After I moved from NY to Wi, I changed jobs once and finally earned some days off at work. I was able to schedule a couple days off and chose this week Monday through Wednesday. Unfortunately couldn't take the whole week because other people were off.
Mid week this week, my wife's grandmother back east was placed on hospice and Friday morning she passed. A lot was up in the air, my wife took the first flight out we could get but didn't make it in time.
Her grandmother was a big part of our life. She was my wifes legal guardian since my wife's mother died when my wife was 8. For several years we were the primary caregiver for grandma until both finances and frustration set in. We were still there but hired home health aides to be the bad guys lol.
We moved to Wisconsin when grandma needed a higher level of care and moved to new Hampshire to be closer to her daughter.
Due to the timing, I was thinking I would be flying out to be with them but finances and livestock care has created challenges. I was able to get a good friend who's on vacation this week to feed the horses in exchange for a stocked fridge and permission to hunt our northern farm. I am sure due to the deer on his property and skill making beer he won't take me up on either offer.
Long story short, here I am at our farm in the southern part of the state. Brought the dogs with me which will prevent any all day sits. Still I am both excited and sad at the same time. Brought a special arrow to send off over the valley.
The forecast calls for up to an inch of rain tomorrow. I will update this thread as the hunt progresses.
Tfarm here has great genetics and deer can grow big. I saw a deer by our cross roads stand on the drive in the 1/2 mile driveway and a tail in the food plot behind the cabin while pulling in.
Fire is going, hope to be back with great updates. If anything else, I will have a great week with my dad brother and dogs. We are across the Mississippi River from Jim at 5 pines. We were graced with a visit several years ago which has become a fond memory of mine.
Here are some bucks this year.
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I saw the Last buck in person on opening day but it was 90 degrees and I had pruning shears in my hand doing trail maintenance.
Here is some inside cabin pics[attachment=1][attachment=2]
:campfire:
Sorry for your loss, you know that I know what your dealing with. I hope you have a great hunt to clear your head. Be safe and pick a spot, don't be fussy ,lol
Charlie,
Condolences for your family. Hope you have a great hunt and enjoy some quiet time in the woods, good for the soul.
Your in a good place....soak it all in.
Looking toward to updates
Tim B
Charlie, sure sorry to hear of your loss. Enjoy the quiet woods time my friend.
Thank you everyone for the condolences.
Morning update, raining pretty hard and wind was blowing. Decided to sleep in which must have been needed.
Cooked a big breakfast for my dad and brother. The forecast changed some and instead of an inch we are only supposed to get 3/4 inch. Seems like we already received that much lol. It's supposed to taper off at 5 which is now dark after daylight savings.
We decided we will go set a ladder stand and check a few trail cameras since our scent will get washed pretty quickly.
This morning wasn't without excitement though. Just as I was getting ready to do the dishes my little brother looked over my shoulder and noticed a small 8 point standing out in the yard.
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The buck was acting awfully nervous, and continue looking behind him. Eventually it laid down with his back to the window watching the downwind area where he was constantly looking. We were watching him knowing that there was something behind him and sure enough Adele popped out being chased by very respectable buck. The Buck doing the chasing was roughly 130 inch 10 point. Relatively dark horns and just a beautiful rack and big body. I apologize about the pictures as it was rain on the window and the phone was unable to focus very well[attachment=1][attachment=1]
Charlie, prayers up for y'all, and good luck on your hunt!
Bisch
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
While carrying the ladder stand to the woods in the pouring rain, we witnessed a huge buck chasing a doe across the neighbor's cut corn.
A few pics from the trail camera. Still pouring out, watching Barry's crooked hat chronicles now.
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For fun, we decided to put the decoy behind the cabin. We did this a few years ago and a buck turned it into a bunch of plastic pieces during lunch. [attachment=1]
good luck brother :thumbsup: :clapper: :pray:
Dinner tonight involved tenderloin, asiago cheese and French fried onions with butter toasted buns and a slight drizzle of steak sauce.[attachment=1]
Sorry for the circumstances but best of luck.
Was it fresh tenderloin? :archer:
My condolences to you and family. Looks like you have some great bucks around. Best of luck.
Charlie,
I offer sincere condolences to you and your family on the loss of a beloved grandmother. Get out in the woods and try to clear your mind and shoot straight. You clearly have some great deer on the property.
By the way, I love the photo of Point beer, it is one of the best local brews I have ever had. I miss it from my days living in Wisconsin. Maybe I'll get back there one day.
Joe
What towns are you near in WI?
Sorry for your loss... looks like a great time with the fam though :thumbsup:
Thank You folks. Joe, point has a lot of different flavors now.
BAK, I live in Wausau but we have a farm near Richland Center in Vernon county.
