Couldn't happen to a nicer guy!

[caleb7mm]

great story charlie!  

[Charlie Lamb]

We didn't get the heavy rain that was forecast, but it has been drizzly on and off for two days now.
I couldn't resist getting out this afternoon and making a few tracks.

Here's the legend for the aerial view of where I went today. You should just be able to make out the map tacks from my sortie the other day.

Blue X... parked truck
Blue Dashes... route walked
Chartreuse dashes... deer trail
Large Chartreuse block... corn field
Yellow X... fresh rub
Maroon (ish) dashes...old four wheeler trail
 

Where the Chartreuse, Maroon, and blue dashes come together I found a red oak that was really laying down the acorns. Found some sign of deer feeding on them.

[Charlie Lamb]

As I left my truck and entered the timber I could see a pretty deep cut running straight toward the bottom of the valley/holler.
Any deer traveling sidehill would find the easiest way across this cut so I started looking. I hadn't gone far when I found the place I was looking for.

The first pic shows the cut looking down it's length. I'm just above a nice flat that bridged it.
   

Here is the same place taken from right angles to the cut.
   

While not showing heavy travel at the moment, I noted that an old rub marked it... kinda like a street sign that says, "cross gully here".

I took the hint and crossed to the other side and started zig zagging my way down the steep hillside. Along the way I murdered a couple of stumps just because they looked at me wrong... pretty mean, huh!      

That holler is all mature oaks, hickories, and maple, so the under story is pretty light. It was easy to see for a hundred yards in places. I'd move on to a place where the cover was thicker and the visibility worse.

I did notice that the north facing slope was very steep and rocky in most places. Any movement up that hillside would be in one of a few open spots which were visible every hundred yards or so.

Have you ever noticed that when you are traveling through rugged country that you find deer sign on those routes you pick? Like us they will find the easy way.

[Charlie Lamb]

Toward the end of the holler I came upon the red oak mentioned earlier and immediately past that an old four wheeler trail.

A deer trail had developed just before I came on that oak. It dwindled as I came within the drip line of the tree and became well defined again once I passed the drip line on the other side of that oak.

Underneath where all the acorns lay, the ground looked disturbed, though no tracks were obvious in the leaf litter.
Within 50 yards I came to one of the farmers four wheeler trails. Though I'd parked fairly close to it, I had no idea it was there before hand.

The trail I had been following disappeared as I entered the motor trail... the deer could spread out and meander more on it.
I once again picked up a sign of a deer trail as I approached the meadow where the corn field was.

Since this was only going to be a short jaunt I hooked around the end of the ridge and spotting an opening in the brush along the woods I ducked back into the hardwoods.
I immediately found an old rub, then another and another and finally found what I'd been waiting to see.
   

This little sapling was freshly shredded on the down hill side, as were all of the old ones. If I had to guess (and I guess I do), I'd guess that it indicated morning traffic up the hill to bedding cover... and there was plenty of that on the end of that ridge.

I followed a line of old rubs up the ridge toward the meadow where my truck was, but they petered out after 30 yards or so.

               (to be continued at some point)

[Walt Francis]

Charlie, It's good to hear you are feeling better.  

This is a good one, thanks for sharing.

[Randy Morin]

Charlie, glad to hear you are getting "strong like bull" again.  :D  

Your new property soundls amazing.  It's so exciting getting on a new property.  It's been a while for me but I spoke with a gentleman last night and will be scouting a new property of my own tomorrow night.  It gets hunted but is fairly big for SW MT river bottom country.

I'll be looking forward to more from you from this property.  It's already good reading.!!!!

[Charlie Lamb]

It's here. Better than a birthday. Better than Christmas. Deer season opened today. That's why at 6 a.m. I was still laying in bed asleep. OK, so it's along story.

I wasn't all that upset about it. I'd planned to be standing in the meadow waiting for first light to make my way to my chosen spot.
Not knowing exactly the best way to get to my spot I'd opted for enough light to find my way in with as little impact as possible.

Remember me mentioning the red oak that was laying down all the nuts? That's the spot I wanted to watch this morning.

