Ben's 2019 Semi-live hunt log

[TheBenHoyle]

Oh and one quick follow up. It rained off and on while I was out setting up my stand. I got a little wet and there is mud everywhere. And then last night I woke up to hear a very heavy rain storm. The creek by my house is up this morning. It's sunny today and should be tomorrow as well. But then they are calling for rain on Saturday... So much rain.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Yeah we got 4" in 24 hours. Haven't been out yet but I'll plan to sit a blind tonight. Encouraging that you saw deer

 

[MN_Bowhunter4]

Looks like a good spot!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Well I have to update this thread, because I did go hunting, but It's not much of an update.

I went out Saturday morning and felt pretty optimistic, but things were very slow. It just didn't seem like anything was moving. I saw one squirrel and a couple geese flying by. I ended up getting down and checking my trail camera that I had hung up on Wednesday. There were 0 images. I was a little worried that I had accidentally powered it off, but I looked around and there weren't any deer tracks in the viewing area, considering how muddy it is, there would have been if anything had walked by. I refreshed my mock scrape and headed out. Back at the parking lot a local police officer pulled in and we chatted. He has hunted this unit before and just wanted to share some stories. It's always nice to share stories. The rest of Saturday I was busy with other obligations, so I couldn't get back out.

I was back out at the parking lot at 5:15 a.m. Sunday morning and walking over to the trailhead I noticed a skunk walking right toward me. I had a headlamp on and the skunk seemed oblivious, but I didn't want to get any closer before he noticed me. So I made some noise and started walking perpendicular to his path away from him. He saw me at about 10 yards and turned into the brush. Close call.

Made it back in to my stand and remembered to check my trail cam before I went up the tree. The only pictures were of me the day before... I hung out until about 9:30 and decided that I should be done sitting in a tree for the morning. I got down and did some bushwhacking to find my short cut out of the unit, but I was stymied by the fact that all the rain we've received lately had filled up the low spots and I wasn't able to find a spot shallow enough to cross.

So I walked back out via the main trail where I met up with the other hunter in the unit. He's 82 and seems like a nice guy. He had his son in there with him who also seemed like a nice guy. They were planning on spending all day in there hunting. I decided that if they were going to be there I would stay out and try to get some stuff done back at home.

I won't be able to get out until next Saturday and Sunday, and I hope that the next time I get to my stand I have some pictures on my trail cam. If nothing else it looks like I have the weather on my side. It should drop temps from 66 as a high Friday to 48 as a high on Saturday. Let's hope an early cold front has the deer on their feet next weekend.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Sitting at my work computer, watching the rain fall along with the temps. It was in the low 60s last night, mid 50s now. It'll be the mid 40s by the time I go to bed and by sun up it should be just above freezing and I will be in the deer woods. The rain should be cleared out by then and I really hope this cold front will have the deer on their feet so that I can get an arrow in one.

I'm planning on being out all day and I really want to but I also know that I can't sit in a treestand the whole time. I'm toying with the idea of trying to hike deeper in to the jungle that is the south end of the unit. But I am a little worried that it is too much of a jungle for me to be able to see a deer before it hears me coming... I guess I'll see how it goes. If nothing else I might opt to move my treestand. I have a trail cam up near my stand and I think if there aren't any pics after 5 days I will probably need to move it.

Either way, I will have an update sometime in the next few days about how my weekend goes.

 

[Crossbowguy]

Sitting at my work computer, watching the rain fall along with the temps. It was in the low 60s last night, mid 50s now. It'll be the mid 40s by the time I go to bed and by sun up it should be just above freezing and I will be in the deer woods. The rain should be cleared out by then and I really hope this cold front will have the deer on their feet so that I can get an arrow in one.

I'm planning on being out all day and I really want to but I also know that I can't sit in a treestand the whole time. I'm toying with the idea of trying to hike deeper in to the jungle that is the south end of the unit. But I am a little worried that it is too much of a jungle for me to be able to see a deer before it hears me coming... I guess I'll see how it goes. If nothing else I might opt to move my treestand. I have a trail cam up near my stand and I think if there aren't any pics after 5 days I will probably need to move it.

Either way, I will have an update sometime in the next few days about how my weekend goes.

supposed to start raining here tomorrow, will be a nice long weekend to kill one!!!! Good luck fella!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

OK, time for a disappointing update to my hunt blog.

