• The SH Membership has gone live. Only SH Members have access to post in the classifieds. All members can view the classifieds. Starting in 2020 only SH Members will be admitted to the annual hunting contest. Current members will need to follow these steps to upgrade: 1. Click on your username 2. Click on Account upgrades 3. Choose SH Member and purchase.
  • We've been working hard the past few weeks to come up with some big changes to our vendor policies to meet the changing needs of our community. Please see the new vendor rules here: Vendor Access Area Rules

Team #7

austin1990 said:
Well I'm kinda at a loss right now... I been hunting this same deer for 4 seasons now on public and have managed to keep him to myself. Well earlier this year I noticed increased pressure, and just kind of blew it off. Yesterday no one in there, slipped in and found a guy 50 yards away, who came in nearly 2 miles from a different access, he told me he knew about that deer.... ok he was there first so I moved areas. On way out I run into a different guy at dark, who came from an even different access just over a mile, and started telling me all about that deer. Apparently a buddy of his has it on cam, and has been telling EVERYBODY in Hope's someone can kill it. I got irritated and left.... now I'm trying to decide if he's worth dealing with the increase in pressure, or cutting my losses and finding a new deer.
Click to expand...
Id say of you have a shooter in that area, then there are more. You now know where those two hunt-so do the deer. Look at your map and find the thick travel areas that deer can avoid them and hunt there. Public pressure can be used to your advantage.
 
austin1990 said:
Well I'm kinda at a loss right now... I been hunting this same deer for 4 seasons now on public and have managed to keep him to myself. Well earlier this year I noticed increased pressure, and just kind of blew it off. Yesterday no one in there, slipped in and found a guy 50 yards away, who came in nearly 2 miles from a different access, he told me he knew about that deer.... ok he was there first so I moved areas. On way out I run into a different guy at dark, who came from an even different access just over a mile, and started telling me all about that deer. Apparently a buddy of his has it on cam, and has been telling EVERYBODY in Hope's someone can kill it. I got irritated and left.... now I'm trying to decide if he's worth dealing with the increase in pressure, or cutting my losses and finding a new deer.
Click to expand...
How many times have you been in there this year? Have you seen him during daylight hours? Do you have a camera there? If you know he’s in there still, I’d hunt him. If someone else is coming in from 2 miles and knows 3 other people are hunting him, he may lose interest.
 
austin1990 said:
Well I'm kinda at a loss right now... I been hunting this same deer for 4 seasons now on public and have managed to keep him to myself. Well earlier this year I noticed increased pressure, and just kind of blew it off. Yesterday no one in there, slipped in and found a guy 50 yards away, who came in nearly 2 miles from a different access, he told me he knew about that deer.... ok he was there first so I moved areas. On way out I run into a different guy at dark, who came from an even different access just over a mile, and started telling me all about that deer. Apparently a buddy of his has it on cam, and has been telling EVERYBODY in Hope's someone can kill it. I got irritated and left.... now I'm trying to decide if he's worth dealing with the increase in pressure, or cutting my losses and finding a new deer.
Click to expand...
That buck is either dead or gone to where he goes when the pressure shows up. Figure out where he's at and stick with it. Or bounce to a new area hunt sign and shoot the first thing that makes you happy. my guess is that buck is alive and in hiding, and if he's that nice it's worth confirming his status before you write him off

