2005 Daily Journal

[Professor T]

Oct 1 evening hunt. In short...I'm done on both sides. It was hot. I went to the stand early just in case of an early arrival. I arrrived at 3:51pm but Little Big man was there at 3:17pm. His buddy, Blade, was not in the pictures. I am hoping he was not in the area when I arrived.

Four hours and 3 rabbits later at deer-thirty as I like to call it, I finally saw one. At first I thought it was LBM but it was too big. No head gear. This was the biggest doe I have ever seen. It took her 5 minutes to walk the 35 yards to get in the openning. Just before she got there two spotted fawns showed themselves. They were big and looked like they were starting to lose there spots but they still weren't ready to lose there mother. All three fed under my stand for 20 minutes but I don't think the trailcam got their pictures because I placed the corn for an arrow shot not a TC shot. I am very hard of hearing but I could still tell they were noisy eaters...crunch, crunch.

One thing I did learn is that sitting in that stand baking for hours you get dehydrated. When one of the evening rabbits came by I decided to draw on it for practice to see if I could do it without him noticing me. I almost couldn't draw the bow back.

I came home last night and went to church this morning. I'll be back for an evening hunt this evening. I may try the Ridge Runner or may try one more time at Buck Point before giving it a rest.

Good luck everybody.

[Professor T]

Oct 2 PM Hunted Ridger Runner Trail...Nothing showed

Oct 3 AM Hunted Buck Point...Nothing showed
Oct 3 PM Hunted Buck Point...1 big doe and 2 fawns and deer under the stand and deer across the trail. That big doe was blowing but not the alarm type of blow. It was sort of like she was telling the other deer to stay away. When they got to close, she left. I waited 15 more minutes even though it was after dark but nothing came out. I got out of they as wuick and quiet as I could.

Oct 4 AM Slept in. I needed to do some camp work anyway.
Oct 4 PM Hunted Beech Tree Plot...rabbits and coons.

Oct 5 AM Hunted Ridge Runner Trail. Five minutes after getting settled in the stand I saw the flash go off on the TC at Buck Point. It was Rambo. Not a good picture but a good candidate for P&Y.

Oct 5 PM Hunted Buck Point. Several deer passed within 5 yards of the stand along a trail that runs the edge of the ridge. I saw one and it was big but to dark to tell what it was.

Oct 6 I came home to pick up my wife who will wpend a few days with me at the camp. I'm going to try to make an afternoon hunt today.

[Professor T]

Oct 7 AM...Hunted Ridge Runner Trail. About 7am "Little Big Man" paid me a visit. He came right to the setup spot and started eating corn. He stayed for about 20 minutes during which he looked straight up at my stand 3 times. I had the bow in front of my face, mask on, and squinted my eyes when he looked. He was not alarmed in the slightest. "Blade" has been his running buddy all summer long so I was expecting him to follow. LBM looked back down the RR trail several times and even walked down the trail about 15 yards once before coming back to feed. I heard a buck grunt to my right and LBM look that direction at the same time. I had numerous oportunities to take him but he is a 1.5yr. so I let him walk. It was all in all a great feeling to have him in front of me.

Oct 7 PM...Hunted Buck Point. Saw nothing.

Oct 8 AM...Hunted Beech Tree Plot. Saw nothing.
PM...Hunted Buck Point. Saw 2 spotted fawns, twice.
SIL hunted RRT, saw 8 deer including 1 big buck just after he let his bow down from the stand. My brothe, Paul, hunted the Crows Foot and only saw 1 deer but it was a buck. 8 point, 160lb. 85 7/8 B&C 10 yards, Mathews bow, Easton 400's with a 4 bladed 100gr. Muzzy. He has his "Muzzy Moment".

[Professor T]

Oct 9 PM...Brother hunted BTP saw nothing. SIL hunted RRT saw nothing but saw 2 fawns on the way out.

Oct 12 PM...SIL hunted RRT saw nothing. Guest hunting South Fork saw 1 deer (unID).

[Professor T]

Oct 15 PM...I hunted BP, nothing happening. On the way out I have to walk by the East Plot. The moon was up good (Full) and I could see a big deer laying in the middle of the plot. She saw me at the same time so I turned my flashlight on. I was the big doe with her two spotted fawns. She and one of the fawns made it to safety but the other one ran the wrond direction. I shined the flash light beam on it and walked towards it (the way out). It ran and jumped about 6' in the air in a semi circle to get around me. Inexperienced as the fawn was, it wound up a few feet from me and just stood there. I admired the little guy for a minute then kept the beam on it as I walked away. It finally went in the direction of it's mother. My brother hunted the Crows Foot again but saw nothing.