Just an update for now. Tons of deer seen including an absolute giant, 300+ lbs and probably about 180 inches.
Also a funny story about today, I'll post pics later, enjoying camp life now.
Was sitting and 4 hours went by without seeing anything. It started raining and my hearing was affected. An 8 point appeared 60 yatds in front of me. He wasn't big by any standard and I likely wouldn't have shot if given the chance. But for fun I decided to grunt at him and I spook a doe who is 12 yards behind me :knothead:
Charlie, Sorry for your loss buddy. Hope you enjoy your time off.
Enjoy,
Big Ed
Charlie
glad you were able to make it to the cabin. good luck hunting this week and best wishes to all of your family for fond memories of a loved one who has passed on.
jim
All the best for you my friend....
,,Sam,,
Sorry for your loss Charlie.
Good luck in the woods.
So this morning we are getting rained out. Funny thing is every time I look at the forecast the weather is worse lol.
Anyway, coffee is perking, the other fellas snoozing. Dogs are at my feet and I'm quote comfy in a wooden rocking chair next to the wood stove.
This spot I'm sitting yesterday morning is a ladder stand we put up 2 days ago during the rain.
The area is known to be good, there is cut corn about 50 yards to the north, standing corn on our field 200 yards to the east. A crp field that traditionally had corn or soy in it 15-20 yards to the west. This year it was allowed to go all NaTural lol. There is a chunk of woods to the north west. Basically the 2 fields and two woods are kiddy corner from each other. The old fence line here forms an X and the brush has grown a little into each field creating an hour glass shape and making a wonderful funnel.
With such a perfect funnel, I have noticed over the years the deer tend to not use it exactly like we would expect, instead, they tend to cut the corner of the field, usually at 15 yards out or on another trail 35 yards out, then cut into our woods near a red oak tree or continue to walk the field edge to the south.
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Here is a picture looking north, this is the direction I faced the stand because of the sun and I can shoot sitting down out to the field to my left and the trails come all around me
Well I lost my entire post here. But the pictures are still here
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Ok I guess only one picture. I am getting frustrated with this phone. I am walking away for now. But things are about to get exciting
About 9 or so, I see a deer walking to the north, he came out of the corn on our field to the east. He came into the woods with me then exited the woods in a spot I tied the fence down. My little brother and I joked we should put a one way sign at the crossing so the deer know to cross it coming toward me not away. Here is where he came from. I thought it was a doe but as it neared noticed it was a 3 point[attachment=1]
It was at this time, I received a message from my brother about how slow it was. His stand is 300 yards to my south east. We put his stand on the field edge near a spot he calls the Bermuda triangle. He usually sits down in the woods and sees a lot of deer. When they go into the triangle, they tend to disappear. The triangle is an area about an acre in size we planted about 25 years ago. It's pine and sumac trees. He saw a pattern of bigger deer over the years cruising the field edge instead of going through the woods. So the stand was moved to a maple tree with a lot of branches.
Right after his text, I see a big rack cresting the field moving away from me at 300+ yards.
Your in a nice area. I live in NE IA but shoot 3d at Richland Center in the summer every now and then.
:coffee: :campfire:
Soon after the buck went over the rise a caravan of smaller bucks were in tow. I saw 4 or 5, wasn't counting, soon after the boss comes back over the hill following a doe. Neither were running just walking. He was big, really big. His hair was bristled up and looking like he was posturing for a fight.
All the smaller bucks were running all over the place. The big one and doe went out of site. About 5 minutes past and they came back. The doe was headed my way.
I'm standing ready for the shot she's coming straight my way but still 150 yards out with big Daddy in tow.
Suddenly from my left a 115 inch 8 point came running through at 50 yards.
And then......
The buck that ran past kept going, no grunting or bleating could hold its attention. Later i learned he was right behind my brother when he rattled he was spooked.
All the satellite bucks moved off the field. The doe was still headed my way but eventually angled to the north. Just then the large behemoth buck turned and walked off. The doe entered the woods 50 or so yards out.
That was it for the morning sat for 3 more hours. The wind was changing to the south east, not good for this stand so I packed up and headed to the cabin to let the dogs out and regroup.
Funny thing is none of the bucks were in range but between the cold and nerves I was shaking. I have not see a buck of that caliber in some time. Shook so hard my arrow came off the bow and I had to catch it.
I decided in the afternoon to sit a stand I placed 2 weeks ago. I call it the landmark stand.
Last year I stood behind an oak tree and saw 13 deer come past this area. I kept it in my mind for this year. It's a forgotten overlooked corner of the property. When I walked in there several weeks ago I knew it needed to have a stand placed there.
