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 scrape hunting-rattling & calling-trail hunting.
*Please Note* that if I mention that the deer were hit in the paunch, that this doesn't mean that
these deer were gut shot! 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!
successful nights.
I hunt using many methods, including scrape hunting-rattling & calling-trail hunting.
*Please Note* that if I mention that the deer were hit in the paunch, that this doesn't mean that
these deer were gut shot! 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!
September 28th- I decided to purchase a license and get out into the woods. As I have stated
earlier, this is mainly due to the fact that I have an outlet for the meat. Otherwise I would not
be hunting as I don't intend to consume anymore venison until my area has been thouroughly
tested for CWD. I scouted the woods where I have been seeing a nice 9 pointer. I spent most of
the midday in the woods and learned a great deal about the area.
September 29th and 30th- I continued with my scouting, and on the evening of the 30th I
glassed the crossings to see where and when the deer were moving. I didn't see the 9 pointer,
but did catch 3 deer crossing. This at least gives me an idea of their movement and times,
which was about an hour before dark. Tomorrow hopefully I will get a chance to get a stand
placed so I can do a little hunting.
October 2nd- I went out and did a little more scouting in a new area. I found a very nice
looking trail coming from a small red pine plantation, and leading into the oaks. I decided to
place a stand on this trail.
I sat the stand from 4pm till dark, and didn't see anything but squirrels. It was nice to get into
the stand again, and hopefully this was just a one night fluke. I will try this stand again in a
day or so.
October 4th- I sat the same stand as I did on the 2nd. We have been getting alot of rain, and
there hasn't been too many opportunities to get out into the woods.
At 6 pm I had a large doe come through at 15 yards, she walked the trail in the exact way I
imagined the deer would. She was the only deer to show, and the night was very cold and quiet.
I'm going to check out another area in a day or so, hopefully find some better oaks to hunt in.
October 5th through the 15th- I sat the same stand and didn't see anything. Pulled out of the
area and going to scout another area.
I continued scouting the area where I had been seeing the nice 9 pointer. I talked with the land
owner and got his permission to hunt his property. Continued scouting the area, and tomorrow
(the 16th) am going to get set up to try to get the Buck. I mapped out the area and trails, and
will probably post it in the log so you can see the area I'm dealing with. Hopefully things will
work out, and I'll get a chance at him. The nights have been getting pretty cold as of late, in
the teens, and daytime highs of 40. I'll be back!
October 17th- I sat the new stand location, and crawled in at 4:00 pm. The problem is that the
area that I have been seeing this nice Buck in is next to a hay field that gets driven by and
shined alot. I believe this has made the deer a little nervous, and is causing them to move quite
late onto the field. I had 2 does and 2 fawns walk within 15 yards of me, with about 15 minutes
of good shooting light left. Nothing else came through.
I haven't seen the good Buck here for a couple of days. Gonna give this spot a couple more
tries, and if I have to I will try to move closer to his bedding area.
October 18th- I sat the same stand as last night. I have thoroughly scouted the area and found
only 2 scrapes and 1 fresh rub. Not really feeling too confident about seeing the big one, but
gonna give it another shot.
I had a few does and a spike buck come through just before dark, and that was it.
October 19th- I moved deeper into the woods and set up a ground blind 25 yards from one of
the scrapes I had found. I just wanted to see if I could catch the Buck checking it out, before
the sun sets. I did kick one small doe up on the way in at 3:30.
I set out 3 canisters of Doe in heat scent, although the rut isn't quite here yet. Have to give it a
try you know. No sign of the buck that evening. I still feel that he got spooked from going to
that hay field, and has found a new hangout. I'm going to check out the woods to the North,
which is above a small pond and grass swamp. It looks like that would be the area he would
have moved to. I haven't gotten discouraged yet, and I will keep trying.
One quick note about the season up here so far. There are far fewer bow hunters hunting this
year, and the ones that I have talked with are reporting seeing deer but that they are moving
quite late. The oaks seem to be where the deer are congregated, and that is what I am hunting
around. I wanted to get some time in on the scrapes, but going to set up in the oaks to see
whats happening. There have been a few decent bucks shot locally but not too many to speak
of.
October 20th through the 28th- I have been tied up with work lately, so haven't had much time
to get in the woods. The T-Zone Hunt (4 day rifle doe season) ran from the 24 through the
28th, and alot of does were harvested. I do not doe hunt, and dont like bowhunting during a
rifle season, so I decided to wait until that season was over before hunting again.
October 29th- I took the morning off and did alot of scouting for Buck sign. I found an area,
near where I have been hunting, that I feel my Buck may have gone to. I found a nice
scrapeline, with a few rubs, and decided to place my stand there. I plan on hunting tomorrow
afternoon, if I can get off work early. Due to the time change, it has made it even harder to get
out in the woods early enough to hunt.
