I did a little scouting but didn't find anything to hunt. Our bear population is spotty and I never find too much concentrated sign.
I spent an evening on my buddies corn field with no bear visitors. Just deer.
The next day I went to big woods with a spot in mind. There was a truck parked there so I opted to move on. Had another spot that looked good on the topo. Ended up hiking for about 4 hours with my stand.l and gear. Bumped into several deer and marked some sign and sightings.
Today the ground was soaked and there was a light breeze and off n on light gusts. I decided to head for another piece of big woods where I've bumped into bear before. Planned my loop..and climbed the mountain.
Once on top I decided to work the military crest out the ridge. I didn't go very far and kept hearing grunting up above me. A short while later a doe busted down over the hill giving me a 20yd shot. I didn't wanna burn my only doe tag for that unit so I let her go.
She got near a downed tree and I saw a small racked buck behind her. Out of nowhere a smaller buck comes dogging her trail like a hound dog...poor fella didn't know he was going backwards! Lol. He gave me a 15yd shot.
I've been working on my still hunting and felt pretty good about that experience. I also felt like if I could find a bear, I could possibly pull it off.
I kept going.
I get out the ridge about a mile. Checked the time and decided it was a good time to start to drop down and circle back for the truck.
There was a point and a ditch I planned to make my drop in.
Sneaking along and looking around and spot this guy...
I could see the rack at 65yds in dark timber. I slowly put my bow on the ground and threw up my binocs. He isn't a monster but a heck of a nice public land big woods buck. Missing his right brow making him a 7 point but he had a great set of antlers.
He stood there like a dumbie for several minutes. Enough for me to kneel down and take pics through the binocs lol.
They didn't turn out great...but you can make out the rack and tine length. Big red antlers.
He eventually decided to sneak out the ridge away from me..
I won't pass up an opportunity to check out a buck bed so I went looking. I couldn't find it. I did find a fresh rub. I do believe he was bedded in that area....look below the rub...he had a great view of the bench below.
On my way to where I saw him, a doe snuck out and down the hill... probably part of why he was so reluctant to leave.
So I mark that. Then come upon his scrape and found his little faint trails. Other than that 1 run and 1 scrape you'd never thought there was a deer around let alone a good buck. That was the first rub and scrape I found in over a mile!
I continue with my plan and drop down and circle down onto the 2nd bench. As I'm heading down something caught my eye. I back up. That big dumbie was bedded again! This time 40-45yds away lol. He slowly got up and snuck away 10yds and stopped and stood there. A minute later the doe came down from above and took him out the hillside.
I couldn't believe I snuck up on him twice lol.
Again...he showed me his bed. It was well below the crest...but not far off was another fresh rub.
No bears...no sign found....but, I could have killed 3 bucks and 3 doe with a flintlock or rifle. Good practice for my (hopefully) upcoming Adirondack adventure.
And I have some good Intel for next season. If that buck makes it he aughta be a slammer. As dumb as he's acting...his odds aren't good to live very much longer lol. His only savior is that area doesn't get a ton of pressure because access is somewhat limited and your average guy simply isn't climbing that mountain. If/when I bow hunt it I will access from the top. Its still a mile or so from the top access.
Good day in my book!! Figured I'd share and maybe others can learn something from it. My biggest take aways are still hunting is a deadly tactic when done right...and in the right locations. And...that buck was exactly where we would have expected him to be. Elevation was spot on and the wind was spot on.
Not sure where tomorrow will take me....but it'll probably be another day of still hunting. I'd like to get into some Laurel and rhodedendron thickets. I have a couple in mind.
