Gun Season 2013

[e_smith06]

Hunt #28 on the season.

11-28 Thanksgiving AM hunt
18* North wind @ 1
Coooold frosty morning, the ground crunched very loud this morning.
5:30 Kind of bumped one out as soon as I got seated in my ladder stand. Still dark so maybe it will come back.
6:10 Something running in the thicket behind my stand, kind of sounds like rutting activity! Excited!
7:00 I'm fighting a running nose trying to be quiet.
7:20 Hear something that sounds like a low energy sparring match? Maybe a little horn rubbing?
7:30 Confirmed what I thought I heard... Big bodied deer on the next ridge over, about 150 yards, I can see a small rack on his head. He's a 1.5yr old 6 point. It's super thick where's he's at. Another buck joins him. This one is a heavy horned 2.5yr old 8 point. I grunted a couple times to see if they would come closer.
7:35 Still trying to get a good luck at them, something is moving right in front of me, but it's so thick I can't locate it. Finally see that it's a fawn. It must live right under my stand, I see it everytime I hunt here. The 2 bucks turn at walk right in front of my stand at 80 yards, I get a good look at them and decide to pass. They need to grow up. If it had been a shooter, it would have been a picture perfect hunt.
8:00 The deer have all eased into the thicket. I had a good long talk with God this morning, giving thanks for a great hunt, and feeling completely at peace.
8:15 CRAP its 8:15!!!! I was warned by my wife to be home at 8!!! GOTTA GO!!!

[e_smith06]

Hunt #29
Dec 3 midday hunt
62* SE wind
Very muggy today, the ground is wet so I decide to stalk. Walked a few hundred yards over 3 hours, finally coming to a rest on a ridge looking into a hardwood/pine holler, sat under a tree here for another hour. No deer were seen on this hunt.
2 more days of work, then a week off. Hope I can connect this weekend.

[e_smith06]

Dec 8 PM hunt
38* SE wind
Sat in a hut on the club land. Over a food plot.
Arrived to my stand around 1, it rained for the majority of the evening. I saw 2 small does at 4:55.

Hunt #31 Dec 9 AM hunt
34* N wind 5-10
Sat in a wood ladder stand in big pine timber this morning. I saw 2 deer driving to the property, and jumped another walking to my stand.
At about 7:30 two does and a fawn ran through, and 3 minutes later a small 6 point ran through on the same trail, nose to the ground. That magic time is here!
Climbed down and go pull a camera card on the way out jumped another doe about 9:25am

[e_smith06]

Hunt #32 Dec 9 PM hunt
36* N wind
Got to my stand about 2pm, sitting on food plot #6 on club lease. Sat til dark only saw a possum. This makes the 2nd sit (and about 8 hours) with no deer seen here. Believe ill try a different one tomorrow evening.

[e_smith06]

Hunt #33
Dec 10 AM hunt
32* N wind
Sat in my wooden ladder stand again. No deer seen on this sit.

Stalked for 2 hours on another property, jumped a yearling doe.

Hunt #34
Dec 10 PM hunt
39* N wind
Sat on plot #8 on the club lease, from 1:30 til dark, jumped a mature doe walking in, couldn't get a shot. At 5:00 a 4 pt stepped out in the shooting lane and ate for 20 minutes, until light faded. It was dark enough that he never left the plot when I climbed down. Try again tomorrow.

[e_smith06]

Hunt #35
Dec 11 midday hunt 36* N wind
Sat in a ladder stand from 945-1230 in some big pine timber, the trail I'm on is literally covered with fresh scrapes, I counted 12 walking out. No deer were seen.

Hunt #36
Dec 11 PM hunt
48* N wind
I'm in a box stand on the club lease over a turnip field. Sandwiched between houlka creek (large hardwoods) and a bedding thicket. At 330, four long beard toms fed into the field, I watche them for about 30 minutes. No deer were seen on this sit.

[jbullard1]

I know where you hunt now

[e_smith06]

I know where you hunt now

Lol u sure?

[e_smith06]

Hunt #37
Dec 12 PM hunt
46* SE wind
Sat in a box stand over a cut bean field. No deer were seen.
I'm at work for 3 days, then back to the woods.
Good luck to everyone this weekend, it seems like the rut is on in the northern counties.

[e_smith06]

Hunt 38 PM hunt
Dec 16 - 57* SW wind
Sat in a big pine timber, saw 36 squirrels, chasing each other around like madmen. No deer seen, spooked 3 in the hilltop plot on my walk back to the truck. Will be in the hilltop box tomorrow evening. To the trusty morning ladder stand in the AM

[jbullard1]

You need to find one if you want summer sausages

[e_smith06]

You need to find one if you want summer sausages

That's the truth JB!

[e_smith06]

Live from the stand - Dec 17 - Hunt 39
Got to my trusty morning ladder stand at 545, bumped 2 deer out walking in, get sat down and at 6am a fawn walks underneath my stand. She looked right at me, walked another 40 yds and bedded down looking at me. At 730 a 1.5yr old 6 pt is trotting around to my right, I scoped him and decide to pass. At 8am the fawn stands up and slowly eases off to my right. She knew I was there and it didn't seem to bother her at all.

