Trick or Treat?

Being Halloween, and a full moon, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to hunt this morning.  Not only was it a PERFECT morning, I'm a firm believer that big bucks are shot on big days.  This, hopefully being my big day. 

As morning preparations caught up with me fast, I was 4 minutes late getting into the treestand.  Of course I kicked a really nice looking buck off the picked corn field as I pulled into the driveway.  He looked fairly tall, but not much mass.  A nice buck nonetheless. 

Before I climbed the ladder, I set out my doe decoy.  With her rear smothered in Tinks #69, she was almost irresistable....almost.  The woods were alive during the first half hour of legal light.  2 or 3 deer came up from the timber below me, but skirted wide of my stand, ignoring a few grunts I threw their way.  Moments later a doe to the west was hauling across the neighbor's pasture.  Trying to keep up was her yearling.  Then barreling after them was a buck, dogging their backtrail.  As fast as I saw them, they were gone.

Shortly thereafter a really nice buck stepped out about 3/4 the way down the field.  I'm pretty sure it was the nice tall rack I saw when I pulled into the driveway about half an hour previous.  He turned to start walking away and a couple of my loud grunts caught his attention.  He stared at the decoy for awhile and then continued to walk away.  I started getting desperate.  I bleated a few times but that garnered only a glance.  I then tinkled the rattlin' horns together and that peaked his attention for another moment or two.  But still no luck in getting him turned.  He sauntered off, in the opposite direction and disappeared.

The sun rose higher and higher and nothing was happening. I formulated a plan in my brain.  I was going to stick it out until 9:30.  If nothing happened by then, I was climbing down and stalking deeper into the wood!  I had a ladder stand deep in the timber, along some old ATV trails.  I figured if I could make it there, throw together a really good rattling sequence, I just might be able to draw a big boy into bow range.  In my head, the plan sounded perfect.

9:30 rolled around with no more activity.  I climbed down and started the slow stalk to the deep woods stand.  Between me & the stand was a DEEP ravine.  I made it across the creek in the bottom and started up the other side.  Just ahead of me I caught movement and froze.  It was a small basket rack 8 pointer.  He was coming down the trail I was on...directly at me!  I froze and watched as he approached.  A couple big trees between me and him barred him from seeing me until he popped out 10 yards away!  He stopped on a dime, his eyes got as big as saucers, and he turned, trotting off in the opposite direction.  It was pretty cool getting that close to him.

I sped up a little bit and climbed into the ladder stand.  I got situated, having never hunted this stand before.  I nocked my arrow, got out my rattling horns, and waited a few minutes before staging my fight.  I took some time to admire the view of the Des Moines River valley, it was amazing from this location.

The time had arrived.  I grabbed my antlers and starting knocking them together.  I dragged them on the limbs and leaves around me and continued to rattle.  This mock fight lasted a couple minutes until I set the horns down and grunted a few times on my grunt tube.  The lack of breeze was nice as I could hear anything approaching in the leaves.  I heard a deer crashing through the forest in the valley to the south.  It almost sounded like it was running away from me, and I thought it could possibly be the little buck I spooked minutes earlier. 

I grunted a couple more times and picked the antlers back up.  I rattled for another minute or so, set the antlers down again and grunted a few more times.  Movement to the south caught me eye.  It was a buck, and he was slinking towards me.  Approaching to see who was fighting in his domain, this brute silently closed the distance.  As he turned his head to the east I saw a nice 5 point side!  I instantly recognized the buck as one I'd gotten trailcam pics of earlier this summer.

I connected my release to the string and watched as he closed the distance to 20 yards and stopped.  He was coming in perfectly.  But something wasn't right.  It wasn't until he turned his head to the west that I noticed the cause for my suspicion.  My Halloween Buck proved to be a trick and not a treat as his entire right antler was broken off, 2 inches above the brow tine!  No doubt this buck was a fighter and to have a main beam busted clean off must have been an incredible fight.  The decision to let him go was an easy one.  Especially if there's a buck out there that could do that to him!

I slowly put my bow back on the hanger and got out my cell phone.  I tried to capture a couple pics of him through the brush, but they didn't turn out the greatest.  Here's the best one.

He stood there, as still as a statue for probably close to 10 minutes.  Knowing I wasn't going to shoot and that I had to get my dog to the vet by 11:45, I softly grunted a couple times at him.  His ears perked forward as he tried to pinpoint the new intruder.  A couple times I swear he looked right at me.  After a couple more grunts his instinct kicked in and he turned, melting into the timber he came from.

