5 Pines Farm Whitetails 2014

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #51.  Jim's stand

Up the logging road wearing two sets of long johns and everything else in the pack. I was softly grunting as I walked in ankle deep oak leaves  This little trick enabled me to walk up on 2 does in their beds . They didn't even get up till I was 10 yards away and stood staring into my head lamp. This is a great trick to use when walking in a noisy forest.

The temp was 37 and there was hardly a breath of wind out of the South. I sat for an hour just watching and listening to landscape come to life.

At 8 :30 I rattled with more enthusiasm than of late. Grunting and rattling I made some serious noise today.

15 minutes later I caught movement 40 yards above me on the logging road. A very small forky was moving along looking for the bullies he had heard up here. I was intently watching him when I heard noise in the leaf litter below me.

A nice but young 8 point was walking on a trail up to me from below on the ridge. He walked to 10 yards and stood there looking for the source of the noise as well. Giving me every opportunity in the world to kill him ,I wished him well. When it was safe to swap the bow for the camera I snapped this photo of him
 
Given a year or two and he is really going to be  something.

Later in the am I had a small fawn feed by and just before I headed out a very small coyote trotted by on a deer trail 50 yards below me. Going back to camp I again grunted softly as I walked along. I walked up on four bedded does right behind the logging road ladder. They ran off when I was just 20 yards away!

[Horne Shooter]

Jim,
As I follow your season again this year, I find myself checking in every day to see what the newest post will be.  I truly get disappointed when I log in and you haven't written yet!  Keep up the great work!  Your stories are always a highlight in my day.  I think a book should be in your future about your farm, your hunting and your philosophy!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Thanks Paul! I'll keep doing my best but I think you are too kind!

Outing #52 The Bwana stand.

Basically I set up the same as last night. We had a light wind out of the NW. Just enough not to call it light and variable. Two words a bow hunter just hates to hear!

Here is how the decoy looked from the stand.
 
The picture is deceiving as the decoy is only 15 yards from my perch. The hillside is steep but I am up over 20 feet high to compensate. I think I like this set up better on this west end of the field. The shot is tighter, and the visibility of the decoy much greater. One thing I have learned is that if the deer can't see your decoy , they are not going to come to it. The visual is everything.

I really thought tonight was going to be the night. Especially when I spotted a big doe out feeding in the clover field at 4 pm. I kept looking down the ridge expecting to see horns.
 
but other than the lone doe, I got skunked.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #53 Roundabout

It blew like a hurricane out of the north all night.  I needed to be out of the wind if I was going to put I any time on stand. I went here knowing the south facing bluff would keep me some what protected and that the wind would actually be reversed sending my scent up hill. Every thing went as planned except the deer were some where else . I was out of the tree and in by 10 am, it was just too cold to sit any longer

outing #54 Bwana repeat

I rarely sit the same stand two times in a row except during the rut. I thought the decoy set up last night was exceptional except for the fact no deer showed.

The wind stayed out of the N and was blowing much harder than I like to sit in. But it was forecast to slack off just at sunset. I was in the tree by 3 :30 and cussing myself for coming here. The wind had picked if anything and I climbed out of the tree and sat on the ground for an hour. When it seemed reasonable to climb in, up I went. Just in time for the wind to pick up again!

It was brutal. I kept repeating a friends mantra. Patience and Perseverance. Finally just after sunset I saw a doe running my way through the tall prairie grass to my Left (West). Another deer loped behind and he had a rack on his head.

The doe raced through the gap between one horn and me followed by the buck. When the buck saw my decoy he stopped dead in his tracks. He began to circle the decoy and stopped 10 yards in front of me. I thought about shooting him, for about 10 seconds and then reminded myself of my goals for the year.  When he had his back turned , I swapped Anubis for my camera.
 

This was one of the best decoying experiences I have ever had. Almost as good as the bucks I have killed over a decoy. He circled the decoy 3 and on half times! He kept 15 yards between himself and decoy each time. Ending up in front of me 3 times at ten yards! Halfway in to his 4th rotation he picked up some other scent and headed to the south .

This video is of him on his 3rd trip around.
 https://www.flickr.com/photos/51550276@N08/15057524174/
This is what I truly live for! What a great hunt!

[Biathlonman]

You've got great restraint. That's a nice buck.

[Kopper1013]

Beautiful buck, that is really cool!!! Love your thread by the way, check it everyday. Great season

[ron w]

Unreal....   :eek:   .....I'd would have had a hard time not shooting that deer........or at least shooting at it!! As I have said before.....you do a wonderful job sharing your season with us!!      

