MY 2010 HUNTING JOURNAL


OCTOBER 7TH

Once again I will be posting my hunting adventures this year for your enjoyment. I have sent for and received all my tags for the upcoming deer seasons. I have 2 DMAP tags for Clear Creek State Forest and 1 tag for 2F for antlerless deer. Also have my regular and archery licenses. I am looking forward to using my new crossbow for archery season this year. It has been awhile since I went archery hunting. I'm excited to say the least.
I'm also planning on doing some squirrel hunting again this year and I am looking forward to participating in the senior antlerless season in mid-Oct.
I am seeing more than a normal number of deer in general and especially seeing some nice buck running around in the areas I hunt.

2010 ARCHERY SEASON


OCTOBER 11TH

Took the crossbow out and had an enjoyable three hour hunt late this afternoon. Naturally was hoping to see some bucks but that was not the case....
about 5:30pm I had a grouse walk by at 15 yards but it would not stop for a clear picture...
Did get pics of some antlerless deer... 4 of them came in and were feeding about 50 yards in front of me for awhile.. and came within 20 yards several times..they had no idea I was in the area.. I'm not shooting them now, I have the senior antlerless rifle season next Thursday for that.
GREAT day, I am surprised how much I missed sitting in the woods this time of the year...
Just sitting there hoping for deer to come by and listening to the leaves falling, wind, etc...
wow did I miss archery hunting, had not done it since 2006...

OCTOBER 13TH

I sat for two hours in the hemlocks behind the house and saw nothing... got really windy so I quit at 6pm.. may not be the best spot for the crossbow.. no safe place to unload.. too many rocks... had to carry it "cocked" til I got back to the house..

OCTOBER 18TH


Morning started out GREAT as I was headed to my hunting spot for a morning hunt I saw at least 15 deer standing along the road about 1/4 mile away from the house. Good sign ??
Well I did not see another deer all morning.
I hunted from a ground blind on private property that the owner said I could hunt and use his blind. It was along a gas line right of way and seems to be a possible good spot, not sure if it's very good at this time of year though, may need the rut or more hunters pushing nearby areas ?? I saw NOTHING in three hours of sitting there.

SENIOR CITIZEN ANTLERLESS HUNT


October 20, 21, 22 ..... That season has come and gone for me...
I did not see an antlerless deer the whole time I was hunting. All those rascals I was feeding last winter and that were in the yard and pastures the past few months have just disappeared !!!!
I will admit I did not venture into the woods very far and I only spent about 12 hours hunting. Did not even go to Clear Creek State Forest.. Rain was my worst enemy..

OCTOBER 27TH


Sat in my ladder stand behind the house for an hour after work this evening... about 6:35 I heard deer approaching, not sure what the problem was took forever to get where I could see them.. 2 does.. then all heck broke lose 4 deer came running down to about 50 yards away and here comes the problem a BIG buck,, could see the white antlers but not get a count, I grunted he stopped dead and stared in my direction but none came anywhere near and he finally went after the does again and gone...

OCTOBER 27TH


I hunted from inside my blind on the border of the SGL #54.. for 3 hours this morning
Had another small spike walk by at 8:00am... I was amazed, he never made a sound and it was cold and I figured the leaves would give away any deer movement.. He walked by at 20 yards and I could not hear a thing...
He paid NO attention to "the can" or a grunt call at all, just kept slowly walking over the hill to my hemlocks...

NOVEMBER 4TH


Hunted most of the day (6 hours)around the house and only saw one nice 8 pointer...
I have been reading about bucks chasing and grunting.. I have not seen too much of it around here.... only saw one buck chasing a bunch of does so far this year...
the buck I saw this morning was walking behind me and I knew he would not come into the area I was sitting, I thought a very quiet soft grunt might turn him... I gave a soft grunt on the tube call and he took off like a bat out of hell..
Having trouble putting the deer within my comfort zone with the crossbow so far this archery season.... I have about 24 hours of hunting in between archery and the junior/senior antlerless hunt on the 21st of October.
I have seen a total of 11 antlerless deer (NONE during the rifle hunt for seniors though) and a total of 6 bucks. 4 of those bucks were protected bucks though. Only have three days a week to hunt and rain has interfered in several of those !!!
Still have a few days so I'll keep at it, just wish the bucks would get a little more active, and again this year it looks like more protected bucks than legal ones where I set-up...

NOVEMBER 8TH


I hunted from my hemlocks behind the house for 3 hours this morning, the winds were not only bad but swirling from all directions.. I did not last long it was cold and too winter..

NOVEMBER 9TH


A friend told me I could use his tree stand because he had been seeing to big does passing by just be dark. I set-up at 4pm and waited. About 5pm here comes the two big does and a smaller one then I see it ANTLERS... I saw "3 up" right off the bat so was not worried about any brow tines and avoided looking at his head. I must have misjudged the distance or did not aim properly because the bolt went right over it's back, never touching it.
I had just blown my chance at my biggest buck ever.. BUMMER !!!!!

