Atchman2
Well-Known Member
After the incident the other day of guys tromping through my hunting area and turning the cameras, I went back over to the scene of the crime. :)
Where I've been hunting on the small property I haven't seen a thing. Before the season there were deer everywhere! Once it started-nothing. I'm guessing it has to do with the huge supply of acorns there right now. My other thoughts were kids playing and now it is other hunters I didn't know about in the area. Also the landowner had some trees cut and they threw the limbs down the hill into the ravine where I hunt. With all the human scent and the huge piles of debris, maybe it changed their movement habits for awhile.
So I took my new game camera and moved it down to a place where three ravines meet. At the bottom of the place, there is a small natural spring with many trails intersecting nearby. On my cameras, I first saw that the bandit population loves that spring, and later that morning I started seeing deer on the camera. They are arriving at around 9 AM. I'm not sure of why the time is prime, but it seems to be consistent.
Monday, my son had a baseball game nearby. I decided not to hunt but to try and setup to hunt that location. After looking at the trees and thick brush, I concluded it would cause a major disruption of the area to put a stand up and to clear any actual shooting lanes for my bow or crossbow. I came upon a fallen tree near the trail. The tree fell across the natural drainage ditch that leads down to the spring. Since the tree has fallen you can see that the game trail has changed to skirt it and to go further up the ridge. With a ready made fox hole in place I went to work.
I had a piece of that burlap camo material. It has some tomato stakes zip tied to it. I used it during dove season as a portable field blind. This time though I just found some downed trees and laid them between the root ball and the side of the hill. The tied on stakes were nice because they supported the material so I didn't have to pile a lot of other limbs there to hold it up.
At that point in time, I hunkered down in the hole and looked down the trail. I noted several obstacles to my shooting lanes. Taking my clompers, I trimmed just enough of the brush away so I could easily shoot thirty yards down to the trail nexus. I also pulled couple of downed trees over to "funnel" the deer down the trail. I'm convinced they are just as lazy as us about stepping on or over things. :) The trees were already leaning or fallen I just put them parallel to the trail (Wearing gloves and rubber boots, but I couldn't stop all my scent from getting around).
(That little blob of green is my "hide". It is almost invisible from a distance.
The trimmed branches and loose brush I piled up up on top of the burlap. I got back down in the hole and adjusted the branches so they didn't interfere with my crossbow or with the anticipated line of fire.
It turned out to be a really nice place to sit! Nice and cool and well concealed. As I did it as I asked myself, "should I camo it all around or just down the trail where I see the deer all the time?". Since I have to walk in from some direction, I figured the deer would scent me so I didn't put any cover back towards where I walk in or from the top of the hill.
(You can barely see the burlap. I had to clear an area for my crossbow. Then I realized my mistake and just put my chair and bipod further back like a sniper. That way the crossbow didn't extend past the end of my hide).
(Nice LOS down the trail, almost all the way to the spring)
I was really happy with the setup! I put my camera back in position and poured out some of that trophy rock salt to hopefully get the to pause on the trail. I must have not spread too much scent because I few minutes after I left for my son's 7:30 baseball game, I have a deer on the camera.
(Okay he's not a stud, but I've never shot a buck with a crossbow or bow so if he comes by again....) :D
(You can just see here where the three ravines come together. The spring is down in the hole just to the left. Unfortunately, the kids "fort" is up the hill about 120 yards to the left too.)
On Wednesday morning I decided to hunt the area. Since I knew that the deer haven't been there very early all year, I just took my son to school and went on over there. I took a folding chair with me, my bipod, and my Barnett Crossbow. At first I had my chair facing down the trail. As it got more light I realized I could see WAY up the hill toward the ridge. I turned the chair to my right, knowing I can always shoot to my left. Now I could shoot straight up the hill or left. There is a trail that runs behind some Cedar trees that used to have a lot of rubs on it.
I sat there for awhile enjoying the cool of the morning. It was about 45 degrees but then the wind started pretty hard up the ravine towards me. Still I looked to my left and up the hill. Then something caught my eye, a flicker of movement to my right behind me! It was a big doe working her way through the Cedar trees.
The first thing I did was to turn on the camera mounted to my bow. In retrospect I turned it on too soon! You see I grabbed an 8 GB card and put it in the camera, and it said "full". So in the dark I just grabbed another card-a 1 GB card.
(It doesn't look like that anymore. I painted the camera in flat black so it doesn't shine.
