Went out at 3 at 4:15 a 3 pt strolled by nose to the ground cruising-only deer I saw today.
Had perfect wind and weather conditions-oh well....WCW

I SEEN ONE..... I DID..... I SEEN ONE!

A whitetail...... and that's all I seen..... the tail. Walkin' back to the house thru the hay field and the rascal was just on the other side of the windrow in the bean field. Seen me before I eyeballed it..... so it did.

Did do some still hunting today aaaaand I saw a bunch of scrapes. Both along the field edges and in the woods. Some of the branches had two scrapes; one much smaller than the other and the scrapes appeared to have been recently created. None had any droppings and the 'licking branches' looked really green where they were chewed off. I counted six scrapes in a 100 yd. stretch.

Leaves were wet and quiet from the rain this morning but the dead branches littering the ground from the recent winds made moving, noisier than a box of Rice Krispies. Every step was ' snap, crackle or, pop'.

Can't wait to do again tomorrow and with a cold front bringing the possibility of snow tomorrow night thru Saturday.....OH BOY!!!!

Hit the stand at 3:30 , little drizzle for about 1hr saw 2 doe & some tails great evening to be out though..

Brother hit one running up his scent trail. He's looking for it in morning

Post some pics tomorrow after the recovery!
 
This morning was by far the best sit of the year for me (which really isn't saying much).  My buddy and I saw quite a few bucks moving from first light until almost 11am.  We got to see lots of chasing and heard lots of grunting and even a few snort wheezes.  All youngins but after the way my season has gone so far it was nice to finally see some good activity.   

Watch out for the ghouls and gobblins.........

I'm dressing up like a PA archery hunter and going trick or treating in the woods.......... mah ha ha haaaa!!!


...................Now that's enough to give anyone nightmares..........

BOO...
 
Hunted same spot today took 2 -1 hour breaks sat the rest of the time.
Saw a spike cruise thru 1st hour.
9:30 a buck chased a doe around thru brush just out of sight he was grunting a thrashing thru brush making all kinds of noise.
Last hour I had big group of deer come out pushed by 2 bucks a different spike and a 2.5 yr old buck could not count points not even sure he was legal rack went straight up 15-16 in high.He was all amped up good to see.
So its getting better IMO.
I should work tomorrow but...WCW 

What a day; nothing for the freezer yet but, I have both rubs and scrapes where they weren't last night. Hit the woods to do some still hunting just before noon. Went snooping around the bean fields looking to see what I could see and found no sign except, hoof prints in the mud. Started into the woods sneaking from tree to tree watching for any sign of the rut. I was moving East with the wind out of the South. Stopped behind a cluster of oak trees when to my suprise there appeared the head of whitetail deer. About 50 yards to my North East was a patch of Greenbriar and the deer was feeding on the tops. Wasn't long another set of ears came thru the thickets into the briars and than the horns appeared. Looked like it could be a shooter but, just couldn't tell. By this time it's raining; not hard but, enough to make some noise so, I moved a few feet closer and set-up for a possible shot should they come my way. WOW..... out from the thicket came a buck that made my heart pound. He wasn't pushing and he made no attempt to chase or challenge the other buck. He just kept his distance and faded in and out of the thicket and underbrush. It quit raining and the wind stopped blowing and I stood there motionless for what seemed like 'forever'. Without a warning, heads popped up out of the Greenbriar like parascopes and, three sets of eyes were starring in my direction. I'm sure they can't see me so my first thought was of, another hunter approaching or, another deer coming from behind me. Slowly turning my head around as if I were posessed, I saw nothing until, I look at the wind feather on my bow. End of story; the wind dropped to a very light breeze and is now coming out of the West. The deer didn't spook but, once thier heads quit bobbing and swaying trying to see, they moved away from me. The big guy, still keeping his distance, just followed along. I moved into the area hoping the deer might circle back when I jumped one laying down. By the time I regained my composure the deer was gone, leaving me guessing what it was. Leaned againt a cluster of maples for about half an hour when a young deer came walking out of the same thickets and presented a shot about 15 yds out. Man there is just nothing like being eye-to-eye when archery hunting. Not sure if it was a doe or buck but, maybe next year it will be my wallhanger. Unnocked the arrow and returned it to my quiver.

Headed home as it was 3:15 p, hungry and, time for my baloney and cheese sandwiches. There's just something about them sandwhiches when I'm hunting or fishing. Pickles too!! :-P

What a day (part 2) finished my sandwiches; (no pickles, fresh out) headed to the back field to set-up along the windrow with the bean field, where I spooked the deer last night.

Standing among some Cherry Trees with a light wind now out of the South I see a rather large rub that was not there last night. Again, what seemed like forevever, I watched the wood line along the bean field which is south of me. Several seconds passed before it dawned on me the noise coming from behind was a bleat. DANG winded, I figured, as I started the ' I'm posessed' head turn. To my supprise nothing but, there is a knoll running the length of the hay field preventing me from seeing the otherside. Slowly turning to set-up for a possible shot; two yearlings came flying over the creast of the hill. It was comical to watch these two youngsters flying around; no doubt in a strange area. Out of the hay field right into the woods and underbrush boardering the bean field. Running in circles, tails flying and, jumping like they just stepped on a bees nest. Just as fast as they went into the woods; they were back in the hay field still circling and jumping. Thinking they surely were with other doe I began scanning the hay field when out of the woods popped a shooter. Too far for my compound but, there was hope, those yearlings were still bolting around to my left and he was to my right. No luck; the two ran past me right at him, he stomped his feet and they disappeared. I stood and watched the buck make a scrape, chew the licking branch and, squirt the dirt before he returned to the woods. But wait; maybe that's his rub at the corner of the bean field, there's still hope for back strap for dinner. Then again maybe it belongs to the big 'sob' that just popped out of the thickets a hundred yards out in the bean field, following his nose Westward.

Jeez....... I can't wait for morning!!!!

Not an archery hunter, so all this rut stuff is pretty foreign to me, but I find the discussion interesting.

Was checking out the progress on the house last evening and ended up sitting on the lanai having a coco. At about 6, two deer come out of the woods at the corner of our property and the neighbor's. They fed out into the neighbor's field. A short time later another deer appeared in the same spot. Lighting wasn't too good because it was getting late and it was overcast, so I could not tell antlers at the 250 yards, but the body shape was square like a buck.

That deer followed the others as they fed across the field, but never really closed the gap or showed any signs if being interested.

About 10 minutes later, three deer approached us from behind. They stopped about 40 yards away to give us a look before disappearing into some standing corn. It was a doe and two young of the year. It wasn't long until here comes a decent buck, too dark to see points, but as wide as his body and the rack didn't start to curve until well above the ears. He was prancing all stiff legged in the front and putting on a show for the ladies.

Some more movement caught our eyes and a ring neck rooster strutted out if the corn and into our soon to be yard. I guess he didn't like sharing the corn with the deer. He let out a cackle and all the deer bolted into our yard. Still couldn't get a point count and as it just got darker, the deer worked their way across the yard and into the woods. The buck was still showing off, but not being aggressive toward the does.

As it got pretty dark and we were getting ready to leave, we could hear voices. A light appeared in the neighbor's field and worked its way across and entered our property where the first deer had appeared. We could then see a second light coming down from the treehouse that was on the property when we bought it -- a former lot owner/contractor built it for date nights with his girlfriend. Clearly someone was using it as a deer stand.