NOVEMBER 11TH


I hunted an area over at Clear Creek State Forest this morning for 4 hours. Saw two deer walking at a distance and could not tell if they were male or female. My guess would be bucks because they both had their heads and noses to the ground as they walked.
About an hour later 6 deer more came running down a small hill and stopped at about 100 yards in front of me and started feeding on acorns for about another hour..all 6 were antlerless deer. I will have to remember this spot for rifle season.. lots of acorns where they were feeding and in the general area as a whole.

2010 RIFLE SEASON


NOVEMBER 29TH


Hunted behind the house in my hemlocks as always on opening day.. Morning was slow and I never saw a deer until about 11:30 when a whole bunch of them came running into the hemlocks behind me.. JUST GREAT !!... I was standing and relieving myself about 4 feet away from the rifle laying on the ground.. I noticed a big spike buck right away and several females.. then I saw the big buck I missed in archery. I had to go for the gun.. when I got it and raised it the first couple females spooked and snorted and everyone took off.. no shot ...
That was it for the day.. I figured there were 6-10 deer in that group ....nothing else for the day and only one junior hunter in "our area" got a spike...

NOVEMBER 30TH


Tuesday = RAIN OUT...no one hunting here,
one of the neighboring camps had a tragedy last evening, the father had a heart attack after returning from hunting and died at camp, so they are all gone.. The other 2 camps are leaving this morning..
looks like I'll have the area to myself and I know that 8 pointer is still around...

Afternoon ==== Decided there was no way AT ALL I could shoot a deer while in the house so I put on the waders.. good rain coat.. my "tree umbrella" and went out for three hours in the hemlocks.. NOTHING moving.
All the camps are empty when I got home at 1:30pm....

DECEMBER 2ND


Spent 3 hours at the spot over at Clear Creek I saw deer on the last day of archery, I set there for 3 hours and saw nothing. I returned there for the evening hunt and again saw nothing.

DECEMBER 4TH


Hunted on the flats behind the house this morning, sat in a blow-down and watched the "flats" before I had to go to work for a couple hours, I am not sure what happened but about 10am a bunch of deer came running up from the "bottom" and FLEW across the flats out into the crop field and across it never slowing down for a second..
I saw the buck I keep seeing and that big spike but now an 8 pointer is running with them and a couple more does have joined in the group. I counted 13 running across the flats and field..

DECEMBER 7th


Sat for 3 hours in Blowtown on private property but saw nothing, the deer seemed to be avoiding this area this year, I did not even see them crossing while driving to and from work ???

DECEMBER 9TH


I saw probably over 20 deer today ..... here's how today's sightings broke down..
3 bedded and when they jumped up I could not shoot because in the background was a house ...
10 minutes later I jumped three more and they never slower down running over the hill 30 yards away...
I walked a little further down towards the creek and spotted 4 more sneaking away from me in a thicket.. Got in the friends tree stand at 3pm and nothing until 4:35pm... at LEAST 10 (probably more) came out in the field 150-200 yards away to far away to see any antlers... .... BUMMER

=== RIFLE SEASON SUMMARY ===




Well I guess all good thing must at some time come to an end === my 25 years of consistent harvest of at LEAST one whitetail deer in rifle or archery season, has come to an end ....
The deer were either going by at 35 miles an hour or I jumped them and they took off at 35 miles an hour and did not stop to give me a chance for a shot...
I still have the late archery season with the crossbow so all is not lost..
saw lots of deer just never got a shot....
I guess that's why it's called hunting...

2010 LATE ARCHERY SEASON


DECEMBER 30TH


Well this was my first trip with the crossbow, I went into the hemlocks and sat for a few hours then moved on onto the flats above them. Did not see any in the hemlocks but there was tracks everywhere on the flats.. just as I crested the hill onto the flat 4 deer jumped up and ran back down over the hill to the "bottom" I could see that one was a small buck with a small rack, I could not get a count but maybe a small 4 or 6 point and the three does.

DECEMBER 3RD


Sat over at Clear Creek again and saw nothing for two hours, snowing really bad and windy, so it was not much of a day for good hunting.

JANUARY 6TH


Sat it the tree stand where I missed the buck in early archery, I saw the bunch of 12-14 deer with the three bucks cross the lat and walk into the field about 4:30pm.They were about 200 yards away, but never made it up to me before it got dark.

JANUARY 10TH


well today was the day === just about dark a doe and her two fawns walked in front of me at about 30 yards, I aimed at the adult and squeezed the trigger and I heard the familiar sound of the bolt hitting the deer. She ran off and I waited about 15 minutes, it was getting dark so I found the bolt and it was totally covered in blood front to back, and spotted blood in the snow. As I started tracking the deer, she jumped up and stumbled into the hemlocks. I decided to wait until morning rather than start a chasing game and maybe lose the deer.

JANUARY 11TH


7:00am == started to track the deer at where I saw it last yesterday and found it about 30 yards further lying against a log. The season is over and at least I ended up harvested one deer. She is at the butcher shop right now and I can't wait to get it back... GOOD SEASON and once again a happy hunter here !!!!