Post/Pre season Scouting.

Scouting!

 My scouting has began!

So I stared my post 2013/2014 pre-season scouting a couple weeks ago.. I like to use the Snow and the lack of leaf cover to locate key features that other wise disappear or are much harder to locate later in the year.

A friend and I were able to get permission to hunt on some new land this year, so we have been learning what we can. 

The property is around 50 ac. So not knowing what to expect and with snow on the ground we hit the woods.. Nothing beats, boots on the ground seeing the sign with your own eye's..So armed with GPS, & Cell phones we hit the woods to learn what we could...

 After a couple of hour of wondering the woods and collecting data, I was able to put together a map of this new property. I have found maps like this to be key to my hunting success. With a family of five and working a full-time job I don't always get a lot of time in the woods, so I use the time I am in the woods to create maps for planning my upcoming season or hunts...

I create maps like this for all the properties I hunt. I GPS all major trails, bedding areas, food source, and potential stand locations. 

 

With the snow this time of year it brings to light deer trails not always seen with out it..I use the snow to help locate funnels and bedding areas that I may other wise miss. I create most of my digital maps using my Garmin E-trex, I will record tracts with my GPS.  I also recently downloaded Trimble's GPS hunt App and found it quite functional. I am only using the free version of trimble's App and seams to work just fine.. I only wish i could down load from it...

My next step...

"Trail cam's, us them don't abuse them"

 Now that I have a grasp of the lay of the land I plan to put Trail cam's out and see what all lives in the new woods. I don't have cam's out yet but hope to in the next couple weeks..

I use trail cam's until  Mid to early Sept. and will take them down not using them again until mid to late Oct...  When I started using trail cam's I learned quickly not to hunt trail cam's.  I use them to view animals in and around the property but I don't always hunt the locations I have my camera placed...The first couple years after starting to use trail cam's I used cam's all season long and solely hunted the areas I had set my cameras and in the end didn't fill a tag that year where my camera was seeing deer.  I think that year because of the high activity involved with placing and checking cam's regularly the deer avoided that area more and more while becoming more night visitors...  Once I put my cam's out i'll post some pic's of my findings...

As much as Technology can help us be more successful, it still takes true woodsmen-ship to make a successful hunter.

2013 Fall Turkey

On Oct 19 I took my third turkey with a bow. The plan was to meet my friend Kyhl at turkey ridge for an afternoon hunt. I got there a bit early to check my trail cam in the field. I made it to the top of the crest in the field and spotted a flock of birds working their way up the edge of the field. I had dropped  my bag at a logging road that leads to my stand so I didn't  have my call with me. I decided to crawl back to the edge of the field and wait them out. The flock moved with in forty yards and one of them spotted my and sounded the alarm.

So I did something that was a little crazy but have been told it works. I jumped up on my feet and ran as fast as I could right at the flock. Waving my hands like a mad man and yelling. The birds went every direction. Now I have them busted up I should be able to call them back in. But I do not have my call. Should have thought this one out a little more. Now I need to run back to my bag and get my call. I ran as fast as I could to my bag and back. I pop my call in and start kee keeing and doing some yelps. I can hear them responding to me and gathering back up. I thought it was over. I could make out from their calls that most of them had gathered back into a flock.

I find a nice spot on top of a mound that is about fifteen feet tall at the edge of the field. It is covered in blackberry bushes.  The birds are down hill from me. Now I start calling loud and aggressive. Trying to call one or two of the stragglers up to me.  About five minutes have passed when I see turkeys making their way up the hill. They are being very careful.
Stopping and looking about every five feet.

I let out a few soft yelps when the first bird got to about thirty yards. Their are seven young turkeys in this flock. they all respond and keep coming. They make their way right to the bottom of the mound. I draw my bow and decide to try a head neck shot. I have a grim reaper wts with a two inch cut. I did not want a huge hole in a small bird. I hold my top pin right on its head and hit my release trigger. I pulled the shot to the left in my excitement. Just misses the turkey. Now they all get excited and start to move off. I grab another arrow and nock it.   One bird is still at ten yards and draw again. this time I hold right where the neck hits the body. I focus on the shot this time and watch the arrow hit right where I was holding my pin.

I tag my bird and head to meet Khyl. I know he has got to be there by now. As I hit the logging road here he comes walking down the road. Him and I stash the turkey and head back to get him one.
At this time the turkeys know something is up. I make a few calls but nothing. We sneak over the hill and see them working north along the bottom of the hill and try and get in front of them. It did not work.  So we decide to go to our tree stands and sit for the rest of then afternoon.

After all that, I never did check my trail cam that day.

2013 What a Great Year in the Woods!!!

What a great hunting season! 

I had the opportunity to hunt with some of the finest sportsmen I know!
I was able to harvest my first spring Gobbler this year,
Saw more buck from the stand than any other year in the past. 


Spring Gobbler

 I shared my turkey season with 3 great guys, and came so close to getting a double.

