My camera caught this doe's frozen breath, proving just how cold it is.

Although I love hunting during the winter season, I have to admit it can be a bit frustrating when the weather doesn’t cooperate. My plans were to hunt this morning, set a stand, and then hunt in the evening. Unfortunately, Mother Nature’s plans were to blow in a nasty low pressure system complete with snow, below freezing temperatures, and stiff winds. Instead of being on stand at first light I found myself driving my wife to work and running errands.

I was able to set my new stand around midday. My wife and I made a trip to Cabela’s yesterday and I came home with a new Gorilla hang-on stand. I was dying to get it into the woods, so I hung it in a tree I have been eyeing for a couple of years now. I figured I could try out the stand, and also get a feel for the new location for future reference. The stand seems to be very well built, and I look forward to actually hunting from it a day or two this winter.

It looks like the weather will improve on Wednesday and Thursday, so hopefully I can get a few hours in then. I don’t mind the cold temperatures, but when you factor in a below-zero windchill, the best plan is to stay in the house.

I would like to see game camera companies focus some attention on battery life. I go through way too many batteries in a year, and my wife gives me the stink eye every time I buy them. She's right!

As I expected, a couple of my scouting cameras ate the remainder of their batteries during the cold spell. Luckily I was thinking ahead and had a fresh supply on hand. Although I hate (okay, strongly dislike) my Moultrie camera, I have to admit it’s amazing in terms of battery life. I put in a new set of batteries back in July, and it wasn’t until yesterday that I had to replace them. That’s pretty impressive. On the other hand, I’ve probably gone through twice as many batteries in my Cuddeback.

What I’ve learned is despite the number of cameras on the market now, I question if any of them has it “all.” I’m currently running six cameras, and each model has it’s positives and negatives. Believe it or not, I’m leaning toward my Wildgame Innovations IR-4 cameras as being the best. They were less than $100, but they take good photos, have a fast trigger speed, and reasonable battery life. The Cuddeback has the fastest trigger speed, but is lousy on batteries and isn’t the easiest to use. My Moultrie I4 has great battery life and functionality, but it takes lousy photos, has a very slow trigger speed, and is HUGE. The Scoutguard 550 seems like a great camera from what I read, but of course, the one I’m running seems to have a technical issue and I may need to send it back. That brings my to my dinosaur, an old Sportsman’s Guide model that I got back when digital cameras first came out. Although it has a really slow trigger speed, the photos are great, and it’s easy to use. I just put it over a scrape to compensate for the trigger speed, and all is good.

All of the cameras are in play now and I’ll be anxious to see what’s still walking around now that firearms season is over. I already saw a couple of good bucks, so I know there are some out there. I also saw a really nice half-rack that would have been a shooter. At this point it’s best to let him go

Lake in the center of the property.

The sun has finally set on our 2009 archery trip to Illinois. Everyone had an opportunity at a shot, but didn’t necessarily get the bow drawn. All of the guys had trophy whitetails within shooting range, and I guess that’s about all you can ask for. At the end of the day, it was the poor weather and standing corn crop that made the difference. I feel confident that we would have taken three or four bucks if conditions were better. There’s hope for next year because most of the farms we’ll be hunting will be planted in soybeans. That doesn’t mean the weather will be any better, but at least there’s a better chance that the deer will be in the woods.

Brian and I will be pulling out a bit later than Ben, Cory, and Kevin. His truck is being worked on as I type this. To give you some indication about the quality of the people here, consider this. Our outfitters, Tyler and Josh, were able to find someone to drive out last night to pick up the needed part, then fix it first thing this morning so we can get back on the road. On top of that, Josh’s dad Mark offered us his truck to drive home if necessary! Talk about hospitality.

I hope to add a post or two on our way back. I’m excited to get home and see everyone, sleep in my own bed, and show everyone my buck. I already have a trip planned to Zellman’s Taxidermy on Saturday. It’s not often I’m excited to spend that kind of money, but I don’t think I can write the check fast enough.

Cory's face says it all. It's the home stretch of the hunt, and the bad weather has begun to take its toll.

There are two days left, and it looks like the weather is going to be a lot more cooperative. The forecast is for light scattered showers, but steady improvement throughout the day today and tomorrow. The guys are starting to show some wear and tear. I’m doing my best to keep morale high by first, getting a hot pot of coffee going, and second, keeping everyone upbeat about their chances.

We hit a bit of bad luck last night when Brian’s truck started to have some issues and Ben’s truck ended up with a flat tire somehow. Ben’s tire is fixed and ready to go, but we’ll have to deal with Brian’s today. We are making a trip to Auto Zone to have the problem diagnosed, then to the Ford dealership to hopefully have it fixed quickly so Brian can get out in the woods sooner than later. I’m actually planning to get back out as well to fill my doe tag, and maybe get some good footage on the video camera.

My body is now used to being up shortly after 04:00. I hope that goes away!

November 7, 2009

Location:  #1
Entry/Exit Times: 06:00/12:30
Weather: 34 degrees, mostly cloudy, calm, barometer 30.18 – falling

Despite feeling the effects of six straight days waking up at 4:30, I managed to pull it off. Mike and I figured we’d go back to my top spot for the morning, and if it didn’t work out, we could always go back to where we passed on the big 10-point with the broken tines the other night. Saturdays are always tough here because our property gets a lot of pressure from our families and friends, and a lot of our neighbors hunt small game and turkey. I knew we were in for a challenge.

