The most recent posts are at the top of this column.
Looking around after the season is over always helps me put a few more of the pieces in the deerhunting puzzle. It's as much a part of the hunt as the hunting season. I started scouting the first weekend in February.
| How
Do You Identify An Active Rutting Area? You and I are checking a real
Core Rutting Area that is being used right now, this November of 1999.
Here are digital pics to show you what the hottest kind of Rutting area
looks like.
Part 1: The Area Part 2: The Sure Fire Rut Sign Part 3: The Rut Heats Up Part 4: Setting Up to Hunt |
The
'99 BOW-DEER SEASON IN PROGRESS:
 The
Rut Heats Up, What's That Look Like? Let's go into a Core Rutting Area.
Plus, digital pics that show what this happening Rutting area looks like.
Bow/Deer
Season - 1999
Here are my logs for the 1999 bow deer season from October to the Present 
Here's
the logs for:
Wells Creek
Bowhunt |
(7:02pm) Brian Pullam, today the acorns started falling from the trees in my front yard. So far this afternoon (from my office window) I've seen 11 does, 3 small bucks and an 8-point that'll set your knees to knocking. Get practicing dude.
(2:02pm) Rick, coming back from lunch at the Red Barn I saw another big 10 point. Three bucks ran across the road in front of me and stopped to check me out. I checked back, and got a good look at the 10-point at 70 yards in the binoculars. This buck is young, but his antlers are in the 20's wide with 5 to 6 inch tines. The other bucks bucks were yearling forkys.
(1:00am) The week before bow season starts I like to lay low. If you've checked in on this digital accounting of the years preparation for bow/deer season you know I've been scouting off and on all year -- but particularly the prior 6 weeks. Those weeks are the ones when I am hopeful that I can locate some mature bucks. This year I was in luck. The catch 22 is that any day now the bucks will bust out of their buddy groups and will no longer have a reliable pattern. And the mature bucks, like the three I've seen lately, will break out of their groups first. So I figure if I stay out of their hangout this week and don't pressure the area, it increases my chances that they will still be in the Deer City & Hammer Hole Doorway area the first week of the season
Wednesday, three days before Bow Season 1999:
I have some cool things lined up for this year's season. Some Bowhunting.Net folks as well as old friends will be down to bowhunt. I'm putting the wraps on the dates and details and will post it here in the next couple of days.
Monday, five days before Bow Season 1999:
Donald Duck came down and we checked stands and then went into town for nylon cord to replace the pull up strings that are rotten, got several XL boxes of baking soda to kill scent, and other supplies. The fire ants are brutal this year and are in all the oak trees so I bought several bottles of Permanone spray, which runs them off, and the scent doesn't bother the deer. John A showed up around 4:00 and we helped him set up his tripod in a new place.
Scouting For Deer '99: (Sept 24)
The little country town I live 5 miles from has one restaurant, the Red Barn. At lunch time it is a local gathering place of, well, the locals. Today our main topic of conversation was the bomber bucks that the ranchers on my road are seeing right now. Everyone is very excited about them and we had a swell time comparing and describing the different bucks we have seen lately.
Scouting For Deer '99: (Sept 23)
Today I picked up the Buckshot35 I set up at Deer City. There were 18 pictures. Something has messed with the unit and had twisted it around the tree about 45 degrees. It's a good thing it has a strong protective housing. I'll send the film off tomorrow and we'll see what we have.
Scouting For Deer '99: (Sept 21)
Today I took a quick look around one of the areas I see the deer use at the Deer City clearing when they come and go. There were three different heavily traveled trails so I picked the middle one and set up the Buckshot35 to watch it. As soon as I can, in the morning, I'll check it and see how many pics it took. I've got my fingers crossed that one of the 3 bombers will stroll through the Infrared beam.
Scouting For Deer '99: (Sept 20)
Zano, catch this, I saw another bomber in Deer City. Didn't get there until the last half hour of light and 10 deer were working the opposite edge of the clearing, 120 yards away. I spotted a big rack that I assumed to be either the 8 or 10-point and anxiously took a zoom pic of him (not enough light for it to show anything but deer silhouettes). The flash came on because of the low light and that attracted the deer's attention to my position. I took another pic and a doe started to move off. Quickly I focused my binoculars on the 8. Surprise!! This buck had lots of points, 10 or 12 tines, I couldn't tell for sure because he started walking into the brush His tines were shorter that the 8 and the 10 I've been seeing; but he was a beaut, besides, when their rack looks good from over 100 yards away, it is good. I can't wait 'til bow season.
