Team 3 2019

[ThePennsylvanian]

I was able to get out this morning. I had 2 bucks, one at 8:05 am and the other at 8:28 am. Both cruzin. Both were just out of range. Neither one responded to the call. It's good to know I'm able to get on them. Hopefully it's just a matter of time

Get after em!!

 

[ARERHODES]

Well yesterday I hunted a farm across the road from me that is always productive on the first few sits. Hadn't been there yet this year. Set up on a traditional scrape that is used year after year.

No deer seen until 6:15, a doe comes trotting along 20 yards from my stand. 10 seconds behind her a Big 6 pointer is hot in her trail.. he clears my shooting Lane and I stopped him at 18 yards, broadside. I but a bolt threw him, shot looked good, it was dusk so hard to tell. He turned and bolted down hill, I could see blood on the exit side of him right behind front shoulder but low, considering my height , 20+ feet, it looked like I hit him at a good angle.

I recovered the bolt, covered in bright red blood, with a couple small white hairs on it, could have been hair from brisket, could be from armpit area. Blood trail was marginal, and stopped after 60-70 yards. After that nothing.

I waited 30min before sneaking down from tree, arrow looked good so I followed the trail until it stopped, backed out for 2 hours and came back, searched surrounding thicket, nothing. Started searching around for another 2 hours in the dark, nothing.

I returned this morning at first light and searched another couple hours, found what looked like a few tracks at the end of the blood trail, hinting to a possible sharp turn uphill , he took off down a steep ravine into mountain Laurel initially.

Gonna grab lunch now and head back to keep looking. I'll post a pic if the bolt, blades expanded and they are 3" Shwackers on Piledrivers, they have devistated everything prior to this guy. I'm cautiously optimistic, I must not have hit both lungs , maybe hit low.
I know bucks shrink sometimes after you get your hands on em, but for my rapid assessment, he was the biggest 6 pointer over ever seen.

Wish me luck , I'm gonna put my German Shorthair in a leash and see if she's got any tracking skills. I'll let y'all know if we got some points on the board or not. I'll have to not forget to Huck my saddle along, for a picture.

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[Kurt]

So the Buck I saw yesterday at 8:28 am was headed east towards my lone treestsnd set. This morning I sat that set. Got in early and got in clean. I sat until 11:00 am, only saw a bobcat. I decided to get down and do a quick check of the immediate area for fresh sign before I had to get back to the house. Long story short, I bumped a deer not 40 yds WNW from my stand. I didn't see what it was because it's very thick, but it stands to reason that it was probably that same buck. I tromped thru his bedroom and pushed him out of his bed. I made sure to make noise as I left so there would be no question that I was leaving in the opposite direction that he took off. DANG IT!!!!! I found fresh scrapes in a line of hemlock trees about 30 yds north from where I jumped him( there's my fresh sign). Hopefully I didn't blow that stand for the season.

 

[hokiehunter373]

Well yesterday I hunted a farm across the road from me that is always productive on the first few sits. Hadn't been there yet this year. Set up on a traditional scrape that is used year after year.

No deer seen until 6:15, a doe comes trotting along 20 yards from my stand. 10 seconds behind her a Big 6 pointer is hot in her trail.. he clears my shooting Lane and I stopped him at 18 yards, broadside. I but a bolt threw him, shot looked good, it was dusk so hard to tell. He turned and bolted down hill, I could see blood on the exit side of him right behind front shoulder but low, considering my height , 20+ feet, it looked like I hit him at a good angle.

I recovered the bolt, covered in bright red blood, with a couple small white hairs on it, could have been hair from brisket, could be from armpit area. Blood trail was marginal, and stopped after 60-70 yards. After that nothing.

I waited 30min before sneaking down from tree, arrow looked good so I followed the trail until it stopped, backed out for 2 hours and came back, searched surrounding thicket, nothing. Started searching around for another 2 hours in the dark, nothing.

I returned this morning at first light and searched another couple hours, found what looked like a few tracks at the end of the blood trail, hinting to a possible sharp turn uphill , he took off down a steep ravine into mountain Laurel initially.

Gonna grab lunch now and head back to keep looking. I'll post a pic if the bolt, blades expanded and they are 3" Shwackers on Piledrivers, they have devistated everything prior to this guy. I'm cautiously optimistic, I must not have hit both lungs , maybe hit low.
I know bucks shrink sometimes after you get your hands on em, but for my rapid assessment, he was the biggest 6 pointer over ever seen.

Wish me luck , I'm gonna put my German Shorthair in a leash and see if she's got any tracking skills. I'll let y'all know if we got some points on the board or not. I'll have to not forget to Huck my saddle along, for a picture.

