Online
Whitetail Bowhunts -
Bowhunts
and on the spot pictures -- by Robert Hoague
| Sponsors
of 2006 Whitetail Bowhunts
| Bowhunting.net Annual Bowhunt |
| Wade
Nolan Writers Camp Hunt - October | Wade
Nolan Writers Camp Hunt - November |
Bowhunting Deer
At Home - 2006
HOME
PAGE For All 2006 Deerhunts
DECEMBER 2006
Dec 31
I hunted Secret Stand #7
and at 8:00 saw deer legs through the trees, walking uphill in my direction.
This is a stand I haven't hunted this year and when I raised my bow to
be ready I bonked my bow on an overhead limb that didn't used to be there.
The buck flagged and went downhill -- with a wide rack shinning in the
morning sun. I am not far from the river and had heard wild turkeys since
daybreak. Their sounds got louder and soon I saw a small group of wild
turkeys coming up the same hill. This looked like a chance to get a hen
for Larry Reese to make me a hen decoy for the 2007 turkey season. But
they went around the tree in front of me.
In ten more minutes I spotted
a larger group of wild turkeys coming. I drew in advance of them stepping
out of the trees. But one picked the motion up and switched directions.
I gave it a few more minutes and got down before I scared all the game
off.
I needed to make some major
changes at this area and drove to the Ridge and got the Double Bull there
and moved it to ol' #7 and set up so I could get into that hillside action.
Robbie saw does from the
ground blind at Alex's Road again but couldn't get a shot. He had to go
hime and I hunted at #7. Two groups of wild turkeys worked through the
area but out of bow range.
Dec 30
Cool and overcast at the
Point this morning. A small doe and the smallest forky in the world walked
right where I want the big deer to go. But I didn't want them. Two other
does came through to my left abut 60 yards away. Then at 10:15 I noticed
a doe coming from the direction of the river. It went into the woods across
from me. I stayed put until 12:30.
My long time hunting buddy
Robbie Cramer is dow and he hunted Alex's Road and saw 1 doe. After a quick
lunch we set up a ground blind 45 yards from the Alex's Road stand. That
afternoon he hunted there and saw two groups of does within range but couldn't
get a shot. I hunted the December Tree scrape area. The scrape has dried
up but I saw 3 bucks: familiar ones, the Son of the Freak, Broken Horn
and one of the 9 points who now has a broken brow tine. They are going
to be impressive bucks in future years.
Dec 29
Seven hours in the blind.
A spike buck and a sixer started the day with me watching them. Later at
the Point a big bodied buck walked up beside the blind and stood watching
the area ahead. I could see him in a small slit I fixed in the Matrix window.
He was so close all I could only see the bases of his antlers. When he
left he went the way he came. After he left I opened the slit a little
wider. Later a doe walked through and I saw her because of the slit. She
was 15 yards and some twigs obstructed her. Before I left I adjusted the
Matrix window so I now have a shooting slot. Then I pruned a few limbs.
Dec 28 - Where'd They Go?
Eight hours in the blind
today and no deer or wild turkeys anywhere.
Dec 27 - Back At The Point
 
Pictures on the (L) CamTrakker
and (R) BuckEye Cam
Another day at the Point.
Plus a review of the photo highlights and some thinking about what to do
next. GO...
Dec 26 - A New Big Buck At The Point
 
Another nice buck, a little
wind damage to the blind, CamTrakker pics and the morning and afternoon
hunts. GO...
Dec 24 - A New Bomber ... Close
Behind the doe 12 yards
away I saw a big bodied buck walk out of the trees. HOLY COW! What a rack.
Heavy. Very wide. And coming closer GO...
Dec 23 - CamTrakker Finds A Bomber
My eyes surely bugged out
of my head when I checked the CamTrakker at the Point. GO...
Dec 23 - Wide-8 is back
 
Over 200 infrared pictures
of deer greeted me before the morning hunt. Is the dry spell over? GO...
What To Do Now?
 
