Well, put another season in the books! Its crazy how long the season seems and then just like that, its over. Im sure my wife is glad its over! Nice thing about deer season is it cuts the off season for fishing in half. So we will be fishing in 3 months!
This season has been a lot different for me. I took a different approach and decided to stop playing around and get very aggressive this year. I saw a record number of deer this season and I owe it to being aggressive. I stopped being conservative with sets and just put them where I thought they needed to be. This year I moved more stands in season then I ever have in all other years combined. Although it didnt exactly put deer on the ground for me it did give me chances that I would have never had. No doubt a grunt tube continues to be the best tool in my pack. It was responsible for putting 3 shooters within bow range of my tree (2 during bow season and one during gun season). I did not seal the deal with any of those three deer but it solidified the importance of calling and how effective it really is. Dont ever leave home without it. Cameras have also become an important part of the game. The truth is you cant shoot them if they arent there and cameras prove this. Used correctly, they really can be great tool to help you judge your resident deer herd.
Here's some great camera footage on a primary scrape
Here's some season highlights
The biggest moments of the season came from sharing the woods with my 14 year old kid. With two seasons under his belt, one of my goals this year was to get him in a good position to harvest his first deer. On October 3, he started off the season by missing a 6pt with his bow. His quote to me after missing was I never felt my heart beat so fast, I guess thats what they call buck fever. Wow that happened fast A couple weeks later during youth weekend he missed a doe. Mid October and hes 0 for 2. But he stuck with it. He saw a bunch of deer in bow season and later he was busted drawing his bow on a doe. But it finally came together for him during the regular season and he shot a 7pt and a button buck on opening morning. Pretty awesome dad/son moment!! That made my season. One thing that is important that I did realize during the season is that I needed to make sure that I was promoting hunting properly to him. I certainly dont want him thinking he needs to shoot a Pope & Young buck to be considered successful and I refuse to give him restrictions on what he can harvest. Someday he will enter my hunting grounds with the same QDM ideology but not anytime soon. I will continue to teach him about QDM but I think its important for him to enjoy success and let him naturally strive for bigger deer. The best news for me is this past year, I really saw him anticipating the upcoming season and now that hes had a bit of success I know hes hooked!!!
To my surprise, I didnt lay eyes on a shooter buck until October 30. I had a dozen shooters on camera from a six different properties but yet zero daylight footage. The action that the first half of bow season lacked, the second half made up for. From October 30- November 18, I laid eyes 15 shooters (this includes multiple sightings of the same bucks). I had repeated run ins with a big 8pt. The first time, I grunted him into bow ranged but he approached me from downwind and quickly figured me out. After two more sightings, I hung a stand on his entry point to the field. The second night in the set, I spotted him walking the deer trail just inside the woods that is parallel to the field. Some aggressive grunting got his attention, he made a scrape, and he quickly walked out to the field. My arrow sailed a foot over his back and I missed him at 31 yards after clipping a branch. It was a brand new stand and I never really did much trimming. That would be the only shot I took during the archery season. Plenty of chances at does but in the end, archery season = tag soup. Lots of chasing this year. I had over a dozen days that I witnessed chasing this year and that was more than I have ever seen in the woods. One of those days was Thanksgiving morning. I could hear the chaos of chasing in the thicket behind me and caught a glimpse of the biggest buck I have on camera this season. After they disappeared, I picked up the grunt tube and started doing a series of tending grunts. Before I had a chance to put the call down I had a very wide racked, short tined, shooter 10 point run to my tree. He looked like he hit a brick wall once he caught my wind and was gone before I knew what to do. Shotgun season has a tendency to burn me out and after the first week, I gave myself some time off. The last couple of weeks of the regular season I only hunted a handful of times. Once again I had my chances at does but in the end, regular season = tag soup. I was optimistic for muzzleloader season because with snow on the ground, deer would be easy to pattern. Prime food sources are the answer and I was pretty sure I had one. The second afternoon of the muzzleloader season I had a 150 class buck walk across the north end of the field. As I reached for my binoculars, I lost sight of him in the woods. With all of my attention on where he was I didnt notice the doe standing 50 yards to my right. Once it raised its head, I quickly realized that it wasnt a doe but instead a shooter buck. He continued out into the field and gave me a 55 yard broadside shot. My first kill with a muzzleloader and my biggest buck to date. No tag soup for me! With all tags valid I continued to hunt that same setup in hopes of another shot at that giant. On the last hunt of the season he made another appearance. Almost step for step where he walked a week ago but he made his way across the field with no chance at a shot. Great deer to see to end the season though!
