it came in around 5:00. The Buck didn't present him with the
best shot, but Rick felt comfortable with trying to place the arrow between the shoulder
blades as the Buck was facing him, with its' head down. The shot went right where Rick
had aimed, and the Buck went bolting out of there. Rick thought he heard the Buck go
down, so he immediately climbed out of his stand, and got out of the woods.
A couple hours later, they went out on the track. There was a good blood sign at the shot
location. They began tracking the Buck. At 400 yards (after finding no beds yet) they
could tell that the Buck had gotten spooked by something, don't know what, because it
had run down a hill and crossed the river. It wasn't pushed by anyone, so it could have
been a wolf or something.
The Buck went parallel with the river for 200 yards, and then crossed it back to the
original side he was on. They couldn't find where the Buck came out of the river, so they
began searching the rivers' edge. It ended up that the Buck couldn't get up the river
bank, and ended up dying in the water. The Buck went quite a ways from the stand, and
the arrow had clipped the top of 1 lung, gone through the diaphram, punctured the liver,
and just entered the gut. One wouldn't think a deer, hit where this one was, would go as
far as he did without bedding down. Stranger things have happened though! Picture is
on the 2001 Highlights Page.
November 4th & 5th- I went out and scouted a couple of areas for my Daughter
"Ashley" and myself. One of the spots I checked, we had hunted before. We hadn't been
there in a couple of years, and found that they had done some logging in the area, and
kind of screwed that spot up.
We went to another spot, and found a couple of good areas to hunt in. Hopefully we
wont get bothered by other hunters, but one never knows until opening day. I will be
placing a ladder stand for Ashley, and I will hunt out of one of my homemade stands.
There was also a beautiful 16 Point "Hog" shot today by a local 14 year old boy. It was
his first Buck with a bow. What the luck, huh?? The photo of this Buck is on the 2001
Highlights page.
November 10th- I have placed the stands out for Ashley and I. There is alot of sign of
Bucks, rubs and scrapes, and hopefully we will have success!
November 17th, Opening rifle Season- Ashley and I got into our stands at 5:15 am. The
weather was unusually warm(45 degrees).
We sat for a couple hours into daylight, and neither Ashley or I had seen a thing yet. At
8:15 I had a doe get chased into my area, and behind her was what I believe to be the
ten pointer that I have a photo of from bow season. The doe stayed in the thick cover,
and the Buck stayed right on her trail. He wasn't presenting me with a shot, due to the
tree limbs, but I could see where he was. I followed the bits and pieces of him that I
could see, and at one moment had a straight on rear end shot, which I declined. The
opportunity was only a second or so long. He was about 2 steps from entering a clearing,
where I would have had a decent shot at him, when the doe decided to bolt off. The
Buck gave chase, and unfortunately stayed in thick cover, so I never got the shot I
wanted.
I stayed in the stand for a while longer, to see if they would return, but no luck. I left the
stand with those 2 deer being the only deer I saw that morning. Ashley never saw a
thing, but had some hunters show up at daylight, and they proceeded to make
MEGA-noise unloading their 4-wheeler. I'm sure this didn't help her hunt at all.
We went out in the afternoon, and Ashley had 2 does and a spike Buck come in. She
declined shooting the spike, as her heart is set on getting a racked Buck. I had a doe and
fawn come in just before dark, and that was it.
November 18th- The weather was warm, and raining. The forcast was a constant cool
down in the afternoon, with snow possible late.
Ashley and I sat in the rain, with the wind blowing hard. Ashley saw a doe and fawn,
and I saw nothing but other hunters. The rain started to get rather hard, so we decided
to call it a day.
I've talked with a few other hunters, and for the most part they aren't seeing great
numbers of deer. Lance and Dougs crew has shot 4 Bucks, with the biggest being an 8
pointer. The Waggoner crew, last thing I heard, has had very little success so far.
November 19th- Ashley and I sat our stands in the afternoon. I had 4 does come in,
while Ashley saw nothing. We'll keep trying!
November 20th- Ashley didn't hunt today, so I decided to go out in the afternoon after
my work was done. I had 2 does and a 5 pointer come in, which I decided to take. One
of the reasons I decided to take the 5 pointer was, I knew I had a 10 pointer in the area
and have hopes of Ashley shooting it. Now I can place her on my stand, and concentrate
on just her hunting. I know it doesn't really make sense, but it works for me.
Ashley plans on going out in the morning, so we'll see!
November 21st through the rest of the Rifle Season- Sorry for taking so long to enter
this, but haven't had the time.
Ashley continued to sit, alternating from my stand to hers, and all she ever saw were
does. In fact the last 3 days Ashley and her boyfriend sat both of the stands and didn't
see a thing. I wanted to get out, but work held me back, and actually my stand was rarily
available.
I am disappointed that Ashley never got a chance at a Buck, other than the Spike early
in the season. I know her heart was set on something bigger, and had she known how
the season was going to go, would have taken the Spike.
All in all, as far as the Rifle Season went, the local hunters complained of not seeing the
deer they usually do. Some blame it on the T-Zone doe hunt, and others blame it on the
late rut. My hunting area was not included in the T-Zone, so the early pressure was
never applied, and can't be the reason for the low deer sightings. I feel it was because of
the unusually warm weather, and the late rut, which ended on the first weekend of Rifle
Season. After the rut, the Bucks will have a tendency to lay low for a while, and you
need to actually push them to get them to move.
There were a few groups that did fairly well, but for the most part they saw fewer and
smaller Bucks than normal. Hopefully next year will bring us better luck! That's all for
now, and I will get some pics of the few nicer Bucks that were taken this season on the
2001 Highlights page, when I get them.
Thanks for viewing my Hunting Log!!
Mr- Whitetail
