Crabtree's 2011 archery season journal

[rancid crabtree]

Sat. Morn Sept. 17. 34 Degrees, faint NE wind.

The alarm went off at 5:15. Its was cold enough that I wore longjohns and a stocking cap and used hand warmers. I was hunting the site I have been calling the crossroads site for my deer scent trials. Its been dry for the last few weeks so walking in quietly would be a challenge. When I got within 50 yards of the edge of the woods, I heard a deer busting through the underbrush but it was still dark so I could not see anything. When I got to my stand I hung my bow from the rope and then walked out in front of the stand and placed some of the homemade scent on the back side of a nearby tree and on some of the lower vegetation and then headed up into my ladder stand.

It was cold enough to see my breath which told me the wind was perfect for the direction I expected the deer to come from. I assumed they would be on a neighboring property eating acorns and then would filter back into the woods, cross the small stream and then into a beading area. That’s exactly what happened. At 7:02 I caught the flick of an ear in the distance. I could see it was a doe. I grabbed the camera instead of the bow. The first video is her approach. She eventually gets down wind of the scent.
(You can improve the video quality on Youtube by selecting 720P HD at the bottom right of the viewing pane. Click on where it says 360p)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyIElqyfALQ


At the end of the first video she had reached the scent and stops. The second part of the video is after she reaches the scent and starts sniffing and licking the vegetation. It would have been more than long enough to provide a shot but I was not interested in shooting this doe.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHeh_lcIM78

In the last video, she walks off unharmed and unaware that I was above her and that I opted to shoot her with a camera instead of my bow.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7AqraVTU38


At around 8:00, another doe approaches from just west of where the first doe was. This put her right in front of my trail camera. I snapped a frame from the video and you can see the bungee cords that hold the trail camera on the tree.



After hunting I pulled the card from the camera. Here is the picture it took as she passed by. Today’s technology is impressive. This doe was being photographed and videoed and she never knew what was going on.



I think she knows she is late getting back to bed and she seems in a hurry. She never gets down wind of the scent but instead passes by it from the up wind side and never stops moving. Both deer splash across the stream and head into a bedding area.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHf_ludZEU0

I hunt until 10:00 am and then head back to the farm.

When I got to my parent’s house I learned that my 11 year old Nephew had killed his first deer in the first hour of his first bow hunt.



I had posted a picture of him here a while back at age 8 practicing with his bow.



This young fella and his siblings have been raised in a bowhunting family. Here is a picture of him and an archery kill his mom made while pregnant with their little sister.



After I got cleaned up, I headed to a small family get together. At 3:30 I headed back to the woods to sit another stand. While approaching the spot, I rounded a corner on the field road and spotted a doe.





After a brief stare down, she walked away.

The wind was not the best and I should not have sat this stand but instead should have returned to the stand I used in the morning. The evening passed by with a brief sighting of a doe on the other side of the stream.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fr-WRA9f_k

At last light I heard a sound behind me and turned to see a spike buck 30 yards to my right rear. It was too dark in the cedars behind me to get a video. After he passed by, I climbed down and headed back to the truck.

The forecast for Sunday was rain with South Winds. Neither are very good for where I hoped to hunt so I slept in after waking to the sound of rainfall. I ate breakfast with my parents and then headed home. While no game was harvested, it was a great opening weekend. As I write this I became aware that I saw several adult does but none of than had fawns with them. Likewise I did not have very many pictures of fawns on the trail cameras either. This has me concerned.

[BigHunt]

[BackWoodsHunter]

Neat post rancid! You should start a journal in the journal section then we can follow your hunts all season without them being lost!

Funny thought on the lack of fawns. What part of the state is this in? Oneida county where I have been running my cams I have a ton of young bucks only a few does and only 3 fawns, maybe 4, and my cams have been out since July. Hunted fond du lac county this weekend saw a lot of does and only 1 fawn.

[Wrinkleneck]

Thanks for sharing!!

[PLB]

[NatureBoy]

Lookin' forward to more...

[forgehunter]

Very cool!

