Bow Report 2010: Florida 10-6

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Bow Report 2010: Florida 10-6

Oct. 1, 2010 ( am & pm hunt) # (lost count)

Wind: NW <5 (very light)
temp.: l 66, h.82
moon: first quarter
major feed: 4:30 pm
pressure: 30.01- steady
humidity: avg. 75%
rain: 0 (rained overnight)

Friday, 1 st.

In an effort to try to see one of the bucks that are coming to the stand I went back to the pond stand this morning. I bumped two deer off the corn walking in. Later I saw the 75 spike and ended up letting him go. I pulled the camera card and there were deer there overnight including the 75 spike. That was hunt 5 for that stand.

That afternoon I had planned to hunt cabbage creek but everything had gone sideways and I was not able to get off in time to get over there and be able to corn and hunt so I decided to hunt the pond stand and camp at the house then drive over to cabbage creek early the next morning.

About 7:06 pm I saw a small doe paralleling the stand. She made it to the old woods road along the outside of the timber and turned south. I was thinking….she better not be looping down wind of me. Well, she did more than that. She came in behind the stand and actually scent checked my entry trail! Amazing. She would just stand and wait, testing the air. If she would have been bigger I would have put her down for being so cagey. All I need is for her to start teaching the others that little trick.

Eventually, the 75 spike showed up and got right to work picking up corn. The little doe may have caught a little scent of me and started to leave, she had been standing motionless 8 yds behind my tree for 10 minutes but the spike did not know she was there. The spike heard and saw her flagging as she slipped out of there and took off after her thinking their could be some possibilities worth investigating there. About 15 minutes later he came back and I did some filming of him.

Saturday Oct. 2

I hunted Cabbage Creek this morning. It sprinkled rain a little at the house as I was leaving. I decided to hunt the “kill zone stand” as this is a great morning stand. Actually, it’s a great evening stand also.

Well, the feed was on but the deer all eluded me. Everything was feeding, and the birds were very active. The moon was high in the sky but no deer ever showed. After I got in the stand and it was light enough to see I realized the neighbor on the adjoining property was sitting in a ladder stand about 55 yds from me. His wind was blowing from him right to his feeder and into the pine plantation where many of the deer I see come from. Not good for Larry!

I pulled the Trail Camera card that had been out all week. There had been a dandy 8pt by the cam at 4:30 in the morning but only the one time. Probably does not live there. The spike I let go the first morning there has not been back. I was not expecting that. The overall deer numbers visiting the stand does not seem very high. Its hard to id the does to know for sure. I did have a trophy coyote come by and got some good photo’s of him.

Note: every deer, coyote, etc. that comes by sees the camera even on Infra Red. I believe I am going to run all the Cams on infra red from now on. Judging from what I am seeing at the pond stand, the deer seem even more leery of the flash. They eat all the corn on the out skirts first and then work towards the camera. They are being very cautious about coming in to the site and I have only hunted the stand a few times.

I put out corn at the buck block stand behind the sink hole and set at Camera Trap there. There was just a bit of corn left which is unusual. Something has changed in the woods. I believe the natural feed has changed and more acorns are starting to fall. Typically, when this happens the deer all but quit the corn for a while. I only had one nice doe on that cam over night. There is a bear using the area and I was hoping to get a look at him.

I was chomping at the bit to get to my new stand at moccasin drain but we still had to cook, eat and shower. We cook our dinner at camp over a black jack oak fire after its burnt down and it cooks some of the best steaks I’ve ever eaten. I wrapped me a sweet potato in foil and put the steaks on, Steve, chicken and white potatoes and in a short time we were feasting like kings.

We showered at the “Neapolitan Bath House” and we were ready for a hunt. Oh, Steve came up with that name due to the multi colored wall metal we used on the it, brown, white and red….kind of like ice cream.

Any way, the hunt was a bust….saw a total of zero deer. Steve saw one small red deer just at dark and let it go as it appeared to be a yearling. That must have been difficult knowing him.

Sunday morning: Where did the cold come from? It was in the low 50’s over night and I was freezing on the 4 mile 4 wheeler ride in the dark. Everything was feeding but neither of us saw any deer. At 8:00 am and then again at 8:30, I had a deer try to come to me from the north from rattle snake flats but both smelled me before they got out of the thick where I could see them. The wind was back and fourth a little. They both left crashing and blowing! Man, I did not see a deer at cabbage creek all weekend! Every where I went the sign was real week.

Steve did see a trophy buck cross the road ahead of him on Saturday morning while out scouting.

Well, that’s pretty much it, I was really expecting big things but it did not pan out. Here’s some pictures from the cam’s.

The last (2) photo's were taken with a new trail cam I just got that also stamps the moon phase and temp. It takes the best pictures of all the Cameras I have but the temp. is incorrect in the photo of me. I will post more on this later.

 

Larry