Illinois 2011 Bow Hunting Report #1

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Illinois Bow Report 2011 - #1


Friday, Nov. 5,11

We took Gerry’s chariot to Illinois today. We overnight'd at his farm in South Illinois, just across the Kentucky line. We got up early and finished the last 5 hours of the trip and got in about 8:30 Saturday morning.

Saturday, Nov. 6, 11

Gerry (GG) and I arrived at the farm this morning. The temperature was in the 30’s and the high was 58. The wind was South 12-15mph with gusts to 21 and partly sunny.

Gerry had never hunted with us on this farm before so I needed to show him some of the stands he’d be hunting. We hiked in to the cow’s head stand and found a pile of fresh pawed scrapes and even a few acorns on the ground. We pushed up the hill to the grassy lane and jumped a doe and one hell of a buck! This thing was world class. I only got a fleeting glimpse as he bounded across the open lane but I saw enough to know he was a real monster. We also jumped (3) deer above the well stand and Gerry saw a buck on the top field.

That afternoon GG hunted the mud hole stand and saw (8) deer, (2) bucks and (6) does. One was a real nice 9pt with a sticker off his left G2 that came into 18yds but caught a whiff of Gerry, turned and headed up the hill without offering a good shot. Gerry thought he’d score in the 140’s

I hunted the Kill Zone stand which over looks a big bean field, a new cut over bottom and a CRP field. It’s a great observatory stand as I can see a total of over 1,500 yds of a variety of cover and crops. I saw a total of (13) deer, (3) were bucks and two were possible low end shooters. The largest was an 8pt that came off the neighbors hill to the east and moved down the old township road. The other was in the field with a doe near the green tree but it was to dark to ID him.

Big Illinois Buck Rub on Large Cedar!

Gerry and I saw two good bucks with a couple does in Ashwood’s field at dark. One was a definite shooter.
It was a pretty good first day. The bucks are still in the scraping phase,  everyone you see is fresh pawed.

Here's a few pictures from today:

The creek at Steve's Stand!

Accessing the a new stand from the creek!

I kind of expected this but it was still a little shock to see it. The farm was logged while we were gone

and I knew the cotton woods on this creek were going to get wiped out but it was still hard

to look at it after hunting the heavily wooded creek for the past 10 years. The only tree left

standing was the one with my stand! Talk about sticking out like a soar thumb!

Nice hardwood rub!

I started deploying trail cameras today so well see what kind of intel we can gather with them.

My gear for 2011:

This year I'm again hunting with a Mathews Switchback XT at 62 1/2#
Vapor Trail bow string
Easton Camo Hunter shafts, 2213, 4" AAE vanes
Muzzy 4 blade, 100gr broadheads
Trophy Taker rest
Limb Saver vibration dampers
Nikon Monarch 10x36 Binoculars, Crooked Horn Outfitters Bino System
Bushnell Range finder

API Bowhunter treestand (Only when I have to)

I have high hopes for the up coming next week. It's been two years since I've taken A big buck on the lease and I'm getting an itchy trigger finger, Illinois bucks beware!

More to come.

Larry
 

Florida Bow Hunting Report #6 - Oct. 7, 2011

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Florida Bow Hunting Report #6
Monday, Oct. 7, 2011

I needed to change things up a little after hunting the kill zone stand and walking in on some deer in the dark. After climbing into the stand the wind switched and a deer ran off blowing evey breath for as far as I could hear. I thought to myself, the cat is out of the bag now. I know I had been putting a little to much pressure on this stand.

I decided to make my next hunt at the pond stand. I was in the tree before shooting light and ready for action. There was some large cloud formations to the east that held daylight off just a bit but it finally got light enough to shoot.

The morning was going pretty slow but from the stand I could see the deer had been on the corn and a good bit of it was gone.

I was just about ready to put my gear together and climb down when I caught a little movement in the edge of the chop off to my left. I put the glasses on it and surprise! A deer. Slowly a young doe and two yearlings emerged from the gallberry and palmettos.

The doe, like most with yearlings, approached the corn very cautiously. I decided I would take a shot at the doe when she got right.