October 30th- I got a chance to sit a new stand location this afternoon. It is a bottleneck
between a bedding area and the hardwoods. It is also bordered by a large swamp. As I stated
earlier, there is a nice scrapeline and a few rubs there. I sat it from 3:00pm till dark and all I
saw was 2 squirrels. Not very exciting, but have to figure out when the deer are using the trail.
Will try again soon.
November 1st- I sat the new stand again in the afternoon. I had one doe, with a spike buck
following, come through the area at about 40 yards. No other action.
November 2nd and 3rd- I am still sitting on this new stand. I tried early morning on the 2nd
with no action to speak of but a couple of squirrels. I sat the stand on the afternoon of the 3rd,
and saw one doe. Not much action happening here, and going to find another spot to try.
November 5th- I set up in a new spot, which has buck sign and a good bedding area near by. I
sat the stand this afternoon and saw one small buck come through around 4:00 pm. Will give it
another try tomorrow.
November 6th- We had a possibility of some afternoon rain and snow, so I decided to get out
in the woods early. I thought the deer may decide to feed a little earlier due to the weather. I
got into my new stand location at noon and sat until dark. At around 3:00, I had a small 8 point
buck come through at 30 yards. The buck only had about a 14 inch spread and small tines. I
decided not to attempt a shot at this buck, due to his size, although the lack of sightings did
make me think about it for a second or two. No other activity, and the snow and rain held off.
Might sit this stand one more time, then keep moving around. The rut is not quite here yet,
although there are plenty of rubs, and a bit fewer scrapes. According to other hunters in the
area, they agree that the rut is coming, but not here yet.
November 8th- I sat the same stand location, and crawled into the stand at 3:00. The weather
wasn't very good for hunting (misting rain) but I felt like sitting a bit anyway. I sat the stand
till dark and never had anything come through. I'm going to give this stand one more try then
move on.
November 9th- I planned on hunting the same stand one last time.
I got all geared up and drove the 4 wheeler towards my stand location. Due to the wind, I
wanted to park the 4 wheeler in a different location than I usually do. Unfortunately I tried to
climb a steep hill with the 4 wheeler and didn't quite have enough power to make the hill. I let
the 4 wheeler roll back down the hill, as I was leaning over the handlebar. This was fine, until
the 4 wheeler met the pile of rock at the bottom of the hill, then it wasn't fun anymore. The 4
wheeler stopped moving and the front end came right over the top of me, and I could do
nothing about it but ride it out. Luckily, I was able to support the weight and let the machine
roll off to the side of me.
Other than a sore back and couple of bruises, I was unscaved. I couldnt say as much for my
gear, as my cat quiver broke along with the 4 arrows, and a full bottle of red fox urine broke
within the quiver that was on my back. I smelled real good after that (ha ha), and without any
arrows had to return home. The 4 wheeler and my bow wasn't damaged, but had to order a
new cat quiver. Had enough for this day!
November 10th- I decided to hunt that stand for the final time, and to make it there without
any problems, lol. Got into the stand at 1:00 and stood it until 5:30 pm.
Once again, there was no activity, and it just concreted the fact that the stand has to be moved.
I'm going to check out another new spot, and hopefully can get somemore action. The rut is
about a week away from being in full swing, so have to move fast,
November 11th through the 22nd- Sorry to take so long to get this entered, and to group it like
this. Basically I moved my stand and sat a few more times with no real exciting tales to tell.
Work has kept me out of the woods when I would like to have been out there. Rifle Season
starts this Saturday, and unfortunately I have to go out of town. I hope to get out after the
weekend a bit, but the way things have been going who knows. I will try to get the photos of
the local bucks harvested in a 2002 highlights page, which will also have the rifle season kills.
Rifle Season in a nutshell- The rifle season was quite cold in our area, with the week ending
with high winds. Locally there weren't nearly the numbers of hunters that I've seen in the past.
In fact there were several days where I had a hard time even seeing a hunter.
I did manage to at least get out for a bit, but only for a few hours. Work had to come first, and
with my lack of enthusiasm always found some work to be done. Locally there were a few
decent bucks shot, but as a whole the deer kill was down around 20% on the first weekend.
I'm sure it was quite down for the season too, but I am waiting for the results from the DNR.
The Denninger and Waggoner crews had some success, but lacked the amounts of racked
bucks on their poles as in the past. The pictures of their buck poles will be posted on the
highlights page when they arrive.
If any late season bucks are harvested, I will also post them on the highlights page.
Sorry for my lack of enthusiasm this year, and I hope to have it back next year.Good Luck
hunting everyone and thanks for viewing my log and visiting Mr. Whitetails!
Thanks for viewing my Hunting Log!!
Mr- Whitetail
Mr- Whitetail