Post-Christmas Hunting Trip

Dad and I met at the cabin the day after Christmas to try and punch a couple more tags. Dad still had both his bow and muzzleloader tag while I had an antlerless muzzleloader tag and 2 bow tags remaining. The forecast did not look good and the weather matched exactly. Our trip was full of rain, mud, and wind for the first 2 days and then frigid temperatures with high winds on the final day. I was most disappointed that dad went all 3 days without seeing a deer. I did see a lone yearling buck on the first evening sit and bumped 2 deer walking to the tree stand on the following morning but that was it. The one highlight of the trip was that on the 2nd morning I used my portable set for the first time. It took me less than 30 minutes to get it up and be hunting, all in the dark. I learned some lessons for next time but this is going to play into my strategy a lot next season.

My visitor on the first evening sit

The clouds started to break up a little on the 2nd day

Trying to stay warm on a cold and windy evening in the blind

Even through the disappointment, I wasn't too surprised. This late in the season, the deer tend to be very nocturnal due to all of the hunting pressure. Pairing that with the horrible weather and it was a recipe for bad hunting all around. I came home in a pretty sour mood but am trying my best to not let one bad trip define what has been an altogether amazing hunting season. I have 1 last trip planned to the cabin with my neighbor, Brent, next weekend. I'm really hoping that we can get into some deer then. 

2 eagles, 1 trail camera picture

Out for a mid-day run

Late Season Hunting

3 weeks of no hunting really built up my excitement for the start of Late Muzzleloader season. With 15 days off work, I headed for the cabin on the evening of December 18th for 4 straight days of hunting. My dad met me at the cabin and we were both excited to see what the trail cameras had to show. We were not disappointed as the cameras showed a lot of deer activity throughout the entire property during the month of December.

The forecast called for unseasonably warm weather and with no snow on the ground, we knew that the deer would be spread out. With that in mind, dad and I headed out to 2 separate bedding ridges the first morning. I bumped into a couple of deer on my walk out, but after sitting for a little while, I decided to do some still hunting. I got within about 40 yards of 2 does and 2 fawns that were bedded down but the trees and brush were too thick for me to get a shot.

Beautiful sunrise on the first morning

That afternoon, I headed for the small field blind while dad headed to the big field. It didn't take long for the action to start as I had 2 small bucks in the field at 3:30. It was exciting to watch the bucks feed in the turnips before the smaller buck (a yearling) picked a fight with the bigger buck (2 year old with only 1 3pt antler). The spared for awhile until the bigger buck pushed the younger one back into the woods. They emerged about 10 minutes later and continued feeding. 

2 little bucks about 60 yards away

I decided that if nothing else showed up with about 15 minutes left that I should shoot the half rack 2 year old. As it turned out, about 25 minutes before shooting time ended, both bucks looked up to the right of the blind. I peaked out a small hole that was open to see another yearling buck about 10 yards away from the blind. Right behind that buck was a half rack 3+ year old buck that I had been getting on trail camera. I had to wait a few minutes for the 2 bucks to make their way into the front of the blind but was able to make a great shot with the buck about 25 yards away. He ran into the woods East of the blind before expiring. I slowly packed up and headed back to the cabin to meet dad and Justin, who had just arrived. 

All ready to recover my buck

Very happy with taking such a great buck with my muzzleloader

Same buck behind the cabin on the morning of December 7th

Same buck in the small field on the evening of December 7th

I was very excited to get a deer on the first day of the hunt and thrilled with taking a 3+ year old buck off the property for the 4th year in a row. 

The next morning was a slow one as Justin and dad didn't see any deer. I did see a doe and 2 fawns from the fence gap stand but they did not offer me a shot. The evening remained slow for Justin and dad as they sat in the blinds. I decided to take my bow to the ridge stand and ended up having another great hunt. I had 2 different yearling bucks and the same half rack 2 year old from the previous night come through. I had him at 20 yards for over 20 minutes but decided to let him pass as he was heading towards the big field where Justin was sitting. During this time, one of the yearling bucks got down wind of me and spooked. The 2 year old wasn't sure what happened, but he got nervous enough to turn around and head back from the direction that he came. I drew my bow back but it was too dark to see the deer through my peep site so I had to let him walk off. 

View from the ridge tree stand

 For some reason, I was having no problems seeing deer, but Justin and dad just weren't seeing anything. With that in mind, we decided to try something new the next morning. With a northwest wind, dad and Justin headed out at first light and still hunted their way straight west, setting up on the east end of the big CRP field on the county land. I circled far south of that field and still hunted my way all the way around to the NW corner of the field. The hope was that any deer that we bumped on our way out would end up in that field then I would wind bump the field by zigzagging back and forth across the field. I did see 6 deer while I walked and dad saw 8 (most of which had been pushed by me) but neither of us got a shot off. 

Dad wondering where all the deer are

Dad had to head home without a deer and Justin had to head home for an appointment, but would be back to hunt on Saturday. That evening, I headed to the small field blind again with both my bow and muzzleloader along. I ended up having a yearling buck come into 30 yards but he was smaller than I wanted to shoot. 