I was videoing the hunt and trying to keep the camera on the deer while preparing for the shot.

As the doe reached the 5th row that adjoined the corn she suddenly got real nervous and stopped and stomped her foot. She turned and started walking away. At 33 yds she turned broadside, I put the 30yd pin on her and launched a shaft. I did not have time to make sure the camera was on her, I may have missed the footage, I don’t know yet.

Well. The shot felt pretty good but it all went bad in an instant. The impact was low and back. The doe bolted off to the north and I sank into the seat…..How did that just happen? I just managed the dreaded paunch shot.

I really had my work cut out for me now. The bad part was the 60% rain chance that was forecasted for the day. I needed time to let the deer layup before taking up the trail. Really, 8 hours minimum but I was not going to get it.

I looked at the arrow sticking in the ground and there was no sign of blood, only stomach content. That pretty much ruled out any liver involvement.

I went to the house and picked up Lacy so we would be ready to hit the trail if the weather threatened. About the time we got to town it started to rain. It appeared to be isolated and there was no way the doe would be dead at this point so we had to bide out time.

At 1:30 I felt we could not hold off any longer and we headed to take up the trail. Lacy was ready to go. I leashed her up and away we went. Without a word spoken and with it already having rained once, Lacy pulled me straight to the arrow sticking in the ground. Incredible! She was on it. We pushed thru some palmettos to the edge of the chop and turned east. From there we moved along the edge of the timber to an old atv trail. The dog turned North and tracked down the road maybe a hundred yards, made a loose, turned back and found where the deer had gone in the bushes to the east. I feel the doe would have gone down the road like this but you have to believe the dog. That is the biggest mistake most inexperienced dog handlers make.

Lacy pulled me into some pretty thick cover and eventually up under some mature palmettos to a spot where a deer had bedded. I did not see any blood or stomach content on the ground. Lacy smelled around it and found where the deer had left there and in short distance she opened on the lead which is not a good sign. That indicates the deer is up and moving.

We kept going but all of the sudden the bottom dropped out of the clouds and the rain started to pour. The trail was starting to break down and we had to give it up. We tried to make a new start but it was useless. We headed for the truck with our heads hung low.

I am still torn as to whether we were on the right deer. We could have been on one of the yearlings, I guess we’ll never know. I convinced that the bed Lacy took me two was what she tracked away from the stand site. She never indicated she had lost the track.

Once this weather breaks I will try to see if the buzzards have found her. I would like to know what happened.

I wish I had better news but for a bow hunter, it is just a matter of time before you run into this same situation. It generally does not go well. I will try to shake this off and get back in the saddle but I have to say my confidence has been shaken after two clean misses and a cripple. I sure need to make a couple good clean kills before heading for the big Illinois bow hunt the first of November.

If there is some video to see on this I will post it when I can.

Larry

Florida Bow Hunting Report #5 - Oct. 7, 2011

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Florida Bow Hunting Report #5


Monday, Oct. 3, 2011

I hunted the pond stand this morning but it was a bust. The trail cam had pitiful few pictures on it. The deer activity has really gotten slow there.



I am expecting big things this week as the moon is coming around to putting the feed times at dawn and dusk. I have always found the best hunting to be on the quarter moon phase.



I headed for Cabbage Creek this afternoon to hunt my Kill zone stand. As usual, work made my arrival later than I wanted. The conditions were right but There was no deer activity for my effort.

Tuesday, Oct. 4
Lacy, my bluetick and I had cold camped so we could make the hunt this morning before heading for work. Again we saw no deer activity.

The deer activity on the trail cam at the Kill Zone stand has been good so that was the plan for the afternoons hunt. If I could keep hunting this spot undetected It would be just a matter of time before I crossed up one of the bucks using here.

Little did I know today would be the day. However, the outcome was not to be the one I was wishing for.

I had arrived late due to having to stop for gas, ice, food, corn, etc. all at different locations. I parked the truck, told the dog to stay, grabbed my gear and took off. I must have looked like a guy that just crawled out of another mans wife’s window. I was hustling down the road trying to don all my cloths.

