Vanish and Firetiger's 2023 Journal

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FireTiger has been packing for her CO deer hunt this weekend. She should be there a half day early to get some scouting in. I'm taking DD to the grandparents.

Golly I hope this goes well for her as this season has been kinda lame.

 

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Oh, some good news! My buck was negative for CWD so we got him packaged up last night. A little bit of crust loss from aging for three weeks, but I'll be curious to see how the meat compares as we usually immediately butcher.

 

[Wyhunter]

Oh, some good news! My buck was negative for CWD so we got him packaged up last night. A little bit of crust loss from aging for three weeks, but I'll be curious to see how the meat compares as we usually immediately butcher.

Thats going to be a tender deer. I use to hang mine for a week when my buddy had a walk in cooler. They are way better.

 

[Lab]

Thats going to be a tender deer. I use to hang mine for a week when my buddy had a walk in cooler. They are way better.

Ive heard the same thing

 

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Season of lame continues. FireTiger came down with a virus as I was taking DD to the grandparents on Thursday. She drove to her unit Friday night but was questioning her decision as the sickness was much worse. Continued to worsen on the opener and it was a white out snowstorm so she bailed after a few hours to try to recover at home. I seem to have picked it up now as well.

 

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We got out for FireTiger's tag on Saturday. She is still recovering but I framed it as a family day hike and that helped.



DD and Ada had a great time.






Unfortunately we were only able to turn up one doe. There was a lot of cattle and not as much terrain cuts as we were hoping for. We agreed this was one spot we probably wouldn't try again.

 

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[MNElkNut]

So looking at the picture of the dog and the spotting scope in it. I think you were looking in the wrong direction (up). Might explain why only one deer was seen. Kinda amazed you saw one up there actually!!!!

 

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Got here about an hour ago. Our camp spot was already occupied, as well as everything within 2 miles. What a difference from last year! We only saw a couple other hunters and no camps last year.

Found an area with nobody hunting near it and currently armed scouting.

 

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Going easy, only moving when the winds blows. Then I was like, why, not much sign? Take 10 quick steps and jump a great buck. Sigh.

 

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Scouting session looked nice but didn't turn up much. That one buck, one scrape and a fair creek crossing.



I thought this looked like Iike the coolest natural blind ever.



We found a spot and set up camp. I got out for the last 90 minutes but nothing was moving. Need to keep looking for that sign!

 

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With the volume of hunters ( seen plates from New Mexico, Colorado, Louisiana, Georgia and Indiana), this morning I decided to hit a spot that is easily overlooked. It feels entirely too close to the road, but it is full of honey locusts. There was an incredible amount of sign here last year and while I suspect it is a lot of nighttime activity, I had seen deer here in daylight.



Despite creeping into my spot, the wind is practically dead and thus inconsistent. A deer that should have been upwind of me started blowing just before I got set up. Other than some Squirrels, that's the extent of the action thus far.

 

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Stayed there for 90 minutes, decided if something was there I would have seen or heard it. I want to scout more but it's warming fast, going to drop my jacket and seat. Took a different route the 250 yards back to the truck. Still tons of sign. Jumped a deer between me and the truck. Seriously? Feeling like a bumbling idiot.

 

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Scouted a couple miles of transitions but the best looking sign was where I was this morning.

Took a drive and hunted in over near where I had my stand last year and boom, about 100 yards deeper in, 4 fresh scrapes in a row.





I will keep exploring, but I hung my stand over the trail. It's about 5 yards off to the left here. I figured that would be better than hanging in the open on the edge, hopefully giving me more draw cover, though fewer angles.

 

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Just climbed up for the afternoon. Wind is very inconsistent, making me nervous. It's supposed to be variations of south all week, but I'm getting gusts from the north.

Its 72 degrees, going to be like that all week as well.

Who cooks for you is serenading

 

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Nothing happening for anyone last night. Hope today is a better day!

 

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Pretty happy with my plan this morning. I had to cross about 300 yards of 8ft tall cattails to get in here. Heard deer moving in the dark and there is a real nice trail in front of me.

 

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Ninjas another 150 yards or so. Scrapes, trails, rubs and scat. Where are the deer??

 

[WildWill]

Watched a buck chase a doe in one of my fields at first light in SE Oklahoma. You're not alone everyone's been talking about how slow it's been. According to my trail cams this weather has them pretty nocturnal right now. Goodluck!

 

[MNElkNut]

Worst year we have had in western MN 53 years (some of that 53 was before my time!!). I would say the population is down 80% from a couple years ago.

Pulling for ya! I hope that cattail hike was worth it.