Thursday PM

Doe and yearling fawn. I'm sure the doe is bred and the youngster glad to have the rut over.

Coat bristled up for warmth.

Walked across the creek for a little afternoon sitting and watching. Nobody around. Young raccoon came down the creek just a few feet away as I sat and texted. The cold water didnt seem to bother him at all.

Little bucks bopping around.

Tight horned buck from across the creek.

Bent horned 1 1/2 year old. One of the twins.

Bent horned kid far across the creek.

Youngster looking around.

Couple more tiny spikes. Coyote. Squirrel. Coons. No does. No big bucks.

Ran the cams in the slanting December evening light. Jumped a deer coming back across the creek but just saw a white flag waving a few flashes across the bottom. Big bucks back in their thickets.

Acorns plentiful everywhere.

Sunday AM: Who ELSE didn't get photographed?

One of the twins. Crazy antlers. Looks healthy though and has made it to December without being blasted by some enthusiastic hunter. Maybe he'll grow to be a big atypical. Interesting split-base double on this side and palmation on the other.

Little buck about an hour before I got there. Not the one that later walked under me. The width of his antlers is very close to legal shooting width, but he's just a youngster. Nice genetics.

37 degrees in the tree with a rare East wind. I sit on the west side of the three-foot trunk so I had a little shelter. Overcast. 37 is about as cold as I want to tree sit. Little buck wandered out of the center of the field soon after I got set. He must have been out in the grass when I came up the pipeline. Not shootable at all, just a little 1 1/2 year old bopping around. He was downwind but never quivered a nostril. Walked as close as he could get to me without climbing the ladder. I'm usually tempted to drop a pine cone on them this close but there just wasn't anything at hand. Could have bombed him with the water bottle or given him the cold shower but I just sat. He checked the licking branch at the scrape. Scrape was full of fresh doe do. (scattered, not clumpy) Now at the computer I'm finding zero files of him or the doe. Hmmm. Who else didn't get photographed? I'd take 100 files of moving grass to missing one of a whole deer standing there. He was glossy and healthy. Nice little deer. Three years from trophy status. All of them.

Called it off at 9:00 as the wind picked up and a mist set in. Went to meet my redhead for breakfast at Cafe Tazza.

Its a cold gray day out.

Deer here and there

Big Roughed-up buck. I think this is the buck I didnt take a bad shot at a couple weeks back.

Running coyote.

Shootable buck butt.

I dont think this is the same buck as above.

Little buck.

Two does but only seven legs.

Does.

Hadnt seen this guy in a bit.

Buck from across the creek wandering. If I had gone out this morning I would have seen him. Not shootable.

Wednesday PM: Bob the Cat

Dawns early light. Little buck who seems to own this scrape. If I was a painter, this is what my paintings would look like. What light!

Doe in heat on the 22nd.

He looks good from this angle but only is about seven inches inside spread.

Does on the licking branch.

A very animated young lady on the across the creek cam.

Across the creek on crunchy afternoon leaves, wading the rushing creek to the first cam, then drifted up the logging road to my chair looking into the hillside core area of a little buck. I gave it about ten minutes and then shook out a little rattling session. Two minutes after I sat back in the Walmart chair a healthy looking leggy Bobcat came down the opposite slope. Watched through the crosshairs. Coyotes never stop but Bobcats kind of flow along. He paused for a face rub on a sapling.

I get the feeling that Bobcats, like many cats, KNOW you are there, they are just ignoring you. This one never gave me a sidelong glance. Very spotted, like a little leopard. Never took the safety off. Couldn't think of a good reason to interrupt his flow. He disappeared upstream where I heard furious, cursing squirrels all the way up the hill. He must not ignore THEM.

No deer. In the dusk I swapped cards and left.

Wednesday AM: Wrens and Squirrels.

Spike on cam.