My season in numbers
Bow Season
October 1 -November 18 (49 day season)
63 hunts (32 am and 31 pm)
297 total deer sightings (80 antlered bucks including 15 shooters)
Best days- November 2-15
Opportunities= missed good 8pt @ 31 yards
Regular Season
November 19- December 11 (23 day season)
14 hunts (9 am and 5 pm)
37 total deer sightings (4 antlered bucks including 2 shooters)
Best day- Thanksgiving morning
Opportunities= wide and busted up 10pt couldn’t get a good clean shot
Muzzleloader Season
December 12- 20 (9 day season)
5 hunts (5 pm)
24 total deer sightings (7 antlered bucks including 3 shooters)
Best days- December 13 and December 20
Opportunities- Shot big 10 and also saw biggest deer of the season on two occasions
The season may have just ended but I am already thinking of the next. Each year I make myself a list of hunting notes for the next season and for the first time this past year I actually completed it. I am hoping to do the same before next season. Probably a good idea for every avid hunter to do. I have some posted signs to put up, apple trees to trim, trees to cut, stands to move, etc. I think i am also purchasing new cameras. The biggest thing to do is scouting some new ground with snow on the ground. Hopefully I can get to that after the holidays.
I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has followed this thread and also to those who have contributed. It really has been fun to do a play by play of the season. See you all again in 2017!
Well, put another season in the books! Its crazy how long the season seems and then just like that, its over. Im sure my wife is glad its over! Nice thing about deer season is it cuts the off season for fishing in half. So we will be fishing in 3 months! This season has been a lot different for me. I took a different approach and decided to stop playing around and get very aggressive this year. I saw a record number of deer this season and I owe it to being aggressive. I stopped being conservative with sets and just put them where I thought they needed to be. This year I moved more stands in season then I ever have in all other years combined. Although it didnt exactly put deer on the ground for me it did give me chances that I would have never had. No doubt a grunt tube continues to be the best tool in my pack. It was responsible for putting 3 shooters within bow range of my tree (2 during bow season and one during gun season). I did not seal the deal with any of those three deer but it solidified the importance of calling and how effective it really is. Dont ever leave home without it. Cameras have also become an important part of the game. The truth is you cant shoot them if they arent there and cameras prove this. Used correctly, they really can be great tool to help you judge your resident deer herd. Here's some great camera footage on a primary scrape Here's some season highlights The biggest moments of the season came from sharing the woods with my 14 year old kid. With two seasons under his belt, one of my goals this year was to get him in a good position to harvest his first deer. On October 3, he started off the season by missing a 6pt with his bow. His quote to me after missing was I never felt my heart beat so fast, I guess thats what they call buck fever. Wow that happened fast A couple weeks later during youth weekend he missed a doe. Mid October and hes 0 for 2. But he stuck with it. He saw a bunch of deer in bow season and later he was busted drawing his bow on a doe. But it finally came together for him during the regular season and he shot a 7pt and a button buck on opening morning. Pretty awesome dad/son moment!! That made my season. One thing that is important that I did realize during the season is that I needed to make sure that I was promoting hunting properly to him. I certainly dont want him thinking he needs to shoot a Pope & Young buck to be considered successful and I refuse to give him restrictions on what he can harvest. Someday he will enter my hunting grounds with the same QDM ideology but not anytime soon. I will continue to teach him about QDM but I think its important for him to enjoy success and let him naturally strive for bigger deer. The best news for me is this past year, I really saw him anticipating the upcoming season and now that hes had a bit of success I know hes hooked!!! To my surprise, I didnt lay eyes on a shooter