When I got to the stand I tied off my bow and climbed into the stand. As I was pulling my bow up I started to hear a deer pushing thru the thick palmetto flat behind me. I hurried and knocked an arrow. The deer was making so much noise I knew it had to be a buck. I’ve noticed bucks seem to make a lot more noise than does and yearlings.

Well, after 6-8 minutes the buck finally hopped over some high palmettos with a crash into the back of an old cutover about 75 yds to the west of me. It was the little 5 pt I had missed the first weekend.

He walked over to a clump of small bay trees and started whooping up on them. He had them swaying back and fourth with a fever. It looked a little funny as there was no wind and at that distance, without the binoculars you could not see the deer, only the bushes moving. He would stop periodically and smell the limbs, even nip a bite or two off some edible plant besides. Finally, he started heading my way. He turned to start down a trail and I decided I would try to let him stop on his own if possible but he walked thru the first two spots without a pause. When he reached the exact spot I had missed him before I made a low bleat that got his attention and he stopped. I was at full draw, put the 30 yd pin on him and loosed an arrow.

When the arrow arrived and the deer bolted I heard a small ping and remember thinking I did not like the sound of that. The second bad sign was the way the deer was pitching high and slow through the thick. A fatally hit deer plows, he don’t pitch or high hop. When he reached the back of the chop he stopped and looked around, twitched his tail and slowly walked back into the thick palmetto flat. I had just missed the same buck for the second time, standing in the same exact spot! What the heck is going on here!! I can’t remember the last time I clean missed two deer in one season.

I later ranged the spot again and realized it was further than I had thought. It ranged 41yds and I thought it was 39. I figured the deer was a couple yards closer than the 39 as that was to the far side. I deducted 4 yds for the 20’ stand hgt. And put the 30yd pin mid hgt…..shot right under him and apparently the ping was his foot or knee hitting the shaft when he ran. Damn the luck!

Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2011

I saw zero deer in the morning and the afternoon would prove to be only slightly more eventful.

The highlight for the afternoon was a rat in the palmettos below my stand. I was pretty convinced there for a minute that it might be an approaching deer. Being straight below the stand I could not course where the sound was coming from. Finally, I figured it out….just a rat.

Well, There was one other pretty interesting event. I had let Lacy out of the truck to smell around and relieve herself. I have to keep a close eye on her as you can imagine. I was getting my cloths on when I started missing her. I called…no Lacy, I called her again….no Lacy….crap! Now I’m yelling for her….no Lacy. I ran down the road towards the stand to track a sandy spot but could not make anything out. Back at the truck I cranked up and ran down the road to the high fence to glass down the straight a way…no Lacy.
I was already late before all this started and I could not waste any more time. I would have to catch the dog later. I parked the truck again and jumped out to grab my gear to leave. To my surprise, here comes Lacy down the road from the direction of my stand! My first thought was, she just tracked me to my stand looking for a blood trail. She has learned when I let her out that she can back track me to the stand and the head of a bloody deer trail. I have seen her do this countless times. Without a word said, she will pull me right to the stand without missing a step.

Lacy's butt on my trail cam!

Well, I scolded her for running off and loaded her up. The hunt was a bust. The next morning I hunted the stand again and when I was done I pulled the camera card. Guess who was on the camera in front of my stand…..Lacy! It had been over 10 hours since I left the stand, in about 12 minutes, Lacy had tracked me over a quarter mile right to the stand and the trail camera, got her picture taken, found there was no blood trail and came back to the truck! Pretty incredible. I learned a few things there. First, I had no idea I was leaving such an obvious sent trail. Second, what an incredible nose a dog (and deer) really have. You cannot over estimate it.

The smaller 7pt I've been hunting showed up about an hour after both Lacy and I had been there and it did not seem to bother him. He picked up corn for about 20 minutes before leaving. He didn't seem to be bothered by our stink. I've probably hunted it so much he thinks I belong there.

Wednesday’s hunt was not a great deal better. I saw half a deer in the morning cross the fire break up ahead of me 75 yds or so and in the afternoon I saw zip.

Thursday morning was a bust also and I did not hunt the afternoon hunt.

The season is about to slip away without me taking a deer. I did not think it was possible.

Larry