October 2008

Date: 10/31/2008
Location: Fairfield County, CT
Hours Hunted: Sunrise – 9:00am
Temperature: 36 degrees
Wind: WSW at 5mph
Weather: Sunny
Moon Phase: Waxing Crescent, 4% of Full
Deer Sighted: 2 does

I slowly snuck into my stand well before first light in hopes of catching the deer before they reached their bedding area. My stand in this particular location is in a group of 5 trees that are close together which provide me with added cover and help break up my outline, making it harder for the deer to pick me out. Apparently the wind was strong over the last few days because the tree that was to my right now laid flat on the ground beside the only tree of the bunch that is climbable with my stand.

Around 7:20am I spotted my first deer about 50 yards out. The doe was feeding away from me and never came within shooting range. Not too far behind her was a second doe that followed her into the thick brush preventing me from getting a shot. This turned out to be the “action” of the morning.

Date: 10/24/2008
Location: Fairfield County, CT
Hours Hunted: Sunrise – 9:00am
Temperature: 33 degrees
Wind: N at 5mph
Weather: Sunny
Moon Phase: 7% of Full
Deer Sighted: 2 bucks, 2 does

I went out this morning before work to hunt a trail I took 3 does off of earlier in the season (back in Sept). I haven’t hunted there in awhile to give it a rest as I knew a big buck would soon move into the area to bed once the leaves started falling.

I arrived at the woods a good hour before light and slowly made my way through the thick pines without using any sort of light – luckily I know these woods pretty well. I got to my tree and climbed up just as day was beginning to break. It didn’t take long for me to spot movement coming down the trail as got settled in.

A big bodied deer was making its way towards me so I stood up and got ready. As the deer fed closer I could begin to make out its antlers. The deer fed to about 15 yards from my tree and I noticed it was a basket racked 8 pointer – he’d get to live another day.

Just as I thought that to myself the buck looked over its shoulder and I could barely make out the silhouette of a bigger deer behind him! It was still a bit dark under the thick pines so I couldn’t really tell how big of a buck this was, but I had a good feeling he was a shooter. The buck fed closer and closer until he was literally under my tree. I watched the buck through the platform of my tree stand as I stood 20 feet above its head – he had no clue I was there.

I’d like to say this was a quick game, but it took an interesting turn of events, especially considering this was an educated 3.5 year old buck. I drew back and let my first arrow fly at 5 yards – easy shot. Well, my first arrow got deflected off the side of the deer’s ribs and ended up putting a 12″ gash in its hide, but it was a superficial, non fatal wound.

The deer took off and was at 25 yards when I let the second arrow fly, but the shot was very low and i think only one blade got him. The buck went 5 yards and just stood there, he was hurt I could tell, but I didn’t know how much damage I did to him. The younger buck was getting nervous as it watched the older buck, cause the big guy just wasn’t acting right.

I ranged the deer at 30 yards but wasnt comfortable with the shot – my safety harness was in the way and i had to lean way out on the platform. I loosened my safety harness so I could get to the edge of my tree stand and drew back the arrow hit its mark and passed through the buck, but it was far back – a fatal liver shot, but the deer wouldn’t go down – he had 9 lives, but I only had 4 arrows, this was going to get interesting.

Now the deer was really hurting, steam came out of its nose and mouth as the buck huffed and puffed and finally bedded down. About 10 minutes later the buck got up and took a few more steps and then bedded down again – he was 45 yards from me. 15 minutes later the buck got up and fell right back down, then he got up a second time and bedded again. On the third time I was starting to get nervous, this deer should have been dead by now.

I knew the distance and always practice out to 40 yards so I knew how my arrow would react at a 45 yard shot. The buck stood there breathing heavily as I drew back and settled my 40 yard pin right below the deer’s spine. I let the arrow fly and it hit the bottom 1/3 of the buck, right where I thought it would. The buck took a few steps forward and “jumped” the 3 foot stone wall in front of it, which was extremely hard for the deer and took off. 30 yards later the buck crashed and the game was over, I had my second biggest buck of my life and my second CT buck down for the 2008 season!