There were trails all over. Several bedding areas within a 100 yards. It's on a hill, corn field is out in front and a ravine down below. We have a food plot and a couple acre butterfly habitat about 100 yards away.
It was a beautiful spot to sit and the millennium treestand quite comfortable. I arrived to the stand about 12:30 and had sat for several hours with the squirrels keeping me company.
About 3 pm it started to sprinkle. The forecast said it was supposed to hold off until 5 but it was wrong(again lol)
The first day we arrived it was pouring out but I went and put a camera up on this spot to get out of the cabin. An hour later i got a photo...
So there I am sitting and I see a buck walk into the field, looked to be an 8 point. I hadn't seen anything to this point and I couldn't hear much due to the rain. I grunt at him for giggles and a doe busts me. She is standing 10 yards behind me[attachment=1]
I have nicknamed The Stand The Landmark stand, because there's a giant oak tree 18 yards from the stand and a big deer trail comes up out of the valley next to it. There's multiple other friends criss-crossing so we here but the unique thing about this tree is it was standing when the first survey was done on this property hundreds of years ago. It is noted in the original survey record of the property that the survey marker is 12 yards to the east of the tree where you find a pile of stones and a survey marker. Unfortunately 20 years ago the last survey crew came through smashed the original survey Stone and put a notch in the tree and draw the spike into it with a ribbon because it was still a useful landmark. Fortunately that scar is healed on the tree.
You will also see this tree in the picture of the nice buck previously posted. He is standing on the trail that I mentioned and does 12 yards from the stand
For some reason it's saying this photo is too large to post, I may have to go back to edit it
The evening hunt progresses and I continue to see deer moving from our cornfield to our food plot about 60 yards out for me. I'm beginning to think the stand will be a lot better once the corn completely cut. I did have a 6 pointer walk right past me and I thought I'd have a picture of him on the trail camera as he walked right in front of it. But unfortunately it only caught his tail end. In total I saw at 11 deer this night. Most were much to far but for being a new stand, I expected to learn.
The next morning we woke up to yet again more rain, forecast said it should be letting up around 10 a.m. . It was coming down quite hard
Following closely thanks for bringing us along.
Enjoying this thread, thanks.
About 11 we headed out to our stands. It was still raining but hoped it would stop soon. I sat there until 4 before seeing a deer. We have a buck that has a spike sticking out to the side. Not sure if it's a broken skull plate or what. On the other side it's a fork, it's probably only legally a spike but it palmated at the end. More like a spoon than a fork lol. I took a picture of him but put my phone away because lately the deer have been coming in fast. he ended up being the only deer seen this night.
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shortly after I took the picture, this deer walk through the end of one of my shooting Lanes. I wasn't interested in shooting him in fact I'm kind of curious what he will look like next year. Last time I had a buck that I passed up curious about an antler sticking out to the side, the neighbor shot him. This is what that one looked like[attachment=1]
I'm enjoying your vacation :goldtooth:
Iv had this week off too, it's been pretty slow....
Charlie my condolences, good place for meditation away from noises.
After such a slow day, my dad, brother and I decided to take a drive and spotlight deer. We saw some including a couple decent bucks. Most of the deer were bedded down though and in the woods. We thought they would be moving with the amount of poor weather and the forecasted bad weather for the night.
Up to this point I'd had seen the majority of the deer. My dad had some encounters with bucks but didn't get any shots. My little brother had not seen any deer at all.
My little brother and I put his stand in a spot that we knew hed see less deer but have more quality deer in range. For the last 2 years he'd sat 50-60 yards east of where the stand is now. He used to see a lot of deer but the bigger ones would stay slightly out of his range then disappear into the Bermuda triangle.
His first day was foiled at last light by the neighbor who rents our field. They pulled a pick up into the field only 60 yards from my brother. They didn't know he was there. They stood outside the truck and made a lot of noise.
My brother was frustrated and told me he was getting out of his stand and headed back to the cabin. I had advised he should just go a ways and hide somewhere as deer were starting to move. He finally saw deer. 4 were does and one he described as having a large body but couldn't see it well.
The last morning we had a west wind. I wanted to see what the landmark stand would do in the morning. I still feel good about this spot. The wind was stout and darkness broke way to the overcast morning.
:coffee: :campfire:
The other reasoning I had to go back to the landmark stand, was because the night before I had seen 11 deer 9 of which were does. With the amount of chasing going on, I knew that there would be some boy noses sniffing around the area. As it turns out I was correct in my assumption.
While walking into the stand that morning. I noticed a fresh new rub right in front of it period after climbing into the stand I noticed several more in the vicinity around it. Although the one I took a picture of is the smallest of all of them, I wasn't about to put my scent all over the woods for a silly picture[attachment=1]
Prayers for you and your family.
Thanks for taking us along on this hunt!