 

I climbed down after he left and high-tailed it the other direction.  It was an awesome Halloween hunt and was almost as good as if I would have harvested a big buck!  The rut is heating up and if you're not getting out to the stand, you're crazy!  Happy Halloween!!!

On The Board!!!

Last night, October 26th, I raced home from work in hopes of squeezing in a quick evening hunt.  I threw on my camo, grabbed my gear, and raced back up the road to a 40 acre piece I call "The Hill".  It's half CRP and half planted trees with a home right in the middle.  The land owner keeps the edges mowed down well and their house is within 100 yards of my stand so the deer are pretty used to the smell of human scent and it's kind of like a state park setting- that's why I love hunting there!  It wasn't 15 minutes and a doe showed up, just what I'm looking for.  As soon as I spotted her south of my tree the west/ northwest wind shifted to the north and blew my scent right at her.  I could tell by her body language that she had smelled me and was uneasy about it, but she kept coming up the fence line.  She literally stopped at the base of my tree and sniffed around a while.  All she had to do was keep meandering to the north and I could pick my quartering away shot.  Instead she sprinted to the north and stopped at what I thought was 25 yards- it wasn't.  I let one fly and it went right under her belly and she was gone.

I sat back in my stand to reflect.  Missing an easy opportunity like that on any deer is disappointing and the hunter is left to sit there and think about it like a kid in time-out at the baby sitter.  I quickly realized the doe was farther than 25 yards, it was more like 30.  I began to wonder if I would even see another deer.  To the far north is another house at the next road.  I could see a black speck in the front yard.  I pulled up my binos to look.  It was their black lab hunched over taking a dump.  Fitting for this hunt, I thought.  At least I had a beautiful view.

It wasn't long and I saw a deer moving in the next field over.  It was a doe coming out into the cut bean field.  Then I noticed movement on the edge of the standing cornfield next to it.  Through my binos I saw it was the Mule! 

I foolishly got out my grunt tube thinking he would hear me from 80 acres away.  I was so jacked up at seeing a mature buck on his feet that my first attempt at grunting him in sounded like a kindergartener in music class trying to play the kazoo for the first time.  Great, now I'm really not going to see another deer near my stand.  Of course the Mule didn't even come close to hearing my desperate attempt at calling him in.  I sat there again feeling like an idiot.  In all reality, we're on the doorstep of the rut, bucks are staying close to the does they think will come into estrus first.  Did I seriously just think that 2 grunts would entice a mature buck to leave a potential mate and travel nearly a half mile crossing 2 fences and traversing 50+ acres of standing corn just to see who in the hell is grunting at him?  You moron, Seth. 

As I watched through my binos, more deer began filtering out on the bean field.  I counted four does and the Mule.  Then a smaller buck came running in from the south to check out the ladies but the Mule sprinted right at him and convinced him otherwise.  Man, things are heating up!  As I put my binos down I noticed to the north a doe was out on the mowed trail.  Alright, a second chance!  But she jumped the fence in to the standing corn before she was even inside of 75 yards of me.  Just as shooting light was running out I noticed another doe come out of the trees on to the mowed trail.  She was moving south.  Yes, a third chance!  She was moving down the fence at a steady pace and as she came inside 20 yards I drew.  I stopped her at 15.  She was quartering to me but I use a Muzzy broad head and they have proven to me over the years that they don't care what angle a deer is to you, they will blow through anything.  (shameless Muzzy plug I know, but I love 'em!)  I put my pin on the top and front side of her shoulder and let it rip.  This time I heard the familiar SMACK when an arrow finds its mark.

She sprinted 3 quick steps and jumped the fence into the standing corn.  I saw the corn stalks moving as she sprinted deeper into the abyss of maize.  Over the years I've learned that deer never go where you want them to go after you shoot them.  Deep ditches, ravines, wash-outs, rivers, cornfields, thick, tangled, gnarly, thorny brush all seem to be favorite final resting places for fatally hit deer and are all places I have had to go to retrieve deer.  Then about 100 yards out the stalks stopped moving.  After 30 seconds I heard a crash and I knew it was over.  Yessss!!! I'm on the board and ol' dad here is putting some meat on the table!

I texted my dad and he met me at the house.  Joanna and Jeremiah came along for the ride.  Joanna kept Jeremiah busy in the truck while my dad and I searched the cornfield.  Luckily we found her withing 10 minutes but the work was just about to begin.  I field dressed her and the drag was on.  After 100+ yards of dragging uphill through corn and after many stops to catch our (my) wind, we finally got to the 4 ft. tall fence.  We hoisted her up and over and took a well deserved break.  Unfortunately my phone battery was so low that it wouldn't use the flash while taking pictures.  We had to rely on the truck's high beams which explains the poor picture quality and the white-washed faces of the Bartlett Family.  Special thanks goes out to my beautiful wife, Joanna for bringing along our son to experience his first of hopefully many deer hunting experiences.  And also special thanks to my dad, Mike for helping in the search and recovery and the dreaded drag to the truck.   