Crispy and splendid morning but nothing moving except fussing wrens and rattling squirrels. I got down at 9:30 and the little 1 1/2 year old buck that's been on cam a lot over here was coming out of the treeline. He didn't puzzle me out but went downwind and blew a few times in the cover of the brush. Handsome fellow but not wide enough to be legal. Too small to interest me. I didn't bother to shrug my rifle off shoulder.

Scrapes all freshly worked and added to. Two new ones up the treeline. Second rut? Cool weather? I moved my cam back to an old spot. One spike on the card.

Daily Deerhunt

Detail of a scrape. You can see a couple of fresh prints in it. They dig them up as a scent mark and neighborhood info spot.

After 13 straight days of hunting mornings and most evenings I burnt out. Went a couple more times by myself and hunted AM/PM with Dr. Sneed when he drove up. Just not much to be seen, except on deercam. They ought to be full by now. Going out again in the morning.

Sunday AM/PM

Dr. Sneed drove up for a little sit in the woods session. New scrape in the pine straw next to my tree. Sneed heard deer run by below him off the bluff. I was frantically texting him while watching a deer homing in on his position through the woods, (doe) after I had rattled. In the afternoon I thought I heard a response to my rattling back in the woods but nothing but a hawk cheeping and whistling around the pasture.

Thursday AM: 13th day

The little resident buck. Too narrow antlers to shoot.

Nice genetics in a young buck.

Different young buck not wide enough to shoot.

Doe and yearling fawn trailing through.

Unknown. Fox? Raccoon?

Beautiful clear still morning and not a deer to be seen. A big Buteo sailed in and sat on a snag across the pasture and squirrels racked around in the woods. At 9:30 I crossed the creek and rattle and a sat for a bit. Pulled the cam cards. Scrapes look untouched, but cams show several animals checking by.

Back in this evening. This is getting boring even for me. I've never hunted this many consecutive days of a year. Part of that shows how bad the economy is. I've got plenty of time.

Wed AM: 12Day.

Foggy this morning beyond anything I have seen. The pasture cloaked in mist. Pipeline disappearing into grey. Trees looming up here and there. Absolutely beautiful. 37 degrees with no wind. Comfortable if you are bundled up. At 8:25 a mature doe swam through the tall grass just 15 yards out. She was alone and had that questing look to her, wasn't looking back. She disappeared into mid-pasture and a minute later a buck dashed out of the woods in the corner. I didn't notice antlers so he wasn't anyone I was interested in. No shot at any rate. Never saw them again. I think they were the 13th and 14th deer of the season.

Even with the gaps I cut in the pine I'm not watching behind myself all the time or to all points of the compass. Probably looking at 90 to 120 degrees of coverage. The doe went out of sight behind a big garland of pine bough on the end of one of the branches. No telling how much I have missed. Got to be something. You can't be looking everywhere all the time.

Back in the tree or across the creek in the morning.

Tuesday AM

Freshly dug up scrape under the oak tree. Scapes are where deer dig up the dirt and....annoit it with various deer liquids to make a scent mark.

Location of scrape and hanging scent branch.

37 with promised wind out of the NNW. I bulked up under my Swiss camo coveralls and was in the tree before dawn. Rattled a little before I went up. The wind has stripped leaves and laid a layer of pine straw all over everything below my tree. At 7:30 two big healthy does and a yearling fawn were behind me just off the pipeline. Just saw them by chance sine they were behind me.

They didn't seem to be going anywhere, first toward the pasture, then down the pipeline, then back down the hill along the treeline toward me, then into the woods, back out, down the treeline a bit more until they were within spitwad range, then back into the woods, then around to the south. I put the gun on one of the does just for practice. I thought maybe they could smell me in the swirling air. Rifle was stripped down out of it's camo sock and oiled yesterday. Even I could smell it.

Nice looking deer. Three in one day. The record for the season so far.