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
Finally found one to hunt I think. Havent seen him yet but found a spot. Freaking Lidar is going to change the game for sure. I have probably walked past this spot at least 50 times and at ground level, you cant really tell there is a terrain feature there to even look at, it is that subtle. It is the junction where 2 NE/SW running ridges come together to make sort of a Y. At the junction it is really open as far as trees but lots of ground level cover. There are 3 big wild pecans, a couple of over cup oaks and a big nutall scattered in a 50 yard area or so. The whole area is cutover and there are 4 distinct soft edges that meet around the junction as well. 15-20 rubs wrist to a little better than forearm size and I have no idea how many intersecting trails but a lot. Hung Friday afternoon and had 2 does come through about 15 minutes apart. One at 17 and the other at 22 yards. Saturday morning had another doe about 20 come through. They were all moving back and forth on E/W trails. Saturday evening was dead until right at dark. Had a big hog come by but only got to about 35. Was basically out of light when he moved off. Unclimbed the tree and as I was putting my pack on a buck set in thrashing a tree about what sounded like 100-125 yards south of me on the the rub line. I was exiting north so I hurried and slipped out as quietly as I could and got gone hoping not to booger him up. Yesterday morning, the first deer by was a 4 point that I am guessing is responsible for the only small rub I saw in that area. He slipped by at about 18-19 yards. Then had a doe and little come in. They moved around there about 25 yards for a bit and then got over in one of the dewberry patches and stared feeding. They I guess got full and needed a rest so they bedded about 50 yards for an hour and a half then got up and moved off. A little bit after they left I had 2 big does come trotting by on a N/S line. I can see a long way in nearly every direction and all the movement I saw this weekend was right where I hung so I feel like I am on the spot. Just gotta be there when he shows.

Only real concern is pressure. This particular area doesnt see a lot of pressure until now but it will ratchet up a bunch for the next few weeks.
 
BTaylor said:
Finally found one to hunt I think. Havent seen him yet but found a spot. Freaking Lidar is going to change the game for sure. I have probably walked past this spot at least 50 times and at ground level, you cant really tell there is a terrain feature there to even look at, it is that subtle. It is the junction where 2 NE/SW running ridges come together to make sort of a Y. At the junction it is really open as far as trees but lots of ground level cover. There are 3 big wild pecans, a couple of over cup oaks and a big nutall scattered in a 50 yard area or so. The whole area is cutover and there are 4 distinct soft edges that meet around the junction as well. 15-20 rubs wrist to a little better than forearm size and I have no idea how many intersecting trails but a lot. Hung Friday afternoon and had 2 does come through about 15 minutes apart. One at 17 and the other at 22 yards. Saturday morning had another doe about 20 come through. They were all moving back and forth on E/W trails. Saturday evening was dead until right at dark. Had a big hog come by but only got to about 35. Was basically out of light when he moved off. Unclimbed the tree and as I was putting my pack on a buck set in thrashing a tree about what sounded like 100-125 yards south of me on the the rub line. I was exiting north so I hurried and slipped out as quietly as I could and got gone hoping not to booger him up. Yesterday morning, the first deer by was a 4 point that I am guessing is responsible for the only small rub I saw in that area. He slipped by at about 18-19 yards. Then had a doe and little come in. They moved around there about 25 yards for a bit and then got over in one of the dewberry patches and stared feeding. They I guess got full and needed a rest so they bedded about 50 yards for an hour and a half then got up and moved off. A little bit after they left I had 2 big does come trotting by on a N/S line. I can see a long way in nearly every direction and all the movement I saw this weekend was right where I hung so I feel like I am on the spot. Just gotta be there when he shows.

Only real concern is pressure. This particular area doesnt see a lot of pressure until now but it will ratchet up a bunch for the next few weeks.
Click to expand...

Man this is awesome! I love that feeling when you find a new spot and have a close encounter. I agree LiDAR has upped my game too
 
I missed today, pretty sure. I'm pretty ticked off about it too. Hopefully I did ... *cringe!!!* miss and the doe is fine. Probably mostly a personal problem but good grief do I have extreme dislike for missing, for not being prepared, for not executing. I'll be sore shouldered and better prepared next time.

If I don't check back in I hope y'all have a very happy Thanksgiving!
 
Horn said:
I missed today, pretty sure. I'm pretty ticked off about it too. Hopefully I did ... *cringe!!!* miss and the doe is fine. Probably mostly a personal problem but good grief do I have extreme dislike for missing, for not being prepared, for not executing. I'll be sore shouldered and better prepared next time.

If I don't check back in I hope y'all have a very happy Thanksgiving!
Click to expand...
It doesn't help much, we've all been there - it happens to all of us. Its part of hunting.