The Black Eyed Beauty

Yes, as my brother noted in his previous post, I have filled my first tag of the year!  I was able to harvest a huge doe on our farm here in Boone County.  Not only was it a successful hunt, but I was able to capture it all on video for the first time!  Below is the story, video, and pictures from an awesome Sunday evening hunt.....

Our property is dominated by thick, rugged timber.  On the north part of the property sits a 5 acre field though.  This year it was planted to corn, and has already been harvested.  The picked corn acts as a deer magnet and they love to filter into the field just before dark to fill their bellies.  It's this food source that I key in on. 

I went out Saturday night, October 20th but the deer didn't start showing up until right as legal shooting light expired.  So I thought I'd try it again on Sunday, but show up a little later than usual because of their habits. 

Here's the intro to the hunt....

Yes, I have a black eye.  Last Tuesday, while working on a treestand, I was trying to persuade a ladder stand section to fit into place.  Unfortunately for me, one of my swings missed it's target, glanced off the lander stand rung, and connected directly with my face.  By now, the bruising is almost gone, but I had a heck of a shiner for about a week.

So Trish & Caleb are in the truck across the field waiting and watching.  It was a bit of a gamble to bring Caleb and try to contain a 2 year old in a truck for over an hour, but we had weapons.  Trish brought a laptop and Winnie the Pooh movie (Caleb's favorite), but the laptop battery ran out after 10 minutes!!  To make matters worse, Caleb filled his diaper with #2 goo and us being "parents of the year" forgot to bring a diaper bag!!  Fortunately I always carry a roll of toilet paper in the truck and I had an extra diaper floating around loose in the back seat!  As always, my wife was amazing keeping him occupied in the truck.  Here's the proof.....

As I waited and watched the sun sink lower, the only movement was from that of a hungry Fox Squirrel, picking up kernels of corn out of the field.  Then, shortly after sunset, the deer showed up.  I watched as 3 deer came from across the road to the north and out into the picked corn.  They made their way, slowly at first, towards my position, until they saw my decoy.  Now I had purchased my first deer decoy at Theisens earlier in the day and that was part of the reason why I wanted to hunt so bad this night.  The decoy, affectionately named Heather, was below me at 15 yards.  When these deer saw this decoy, they approached warily.  Heather was in an "alert" pose and I think it made these other deer a bit skittish.  The big doe I had my sights on approached closely, stomping her front foot and looking for the cause of the alarm.  When she'd had enough, she turned, directly broadside to me, and I let it fly.  Here's the tape.......

Now I'm no professional camera man by any means, but I was pretty excited to get all this on tape with just a little Sony Handycam strapped to the tree behind me!  While it's not Outdoor Channel material, it's pretty darn good for a novice like myself.

In the excitement that followed I wrapped up the shot with a few words......

It was an awesome hunt and I owe a HUGE thanks to my AMAZING wife for all her help after the shot.  We had a lot of work with it being such a warm night.  We got her out of the field and into the freezer before the end of the night.  Here's a few more pics of the eventful hunt.

My arrow.  Equipped with a Rage broadhead, it was a complete pass through shot and she didn't go 50 yards!

Caleb & I before all the work started.

Finally hung up & ready for processing.

This hunt is one I'll never forget.  It was extra special to have my wife and son right there for the whole thing.  It's nice having my antlerless tag filled with some fresh meat in the freezer, and now with the rut ahead, I can focus on taking down a buck.

A Tough Pass but a Great Encounter

Tonight I sat in my usual stand, along the foodplot in Hoot's Timber.  A week and a half ago I created a mock scrape line along the plot edge and hung a scrape dripper over one of them.  I was hoping the scrapes would be active but when I got on stand I saw they were not.  It was warm and I was beginning to doubt I would see another deer after I kicked up a bedded spike buck on my way in.  Right at sundown I noticed a doe moving through the timber 100 yards to the north of me.  She disappeared into a drainage but it gave me optimism and I re-evaluated my hunt.  It was a little warm but it wasn't hot, and deer were on their feet. 