Date: 10/18/2008
Location: Westchester County, NY
Hours Hunted: Sunrise – 10:00am
Temperature: 52 degrees
Wind: N at 12mph
Weather: Sunny
Moon Phase: 77% of Full
Deer Sighted: 2 does

Went out on some DEP Watershed land for opening day of the Westchester archery season. I thought I was going to be in a good spot without many other hunters – I was wrong. I walked for about a half mile along the road before entering the hunting ground to disturb the woods as little as possible. I purposely arrived as day was breaking because I was not too familiar with this property and wanted to see where I was going/scout on my way up.

The previous week I had jumped a nice 8 pointer so I was going to still hunt to that spot and set up a stand when I got there. On my way to my “spot” I jumped two does so I set up along a trail leading to a bedding area. Nothing ever showed up. It was starting to get a bit cold with the wind blowing so I climbed down around 9:15am and just as I got my stand packed away, two hunters approached me. They hadn’t seen anything, but told me there were a few more hunters not too far off, which happened to be right where I had seen the 8 pointer on my previous scouting trip.

I picked another direction to go and quickly ran into a hunter on the stand. I turned around and headed back towards the bottom of the woodlot where I ran into a second hunter in the stand. I was surrounded. I decided to pack up and head for home as there were a lot of guys out in the woods and I didn’t want to walk all over the place and get anyone upset.

Date: 10/11/2008
Location: Fairfield County, CT
Hours Hunted: 3:00pm – Sunset
Temperature: 62 degrees
Wind: NW at 6mph
Weather: Cloudy
Moon Phase: Full Moon
Deer Sighted: 4 does, 2 bucks

I got out of work early for the holiday and headed to the deer woods. I climbed a tree that would put me in position for the deer leaving their bedding area – or so at least I thought. While the deer pass right by this tree in the morning, they didn’t during the afternoon. I caught movement about 100 yards out as a four pointer made his way out of a thick bedding area in front of me. I backtracked him with my binoculars in search of other deer that might have been following him. To my surprise I caught movement and watched as a bigger buck worked a licking branch in the thicket. The buck slowly made his way out of the thicket and I could see he was big. At first I thought he was the four pointer I had seen a few mornings prior, but then I noticed some more points – this was a nice 8 pointer and a possible shooter.

I slowly reach around to grab my bow and get ready when I notice 3 does headed my way. The deer were about 20 yards away so I had to freeze. After making sure the does weren’t aware of my presence I grabbed my bow and attached my release. Slowly I turned to find the buck, but he had disappeared into the brush. I didn’t want to grab my binoculars and look for him because the does would spook and then the buck would spook after seeing the does run. I decided to focus my attention on the does and wait for a shot at the lead doe. The deer stayed behind some brush feeding on acorns and never presenting me with a shot opportunity. Then as I glanced back towards where the buck had been the deer reappeared. Slowly the buck made his way towards me and then moved closer to the does. The buck was now within 40 yards and two of the does were no more than 15 yards away from me. With the buck now closer I could judge him better. He had good tine length and was very symetrical. He wasn’t that wide though, maybe to the tips of his ears and his brow tines were weak. I’d guess he was a 2 1/2 year old deer because the body on my last 8 pointer was bigger and it was a 3 1/2 year old buck. I was in a moment though where if this deer came any closer, I don’t know if I could have held out and passed on him – he would have been my second biggest buck ever. Thankfully – for me and the deer – he never came closer and I never had to make that decision. I know there are bigger bucks on this property and the rut is only three weeks away, so there’s plenty of time to put my tag on a bruiser!

Date: 10/10/2008
Location: Fairfield County, CT
Hours Hunted: Sunrise – 9:00am; 3:30pm – Sunset
Temperature: 60 degrees
Wind: NW at 6mph
Weather: Sunny
Moon Phase: 85% of Full
Deer Sighted: 6 does, 4 bucks

This morning I headed to a spot where I’ve been seeing the deer travel in the evening out of a bedding area. The plan was to catch them on their way into the bedding area. I started to climb a tree with my climber when I hit a branch about 10 feet up – still don’t know how I didn’t notice it before I climbed up! Anyway, I decided to take the top of my climber off the tree and put it up over the branch and bring my platform up to the branch. I was hidden in between two smaller trees with lots of foliage so the deer would have a very hard time seeing me.

