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!
Sept. 18th, 1999
Opening night of Bow Season and the weather was clear, hot, and breezy. I didn't think the deer
were going to move very well, but the wind died down in the last 2 hours of light.
I'm hunting the same stand where I shot my 8 Point last year (hunting over a deer bait). I entered
my treestand at 5:00, and was anxious to see what the new season was going to bring!
6:05- The first deer in was a small 6 pt. Buck. He entered from the East and fed for about 10
minutes, when a 5 inch Spike entered the scene coming from the same direction. The Spike Buck
was pushy and forced the 6 pt. off the bait.
6:20- 5 Bucks (8 pt.-6 pt.- 4 pt.- and 2 Spikes) entered the area from the North. The 8 pt. was a
nice massed buck, but only had a 12" spread. The 6 pt. was a smaller buck. The 4 pt. actually was
about an inch wider than the 8 pt. is. The 2 Spikes stayed a ways away from the bait, and were
greeted by the first Spike. They checked each other out, while the 8 pt. and 4 pt. pushed the 6 pt.
away.
The 8 pt. and 6 pt. fed for a while and then got into a sparring match. This allowed a couple of the
smaller Bucks into feed. The 8 pt. and 4 pt. returned and forced the smaller Bucks off the bait.
2 Spikes and a 6 pt. decided to leave the area to the South, now 4 Bucks remain.
6:45- 3 deer enter from the Northeast. They're all Bucks too! All smaller Bucks, 2 Spikes and a 3
pt. They check out the situation, and the 3 pt. enters the bait, and forces 1 Spike off. The 8 and 4
are off sparring again.
The 8 pt. and 4 pt. return once again and force the 3 pt. away.
Three of the smaller Bucks decided that there was too much competition to feed, so they
wandered off to the Northeast.
The 8 pt. and 4 pt. had their fill and moved on to the West.
Fifteen minutes later 3 bucks returned from the Northeast, which were 3 that I had already seen
that night. They forced the other deer out, and remained there until dark.
I know it's hard to believe, but I had 10 different Bucks come in, No Does, and nothing bigger
than the 12"- 8 pointer.
All in all a good first sit!
September 19th, 1999
I'm sitting my other stand where I saw all the Spike Bucks last year. I arrived at my stand at 4:30.
5:45- A tall Spike Buck along with a shorter Spike Buck entered from the Southeast. They fed on
and off, taking turns at the bait.
6:10- A Doe and fawn approached from the Southeast and were met by the 2 Bucks. The Bucks
wanted to let the Doe know that they were the bosses around here. The Bucks prevented the Doe
and fawn from feeding, so they just wandered around the area within my sight.
6:28- Another Spike Buck entered from the Southeast and he wasn't met with open arms! The 2
earlier Bucks chased him around. This gave the Doe and fawn their chance to get in and feed.
6:50- 3 more Does entered, and joined the Doe and fawn at the bait. The fawn was pushed around
a little, but was eventually let in to feed.
7:10- Another Doe and fawn entered, making it 5 Does and 2 fawns now at my bait. The Bucks
returned and found out that they were out-numbered. They moved on.
It got dark about 20 minutes later, so I had to leave my stand.
September 20th, 1999
I'm sitting the same stand as I sat on the 18th.
Not a real exciting evening! All I saw was 2 Smaller Spike Bucks at about 6:45
Better luck next time!
September 22nd, 1999
I'm hunting the edge of a clover field where a nice 10 and 14 Pointer have been seen by a friend.
He has them on video tape, and has asked for my help in trying to harvest one of them.
I arrive at his tripod stand at 5:00.
6:05- 2 Bucks (a 3 point and a Spike) enter the field from the North. They entered exactly the way
he said they would, but crossed in front of me at about 50 yards. They grazed on the clover and
proceeded to leave the field to the West.
6:40- 3 Bucks (a Forkhorn, 3 Point, and a Spike) enter the field from the West. At first I thought 2
of them were the same Bucks from before, but they had different racks configurations than the
first ones. They grazed at about the same distance from me (50 yards). The 3 Pointer then decided
to make his way over to me, and got within 15 yards.
6:55- 3 more Bucks entered from the West. Two of them were in earlier, but the third was
different 3 Pointer. The 6 Bucks formed a group in the middle of the clover field and moved
slowly away from me.
No sign of the bigger Bucks! Maybe I'll try here again when it's closer to the rut.
September 25th, 1999
I'm hunting the stand I hunted the first night.
Once again not a very productfull night. I only saw the 2 smaller Bucks again. The deer are
moving late this week, due to the moon phase. I also put out the Camtrakker on this bait and
found that I'm feeding black bear too! This doesn't help my deer hunting!
This bear found my camera and did a little damage. After he moved the camera, I still got the
following photo that same evening.
Haven't seen this 10 Pointer in the daytime though!
