2013 HUNTING JOURNAL




OCTOBER 5th Well the first day of archery season here started with a light drizzle of rain. It stopped at about 6:45am and after a half hour the sun started to shine. I did not see any deer movement at all, just a chipmunk and a squirrel. Sat in the blind until 9am and called it a morning. Not sure if I will return for an afternoon hunt or not. I really want to finish cutting and splitting firewood for the winter and I may be too tired after doing that. We shall see ????
The afternoon hunt was no better than this morning... I saw no deer and only the gray squirrel climbing the side of a nearby tree.. May have to try some evening hunts after work this week to see what is going on. The neighboring camp was up for the season opener and they did not see any deer either... but did spot 3 coyotes running by. They said the deer are still eating apples from their tree, so that may be why they are not traveling past by blind right now ... or just the fact they were here and had lights on etc, that may have changed their patterns for yesterday ???
First day of archery = a bust !!! LOL
OCTOBER 9th and OCTOBER 10th

I FINALLY harvested a legal Pa buck !!!!!
A 7 point with a 15 inch inside spread .. This is not one of the bucks I had seen earlier and got photos of.
I was sitting in my blind last evening (Wednesday) at 6:30pm I heard rustling leaves and here came 2 does passing at about 25 yards. I was not going to shoot a doe yet so I let them pass... and low and behold here came a nice buck. I counted the points and waited for a shot. Pulled the crossbow trigger and THUMP .. a good hit.
I waited for 25 minutes and began tracking.. at first not a good trail and as it got dark the trail became better and better. at about 75 yards the deer went down over the hill .. there was no way I was going down there in the dark.
I waited until daylight and picked up the search again. Climbed down over the steep hill and went another 30 yards and there he was...
But not so good of an outcome.. I was not the first one to find the deer... some critter or critters (coyotes/bear) had started eating the poor thing... no way I was going to keep that meat.
I returned home and called the PGC to see if I could still tag the buck and keep the antlers and let the deer lay.. They said yes.. so I returned and took the antlers.. Happy to have killed a buck finally but I wish I could have kept the meat.. oh well.. I still have 2 doe tags !! LOL
OCTOBER 19th

Thought I would share this week's deer hunting activities, not much to report though.It appears the deer in the area have really changed their patterns and behavior. The neighnor's camp is still getting visited daily and all of the apples falling off his tress are being eaten. But according to his trail camera, the deer are not showing up until late in the evening (well after dark) and not returning until the next day.
I was happy to hear there are pictures of my 7 pointer on his camera, also a small 6 point showing up .He is going to print me a couple pictures of my buck. He also is seeing several females on his camera. I have not been putting my camera out, it's at a spot I want to hunt at Clear Creek State Park for my DMAP deer hunting. I'll be getting it later today and putting it out back for the senior hunt this Thursday.. stay tuned ....
As for hunting this week I sat in the ground blind 3 evenings after work until it was DARK .. only saw one deer and that was a buck and that was yesterday . He was traveling in an opposite direction, actually heading away from the local crop fields and back down into the hollow towards "my hemlock grove". He was too far away (approx. 200+ yards) for any type shooting but I could easily see he had antlers above his head.
Looking forward to the senior doe season later this week, I hope to fill at least one of my doe tags. We are out of venison !!!!LOL
OCTOBER 21st

I sat in my blind again after work until dark. I saw a deer come flying up over the hill and run towards the neighbor's camp about 200 yards away. Then I saw what looked like a doe running around in that same area. Then I saw another doe walking towards the same area, but a lot closer to me. If it were Thursday I could have shot that one, but too far for the crossbow .. LOL...
It appears the colder weather temps have the deer moving earlier now.
OCTOBER 22nd

Tonight was really exciting.. the small 6 pointer and three does walked by about 60 yards headed to the neighbor's apple trees at 6:15pm. Then a bigger doe came running back towards me, but would not stand still. She suddenly changed directions and headed back to the apple trees.
10 minutes later I hear what sounds like rustling leaves headed right down towards the side of the blind where I can not see. Another few minutes pass and no deer. Then suddenly I hear leaves directly in front of me... and as luck would have it there stands the big buck I have been seeing since September. Standing completely broadside 30 yards away looking into the blind at me !!!
I put the crossbow down and sat and watched as he just stood there looking towards the apples trees then back at me. This lasted about 10 minutes and then he turned and walked off in the other direction away from the apples ????
I'm really excited about Thursday now.. but who knows... I still have after work tomorrow !!! We shall see ????