Shortly after day broke deer began filtering in the woods from people’s backyards. I watched as they fed into the woods, but then went down the ridge to a different bedding area. At one point I heard some crashing behind me and watched as a very nice 2 1/2 year old four pointer stepped out of the bedding area. He never smelled me or saw me, but this was his lucky day as I was holding out for something bigger. I was hoping to shoot a doe on this morning, but as luck would have it only two small bucks and a fawn gave me shot opportunities – no deer for me.

I returned in the evening to hunt a different stand I had luck with during the late season. Although I had pictures of a wide 8 pointer earlier in the season all that showed up on this night was a spike that came galloping through the woods, stopping just long enough for me to watch him under my stand.

Date: 10/9/2008
Location: Fairfield County, CT
Hours Hunted: 3:30pm – Sunset
Temperature: 70 degrees
Wind: NW at 6mph
Weather: Sunny
Moon Phase: 75% of Full
Deer Sighted: 2 does

This evening I headed out again – this time I got em! Well at least that was my original plan. I headed to my usual tree in hopes of getting there before the deer, but the deer decided to come out extra early again and were just getting to my tree as I was no more than 5 feet off the ground. I scrambled to get my bow and nock an arrow. Somehow the deer didn’t see me – there were only 20 yards away and closing fast. I drew back on the lead doe and waited for her to turn broadside, but instead the deer picked me out and then turned and ran without ever offering me a shot.

My father was about 100 yards away from me between another travel route and a bedding area. He jumped two deer on his way in out of the bedding area – partially my fault for telling him to use a creek drainage as a walkway to his stand. He also saw 4 more deer that I never saw. It’s amazing how the deer can be moving so close to you and you never have a clue!

This one particular area really has me confused. I know where the deer are, but setting up to ambush them is a different story. On the one trail leading to the thicket, the deer only use the trail right before first light and I’ve jumped them there so it’s not a good spot. On the opposite end of the thicket, the wind isn’t that great so there’s a chance for the deer to smell me. If I hunt further away I can hunt a different group of deer, but the deer are unpredictable when it comes to the time of day they’ll be moving. I think I’m going to try my luck with a morning hunt and see how it plays out.

Date: 10/4/2008
Location: Fairfield County, CT
Hours Hunted: Sunrise – 1:00 pm; 4:00pm – Sunset
Temperature: 52 degrees
Wind: NW at 5mph
Weather: Sunny
Moon Phase: Quarter Moon
Deer Sighted: 1 buck, 10 does

Saturday morning brought some cooler weather – finally a beautiful day for deer hunting! My morning hunt didn’t go exactly as planned. I was hunting a new stand along a well used deer trail and jumped three deer on the way in. The sun rose and no deer showed, but I did find fresh buck droppings on the trail. My trail camera had 47 pictures on it – all of deer. However, the deer were using the trail mainly at night. There was one decent 7 pointer on the camera, but he needs another year or two of growing up to do. Only a few young does would occasionally use the trail around 7:30am or 6:15pm.

I moved to a swamp around 9:00am and decided to hunt until 1:00pm as my trail camera occasionally picks up mature bucks moving through this area around 11:30am and 2:00pm – nothing showed.

I drove back home for a bit to eat and take a quick nap. I enjoyed the nap a little too much and didn’t get back to the woods until about 4:00pm. As luck would have it, the deer decided to move earlier on this day and were already under my tree – a four pointer and two does. I dropped my climber on the ground, put on my face mask and release and began stalking closer. The deer were feeding in my general direction so I figured if I could sneak about 10 yards closer to a big tree I’d have a chance at a shot.

Slowly I crept closer and closer, one step at a time. The deer never saw me and I made it to the large tree. I nocked an arrow and got ready. Then I decided maybe I wanted to be positioned on the other side of the tree so I moved. As I stuck my head out to find the deer four of them had their tails in the air running away. Apparently there was a fourth deer I missed and she must have seen me and warned the others.

After the deer spooked, I walked back to my stand and went to my tree. This time I started climbing the tree and just like last week, a doe appeared about 100  yards away. In this one spot there are two groups of deer. One group passes by my stand and the other feeds along a property line and walks into a thicket. I’m going to try my best to take two or three does from the one group that busted me before making my way towards the other group of deer in the thicket. I’m in doe management mode this season and with one buck down it’s making managing the herd a lot easier for me.