For a long time she stared at me. I was fully camouflaged including face mask and gloves. Also I wasn't moving a muscle except minor movements to keep the crossbow and camera pointed in her direction. The BAD thing was I was holding the crossbow in my left hand! Now I've shot left handed before, but I have never done it with a crossbow and I haven't done it recently. Also my shooting sticks were leaning on the front of the blind, and if I reached for them she would bolt.
Eventually my legs and arms begin to cramp, so when she would go behind a tree, I would move slightly to take the strain away. I was shocked she didn't run. The entire time it was obvious she saw something she didn't like.
There was what seemed to be a clear spot through the scope. I wasn't used to my left eye, so I closed my right eye to help focus. As she appeared in the "clear" gap I fired. A horrible sound told me that it wasn't a clear as it appeared and I saw the pieces of my arrow/bolt flying in all directions from a tree limb I didn't see in the scope. :( She ran about 150 yards and stopped and looked at me.
Eventually I got up and went to look for the arrow. Maybe it went all the way through and THEN broke? Nope, I must have hit something I didn't see.
(As my friend John said, "There goes $20 :P")
As I got up to the place where she was, I looked down at my hide from that angle. I then saw what was making her so nervous besides me. The WHITE TAG was hanging off of the side of my chair! Oh my! :( Even though there wasn't any camo on that side of the blind, it was still pretty hidden. However, the thing that makes a deer seriously nervous was flapping every time the wind blew!
I had a meeting at work at 11 so I went ahead and left. It was the first deer I've seen all year. The distance was only 22 yards. I never did figure out which branch I hit, or if it hit a branch which then deflected into a nearby tree. Regardless I'm glad I didn't hit and wound it from a deflection. Right before I shot she was facing me. I aimed where I need to make a face on shot. She was SO on to me. She was blowing and stomping up a storm. It was take that shot or nothing and after weeks of not seeing anything, I felt pretty confident I could make a connection. Just wasn't in the plans.
I'm going to head back, maybe over the weekend and cut at few more shooting paths up the hill. Also I'll drag some more downed trees and limbs over to conceal me from the top of the hill. I'm looking forward to going back and trying again! :)
(PS: I'm editing the video. The problem is this. Do you remember the SD card? It was only 1 GB and it RAN OUT just before the shot. But the footage of her is really decent!)
Where I've been hunting on the small property I haven't seen a thing. Before the season there were deer everywhere! Once it started-nothing. I'm guessing it has to do with the huge supply of acorns there right now. My other thoughts were kids playing and now it is other hunters I didn't know about in the area. Also the landowner had some trees cut and they threw the limbs down the hill into the ravine where I hunt. With all the human scent and the huge piles of debris, maybe it changed their movement habits for awhile.
So I took my new game camera and moved it down to a place where three ravines meet. At the bottom of the place, there is a small natural spring with many trails intersecting nearby. On my cameras, I first saw that the bandit population loves that spring, and later that morning I started seeing deer on the camera. They are arriving at around 9 AM. I'm not sure of why the time is prime, but it seems to be consistent.
Monday, my son had a baseball game nearby. I decided not to hunt but to try and setup to hunt that location. After looking at the trees and thick brush, I concluded it would cause a major disruption of the area to put a stand up and to clear any actual shooting lanes for my bow or crossbow. I came upon a fallen tree near the trail. The tree fell across the natural drainage ditch that leads down to the spring. Since the tree has fallen you can see that the game trail has changed to skirt it and to go further up the ridge. With a ready made fox hole in place I went to work.
I had a piece of that burlap camo material. It has some tomato stakes zip tied to it. I used it during dove season as a portable field blind. This time though I just found some downed trees and laid them between the root ball and the side of the hill. The tied on stakes were nice because they supported the material so I didn't have to pile a lot of other limbs there to hold it up.
At that point in time, I hunkered down in the hole and looked down the trail. I noted several obstacles to my shooting lanes. Taking my clompers, I trimmed just enough of the brush away so I could easily shoot thirty yards down to the trail nexus. I also pulled couple of downed trees over to "funnel" the deer down the trail. I'm convinced they are just as lazy as us about stepping on or over things. :) The trees were already leaning or fallen I just put them parallel to the trail (Wearing gloves and rubber boots, but I couldn't stop all my scent from getting around).
(That little blob of green is my "hide". It is almost invisible from a distance.
The trimmed branches and loose brush I piled up up on top of the burlap. I got back down in the hole and adjusted the branches so they didn't interfere with my crossbow or with the anticipated line of fire.