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No bubbles in the blood? That arrow doesn't have any fat on it so I'd think it's not brisket. Maybe you only got one lung with that angle? Good luck

So the Buck I saw yesterday at 8:28 am was headed east towards my lone treestsnd set. This morning I sat that set. Got in early and got in clean. I sat until 11:00 am, only saw a bobcat. I decided to get down and do a quick check of the immediate area for fresh sign before I had to get back to the house. Long story short, I bumped a deer not 40 yds WNW from my stand. I didn't see what it was because it's very thick, but it stands to reason that it was probably that same buck. I tromped thru his bedroom and pushed him out of his bed. I made sure to make noise as I left so there would be no question that I was leaving in the opposite direction that he took off. DANG IT!!!!! I found fresh scrapes in a line of hemlock trees about 30 yds north from where I jumped him( there's my fresh sign). Hopefully I didn't blow that stand for the season.

His bed kept him safe. He'll be back

 

[ARERHODES]

No bubbles in blood, no fat on arrow. I'm back in the woods now looking, I called and got permission from adjacent property owners to look and carry a weapon

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[ThePennsylvanian]

Dang I go to work for one day and everybody else is hunting.....
@ARERHODES - when you get to last blood, start fanning out in the direction the wind was coming from at that time. Even if it's up hill, I've had deer turn into the wind and go up hill and die. Obviously not a rule but it may help you if it's a sudden change in direction from the way he was heading.
@Kurt - I know the feeling, give it some time and make your way into the area from a different direction, that may help by switching it up on him.

 

[Sziggy2.0]

Well guys I am back hanging after grabbing some lunch. I have been out several times but nothing has been in range until this morning. Had a perfect set up, and shortly after light a couple does come in, broadside at 20yds. I shot the bigger one. It looked like a good shot, she mule kicked like they do when hit good. She ran 40-50 yds then just stood there for a while, then slowly walked away. Uh-oh, that ain't good.
Waited a couple hours, while waiting had deer running around me the entire time. Most of them in bow range. There were 3-4 more does and 2 small bucks.
Long story short, after following blood for about 100yds the blood trail just stopped. Or at least I couldn't find anymore. Spent 3 hours looking. Only thing I can figure is I shot low, only hitting brisket. Arrow was covered in bright red blood, some hair and did not smell like a gut shot. I believe she'll live. I absolutely hate that. I definitely have a love/hate relationship with blood trails. Love to be trailing blood, but the longer I trail the more love turns into hating it.

Hanging in a tree this afternoon. Go get'em team 3!

 

[ARERHODES]

Dang I go to work for one day and everybody else is hunting.....
@ARERHODES - when you get to last blood, start fanning out in the direction the wind was coming from at that time. Even if it's up hill, I've had deer turn into the wind and go up hill and die. Obviously not a rule but it may help you if it's a sudden change in direction from the way he was heading.
@Kurt - I know the feeling, give it some time and make your way into the area from a different direction, that may help by switching it up on him.

Well I called it before dark. Grid searched every nook and cranny around the place. Searched adjacent property. He's nowhere within 400 yards of last blood.

The terrain in this area is almost mountainous, it's deep ravines with old hardwoods and mountain Laurel. He ran down twords a spring but I got his tracks cutting up hill. Walked the spring Creek for several hundred yards, no tracks in it.

Hopefully he's not dead. Makes me sick to wound deer, especially a trophy animal.

To make a positive note, I spent to day with my 4yo son, he stuck with me though all the thick and thin, and we had a blast. Found some old deer bones and some reptiles. Also the 78yo landowner of the farm I hunt drove down and walked with me for a while, sharing stories of deer hunts, saying he hadn't trailed a deer in decades, In addition I might have got permission to hunt 600 acres of the gnarliest woods I've seen in a while, full of buck sign everywhere. Old hardwoods with creeks and swamp and dry high ground. Forage everywhere. Don't have it locked in but was encouraged to carry a weapon while pursuing the buck by the landowner.

Can't win em all, blessed with good weather, friends and family.

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[Kurt]

Well I called it before dark. Grid searched every nook and cranny around the place. Searched adjacent property. He's nowhere within 400 yards of last blood.

The terrain in this area is almost mountainous, it's deep ravines with old hardwoods and mountain Laurel. He ran down twords a spring but I got his tracks cutting up hill. Walked the spring Creek for several hundred yards, no tracks in it.

Hopefully he's not dead. Makes me sick to wound deer, especially a trophy animal.

To make a positive note, I spent to day with my 4yo son, he stuck with me though all the thick and thin, and we had a blast. Found some old deer bones and some reptiles. Also the 78yo landowner of the farm I hunt drove down and walked with me for a while, sharing stories of deer hunts, saying he hadn't trailed a deer in decades, In addition I might have got permission to hunt 600 acres of the gnarliest woods I've seen in a while, full of buck sign everywhere. Old hardwoods with creeks and swamp and dry high ground. Forage everywhere. Don't have it locked in but was encouraged to carry a weapon while pursuing the buck by the landowner.

Can't win em all, blessed with good weather, friends and family.

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It never gets easy. Glad you were able to enjoy the day.

