Team Johnny 5 is alive!

[JASmith]

Our temp is dropping starting Friday night also. Should be a great weekend, I'm old anytime in the woods is great!

 

[Arrowsquirrel]

Live from the saddle

 

[Jammintree]

Anyone in the mood for Sharing some buck pics to get our blood running hot, or are ya’ll the secretive type?

here’s a buck I’ve been getting to know for a number of years now. I’ve seen him several times, but never in range. I still don’t know enough about him to make a planned strike. For now all I can do is hope he comes by one of my rut stands or better yet that I can find his track after a fresh snowfall.

 

[philsanchez76]

Definitely don't mind sharing; its just I don't really have any great bucks on camera this year. I am sure in the next 1-2 weeks I will start picking up a few on some scrapes and of course will post em up here.

 

[Jammintree]

Anyone in the mood for Sharing some buck pics to get our blood running hot, or are ya’ll the secretive type?

here’s a buck I’ve been getting to know for a number of years now. I’ve seen him several times, but never in range. I still don’t know enough about him to make a planned strike. For now all I can do is hope he comes by one of my rut stands or better yet that I can find his track after a fresh snowfall. View attachment 73187

Fwiw this is a pic from last year. Most of this years trail cams won’t get checked for a long time and will generate intel for next year.

 

[Arrowsquirrel]

Well this is my number one target for the year but my hopes aren't high that he'll make it. He doesn't show up where I can hunt him till late December. Had him at 8 yards broadside last year the day or two after he shed his antlers. Found them a couple days later. 3rd year I've got info on him. Last year was the first year I saved my tag till late season. If he shows and I still have a tag my confidence will be high if I have some time to get out there.

 

[Blacksmith]

I videoed this fella the night before season @ 15 yds on my phone for 10 minutes, hence the lousy pics. He has (7) on the R. and a 5" drop on the L.

 

[Blacksmith]

Well this is my number one target for the year but my hopes aren't high that he'll make it. He doesn't show up where I can hunt him till late December. Had him at 8 yards broadside last year the day or two after he shed his antlers. Found them a couple days later. 3rd year I've got info on him. Last year was the first year I saved my tag till late season. If he shows and I still have a tag my confidence will be high if I have some time to get out there. View attachment 73194View attachment 73195

They always act dumb until you have that pointy thing w/you...

 

[Jammintree]

A

They always act dumb until you have that pointy thing w/you...

Ain’t that the truth

 

[cville_bowhunter]

Check this guy out. It's the same deer. He really filled out in body these last few months. I get him on camera sporadically and can't find any sort of rhyme or reason as to why he likes to show up when he does. Anyways, I started having stress dreams about boogering a shot about a month ago. It kept me practicing every day leading up to the season!

 

[EricS]

These two are about all I have had on camera that would get a second look. They were both last week. Lots of things changing in the woods right now. Several bucks, coyotes, bobcats, and hogs that made a single appearance this week that haven’t been on camera since I put them back out a month ago.

 

[Blacksmith]

Had Three Bucks Walk Right Under Me Tonight But All Too Small After Seeing A Good One.

 

[philsanchez76]

Well yall ive a string of super close but unsuccessful hunts. I just can't seem to pick the right tree this week. Had a huge doe 5 yards from me but right on the other side of a thick gnarly cedar tree with a thousand limbs and could never get a clear shot. I have to fight the urge to keep hunting hard for meat because I know the bucks are about to start moving in the next week or so and I need to stay out of some of these spots for that. On the positive side, ive finally started seeing a few scrapes popping up. When do yall normally see scrapes starting where you're at? Do any of you actually hunt these? Ive only ever witnessed younger bucks hitting scrapes in daylight, but this year ive been wanting to try to set up more strategically downwind of these to try to intercept an older buck making a quick pass by to scent check. Any experiences on this?

 

[cville_bowhunter]

Well yall ive a string of super close but unsuccessful hunts. I just can't seem to pick the right tree this week. Had a huge doe 5 yards from me but right on the other side of a thick gnarly cedar tree with a thousand limbs and could never get a clear shot. I have to fight the urge to keep hunting hard for meat because I know the bucks are about to start moving in the next week or so and I need to stay out of some of these spots for that. On the positive side, ive finally started seeing a few scrapes popping up. When do yall normally see scrapes starting where you're at? Do any of you actually hunt these? Ive only ever witnessed younger bucks hitting scrapes in daylight, but this year ive been wanting to try to set up more strategically downwind of these to try to intercept an older buck making a quick pass by to scent check. Any experiences on this?

On success:
I'm right there with you on the unsuccessful hunts...shot a doe on Monday night, and after 500 yards of blood over 12 hours, I never found her. First time losing an animal, and it feels pretty bad. Some hard lessons for sure, but I learned a lot from the experience.

