I'm back from my trip to Ohio and trying to get caught up from 2 weeks missed of work and the Thanksgiving holiday. Short of it is I came home empty handed with no arrows flung. We hunted some public in the Southeast section of the state. From what I had read online, I was fully expecting a bunch of people, and having to get deep or into secluded/hard to reach spots to find good deer. We got there mid afternoon on the 14th. Set up the tent real quick and got on the road to try and scout the perimeter of the property and learn the lay of the land. Did that the next morning as well and found 2 studs (on private of course) harassing a doe. Got some boots on the ground that evening and did the same the following morning just trying to figure out what was what and where the deer were holding. All the while, every time we leave or come back to camp we're seeing deer right there. The first morning we had a buck chasing a doe right by the tent. Of course you can't hunt there. Our first afternoon sit we got skunked in an absolutely beautiful spot overlooking some water. We had seen virtually 0 pressure from anyone and that coupled with deer close to camp made me throw out alllll the hours of previous map scouting and assumptions and we made the decision to hunt as close to camp as we possibly could. We got into deer right away and didn't get skunked on any remaining sit. The first morning I could have shot a button buck at 15 yards and if I would have tried I likely could have shot a little basket rack 8 at 30 yards but he wasn't what I was looking for. We got heavy rain Friday afternoon and used that time to scout a new section. It was absolutely torched with sign so we made the decision to throw an all day sit at it the next day. Again, could have shot deer, but not what we were looking for. Had a spike walk under me, a button buck skirt me at 30, and a doe at 50. Sunday and Monday we decided to throw all day sits at the spot near camp. On Sunday I went in blind further around the ridge to a low spot where I thought deer funneled up to in the AM. I was right, but I overshot the location by about 30 yards. Had a shooter walk up the ridge 55 yards away with a doe. I immediately got down and tried to put on a stalk but didn't know exactly where he got to on top of the ridge. I got within 40 yards before he busted out of there. In hindsight, when I started feeling it was getting more bucky, I should have sat down, scraped the ground, and grunted. Probably woulda had an opportunity then. Set up on his bed for the rest of the evening with no luck but did hear one walking in right at last light. We decided the next morning would be the last as rain was going to roll in Monday overnight and we didn't want to have to pack all of camp in the rain on Tuesday morning. Monday the wind switched so I switched with it and set up on the downwind side of that bed. Had a nice buck again come by around 55-60 and go up over the ridge. My dad had a doe and 2 little ones walk right underneath him, and that was the end of the trip. I'm bummed we didn't connect but knew that was the most likely outcome. We had fun and learned a lot and will be back. We saw a lot of deer and an impressive amount of bucks, just got into the big ones too late. The lack of pressure REALLY threw me for a loop and I most likely wasted two days of our trip because of it.
Anyways, back home now and hope to get a few more sits in this year. Hopefully I'll still add some points for us. Can't really complain with 2 kills with my kinds under my belt, just wish I was tethered in for them
First sit and only sit we got skunked:
View attachment 95821
Camp setup:
View attachment 95822
2nd sit button:
View attachment 95823
Best rub of the week. Looks to be a yearly signpost:
View attachment 95825
Intruder while rappelling to get after the first shooter I saw on stand:
View attachment 95824
Last deer of the week:
View attachment 95826