Hunt Report October 30

Lows were near freezing as the morning started this morning. I had duties at church to tend to, but my cousin was able to hunt in Orange County in Southern Indiana. He's been after a good buck that he spotted about two weeks ago. He saw him and another decent 8 point chasing a doe this morning.

I still believe we're in the middle of a slight upswing in rut/pre-rut action right now. But it will be spotty and hard to predict.

Hunt Report October 28 and 29

I hunted yesterday morning at "The Sanctuary" in Dearborne County, Indiana. The morning had a stiff breeze, but I actually felt as if the deer should be moving. My feelings were wrong and I did not see a single deer. That is almost unheard of at "The Sanctuary."

Last night the temeratures really began to drop. On a 30 minute drive home after leading my small group of high school guys at church, I saw three different bucks chasing does. That was a very encouraging sight for the weekend to come.

I hunted this morning in Orange County, IN with high hopes. I did see a few deer, but no bucks. The movement that I had expected did not quite come to be.

The lows are supposed to remain in the 30s with one night predicted in the 20s for next week. Again, I believe the rut will be spotty this year, but this next week should be an upswing.

Trail Camera Pictures From the Mock Scrape

I made a mock scrap last week for the first time. These are some of the pictures I got on the mock scrape in just one week.

There is a new element to the sight called "Buck Shots." Buck Shots is a slideshow of most of the buck pictures that I have this year. It's small, and I don't know how to fix that, but if you click on it, it will take you to the Picassa album which will show you much larger pictures.

October 26th Hunt Report, Rut Report

Hunt Report
I got the opportunity to hunt "the sanctuary" this morning. It was a good example of one of those days where you force yourself to get into the woods. The wind was blowing at 15 mph at daylight. There is a huge line of storms blowing in this afternoon, so I was still hopeful that I may intercept some deer movement as they headed for cover from the storms.

I decided to hunt from the ground for a couple of reasons. First, I was considering still-hunting, which I eventually did. Windy days are a good opportunity for that. Second, there was no way I was going to mess up a good stand location while hunting on a windy, 70 degree day.

I did see two does and a nice buck. Whether or not he was a shooter is a borderline call.

Rut Report
I said last week that last night's full moon had the potential to provide some early rut action if the weather cooperated. Well, with 70 degrees and wind gusts close to 20 mph, it's safe to say that didn't happen.

However, the good buck I saw this morning was very intentionally trailing two does. And I also heard another report over the weekend of a buck that was following some does very closely. The rut is getting ready to happen. Lows are supposed to be close to freezing this weekend which could trigger the first wave. But I suspect any rut action will be very sporadic up until mid to late November.

Some good trail pictures are coming later!

A Note to the Reader

If you are visiting my blog repeatedly, it would be awesome if you would become a follower. If not, though, what I would really like is for you to leave me a comment from time to time about what things you enjoy about this blog.

I do this for two reasons. 1) It is a good way for me to journal what's going on in my hunts. 2) I like to write for an audience about things I enjoy. For number 2 to be fun, I have to know what you enjoy reading.

Happy hunting!!!

October 20th Hunt Report, Trail Camera Pictures, Mock Scrape

My only morning class was cancelled this morning. That meant I could take advantage of a morning with a low of 41 degrees and no wind. I hunted my climber on the southeast end of "the sanctuary." Does were all over me from the time I got in my stand at daylight until about nine o'clock. Contrary to reports from last night, though, there were no bucks in tail. It was a very rare hunt in "the sanctuary" to see a lot of deer but no bucks.

I did, however, get some good pictures from my trail camera. There was one picture of a very good buck (see below), but the right side rack is lacking in size. I wounded a good buck last year in the front left shoulder, and I believe this is probably him. Experts say that injuries to a front leg generally create an abnormal antler on the same side but sometimes on the opposite. I guess this is an exception.

I made a new setup for the trail camera today. Has anyone ever tried mock scrapes? This was my first attempt at one. I broke off a few pieces of a licking branch and cleared a fairly large circle. An article I read said that a larger circle makes for a more noticeable scrape. I'll just see how it goes. I have zero expectations.

Let me know if you have done the mock scrape thing before. I'm open to any tips.

A cyote

Looks like a wide rack. He should be a really good buck in a year or two.

I'm naming this big guy "Leftie" because of his lopsided rack.

Southern Indiana Rut Report!!!