NOVEMBER 5th
Just an update on the last 2 week of hunting.. I have sat in my blind about 10 times after work and have NOT seen a single deer. I talked to my neighbor and the deer are not even showing up on his camera eating the MANY apples still on and falling from his trees. We have no idea where they have gone ??
I am off tomorrow so I will try sitting up for an evening hunt at a different location, one that last year (on a hunt) I saw a bunch of does heading towards the nearby corn fields at dusk. We'll see how that goes ????

NOVEMBER 13th

I sat in the blind this afternoon and as evening started to set in I was surprised to see the small six point walking across the flats. I let out a small grunt and he stopped, another grunt had him headed towards me. He stood at about 30 yards for what seemed to be forever, sticking his nose in the air and sucking in air. He walked off after about 5 minutes of looking..
about 10 minutes later here comes the "middle 8 point" walking by the blind at about a 45 degree angle and 20 yards away. He stopped for only a minute and walked across the flats and out of sight.
15 minutes later and the large 8 point comes running across the flats and out into the field about 75 yards away.

NOVEMBER 14th

Walked to the blind at 6:10am and "spooked" a deer as I got to the blind. Could not see if it was male or female.. too dark. Stayed for three hours and saw nothing else except my friend the gray squirrel, who kept me entertained for about 2 of those hours sitting there.
The afternoon hunt was not successful either for seeing any deer, just the gray squirrel again

NOVEMBER 15th

After work and in the blind again.. the small 6 pointer came walking by DIRCETLY in front of the blind. I have NEVER been that close to a living wild deer. 5 paces from the door of the blind to where he passed by broadside. I seriously doubt I could have shot him even if I could have. He was that close !!!!
Just before dark another deer came crashing across the flats, at about 100 yards could not tell what it was.. but will say it was BIG !!!
Have no idea where the females have disappeared too.. but they sure are not showing up in front of the blind this MONTH !!!!

NOVEMBER 16th

Well the last day of archery for this year has come and gone. I sat in the blind again after work, My friend (the 6 pointer) once again walked directly broadside in front of the blind. Today he was even closer that yesterday. And once again it was right around 4:45pm. Poor guy , it appears he can not even find a doe to chase in some other direction or at some other time. I still can not figure out why I have not seen a single doe since I shot my 7 pointer... that just has me TOTALLY baffled.... oh well rifle season is soon approaching and I do have tags for a DMAP area so I can hunt there the first week since I already have my buck harvested for this year and there is always the late archery season...

DECEMBER 1st

I sit here this morning debating where to go tomorrow morning. It's been along time since I am not able to hunt the opening day of rifle season here at home on SGL54. I have 2 DMAP tags for does , so IF I want to hunt tomorrow I'll have to go over to Clear Creek State Forest to hunt. That is still the #2 place I love to hunt and harvest does there quite a lot, so it's a matter of where do I want to set-up for opening day since I have not been over there at all this year ... . Showed the trail camera pictures to a neighboring camp and they are "all fired up and ready to go" now, hoping to see some of those bucks tomorrow. GOOD LUCK to everyone headed out and #1 rule is BE SAFE !!!!

RIFLE SEASON

Rifle season was pretty much of a total bust around here very very few deer spotted.. no shots taken , and NO HUNTERS other than the ones from the local camps. Two years in a row now that no bucks were taken.
It appears to me that the hunters are not moving around, they ware staying put in their blinds and tree stands or even the spot they chose to "post" for the day. No one saw any of the bucks I have had on trail camera all fall.. and very few females seen.
In fact even after everyone left I did not see but 2 deer the following week.

JANUARY HUNTING

well the deer are starting to show up near the house finally, saw a couple bedded down a couple hundred yards from the house and 5 or 6 moving into the pastures at dusk. I still have tags and a couple evening to hunt so I am still hoping for a harvest or two.... JANUARY 8th

Saw 2 deer bedded down behind the house this morning so I am excited about climbing into the ladder stand this evening and maybe catch some of them headed to the pasture, I had 6 pass by on Sunday evening while scouting from the ladder stand .. we shall see..
JANUARY 9th to 11th

Sat in the ladder stand every evening until dark and not a single deer showed up... just can not figure these deer out this year ???
SUMMARY

It was a different sort of year for me this year. I saw lots of deer in late summer and into early fall. Once the leaves started falling it seems the deer all started acting and traveling differently. It was still enjoyable, especially seeing all the legal bucks after I harvested mine, but the doe situation was totally different, they just seemed to disappear during daylight hours. It's been a very long time that we had no venison in the freezer... but there will always be next year !!!!