Fresh print in a gopher mound in the tall grass when I was coming down the hill. The scrape had been worked freshly, first time in a week. Second rut must be starting. The wind picked up around 8:00 and by 9:15 I had enough.

Monday AM

Saturday at dusk. I was back across the creek. Usually this is about the time I am hanging it up. Wouldn't have missed the triple cam flash.

Moved this cam back to the corner of the woods.

Big rain last night. Not a track in the freshly washed sand on the pipline. Wind from the northwest for the first time and the pine was rocking. I gave it up after an hour and moved a cam. Might have been better to be in the woods but creek is uncrossable due to high water.

Brought my rifle in, unsocked it from the camo and gave it an oiling. Temp has fallen all day and now it's crispy and windy. Wintery for the first time. Have to bundle up in the morning.

Sunday AM

Checking the scrape in the grass just past the cam.

Little buck with tight horns. This must be his place.

Looks bigger from the side.

Rain coming in this evening and Monday morning. Big temperature drop. So much for hunting in 70 degree weather. Maybe it will stir up the deer. It will certainly reset all the sign, (tracks) and bring down the leaves. Going to be a different season in 24 hours.

I've got a lecture this afternoon at the museum and then going to watch Dallas and Green Bay. If the weather is bad Monday morning I'm taking that off as well. I've hunted eight straight mornings. Will pick up Tuesday Morning.

Drifted in plenty early and sat in my chair watching the far bank. It's a real core area over there, full little cedars with rubs from this season. Scrape on one end, probably another within 100 yards. Thick cover behind and uphill. Water below. Perfect big buck habitat.

Rattled at 7:00 sharp just in good light. I paused at 7:03 and decided to pump a little spray, then went back to rattling intending to go to about 7:06. A buck snorted and ran across the way, continuing to snort back in the cover. He'd been very close and come right to the rattle silently. I don't THINK he could see me. Might have been the spray pump. Air very still.

Not another sign until I left at 10:15. Crossed over and swapped cards clipping a few branches coming and going.

Saturday AM/PM

Doe on cam after I left.

Hiking past the field-expediant cam.

Filipinos got their window replaced. Coffee about the same. I haven't mentioned the cinnamon rolls but they are pretty terrific.

Got in the tree and watched the woodline until a young spike materialized in the tall grass. I was hoping for a single doe with a buck following but instead got this lonesome youngster. I've been expecting more of this action, maybe a couple wandering young bucks a day banished by their moms and threatened by the bigger bucks, bopping around. Haven't seen them. The spike was the 6th deer total in eight days, most of them AM and PM days. He looked healthy and fat but had pitiful spikes.

At 9:30 I got down and went across the creek to sit and watch where I saw the buck last night. The morning light dramatically spotlights the grassy slope across the little streamlet. I moved the chair a few yards to a very advantageous spot. Move a couple of branches. Sat for a couple hours.

This evening I went back to the chair. A father and son were on top of the indian village, lake property owners looking around. Dad had some kind of deer rifle with him but they were as likely to get a shot at a buck as at Bigfoot. Two teenagers and a dog were on the west skyline at the powerline. I could hear crowd noises, maybe from Pine Cove in the woods. Nothing moving in the afternoon but squirrels chasing and whistling.

Came out in the impressionistic black and white dusk. Half mile hike. On the logging road I walked my face into a little spider who somehow has suspended herself in the middle of a wide space. Every day she has a few more yellow eggs glued to her back. I think I got clear without damaging her project.

Grinding hunting, day after day. I'm happy but beat. Fell off a tree step Monday in my soft rubber boots and have been limping along with a sprained toe for a week. Slowly working back into shape. The season was a week later than normal this year, not starting the first week of November but the second. They aren't digging up the scrapes anymore.

Last year I shot a nice deer on the 16th as he dug out an old scrape. Might be looking at the second rut for any action.

Two bucks each morning for coffee and a roll. 16 bucks so far to the Filipinos. They are having a nice deer season.