Oct 16 AM I hunted the RR stand and again saw nothing, a beautiful morning though. My brother hunted the Crows Foot again. Early he had a big deer he suspects to be a buck pass behind him. About 15 minutes later 2 deer came right under him for a second but got spooked. One of them was a doe the other was not seen good enough to identify. He stayed on the stand while I left to go to church. On his way out about noon he jumped a good buck bedded on the edge of the creek.

Oct 16 PM...I hunted the RR again. Nothing happening. My brother hunted the Wagon Trail where he jumped the buck. Nothing happening.

Oct 17 AM...I hunted the RR one more time. Nothing happening still.

Oct 17 PM...I hunted BP the big excitement was a twig snap about 6:30pm. Nothing happening.

Tailcam showed usage of areas with the return of Tebone and Freakazoid. Both of these are excellent bucks. Blade is still around but not a regular as he used to be. All does seen have had spotted fawns with the exception of the one on the creek which had another one with it but was not identified. I'll post pictures of Tebone and Freakazoid tonight.

[Professor T]

Oct 21 PM...Got busted. I got on the RR stand at 3:40pm because of the moon under foot. There was no early feeding in the area. With about 5 minutes left to shoot , Little Big Man came out and started feeding at 13 yards. Easy shot but I was waiting for his buddy. He was a NO SHOW again. So now I had to wait until LBM left. About 20 minutes later I could hear nothing going on nor could I see anything. I started coming down. BUSTED!

[Professor T]

Oct 24 SIL hunted RR saw nothing. Saw 3 deer on way out. Guest hunted South Fork and saw nothing.

Oct 25 pm SIL hunted RR saw 2 does, 5 unidentified deer and LBM fed right under stand. Did not bust him. Shot at big doe...miss. I hunted Buck Point. Shot rabbit early with the bow. Last year that was my big kill, I hope it's not the same story this year.

Oct 26 am I hunted South Fork. About 7:30am I saw a buck coming from the X-over in my direction. He stopped about 45 yards out and stayed for 3 minutes and turned around and went back where he came from. This was a real good buck. I could not see the tines because he was either walking straight to me or straight away. He had about 20" beams and held 4 1/2 to 5" circ all the way out. Short brow tines. 15-16" spread. Really dark rack.

Oct 26 pm...I hunted the Loan Oak stand in hopes of getting a doe on the food plot. 6pm 1 doe and 1 fawn on south end. 6:15pm 1 spike came out of RR trail and passed at 35 yards. Out of my range even if I wanted to shoot. He walked towards the doe and fawn who by that time had another spike with them. The 2 spikes butted heads for awhile and the fawn joined in with them. They wondered off, came back and left again. 6:30pm saw a good buck on the T-Plot. I called to it and it heard me. Didn't seemed to interested so I got aggressive with the doe in can call. It turned and stared my direction for awhile then wondered off towards the creek. He was a light colored racked 8pt (I believe) about 3.5 year old. 12" spread. When coming back to the camp I jumped a big deer that I could have shot off the porch of the camp.

Oct 27 am...I hunted South Fork. Saw nothing
Oct 27 pm...I hunted the RR stand. Saw nothing. On the way out saw 1 unID deer, 1 doe, 1 fawn.

Good news is that Blade has returned after 2 weeks absence. Several new bucks were caught on film but nothing really big.

[Professor T]

Oct 28 am...I hunted SF saw nothing
Oct 28 pm...I hunted RR saw nothing

Oct 29 am & pm...Youth Day...Kids hunted West Plot and East Plot saw nothing

Oct 30 am & pm...Youth Day...Kids hunted West Plot (am only), East Plot and Crows Foot saw nothing.
Oct 30 pm...I hunted a new stand on the T-Plot saw nothing.

There is very little growing on the plots I hope this rain tonight will help. I'm going to spread some oats on the plot when I go back Wednesday if the plots are moist. We had a drought before the hurricanes and got no rain from Katrina and only a little from Rita and not a drop since.

[Professor T]

Nov 2 pm I hunted the T-Plot. Saw 1 doe with 2 spotted fawns. Later a young buck came out near the stand, looked like LBM but could not make positive ID. Let it walk.

Nov 3 am...T-Plot. Saw nothing.
Nov 3 pm...T-Plot. 1 - 5 point (LBM). No shot opportunity but would have let him walk again.

Nov 4 am...SF. Saw nothing
Nov 4 pm...T-Plot. Saw nothing.

Nov 6 pm...T-Plot. Saw nothing. HOT!!!
Nov 7 am...SF. Saw nothing.

Daughter is having a baby today. Hunting back on hold.

[Professor T]

I've been hunting hard, too busy to check in. I'll catch up later with all the posts.