September 29th, 1999
I'm hunting stand #2 (Spike City!)
I entered the stand at 4:30
5:30- A Doe and fawn entered from the East. They fed for a while and then a lone fawn
approached. It wasn't the fawn of the first Doe, and was pushed around by both the Doe and fawn.
6:45- 3 raccoons entered and spooked the deer away from the bait. The lone fawn ended up
standing right underneath me, but wouldn't feed as long as the raccoons were there. I was ready
to leave, so I dropped an arrow down by the fawn (almost hitting it on the head) and it ran off.
Left the stand disappointed once more! Checked the photos on my Camtrakker from this stand
and this is one of my visitors!
September 30th, 1999
Hunting stand #1.
Very windy and cold night, temps in the 40's.
5:00- A barely legal Spike Buck enters. He feeds for a while, and is joined by a taller Spike buck.
The taller Spike won't feed because he is spooked by the smell of the bear that has been visiting.
They stay in the area until they get spooked by something entering.
6:15- A 250+lb. black bear enters, but doesn't feed. He just sniffs at the bait and decides to move
on.
7:05- Another black bear enters from the North. He goes right to the bait, lays down, and starts
eating. I don't think that it's the same bear, because of it's actions. He feeds for a while and then I
have to spook him out to leave the stand.
Too many bear in this area. I'm going to check out some other spots this weekend!
October 3rd, 1999
I'm giving it one more chance at my "Spike City" stand
Arrive at my stand at 4:00
5:30- A lone Doe enters and feeds for about a 1/2 hour and leaves.
6:20-A Doe and fawn enter and feed for 20 minutes and are joined by the first Doe that was in
earlier.
That's all that came in tonight!
October 7th, 1999
Hunting stand #1. Have had bear visits that have altered the deer habits in the area. Arrive at my
stand at 4:30
6:05- A larger 8 Point with bright white tines enters from the East, and crosses in front of me at
about 40 yds. No shot possible due to the brush.
I expected him to circle around downwind of me and return, but sometimes things don't work the
way you would like them too. He just kept walking to the West and never returned. He was the
only deer I saw tonight, but hopefully he'll return tomorrow!
October 8th through October 15th, 1999
I hunted the few stands that I had out, and only saw Does and fawns and a couple smaller Bucks.
Nothing to really comment about.
I went and scouted some new locations and set my Camtrakker out in these new areas. I have
some photos that I will be adding here that were captured by the Camtrakker. I plan on setting
stands in these areas but the main deer movement in these areas seems to be after dark.
Hopefully with the onset of the rut in the next week or two the deer will move a bit earlier and I
may get my chance on the nice 8 Pt. So stay tuned!
Following are some photos of a nice 8 Pointer that were captured by my Camtrakker on a new
bait that I haven't stood yet.
I found a nice scrape and wanted to see what was working it. I set up the Camtrakker and these
are the results.
October 16th through October 26th, 1999
I hunted a couple of new stands, but am still having a hard time seeing a decent Buck! I have only
seen a couple of smaller Bucks, and a few Does (Nothing to really write about).
The Bucks are really starting to scrape and rub in this area, and the rut is coming very soon! I
hope to have something to report very shortly, if I can get out in the woods more. Work has got
me busy and it's hard to find the time.
October 29th and 30th, 1999
I hunted these 2 nights and never saw a deer. Time to move my stand!
October 31st, 1999
I moved my stand to a new location overlooking a good scrape line. Halloween afternoon I saw 4
deer (1 smaller Buck) and the Buck visited the scrape. They came in just at dark!
November 1st, 1999
I sat in the morning and saw a smaller Buck chasing a Doe. They were about 100 yards out and
never came in.
The wind picked up to 25 to 30 mph. gusts and I decided to leave the stand at 9:30.
November 2nd, 1999
I decided to sit the total afternoon, so I entered my stand at 11:30.
I didn't see a deer until 4:30, when I saw a lone Doe. She was walking down the hill at about 100
yards away. Ten minutes after I lost sight of her, I heard the sounds of Bucks chasing does. This
went on for about a half an hour.
At 5:10 I heard deer approaching from down hill of me. It was a group of three Bucks. There was
about 60 yards between them, and they were walking in single file. The first Buck was a 5 pointer.
He walked right on by me at about 30 yards.
The second deer was a Spike Buck. I grunted at him and drew him in to within 10 yards of me. He
walked back to where the first buck crossed and continued up the trail.
By the time the third Buck entered, it was getting pretty dark. I couldn't distinguish how big he
was, but I figured by his actions that he was a decent Buck. He took his time and walked past me
on the same trail that the two other Bucks used.
I did have my "Hot Musk" scent out on 6 dipsticks, but even though the Bucks walked directly
downwind of me- they didn't seem to react to the scent. Maybe it's a little too early to be using this
scent, but I figure that if the Bucks are chasing the Does that the rut must be close.
