SOOOOO,what did you see today thread.....2011

[BEN]

Sat for a couple hours in my ground blind hoping to see some turkeys ...no sightings , but they were there. Heard them cackling and whistling after sunrise.
Had 4 squirrels hopping around and 4 deer also came in close (3-5 yds!).....Waited them out since I don't want to spook 'em out yet. My daughter is wanting to sit with me and  I want to make sure they keep coming in for while yet........

[GingivitisKahn]

From today's journal...

In spite of continuing crummy weather forecast for the day, I went out for a short hunt this morning.  Parked at the front entrance and walked the road in the dark up to the top of the middle entrance.  Since the wind was supposed to be strong from the SW, I decided to still-hunt south back to my car.

The poncho got a decent workout on the way.  Saw nothing until I got close to the powerline.  There, I saw a grouse, heard a turkey and saw a couple of ducks. Too bad I wasn't bird hunting today.

Also saw the first rubs of the season just inside the woods by the field south of the stream crossing.  These could have been made by the buck I saw the other day. If so, I now have a good idea when he's crossing onto the private property and approximately when.

[Hoyt]

Oct. 20th. Rain finally quit last night sometime, but wind was still whip'n it about 20mph. so I headed out this morning. I was late getting back in where I had left my climber..was daylight and about 7:15 time I got settled in the tree.

I was hunting the edge of a thick locust grove ridge and was about 15yds out of it in some red oaks.

8:15 I heard clucking behind me and see a couple of gobblers that had picked me out at about 25yds. The eased on off without too much noise.

Bout 15min. later I see a deer body moving through the locust grove at about 50yds. then about 5 more follow. All look like does yrlings and fawns. They are walking fast and get past me then I see one coming back down towards me. The wind is blowing my tree so hard I don't want to stand up so just sit and wait. Then the whole group is moving down towards me. They get about 25yds and turn back the way they were heading and out of sight.

Bout 9:00 I see another deer going along the same trail and it keeps going. I decide to grunt at it and try to stand up. I'm up with my back against the tree for support (wind) and here comes about 4 or 5 more does and yrlings. coming straight at me in the oaks. The lead one is about 15yds and when she sticks her head behind a big oak I start to draw, but they are straight downwind of me, catches my scent and she stops and then whirls and all run back where they came from.

Bout 5mins later I see another bigger body deer come out of the locust and down into the oaks about 50yds down below me. It doesn't show again.

I think I know about where all I saw where heading or came from, so get down at 11:30 and decide to move my climber down below where I want to get up in the morn. and am trying to decide if I want to hunt a trail or feed when I see a big doe walking the trail in the locust edge that I was trying to decide if or not to hunt in the morn. was 12:00.

I left the climber bout 75yds from the trail and will get on it in the morn.

5 great big ol fat gobblers 25 yds, and i shot a sapling!! while a spike buck watched me do it.

[buckeye_hunter]

10-20

Grunted in a good 8 point buck this afternoon out by the power line. He looked to be 3 1/2. His antlers were outside his ears/. Probably about 125 inches. His neck was already swollen up!

Time was about 2:30 pm. Slight mist was falling and he was able to sneak in on me. 3 more steps and he would have been in my 2nd shooting lane. He switched direction and walked directly away from me. When he first showed up, he was already in my 1st shooting lane and I didn't see him until too late...  

[LookMomNoSights]

In a hot spot (for Mass!) where Im seeing deer every night from 345 to dark.   Tonights excitement came from a tall fork horn.   It was really windy and I was going to back out of the deal early (probably sense where this is going!)  I stand up,  lower my bow,  fold up my seat....about ready to get on my ladders and "crack"......I look toward the hot run....a clumsy looking fork just bouncing down the run toward me.  I was able to pull up the bow,  unclip it from the line,  get into position....everything was working out sweet.   He gets 10 yrds from my tree and slows down.  He needed to take 2 mores steps litteraly to be in my lane.   but does he do that?  Course not   :rolleyes:   .  Like an early teenager with a short attention span,   he started zig zaggin all over the place and eventually out of range,  where I watched him for another 20 minutes.   He eventually made his way out of sight. I think Ill see him again!    

Tonight  I spent an hour and a half within 40 yards and less of 20 or so turkeys. I watched several fly up to their roosts within shooting range, but I did not shoot.  I saw a doe and her fawn, and a sharp shin hawk take a robin off a high branch.

[Hoyt]

As hard as this is to believe with me hunting open public land (Shawnee) and deep in the woods in some fairly thick cover..Locust thicket ridge along red and white oak benches. Not on a food plot or big field where you can see a lot of deer sometimes.

I saw over 50 deer this morning from 7:45 til 10:45. I actually stopped counting at 45 cause I began to see some coming back from the way the deer had been moving and figured I'd count some twice. However, after I stopped counting I saw another 10 or 15 heading the same way as the 45.

All were doe and yrlings except for a little 5pt or so with 4 other doe, a cowhorn spike, a 6pt or so smallish rack and a real big bodied deer I couldn't see it's rack but think it could have been a good one. All the bucks but the one with 4 doe were alone.

I haven't seen a decent buck this yr. except the one I killed, no fresh scrapes and just a few small rubs.