On scrapes:
I found some scrapes over the past weekend (I'm in VA). I can't say exactly when they popped up, but that was the first I noticed them this season. I listened to Dan Infalt talk about hunting scrapes, and he made a convincing argument. Essentially, he said that he hunts scrapes that are close to a mature buck's bedding area AND does so immediately following rain. His logic was that the big boy will come in and freshen up his scrapes as soon as the rain stops. So he sneaks in while it's raining, gets set up for the storm to pass, and he's ready to rock when it finally clears. It made complete sense to me when I heard it, so I am going to give it a shot myself.

 

[Jammintree]

On the positive side, ive finally started seeing a few scrapes popping up. When do yall normally see scrapes starting where you're at? Do any of you actually hunt these? Ive only ever witnessed younger bucks hitting scrapes in daylight, but this year ive been wanting to try to set up more strategically downwind of these to try to intercept an older buck making a quick pass by to scent check. Any experiences on this?

On scrapes in my region: I see a small number of them show up around the time that bucks shed velvet, which here is roughly mid sept. Then they pretty well leave the ground alone until the couple weeks leading up to the rut, which is when the majority of the scrapes pop up. It appears that the falling leaves coincide with the opening up of the rutting scrapes (mid/late October.) However, I’ve seen evidence of bucks and doe tasting licking branches all year round.

I try to distinguish between numerous different kinds of scrapes, as some seem to be more meaningful for my purposes. Last year I found a scrape line in peak rut and Immediately set up on it. Later that evening I watched a monster buck drive a doe down the mountain and across the scrape line. I didn’t have a shot but was glad I set up where I did.

I’ve still got a lot to learn, but it seems to me like scrapes provide great intel - but is only useful at certain times. Not all scrapes are created equal. I try and figure out what kind of scrape it is. Why is it in that particular location and what purpose does it serve?

 

[philsanchez76]

On success:
I'm right there with you on the unsuccessful hunts...shot a doe on Monday night, and after 500 yards of blood over 12 hours, I never found her. First time losing an animal, and it feels pretty bad. Some hard lessons for sure, but I learned a lot from the experience.

On scrapes:
I found some scrapes over the past weekend (I'm in VA). I can't say exactly when they popped up, but that was the first I noticed them this season. I listened to Dan Infalt talk about hunting scrapes, and he made a convincing argument. Essentially, he said that he hunts scrapes that are close to a mature buck's bedding area AND does so immediately following rain. His logic was that the big boy will come in and freshen up his scrapes as soon as the rain stops. So he sneaks in while it's raining, gets set up for the storm to pass, and he's ready to rock when it finally clears. It made complete sense to me when I heard it, so I am going to give it a shot myself.

Sorry to hear about losing that doe man. ive lost one myself and nothing but time passing makes that feel any better. Thx for the advice on the scrapes. We got crushed by some rain last night and im gonna sneak out real quick this morning and maybe try this.

 

[philsanchez76]

On scrapes in my region: I see a small number of them show up around the time that bucks shed velvet, which here is roughly mid sept. Then they pretty well leave the ground alone until the couple weeks leading up to the rut, which is when the majority of the scrapes pop up. It appears that the falling leaves coincide with the opening up of the rutting scrapes (mid/late October.) However, I’ve seen evidence of bucks and doe tasting licking branches all year round.

I try to distinguish between numerous different kinds of scrapes, as some seem to be more meaningful for my purposes. Last year I found a scrape line in peak rut and Immediately set up on it. Later that evening I watched a monster buck drive a doe down the mountain and across the scrape line. I didn’t have a shot but was glad I set up where I did.

I’ve still got a lot to learn, but it seems to me like scrapes provide great intel - but is only useful at certain times. Not all scrapes are created equal. I try and figure out what kind of scrape it is. Why is it in that particular location and what purpose does it serve?

Yes great point about asking why is a scrape there. I learned quick enough to leave field edge scrapes alone. Im sure on highly managed private you may be able to do something with that, but not on my local public. I believe the last few years I am finding these scrapes too late, around 10/31 right when the rut is about to kick off. This year I am trying to see if I can take advantage these last 2 weeks of October when I suspect most of the scraping activity is taking place here. I dunno. we will see.

 

[philsanchez76]

Also put a crappy SPYPOINT cell cam on that scrape I found and 2 nights later finally a shooter!! Forgive the crap pic. I have to hang these things high if I don’t want them stolen.

 

[cville_bowhunter]

Sorry to hear about losing that doe man. ive lost one myself and nothing but time passing makes that feel any better. Thx for the advice on the scrapes. We got crushed by some rain last night and im gonna sneak out real quick this morning and maybe try this.

Best of luck! My camera over a scrape started lighting up right around 6 this morning. We're getting that rain now here. It's just does so far, but I'm guessing it's more than just the big boys that feel the need to freshen things up after the rain. If I can get off work in time, I will try and sneak out this afternoon right before it quits

 

[Jammintree]

Round here it seems like scrapes cool off around peak rut. But they heat up again going into the supplemental rut(s)