I waited until the last Buck was a ways away before leaving the stand. By this time it was
completely black out.
November 3rd, 1999
I entered the same stand as the day before at 3:00.
I saw a lone doe at 4:10. At 4:30 I had a Doe with two fawns approach and feed right underneath
me. Even though my stand is 30 feet up, the Doe spotted me and appeared to be a little leary. I
held my ground and she eventually relaxed and continued to feed on the acorns. They fed for a
while and continued up the hill.
At 5:15 the three Bucks entered and the first Buck caught up to the Doe and chased her and the
fawns around. The other two Bucks just stood around and watched. Eventually it got dark and
the three Bucks were still in the area. I had to wait until 6:45 before I could leave my stand
without spooking the Bucks.
November 6th, 1999 I decided to hunt that same stand one more time. I entered the stand at 3:00
pm. I'm still using Hot Musk and Doe in Heat scent.
There was a light wind from the West but it died down to nothing by dusk.
I saw 2 fawns 100 yards North of me at 3:30. They seemed to be just running around playing. The
fact that I didn't see the mother with them led me to believe that she was pulled from them by a
rutting Buck.
I saw the same two fawns at 4:40 as they were running down the hill to the North of me. They ran
within 40 yards and continued down the hill to the Southeast.
I didn't see anything else and believe that I might possibly have spooked the three Bucks out of
the area when I left my stand the other day. I plan on moving this stand tomorrow and setting up
a decoy Buck. We'll see how it goes!
November 8th,1999
I moved the tree stand about 300 yards closer to where the Bucks had been entering from. I set up
a Buck decoy and placed "Buck in Rut" scent around my decoy in 6 different directions.
I began with about an hour of quiet time and then I decided to try a little rattling. I rattled for 30
seconds, paused for 3 minutes, and repeated twice. I then waited for about 30 minutes before
trying it again. I was also grunting occasionally.
I didn't see anything until it was just becoming dark. It was a Buck emerging from the small grass
lowland that I was hunting next to. Unfortunately it was too dark to get a good look at him. I don't
really think he was responding to the rattling, just happened in. He walked off and I decided it
was a good time to leave the stand.
November 9th, 1999
I decided to sit the same stand, only this time I would use no attracting scents or calling. I wanted
to see if I was possibly spooking the deer with all the extra noise and scent in their area.
I did see a couple of smaller does in the distance on a hill, but that was it. I left my stand and as I
was approaching the end of the road from my stand I heard what sounded like 3 deer moving
through the slash, but couldn't tell what they were.
I decided to try setting up a baiting station at my stand location, to see what I had in the area. I
haven't been too happy with the amount of deer that I have been seeing this week, especially
being that the rut is on!
November 11th, 1999
Checked the bait at the baiting station and it was barely hit. I decided to sit this stand one more
time.
I entered the stand at 3:00 and didn't see a thing all night. I'm going to move this stand!
November 12, 1999
I found a nice looking funnel and moved my stand to this location. It is a funnel between two
high-ground oak ridges and the deer must use it or go through a thick slash. There is a main trail
beat down with 4 rubs and a couple of scrapes. It looks promising, possibly even for rifle season.
I entered the new stand at 2:00 and questioned whether I should have given the area a day of
quiet time. I placed some Doe-in-Heat scent out and did a little rattling and calling. I didn't see
anything this afternoon, but had something interesting happen as I was returning to my truck.
I had the Doe-in-Heat scent in a bag in my pocket (which still has a tendency to give off the scent)
and as I was returning to my truck I heard a Buck grunt and moving towards me from behind. It
was coming from the thick slash about 30 yards from me. I shined my light in that direction and I
could hear the Buck stop. I continued walking and I could hear the Buck following me again. I
shined the light and he stopped. I never got a look at him, because I was more concerned with
getting to my truck in one piece. Kind of funny huh?
I'll sit this stand in the morning and hopefully see what's coming through.
November 13th, 1999
6:00 am.- I sat the stand in the morning and had 4 does come through 45 minutes after sun-up. I
was surprised that there weren't any bucks following them! Maybe this evening!
2:00 pm.- I entered my stand. At 4:30 I had a doe come from the reverse direction as they did in
the morning. This is a good sign as this tells me that this funnel is being used both morning and
evening.
The doe was all I saw this evening.
November 14th, 1999
This is the last day of early bow season. It shuts down for 3 weeks to allow for a quiet time before
rifle season, a week of rifle season, and a week of quiet time following rifle season.
I entered my stand at 2:00 pm. At 4:00 I had a doe cut through the slash behind me and continue
up the hill. Just after she got out of sight, I heard what sounded like chasing to the North of me. I
let out a few short grunts and proceeded to grunt in a 10 inch wide 4 pointer. I had him stopped
broadside at 25 yards, but decided to leave him for my daughter in rifle season.
