First Day
Well, I decided to change things up a bit this year. I've been hunting mostly 2B in Butler County for the past 9 years.
I have a friend with 30 acres a mile down the road in 2D. Maybe 10 acres of woods, but it's thick and is a bottle neck between two bigger pieces of timber that get hunted hard. Never spent much time hunting deer here, but have seen quite a few there between turkey and waterfowl hunting, so decided to give it a try.
Got settled into a tight funnel about 6:40. Getting just about LST and I see 2 orange blobs coming down a trail in front of me. Was a guy and a young girl (mentored hunt participant I think, since she did not have a gun) I got their attention because there was nowhere for them to go past me.
Guy says from about 30 yards away, "Hey did you talk to Bill? (property owner)" I said, "Yep, Friday. Said I'd be the only one here." He says something about this being his spot for the past 5 years, and moves on down to where he wanted to be. Which is about 30 yards to my right. I could see them standing there.
Finally, he circles around and wants to talk. Rambles on about how this has been his spot for the past 5 years, he cleared out this area, he lives here, he's hunted here 15 years, he talks to Bill all the time, he talked to Bill last week, blah blah blah. Wants me to move.
I don't know the guy and I tend not to argue with people that have loaded guns. And there was a youngster. I finally said, "I'll go to the other end of the woods." So I did, about 150 yards away.
When I went home for lunch, I called the LO and told him the situation. I've known this guy for 10+ years and call EVERY TIME I hunt because it's small property, he has 2 horses that pretty much have free roam in the woods, etc. Bill knew who the guy was immediately.
He called me an hour later and said the guy asked him to hunt there 5 years ago, and has never talked to him since. Bill walked out to where the guy was, threw him off and told him to never come back. Told me the place is mine for the rest of the deer season.
Didn't see any deer there. And only heard one close shot, and maybe 10 or 15 far off shots.
Went to a spot in 2B I haven't hunted in several years. On the property I normally hunt, but 1/4 mile from a normal spot. Bumped a doe and a real nice buck on the way in, but no shot was presented. Sat the rest of the day, and didn't see another deer.
Was very surprised at the lack of shooting I heard in 2B. Maybe 10 shots in 4 hours.
Pretty disappointing day.