Have a good feeling about this afternoon. Found an area yesterday that was tore up with scrapes and feed sign under some huge white oaks. It's on the edge of an old clear cut surrounded by very old growth forest. The cut is basically surrounded by 200-300+ year old white oaks that are all raining down acorns. I hunted this area around this same time in 2019 and sat on the edges for a few evenings unsuccessfully, then moved in and killed a buck from the ground in the middle of the thick stuff.
I spotted a young buck feeding in the cut early in the afternoon. He was was working from east to west with a northeast wind, and I was directly south of him. He worked a scrape and rubbed up a sapling before I lost sight of him. I was standing there debating whether to keep scouting the edge, or move in and set up close to where I saw the buck, when a big bodied deer came walking down that same trail. I pulled up the binoculars and saw a wide heavy frame with long tines... a no doubt shooter. He dug that other bucks pee out of the scrape, peed in it himself, and moved off in the same direction as the other buck.
With a light drizzle and steady 10-15 mph NE wind in my face, I quickly decided to try to get out in front of him and cut him off. I moved down the edge of the cut about 100 yards in the direction he was heading, knocked an arrow, and slipped into the thick stuff. To give you guys an idea of the cover type, it's a lot of saplings, shrubby holly trees, honey suckle, grape vines, fairly thick stuff with lots of small openings within it. I spotted the smaller buck through an opening, facing directly away from me with his head in another licking branch. As I'm working my way towards him, I spot the big buck, 40 yards away browsing, totally oblivious to my presence. I got drawn back on him twice, but never had a good window to slip an arrow through. I lost sight of him with about an hour of daylight left and decided to stay put in case he came back. About 15 minutes after I lost sight of the buck, a coyote ran past. That whole cut is absolutely tore up with buck sign and I'm gonna hunt it hard until I kill one or run them out of there.
Today's conditions are nearly identical to yesterday but a little cooler. Planning on setting up near the scrape where I first spotted the bucks yesterday.
I spotted a young buck feeding in the cut early in the afternoon. He was was working from east to west with a northeast wind, and I was directly south of him. He worked a scrape and rubbed up a sapling before I lost sight of him. I was standing there debating whether to keep scouting the edge, or move in and set up close to where I saw the buck, when a big bodied deer came walking down that same trail. I pulled up the binoculars and saw a wide heavy frame with long tines... a no doubt shooter. He dug that other bucks pee out of the scrape, peed in it himself, and moved off in the same direction as the other buck.
With a light drizzle and steady 10-15 mph NE wind in my face, I quickly decided to try to get out in front of him and cut him off. I moved down the edge of the cut about 100 yards in the direction he was heading, knocked an arrow, and slipped into the thick stuff. To give you guys an idea of the cover type, it's a lot of saplings, shrubby holly trees, honey suckle, grape vines, fairly thick stuff with lots of small openings within it. I spotted the smaller buck through an opening, facing directly away from me with his head in another licking branch. As I'm working my way towards him, I spot the big buck, 40 yards away browsing, totally oblivious to my presence. I got drawn back on him twice, but never had a good window to slip an arrow through. I lost sight of him with about an hour of daylight left and decided to stay put in case he came back. About 15 minutes after I lost sight of the buck, a coyote ran past. That whole cut is absolutely tore up with buck sign and I'm gonna hunt it hard until I kill one or run them out of there.
Today's conditions are nearly identical to yesterday but a little cooler. Planning on setting up near the scrape where I first spotted the bucks yesterday.
Just kidding, enjoy the honeymoon in Greece!