[rancid crabtree]

I’m going to call this the rained out weekend. I watched the forecast but it did not forecast non stop rain for the Rosholt area. It rained Friday evening and during the night. I got up Saturday morning to the sound of light rain. I was in my tree (the same tree I hunted from opening morning) by 6:15 and it was too dark to see your hand before your face. It was very overcast with no moon and the trees were still dripping. With the rains, I opted not to put out any scent.

At 6:35, a lone doe approached from my left and milled around for a few minutes but it was so dark that even the video I tried to make was too dark to view. At 7:30, another lone doe approached from in front of me and circled around to my left. I’m pretty sure it was the same doe I saw opening morning. She took nearly the same path as she passed 8 yards from my tree. She stopped only briefly and would have offered a great shot opportunity if I was interested in taking a doe. Here is the video I made of our meeting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP4UGE6vMDw

It would have been an easy shot with her quartering away.



As it got lighter, the fog rolled in. At 9:00 it seemed to be getting darker rather than lighter.



I sat and listened to the dripping off the trees until 10:00 and then headed back to the farm.

At 3:30 pm, I dressed to head back to the woods and it was already raining lightly. I drove to the back of the property about 400 yards from my stand and sat in my truck watching the sky for signs its might lighten up.



At 4:00 pm I called it a night as the rain got heavier. I turned the truck around for the drive out and rounded the corner to see to small bucks standing in the field. They ran before I could snap a picture. The forecast for Sunday was even a higher percent chance for rain than today. As I drove back to the farm to pack my things and head home, the fields were filled with deer, less bothered by the rain than I was. Some of the deer were already bedded down out in the open farm fields since it was quite dark out for that time of day. Hopefully next weekend will be dry. Two weekends down and both were rainy.

[BigHunt]

NICE .....i actually would of aimed a little more back on the doe ....or i should say aimed for the opsite leg

[BigHunt]

NICE .....i actually would of aimed a little more back on the doe ....or i should say aimed for the opsite leg

i personaly like quartering away shots my self

[Stanley]

Good stuff.

[rancid crabtree]

Friday Sept 30, 2011. I’ll call this the “I hate light and variable winds weekend”

Headed up North early on Friday to get an evening hunt in. It had rained all week in the Rosholt area so I knew it would be wet but the forecast for the weekend looked good. I hunted the location of the swamp site for the scent trials but at 5:30, the neighbor came in with his 4 wheeler to do some bear hunting. The wind would put him in a position to alert any deer in the swamp not to come out until after dark. Oh well, it was a nice sit even if the deer don’t show. Here is a view from the stand. You can see the trail camera. To the right of my stand is a small creek. Straight in front of my location is a large pond in the river created by beavers a few years ago.



The only action I had was wood ducks. The nice thing about hunting near a body of water is there is going to be something to entertain me. There are ducks and geese landing and taking off at all times. I took a short video of the wood ducks. (all videos can be improved by clicking on the 360P in the lower left and setting the quality to 720P)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yx3JLEThjA

With a half hour of good hunting left, the bear hunter fired up his 4 wheeler and left, cementing the fact that I would not be seeing any deer tonight. I hunted until I could not see well enough to shoot and walked the 400 yards back to my truck. I headed back to the farm, enjoyed a supper made by my dad then looked through the trail camera pictures from both cameras. It seems the deer are getting more nocturnal as the rut gets closer. I talked with my parents for a while and then hit the sheets.

Sat. Oct. 1, 2011 AM. Its cold. The digital thermometer read 30F. There was a frosty coating on everything.



