trophy-hunting: Florida Bow Hunting Report 2011

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Florida Bow Hunting Report 2011 - Opening Weekend!

Bow Report 2011 - Opening Weekend

Sept. 17 & 18

As is usually the case, the first few hunts for the year are a little rough getting started. It always takes a few days to get the bugs worked out of the gear. The biggest hurdle is getting yourself back in tune after 9 months or so of no deer hunting. This weekend went pretty well for the most part and I got to camp with all the necessary gear and equipment. We had some minor repairs with the shower house pump system to fix but we’re back in business now.

This was pretty interesting.....a doe with a split, broken ear!

You don't see that every day.

We are coming off a full moon so I did not expect much for evening deer activity and that held pretty true. As a matter of fact I did not see a deer the first day. When I pulled the trail camera cards after being out for a week I was surprised to see some good activity at two of the stand but only a picture of one bear at the other. My favorite stand really had some hot activity and there are 3 bucks and maybe a fourth, using there regularly. Two of them are 5pt.’s and the other is a 7pt. One of the does had a fawn that still has almost all it’s spots so I’ll have to take care not to accidentally shoot mama.

A doe fawn still nursing on mama

The Buck block stand has a bear showing up for corn regularly but this year there seems to be a few more deer using there. Although all trail cam pic’s have been does and yearlings so far. There are (3) fresh scrapes and a small scrub oak that was worked over close to the stand. The problem with this stand is that it is a long way from lay-up and you need to hunt it on the right feed times to have a chance of a deer getting there with shooting light.

The first morning’s hunt was pretty slow. The weather was overcast, humid and warm….not conditions that are conducive to deer movement. As a matter of fact, no one in the club we spoke to saw a deer.

I missed the first afternoon’s hunt due to having to attend a wedding of all things. Who schedules a wedding on the opening day of bow season anyway?

The Sunday morning’s hunt was a bust but the camera at the Kill Zone stand had taken 225 pictures over night! No bucks but impressive. From the pictures I realized a deer was there picking up corn when I arrive in the dark that I never knew was there.

That afternoon I hunted it again but the weather was odd with some fast moving black clouds that would mist a little and then clear up. There was some wind high up in the tops of the trees but not much at ground level. It was some weird weather.

I could hardly believe it but I managed to miss a deer this afternoon! I think I am shooting better than ever but managed a clean miss. I knew my mistake immediately upon seeing where the arrow went…….Shooter error!

I could hear a deer making a little noise in the bushes off in a palmetto flat. It would rustle the bushes just a little then nothing. He might have been eating palmetto berries or something as he took for ever to step out into the chop. He was walking down a mow that I had ranged at 39 yds but I quickly decided I was not going to take a shot but rather I’d wait and see if he would angle over in front of the stand. Then it hit me that he was about to get down wind and I went into action. I stopped him and settled the 40 pin on him and tripped the tripper. I made three mistakes and I instantly knew why I missed high. I had ranged the palmettos on the far side of the trail at 39 yds. The deer could have been as close as 37 depending on where he was walking. Second, with the stand at 18’ I needed to deduct about 4 yds from the ranged distance. Third, when I stopped the deer he coursed the sound and looked my way….I should have knocked off 5 yds right there. The deer jumped the string and the arrow flew harmlessly over his back. I would have had to have used the 30yd pin to have kill that one.

He’s living there close so I expect we’ll meet again.

My buddy SteveO and I decided to camp Sunday night and hunt Monday AM. then head to work from there. Neither of us saw a deer but the weather was good for it. I only hunted until 8:30 and I was on the road.

Monday 9-19, I made a quick hunt at the pond stand but something has changed and the deer stopped eating corn at the feeder all of the sudden. The trail cam had only been tripped 5 times in 3 days. That really set me back. I was not expecting that. Most all of the corn was still there. When this happens it usually means the acorns have started falling . A deer will walk right past corn to eat acorns.

Just before dark I heard a little noise to my left and a little 3” pencil horn buck goes walking out from behind my stand at 8 yds. I let him walk on by and watched as he passed within 10 yds of the corn and never gave it a look.

Tuesday 9-20, Went back to the pond stand again this afternoon. The humidity was not as bad but deer activity was less by one which left me seeing zip. I think this stand is going to be tough this year. There has been a 5” spike and a buck that is either a forked horn of a cow horned buck on the trail cam but nothing substantial yet.

He’s a pile of trail cam pic’s from the last week and opening weekend.

Larry