Scouting For Deer '99: (Sept 19)
Today
the deer were moving early in the afternoon, from 5:00 on I saw deer regularly.
I lost the count but it was about 4 dozen and 6 were bucks, young sixes
& eights. All the deer are loosing their red color and their darker
gray coats are taking over. Two of the bucks were still in velvet. After
watching deer for an hour and a half I slipped back to the Hammer Hole,
but nothing happened there. Here's a pic of a doe that saw me trying
to take her picture today.
Scouting For Deer '99: (Sept 17)
My bud John came down yesterday (Thursday) to set up for bow season. At 6:45pm we drove to the "buck" spot and watched the area. This place is Deer City, 19 deer came through. When the 4 bucks showed last the light was fading fast. I took 3 digital pics of the big 8-point anyway. Afterward I plugged the camera into my computer and sure enough, they are too dark to see anything. Today I am in the office, where our servers are. I'm hoping I can get out of here in time to catch him again. As long as he keeps coming I'll keep trying and I'll get his pic.
Scouting For Deer '99: (Sept 15)
Late afternoon I borrowed a telephoto digital camera from Misty the county wildlife biologist and on the way home stopped to check yesterdays "buck" spot. I took the camera's Manual out of the box to see how the telephoto works, and when I checked the camera its batteries were to low for it to operate. I decided to leave. Bingo, a buck walked into the dirt road ahead and looked at me. It was the goofy horned young one from yesterday. There was movement in the brush to his right. Three more bucks! The 2 young ones from yesterday and the big eight. I locked my binoculars on him. His G2 times are long, 10 to 12 inches in length and the others are in the 5 to 8 range and he has good mass. A 120 class player. A nice buck for our area. They wandered through slowly. The light faded and when they left I left. Right now the batteries are in the charger. If they return tomorrow I'll do my best to get some pics of them so you can see what's up.
Scouting For Deer '99: (Sept 14) The last hour of daylight yesterday I glassing the area where I saw the large 10 point. Is this ever a hot spot. A young eight and a buck with a normal 4 point antler on the right and a small fork on the left locked horns and shoved each other around for half an hour. A larger eight showed and walked around them. They all 3 left but soon the two young bucks returned and crossed the clearing. Then a mature, big bodied, heavy beamed 8-pointer appeared and licked and face marked branches at the edge of the clearing. He also made several scrapes. In all I saw 7 bucks, only one was in velvet, and 2 does with fawns.
Scouting for Deer, 1999: (Sept 12)
The Live Oak's are dropping acorns. Yesterday was the first day I've seen any acorns on the ground. There are acorns on the White and Red Oaks too, but it seems like only about 20% of the trees have an acorn crop. Deer sure love to eat acorns. Did ya ever eat one? The red and live oak ones taste, ahh, kinda stout. But the white oak's is tolerable.
Scouting for Deer, 1999: (Sept 11)
Donald Duck, remember 15 years ago when we saw the huge buck in Alex's Road that jumped the fence and stopped to watch us. I saw the mirror image of it today, but only 10 points. He was just down from my house. When I saw it I slammed on the brakes and grabbed my binoculars. As the truck skidded to a stop I focused on him. What a fine Texas buck! Wide, heavy, 10 inch tines or better. It made my day.
Scouting for Deer, 1999:
Mike Kern, (Sept 9) was an important day. I saw a 6-point and his velvet was gone. There was no blood on his antlers so it came loose a couple of days ago, (or more). As we know, once the velvet goes the bucks undergo a biological change and they start thinking about, well, the grrrl deer. The 1999 adventure is beginning ...
