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LIVE from the Saddle 2024

hokiehunter373 said:
Lines up perfectly with how I like to hunt. Early November is usually more fun as far as chaos but the bigger boys wait til the middle of the month for the most part anyway. IMO. Everybody burns their vacation during these first two weeks and then I come in in the middle of the month with less people in the woods and bigger bucks just getting after it. Throw in a cool front and :grinning:
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Absolutely. I starting running cell cams in 2019, and from 19 to 22 youd get hammered with pics of 2.5 year olds from the 28th or so to the 8th. Then the giants would come out to play. Saw it play out like that every single season.

I connected with my targets Nov 11th in "21 and and Nov 9th in "22.

Last year was the only exception I saw yet in that the first week of Nov had both the young guys and behemoths out searching. Then it died down dramatically afterwards.
 
bigmike23 said:
Absolutely. I starting running cell cams in 2019, and from 19 to 22 youd get hammered with pics of 2.5 year olds from the 28th or so to the 8th. Then the giants would come out to play. Saw it play out like that every single season.

I connected with my targets Nov 11th in "21 and and Nov 9th in "22.

Last year was the only exception I saw yet in that the first week of Nov had both the young guys and behemoths out searching. Then it died down dramatically afterwards.
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With rut consistency like that no wonder people coined the phrase “he read the script”. It’s a toss up every year around here with what areas will sort of pop off and when.
 
Well total bust outside of the two doe groups I saw getting setup nothing all day. Hunting state forest can really suck. Had someone riding a quad which is allowed and someone was on horse on a hiking trail on the other side of the ridge I heard the horse make a few noises as they passed through. Back at it tomorrow, but going to hope for a better more productive day.
 
Couldn’t post from the tree as the internet didn’t make it there.

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After Wednesdays near miss, I figured the deer would still be around. I backtracked the trail I figured them to be on and picked out a tree. Most of the trees in this bottoms are big and straight with no branches for cover. I guess I picked the wrong one. I fought it for the first 10’ off the ground and probably 10 moves to get there (2tc). The tree was a bit wider than my shoulders and my ropes were long enough but it was so big that it was hard to flip the rope up. I then realized my platform might not fit so I pulled it out. Sure enough it wasn’t even close. Back down, wrap it up. Go further up the trail.

Found a smaller beech with a few branches in a pinch point near the trail. Go to ~22’ or so where the canopy kinda started and had to adjust location a couple times to get where the branches didn’t interfere with my bow at full draw but that the platform would not be interfered by lumps in the bark and could sit still. Ended up okay but with branches on my weak side I couldn’t shoot from 12-5 at all (which was my downwind and also an open woods).

The squirrels were going nuts but about 530 I saw a deer in the distance. Turned out it was three does. It took them ten minutes but they fed my way and eventually came out at 25 yards. They were coming towards me so I waited, figuring they’d stop and turn. Well they hung a hard 90 and were dead away before I got a chance. Fortunately they fed around a good while and one decided come back towards me, even smelling my tree.

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I couldn’t twist to get the shot down but she walked more or less diagonal away into my 11 and let me draw. It was fairly hard quartering away so I picked my exit hole, settled the pin, and stabbed the release. As the lighted nock disappeared I thought it was a little back but when the deer all ran off 40 yards and stopped i felt pretty good. They all stayed there for a solid 10 minutes before two spooked and ran off. I thought I heard a crash so I gathered up and got down. There was enough light that if she was heads up I could still shoot her. It wasn’t necessarily. She piled up about 50 yards from the shot.

The entry was a touch back for preference, but it cut the top off the stomach, center punched the main liver arteries, and took out the lower front lobe of the right lung before exiting at the arm pit. I’d rather 2” further up the body but this will do. Full pass through most of the length of the body? I’ll take it. 50 yard tracking job? Done. Only had blood for the last 10 yards and not much, but a deer piled up in 50 will do.

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casts_by_fly said:
Couldn’t post from the tree as the internet didn’t make it there.

View attachment 110145

After Wednesdays near miss, I figured the deer would still be around. I backtracked the trail I figured them to be on and picked out a tree. Most of the trees in this bottoms are big and straight with no branches for cover. I guess I picked the wrong one. I fought it for the first 10’ off the ground and probably 10 moves to get there (2tc). The tree was a bit wider than my shoulders and my ropes were long enough but it was so big that it was hard to flip the rope up. I then realized my platform might not fit so I pulled it out. Sure enough it wasn’t even close. Back down, wrap it up. Go further up the trail.

Found a smaller beech with a few branches in a pinch point near the trail. Go to ~22’ or so where the canopy kinda started and had to adjust location a couple times to get where the branches didn’t interfere with my bow at full draw but that the platform would not be interfered by lumps in the bark and could sit still. Ended up okay but with branches on my weak side I couldn’t shoot from 12-5 at all (which was my downwind and also an open woods).

The squirrels were going nuts but about 530 I saw a deer in the distance. Turned out it was three does. It took them ten minutes but they fed my way and eventually came out at 25 yards. They were coming towards me so I waited, figuring they’d stop and turn. Well they hung a hard 90 and were dead away before I got a chance. Fortunately they fed around a good while and one decided come back towards me, even smelling my tree.

View attachment 110146

I couldn’t twist to get the shot down but she walked more or less diagonal away into my 11 and let me draw. It was fairly hard quartering away so I picked my exit hole, settled the pin, and stabbed the release. As the lighted nock disappeared I thought it was a little back but when the deer all ran off 40 yards and stopped i felt pretty good. They all stayed there for a solid 10 minutes before two spooked and ran off. I thought I heard a crash so I gathered up and got down. There was enough light that if she was heads up I could still shoot her. It wasn’t necessarily. She piled up about 50 yards from the shot.

The entry was a touch back for preference, but it cut the top off the stomach, center punched the main liver arteries, and took out the lower front lobe of the right lung before exiting at the arm pit. I’d rather 2” further up the body but this will do. Full pass through most of the length of the body? I’ll take it. 50 yard tracking job? Done. Only had blood for the last 10 yards and not much, but a deer piled up in 50 will do.

View attachment 110147

View attachment 110148
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Congrats! Nice work! Great write up!!
 
My boy and I are back at it again. I give up the predator platform when he’s hunting and just stand on the top of a hawk helium that I one stick with. A second platform is a must for next year. We busted something out when climbing up and now havent seen anything. Temps feel really good though.
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At a creek ambush spot. Let’s see if they move….
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Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Not a late start but late getting set up. New permission parcel, got in in the dark and crawled toward what looked interesting on a map. Mistake, sun came up and had no sight lines, thick stuck some rubs nearby, think I crawled into the bucks bed. Made a racket trying to get out, heard light blowing then some raking about 20 min later. Haven’t seen him, but backed out and scouted my way around to the other side of the thick stuff and set up about 9:30.

I’m going to sit here til lunch time and see if something comes by, if not back out have lunch and head to the larger parcel a half mile up wind.
 

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