The 4 Month Bow Hunt: 2nd Edition

[KipCarson]

October 1st and Louisiana archery season is here again so I figure I’ll take the time to chronicle my at home season again. It could turn out to be great, it could turn out to be terrible. I really don’t know what to expect and have tempered my hopes accordingly. As it stands my family and work life have been crazy and I foresee much frustration when trying to carve out time to get in the treestand.

As far as time goes, I’ve been so busy that until yesterday, the day before season, I had still not gotten out to scout around the main property I hunt and have had zero cameras out there. That property I will refer to in this narrative as Elm Grove.

I do have some cams out on a work property that I’m able to hunt and that’s only because I was working there and some free time on lunch breaks. That property from now on will be referred to as the Benton property. While on the Benton property I went back on OnX and found a a shumard oak tree I marked a few years back while cutting some fire lanes. I went back in there and checked it and it was absolutely loaded with giant acorns. I hung a stand there preemptively assuming it would start to be good by late October.
The camera I put there by the shumard oak picked up a buck I call Blind Bart. Something is wrong with his right eye and I think he's 4.5 years old now. I base that mainly on the fact I’ve been getting pics of him since I think he was a 2.5 year old. Whatever is wrong with him, his right eye doesn’t glow in the camera flash like all the other deer eyes do. There were a couple of other deer I would shoot there also so there is potential for fun, even if there are no giants to hunt. Blind Bart:


After the successful elk and alligator hunts I really don’t need any more meat, but I do have a lot of non hunting family and friends that will be very grateful that I keep on hunting and are already encouraging me to get them a deer! Stay tuned and hopefully there will be something worth sharing between now and January 31st.

 

[KipCarson]

This morning I did have the first hour and a half of daylight free so I drove up and sit in the new stand on the Benton property. Not surprisingly I saw zero. At 7:30 I did have a deer snort a few times a couple of hundred yards away. It ain’t much, but I was able to get in the way stand on opening day.

 

[KipCarson]

Since my last post I’ve been able to get out and check all of my cams. I’ve got a few spots with regular doe activity, a half dozen 1.5 year old bucks and one 2.5 year old 8 point. With full freezers that’s hard to get excited about. Plus I don’t really have time to clean a deer this evening.
My brother invited me over to hunt his place behind my parents house where he’s being overrun with pigs. So for this evening I’m hunting here to help mitigate the swine problem. This has been my first chance to hunt since opening morning. With unsteady swirling wind this will be tough.

 

[KipCarson]

The pig hunt Saturday didn’t turn out exactly like I planned. One sounder of 12-14 pigs came into my brothers feeder and when they settled down I picked the biggest sow and let an arrow fly. It looked like a good hit but within a minute I knew it wasn’t. The pigs scattered when she ran into the thicket and as they were regrouping I could hear her back in the thicket giving the warning call. A double lung shot pig won’t do that. The young ones pricked up their ears and all took off in her direction. From what I could tell by the blood trail I apparently hit liver and at most the back of one lung. It probably killed her which was the number one objective, but the number 2 objective of a fresh batch of smoked failed.
She hasn’t shown back up on my brothers cams so likely she’s the main course on the buzzard buffet right now.

 

[KipCarson]

In deer news, I have gotten to hunt 3 mornings before work this week. They’ve been short 1 hour sits but I did finally see a fawn! At least that’s something. In Benton, Blind Bart has totally gone awol but I had some new bucks show up down in Elm Grove. Right now there are actually 3 different bucks there I would shoot if given a chance so that’s probably where I’ll focus my efforts for a while. Here are a couple of the new bucks

 

[KipCarson]

I was able to go last Thursday and finally saw 2 does who caught me off guard when I was taking a sip of Dr Pepper. I never heard them and they had slipped up within 20 yards and caught me moving. Oh well, I wasn’t in a doe killing mood that day anyway.

All weekend I was on a family trip to Dallas. I smiled and tried to enjoy myself but my mind was back in the woods. The zoo with my girls was the highlight for sure. Next year I’ll try to be more vigilant how I let my wife schedule time away!

I checked my Benton cams today and finally had one show up that seriously trips my trigger. Now to get him to move around in daylight is another problem. I’ve probably got as good of a chance to draw a sheep tag as killing him. I’m not being pessimistic but I figure I’ve got less than 1% odds. Doesn’t mean I won’t keep trying though!