The forecast was for light and variable winds which must mean that the winds will constantly shift to your disadvantage. While there was no wind to speak of, the currents were shifting my scent every which way based on the cloud of fog my breath created. One minute it was from the East and then West, North and South. This was not going to be good. I was in the stand in the pre-dawn darkness and at 6:40 I hear hoofs on the frosty leaves. I think it was my Saturday morning doe that I have seen every weekend. She has no fawns. This time, she paused when the current shifted to her. That caused her to circle back out to the edge of the field. It was too dark to get any sort of video in the woods but when she hit the field edge, there was enough daylight to take a short video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfzSIqDXG0E

At 8:00 I could hear splashing in the river behind me. I assumed it was a deer crossing the river to head to the bedding area but the splashing continued and continued and continued so I turned to see if I could make out what all the splashing was about, I expected to see wood ducks. The sound was coming from at least 100 yards behind me so I had to use every bit of zoom my camera has to pick up who the splashy culprit was. Due to the high level of zoom, the video is a bit shakey. The sound was too far for the tiny camera mic to pick up but rest assured it was loud enough to get your attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sayc_V9NTBE

It turned out to be two adult does and two fawns that were just playing in the water before heading to bed. This went on for about 20 minutes and was funny to watch them play. I saw this same thing last year but it was two young bucks playing in the water that time. I was just happy to see some fawns. These are the first fawns I have seen all season.

At 8:20, I saw a buck fawn approaching from the West. My breath showed my scent would be heading right towards him. Sure enough, he stopped and when I scanned the back trail, the doe had already caught my scent. After a minute she turned and headed into the swamp to cross the river at a different location. The nub buck saw mamma leaving then followed. I made a short video of our encounter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B5U_WtNI08

At 9:15, I spotted a fawn coming through the swamp. The lead deer was a nub buck followed by a doe fawn and then an adult doe. Their feet were black from the swamp mud. Again, it was good to see fawns. I noticed there was some sort of growth under the chin of the doe. It is about the size of a golf ball. Here is a video and a still image I snapped from the video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Fcjff8afCA



I watched them head to the river to wash their hoofs before heading to bed. I sat until 10:00 am and then headed back to the farm for breakfast. My Mother made French toast and sausage. It doesn’t get any better than that.

Sat. Oct. 1, 2011 PM. More adventures with light a variable winds.

On the way to my stand I encountered a few does already in the field.





I placed a small pad with my homemade scent on the side of the tree in front of my trail camera. I intended to remove it at the end of the night but forgot to do so so it stayed out overnight and through the morning.

It seems I could not catch a break tonight. I had a small buck bust me when he came from a direction I would not expect and the breeze carried my scent to him. He bolted before I could get any video footage. Right before dark, I spotted a doe which also caught my scent with the swirling currents. I was entertained by grey and red squirrels who dont seem to care how bad I smell. I shot a video of a grey squirrel trying to find the perfect spot to burry a portion of corn cab he harvested from the nearby field. He spent the entire evening going back and forth from the field to the woods burying his treasures.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNknatnhTP8

This little red came up my tree and got his picture taken when he reached my seat. He turned inside out when he realized what I was. That chuckle made the night worth it even if the deer did not cooperate.



Sunday Oct. 2, 2011 AM. Another hard frost. 31 F. A good wind but the deer are early

I got to my stand while it was still dark but busted a deer already in the woods near my stand. I heard it run off and splash across the river. I guess it was a buck as they tend to head back to bed earlier than the does. While it was still dark another deer walked under my stand but it was only a grey blob. It too splashed across the river.

At 8:20 2 does came the usual direction and filtered past my stand. They two became youtube stars

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RAEX4PsQak

2 more does showed up about 5 minutes later. These deer got their picture taken by my trail camera when they rached the scent patch I have on the tree. The last one had either burrs in her hind quarter or ticks. You can see the bumps on her hair in the video and the still pic.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlcNJCHNU6w





Those were the last deer to show up. I sat until 10:00 and headed back to the farm to pack for the trip home. I have a bear skull to boil and make a mount for member of our archery club and I want to get it done this week.

My thinking in not taking any of these doe is that the bucks tend to come into the woods before daylight but once the rut hits, I hope the bucks will let their guard down and will be following the does that tend to come in under full daylight. I can only hope that plan works out. It was a good weekend even if no deer were harvested. The trail camera pics show a few bucks and a couple are nice mature deer that may someday get a ride in my truck. Here is one of them. His neck is already swollen.

[rancid crabtree]

It was a good weekend even if it was very windy. I don’t recall ever bowhunting is such high winds.