I got in to my stand Saturday morning and grabbed the photo card from my trail cam before heading up. No pictures. 6 days of watching and no deer came by... I hung out until about 9, saw a raccoon cross the clearing, but nothing else. I got down from my stand about 9 and decided to take a little scout around. I checked all of the places I had seen deer tracks before and they were all still there. No new track, just the same ones I had seen before. I tried to hike to the east so I could get down to the south and maybe find a better place to set up, but I got to a flooded spot that would have been over my boots. So I went to the west, hoping to find a way around the water and into the part of the property to the south. No dice. I managed to get all the way to the western edge of the property without seeing any clear deer sign. There was a pretty clear trail on the western edge running to the south and I followed it a bit, but I could see that it was not going any where that I could really hunt.

So I hiked back to the truck, left my back pack and went back in for my treestand. I'm relatively sure that this property could be a good hunting spot later in the season, but I only have access the first two weeks of October. I ended up heading home, half considering an afternoon hunt at a different place that I have more familiarity with, but in the end I got talked into an afternoon of bargain hunting with the family at an outlet mall. It was a fun time and while I feel unfulfilled by the buts I did at that place, I did have the kind of exploring adventure I use to have all the time when I was a kid and my brother and I would hang out by the creak/railroad bridge down the lane from our house.

I did get up Sunday morning and go out to a different piece of public that I have hunted in the past. I've seen a few deer there and I've taken turkeys out of there, but I'm not anywhere close to knowing the secrets to this place. I wasn't the first one in and the other group was supposedly setting up where I wanted to get to. It was their first time into the area and so I tried to help them understand where they were headed. It was a nice morning, but I didn't get into a great spot before the sun rose, just me on a chair tucked into some brush along a small side creek. I didn't really hear or see anything other than some squirrels. About 10 I heard the other hunters on the path back to the lot, so I came out to see how they did.

We talked a while. Nice couple husband and wife or boyfriend/girlfriend. They had seen a little forky buck but it was out of range and no shot as made. If I spend much time down there this fall I might run into them again. It sounds like they really want to get out a lot.

With them out, I considered taking my stand in to set up where I had originally planned for a rest of the day hunt. I hiked back in and sat to observe the conditions of the spot I was thinking of, but ultimately I decided to just hike back out without putting up a stand. This property is a hang and hunt type place, so you can't leave stands up. Ultimately I couldn't stop thinking about all of the stuff I needed to get done back at the house and how much work it would be to put up my stand (and then take it back down) and how the 10-12 mph gusts of wind were making the trees sway a little too much.

I got home, had a hot lunch mowed the lawn and got almost all of my gardens put to bed for the winter. I still have some pepper plants producing so I'll have to wait to put that to bed for the season.

I have plans to go back to that second spot next Sunday for an afternoon hunt and I might have talked my buddy into coming out for his first ever bow hunt too. I'll have more updates in a week's time.

 

[MN_Bowhunter4]

Frustrating to read about the first property especially when you have limited time to be in there. How is the hunter on the adjacent unit faring?

Good on you for taking a first timer. No matter what happens that'll be a blast!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Frustrating to read about the first property especially when you have limited time to be in there. How is the hunter on the adjacent unit faring?

Good on you for taking a first timer. No matter what happens that'll be a blast!

I am not sure if the other hunter had any better luck. His stand was out of the woods Saturday morning too. So he either got something or gave up... These two units are great cover, but there's no ag or other big food source nearby. I think if you get in there in late season you'll see a ton of deer. But at this time of year I think they are dispersed and closer to food. But it was worth putting my name in for the draw and potential hunt as it is 20 minutes from my house. In the suburbs of Chicago that is not common.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Hey hey hey! It's a mid-week update from a successful hunter. I managed to sneak in a little bit of squirrel hunting today and it went pretty well. I hit three although I was unable to recover one of them, so maybe I didn't hit the first one very well. It flipped over backwards wo I thought it was a sure thing, but it was out of sight for a minute or so and when I got to where I thought it should be there was no squirrel. These things don't leave a blood trail. The second one ran about 5 feet and dies and the last one ran about 35 yards. But I could see them the whole time so I was able to recover them.



I cleaned these two up tonight and I am planning on cooking them up for my lunch on Friday. I'll be working from home so I should be able to make a nice lunch. I've never had squirrel. I shot my first one last year with my bow and the broached tore it up a little too much to be edible. Anyway I am super excited to try these.