It's currently a little after 10, and I have changed stands for a midday sit. No deer seen at this location.

Hunt 40
62* W wind
Hilltop plot for the PM hunt, busted a bobcat right before dark, then a doe about 10 minutes later. Other than being warm, today was great. My buddy killed a doe this afternoon also so we have a cooler full of venison to process. Thank you Lord!

[e_smith06]

Dec 23 PM hunt
44* NNW wind
I hunted a box stand on club lease over a food plot. 5 other members hunted food plots this afternoon also. Only one person saw a deer, and it was a small buck. Going back in the AM.

[e_smith06]

Hunt 42
Dec 24 AM
24* N wind
Hunted the club lease, saw 2 does at 745, then a 4 pt chased another doe through at 845. I couldn't get a clear shot on any of them, but was a fun sit. Will hunt on my in laws property in Webster county this afternoon.

Hunt 43 PM hunt
38* N wind
Sat on power line at the in laws property this evening, hadn't been there 5 minutes and a hen turkey crossed 10 yards in front of me. No deer seen this evening.

[e_smith06]

Dec 26
Hunts 44 & 45
AM hunt, I went to my ladder stand in big pine timber. None seen, when I pulled my camera card, and small 6 had been there about 30 minutes before daylight.

PM hunt, I went to #23 food plot stand on the hunting club, no deer seen.

The peak of the rut is here for Chickasaw county, and I'm going to change my strategy a bit this week. Leaving the fields, and getting in their bedroom with my climber. Fingers crossed.

[e_smith06]

Hunt 46
Dec 31 AM hunt 32* N wind
Hunted a ladder stand near a bedding area. Some house dogs came through at 7, sniffing around, running through each thicket around me and in general ruining the hunt. I stayed until 10, not seeing anything so I climbed down and came home.

[huntall]

Hunt 46
Dec 31 AM hunt 32* N wind
Hunted a ladder stand near a bedding area. Some house dogs came through at 7, sniffing around, running through each thicket around me and in general ruining the hunt. I stayed until 10, not seeing anything so I climbed down and came home.

This happens to me too often!

[e_smith06]

Hunt 47 Dec 31 PM hunt
42* NW wind
Sat in my wooden ladder stand that sits between a bedding thicket, the hilltop food plot, and a water hole. Saw a small doe at 4:00, she was in a hurry but I never saw anything behind her. At 5:10 a large doe and a smaller doe filtered out of the thicket. I watched them for 10 minutes or so, she never acted like anything else was coming, and with the meat shortage in the freezer, doe #3 hit the ground. Thank you Lord! Now I can horn hunt; right at the peak of the rut in Chickasaw county

[e_smith06]

Jan 3 PM hunt
32* E wind
Fence line ladder stand. House dogs ran a big bodied deer through right before dark. Nothing else seen but my breath. It's cold.

[e_smith06]

Jan 4 PM Hunt 49
50* SSE wind @14
Sat in a box stand over turnip patch where I saw the turkey a few weeks ago. Scrapes littering the road on the way in. Had no deer activity today, but saw 5 turkey and they were in and out of the plot for a solid 2 hours. Got some cool video.

Group of 3 gobblers...
http://s1310.photobucket.com/user/e_smith06/media/Mobile%20Uploads/trim54B0C309-D383-49D5-A125-95216EEA4E8E_zpsfa95c1a1.mp4.html

[e_smith06]

Jan 5 AM Hunt 50
40* SE wind
Sat in a ground blind next to a slough in a hardwood bottom on the club. Road covered in scrapes the size of truck hoods. Good spot! Sat until 10, No deer seen.

PM hunt 51
50* and dropping rapidly! 11 degrees for tonight's low.
NW Wind 20-25
Shooting house on hilltop plot, watched 4 does from 4:50 until dark feeding in the plot. Processed and ground 2 deer after the hunt. Marinating summer sausage tonight.

[e_smith06]

Hunt 52
Jan 6 PM
19* N wind 10-15
Hilltop plot, watched the same 4 does from yesterday evening for close to an hour. I love it when they stay within sight for long periods of time. I keep hoping the big 9 will stop in and check on them. Fingers crossed, this extremely cold weather has the deer moving good

[e_smith06]

Hunt 53
Jan 7 AM
6* NW wind 2-4
Sat in "Rachel's Stand" (Not sure why, but that's what it's called) on the club lease. I intentionally arrived a little behind schedule, got settled in about 8. Now this stand sits on a hardwood/pine draw leading down to a duck pond and slough about 100 yards away. Very close proximity to the huge scrapes I saw the other morning. At 8:30, I heard a limb break from across the slough followed by a loud ice breaking noise. Bounding across the slough is a 200 lb+ shooter buck. I had about 5-10seconds worth of seeing him through holes in the brush before he was out of sight and gone. Never could get a shot on him because it happened so fast. I'm about to head back to that general area. We have a food plot within a couple hundred yards on that side of the slough, I'll sit there this evening. Maybe he will show himself again.

[e_smith06]

Hunt 54
Jan 7 PM
29* S wind
Sat on the south side of the slough where I saw the shooter cross this morning. Been there 5 minutes and saw the 4 resident gobblers. I think they follow me around. No deer seen on this hunt.