 

[KipCarson]

I haven’t been able to hunt since last Thursday but I got back out this evening and boy did I have a good time!
I went to the Elm Grove property where the Big 6 point is hanging out because he has been doing a bunch of daytime movement. Even though I’ve got several bigger deer on cam to go after, he’s got the worst genetics and is cooperating to be possibly shot. I’m going to do my best to improve the standing cohort of bucks by taking him out.
I left work early and got on stand about 5:15 pm. 2 hours til dark. At 6pm the first doe started feeding my way, followed shortly by 2 of the best yearling bucks I’ve got on cam. I hope they stick around, they’ve got potential. After watching them feed on acorns 30-40 yards away a 3rd buck showed up. He was a pretty nice 8 point that would have seriously tested my resolve on passing him. I think he needed another year or two to grow. He never came close enough for a clear shot anyway so I never had to make that decision. The brush was too thick so I didn’t bother trying to take a picture of him. I told my brother, he’s probably safe for now, but wait until a few months of season go by without getting a good buck and he’d better not come close! They fed south into the thicket and a few minutes later here come more deer, all does. At one point I had 7 does within 15 yards of my stand. They stayed close by until well after dark before I could sneak down the tree and get out without spooking them. I thought any second the one I was after today would show up but he didn’t, still made for a great evening! 7-9 does and 3 bucks, that’s extremely rare to see that many deer in one sit down here.

It was an emotionally distressing hunt for me, I have a very hard time not filling my doe tags lol! It felt like a sin having that many does around me and not shooting, but I was really expecting the big 6 to show any minute. Plus after the elk and the gator the freezers are maxed out. I’ll still shoot a few does at some point to give to some friends and family but today was not that day.

I posted a picture of him in post #5 but I’ve got a bunch of better ones now. This one needs to go and I hope to send him on his way. I need to come up with a name for him. I’m already tired of referring to him as the 6 point.
I should get to hunt a bit more this weekend. Fingers crossed!

 

[kansasdad]

@KipCarson the silhouette of his head on antler photo reminds me of Pacman heading down, about to chomp on his (soon to be a euro at your house!) head?

Pacman for a name other than tall six point

 

[KipCarson]

@kansasdad Pac-Man it is!

 

[KipCarson]

Well this weekend hasn’t started as planned. My oldest girl had started feeling bad on Thursday evening and by Friday night she was bad enough that my wife decided she should go to the pediatrician first thing this morning. That meant I would need to stay home and keep the little one instead of going hunting. After they got back I had committed the mid day hours to cutting down a tree at my mother in laws house. To make a long story short what was supposed to be an easy job got western and I nearly dropped a tree on her house! Catastrophe was averted by the slimmest of margins but the job ended up taking far longer than planned. I did get to run down to the Elm Grove property where I had the great hunt on Thursday but I got here later than I would like, but I’ll take what I can get. Hopefully Pac-Man will show, or one of the boars I would really like to get out of here.

While I was cutting the tree I checked my phone buzzing in my pocket. “Primitive weapon” season opened today in Louisiana and wouldn’t you know the one buck in Benton that was really nice (post #6 pictures) was whacked at 8:15 today only 450 yards from where I was getting pics of him. I tried to be happy for the guy but I’ll be honest, I’m not so selfless that this pic didn’t sting.

I haven’t checked that cam since Tuesday so I don’t know how often he was coming around. That Benton stand is where I was planning to be this morning until my girl got sick so I’ll be seriously bummed if he was feeding under my stand this morning at daylight before heading on down to the trail to meet his end. Oh well I guess, a new generation is born every year and I’m sure something else will come along, hopefully just as nice.

I’ve got 45 more minutes of shooting light left, and the waiting continues…

 

[kiwi hunter]

Keep em coming bud

 

[KipCarson]

I ended up seeing nothing last Saturday, didn’t get to hunt all week, and saw nothing yesterday all day either. The weather has royally sucked, 85 degree humid mosquito swarming swamp fest is what we’ve been having.

Tomorrow it turns cold for the week so I plan to carve out some time and hopefully finally make something happen. It’s been years since I’ve gone all of October without killing a deer or 3.

 

[KipCarson]

Good grief, I think I’ve forgotten how to hunt. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a season this unproductive. Since the good hunt I had on October 19th I’ve been able to go out 6 more times and have not laid eyes on a single deer! Not a one. Every time I’ve just had squirrely wind, hot temps, incompetence or a combination of all three. I don’t know but something has to change quick.

The local Facebook page has turned into a solid stream of grip n grins of some solid bucks hitting the ground. They’re starting to rut pretty good, scrapes are everywhere, and the camera action has really picked up, albeit mostly at night.
Some of the bucks I’ve been looking for have finally showed back up and I’m excited about the potential for the rest of the season.

Here is Combs. He was around last year a bunch and I routinely had daylight pictures of him, if he falls back into the same pattern I may have a chance. My family all agreed last year to give him a pass to see what he might turn into, he didn’t grow much but did get better. He’s top of the hit list in the Elm Grove property.