It's the time of year when bucks are moving during daylight hours but they aren't getting too aggressive.  That being said as pre-rut gets going they are slowly establishing a pecking order so they can be curiously responsive to certain calling.  I brought my grunt tube with me for that very reason and I decided to give it a blind shot.  I gave an easy "grunt, grunt." Nothing too aggressive, just an "I'm a buck and I'm in the area" call.  Immediately I saw movement about 100 yards out to my left.  I saw a glimpse of an antler and I picked up my binos and saw this guy:

It was Tall Boy and he was coming on a rope!  Some how he had snuck into my area undetected.  My heart pounded as I grabbed my bow and got ready.  He came to 10 yards and turned broadside and began munching an acorn.  (just a side note, it literally sounded exactly like that stupid acorn cruncher call that my brother has- maybe he's on to something)  Twenty thoughts raced through my mind:

History has proven I don't get many shots at good bucks on the ground I hunt.  However the rut is just around the corner- you never know.  But I don't have as much time to hunt this year, it would be nice to be done now.  The rut is just around the corner.  But what a perfect shot though.  Do I really want to clean and process a deer after butchering 4 hogs this weekend?  But look at how tall he is.  It's sunday night and it's warm, you have to go to work in the morning.  But his main beams almost touch.  This thing would spoil hanging in the garage tomorrow before you could get a chance to cut it up.  But what a shot.  It looks like he has a smaller body.  But his rack is sooo tall.  It is narrower than I thought.  His feet look small.  His ass is rounded off, nope definately not square.  Doesn't have a big belly.  He's a 2 1/2 year old deer.  Pass.  

Whew.  What an encounter.  My first buck encounter in over a year.  Awesome!  I keep looking at that trail cam pic and I keep telling myself he looks bigger in the photo than in real life.  The best way I could describe it to you is that he is a Texas deer- his smaller body size makes his rack look huge.  I'll bet he's a 120 class buck.  I really hope I don't see him again because if it's November 30th and he walks past my stand I don't know if I could let him walk away again.  I'm still glad I passed him even though some shmuck will probably make swiss cheese out of him during shotgun season.  I can only hope he makes it the next year or two and keeps living in my 7 acre block of timber but lets be realistic here, the odds aren't in his favor, nor mine.  Stay tuned, rumor has it my brother filled a tag tonight over in his neck of the woods.  Happy Hunting and God Bless!

Showing Signs

The pre-rut is showing signs of kicking in.  Maybe last week's cold snap gave it a jump start, but I've seen both sign on trailcam as well as in person that things are beginning to heat up.

 

 

I hunted this morning and had a small fork horn pushing a doe and her yearlings around the picked cornfield in front of me.  He wasn't pushing hard, but he definitely wanted their attention.

 

 

The clear, 33 degree morning on Monday had this buck doggin' this doe and her yearling.



My camera is set up directly on top of the mock scrape pictured in the post below.  This sowbelly 10 pointer decided he'd make a scrape of his own right across the trail!



Pic of the Week

Mock Scrape

Pic of the Week

I really enjoy posting big bucks, turkeys, or the occassional coyote on the pic of the week, but this week I got a picture that I never would have expected.

 

 

This no-good, dirty trespasser decided to ride his ATV right on into our property.  He rode right by my NO TRESPASSING signs and my trailcam.  Luckily for me, he probably looped around on one of my different trails on the way out and did not even notice this trailcam that caught him in the act!  I hope he got a good look at the place, because if I find out who it is, it'll be an expensive look.



Harvest Season

It's that time of the year!  The Bartlett Family has begun the harvest.  However it is with heavy hearts this year as we still mourn the tragic loss of Bill Bartlett.  With enough Mt. Dew, Bill could combine for hours on end and was capable of fixing anything with wheels and most things without.  He will be missed, but also remembered as someone who wouldn't hesitate to help someone out no matter what.  I know he helped me out many a time and I will always remember his kindness and giving nature. 

It's Here!!!

Today is the official start to the 2012 Iowa Archery Season!  Unfortunately, I won't be able to make it to the stand today.  Temps here in central Iowa are at 53 degrees and calm.  The leaves are pretty close to peak color here too.  It would have been a great morning to get out there.

The way it looks with my schedule is that I'll hunt next Monday morning, October 8th for the firts time.  I'll probably slip up to my spot tomorrow morning to check trailcams, but won't actually hunt until next week.  I have a few more things to get in order before I'm ready to hunt anyways. 

In the meantime, since my last post, I have dumped my trailcam cards once.  I got a few more interesting pictures.

This guy made "Pic of the Week" last week.  I only put him back up because I have him on camera below again.

Here he is again, only hard-horned this time.  He gave me literally the same 3 poses as he did the first time.  And if he keeps walking under this stand in daylight hours, I'm going to have a tough decision to make!

As a bonus, 2 huge tom turkeys strolled by the other day.  Fortunately for me, if this happens again, I've got a fall turkey tag to slap on one of these ol' boys.