Yesterday (L) the CamTrakker
found a new buck and the BuckEye Cam had a tale to tell.
Dec 22 - Suddenly,
every place I hunt I don't see anything. Even my cameras haven't been taking
pictures. But last night they came though and now I'm trying to figure
where to hunt next. GO...
Dec
20 - Three does came to my food plot on this morning's hunt.
This Afternoon the
drizzle stopped and I left for the Last Barn at 2:30. Deer like to move
after a rain and maybe I'll be in the right place to see Wide 8 or the
Big Boy 10. four does: two together and two solos came through the area
at a distance. No bucks.
Dec 19 - As I rubbed
the sleep out of my eyes at 5:15am I heard rain outside. When I poked my
head out of the front door it definitely was raining too hard. Rain can
make a tracking job a nightmare and I didn't want one. The afternoon hunt
went kaput because my wife had car trouble.
Dry Spell Over?
Dec 18 - This morning
was eventless. But I hunted at Alex's Road this afternoon and saw
12 does walk by within 10-17 yards. This stand needs a little branch trimming
if I'm ever gonna get an arrow out of it. I'll get that done tomorrow and
maybe I can fill a doe tag here.
Dry Spell
I was really pumped about
the possibility of seeing Wide 8 soon. But the weather changed from cold
to the 70's and the deer stopped moving. No pictures on either of my game
cameras at the Hay Barn, the Food Plot, the Point or at a scrape I found
and put the CamTrakker on.
Back Again
Hunting the Last Hay Barn
pays off again as Wide 8 returns. GO...
Plus, giving credit where it is due.
GO...
Bryant Gets His
First Buck
When I saw him at camp he
smiled and said, "Wanna take pictures of my buck?" GO...
Finding Wide-8
A buck walked into and across
a small opening 50 yards from me. I recognized him, it was the Wide-8 buck.
And he was moving east. East is good, cause I'm east. GO...
A Bold Move
Time to make changes, quick
changes! GO...
First Hunt In
The Last Hay Barn
All
the sign led to the deserted tin barn. With no close trees and not enough
cover for the blind it occurred to me, why not put the blind in the old
barn. Woops! First Hunt In The Barn...
Following Big Boy 10 With Pictures
 