Doug and I chasing Swamp Chickens

Matt & I waiting and ready!

Matt & I had only been in our spot for maybe an hour when the gobbles started to hammer from the ridge in front of us. With a few Yelps we had them coming on a string.
Matt was the first to see them at the field edge and the adrenaline kicked in.
We had 3 birds coming into our set up on a string.
We waited for what seamed like for ever for them to come into range.
I whispered to Matt once they were in range that at the count of 3 we would shoot.
With the adrenalin rolling and so focused on the shot I didn't notice Matt wasn't quite ready when my count hit 3. Two shotgun blast and one bird flopping...

 Not only was this my first Spring Gobbler it was also my first turkey ever. had a 5 1/2 beard and weighted around 12 to 15 pounds I was using Winchester Super mag's  #4 copper plated 3" mag with a Remington 870 Sure shot express Turkey

Archery

I had a late start getting into the woods this fall. 

I made my first trip Oct 26th and had action in the stand none stop all season.

I only hunted 7 days in archery and only two days were skunked days.

I saw at least 4 deer each time i was out and almost every trip a legal buck was seen.

I have really worked hard to figure out the deer the last couple years where John and I have been hunting and it really paid off this year!

John was able to get a fantastic buck and we had more encounters in archery with legal bucks then any year before. I wasn't able to put it together in archery but was one of the most successful seasons I have had in a long time!  

 

 Rifle

My rifle season was one of the quickest and most successful seasons I have ever had.

John and I hit the woods early in hopes of anyone else in the area would push deer to us.

After a hour in the dark the first shoot rang out at 6:45am. and the action started.

 With in minuets of the first shoot we had deer coming in. 4 or 5 doe worked there way thought but decided to let them walk.

It wasn't to long a we spotted a lone deer working its way to us. So John hit the grunt tube and got the camera rolling. She came in to about 60 or so yards and my dad's Ruger 7mm Mauser dropped her in her tracks...

I quickly climbed out of my tree got her tagged and drug her back to the tree. Jumped right back in my stand in hopes of more action since it was only 7:30am.

It wasn't 10min. and John tells me to get ready there are more deer coming.

I spot 2 then 3 then 4 deer working there way down the hill. I notice the 3rd deer is a buck and appears to be legal.

John gets the Camera rolling and hits the grunt tube, and he breaks from the group and come in to about 50 yards.

I took a quoting tortes shot and he took off like a rocket, but only a short distance before we could tell he was hit. I was so amped up and shaking that John was picking on me for making the tree shake.

well i quickly climb down and after some "Hang ups" getting out of the stand I was off to do a quick tracking job, and had a tag on him by 7:45am.

He ran about 150 yards from where I shot to the point he died. This buck is the second biggest buck for me to date.

8 point inside spread 13 3/4" and an outside of 14 3/4"

After some photos and the excitement subsided and with the help of John we were back to the truck and on our way home by 9:30am.

I didn't get back in the woods to hunt the rest of the season, but have already started scouting for the 2014 seasons!

I hope 2014 is as fun and successful of a year in the woods as 2013 was for us!

2013 PA Buck

I had been planing a trip to PA for the last two months. The time has finally come to load up the car and make the six hour trip to Tioga county.

 My brother had been sending me trail cam pics of a hand full of buck. I had high hopes to kill my biggest buck to date on this trip. So far my best buck is a eight point I killed in rifle season many years ago. I now use the antlers from that deer as my rattling antlers.

The drive was nice. I decided to push straight threw so I would be able to hunt that night when I got in.

I stopped at the local shop and picked up my tags. I called my brother and asked what he thought for the night. Temps were in the fifties and wind out of the north west. He gave me a few tips and said good luck. Once I got to the farm I got a call from my brother saying he was going to stop by on his way home because of a cat wreck he needed to go the long way. I get all my gear out and getting dressed when he shows up. We chat for a bit and we decide I need to go to a spot that does not get hunted that much becuas a north west wind is the only wind that works. We say bye and I head to my spot.

On the way in  I see more deer sign on the edge of the field than I have seen all season in Vermont.
I find a few good looking rubs and scrapes on the field edge.

I notice the tracks in the scrapes are some of the largest tracks I have seen. I Start feeling like it is going to be a good night. I have only been in the state for two hours. 

I find a good tree form my climber and get set up. Not much comer so I climb about twenty five feet up and pull up all my gear. I am facing not looking up the hill with the field to my right. Not expecting something to come fro the field I have that as my weak side.  The sun is warm to warm. It is still in the fifties. I am getting away with hunting in November with only a long sleeve shirt on.

I sat with out seeing anything but squirrels. I hit my rattling antlers together and do a few grunts and got ready.  Then it was like someone flipped a switch a little spike chased a doe right in front of me and out of sight. Another doe came by and then the spike chased the doe back by again.  Then I noticed a deer out by the field. I look and see a nice buck working his way to me. He is down wind of me. I am thinking there is no way he will come in. Just then the spike comes back with the two doe right in front of him.  The spike stops and makes a rub on a sapling.