This young buck kept me company

Justin got back to the cabin in time for bed and we were greeted with clear skies and a bright moon in the morning. I headed for the same ridge that we saw a lot of deer the morning before while Justin headed for the big field blind. Less than a minute after finding a tree to set up by, I had 5 deer walk past me at about 30 yards. I could see them clearly but shooting time didn't start for another 20 minutes so I could not shoot. It didn't take long after shooting time began for me to hear Justin shoot and got a text immediately. He had shot a buck that came out into the food plot before shooting time as well but stuck around until the sun got up. 

Bright moon on my walk out Saturday morning

Justin with his first ever deer with a muzzleloader

With 2 deer down, I opted to head for home to begin processing instead of sticking around for the evening hunt. I have 2 trips to the cabin remaining this season. I will be more than happy to fill either of my antlerless tags (one for bow and one for muzzleloader) but with a freezer full of meat, will be holding out for a mature buck with my any sex bow tag.

Rut-cation Week 2

After a LOOOONG week back to work, I had Thanksgiving week off to do some more hunting (among other things). I kicked things off with an early morning trip down to the property by St. Marys and had an excellent hunt. I saw 3 small bucks and even grunted one of them right to my tree. Around 7:30 I had a doe and fawn work through but the doe ended up getting down wind of me and they both ran off before I could get a shot. With only 3 sits on this property, it is clear that even though it is only 3 acres, it is still a great place as I've had deer within 50 yards every time.

On Saturday evening I headed out to Earlham for an evening sit. Things were pretty slow for the first hour but then heated up quickly. I ended up having 5 does and a big 8 point buck come through. All but 1 of the deer crossed below my stand about 75 yards away so I decided to get down from my stand and hunt from the ground within 20 yards of where they walked. This is the same area that the 2 does came through on my previous hunt in October as well. Even though I didn't have anything else walk through that night, I identified a different tree that I'm going to move my tree stand through that should be great for any north wind and will be easier to get to.

My plan was to head for the cabin after church on Sunday morning, so I got everything loaded in my truck on Saturday evening. I ended up noticing that one of my tires was going flat and had gotten a hole in it. Luckily, the truck was in my garage and I was able to get the spare put on quickly but I ended up missing out on hunting Tuesday with my truck in the shop for new tires.

I arrived at the cabin before lunch on Sunday. My dad had come down Saturday night during a snow storm that dumped 6 inches of snow throughout the night. He surprisingly had a slow hunt that morning but the deer started to move after that. I actually saw a deer in the big field as I checked trail cameras before heading out for an evening hunt. I had a very eventful hunt over the county fence gap stand as I had a 2 year old buck come in and bed about 20 yards from me for over an hour. He came back through later with another young buck but I wasn't able to get a shot. Although it was cold, it was a beautiful evening in the tree stand.

Snow snow everywhere

Beautiful sunset on Sunday evening

There was almost no wind on Monday morning as we headed out through the crunchy snow and leaves. I opted to hunt the opposite end of the ridge from the fence gap stand with the intention of taking the tree stand down after the hunt. It was a very cold morning and took awhile for the deer to start moving, but once they did, they were everywhere. I had a 3 year old buck come by just out of range and then noticed a doe working up the ridge directly towards me. I watched her for 45 minutes as she slowly closed the distance but right before she was about to step out into an opening at 30 yards, I noticed another deer coming from the same direction. It was a 2 year old buck with a 4 point side and the other antler broken off at the base. He headed straight for my stand and as he crossed 5 yards behind me, I opted for the closer shot and decided to try and turn to my right. He ended up spotting me and running off, I quickly looked back to notice that the doe hadn't spooked too bad but did run about 20 yards and was now heading the other way. As I was taking the tree stand down I had another couple of deer come by as well. With that, I was headed back to Des Moines to get new tires on my truck.

Another beautiful sunrise from the tree stand

We arrived home from the Quad Cities on Thanksgiving night and I quickly packed the truck to head for the cabin. A snow storm was forecast for Saturday night and Sunday so I wanted to get in as much time in the stand as possible before the storm. All 4 hunts produced good action but the only deer that I had in range were small 1 year old bucks that I didn't want to shoot. I did see 2 older bucks (a 3 year old and 4+ year old) but they weren't interested in my grunt call and were both well out of range. I reluctantly loaded up my truck after finishing up with my Saturday evening hunt and headed for home, sad that I would not be returning for more than 3 weeks. 

Beautiful sunrise ahead of a day filled with rain

Staying out of the rain in the big field blind

Morning hunt in my favorite stand on the ridge

1 year old buck on the small field

I was very lucky to get a text from my neighbor, Brent, inviting me to hunt with him on Sunday morning. We were expecting a snow storm that never came, but it sure was windy and cold as we climbed up into the tree stands. Lucky for us, the deer were moving like crazy and it didn't take long for a group of 5 does and fawns to make their way to within 30 yards of my stand. I did my best to stabilize myself in the swaying tree and managed to put one of the does on the ground. I was thankful that it was only a short drag up the hill to the truck and even more thankful to spend the rest of the day processing the meat to fill our freezer. 

Hard earned doe to fill my Dallas County antlerless tag

Even though the season hasn't gone perfectly, I sure have had a great year and a lot of fun along the way. I look forward to late season, which starts on December 17th. I have a lot of time off work over the last 2 weeks of December and should be able to spend a lot of time hunting. I'm planning to spend time with the muzzleloader down at my property, but will also be spending a bit of time with my bow around home as well. My strategy for the late season is going to be staying mobile with my new mobile stand set as well as hunting on the ground.