Sunday, November 6, 2011

Morning Bowhunt 11/05/11

Saturday morning's conditions: Cold & Clear. Lows in the morning were in the lower 30's for Delaware county with clear, star filled skies as I stepped out of the truck at about 6:00 AM. No precipitation was forecast for the day with winds blowing out of the ESE between 5 - 10 mph, which was much calmer than yesterday. Barometric pressure was around 30.30 and holding throughout the hunt.

View to the NW from the stand.
Today's hunt took me to the first morning hunt of the year at the G farm. I just secured permission to hunt here this summer, and have been mainly hunting the edges, not wanting to push too deeply into the thicker interior of the woods. It had been about two weeks since my last sit here, and the amount of sign has just blow up! Lots of fresh rubs, and on my walk out to the truck I lost count of the number of fresh scrapes I came across along the edge of the bean field. I also located a huge primary scrape about the 5 - 6 feet across with 3 other sizable scrapes off to the sides.The bucks are definitely active right now!

One of many small scrapes that lined the field's edge.
Rub on a 6" diameter tree. I'd like to see the deer that left his mark here!

The stand spot that I planned on hanging out at today is the inside corner of the woods on the west side of the big block of timber. The spot has a little bit of everything. The field to the west is holding standing corn at the moment, along with a half picked field of beans. There's a thin strip of fallow field that acts as a buffer and bedding area between the inside corner of the timber and the planted crops. Running just inside the edge of the trees is a small creek that zig zags through the woods and is always littered with tracks.

With the cooler temperatures and the whitetail rut starting to get underway, hopes are always high this time of year because anything can happen. The deer sightings this morning kept hopes high the whole time I was on stand, as the bucks seemed to be on their feet, roaming throughout the woods with a purpose. I ended up seeing 5 different bucks and 1 or 2 does. The only problem was that the bucks that came within bow range were yearling to 1.5 year old deer. They're fun to watch, but not quite what I'm holding out for when it comes to filling out my deer tag. I did see what looked like a good buck, but he was too far off, and moving through the woods to really get a good look at him.

One of the young bucks working into the wind.
Another young buck that slipped in through the corn, now surveying the woods.
With some family obligations keeping me out of the woods on Sunday, I'll be back at it on Monday afternoon. The next 3 day's weather forecast is looking horrible for being a bowhunter, with the temperatures rising up into the 60's and possibly 70 by Tuesday before some rain pushes through on Wednesday, bringing much cooler temperatures with it for Thursday through the weekend. I'll have my fingers crossed for those cooler temperatures, and a quality buck within bow range this week.

All the critters were active this morning.

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