Mountaineer’s 2007 Archery Season

Saturday October 12, 2007 - Whitetail Archery Season Opener

Morning Hunt:
The morning found me in a promising stand that has been on location for about 3 years.  I call it the Rapellor's Cliffs Stand as just about 50 yards below the stand are such steep cliffs and rocks they aren't traversible without rapelling equipment!  Luckily I approach from a much easier route and drop in from above on foot. 

My treestand is at the red X.  Yellow indicates the deer trails usually coming from the West heading East.  The deer prefer to use this shelf as it is under tree cover compared to the open areas to the North.  To the south of my "X" are the cliffs I referred to.  It is through this bottleneck that I have seen many deer well within bow range.  With the wind coming from any direction other than east I can hunt here. 

I made all the morning preparations - coffee, quick bite, shower, and dress in my de-scented clothing and hopped on my ATV to get within about 1/4 mile of the stand with the rest of the work being on foot.

I had plenty of time and was in stand well before daylight.  I enjoyed the reprieve of cooler weather - it was October already and the 90 degree temperatures were getting me quite pissed from the past couple of weeks.  I heard a rather large flock of eastern turkeys down in the valley below me and had many squirrels in front of me but no deer for quite some time.

Around 9:30 AM came a few deer.  The first was a fawn - not interested.  Next came a large doe - definitely interested!  Then came a rather large 8 pointer (probably around a 120 class deer at best) but he was young - not interested.  So, I opted for the doe.  Naturally, she was the only one that didn't offer me a really good shot.  Still, there was one chance for a shot if she kept on her path behind me between two trees.  I took my Bushnell Elite rangefinder and re-confirmed the 27 yards to the deer.  When she passed the tree I'd let one loose.  Step, feed, step, feed, this continued on for some time as there were a few acorns falling (very few) pre-occupying the deer.  Finally the doe stopped in the shooting lane and with me leaning out and behind my stand I loosed an arrow only to see it fall underneath the doe without a hair being cut.  I watched them for a few minutes before the whole pack took off.  I waited still and a lone 6 pointer came about 20 minutes never detecting me. 

The hunt was a success, my marksmanship was not.  Oh well, that's hunting!

Evening Hunt:
I decided to hunt a food plot for the evening hunt.  This plot was situated on a ridge top near above water and bedding areas - sort of a squeeze play strategy.  I figured deer would be moving from bedding to feeding and water in the evenings and offer me a chance at a doe or mature buck.  Here's the setup with my "X" being where my blind was located:

It's important to note that there is no road or building at this location even though the map shows it.  50 years ago, there used be a dairy barn that has since burned down with the soil being rich for planting deer crops, in this case, clover.  To the north in the valley where the creek is showing is a farm pond that holds water.  To the northeast in this same valley is a good bedding area within some pines and brush.  To the south is a ridge system that holds several oaks.  However, they are barely dropping acorns so the food plot and persimmon trees surrounding the field edge are the preferred food.  Again, my hope was for an interception between these movements.

I'd be using everything I did for the morning hunt but with the strategy being for me hunt from the ground I opted to pack along my pop-up blind.  I've used these with great success for turkeys and thought I'd try it for deer.  I've always been told that you needed to "brush-in" your blind for better concealment and I did.  Less than two feet stuck out of the heavy brush I sat up in and I only had one window to shoot out of.  Suffice it to say I was confident.

Two hours later two does came out and immediately locked in on the blind - no scent, no sound from it.  Dang it!  Busted!  They didn't spook but they were wary of it and never came within reasonable bow range.  They stayed on the outside of 45 yards according to my rangefinder and though I had a 50 yard pin, I didn't want to try the shot.  About an hour later two more does (actually another doe and fawn) came out and did the same thing.  Different deer entirely but they too were wary of the blind. 

I was mad.  I shouldn't have under-estimated the whitetail's wariness but as with most first of the season hunts, I always have a few bugs to work out. 

Don't know when I'm going to get after them again with work becoming hectic but I'll be anxious to get Bad Karma broken in.  That is the name of my bow as I have yet to take a deer with it.  Maybe I should go back to my old bow that has taken over a dozen deer!  Alas, a little too late for that, season is upon us! 

October 21, 2007

After returning from a conference meeting, I swung by my family's farm.  I was thoroughly exhausted and simply took a ride around looking for deer.  Saw quite a few, over 15, on a 30 minute ride - no big bucks though.

Next morning, still exhausted, I decided to just do some scouting and do some work rather than go out chasing deer.  Busted my butt all day clearing trails and shooting lanes for some climber treestand sites.  Also started work on a long trail accessing one heck of a hollow (aka, valley) that would give me access for stands and some stillhunting when the hunting pressure is high.

Saw some deer scrapes along the logging roads.  Looked like boundary scrapes so nothing to get really excited about except that they were near a midday bedding area - i.e., a good place to hunt.

Anxious for weather to break, which it is - rain for the first time 8 weeks seems like.  So, all looks well.