 

[hokiehunter373]

Hoping to break this string of bad luck tomorrow morning. I’ll report back midday


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[ThePennsylvanian]

Hoping to break this string of bad luck tomorrow morning. I’ll report back midday


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I wish I could be out there, I'll be patiently waiting for an update while I'm at work. . . . Good luck, it's really heating up out there, at least around here the young boys are moving!! Knock em down!!

 

[MJH]

I am going out this afternoon, and as many days as i can next week archery hunting around my place. Then Sunday I head north for my hunt camps in the big woods. This is the big push...

 

[ARERHODES]

Also an activity report here in Virginia, the buck I shot was in hot pursuit of a doe, a younger buck was also chasing does in the field. While tracking the buck I found at least 15 open scrapes. I put up a camera on a scrape/trail that is used year after year by the mature bucks in the area.

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[Letemgrowitllshow]

Bit of a predicament fellas... Shot a 3 pointer. Had pernission to shoot anything so I shot the first one in range. Shot looked real good but I didnt see him go down so we gave him a couple hours. Thought I heard him crash but thought best to just back out.

Got on blood after dark. Followed blood the whole way. He went 1/4 mile till we found him, where I thought I'd heard him. Probably could have just went right to him, but always best to follow blood.

So good news is I double lunged him and he expired quickly. Bad news is..... I didnt get a picture...... We were focused on finding him because rain was moving in. Once found we cut him up and put in fridge to cool.

So I dont have a pic to help out the team... But on the bright side, I've shot 2 arrows this year and have 2 double lunged deer to show for it!

 

[hokiehunter373]

No dice for me yesterday. There’s was close to 0 wind coupled with the end of open ML I think had the deer off of this little piece of public and not moving much. I did find a fresh rub and scrape 15 yards away from my setup so that’s promising. I won’t be able to get out this coming weekend because we’ve got a dang wedding to go to. I’ll be out 11/7 and 11/8 and a few days the following week. I should at least get a doe down I’d hope.

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[ThePennsylvanian]

well, hit a slammer last night, he was running does in a field, hit him a 21 yards. shot looked foward, in the ahoulder. did not pass through. he ran to cover into the wind, i found my arrow at the transition. . . . Problem, i backed out to get help and drop gear, it started to pour, nonstop. we got on sparse blood, a few thumb sized spots, and he turned down hill. as he was running from the shot, he was running full bore, with his tail tucked. the fact i found blood even with all the rain makes me believe he was bleeding good. I decided to back out unitl today after work because one of our light died and he was getting into some pretty thick stuff. it all happened so quick i didnt get a really good look at his rack, he may have been a 8 or 9 point, but he was heavy. Hopefully, i can find doing a body search this afternoon, i realize i may loose the meat but i seriously hate the feeling of potentailly loosing an animal. i did not expect rain as i checked the radar, so that didnt help. i have my tack from last night marked on onx so hopefully ill be able to get on him, if not i dont know how im gonna get going again, this sucks....

 

[MJH]

well, hit a slammer last night...

Update??

 

[MJH]

No dice for me yesterday. There’s was close to 0 wind coupled with the end of open ML I think had the deer off of this little piece of public and not moving much. I did find a fresh rub and scrape 15 yards away from my setup so that’s promising. I won’t be able to get out this coming weekend because we’ve got a dang wedding to go to. I’ll be out 11/7 and 11/8 and a few days the following week. I should at least get a doe down I’d hope.

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Great Looking sign.

 

[MJH]

I have scraping now up here. Yesterday afternoon I hit a new patch of ground on a run and gun. My target was a strip of hardwoods between a swamp and a stand of evergreens. I figured it might act as a travel funnel, and be out of the way of the hikers etc...

On my hike in, well before my target area, I found a nice looking scrape - fresh with a print in it. I thought about setting up in that area for a min, but was well short of my target area. I pushed on wondering if I was leaving a better area for a worse one. When I got to my target, it setup really well. Better still there was three scrapes in that strip of hardwoods as well as a couple of giant oaks (not throwing corns however). Nice looking spot - hopefully I see something there in the coming days.

 

[Kurt]

Bit of a predicament fellas... Shot a 3 pointer. Had pernission to shoot anything so I shot the first one in range. Shot looked real good but I didnt see him go down so we gave him a couple hours. Thought I heard him crash but thought best to just back out.

Got on blood after dark. Followed blood the whole way. He went 1/4 mile till we found him, where I thought I'd heard him. Probably could have just went right to him, but always best to follow blood.

So good news is I double lunged him and he expired quickly. Bad news is..... I didnt get a picture...... We were focused on finding him because rain was moving in. Once found we cut him up and put in fridge to cool.

So I dont have a pic to help out the team... But on the bright side, I've shot 2 arrows this year and have 2 double lunged deer to show for it!

The contest is nice but lets keep the focus on killing deer, and hunting. ..........Not gonna lie the points would have been nice. Now it looks like you have to go out and do it again.