Legacy

October 30 am 31 degrees Clear skies S wind 5 mph Clear, crisp, and frosty start this morning. Lots of deer on their feet too. 18 deer total including 6 bucks. No shooters. Bumped a stinky buck walking in also. Taking the afternoon off and going to hang stands on a new spot. Sent from my moto z4 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Just had a nice encounter with a 1.5 and 2.5 year old bucks. Sent from my moto z4 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Cold and crisp this morning and the deer are on their feet! Sent from my moto z4 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

October 29 pm 58 degrees NNE wind 5-15 Clear skies What a great first sit! Lots of deer moving. 30+ deer seen but only one buck. At one point I had a train of 19 does and fawns walk within 25 yards of the stand. Sent from my moto z4 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Just as I typed that a half rack 6 pt shows up to scent check and bump does off the field Sent from my moto z4 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Just put eyes on deer number 11 but have yet to see horns Sent from my moto z4 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

Fashionably late??? Finally on stand for the first sit of 2022. Bump a few flat heads on the walk in. Warmer and breezier than I would like but it game time!!! Sent from my moto z4 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

He has been retired for a long time Sent from my moto z4 using Lake Ontario United mobile app

A quick update from me on my season so far... Ughhh... I have yet to hunt this year. Work is killing me. My construction world has been crazy this year and has been since the covid out break. The issue is that everything on the books for 2022 needs to be done before old man winter arrives. With that being said I should be caught up enough with work in the next couple of weeks and Im hoping I can begin my annual grind about the 3rd week of October. Fingers crossed. I did take some time yesterday, midday, to visit a few stands and do some final tweaks on them. The real purpose of the trip in the woods was to move a stand that I found was hanging in a dead tree. That has been rehung and actually I like the new spot better than the old.

I think it is very important for everyone to read this from start to finish. Many of the decisions now are based on this data. http://www.glfc.org/pubs/lake_committees/ontario/Weideletal_AprilPreyFishSurveyAlewifeAssess2022.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1hfVH3VE8xjOu8az1YILo7pbU4pE7SkbA-e-r-QKEC5oBDu2iangxp0uU

I love these threads!!!!

AWESOME!

I know, I know I'm behind the 8 ball on starting this year's thread. Funny how I have actually had a few people mention this thread to me in the past few weeks, wondering when I was starting it up again. Good luck everyone!!!! I know most of us are wrapping up our fishing seasons at this point and have our eyes set on hunting season. The low water this year really forced the hand of a lot of us. I pulled the boat out earlier then I ever have since owning a lake boat. I guess in a good note it means I have time to work on the boat and I'm not as hard pressed to get everything done to the boat before the deer season. As you all know last year was successful for me as I shot my biggest deer to date. Here's the story of my 2021 bow buck as posted in the 2021 thread... "To make a long story even longer... I have seen this buck for a number of years. I estimate him to be a 5 year old and as you can see I have pictures from the 2021, 2020, and 2019 of him. Last year this deer was extremely photogenic. He was all over my cameras however I don’t recall ever seeing him while on stand. He just seemed to be very good at avoiding me but apparently loved to get his picture taken. Fast forward to September 2021.... I was doing a preseason check on an existing set (trimming shooting lanes, checking straps, etc.) and then venture off to hang a camera after gaging the deer sign. I ended up about 75-100 yards from that set and found a ton of fresh sign. While there seemed to be a lot of sign around the other set, It just seemed like this area was the cross roads and a major intersection of runs from every direction. So, the search for a suitable tree began. I found a tree on the east side of where I thought the majority of activity was and hung a stand and a camera. On the afternoon of the hunt the weather was perfect, and I had planned to hunt a different set. When I was walking in I didn’t like the wind. It was forecasted as NW but for some reason there it seemed to be W or even SW. As I am wind checking I notice that the wind is actually swirling (which it tends to do in the spot) and considered pulling the plug on the hunt all together. I called an audible decided to switch sets and wind checked it once I was there. Westerly... perfect. About 4:00 or so, the does and fawns began to flood the field and by 6:00 I had eyes on 18. Not a rack to be seen. Then about 610ish I had a young buck trot down the head row and almost give me a heart attack. First rack of the year tends to do that to me. He got to the base of my tree, winded me, and stopped in his tracks. He seemed more curious then at full alert. And then it happened... I hear something walking the same path that the small buck just came down and it’s this stud. Problem is because of all the leaves on the trees I don’t notice him until he is under 30 yards from me. I try to grab my bow off the hanger and clip my release on without spooking the small buck but he spots me in the tree and takes off. And of course now the big buck is alert. Luckily when the little buck took off running he bumped a few does closer to my stand. The big buck sees that and he lets his guard down. I’m guessing he’s thinking that this young buck is just bumping does. He continues walking towards me. He’s moving from my right to left so I’m trying to plan out my shot. He ends up down wind and stops in his tracks. With a few deer directly in front of him he seemed at ease and continued walking. He changed direction slightly and now is quartering away from me. Perfect opportunity for a shot. I drew and shot. 20 yard shot. Quartering away. My shot ended up high and shot was not a pass through. Lumenock was blazing and the shot looked perfect. Buck ran about 75 yards, stumbled, and dropped. The field is about waist high so there was no way I could see him. I waited until dark to leave the stand because I had to walk out in that direction. Even though I was extremely confident that the deer was dead, I still gave him a couple hours to make sure. It was a long two and half hours!!! Went back with a buddy and was happy to find the buck dead right where I saw him drop. My best buck to date and extremely happy to get it done with the bow! Nice to have some history with him!" Here's the story on my 2021 Muzzy Buck as posted in the 2021 thread... "December 21 pm 4 degrees SE wind 5-10 mph Partly sunny I have been sitting on a winter wheat field all week and decided to change things up a bit. Headed back to a confidence set I have which seems to be great in late season. Does started moving about 330 or so and saw 10-12 does/fawns over the course of the afternoon. Around 440 I checked my phone to see what time sunrise was when something, out of the corner of my eye, caught my attention. 75 yards over my right shoulder I noticed horns walking out into the field. I had to make a quick decision because he was walking across the field and slowly getting farther and farther away. Once I committed, I had to slowly stand up turn all the way around and grab my gun off the hanger. Nice thing about him being over my right shoulder is I could rest my gun on the trunk of the tree. He was about 100 or so yards when I pulled the trigger. Shot felt perfect but with a muzzleloader you never get to see the initial reaction because of the smoke show. However he took off like a bat out of hell and ran about 75 yards before face planting. I could see him in the field and saw a couple of tail flickers before expiring. Game over! Happy to get it done in the late season. Pics coming soon!!!"