Friday PM: Logging out.

This must be yesterday's buck. The time stamp is off an hour but I might not have reset this cam.

Nice little buck but too narrow to make the new antler regulations. Minimum is 13 inches inside.

I didn't know he stayed this close this long. Six files.

In the morning they are wet, flat and pliable but by afternoon fallen leaves have had all day to dry and curl. Gets noisy walking in. Factor in big feet- one of my heels equals all four of the biggest bucks footprints- and its hard to be absolutely quiet. Plus, human hearing doesn't equal deer ears. They might be able to tell the difference between Sweetgum crunches and Oak, plotting your location like a organic GPS.

I went in late (4:00) to the logging road. Corned up the across-the-creek cam and then drifted...as quietly as possible, up to my chair on the road. Thank goodness for Pine needles. After a bit I took my rifle and crossed the creek with a pair of hand clippers, improving the view. Up at the scrape I switched the card and clipped my way back to the plastic chair across the little streamlet. Nine files. 5:00pm

I sat and watched the afternoon and when I felt the forest grow bored with me, I picked up the rattling horns for a little interactive deer hunting. I gave it about three minutes, pumped a little spray to seal the deal and sat back texting and watching the brush. At 5:30 a large buck gave a little jump and started slowly walking toward my cleared lane. I got the rifle on him but couldn't see enough horns through the vines and twigs to tell who it was. When he got to my open spot he quartered away from me and vanished in the cedars.

My IMPRESSION was that he was biggish, missing his left antler and limping. I could have hammered a 7X57 in from the back corner in the one-second look but there wasn't enough antler to justify that. I think he was following his rub line and heard the rattling-when he was walking he kept his head down like he was "displaying". He didn't return but I might have heard him rubbing a tree downstream.

This is what you get: Seven straight days of hunting, morning and most evenings and it comes down to a 15 second exposure with one second to evaluate and take a shot. Good enough.

I really tried to make little cat's feet in the gloaming going out. Hardly a sound except the one note song from my sling swivel now and then. Might try back in there in the morning and see if they are working the rub line.

Friday AM

Field-expediant camera stand.

Deer scrape.

Deer scrape.

I THINK this is an owl sitting on the cam.

Little 1 1/2 year old buck on the scrape.

Someone punched a big hole in the Filipino Donut shop drive-by window and climbed in looking for riches. The girl said he didn't start cooking. Turns out that they take the riches home every night.

Crime is a pain in the butt.

Quiet morning. Rattled at 8:15 and got a little buck in before I could get back in the tree. He couldn't quite decide what I was but he didn't come all the way in. He was so excited he wagged his tail so vigorously that I laughed. He's seen a fight before.

News that they shot two bucks last weekend, one a big nine pointer across the creek. No one seems to have a photo so I don't know who it was.

No coyotes. Just sitting and watching. This is about the time in a season when non hunters at the coffee shop start berating me for not being able to see more deer. I've been in the tree for three and a half hours every morning since Saturday, plus all but two afternoons. Lotta tree time, I admit. If you could just show up ten minutes before the buck stepped out it would be easy.

Thursday PM: Buck in Brush

Doe and yearling fawn.

Couldn't face the pasture and treeline again so I snagged a plastic Walmart chair from an old position and walked across the creek. I HAD a chair over there previously but it disappeared.

Bigfoot. My hero. And I don't mind supplying a nice plastic arm chair to a reclusive hairy-butted outdoorsman like him.

Eased in over the indian village and through the toothpicks. Across the creek at the log and in and out of holes on the powerline. At the across-the-creek cam I SAT down and changed cards. Dang civilized to have a good green plastic chair under you. Up the hill I picked a spot in the middle of an abandoned logging road and watched across a cheery little creek fork up the far hillside. The pines and hardwoods are tall and rob the sunlight. The understory is vines and hollys and hardwoods. Good grass and spindly cedars up the hill. Thick.