In other news, I found out that the event my wife was supposed to go to on Saturday is no longer happening so I don't have to be around the house with our 9 year old. Which means I think I will be headed out to the public ground I was scouting back in August. I have a shotgun turkey tag that is valid there starting Saturday and I also have two archery turkey tags as well as archery deer tags. I'll have lots of options if I go out there. It's a bit of a drive, but I don't think I'll do a morning hunt. I'll head out for an afternoon hunt and still be home before it is too late.

Sunday I am still planning on going back to the public ground I was at last Sunday. Right now it sounds like my buddy should be coming with me on Sunday. Either way, I should have some updates coming in the next several days.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Congrats! The beginning of your fall harvest...

 

[Crossbowguy]

lots of brown in those grey squirrels!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Well Friday I cooked up my squirrels, I had marinated them for a couple days in the fridge in a malt vinegar and onion marinade. Then I dreaded them in flour with pepper, onion powder, garlic powder and red pepper flakes and seared them in olive oil and butter. I took the squirrel out and sautéed some onion and garlic (the onion from my garden). Then I put the squirrel pieces back in and poured in a bottle of Two Brothers Domaine DuPage beer and put it in the over and 325 for 1.5 hours in a dutch oven. Then I took out the meat and deboned it. Made a gravy from the pan sauce and put the meat and gravy on top of mashed potatoes. It was good and IO will happily be eating the leftovers for lunch tomorrow (Monday). Look out squirrels, I like to eat you now so you all have a target on your backs.

On Saturday, I drove out to the northwest corner of Illinois to some public hunting ground where I would be able to take a turkey with a shotgun, it was opening day of the season for that tag. I would also be able to hunt for deer with my bow if the opportunity presented itself.

It is a big area and it is all hardwood forest on ridge tops with forested ravines or draws between them. I hiked out the the point that got closest to what I thought would be an ag field and set up in a spot where I could see anything coming in from the ag field. I was hoping that around sunset the turkeys would congregate at the bottom and work their way up slope to me.

It didn't work out that way. I heard nor saw nary a turkey. I was occasionally firing off a turkey call in hopes that I would get a response from any turkeys in the neighborhood, but I did not hear any. I did however manage to call three coyotes to about 20 yards. I haven't had much experience with Coyotes and so they were visible below me and then I thought they had left but about 10 minutes later they popped out of the brush just to my right. They were look downslope for the turkey and walking slowly right towards me. I tried to get to my bow but they caught the movement and departed very quick. It was a neat encounter and I think I learned a little about coyote behavior.

Right at sunset I saw a doe walking downslope and just as she was about to go behind some brush, another one appeared and ran straight up the slope toward me. I don't really know why. She stopped at 10 yards behind a big multi-stemmed tree. I couldn't see her and she couldn't see me, so I got my bow ready very quietly, hoping that she would step out to the left or to the right. But she abruptly turned and ran back down slope to join her friend. She didn't wind me and the breeze was coming toward me. I am thinking she was a fawn and got spooked but when she saw the older doe calmly waiting for her she went back. It was another neat encounter and left me feeling very happy to have been out. Although I was disheartened to not see or hear any turkey.

I will be headed back to that same public ground next Saturday with my buddy and we will check out another section of the property. There has to be turkeys in there somewhere. And by next weekend the deer might be more active in daylight hours so I might be able to fill that tag too.

Today (Sunday) I went to a public hunting area about an hour's drive south of me. I have been there many times but have yet to really see many deer that I could actually shoot. I tend to see them a lot in the Spring when I am turkey hunting, but they disappear in the fall. But I was taking another buddy of mine out for his first bow hunt. SO that was nice. Having this on the calendar kinda forced him to actually go out hunting instead of just saying he would like to go out hunting.

I took my tree stand and he had a popup blind and I helped him find a decent spot to set up. He had his 12 year old daughter with him and even though we didn't see any deer, I think they both had a nice afternoon of it. We were treated to a long chorus of owl hooting about something and a lot of squirrel antics. Unfortunately the wind was a little shifty and they heard a deer snort and run off from behind them, but never got a look at what it was.

But I am exhausted, the kind you get when you know you were out in the woods earning a goods night's sleep. I doubt I'll have much to report until the weekend.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Sounds like a fun weekend!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Not much to report from this weekend. I went out Saturday afternoon for a sit. Met a couple of hunters who had spent a decent amount of time in this unit and it was nice to hear what they had to say. Turns out they grew up about 15 minutes from where I live now and one of them even worked for the village government in my town. They moved to Wisconsin and now travel to multiple states to hunt the rut as it fits in their schedule. I left before them so I don't know if they were successful. My bet would be no as it was a very slow afternoon for me, but then I seem to have slow sits when others are swimming in deer.

