Bowhunting
With Crabby 2000 - the Ohio Rut
The
Digital Log Of A Bowhunt With Dennis Crabtree - by Robert Hoague
| Day
1 | Day 2 | Day 3 |
Day
4 | Day 5 | Action Pics
at Scrape City | Day 6 |
DAY #6, Monday,
Ohio 2000 Deerhunt
Our groups total deer sightings today:
61 Deer, 14 bucks.
MORNING HUNT
Dennis - Pine
Tree stand
7:15 a spike came behind Dennis and went towards
Scrape City. 7:45 a longhead doe and 2 fawns walked right under the stand
and went toward the planted pines. 8:15 a 6-point came from the planted
pines and picked up the doe's scent trail and followed it. 8:30 a doe and
fawn came around the hill and went toward the planted pines. Five minutes
later a single fawn came on the trail of the doe. 8:46 a longbeard wild
turkey came into the area. They were eating acorns. A buck came from the
direction of Scrape City and walked to the turkeys and circled them at
15 yards. He lost interest and went to the planted pines. The longhead
doe came out of the pines and went towards Scrape City. Three other does
came on her trail. 9:40 as Dennis tied his rattling horns to his backpack
a doe and a fawn came from Scrape City direction.
The Duck - Deep
Woods stand
Four does and an 8-point came by the Duck's stand.
He still has a doe tag left but the does wouldn't get in the right place.
Robert - Scrape
City
It was a rockin' day. I saw 26 does and 7 different
bucks. Two does came down the hill and skirted the chase zone. A lone doe
came out of the planted pines and went to the scrape. She rubbed the branches
with her face and pawed the scrape and urinated in it.
While the doe was working the scrape I saw deer shadows coming down
the old road bed. There were 4 does and they walked toward the scrape.
The 4 does fanned out around the scrape, the other doe noticed them but
stayed right in the middle of the scrape. The biggest doe (longhead) charged
the doe. It backed away the promptly ran it off up hill.
Ol' longhead worked the scrape and the other 3 started walking slowly
... toward me. I have a doe tag and want to fill it so I needed to put
the camera down and get my bow, but I couldn't help myself, the scene I
was looking at was just too cool, I took one more picture.
I love this picture.
It makes my bowhunting heart speed up the pace. Just in case it does the
same to you I made the full size version in wallpaper sizes so you can
get the full effect. 640x480,
800x600,
1024x768.
I let the camera hang loose around my neck and got my bow in position
to shoot.
The doe in the lead walked by my tree on the left side, only 8 yards
away. Ol' longhead doe was last and she was much more cautious than the
other three. She was twice the distance form my tree that the does were
and she was in lots of brush. Looking ahead of the longhead I saw a clear
space when it came around a pine tree. I drew. Obligingly, Longhead stepped
into the clear and stopped ... Broadside. Perfect. I put the $100 aiming
job on her and touched the trigger on my release.
Kaa-tooonk.
That didn't sound right. Plus, I had no visual picture of my arrow striking
the doe. Longhead ran towards the planted pines and the other does changed
direction and walked after her.
I didn't think I had hit the deer but I could not see my arrow anywhere.
I needed to get down, find the arrow, and check it to be certain that I
had a missed or not.
No such luck. Two bucks ran a doe right by me. Three does came down
the hill and walked right by me and smelled the ground where the other
does had been. More deer came, Scrape City got very busy. And several shooting
opportunities walked right up.
But, as certain I was that I had missed and hit something else,
I couldn't shoot another doe without knowing that was a certainty. I took
a picture of one of the last does and as I watched it walk off I noticed
something I had not seen before.
A gash in a limb five feet from me, my arrow had hit this limb. My
eye followed past the broken wood and settled on the florescent pink fleatching
of my arrow -- ten feet up the pine tree the longhead doe was standing
in front of. I chuckled to myself. At least, now, I knew for sure that
I missed. I got down, it was time to meet Dennis and the Duck.
AFTERNOON HUNT
Dennis - afternoon
hunt (Blue Jay stand)
Dennis started doing doe bleats by random calling
every 15 minutes. 5:15 the third sequence he heard deer come into the area.
A doe and a fawn walked by and went into pines where the high rack buck
(from Saturday evening) had entered the woods with a doe.
The Duck - Deep
Woods stand
A sixer chased a doe by the Duck's stand.
Robert - Scrape
City
Afternoon hunts at Scrape City haven't been very
active. No deer came to the scrape but 3 deer chases took place in the
Chase Zone.
When I came out of the woods and put my hunting
gear in Dennis's truck. Dennis's Blue Jay stand is a long ways back in
the hills and he had more walking to do than I did. I sat down on the tail
gate and waited. Daylight and night struggled with each in the spaces between
the trees as darkness came. It was beautiful.
Dennis came out of the woods as I was taking the picture. He stopped and
looked through the trees. I started to say something about how cool the
sky looked and how neat it was that we got to see it from exactly where
we were and that we were doing what we were doing. But as Dennis stood
watching the skyline I could tell by the smile on his face that he understood.
So I didn't say anything.
Our hunt together was over.
About
Dennis Crabtree (Crabby)
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