I saw a big one yesterday evening for about 20 minutes. The decision was to get off the stand and stalk him or hope and pray that he left the plot coming my way. I hoped and prayed but he left the other way. It wouldn't have been that long of a shot (120 yards) but I had some trash in between us. If he comes out this evening I'll be on a different stand. He's a 7 pt. and I have a couple of pictures of him that I'll post later.

[Professor T]

I shot a doe yesterday evening and heard her crash. Looked for a long time but couldn't find her. I'm going back now to see if I can find her. Pray that I find her.

Thanks,
Don

Well, I never found her. Checked my ML out and it is sighted in good. Man, I hate that. I know she's dead but that cut over is thick. I could walk right next to her and miss her. I got permission to go look next door but without a drop of blood to be found all I had to go on was what I heard after the shot.

[Professor T]

Nov 8...New deer hunter born. I have another grandson, healthy and already has his camoflage.

Nov 9 PM...I hunted the T-plot. Saw 1 doe with a fawn. With a couple of minutes of shooting light left "Little Big Man" a 5 pt. came right under the stand. He stayed there until 7:00pm eating corn. I took pictures of him with the flash camera but he still wouldn't leave. Finally after having everything ready to let it down from the stand I threw my water bottle near him to make him leave. He ran about 20 yards stayed and looked around. "What the heck was that?", he must have thought. Then he finally walked off. I saw 2 fawns on the West Plot while leaving.

Nov 10 AM...I hunted SF. About 6:15 am Little Big
Man made a retrn visit. 26 yards, let him walk again. He was spooked by a much larger 5 point that I though was a spike. By this time I was ready to shoot something and convinced myself that he was a cull buck. Not really on because he was a yearling, but I was ready to kill something. (For a first bow kill we are allowed to shoot any legal deer.) My bow was laying across my legs so I raised it about an inch slowly and he saw it. I let him calm down and this time got it in position for the shot before he noticed me again. I let him calm down again. I tried to draw the bow and got about an inch back when he had enough movement from me. Gone with the wind. That night in the same spot he showed up for some more corn. The first picture of him looks like he's flying. Front legs 2" off the ground and back legs about 6'. I'll insert the picture later.
Nov 10 PM...Hunted West Plot. Saw nothing.

Nov 11 AM...Hunted the Little Woods East. Saw niothing.
Nov 11 DAY...Hunted the LWE from 10:45 am until dark. Saw 1 small deer but not in range.

Archery Only Season ended.

[Professor T]

Muzzle Loader Season:
Nov 12 AM...I hunted BP, saw nothing. SIL hunted T-Plot and passed on shooting a short spike.

Nov 15 PM...Hunted T-Plot. A large 7 point fed on the West Plot at about 120 yards. There was a doe and fawn feeding near him. The shot that I would have had was through some tree tops so I tried to call him which didn't work. I also thought about trying to get down off my stand and stalk him but prayed and hoped he would leave the plot my way instead...He didn't.

Nov 16 AM...Hunted SF, saw nothing
Nov 16 PM...Hunted West Plot, south end. Saw 1 doe with big non-spotted fawn. Shot her with ML. Looked for a long time and again the next morning. Lost her.

Nov 17 PM...Hunted T-Plot. 1 fawn on West Plot. 1 deer got scared by cardinals flushing. The same fawn (I guess) was on the west plot when I was leaving.

Nov 18 AM...Late morning hunt at the WOWOWO, which translates to 3 white oak trees. Saw nothing
Nov 18 PM...Box Stand on East Plot. I saw 2 short spikes. Let them walk.

End of ML Season.

[Professor T]

Rifle Season:
Nov 19 AM...Hunted T-Plot, saw nothing. Friend hunted East Plot and saw nothing.
Nov 19 PM...Hunted T-Plot, saw nothing. Friend hunted SF and saw nothing.

Nov 20 AM...Hunted T-Plot. Shot rabbit with bow. I figured that if a deer came out I could take it with my rifle. Well, out came "Jumpy" that real skiddish 5 pt that I couldn't draw on during bow season and "Little Big Man" (5 pt). Jumpy went to West Plot and LBM came under my stand for some more corn. He looked at the rabbit with the arrow sticking out of it, then up in the tree I was in, back at the rabbit, back up the tree...rabbit....tree. He must have told himself that, "The last time I was here a water bottle fell out the sky. Now there are arrows falling and killing rabbits. I got to get out of here!" He ran about 10 yards then walked out following where Jumpy had gone.

That makes 6 times I let LBM walk. On # 9 opportunity his chances will be over. I won't shoot him with a gun though. I'll have to have the bow with me at the time. I usually do.

[Professor T]

My brother killed an 8 point that he estimates about 90 B&C near Roxie, MS yesterday. 150 lbs. and 12" spread. He was with anopther 8 point a little smaller. After shooting the first the second one stayed on the plot. He also killed a coyote this weekend.