outing #23   lefty

sometimes temptation is just too strong and i'll hunt a stand more often than one should. normally I don't hunt a stand more than once a week. Normally.

today's wind was identical to last Sunday's so I gave in and went back up to hunt Lefty.

The wind stayed favorable and blew my scent out over the bluff behind me. I saw and listened to dozens of bird calls. Distant combines whined in the bean fields and at sun down the tree frogs sang their little hearts  out.

I saw no deer. A front is moving in with a forecast of rain for next three days. I am hoping its right.  Turnips are just starting to form in the field by lefty with some more rain they just might do all right after all.

Jim,  you know its only a matter of time. Perhaps the morning??    

hunt delayed due to weather

What???? you getting soft in your old age....LOL!!!! Best of luck on your next outing!      

ha need an ark today to go out, Rain, real rain finally.

Maybe that will freshen up the food plots.....? If so that will be good for later on when things get hot!!

outing #24  squirrel's tail stand

We had almost 2 inches of rain this after noon. That is more than we had in the 6 week period of 8/1 to 9/14. But the sun came out for a bit at 3: 30 pm and convinced me it was good to go hunting.

Ron is right its going really help out on the plots!

Not far from the back door of the farm house is the Squirrel tail stand. It sits East above the forage beans, just inside the woods and above the old hillside pasture. Oaks and hickories are here and lots and lots of apples below me.


The ladder is in a big white oak and has lots of good cover. The slope of the bluff gets really steep right behind the stand. Deer 20 yards up hill from me are actually higher up than I am 15 feet up the tree!

There is a lot of cover here and it is really hard to see past 40 yards except for below me towards the pasture.

The deer like to bed in that little open area or near it just up the bluff from the stand. That is another opening I and the DNR worked to create.

When they come down the hill, they come down fast. Usually running but most times stop in the staging area I created inside the tree line.

This stand is 2nd only to the Bwana stand for the number of deer killed out of it. In December 2011 my nephew killed a 148 inch 12 point out of it.

Since it was so wet in the wood I knew that I most likely would not hear a deer approaching. So for the last 90 minutes I stood at the ready with bow in hand. At 6 30 I heard a noise up and to my left. A deer was coming down hill fast. I could only snatch glimpses of its brown hide as it cruised down hill and out into the pasture. it was about 45 yards south of the stand as it came down the hill. Then for the last 30 minutes I could a deer somewhere below me crunching on apples. It could have been the one I saw but have no way to know for sure.

At dusk I slipped out and as I was descending my side of the little valley above the beans, 6 white flags bounded up the other.

Keep it coming, Jim.

Rained out today  and its looks like it will be all day. Snow out west and tornadoes to the East!!  Tomorrow should be excellent after all this weather passes.

Happy Birthday Jim! hopefully the storms hold off and you can get out tonight!

got rained out entirely yesterday . But in between rain showers I got in a little practice.

 

I can honestly say i have shot more RH with this hill country with the LB limbs than with any other bow. The first arrow was a bit low but the other three were zingers

outing #25 back to the begining

What a storm we had last night . Over 3 inches rain here with 6 to 8 inches being reported nearby! Lightening  and wind as well. Sleeping in the yurt can be an adventure in itself!

the alarm went off at 5 am and I peeked out side. Stars!! I saw stars!!

So I had a cup of Joe and some quick oats with brown sugar and walnuts and headed out the door and up the rigde logging trail. The way was very slippery. But no big trees were down. A few big limbs here and there but nothing blocking the trail. The wind was slight and out of the north. Perfect for where I started the season out at!



I had not been here since 9/16 and Bwana sat in it 7 days ago. I thought with the big storm last night the deer movement would be heavy. Didn't happen. Sat in the stand for 4 hours and did not see a deer! The clouds moved back in early and it seemed to take forever to get day light. Lots of bushy tails out and about but not a deer in sight!.

Here is a look at the high trail on my way back down.


hoping for some movement tonight!

Little big man I love watching your threads on here keep up the great work and good luck to ya!!

outing #26.

The skies were heavy, low and slate colored all day. The threat of rain made me apprehensive about going. So I made the promise that should it start to rain I would just return home. The wind was perfect to sit in the Bwana stand.
 

This stand sits at the very corner of the natural bend in the bluff. Behind the stand It drops down to a logging road that goes down to county road. Below the logging road is a section of the farm that for the most part is set aside as a sanctuary. Its all bedding cover that I only hunt once or twice a season.

in front of the stand is a mixture of forage beans and rape. The recent rains have turned this plot around. Straight over the hill from the stand is another forage bean field with some turnips I tried to seed in between the rows of beans. Kitty corner is the long clover field and the turnips field in front of lefty.

Some turnips are visible in the beans.


this is the clover field and the turnips in front of lefty

This is the beans and rape in front of the Bwana stand.

The stand sits in the huge oak just where the curve starts on the right of the photo.

 .

Here is the view from the stand.

 

There is quite a slope in the field. The top is no more than 35 yards from the base of the tree. Deer walking along the top in between the two fields in the mowed trail are higher than you are when you are in the stand. Those bottom rows of beans are just six yards below you.  Its a killer of a spot and we have killed 4 deer out it in the last three years. This is where I killed my heavy weight buck last year.

The heavy skies played tricks on me all afternoon. At one point I thought the sun had set but my watch still said 6 pm. I thought for minute or two my watch had stopped! Two and one half hours had gone by quickly without a deer in sight. It was about 6.40 or so and a big thunder clap rolled over head. I could see rain was coming from the  south so I decided to get down while I could do so safely. I stalked to the top of the hill ever so slowly in case there were deer over the top or to the left in the clover. But there were none. Then the sun suddenly dropped below the heavy clouds into a narrow slot just above the horizon. A band of orange light exploded and all of the bluff tops in every direction looked as though they were on fire! I just stood there watching as the light quickly faded. Another bolt of lightning sent me towards home. I had spent 6.5 hours in a  trees today , not a deer was sighted until I was 200 yards from the yurt when I bumped into three yearlings coming out of the neighbor's pasture and heading up into my hay field. It was a good day.

Good for you getting out Jim.It is the youth gun hunt here, so stayed home and cooked.Smoked 4 turkey breast and a roster full of legs and theighs,for BBQ and drying apples. Rained most of the day. But saw 2 deer walking in the neighborhood. Hope tomorrow is dryer. Good luck!!

Still loving this thread!

outing #27 apple alleys back door. the sapling stand
   

Exiting apple alley is a trail that eventually crosses my fence line and  goes into the neighbor's cow pasture. I thought if I skirted the edges of the bean field and went early enough I could get in the back without alerting any deer.

I made it into the stand by 5 :45 and to my knowledge did not spook any deer. atleast I didn't hear any snorts or branches breaking by animals running away that is.