Happy Thanksgiving
 
Last edited:
Horn said:
I missed today, pretty sure. I'm pretty ticked off about it too. Hopefully I did ... *cringe!!!* miss and the doe is fine. Probably mostly a personal problem but good grief do I have extreme dislike for missing, for not being prepared, for not executing. I'll be sore shouldered and better prepared next time.

If I don't check back in I hope y'all have a very happy Thanksgiving!
Click to expand...
Good grief, how could you do such a thing? :tearsofjoy:

Man, I had a stretch where I reeled off 16 consecutive clean misses 20 yards or closer. The only explanation I had or have to this day is that the broadheads I had switched to were non-meat seeking. They flew perfect on a target but would not hit meat. After the 16th miss which happened to be about 20 minutes into to shooting light, I climbed down, went back to camp and threw the entire dozen heads in the river. I had a 6 pack of thunderheads in my bag. Put them together, screwed em on and killed a deer that afternoon. The next 17 times I drew my bow, deer died before I had a deflection miss. I am sure there was nothing wrong with the heads I threw in the river but I had no confidence in them and it became a mental thing. Never allow for even the slightest fragment of doubt in your gear or ability to close the deal. Check your gear, clear your head and get back after 'em. You got this!!
 
That stinks @Horn happens to all of us though. Some more often than we may admit to the world lol.

Time to put a pause on bow season and get out the boomsticks here. I spent a couple days this week down in MD, pretty much just got a beatdown down there. Those mountains are tough. I'm finding way more good habitat than deer. Finding great-looking areas that are just barren wastelands, not something I find much here at home. There are a few good bucks around though, I'll find them.

Hunted a spot I speed-scouted last year and just didn't quite get it right. Had a buck grunting in the laurel about 75 yards, couldn't ever get eyes on him, and that was it. Sounded like he was dogging a doe. That was it for deer encounters

So I did some more scouting for a rifle tree and found a couple options but we'll see. Not sure what to expect for pressure down there. Buck comes in a week before doe, I know in PA when that was the case, doe opener was a good bit higher traffic in my area. Just never really found much hot deer sign this trip though. A few rubs, no scrapes. It's always seemed weird to me though, some deer just do one or the other to the extreme, some deer do almost none. Observed that in different locales but have yet to figure out why. Good news is I think the last of the corn in the direct area was coming down when I was there.

I'll split time in rifle between there and here where I have a pocket full of doe tags, and a couple buddies that want deer meat. I don't want to guarantee 5 more points, because I will do a mix of tree and some ground hunting, but deer are going to succumb one way or another.
 
Dirtbag camped at one of them there lectric spots, man was that living high on the hog. The space heater I brought got my quarters up to slow-roasting temps in about 90 seconds. So I didn't sleep in the heat, but it was nice for getting dressed. Guess I could just get me a mr buddy heater and accomplish the same thing off the grid.

1700665011479.png
 
No chance to rectify my mistake. Not sure if that's good or bad, I hoped to see the deer again to at least confirm that I suck. I did get restless and bumped one the same place I did Sunday, didn't look special or anything but good to know deer are there. Despite my best effort to run them off. Going to let that area chill best I can for public and return in a week or so
 
It was a cold nasty SOB this morning. Had two small antlerless deer come by about forty yards out during grey light. Pretty good sit until the wind started gusting hard around 9. Climbed down and took the scenic route out, found a decent rub line 75 yards from where I was at this morning. Not much else for deer sign. Lots of turkey scratch though.

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk
 
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:

IMG_2155.jpg


Camp setup:

IMG_2249.JPG

2nd sit button:

IMG_2176.jpg

Best rub of the week. Looks to be a yearly signpost:

IMG_2182.jpg

Intruder while rappelling to get after the first shooter I saw on stand:

IMG_2226.jpg

Last deer of the week:

IMG_2284.JPG
 
hokiehunter373 said:
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
Click to expand...
Sounds like a great trip, especially getting to hunt with your dad the whole week
 
I've hunted hard the last 2 weekends, seeing a lot of young bucks, but doe and mature bucks have gone into hiding or nocturnal. 2nd rut is fixing to get started here, I'll be out again this weekend.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top