2017 midwest trip

[mainebowhunter]

Wow today it's cold. 24 and blowing. Going to be at it all day but I may get down and move at noon and reposition. This has been second coldest midwest trip I have ever taken. 2014 was colder.

Setup on edge of doe bedding, on flat next to river. Going to give it another whirl on sse wind.

Tomorrow is gun opener. Not sure what I am going to do. Not sure what the presure wI'll be like. The motEl is booked solid if that tells you anything. The worst part is these guys will pull up to a lot and start sighting in there rifles.

So remains to be seen.

If you are having a hard time getting away from archery pressure then chances are gun season will be a war zone.

Yeah. That is what I am afraid of. ThE pressure on this public has not been bad. No vehicles driving roads today.

[mainebowhunter]

Will you hunt the same doe group over and over until they catch on, or bounce around on different doe groups?

Bounce around on same doe groups. What is hard is they are moving so much right now with the breed, if you don't have a big doe group, they can disappear for a day...then fawns show back up because mom is getting bred. I would guess there is 5 or 6 does in this group with some lambs.

Sometimes the lack of deer sightings does not mean you blew them out. They are just elsewhere. One day you can see 10 next day 1. And day after that, 6.

My buddy is hunting a doe group. He watches them bed...stand up, stretch, bed back down. They are bedded in relation to a cut cornfield. We blew them out of the bed when we scouted. They came back. Been using on a daily basis.

Interesting. I’ve been on a big doe group (9 doe/fawns in it 2 days ago) in hill country for the past two weeks (only hunted twice) but was kind of on the fence about hunting it with a different wind tomorrow. My gut says it’s a matter of time before something big comes though. Had a couple 3 yo come by then but didn’t even check the does from what I could see. Acted like they were headed straight to bed and actually saw one of them come back that evening. Think i need to get back in there and hunt it again. Thanks for the confidence boost.

Good luck Maine. I remember last year you guys struggled in KS for a week or so and then ended up putting the hurt on a few. I will say it’s been kind of eye-opening to me the amount of pressure you guys are dealing with. I had been entertaining the idea of a NE trip in the future but will have to do way more research before i actually follow through. Good luck!!!

The difference in ks is...I know the area well. I can depend on history. Ne could be good in certain places this area is just not one of them. Not with what we have seen so far.

Every one we talk to so far...same thing. But even my ks buddies are struggling.

Seen 1 small so far this morning. Thinking I am getting down at noon and looking at a spot.

[Jackson Marsh]

Hang in there maine

[mainebowhunter]

Back at it again. Hang and hunt on cut corn. Not exactly where I want to be but with sse wind, not many other options. I really wanted to rehang further down field more on the edge of bedding. But just have to give up too much bottom to do it.

So will hang out with the decoy for awhile and see what happens.

[mainebowhunter]

Few more minutes and I can get down and get a hit shower and a hot meal.

Tomorrow there will be some time off to evaluate gun pressure. Plus, I may get some work done. Hard to pass on a chance to make $900 when the hunting is thst slow and gun season will be blazing.

[thwack16]

Obviously from your posts, you’re huntng any weapon public lands. Did a lot of cyber scouting on NE this summer and could find hardly any archery only public land. That pretty much marked if off on my list, except for maybe a early season mule deer hunt.

Good luck to you adjusting to the gun pressure. Probably won’t be easy to find, but there’s somewhere out there that they’ll hole up in. Hope you can find it.

[mainebowhunter]

Obviously from your posts, you’re huntng any weapon public lands. Did a lot of cyber scouting on NE this summer and could find hardly any archery only public land. That pretty much marked if off on my list, except for maybe a early season mule deer hunt.

Good luck to you adjusting to the gun pressure. Probably won’t be easy to find, but there’s somewhere out there that they’ll hole up in. Hope you can find it.

Where I killed in 2013 0 pressure. But no bucks yet there on cam or spotted from stand. There are some limits there.

Other spots...wow. 15 to 18 rigs. Mind you there are no big pieces timber.

No big deer spotted anywhere this morning driving around. This place has left me scratching my head. I have a few more ideas. We shall see if any pan out.