So there I am sitting in the stand and it's pretty quiet. I was really just enjoying my time. Squirrels were keeping me company and a nuthatch decided to land on my bowstring. My plan was to climb down at 11:00, go back to the cabin, clean pack and hit the road by noon for the 3 hour trek home. I would have stayed all day but with my wife out of town, I needed to care for the farm and go to bed early due to work commitments on Thursday.
Around 7:45, I see a doe run out of the cornfield. By her body language, I could tell she had a suitor. I stood with my bow even though she was still 60 yards out.
Turns out I was correct. The little 3 point with the wonky horn came out hot on her trail. They eventually ran past me at 20 yards. I didn't even try to slow them down.
I stayed at the ready knowing more bucks could cross the path or often times in that area, the hot doe comes back through and gains deer on her trail.
After 30 minutes I decided to sit back down, my hands were cold, it was about 28 degrees and the wind still stout in my face.
I had not been sitting long and a basket rack buck was coming up the valley behind me. My hands were not even warm yet. He makes his way down wind and stands there for a while before changing course.
:coffee: :campfire:
I was able to take a seat.
My little brother texts me at 8:30 saying he hit a 10 point. He said the shot was back as the deer whirled when he released. He was pretty sure it still angled forward through the liver and offside lung but it happened so fast he wasnt sure.
Even though he shoots a compound I still call him my brother. I did my best to keep his thoughts in a positive place and instructed him to take note of everything. Last spot deer was seen yadda yadda.
About 9, another doe appears, came out of the food plot and headed into the corn.
Before going further, I am not a trophy hunter by any means. But with that being said, I refuse to burn my tag on the first day on a smaller buck. Id rather risk not shooting a deer than risk ending my season early. I usually can only eat 1-2 deer a year. At this point in the season I will take the next good opportunity.
Shortly after the doe departs, I saw a decent 2.5 year old buck running straight toward me.
This buck makes to about 30 yards but turns back toward where the does traveled. I quickly gruntedcat him to try and get him to come back. Guess what? A deer was standing 15 yards behind me and jumped when I grunted. The buck in the field didn't care and he followed the path of the doe.
Now I have a basket rack 6 point with heavy beams behind me but onto me. He doesn't see me and is walking around trying to find me. Eventually he moved off and I am unable to tell him otherwise
At this point it's 9:45 and I received word my dad has shot 2x this morning. The first shot was over the back of a 6 point and the second he said looked good behind the shoulder of a 6 point. He saw some other nicer bucks but wants to get his first with a trad bow.
The one he hit didn't have great penetration and no lower exit. He watched the deer go 100 +/- yards before losing sight.
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Now it's time for me to get out of the stand with 2 deer hit, there's going to be work to do and me arrowing a 3rd will complicate things.
After the initial shot, we decided to give both deer time. I will bounce around here a bit on the chronology of events.
We waited 6 hours from my dad's shot before taking the trail. I was a bit worried as he said the deer just walked off out of sight for some distance. Acted like it never knew it was hit. He said it was a perfect shot right behind the shoulder at 13 yards. He was in a 15 foot ladder stand. The arrow had dark red blood on it and fell out after about 50 yards. I was thinking maybe it was liver due to how dark the blood was and perhaps his recollectionis skewed due to the excitement and speed of which these situations take place.
My little brother and I tracked it for roughly 200 yards. The blood was sparse due to no lower exit wound. the process took about 1.5 hours but we lost blood. We marked the direction of travel and decided to let it be a little longer. The deer did not bed down up to this point.
We were not terribly far from my little brother's shot. So we decided to look for blood and see what we could see. The blood looked promising being bright red, with bubbles and quite profuse. We tracked his deer about 300 yards and the blood stopped. After a small radius search I picked it up again. The deer made a 90 degree turn and was Headed west. We marked the trail and it was time I needed to hit the road.
My dad and brother went back the next morning. My brother's deer went over 800 yards and never laid down. The blood trail was good the whole way but eventually crossed onto a property we did not get permission to be on. A grid search for my father's deer came up empty. I am saddened for the deer and my dad and brother.
So to wrap this up as you can tell I did not get a shot but had a lot of action.
Grandma Always was curious after I went hunting and always asked me "did you catch anything". After 10 years of trying to explain when I hunt, I kill I don't catch, I finally gave up trying.
But Nanna, I can tell you, on this vacation, "no, I didn't catch anything" but I had a great time.
Here I sent off a tribute arrow for her. She will be dearly missed.
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Thank you for following along on my trip.
:clapper: Thanks for taking us along.
Joe
Great adventure thanks for taking us along.
Thanks for sharing your trip, sorry it playout exactly the way we would all like it to but seems like a great trip anyways.