 

[KipCarson]

This buck is another one we decided to let walk last year, he is now on the chopping block. This is the 3rd season I’ve kept tabs on him. We call him Ceasar. We hoped he would grow a bit more but he also hadn’t changed much except adding the new little g4 points. Last year he was a clean 8 point. Straight on he looks decent but when he turns to the side there’s not much there.


This is another buck that showed up in late December last year, he’s here earlier this year. I call him Arnold. Just a slick 8 with beams that wrap around and almost touch. Neat characteristic we don’t often see here.

 

[KipCarson]

These are a couple of new kids on the block this year. This heavy 8 point with a kicker on the G2 was on one of my brothers properties through the summer but changed zip codes and is now hanging out with me, I’m very Ok with that! He’s a good looking deer. I don’t have a lot of good pictures of him yet but he has shown up on multiple days.

Last but not least is this other heavy 8 point with the double left brow tine. I hope he sticks around, he deserves a place on the wall too!
There are a pile of other bucks too, these are just some of the better ones, or that we have a little history with. Season has got to get better from here. My biggest battle is still finding time
to get in the woods. These deer rarely ever make a mistake and it’s a tall order to ever get one with a bow around here that has any age on him. There are at least more options around than usual. It’s been a lot of years since there has been a crop of bucks this good.

 

[KipCarson]

This is a big part of my problem right now…

I have a love hate relationship with acorns. You can have too much of a good thing at times. On paper you can figure out what tree or general area they’re feeding on and go hunt it and voila the deer will show up. In reality when you have 200+ acres that’s 80% oak trees there is so much food on a good mast year that the deer don’t have to move more than 40 from their daytime beds to get a bite to eat. When we’ve got an acorn crop like this, seeing deer becomes much more difficult. Deer are slaves to their bellies and are going to get up and feed but that doesn’t mean they’ moving far to do it.

I keep one corn feeder going on this property. I’ve had to turn it off for now because it’s literally just piling up on the ground. The hogs, which is what I mainly have the feeder for, won’t even keep it cleaned up. I get occasional pictures of them walking by and not even stopping. It will likely be December before enough of these dang acorns are gone that they start moving around covering ground more. At least we have some cool weather, maybe I’ll actually see a deer today.

 

[KipCarson]

I checked a few cams when I got down this morning. Almost zero daylight activity again this week. Except for this morning. The place I wanted to hunt I chose not to because the wind was wrong. And of course Arnold showed up a little after 7 am.

Granted, had I been there I’d have likely never seen him because he would’ve smelled me way before coming into range. It’s pretty thick in there and most directions I can’t see a thing more than 50-60 yards. I think he’s only a 3.5 year old and needs a couple more years but the odds of killing one of the 3.5yo+ age class of bucks is so slim I’ll take what I can get if it ever comes along.

 

[KipCarson]

All day on Saturday and Sunday morning I only saw 2 doe. And once again I gave them a pardon. I did get to check my camera at the oak tree in Benton, and was surprised by a significant amount of daytime activity. A couple of days last week I had an eight point come by that I would be glad to shoot, nothing giant, but for that property he would be fair game. I will have to start paying a bit more attention up there. Now I have to work all week. Unfortunately my body is at work, but my brain is in the woods.

 

[KipCarson]

Alright. I’ll be honest, I’m not even having fun this season. What started out looking like it was going to be a great year has gone downhill fast.

Since my last check in here I have been able to hunt a good bit, I have moved cams all around, taken down and put up multiple treestands etc. My reward for the effort has been the sighting of a single solitary spike. That makes 3 deer seen in a month. I was told hunting whitetail is super easy and perfect for lazy eastern hunters?! Somebody must have been watching the drurys and lakoskys too much lol!

In all seriousness, I can’t figure out what’s going on. All the bucks that were here have disappeared off all my brothers and my cameras. Something will change I’m sure, and until then I’ll keep grinding away. When I’m not seeing deer at all it makes it no fun for me. Deer hunting of this quality is why people go duck hunting. Ok, pity party is over. If the 3 people who read this have any suggestions by all means chime in!

 

[KipCarson]

I guess I need to check back in and put this one to bed. I quit updating because I didn’t have anything positive to say lol. It was the worst most frustrating deer season I have seen in over 25 years. I saw less deer than I have in at least a decade. All the good bucks from early on were known to be killed or vanished into thin air. I was seeing so few deer I opted not to fill any of my antlerless tags too. I love shooting does so that was tough on me!

I did kill one small 6 point that I shot to give to my cousin and her husband for meat. It wasn’t usually something I would shoot but as bad as it was going I figured id take the bird in hand. Shot him at 14 yards quartering towards through the front shoulder and he piled up after about a 90 yard dash. I was in a rush to get to work and never thought to take a picture.

For once I was glad season ended. I was getting way behind in my work life and need to get caught up before April and Turkey season.