I did bump a doe as I was getting into a spot. That was the only deer I saw. There was a game trail that I set up near and I could see a nice big rub about 30 yards away, but I was in an oak grove and I think right now they are sticking close to field edges. It might be a good place to hunt later in the season though. It was a very nice afternoon sitting in the trees though.

On my drive out there, I was on the highway and a spotted a piece of property which had a nice creek running through the middle of a wide riparian zone. It looked like it would be a good spot to maybe sit with some decoys for waterfowl. So while I was sitting in the woods I did a little research with OnX and got the names of the owners and made a mental note to send a hunting permission letter.

On Sunday I had to take my daughter to badminton practice and so I took my laptop so I could write up the permission letter. The address OnX had was just a PO Box so I thought I would just do a little internet search to see if I could find a better address. It was a man and a woman with the same last name and I assumed it was a husband and wife. I looked up the man's name and I see an obituary from 2017, but I figured it could be someone else with that name. So I added the wife's name to the search bar and I see an obituary with her name on it, listing that she was preceded in death by her husband with the name of the man I had. The date on her obituary was October 20th, 2019.

I have driven past this piece of property about 1000 times in my life and never really put much thought to it, but on a whim I looked it up and discover this recent passing. It really struck me. About 2 years ago my mother in law passed and this really caused echoes of those times. I won't be sending the letter. Whoever will be inheriting this property won't be thinking about my request, nor should they. Maybe next year or the one after that I will reach out to the new owners for permission.

Anyway, that's enough of that. next Sunday I have a spot to go and see if there is any action. It will be in the same general area that I got my deer last year. We will be getting closer and closer to the rut and it will be cold so deer should be active.

I'll have more updates next week.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

It's snowing here in Northern Illinois. I talked to the guy who I will be hunting with on Sunday. He said he was out last night and saw quite a few deer up on their feet. The temperatures have dropped and they will be in the 20s-30s this weekend. I told him that I plan on being out all day on Sunday and he was giving me a hard time about not also spending all day Saturday out too. I'd love too, but I have other responsibilities that day. He's an older guy though and he was making a valid point that you only live through so many hunting seasons and this weekend should be one of the better weekends of this season.

That being said I think I will make a point of keeping my schedule open to hunt next year. Maybe skip some of the earlier season hunts.

Either way, I will have an update on Monday about how my Sunday goes.

 

[Pucky Freak]

This weekend I'll be at home most of the time watching my dog after she recovers from surgery while my wife goes to a concert and takes our daughter to the pumpkin patch. I'd much rather have family obligations than be able to hunt all the time.

Good luck hunting!

 

[dirtclod Az.]

This weekend I'll be at home most of the time watching my dog after she recovers from surgery while my wife goes to a concert and takes our daughter to the pumpkin patch. I'd much rather have family obligations than be able to hunt all the time.

Good luck hunting!

Take your family on an outing with you,Camera ,lunch...

 

[TheBenHoyle]

OK, I've had a busy couple of days but I'm finally ready to write up my weekend hunting adventure. It was a pretty good Sunday.

I was out on a stand that I got my buck out of last year. It is a stand put up by a friend of my dad's and I was pretty sure that he and his son in law would be out hunting in some other stands somewhere in the neighborhood. But I wasn't really sure where.

Sun came up and there was a lot of rustling in the leaves, might have been squirrels or possums or something. I couldn't really see, and by the time the sun was up enough to see the rustling stopped. Right at sunrise I looked to the west and saw a doe coming my way from up out of a draw that I think is where they often bed down. At that point she was still about 100-150 yards away, but I stood up and grabbed my bow. She was moving along pretty directly, but about 50 yards out she curved north and stalled out.

About that time I noticed a buck trailing her. I didn't get a great look at him. He was too often screened by trees, but I was writing a script that involved him broadside at 20 yards or less. This is a picture that shows the path of the deer. Doe in red, buck in blue.


Sadly, the Doe got to about 30 yards (behind the big tree) and then she alerted on something out in the beans to the south. She ran forward about 15 yards and stood behind the little tree. Meanwhile the buck was hanging out behind the big tree, I couldn't see him. Abruptly the doe turned back west and headed right back the way she came from at a trot. She didn't wind me and the wind was from the south.