It turned out to be a really nice place to sit! Nice and cool and well concealed. As I did it as I asked myself, "should I camo it all around or just down the trail where I see the deer all the time?". Since I have to walk in from some direction, I figured the deer would scent me so I didn't put any cover back towards where I walk in or from the top of the hill.
(You can barely see the burlap. I had to clear an area for my crossbow. Then I realized my mistake and just put my chair and bipod further back like a sniper. That way the crossbow didn't extend past the end of my hide).
(Nice LOS down the trail, almost all the way to the spring)
I was really happy with the setup! I put my camera back in position and poured out some of that trophy rock salt to hopefully get the to pause on the trail. I must have not spread too much scent because I few minutes after I left for my son's 7:30 baseball game, I have a deer on the camera.
(Okay he's not a stud, but I've never shot a buck with a crossbow or bow so if he comes by again....) :D
(You can just see here where the three ravines come together. The spring is down in the hole just to the left. Unfortunately, the kids "fort" is up the hill about 120 yards to the left too.)
On Wednesday morning I decided to hunt the area. Since I knew that the deer haven't been there very early all year, I just took my son to school and went on over there. I took a folding chair with me, my bipod, and my Barnett Crossbow. At first I had my chair facing down the trail. As it got more light I realized I could see WAY up the hill toward the ridge. I turned the chair to my right, knowing I can always shoot to my left. Now I could shoot straight up the hill or left. There is a trail that runs behind some Cedar trees that used to have a lot of rubs on it.
I sat there for awhile enjoying the cool of the morning. It was about 45 degrees but then the wind started pretty hard up the ravine towards me. Still I looked to my left and up the hill. Then something caught my eye, a flicker of movement to my right behind me! It was a big doe working her way through the Cedar trees.
The first thing I did was to turn on the camera mounted to my bow. In retrospect I turned it on too soon! You see I grabbed an 8 GB card and put it in the camera, and it said "full". So in the dark I just grabbed another card-a 1 GB card.
(It doesn't look like that anymore. I painted the camera in flat black so it doesn't shine.
For a long time she stared at me. I was fully camouflaged including face mask and gloves. Also I wasn't moving a muscle except minor movements to keep the crossbow and camera pointed in her direction. The BAD thing was I was holding the crossbow in my left hand! Now I've shot left handed before, but I have never done it with a crossbow and I haven't done it recently. Also my shooting sticks were leaning on the front of the blind, and if I reached for them she would bolt.
Eventually my legs and arms begin to cramp, so when she would go behind a tree, I would move slightly to take the strain away. I was shocked she didn't run. The entire time it was obvious she saw something she didn't like.
There was what seemed to be a clear spot through the scope. I wasn't used to my left eye, so I closed my right eye to help focus. As she appeared in the "clear" gap I fired. A horrible sound told me that it wasn't a clear as it appeared and I saw the pieces of my arrow/bolt flying in all directions from a tree limb I didn't see in the scope. :( She ran about 150 yards and stopped and looked at me.
Eventually I got up and went to look for the arrow. Maybe it went all the way through and THEN broke? Nope, I must have hit something I didn't see.
(As my friend John said, "There goes $20 :P")
As I got up to the place where she was, I looked down at my hide from that angle. I then saw what was making her so nervous besides me. The WHITE TAG was hanging off of the side of my chair! Oh my! :( Even though there wasn't any camo on that side of the blind, it was still pretty hidden. However, the thing that makes a deer seriously nervous was flapping every time the wind blew!
I had a meeting at work at 11 so I went ahead and left. It was the first deer I've seen all year. The distance was only 22 yards. I never did figure out which branch I hit, or if it hit a branch which then deflected into a nearby tree. Regardless I'm glad I didn't hit and wound it from a deflection. Right before I shot she was facing me. I aimed where I need to make a face on shot. She was SO on to me. She was blowing and stomping up a storm. It was take that shot or nothing and after weeks of not seeing anything, I felt pretty confident I could make a connection. Just wasn't in the plans.
I'm going to head back, maybe over the weekend and cut at few more shooting paths up the hill. Also I'll drag some more downed trees and limbs over to conceal me from the top of the hill. I'm looking forward to going back and trying again! :)
(PS: I'm editing the video. The problem is this. Do you remember the SD card? It was only 1 GB and it RAN OUT just before the shot. But the footage of her is really decent!)