Scouting for Deer, 1999 (August 1099)
(Aug 10) Yesterday afternoon I checked my Buckshot35 game camera to see if it had any pictures. I set it up after Saturday's wild hog hunt, a short ways from the new Whitetail bedding area I located (new to me, not to the deer). I call this area the Doorway. The camera took 26 pics! Yes! Today I'm mailing the film to Seattle Filmworks and they should have them online on their web site in 4-5 days so I can copy them and then you and I can see if there is anything happening in the Doorway. In the meantime we'll try to get some pics from the other routes that leave the Bedding Area.
Scouting for Deer, 1999 (June 1099)
(Rick, John, Doug, check this out. Here's a couple of pictures of bucks at the Hammer Hole !!!) One of the cool things is that, while I am Wild Hog hunting, I am also scouting for deer. This year I am using the Buckshot35 game camera. As you know it took a few pics of hogs and deer. Well, the 2nd Batch Is All Deer. :-) The upcoming season looks to be shaping up real well.
These are Buckshot35 pics from wild hog hunting, but there are a couple of deer pics as well as a deer scouting question for you that you can answer based on the picture of the deer.
Scouting
for Deer, 1999 (June 10)
Today
I watched a 4 buck buddy group. They were all the same body size and each
was sporting a beginning velvet rack. Nature definitely does not treat
them equally, 2 were spikes (but they could branch any day), 1 was a basket
rack, and the 4th had a nice 8 point rack in progress.
Scouting
for Deer, 1999 (June 7)
Major
bedding areas surround our property on all three sides of the Back 200.
For years I've believed that deer do not bed regularly on our place. The
last few days I did some major scouting and discovered I am dead wrong,
we have a big bedding area. Because of all the new growth it has been impossible
to walk out trails, they were too grown over. But now they are easily distinguishable.
I
started walking out the crossings on the West fence line (which borders
2,000 acres belonging to a big turkey farm -- that is not hunted). All
the trails I followed go to a big bedding area I never knew existed. I
am going to take the digital camera and I invite you to go with me as I
scout more.
February
28, 1999
Friday
night I drove around the the fields on the deer lease. There were a lot
of deer out. Surprisingly, several bucks still had their antlers. The White
Stringhead Buck was out (you might remember him from last deer season)
he has a huge wad of white bailing cord wrapped in his tines.
February
10, 1999
December
Tree Area - After The Season
The
tree took a beating this year. Under the December Tree I could see
the smoothed out remains of a 4 foot scrape and a couple of smaller ones.
The poor tree looks like it was shredded, the limbs are so broken and tore
up. Both bucks and does lick, mark, and break the trees branches over the
scrapes and they were sure hard at it this year. The tree trunk always
gets rubbed up and, now, bark is stripped away nearly all the way around
the tree. And the tree is now listing about 20 degrees toward the clearing
(instead of standing straight up). All the broken and chewed limbs are
brown. The tree is sure a sad looking site right now. Every year it looks
worse for wear, but so far it has always rebounded and been ready for action
by rutting time. It's looked pretty bad previously, but it has never been
leaning before. I'm wondering if it can recover this year.
I have 3 treestands on the hill above the scrapes, so I have that approach route covered. Previously I had a tripod below the scrapes in the thicket. But the sun was always in my face and shined me up too much, so I took it out and decided I'd look for a spot further in the thicket or else on the defunct farm road. The deer have made two tunnels through the briars and brush and, right now, it is easy to see and not too difficult to walk them out (this is impossible to do from the Spring on, it is just too grown up).
Bingo, I found a tree, a straight one even, that is between the road and the tunnel, It will work perfectly. With a minimum of trimming I will be able to shoot the road and tunnel. I'll get set up here soon--before it greens out and briars start growing again.
Here's
the scoop and layout of the December Tree Area.
This
is a core rutting area that rutting bucks and does use every year. The
center of activity is a 14-inch circumference Cedar Tree (that I call December
Tree) at the edge of a 20 yard opening. An old, forgotten, and very grown
up farm road crosses the clearing and separates a wooded hill from a dense
thicket. This area is part of the long finger of woods that turns into
the Rock Ledge area. That entire finger is thick woods and is bordered
by farm fields of oats, winter wheat or milo, and on the other side of
the crops, the Leon River. Deer love this place, it has great cover and
food and water are only a few steps away.