 I am surrounded by deer. The doe are at fifteen yards and the spike is off to my left at ten yards. At this point I'm sure one of them are going to pick me off. I slowly get turned to get a shot to where I think the buck I think is a nice ten pointer will come by my stand. He sees that little spike with the doe and you can tell he is not happy about it. He starts coming in. I can now see his left antler is crazy looking, two long spikes super cool looking.  He stops at twenty yards and makes a scrape and then turns and enters the woods. This took me off guard. I wanted him to keep walking the field edge for a nice easy fifteen yard shot. Now I need to get set up on the right side of the tree. Some how I get my bow between the tree and my self with out spooking him or the other deer right around me. He is still coming towards me. Working his way to the little spike. He heads behind a tree and I draw my bow and go threw the motions. He is less than ten yards now.  This is one of the harder shots to make twenty five feet up and under ten yards.

He comes out the other side of the tree and stops. I set the pin right on him and squeeze the the trigger and heat that hollow thump up a good shot. He bucks and then slams into a tree and then gets up and runs fifty yards and drops insight of my tree.


I text my brother from the stand and could not text because I was shaking so bad. All i got back was ?
So I called him. I said I shot a big buck and he is down can you bring the cart from the house. he said your shitting me and hung up on me. I climb down and go look for my arrow and blood. No arrow but so much blood. I follow the blood trail to the buck and find half my arrow on the way.

 I take a moment to get calmed down and tag my buck.

My brother calls me back and asked if I had found him. I said yes. He asked how many  points and I start counting and got to nine and he hung up on me again. I go back to my stand and pack things up and head to the car and meet my brother there. He meet me in the field with the cart and walked back in with me. I pose for a few pics and get to work field dressing him.

This is by far the biggest bodied deer I have ever killed. dressed out at 178lbs. It also my best buck to date. We drug him to the field and get him loaded on the game cart. My brother had called a few  friends to see if they wanted to come help. They showed up about the time we made it to the cart and helped pull him out.Thanks for the help guys.

And my 2013 PA season was over in the first night. I would not have got this deer if it was not for my brothers hard work and time he puts into scouting. Thanks so much.

On the first day of rifle season my brother killed a nice eight and a doe from the same spot. 

First VT Buck

 

The hunt started on Oct 11th. I meet Kyhl at the end of the logging road at around 3pm

Kyhl headed to his stand on the north end of the clover field and I had my climbing stand and was going to see if I could find where the deer were. We were into the second week of archery and had not seen a deer yet.

I followed a logging road till an intersection with two other roads. The trees to pick from were few and far between. I finally decided on a maple tree that I might be able to get a shot to all three roads. I could only climb fifteen or sixteen feet because of branches.

I noticed that I would be able to shot to the road up hill from me. Only a small shooting lane but could pull of a 30 yard shot.

After about 1/2 hour I heard something coming down the road on the up hill side. 

I grab my bow and get turned around and see a small buck walk into the lane. I see he has a y on the right side and draw my bow. I put the pin right behind the shoulder and let it fly. The deer takes a step at the same time and I watched the arrow drill him right in the gut. My hard drops, This is a first for me. All the years of hunting and this is my first gut shot deer. I watched the deer bound off about 30 yards and stop, tail flickering and hunched up. Then he walks in to the brush. I could still make out the deer with my binoculars. After ten of fifteen minutes I loose sight of the deer.  I set the first of  two timers on my phone. One is for the time after shot. The other is last time I saw the deer alive. I check my phone and thirty minutes have passed so it is time to climb down. I sneak up to the road and do a quick look for my arrow but cant find it. I do see some blood and it has all the signs of a gut shot deer.  Brown chunks in a dark red blood.I follow it to the where I was him go in the brush and take a quick look for my arrow there, That is when he jumped up right in front of me and disappeared. Disgusted with my self I set timer number two and walk back to the field.

 Sitting at the edge of the field waiting for Kyhl the shot plays out over and over in my head. Kyhl walked up and noticed I was missing an arrow and got excited for me. Then I had to tell him what had happened. Bummed out we head for the cars and a sleepless night for me. This property has a lot of predators on it. Opening day I saw a two hundred pound black bear and there are always coyote tracks on the road.

I get an early start at first light. I head for the last place I saw the deer. I pick up blood right away. I used a grim reaper whitetail special that has a two inch cut. The blood trail is much better than I thought I would have. The blackberry bushes are head high and visibility is only about ten feet.  Following  the trail about sixty yards and there he is laying dead. I dig my tag out and put it on his ear and took a few minutes to think about the hunt and what I could have done to make a better shot next time. After dressing and dragging the deer out of the thicket time to find my arrow. The arrow was laying right where I shot the deer. With low light and excitement I over looked it.