When I finally got to the meadow, a thick fog enveloped the hilltop clearing. (It wasn't so thick as to hide the white flag I saw disappear into the timber as I pulled into my parking spot.) It was leaving quickly though and by the time I'd walked down the ridge and baled off it's side, the fog had all but cleared.

The woods were incredibly quiet and recent rain, plus a very HEAVY dew made walking in silently a breeze.... and since I used the word breeze, I should mention that there was none that I could feel.

Of course this being the first morning of actual hunting, my wind checking devices were somewhere else... a bottle of powder would have been just the thing this morning.

It was a pocket hunt. By that I mean that I carried no pack, putting my "accessories" in my pockets. Before the morning was over, I'd made a mental note of the things which would have been handy.

Wind checker... powder.
Binoculars... yeah, yeah, I know.
Compass... so slap me!
Thermacell... wanna see the bites?

[Charlie Lamb]

It didn't take long to find the oak and settle in about 20 yards away. I'd picked the downwind side as best I could, hung my tree seat and slipped on my Shaggy Longcoat.

Soon I'd cleared away the leaves and sticks that were under foot and trimmed some annoying limbs from beside me with my pruning shears.

It was difficult to sit still with the mosquitoes finding every exposed piece of skin that they could. The long coat didn't provide much protection at all.

The oak tree constantly reminded me why I'd picked this spot as acorns rained constantly from it's high branches. I knew that sound was often a dinner bell for whitetails and I sat with the confidence that something good would come my way.

After a while I had taken note that I wasn't seeing many squirrels. What I did see were distant. It's one of my scouting aids in the early season... if you aren't seeing many squirrels you probably need to find where there are a lot and go from there.

Squirrels, turkey and deer will all home in a "good" oak so where you find one you will often find the others.

Between 8:30 and 9 the slightest flicker of movement across the holler got my attention. A large doe moved into the open from the direction of the nearby cornfield angling up the hill. I tried to will her to me, with no luck.
Eventually something spooked her and she went off in the direction she'd come from blowing for all the world to here.

I again attempted to test the wind direction. It was very faint, but seemed to be favorable for me.
Guess I'll never know what upset her.

The more I looked at the place she'd been walking the more convinced I was that there was a trail or road of some kind over there.

With nothing else happening by ten I slung my seat over my shoulder and meandered over to check it out.
I could have kicked myself. What I found was a four wheeler trail that connected with the trail that came off my ridge.
Further more, two game trails intersected at their juncture and another trail beelined toward a gap in the boundary fence which led down to the corn field.

By then I could feel the wind easilly and started looking for a tree which would give me decent cover and favorable winds.
I found one that was closer to the "hot spot" than I would have liked, but I'm sure it will work. I'll put a stand there in a couple of days.

[Charlie Lamb]

By the time I'd gotten back to the truck I'd worked up a huge sweat. I quickly peeled off the Shaggy and threw it and the tree seat in the bed of the truck.

I wasn't quite done for the day. I never let a deer sighting go without asking myself WHY. I was going to check out the place where I'd seen the disappearing deer when I pulled in and see if I couldn't find out WHY it had been there.

Since the crest of the hill had quickly hidden it from view it's escape route from the meadow hadn't been noticeable from the truck.
When I pulled over the hill I spotted it immediately. A quick check for tracks confirmed it.
   

My farmer friend had entered the timber along the field edge to fell a tree for firewood, thereby breaching the almost impenetrable wall of poison ivy, sweet bush and assorted other shrubs that are the transition between field and woods.

It was a natural!
   

I followed the drag trail into the woods and passed the stump and remains of the firewood tree. Beyond that I found what I'd been waiting to find.
   

A smile came to my lips as I looked down upon the churned up trail that lay before me. I moved deeper into the woods and the trail got better.
   

There had been lots of acorns laying just inside the timber along the first section of deer trail I'd come upon, but past that the even heavier trail came into a maple flat and soon disappeared.

At one point the heavy trail was bordered by heavy undergrowth within 15 yards on either side. I knew immediately where I'd be this evening.

                                            (cont.)