buck until October 30. I had a dozen shooters on camera from a six different properties but yet zero daylight footage. The action that the first half of bow season lacked, the second half made up for. From October 30- November 18, I laid eyes 15 shooters (this includes multiple sightings of the same bucks). I had repeated run ins with a big 8pt. The first time, I grunted him into bow ranged but he approached me from downwind and quickly figured me out. After two more sightings, I hung a stand on his entry point to the field. The second night in the set, I spotted him walking the deer trail just inside the woods that is parallel to the field. Some aggressive grunting got his attention, he made a scrape, and he quickly walked out to the field. My arrow sailed a foot over his back and I missed him at 31 yards after clipping a branch. It was a brand new stand and I never really did much trimming. That would be the only shot I took during the archery season. Plenty of chances at does but in the end, archery season = tag soup. Lots of chasing this year. I had over a dozen days that I witnessed chasing this year and that was more than I have ever seen in the woods. One of those days was Thanksgiving morning. I could hear the chaos of chasing in the thicket behind me and caught a glimpse of the biggest buck I have on camera this season. After they disappeared, I picked up the grunt tube and started doing a series of tending grunts. Before I had a chance to put the call down I had a very wide racked, short tined, shooter 10 point run to my tree. He looked like he hit a brick wall once he caught my wind and was gone before I knew what to do. Shotgun season has a tendency to burn me out and after the first week, I gave myself some time off. The last couple of weeks of the regular season I only hunted a handful of times. Once again I had my chances at does but in the end, regular season = tag soup. I was optimistic for muzzleloader season because with snow on the ground, deer would be easy to pattern. Prime food sources are the answer and I was pretty sure I had one. The second afternoon of the muzzleloader season I had a 150 class buck walk across the north end of the field. As I reached for my binoculars, I lost sight of him in the woods. With all of my attention on where he was I didnt notice the doe standing 50 yards to my right. Once it raised its head, I quickly realized that it wasnt a doe but instead a shooter buck. He continued out into the field and gave me a 55 yard broadside shot. My first kill with a muzzleloader and my biggest buck to date. No tag soup for me! With all tags valid I continued to hunt that same setup in hopes of another shot at that giant. On the last hunt of the season he made another appearance. Almost step for step where he walked a week ago but he made his way across the field with no chance at a shot. Great deer to see to end the season though! My season in numbers Bow Season October 1 -November 18 (49 day season) 63 hunts (32 am and 31 pm) 297 total deer sightings (80 antlered bucks including 15 shooters) Best days- November 2-15 Opportunities= missed good 8pt @ 31 yards Regular Season November 19- December 11 (23 day season) 14 hunts (9 am and 5 pm) 37 total deer sightings (4 antlered bucks including 2 shooters) Best day- Thanksgiving morning Opportunities= wide and busted up 10pt couldn’t get a good clean shot Muzzleloader Season December 12- 20 (9 day season) 5 hunts (5 pm) 24 total deer sightings (7 antlered bucks including 3 shooters) Best days- December 13 and December 20 Opportunities- Shot big 10 and also saw biggest deer of the season on two occasions The season may have just ended but I am already thinking of the next. Each year I make myself a list of hunting notes for the next season and for the first time this past year I actually completed it. I am hoping to do the same before next season. Probably a good idea for every avid hunter to do. I have some posted signs to put up, apple trees to trim, trees to cut, stands to move, etc. I think i am also purchasing new cameras. The biggest thing to do is scouting some new ground with snow on the ground. Hopefully I can get to that after the holidays. I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has followed this thread and also to those who have contributed. It really has been fun to do a play by play of the season. See you all again in 2017!