Also saw 4 different groups of turkeys this morning. Group of jakes, hen with  almost grown poults, 2 hens flew down right at light and group of 6 grown looking hens..big size.

It's also hard to believe but I  didn't shoot an arrow and had 22 deer from within 15yds of my tree to 1 yd. (2 were so close they could have reached up and touched my climber with their nose..another reason I didn't loose and arrow...only tree I could get in to see what I wanted and as high as I could get, then the stand wouldn't hold on the side of the tree I wanted)

The deer were not feeding but moving at a fast walk to a trot all in single file. All were in groups of 4's to 10 except the bucks. When one would get it's head behind a tree 4 to 9 more would be eyeballing all around. Tried to draw on two different does and a turkey and got busted each time.

I think they were all headed to the area where I killed a doe opening morn. I haven't been back in there since the first. Will hunt that spot in the morn.

[ron w]

Hunted a couple of hours this afternoon, saw nothing!

Five does and some fawns, a couple within 25 yards. couldn't shoot, the fawns were too cute.

[njloco]

About 7:50 PM pulling into Denville station in NJ, huge buck in front of me, hit the brakes hard and shut the headlights on the train, just missed him,oops does that count ?, Someone owes me big time !

[South MS Bowhunter]

I hate walking up on these thing!   :eek:   :        

 

[South MS Bowhunter]

Oh yeah earlier in the morning before it WARMED up I saw 4 does at 10' while in a natural ground blind...bad thing is they were on my right side and I needed them on my left   :rolleyes:

[kstout]

Rain quit here in Michigan.  I went down by the river at noon and started still hunting into the wind.  After an hour I saw a doe and fawn ahead about 75 yards, walking slowly away from me.  I started slowly following them looking for a buck.  After about 10 minutes I noticed movement to my left about 35 yards, and there was a coyote stalking the deer I was following.  I got in position to shoot and made a squeaking sound with my lips, and the coyote turned, and headed my way.  I again noticed movement, and saw a second coyote, much closer than the first.  When it went behind a tree I drew, and shot when it came back into view.  The coyote ran about 40 yards and went down, the other one ran ahead,and I squeaked again, it turned and started back toward me, but spooked when it got near the dead one.  With all the excitement, I don't know what happened to the deer, but skinned the coyote out for the wall.  66" BW longbow, douglas fir arrow, 160 grn grizzly head. Shot was about 10 yards

[imhntn]

I am late starting but my best hunting day was Oct 2nd and I saw a bobcat passing at 50 yrds and lip squeaked it into 15.  Did not shoot since season on them doesn't open till Dec 1.  Saw several squirrels around.  Had a porcupine walk right under my stand and they are pretty rare where I hunt.  Had a doe come in at 9:30 am and spotted me in the tree and backed out without a shot.  Got 2 does that evening.

[Matthew Bolton]

Killed a good doe on some middle TN public land last night after setting up blind.
 

[smokin joe]

Saw a coyote at about 75 yards last night.

i had 4 does come in, i was set up a little to far off of the trail, trying to stay downwind..
 and a coyote at 20-25yds. just as i was drawing he changed directions and started coming closer, then behind my tree, by the time i got turned around to the other side of my tree he was too far.

[leatherneck]

10-22-11-Up by the corn field

Myself and longbowben hunted our front stands this am. I have one on each side of the  highwall. I elected to hunt the one on the corn side and saw nothing. Ben hunted his stand and guess what.....you guessed it,he saw a good 8pt. acrossed the highwall by my other stand.

         
He said it was a nice 120 class buck. Not the buck I'm after but still would have been better than my 0 sightings.

We did see alot of active scrapes while we were walking out. Most of them will die off but it's good to see the bucks are getting started. Tomorrow is another day.

I'm workng a double right now but Ben is hunting. I have a funny feeling I'm going to get a call tonight with those beautiful words...."I got a big one down".         Just a gut feeling.

[Shedrock]

I saw hundreds of antelope again this morning, normal stuff here. Saw a few small bucks and some does/fawns. No shooter bucks. Has to be a cull deer here where I'm hunting. Then I spotted 3 big bull elk. they were from 300-330 class. Whatch them feeding along a draw. I went waaaay around to get the wind right, got down in the draw they were feeding along. Worked my way up there and they were gone. I hiked up a ridge and spotted them bedded right below me. I went waaaay back around, slipped in another draw they were bedded in, got to around 40 yards, then the darn wind switched. They headed out. I went the direction they went into some badlands to look for them. I get another 3/4 in that nasty stuff and spot a bull antlers sticking up out of the draw. Sweet! I ditch my pack and boots, stalk up to 20 yards of the bedded bull. No shot, If I raise up he'll see and bolt. I wait for twentie or so, arrow nocked. I'm hoping he stands up when the sun starts to hit him and he needs a new bed. Then the wind is acting funny again, and suddenly another big bull that I couldn't see stands up, all I can see is his head and antlers. His nose goes up and they both blow out of there. Rats! The biggest was a monster 7X7, and the bull I original seen was a monster 5X6. That darn wind has saved so many animals lives in my 28 years of bowhunting!! It is gun season, so it's tough hunting. These bulls have seen it all by now this season. I could grab a rifle and easily kill one tonight, but I am a true bowhunter. No guns for me. Call me crazy. I'm to beat to go out this evening, I'll try again tommorrow.