MY 2012 HUNTING JOURNAL

As I have done for over 10 years now, this is the current edition of my hunting journals, posted for your enjoyment. I hope some will find it interesting or at the least entertaining.
Archery season starts for this area this Saturday the 29th of September. Working full time now I have NOT had alot of opportunity to do much scouting. I am excited the gates on Clear Creek State Forest are now open and I want to do some exploring over there in hopes of finding some legal bucks after too many years of not harvesting a legal buck around here.
There appears to be alot of female deer running around the home front and a couple non-legal bucks. The nearby field has about 20 entering it every night but so far they are all females, at least up to dark in the field...no bucks
Crossbow is ready to go and I will have the senior citizen antlerless hunt on the 18th of October.
So folks... relax and enjoy my 2012 hunting adventures !!

Thanks for "watching".....

OCTOBER 4th
This evening I sat in my blind and waited until dark to see what I could see. I was not expecting too much because there are NO apples on any of the apple trees at the nearby camps. I have not even seen any in our pasture field (2 acres) lately. Earlier in the late summer, there was a doe and her fawns but they are coming out far down the lane now, near the one camp that is in the back . The owner of that camp (from Ohio) was up to cut grass and on the way home this afternoon he stopped and we talked and his wife mentioned that they were seeeing those 3 deer plus two other larger does, 5 in their yard at dusk. I was entertained for awhile by a rather large gray squirrel that was running around in front of the blind. At 6:55pm I saw two deer walking by at about 200 yards but could not make out what they were, didn't have a weapon so really did not matter... but that was it as far as any wildlife goes..

OCTOBER 5th
I'm pretty sure I saw the same two deer, same area this evening but still way too far away to even make out what sex they are, maybe tomorrow (after work) I'll take the crossbow and try to just set in the woods about half way across the "flats" and see if I can get a better look, they showed up at 6:30 this evening, a little earlier than last night... I did not see anything else in the 1.5 hours I sat in the blind...

OCTOBER 6th
I took the crossbow and walked three-quarters of the way across the "flats" and set-up in the top of a huge "blow-down" tree and waited to see if the same deer from the past two days showed up. No such luck..I saw nothing in the 1.5 hours I sat there before dark. I think I will try again from that spot Sunday evening, even though I will not be able to shoot anything. At least I may be able to see if they are males or females for a later date...

OCTOBER 19th
Beautiful evening hunt after work... 6:30 two doe showed up and I harvested the bigger one at about 20 yards.. Never had an idea I was even there on the ground !!!!
Dropped on the spot, never moved , just collapsed.
I have tomorrow off, so I think I'll go behind the house and try to fill my 2F tag in the morning., one from several does that are running back there..



OCTOBER 26th
I sat in my ground blind after work and only saw one gray squirrel. The bucks sure do not seem to be running any does, nor are they making rubs and scrapes as usual this time of year. I have not seen any of either around here yet this year.
I got 43 pounds of ground venison and a few back strap steaks butterflied.

NOVEMBER 8th
Pretty good day of hunting for me.
I sat in the hemlocks from 7:30am until 11:00am..
Only saw 2 deer..
The second one I saw was definitely a spike with long antlers, but only two of them. When I grunted on the grunt call he froze and did not move for over 5 minutes, I guess I scared the heck out of him. He finally slowly moved on down out of the hemlocks and over the hill..
The first deer I saw I was only able to see the body of a deer. I could tell it was a big deer but never saw the deer's head. It was in the thickest part of the hemlock grove I was sitting in and I could only see parts and body..no head .. BUMMER..
The evening hunt was one of my most exciting in recent years. I set-up in one of the neighbor's camp's boundary line row of pine trees. I saw deer moving towards me so I pick up the cross-bow and waited. I had chosen the best possible place to sit. All six ( females) walked by broadside at 15-20 yards and never saw me on the way to the open field. I could not and still do not believe there was not a single buck following them...
I wanted to shoot one of them but was afraid I would scare any possible trailing bucks..
I'll set-up there tomorrow after work and Saturday after work .. then that will be it for me until rifle season....
Still enjoyed the hunts !!!.
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