Well so ends the early bow season, I'll continue with the journal on the 20th, which is opening day
of rifle season!
Rifle Season Begins!!
November 20th, 1999
My daughter "Ashley" and I entered the stand at 5:45 am. At 6:15 we had 3 deer underneath us
but it was too dark to identify what they were. They continued moving on without us getting a
good look at them. I believe that it was a doe with 2 fawns, due to the noise that they were making
(stumbling and clumsy).
At 6:45 I saw what I think was a 4 pointer approaching from about 100 yards out. He looked to be
coming right to us so I held back on the shot in hope that Ashley would get her chance at getting a
Buck. As soon as it crossed the dirt road, it reversed its direction and headed back to the road.
Once on the road it walked away from us and never gave her a decent shot.
At 7:10 we had 2 fawns enter. They were playing and didn't know it was hunting season yet. It
was quite comical watching them walk by at 15 yards away. Ashley even began to laugh because
the trailing fawn put its head on the rump of the first and they were walking through the woods
that way.
At 7:25 the 2 fawns came racing through from the direction they had left and never stopped
running until they ran out of sight of us. They had run into a couple other hunters and realized
that they better take cover.
At 7:50 we had a lone doe walk in, look up and spot us, and ran back the way she came.
No other deer came in for the next 2 1/2 hours so we decided to try again that evening.
Later that day at 4:15 we had the 2 fawns come racing through again. Other than that we didn't
see a thing.
November 21st through 24th, 1999
During these 4 days we continued to sit the same stand only to see a couple of does, and several
different hunters. We tried a little rattling and calling with no luck.
November 25th (Thanksgiving Day), 1999
We decided to try a different location. We sat next to a swamp. I put Ashley into a treestand, and
I sat on the ground a little ways up the swamp edge from her. She saw 2 fawns, and later another
deer that she was only able to see the rear end of.
I saw 2 fawns, a yearling, and near the end of the night I had what sounded like 3 different deer
in the swamp behind me. I couldn't get a look at them and it soon became dark.
November 26th, 1999
I worked in the morning and hunted the afternoon. Ashley took a day off from hunting.
I decided to try sitting on an oak ridge. At 4:15 I had a decent sized doe come walking up the trail
towards me. She continued on with nothing trailing behind her. That's all I saw that evening.
November 27th, 1999
Once again I had to work in the morning. In the afternoon I sat the oak ridge again. Ashley was
busy shopping and didn't go with me.
At 4:25 I had a 4 pointer come running through and although I could have taken a shot or two at
it, I didn't feel that my chances of hitting the buck through the underbrush were very good. I
decided to let the buck go through in hopes that if I didn't alert it to my presence, it may return
tomorrow for possibly Ashley.
No other deer seen this evening.
Lance's hunting crew has been pretty successful with their deer drives and I believe at this point
that they have 16 Bucks hanging (one nine pointer and several smaller racked bucks)
I'll get some more information and hopefully photos soon!
November 28th, 1999
It's the last day of the rifle season and Ashley and I sat on the oak ridge. I was in hope that the 4
pointer would return and give her a chance at it. No such luck, all we saw were 3 mice and a red
squirrel.
This wasn't a very successful rifle season for Ashley and I, but just spending the time together in
the woods was a great joy.
Bow season starts back up on December 4th, and I'll put in somemore time in the stand!
December 4th, 1999
I sat in the afternoon from 2:00 till dark (5:00) and didn't see a thing! The deer are still quite
spooky around here since rifle season, and will probably require somemore time to calm down.
December 5th, 1999
I sat the same stand as yesterday. Hunted the afternoon again, and got the same results.
I'm going to give the deer a break for a while and hopefully they'll start moving during the
daylight. I've got plenty of sign on this trail that the deer are using it, but unfortunately they are
using it during the evening hours.
December 6th, 1999
I set up my digital Camtrakker on the trail that I'm hunting, to see what was coming through. I
knew that there was activity, although it was all at night.
The following photos were taken between December 6th and the 9th (After the rifle season). I
didn't include all the photos, just the bucks and 1 photo of some does.
Spike Buck
Something caught their attention!
4 pointer?
Same 4 pointer?
Same 4 pointer?
Same Buck, but now you can see a 5th point
Same 5 pointer
Just a 6 pointer?
December 18th, 1999
I have continued monitoring the woods with my camtrakker, and am still having a problem
getting the deer to move during the daylight.
With the holidays approaching there just doesn't seem to be the time to hunt. I also see no reason
to sit in a cold stand, when I know the deer aren't moving until after dark.
This being the case, I have decided to hang my bow up until next year.
Thanks for viewing my log, and hopefully next year will be more productive!
Mr- Whitetail