I talked to Dad this morning. He told me that a friend of his called last night after killing a 155 inch buck on Tuesday evening on a farm in Ripley County, Indiana. The friend said that bucks were chasing hard already.

The chasing report is interesting. October 19th is pretty early for does to be in estrus, but the bucks are getting amped up for sure. If the weather continues to cooperate (it's been low 40s the last two nights), then the full moon on the 25th should offer up some quality rut hunting opportunities.

October 15th Hunt Report

I hunted behind my father-in-laws yesterday morning. I saw a little 4 point and three does. One doe (who was a Pope&Young doe) offered a shot from about 20 yards quartering toward me. I elected not to take the shot for lack of a good angle. Had it been a good buck I would have put the shot in there, but I want to be as close to 100% sure of a clean kill with a doe as I can be.

The latest warm front moved out about 3 days ago and we are consistantly in the low 40s for the overnight low. I wasn't able to hunt this morning, but the low was 37. If those kind of temperatures continue, the full moon on the 25th could see some really good rutting action.

The Rut is Coming

The debate for the last several decades over the timing of the rut has basically been, does it peak because of the moon phase, time of year, or the weather. My simple response is all three play a part.

However, I give quite a bit of credence to the moon phase. It goes without question that the moon phase affects the movement of many different types of wildlife. I believe this to be especially true for whitetails. Some hunters give special attention to the "rut" moon (the second full moon after September 21). I believe in that to an extent, but I also believe that deer move much more during any full moon than during the other phases of the moon.

This year the "rut" moon falls on November 22nd which is very late. (Last year it was November 3rd.) Thus my hypothesis is that the first full moon after September 21st will provide some fantastic rut hunting. That full moon falls on October 25th. I do not expect that does will be ready to breed yet. But the pre-rut stage for bucks should be heating up big time. Such a scenario may be better than the actual "rut" moon as bucks will be especially desperate to find a ready doe. Get your Tink69 or whatever other doe-in-heat attractant you use out for the 24th-26th cause the bucks should be on their feet and looking. This may also be a prime time to rattle (which I have had little to no success with), and don't forget the grunt call. It's almost rut time!

October 12th hunt report

The camera is officially done. So it's just writing for this season.

I went to "the sanctuary" this evening. I hunted off of the pylon where I killed my buck last fall. It was a very warm evening with wind from the SSE. I saw one doe. She walked right underneath me coming from the southwest. She's lucky it's too much of a hassle to shoot a doe on that property. I did bump three deer as I walked out into the field. There's nothing I can do about that. It wasn't quite dark when I walked out, which is unusual for me, but a thunderstorm was rolling in so I needed to get to my vehicle.

October 8th hunt report

This morning was not a traditional hunt. I did some scouting on some territory that I have not hunted for several years. I did a lot of walking, but I did stop and hunt on the ground for about an hour. The end of that hour provided some excitement as three does came in and nearly ran me over. The first was about to step into an opening with me at full draw when she caught a whiff of me and bolted. The hunt was thrilling nonetheless. After all, how often do you get face to face with an animal like that? I know stand hunting provides a distinct advantage, but the thrill of a good ground hunt can be quite worth it.

Pics from the last 2 weeks

October 6th hunt report

I took my first trip to "the sanctuary" today. I was short on time, so I only walked the edge of the field for about an hour and a half. I did see two bucks. One was a decent 8-point and the other looked like a really good buck. The second was a couple hundred yards away, and I only got a glimpse with the binoculars.

I did pick up my trail camera which yielded a disappointing amount of pictures, but the pictures I do have are forthcoming.

Daily Conditions 10-3-2010

It has been cloudy with a high in the mid 50s. A cold front moved through yesterday about 2 P.M. This cool weather should definitely have the deer moving. I wish I could be in the woods this weekend, but I'll be hunting Wednesday morning and should be out a couple of times next weekend.

I have also had camera problems. Those should be resolved in the next few days, so I should have footage of hunting this week.

October 1st hunt report

I shot a bit of video today, but being that there was no action, I've chosen not to sharethe boring bits of me talking.

We had a low in the mid 40s this morning which made it feel like a good morning. I sat behind our old house at a place called "the point" which has a ton of big white oaks. The woods was alive all morning (I even heard a gobble!), but we didn't see a single deer.

As we were changing Dad's tire which was flat when we got out, another hunter came out of the woods and said that he had shot a nice buck. He had not yet recovered.

I won't be able to hunt again until at least Wednesday morning when I will hopefully head out the "the sanctuary."