NWPA22
Active Member
A few years ago during spring gobbler (May) I was scouting way back off the beaten path on some PA big woods public. This is a large tract of forestland with long uninterrupted stretches of timber. I stumbled upon a heavy creek crossing leading into a group of scrapes along a transition line from bottomland/swamp into mature timber. I was scouting so I marked it on my GPS, threw a trail cam up and moved on. I never made it back there until the late winter (April). To my delight the thing was still taking pics, I love those Lithiums and large SD cards. I pulled the camera and took it home to see what I had. There was tons of pics and almost daily daytime movement. Deer were walking along the transition, visiting the scrape, crossing the creek, bucks were cruising and chasing doe. I was back a few weeks after retrieving the cam during Spring Gobbler to hang a stand. I put the cam back up and got all the work done so I was ready for the upcoming Fall. I waited for the Rut to start and for a correct wind.
Friday November 9th was the day, it was low 30's sleeting and spitting rain and snow. I was walking back early, way before the sun would make an appearance on the horizon. I followed my trail tacks, trudged through the swamps and got to my tree. I found out on the walk in that my Right boot had a hole in the heel. I sat as long as I could, my foot was freezing. At about 9:45 I couldn't take it anymore I had not seen a deer and I kept thinking about the spare socks and boots I had in the truck. I turned to start packing up and there was a nice 8 pt walking my way. He stayed off the creek crossing and paralleled the creek 30yds away from the stand. He was on the opposite side of the creek from where my tree stand was setup to shoot to. I did not see any sign there previously and there was only one naturally occurring shooting lane. He was already starting to move through my only lane so I grabbed my bow turned around and smoothly, cleanly shot right over his back. He stood there long enough for me to nock another arrow and draw then he bounded off.
This day was going great so far. I climbed down picked up my arrow and my pride swapped my trail cam card and made the 1 mile walk out. While I was squishing and sloshing in my boot on the way out I was excited to look at the card but was wondering why the scrape was not opened up. I hunted some private the rest of the day and didn't see anything. I got home ate dinner helped get the kids to bed and I threw the card in my laptop to start going through it. I was surprised to see that there was not much activity, the camera went days without taking a pic. No good bucks, no scrape activity and only a few doe groups.
I know that areas can be good or bad depending on what crops are planted in the surrounding ag fields and I intend to make note of that this year. This day was part of what drove me to want to try saddle hunting. I had heard about saddles for years from John Eberhart, but this day and one other fun day with my climber which I may explain in a thread later really kicked me in the butt.
I have thought about this before but am wondering if anyone else has seen a similar course of events. Have you ever hung a stand and the deer seem to avoid it or adjust their movements?
Friday November 9th was the day, it was low 30's sleeting and spitting rain and snow. I was walking back early, way before the sun would make an appearance on the horizon. I followed my trail tacks, trudged through the swamps and got to my tree. I found out on the walk in that my Right boot had a hole in the heel. I sat as long as I could, my foot was freezing. At about 9:45 I couldn't take it anymore I had not seen a deer and I kept thinking about the spare socks and boots I had in the truck. I turned to start packing up and there was a nice 8 pt walking my way. He stayed off the creek crossing and paralleled the creek 30yds away from the stand. He was on the opposite side of the creek from where my tree stand was setup to shoot to. I did not see any sign there previously and there was only one naturally occurring shooting lane. He was already starting to move through my only lane so I grabbed my bow turned around and smoothly, cleanly shot right over his back. He stood there long enough for me to nock another arrow and draw then he bounded off.
This day was going great so far. I climbed down picked up my arrow and my pride swapped my trail cam card and made the 1 mile walk out. While I was squishing and sloshing in my boot on the way out I was excited to look at the card but was wondering why the scrape was not opened up. I hunted some private the rest of the day and didn't see anything. I got home ate dinner helped get the kids to bed and I threw the card in my laptop to start going through it. I was surprised to see that there was not much activity, the camera went days without taking a pic. No good bucks, no scrape activity and only a few doe groups.
I know that areas can be good or bad depending on what crops are planted in the surrounding ag fields and I intend to make note of that this year. This day was part of what drove me to want to try saddle hunting. I had heard about saddles for years from John Eberhart, but this day and one other fun day with my climber which I may explain in a thread later really kicked me in the butt.
I have thought about this before but am wondering if anyone else has seen a similar course of events. Have you ever hung a stand and the deer seem to avoid it or adjust their movements?