I was here sitting on the ground a couple of afternoons ago.

A scrape is just out of sight. Marked by a child's sweatshirt over a limb. I found it on the hillside. No clue. I hung a cam on the scrape a couple days ago. With my rifle across my lap I watched for an hour.

Lots of squirrels racking around. The owls booted up and started booming. Little dusky birds zoomed through the understory fussing and rasping. Then a little buck stepped into a hole in the brush right about where I expected him. 30 yards. Maybe.

If you don't see a HUGE rack first thing, there is no point in getting excited. I started the rifle up slowly just to scope him and set up for a bigger deer following, if there was one. He stepped back out of sight and ten yards later I saw his head bobbing along the ground through another hole. Then he started and ran. I think it was the smushed horn buck.

Perhaps the blinking red light got him. Or just the strangeness of a new plastic box on a tree. I put black target pasters over the ready light but need a double layer to really close it off. The cam flashed twice more. I waited for him to circle and maybe he did on the other side. The light fell and I tip-toed out.

When I come over to pull the card on that cam in a few days I'm going to bring a pair of loppers and quietly open up some slight lines. This ought to be a good place. You would think a nice buck could be rattled up in here.

Thursday AM: Working Rifle

Ruger #1 in 7X57 w/Leupold 3-9x

This is my only scoped deer rifle. I think of it as a working gun. It's probably killed 30 deer over the years, both mine and my guests. Few more to go.

Just this season it's been up and down various trees 20-30 times, in the brush, the back of the 4-runner, slung and carried across streams, down trails, laid aside while I rattled deer. It's gotten dirty and every year it picks up a few little bumps and bruises while I climb in and out of stands. Comes with the territory.

I've got some terrible sock camo for it, ("snakeskin" I think), but it makes it easier to hide behind. Single shot shooting 130gr Sierra Gameking handloads with 44 Varget. I've shot it at targets from 100 to 500 yards. It shoots a nice group at 500 with 100grn Matchkings.

Five shots in a wallet on the sling.

Cooler morning this AM. Thought it might move the deer but only a big gray coyote flashed around in the far corner of the field. Kept expecting to see one of the big three bucks floating his antlers over the tall grass while scanning for does.

Keep hunting. Maybe I'll add up the hours while I'm on the stand.....this afternoon. I've hunted every day since rifle season opened, usually twice a day.

Thursday AM

Up an hour before alarm. Of course I don't HAVE an alarm, I usually just wake up when I need to wake up. Funny how that works.

Seven or eight degrees cooler this morning. 51 instead of 59. Makes a difference to me and I hope to the deer. 50 is the break point on actually being comfortable outside. I'm going to lay on a thicker version of USGI long underwear. Maybe the crisper air will get them moving. They are out in it now in the same hair they were in yesterday.

No wind. Sunrise at 6:48.

Wed AM: Coyote plus.

Some smoke lingering at 6:30 this morning when I put the fifth half-cup of Filipino coffee in the sapling where the trail starts and started winding my way to the tree. I saw a coyote briefly silhouetted up the pipeline but didn't bother to look at him through the scope. I'm not interested in coyotes. A little rattle, or actually a medium one, before treeing up at 6:40. Nothing around.

Scrapes worked as usual. Instead of deer I got a nice little blondish coyote zig-zagging through my side of the tall grass pasture trying to bluff up a rabbit, then another big gray one across the field. Other than that the 8th hunt went by like watching paint. Teaching this afternoon and evening but will gear up again tomorrow. The last smoke from the smoldering burn piles will be gone by then. Sooner or later I'll match up. Most years start just like this. Lotta tree time, not many deer. I'm hunting well and seeing everything within view. Gotten comfortable in the tree. They're around.

9th hunt tomorrow morning. Filipino coffee and early light in the field.

Stomped down some mid-pasture weeds to clear the view toward the scrapes in the center. Cams all across the creek.