Sadly, If I had pulled back on the bow while this was happening I would have been perfectly set up for a 30 yard shot when the buck stepped out into the open, but he didn't stay there long. There's a lesson to be learned here and that is that I need to stop scripting hunts as it keeps me from being able to improvise when the deer don't follow the script. So I watched this nice buck trot out of my life. I was able to spend the next several hours worrying that I had let the best opportunity of the day get away from me...

As a side note, I found out later that my host's son in law shot that buck right around sunset.



There is a picture of him, nice looking buck. Would have been nice to have connected on that early opportunity, but I no he didn't get a deer last year so it is neat that he took such a nice one.

I stayed up in the stand until about 11, with a fresh breeze in my face the whole time 5-15 mph. No more deer sightings. I got down, hoping to take a little walk to the north side of the property about 200 yards away, which would be down hill and hopefully out of the wind. Plus it would give me a view down to the creek where I had heard some turkeys earlier in the day. I sat down and ate my lunch under a big tree and did warm up a bit. I didn't see anything to the north and never heard the turkeys again. At about noon I packed my stuff back up and hiked back up the hill to my stand. I took my time to make sure that I didn't walk in a bump any deer that might have come in while I was away. No deer, but I felt refreshed enough to be able to sit in the stand until sundown.

Well it didn't take long. right about 1 pm I looked to the west and saw a doe coming on nearly that same path the earlier one took. I saw two more coming along behind her. Once more I stood up and grabbed my bow. They were coming in much more directly and honestly they were right in my lap before I could even write a script. At about 10 yards I picked out the one with the best shot. She was slightly quartered away and it zipped right right through her ands she went running off behind me and down the hill to the north. This picture shows where I was in the tree and where the deer was.



The other two ran back west, but stopped at about 50 yards. But then they stopped and came back. They spent about 30 minutes walking around under my stand. It was actually a lot of fun to just watch them and not have to worry about making a shot.



I didn't want to scare them off as I didn't want them to bump the doe I had shot. I felt like I had made a good shot, but I was a little afraid that the shot was a little back and I wanted to wait to go after her until I had a chance to see my arrow and the blood trail. So I waited until the other two moved off on their own. I should note that while I was observing them I noticed that one of them had little nubbin horns. And that led me to believe that they were both fawns or yearlings or young of the year. Whatever you call them. I'm still pretty new to deer hunting and observing deer so this was an education for me. I wasn't sure if that meant the deer I shot was their mother or just another fawn who had been hanging around with them.

When I found my arrow It was covered in blood, but there was only 6-7 drops of blood spread over about 10 feet and then no blood, which was very confusing to me. I knew that she had run down along the fence line so I walked over there hoping to pick up the blood trail somewhere along the way, but there was nothing. Of course now I'm thinking that it was a bad hit and that I need to back out so I don't bump her and all sorts of bad things about how I messed this up.

I spent a long time worrying over this and very slowly easing my way down the fence line looking for blood and checking to make sure I wasn't walking up on a wounded deer. Finally about 40 yards form the last blood I picked up some more. I kept moving slowly but surely and then I found her, expired at the bottom of the hill just around a corner in the game trail.



It turned out I had made a good shot, double lung and probably some heart. The problem was caused by the exit wound being plugged by one of her collapsed lungs. All that worry ended up not being worth much, but I guess it comes with trying to teach yourself how to be a hunter. Until you have gone through the experience it is hard to know what to expect.

Last year when I got my buck, my host brought his truck around to the field edge, but the soybeans weren't picked yet so that wasn't an option, plus as it turns out he was on a stand somewhere. As a side note, he got a buck that night as well. Not one I had seen earlier in the day, though.

Luckily I called my dad and he came out to help me drag my deer out of the woods.



He's 73 years old and he handled the half mile drag way better than I did. To be honest, I think this is the best picture I got from deer hunting that day.

I'm super excited to have punched my tag. Yes it is a fawn and I am not sure I would shoot a fawn again in the future. But at this point in my hunting career, I have taken two deer and I'm still kind of disbelieving the fact that I can really do this. So I will treasure this harvest just as much as if it had been that buck from earlier in the day.

I still have a buck tag and I might try to get back out later in the season, but I will be pivoting towards ducks, geese and turkeys. You bet I'll be posting updates as I get out there hunting.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Great deer! Well done and congrats!