Friday afternoon Oct. 14th, 2011.

I saw a nine pointer tonight just after 6:00 pm. I sat in a different stand and this guy walked 15 yards behind my usual ladder stand and got his picture taken by my trail camera. There is something up with the hair on his back. The video from today shows it and so does the trail cam pic that was taken this morning when he walked by the camera. He is not the deer I am looking for so even if he would have been in range, he would have gotten a pass. Boy was it windy. I tried to stop him with the grunt tube but the wind was just to loud. I was using the video camera with one hand and the grunt tube with the other hand swaying in the wind so the video is pretty poor and so is my attempts at loud grunting. I was blowing it as loud as I could. Self videoing./grunting/swaying is pretty tough. You can see the ladder stand I normally sit in in the video On the right side of the screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSU54IaGBPc

Another poor video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2UZVDeidCw

And some stills I took from the video that show his messed up back hair.





Here is trail cam pic from that morning. You can see the messed up hair on his back.



Here is the trail cam pic from that afternoon while I was videoing him.



Here is a picture of him and his older cousin a few days ago.



When it got dark I walked over to the usual ladder stand, climbed it and hung my bow there so it will be ready for me in the morning.



Sat. Oct. 15, 2011 Morning. More wind. Lots of wind.

Holy smokes is it windy!!! The wind woke me up several times during the night. I got to my stand in the windy darkness and started swaying.

The hemlock Im in is not that big and it was like riding a bucking bronco. At 6:50, I spotted movement to my left out at 50 yards. It was the spike buck I got so many pictures of over the summer. He walked past me and headed to a tree that ends up having a scrape under it every year. He kicked the dirt a bit and then squatted and then turned back to sniff and kick at the dirt again. After a bit he walked right under my stand and passed by at 10 yards. I shot a video of him and a few still photos.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vMfHxmBzECE

When he got past me he got his picture taken by my trail camera.



By 9:30 I had heard two large trees blown over and come crashing to the ground. Then I decided it was time to head out. I didnt see any other deer except the spiker. After breakfast, My father and I went back to the woods to put up a pop-up blind for him to use. We found a great spot and brushed it in. He plans to hunt out of it by mid week.



Saturday afternoon Oct. 15, 2011

This was perhaps the windiest experience I have ever has while bowhunting. It was bordering on unsafe. I stuck it out but saw no deer.

Sunday Oct. 16, 2011 morning hunt. The winds have died down.

I got in my ladder stand in the pre-dawn darkness. The deer began arriving almost as soon as I was in my tree. Rather than explain all I saw and post a bunch of videos, I made a combined video of the morning hunt. In that video you will see I harvest a nice fat doe. I think this is the same lone doe that has walked under my stand on 3 different mornings that I have shot lots of video of. I saw a lot of deer on this morning sit. More than I had seen on any other morning. This was the last deer of the morning when I was ready to get out of the woods so I took one for the freezer. Here is the video. ****Do not adjust your volume. There is no sound.*****

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfDVPYluvo8

Here in the entrance hole.



The exit also cut the far side elbow. I’ll bet you can guess which organ I hit.



You would be right if you guess heart. I never had a deer go down so fast. I stopped her with a few calls and when she stood there, it was like a hose was running out of her side. I wish I would have gotten that on video. Even though I did not need to blood track this deer, I did any way. It was impressive to say the least.




I took the deer back to the farm to dress it out. After breakfast, I took the deer to Rosholt to register it and gas up for the trip back. I listened to the Packer game for the next 2 ½ hours on the long drive home. I hung to doe to cool and will butcher her tomorrow.



Right after I enjoy a meal of grilled tenderloins.



Loading a deer in the back of a tall pickup truck by yourself is a pain in the but so I now carry a small block and tackle and wooden ramps to get the deer into the truck bed. When the deer is on the wooden ramps, I lift the end of the ramp and slide it into the truck bed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VxaK8v8OUY

[Zap]

COOL

Nice pics.

[Swampthing]

Cool Journal, thanks for sharing