Opening Weekend 2012 Recap

I headed out opening morning to one of my normal spots in hopes of having a good morning.  As many of you know that headed out as well, it was HOT and humid.  After sitting in my tree and not seeing or hearing anything around 7:45am, I heard a shot from a crossbow off in the distance.  A few minutes later I heard some deer coming and I ended up watching  3 does and a small buck (never got a good look at him) run about 50 yards in front of me and they kept going into the thicket off to my left.  That was all I saw opening morning and I sweat my butt off getting back out of the woods.   Such is life, either way it was great to be back in the woods!

I went out yesterday afternoon, attempted to go to several of the locations that me and a buddy of mine had scouted out to find that they had already be taken so to speak.  So we went to another location we had scouted.  Just as I had gotten up in my tree, I heard deer coming,  it was 3 does and a small buck. They passed off to one side of me about 35 - 40 yards away.  Shortly after that,  I again heard someone shoot a crossbow  guessing it was at the small buck, but not really sure.   Later, I had two different sets of 2 does come up the hill about 45 yards away feeding along with no a clue that I was there.  Finally, as I was climbing down I had a very  small 4 point buck walk about 15 yards away and he didn't even notice I was climbing down out of my tree.  All told, I saw 4 deer in my AM hunt and 9 in the evening.  Not a bad opening day considering, but places I hunted I had scouted but wasn't sure when the deer were there.

Glad to see everyone out hunting, I hope everyone had a good opening day 2012!

Saturday morning, I ventured back out with a friend of mine to a place we had high hopes.  Got in nice and early and were ready and expecting to see deer.  Well, welcome to deer hunting, even more welcome to deer hunting in Loch Raven.  Never did see anything until we were on our way out of the woods when we spooked 3 does and a small buck.

Saturday Evening, well... those nasty storms kept me out of the woods this evening.  It is pouring here as I write this,  and even though I am ok with hunting in bad weather, not thunderstorms.   Plus we all have the whole season ahead of us, no need to risk our safety.

Hope everyone had a good opening day weekend and for those whom were successful congrats!

We would love to hear about your opening weekend hunting adventures and if you were successful we would love to see photo's, just attach them to your comment 🙂

8 Responses

  1. Looking forward to getting out there, now that the weather's broken a bit! Kirk @ River Mud
    • admin
      Kirk, Great to hear from you. Yes we agree the weather had finally broken :-) It sure was hot opening weekend! We hope to get out later this week while it is still cooler, but sadly couldn't make it out early this week. Good luck when you do make it out!
  2. Gino Ciotola
    I saw a couple bucks last night, one of which was already out of velvet. Anyone else seeing deer out of velvet?? Seems awfully early to me.
    • admin
      Gino, That is very interesting and seems early. However, after thinking about it we normally are hitting on the woods in just 4 days and almost every year most (but not all) of the bigger bucks are out of velvet by opening day. So maybe it is on time and we just think it's early? I also think that with the full moons early this year (end of September and end of October) we may see early rut activity earlier than normal, maybe as early as the end of this month. As Gino asked, is anyone else seeing deer out of velvet already?
  3. Lee
    I hit Loch Raven last Friday in the evening. Saw six does, medium size. I had two hunters on foot hunting walk up on me around 4:40PM. I'm somewhat new to things ie hunting public land, so I'm anxious to read here everything folks have to say!
    • admin
      Lee, Great to hear from you. I was out in Loch Raven on Friday evening as well. Sounds like you had a pretty good evening. With public land and hunting Loch Raven you will not only find a good number of hunters walk, and there are a lot of dog walkers, hikers, fishermen, etc. that will come walking right under you. Me and the guys I hunt with have it happen in Loch Raven all the time. Once again, great to hear from you and glad you will be reading along during this hunting season. We will look forward to hearing more from you as well!
      • Lee
        Awesome! I know of a fella pulled a nice buck out of Loch Raven a couple days ago. I'll be in there tomorrow morning doing work. Good luck to all!
        • admin
          Lee, If you know the fella that got that nice buck, pass along to him we would love a picture! Working in Loch Raven doesn't sound like a whole lot of fun. I will be headed back out into the woods next week. Good luck to everyone this weekend!

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