12/5/2012 Evening Muzzleloader Hunt

Headed back out and took my muzzleloader, I couldn't get out of work until late so I only had a little over an hour in the woods.  The place where I am able to gun hunt doesn't have any trees that you can really climb, so I sit on the ground.  After about 20 minutes or so I say a flick of a tail and looked over and sure enough here comes a doe and fawn down off the hill into the thicket a little over a 100 yards away.  Sadly this is also right along the property line.  Needless to say I watched the doe and fawn for 35 minutes feeding on honeysuckle hoping maybe a buck was with them or other deer.  I also was waiting on the doe to cross the property line and come out into a clearing.  Well needless to say I didn't see anything else and the doe and fawn but stayed in the thicket and never gave me a shot, so I eased out of the woods and left them eating and there for another day.  However, on my way leaving the property at about 6 pm I got up the road 2 houses and 8 deer crossed the road in front of me and one of them was a really heavy 8 point buck.  Wish I would have seen him while I was in the woods, but I am not sure if he ever even makes it to the section of woods I was hunting since he crosses the road over to a different section of woods.

Well, another hunting trip and no success.  I plan to take the bow out and try for whatever is moving this weekend, maybe even tomorrow afternoon.

We haven't gotten any pictures of bigger bucks since around the 27 of November, which means either the bucks have been doing all their breeding and might start moving again here in the next few days, or rut was about over and now has really slowed down.  Everything I have seen leads me to believe the bucks have started to turn to their more winter patterns and have returned to their core areas.   This means that if you were seeing a buck back before rut and he vanished, good chance if he is still alive he might be back soon.  But this also means for a lot of us that the thought of one of those giants that was out wondering outside his comfort area maybe be a thought of the past.  The best thing you can do this time of year is hunt near a good food source, bucks and does alike should be hitting food sources hard here in the mid Atlantic based on the activity I have seen.

Good luck to everyone this final weekend of gun season!

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2 Responses

  1. Henry
    Hope all is well with you. I have had a dissapointing season at times this year, but I keep trying. I was gun hunting and about 4:30 a doe was moving around about 100 yards to my left. She kept looking behind her and I was hoping she was hot. And she was. A nice 8 pointer had his nose pointed at her and was moving in behind her. Then another nice 6-8 pointer (couldn't tell) came after her also. Finally the buck that I have been after for a while came around the corner and stopped about 20 yards from my stand. He was sniffing the air and then proceeded to turn broadside and rub the tree in front of me. This gave me a shot so I took it. he jumped way in the air and took off like a bat out of hell. I knew he was hit good. I waited about 45 minutes and got down, found the blood and expected I would see him within 100 yards. But after I walked a little bit I heard something move, so I backed out. Came back that night, found a nice area where he had bed down and lots of blood. But no deer. Backed out again. Got a dog tracking buddy of mine and we went out in the morning, tracked him for over a mile and then the trail went hot, meaning he was moving ahead of us. I can't believe I never got him. I was so upset. I went back over everything to see where I made a mistake but I followed all the correct steps, he was just a tough old deer and I must have only hit one lung. Since then I have had two does come in range and I didn't take a shot since I have lost my confidence a little. I know I will get it back it just really sucks to have something like this happen. I have spent all season watching this big guy on the camera, and praying that I would have the chance and when I do I mess it up!!!!! But that is hunting and I hope he is still there and comes back soon (even though I doubt it). Anyway I am ready to get to bow hunting for a while. God Bless
    • admin
      Henry, So far I haven't found anyone that gun season has been good too. But I have heard lots of shots while out hunting over the past couple weeks so someone is at least shooting at deer. I am sorry to hear your story, that happens we just have to work past it and get back out there. That could happen to any one of us at any moment and nothing is going to change that. I know that doesn't make it any easier, but no sense letting it get the better of us. Just get back out there and try again and wait on the next deer. We wish you the best of luck and let us know how you are doing.

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