February
7, 1999
One
More Piece Falls Into Place At The Rolled Wire
Next
year I will be able to hunt the property across my West fence, which is
adjacent to my Rolled Wire stand area. It is a very thick place and a slam
dunk bedding area. On the North side it has a continuation of the same
Rock Ledge that runs through my land as well as the deer lease. This ledge
borders the farm crops that are planted along the river. As we looked around
we saw about 20 deer in different areas of the property.
Never having walked through the property I had judged it to be mostly cedars. So it was a pleasant surprise to find a lot of oak trees that were big enough to support a treestand.
There are several rocky drop offs that the landowner claims are the hang outs of three very large bucks. I found one 40 yard dry tank that I'm sure holds water when it rains. There were numerous active deer trails running through the thick areas, walked right down to the dirt.
At the edge of an opening near a rocky drop off we spotted a rub on a tree that measured 19-inches around. That's a respectable rub anywhere. It was a cedar and it was rubbed all the way around the tree.
Because, during the season, I had seen several does hang around in the rolled wire area for extended periods of time, I was sure there were scrapes somewhere close and I looked hard for them. About 65 yards straight in from the Rolled Wire I located a sizable Core Rutting area. It is very close to where I an already hunting. The core scrape area is on the edge of a very small clearing. Several trails pass through the clearing. There are several scrapes, buggared branches everywhere, and some rubs. This was a hot area during the rut. (Just like Arnold, I'll be back.)
In the afternoon Robbie and I hunted the stands at Hammer Hole. No wild hogs showed. I took my camera to take pictures of deer, but none came close enough.
February
6, 1999
Wild
Hog Sign At the Hammer Hole
Robbie
came down to help me scout, take some stands down, etc.. We started scouting
at the Back 200 and walked the fence line from the hill below the windmill
to the North corner and then over to the West corner. Then I cut in the
woods 30 yards and walked back, and then back again, each time a little
further in.
Near the stand site I call Hammer Hole I found a fresh crossing that Wild Hogs were using. This is cool news. We can hunt hogs year round. They have been South and East of us for years, but this is the first year that our area has had them. They are coming under the fence at Hammer Hole. The ground is smooth and the rounded toes of the tracks show them to be made by hogs. I already have a Tripod in some thick brush on the Hammer Hole trail. We put up a stand in the Scaffold Tree so two people can hunt the area.
New
Core Rutting Area Located
The
West end of our property butts up against a large turkey farm operation.
The farm is about 1,000 acres and has not been hunted in 3 years. Everyone
that has access to this place reports seeing huge bucks. I think that the
larger bucks we see cross onto our property come from there.
But, over the years, I have sat within view of almost all of the fence crossings on this back fence and have rarely seen any deer come through the fence, but I have seen a couple of big bucks. I checked our area thoroughly and found a small clearing that was part of a very active rutting activity this year. The edge of the clearing has several scrapes, broken branches, as well as a lot of rubs. The major scrape is a 4-footer. I marked the area and will return and set up there later in the year.
1998 Season: Here are the field notes (logs) that I posted on bowhunting.net daily during my 1998 Deer Season. They consist of the Texas Archery season in October, the Texas Regular Season November &December (during which we can bowhunt, and I do), plus a one week bowhunt at Hunting Unlimited in Brown County, IL.
Back To Where You Were
At Bowhunting.Net
1999 Bowhunts
- Deerhunting (in progress)
- Wild Hog Hunting
-
Here are the logs for:
Wells
Creek Bowhunt
August 18: I went on a Deer Spotlight Survey with our area's Texas Parks & Wildlife Biologist and, believe me, the deer population is not just a wild guess. Deer Spotlight Survey.
August 10: Making sense of the Rolled Wire area with a Terraserver map. It's a deer hotspot, but why? The satellite map (it is free) tells all. Scouting With Your Map. Here are the other recent updates:
- Scouting the Rolled Wire
- Setting Up To Bowhunt at the Rolled Wire & the 3rd Fence
- Get A Map of your hunting place
Scouting With Your Map (we scout the Rolled Wire)
1998 Bowhunts
1998 Spring Bear Hunt
1998Deerhunt
Index
1998
October Logs
1998
November Logs
1998
December Logs