[cedarsavage]

Obviously from your posts, you’re huntng any weapon public lands. Did a lot of cyber scouting on NE this summer and could find hardly any archery only public land. That pretty much marked if off on my list, except for maybe a early season mule deer hunt.

Good luck to you adjusting to the gun pressure. Probably won’t be easy to find, but there’s somewhere out there that they’ll hole up in. Hope you can find it.

Where I killed in 2013 0 pressure. But no bucks yet there on cam or spotted from stand. There are some limits there.

Other spots...wow. 15 to 18 rigs. Mind you there are no big pieces timber.

No big deer spotted anywhere this morning driving around. This place has left me scratching my head. I have a few more ideas. We shall see if any pan out.

That’s serious pressure. What percentage are non resident plates?

[mainebowhunter]

Obviously from your posts, you’re huntng any weapon public lands. Did a lot of cyber scouting on NE this summer and could find hardly any archery only public land. That pretty much marked if off on my list, except for maybe a early season mule deer hunt.

Good luck to you adjusting to the gun pressure. Probably won’t be easy to find, but there’s somewhere out there that they’ll hole up in. Hope you can find it.

Where I killed in 2013 0 pressure. But no bucks yet there on cam or spotted from stand. There are some limits there.

Other spots...wow. 15 to 18 rigs. Mind you there are no big pieces timber.

No big deer spotted anywhere this morning driving around. This place has left me scratching my head. I have a few more ideas. We shall see if any pan out.

That’s serious pressure. What percentage are non resident plates?

Not sure. Rental vehicles sometimes have ne plates.

Where I am tonight have not seen any rigs. Did hear couple of shots. Sitting on ground with decoy in a picked corn near an edge with a gully. Really want to see if any deer are using where you cannot see from road. Just cut yesterday.

I need to dive in and scout this piece tomorrow. Just want to make sure there is nothing that got missed. Buddy jumped big buck out of here with a doe.

We will see what monday brings. Both of us can see orange from stand. Honestly, if I could determine if there were deer worth hunting, pressure would not matter as much. We have laid eyeballs on a couple. But no trailcams of anything good.

We still have a week left but my buddy ...he won't make it lol. He has just about had enough.

[mainebowhunter]

Pulled ks cams today while we were grabing some gear and washing clothes. It was kind of sick to look at the sign on part of the property with shoulder high rubs. The best sign was on our permission ground. Better than last year for sure.

One buck is 6 or 7, all kinds of mass. Just a stud of a buck. Moving around in daylight. Right in areas I hunt.

Oh well. They are taunting us

[huntinsonovagun]

Wow that will make you sick, especially struggling in a new spot. Maybe he’ll be bigger next year

[mainebowhunter]

Wow that will make you sick, especially struggling in a new spot. Maybe he’ll be bigger next year

I would expect that it could improve any day we are getting to the time when big mature bucks are the most vulnerable.

[huntinsonovagun]

Wow that will make you sick, especially struggling in a new spot. Maybe he’ll be bigger next year

I would expect that it could improve any day we are getting to the time when big mature bucks are the most vulnerable.

As a general rule, do you have a date you begin to see this? Seems like it’s been 21-23 from what I’ve seen

[mainebowhunter]

Wow that will make you sick, especially struggling in a new spot. Maybe he’ll be bigger next year

I would expect that it could improve any day we are getting to the time when big mature bucks are the most vulnerable.

As a general rule, do you have a date you begin to see this? Seems like it’s been 21-23 from what I’ve seen

It's more about when the majority of does have been bred and bucks are on feet looking for does that habe not been bred. Those dated are different in different places.

Here it's the 10,to 20 has been best for me.

[mainebowhunter]

Today is the 12th, we started hunting on the 3rd. Probably the warmest it's been since we go here. Nice to see the 40s.

Hunting this tree for the second time. I don't care for the acess all that much. Really should work on a different approach.

Prepared to sit all day but I may get down and do some scouting at 11. Have another piece I want to look at. Buddy jumped good buck out of there with a doe.

Also interesting is that after the gun opener, motel seemed to empty out. This piece ground here is not seei ng as much pressure from guns. Although we did get bunch lights last night come in on camera...guess they must been looking for a deer.