[Robhood23]

Cool vid bud! Are you guys getting any mid day activity yet? Randy had some success at 10:30 this morning!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #55  It was a looooong sloooooow day!

Started the day out at the "hole".
 
Coldest morning of the fall so far. It was in the high 20's! A very light wind out of the SE.

Nothing seemed to be moving. At 9 30 I heard a slight noise behind me to the East. Ever so slowly I looked over my right shoulder. Standing 15 yards away and eating something nasty was a mommy coyote. There is no way I can shoot that direction due to the limbs of the tree in front of me. But I reached for the bow anyway. She sensed the movement but did not bust me. I pulled the arrow free of the arrow stay nock, The rubber made the slightest squeak. She looked up again and then walked off in to the bush.  Seconds later back she came followed by three pups and her mate! Five coyotes at 15 yards and no shot! They never knew I was just above the and off to the East they went.

The first deer did not appear until 11 am. A nubbins buck. It fed under a crab apple tree for a while. Then it wandered around picking up some yellow leaves on the floor and eventually walked right by me on the trail going East as well. At 1 pm I looked West and there was a forky standing at 20 yards with his nose up in the air. He had me and he quickly walked to the North and went up over the ridge.

At 1 30 I packed up my gear and headed up the ridge to the South for lunch up by the pond. Then I grabbed the decoy at the Bwana stand and reset it up on the west side food plot under the Lefty stand. The Wind had become more Easterly which was perfect.
 

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Here is how the decoy looked here. there is nothing behind him but like at the Bwana set up I hoped they wouldn't come from his rear end.
 
Since the wind was very slight. I let the head swing free giving it more of a life like set up.

About 5 30 this young stud came marching in to investigate.
 
as he got a little closer his courage began to ebb
 
then he thought he heard his momma call
 
So he turned and walked about 30 yards stopped, turned around, came back 25 yards, stopped again and turned and ran. Other than him I saw one doe just at dark come in to the clover behind the turnips.

I am taking the day off to morrow, the Mrs. is beginning to forget what I look like. I am also to go over to Wisc and meet up with Charlie and Chuck at their hunting camp near Viola.

[ron w]

Tell Charlie I said HI!! Hope he's having a good time back home. That young buck is a pretty deer.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I had a great time shooting our bows . hearing about their farm and just making new friends with Chuck , Charlie and brother Andrew.

Didn't get home in time to hunt but I did pull a chip on a camera set in movie mode in some red pines above my house. The deer pass thru here and there are always some traditional big rubs here. Caught 6 different bucks. Here is the buck my wife saw three weeks ago drinking in her grotto

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/51550276@N08/15697338352/

he is now target #1

and then there is this guy who may get a pass as he is just a 3 year old from the look of his body in relation to his legs.

 https://www.flickr.com/photos/51550276@N08/15697334332/

I hope these play ok for you, give them time to load it takes about 30 seconds or so

[Hopewell Tom]

Whoa! Target # 1 for sure.
Good to have well defined goals in life...

[Jayrod]

Originally posted by Hopewell Tom:
Whoa! Target # 1 for sure.
Good to have well defined goals in life...

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!! Hope you get a opportunity at him Jim he's a Dandy!

[Colotrad]

 Do this to target #1. Good luck.

[DanielB89]

I'm now trying to find me a decoy to use.. lol.  any recommendations?

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing 56  Pants Down!!

hi guys I am in for a quick weather check,  a hello to the Mrs. and then back out the door. The bucks are moving.

At 7 30 A doe and a fawn were headed up my way. Unfortunately she was coming from the north and the wind was blowing from the south. At 20 yards she winded me and about faced. As she trotted back the way she had just come, a good looking buck was heading up the hill in her direction. I never got a real good look at him but he was at least a three year old.  Off they went with him giving chase. In the next 15 minutes three 1.5 year old bucks came down the trail following the first ones.

Over the course of the morning I saw 9 different bucks! Two were in shooting lanes but  they won't be a target for me for a year or two.

Back out the door to see what's up in Apple Alley.

[steadman]

Good luck bud!

[tracker1]

Good luck shoot straight

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

outing #57. Apple alley hang on.

In between the two ladders on the west side of the food plot is a hang on in an Aspen tree along a trail that runs along the inside edge of the woods. Normally there are lots of rubs here. This year there seems to be al lot fewer.

I spent almost 5 hours in stand and didn't see or hear a single deer! My buddy Jay is here hunting with his home made recurve and he got skunked too!

So we will be hard at it again in the am.