We had activity immediately, but again, the deer were very edgy, and stayed out of range. This time it was a doe with two fawns. I was already frustrated. Finally, around 8:00, we had a small chase near us. It was just a spike and a four-point, but at least there was activity. Then, after a short lull in activity, the small bucks chased a doe into our sight, and soon after two more bucks joined in the chase. It was fun to watch the four young bucks surround the doe, and even chase off her fawns. It appeared that although she wasn’t ready, she was certainly close. If that wasn’t excitement enough, about 15 minutes later Mike started tapping the tree to signal something was coming. I could see in his eyes that it was big. Unfortunately, I couldn’t see the deer from my vantage point, but the way Mike described the rack, I knew it was “Mr. Splits,” the big split brow tine 10-point that has been roaming the property. Mr. Splits was on a mission though, and it didn’t include coming by our stand location despite my best attempt to grunt him into range.

The activity died around noon, so we decided to slip over to my #8 stand location without heading back to the house. The walk would certainly make us sweaty, so we figured we could survive on the trail mix and couple of small candy bars that we had. The temperature was now in the low 60’s, so the less we had to walk, the better.

Deer Observed:  5 bucks, 10 doe

Evening Hunt

Location:  #9
Entry/Exit Times: 13:30/18:30
Weather: 66 degrees, clear, wind SW 10-15 m.p.h., barometer 29.98 – rising

It was an interesting evening if nothing else. First, the flock of turkey we had been seeing was back in action below us. They didn’t offer a shot, but it was something to watch while we were waiting for the sun to go down. At one point, a doe with two fawns headed out through the birds, and the one fawn just couldn’t resist harassing a couple of the gobblers a bit. Finally, the old bird had enough and batted the fawn across the head with his wing. It was pretty amusing. Shortly after, I noticed a beautiful red fox ahead of us, and he was obviously putting a stalk on the turkeys. Despite his best effort, he didn’t make a kill. It was like Wild Kingdom out there for a while!

Other than a few does with fawns and a couple of young bucks, the best we could do was a decent buck that walked straight away from us. We couldn’t get a good look at him, but he looked like he may have been shooter status. It certainly wasn’t a giant. Again I tried to call, but he was unresponsive. The evening hunt ended with no excitement. This was my last hunt with Mike for the season, and I felt bad that we didn’t get a good buck killed on film. I’ll be back on my own on Monday, but it was the last Monday last year that I finally connected. I’ll use Sunday to regroup and get some much-needed rest.

Deer Observed:  2 buck (one decent), 3 doe, 3 fawns

So is this a trophy buck or not? I got this trail camera photo the other day and as I always do, I zoomed in to get a better look at his rack. I also organize the photos by individual deer, and I name the “shooters.” This helps me track where and when I see particular deer. This year I’m following shooter bucks with name likes Ndamukong, Mr. Splits, and Basket Bob to name a few. If you can count more than six points on this buck, you have better eyes than me. I think I have photos of this buck in velvet, and if it’s him, he had brow tines and was a nice eight-point. It looks to me like he may have broken both of his brow tines off, which would make him illegal to shoot in our area.

Make extra sure that the buck you’re about to shoot is legal. I’m actually glad that we have to let him walk because he’ll be a monster next year if somebody doesn’t shoot him during the gun season assuming he has enough points.

I’m not too happy this morning. My game plan before I went to bed last night was to check the radar at 5:30 and make a decision since there’s a pretty good storm coming through. I know…shocking! Well, the radar showed rain just about to hit our area so I decided to save my time and come to work. Yep, you guessed it. I open the garage door and there’s no rain, and it’s pretty much a beautiful morning. Once again I was fooled by the radar.

Disappointment aside, it’s probably good that I couldn’t get out this morning because it forces me to take more time off when conditions aren’t right for taking a mature buck yet. I’m getting additional rest, while not putting more pressure on my hunting spots. Since I’m not hunting this evening, that will be two full days off heading into Saturday.

I’m starting to see more signs that the rut is picking up. I found a really nice rub on a large diameter tree, and noticed that many of the primary scrapes have been opened up. I’m also beginning to see much larger tracks on our muddy roads, which weren’t there just a week or so ago. The earliest I killed a big buck was on October 26, and it was a 130+ inch 10-point. Interestingly, the evening before I shot him I saw an even bigger buck, but he outwitted me and headed back in the direction he came from. There have been a few times when I’ve noticed what I call a “mini rut” around October 25, so I want to be sure I’m out there during that two or three day window. Since there is no Sunday hunting, my game plan is to hunt Saturday all day (weather permitting) and Monday morning.

Anyone tired of the rain yet?

Just a clip from my morning hunt. Not a ton of activity, but enjoyed the time out.

…Mike and I took the time to set one of his stands, and film a shooting tips segment for the upcoming DVD from Weekend Warrior Outdoor Productions. Of course, we only got half of it done since we couldn’t get our act together until just about dark. I thought it would be fun to “film the fliming” for the blog.

Might head out tomorrow morning. Finally we have some nice weather, and I’d hate to pass it up.

October 12, 2009

Location:  1/2 Way Knob
Entry/Exit Times: 3:30 p.m./6:50 p.m.
Weather: 52 degrees, mostly cloudy, wind SE 0-5 m.p.h., barometer 30.13 – falling

Not much to report this evening. I tried my new stand and I think I like the new scenery. I only saw one deer, which was an adult doe that I passed on at 33 yards. When you hunt a new spot, you don’t know exactly where the deer approach from and that cost me tonight. The doe came in almost exactly where I did, and when she hit my track she just stood there. She did offer a shot, but didn’t come any closer. I’ll know better next time.

Deer Observed:  1 Doe