[steadman]

Good luck Bud!! Looks like a great piece of land!

[Guru]

Awesome stuff Charlie!  Hopefully you're rolling a deer out of the woods right now....  

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Great story Charlie and it looks like it's just a matter of time before something hits the ground.        

Tracy

[chopx2]

Hummm, been dark for a bit in the show me state. Hope it's a good sign Charlie isn't on here telling us how the rest of his day went...  

[DW]

Great story Charlie....glad you're doing better. Skyler said Hello and kill one Quick!

[Charlie Lamb]

No bloody hands tonight Curt. I'm closing in on them, though!

I got out a little later than planned due to some rain showers that were moving through. I'm not much for sitting in the rain if I can help it.

I checked the radar and it looked as if the rain would be short lived so as soon as it stopped I hopped in the truck and off I went.

Remember the list of stuff I'd forgotten? Well, I went off and left my Thermocell sitting on the table next to my easy chair. Poop!!!
Also had torn the house apart looking for my little bottle of wind checker powder... that had set my mood just a little darker than the clouds that were spittin rain.

Lucky for me that I'd put a little spray bottle of 100% DEET in my pocket... just in case. I hate the stuff, but hate mosquitoes even worse.

I dug into my pack and came up with a little smoke bomb that was left over from July 4 and set it off as soon as I entered the woods.
The wind was steady, but from the opposite direction I wanted it to be.
I'd have to cross the trail and find cover on the opposite side from what I'd planned.

It wasn't a huge deal. I was wearing rubber boots with pants tucked in and I'd given them a good spray with a no scent product before leaving the truck. By avoiding brushing against anything and hopping across the trail when I came to it I was pretty sure I could minimize my presence there.

Soon I had my tree seat fixed to a nice big maple and had cut a little brush to give me room to move quietly and put it out in front to break up my outline.

My mood was still pretty sour and I was sweating to beat the band. I tried hard to beat the mood thing and deal with the heat the best I could.

Around 6:30 I glanced off to my left rear just in time to see a deer pass through an opening a mere 30 yards away. I was able to watch the little buck for quite a while as he piddled around behind me... darned if I know how he was missing my scent.
His rack was dinky and had virtually no chance of fulfilling the 4 point on one side rule that my county has.

He was just too small even if he had been legal. I've got a lot of hunting to do yet and will save my buck tag for something worth shooting at.

He finally moved away and out of my life. I went back to the business of watching the trail out front.
Of course you know how it is. Once you see a deer you will continually check the area where it had been for another one.
That's what I was doing when I noticed a dark shape in almost the same spot the little buck had been when I saw him.

I didn't remember that spot and fixed my gaze on it, hoping it was another deer. Soon a head popped up out of the brush. It was a doe. Now this I had a tag for.
She too fed in and out of the brush and was soon joined by a smaller deer that I presumed was a fawn... oh yeah! My binoculars hadn't made it to the woods either. Sometimes I just hate myself!
     

They too soon disappeared, but in the opposite direction that the buck had taken. Once again I wondered how they had gotten by me without getting a nose full.

As the light slowly dwindled I was startled by a sudden motion to my right front and very close.
A red fox, summer thin and cat like trotted up right in front of me, stopped and proceeded to groom himself.
 
That was worth the entire day. The little beggar wasn't more than 6 feet from me and clueless. He finally finished his business and trotted off to more important matters.

Right now it looks like I'm going to give both of my new spots a rest in the morning. I'll go in around noon and place a tree stand in a tree that I'd picked while watching the deer.

I'll do a little snooping around to see if I can figure out what the attraction was behind me. Just another page to turn in the grand mystery of deer hunting.

[philil]

What an awesome thread Charlie! Thanks for taking us along    

[RC]

Great Story Mr. Lamb. If I lived closer I`d come drag him out for ya cause I know somethings bout to bleed.RC

[Terry Green]

Just finished page 5.....will read more in the AM to start my day off....and what a day it will be at some point.  D-Day tomorrow if you get my drift.

   

[Irish]

Got your drift - fingers crossed

[Charlie Lamb]