Big Boy 10 again. And
the Last Barn hunt
In Part 3: Big Boy 10
Pics - We discover a travel route Big Boy 10 is using now. GO...
Part 4: - Fast scouting
with the wireless camera leads to Wide 8 and the Last Hay Barn. GO...
Finding The Last Hay Barn
How 3 High Tech items helped
me find Big Boy 10 and Wide 8. TO Part
1 and Part 2
The Duck Is Down
Donald
Duck and his son Robbie came down Friday afternoon to hunt for the weekend.
GO...
Bow Set Up For
Deer In 2006
Every time a group of bowhunters
go on a hunt the topic will turn to their bow and setups. Here is mine
for 2006. GO...
Dec 10 - Sunday
Morning: Robbie
hunted Myron's corner. He had a huge buck walk by within touching distance
of his Double Bull blind but it was not shooting light yet. Later he had
a 7-point hang out in the area. Meanwhile the Duck and I took the morning
off from hunting and drank coffee and visited until Robbie came in. Then
they loaded up their gear and went back home. That afternoon I zipped.
Dec 9 - Saturday
Morning: Robbie
went to Myron's corner. He saw a 8-point within range but passed. He also
saw 3 does and 5 unidentified deer. The Duck slept in. I hunted the
Point and zipped again.
Afternoon: The Duck
and Robbie zipped. I saw an 8-point. It was a nice afternoon, alternating
between overcast and sunny, in the mid 40's. When the sun dropped into
the trees the temperature dropped like a sledge hammer and iced us all
up.
The
Duck cooked up a heck of good batch of chicken fried venison steaks tonight.
Good stuff.
Dec 8 - The Duck Is Down
9:00 The Duck (Don Beckwith)
and his son Robbie came down on Friday before noon-time. Robbie was in
his horse pasture stand by 1:00. The Duck went to the old dry tank. The
temperature shot down below freezing and they both came out at sunset.
I hunted the ridge above the river. All 3 of us zipped
Dec 7 - Morning
9:00 came and I hung in.
Suddenly a buck came up from behind me and walked by the right side of
the ground blind. I had the camera in my hand and quickly took its pic.
A few steps more and I aimed
to take another one and he turned straight away. Oh, oh. wide antlers.
I set down the camera and got my BowTech and teetered between shoot and
wait. And while I teetered the buck made up my mind and walked out of bow
range.
Dec 6 - Morning
The deer are back! And they
came to my poor froze up food plot and chowed down. So some of the winter
seeds in the mix are still working.
AFTERNOON: I went
to the ridge above the river again when I was almost to the blind I jumped
a big flock of wild turkeys and they did the bad thing and hit the sky.
But later I heard them fly up.
Dec 4 & 5
Monday morning Robert Cramer
saw a bomber with a doe at T.E's Folley stand. Wide with heavy beams and
tines. I saw a sixer.
Afternoon: Turkeys
came through but not close to me. I heard them fly up. This morning was
really cold and I zipped. The afternoon was another zip.
Dec 3 - Afternoon:
Robert at Paul's Corner
I hunted a new, secret stand
and saw one buck. Robbie had to return home after lunch. Robert stayed
to hunt this afternoon and tomorrow. He had good luck.
 The
sun shown brightly on the Eastman ground blind's mesh and Robert Cramer
had trouble seeing through it until 4:30 when the sun finally got off to
a side angle.
Soon 3 does and a button
buck came into view from the left. The button buck was dashing around
erratically as the does walked into bow range. Robert drew on a doe
and the button buck darted in the way and Robert let down his draw. Then
the button buck darted over to the blind and and looked at it. Robert watched
him through the mesh, he was 3 yards away.
Small birds were in the area
and making noise in the leaves under the tree where the blind was set up.
The bird's noise made the deer jittery and every time the birds rustled
leaves the deer looked toward them nervously.
Finally the deer got used
to the bird sounds and they walked in front of the blind. One worked its
way into the shooting lane and turned quartering away. And stopped.
Robert drew for the second
time and put the top pin on the big doe, and then he moved his face away
from the bowstring to check that his arrow would go through the mesh and
not hit the blind. It was ok.
Robert looked through the
peep and found the spot. The arrow hit entered the left side going forward
and went out the right front shoulder and fell on the ground.
The deer ran 25 yards and
they all stopped. The shot doe stepped behind a tree and the others looked
her way for a moment and then only the 2 does and the button buck ran away.
Robert's watch read 4:45.
Fifteen minutes later got out of the bind and checked his arrow. It looked
good. He took two steps in the direction the doe ran and saw his doe laying
by a small tree.
Then Robert went for his
truck and drove as close as he could and loaded the doe. This was Robert's
2nd deer with the bow and the first one completely alone.
Robert Cramer with his
December 3 doe.
December 3, Morning
A cold below freezing morning.
I zipped. At the Point Robbie Cramer saw a 9-point as well as 4 other bucks
and 3 does. His son Robert saw 5 does at Alex's road. Neither bowhunter
took a shot.
December
2, Afternoon
Robbie hunted Alex's road
and 6 does walked by on the opposite side of the road. A buck was dogging
them. Robert Cramer hunted the Hammer Hole and nothing showed up.
I went to the ridge above
the river. At 4:45 a flock of wild turkeys came walking down the main trail
on the ridge. One had a nice beard.
Look at this! A bearded
hen. I zoomed in to get the bearded hen on the left and the gobbler on
the right in the same picture and realized that both of them were hens.
I thought you might enjoy the picture.
Half an hour later wild
turkeys started flying up along the river. They talked it up briefly and
then shut up. I waited a few minutes longer than usual so it would be dark
enough that the wild turkey could not see me leave. The full moon was in
the sky as I walked to my truck.
We ate at Storms in Hamilton.
Good stuff.
December 2,
Morning - A Fighter and a Doe
Robbie Cramer went to Paul's
Corner. Robert Cramer went to the Point. Robbie saw one doe. Robert saw
15 does and two bucks. He was ready to shoot a doe 8 yards away but it
turned with its butt toward Robert.
Meanwhile, I hunted the food
plot main blind. Early, a doe walked out of the far woods and walked right
by me and continued in the direction of Paul's Corner. The temperature
was 32 today but I didn't wear enough warm clothing. The light wind blew
right in my viewing and shooting window and it was much colder.
At 7:15 I felt like a layer
of ice was everywhere but my feet. I began thinking I wasn't gonna see
anything anyway and ought to go back to the house and warm up by the fireplace.
I kept trying not to think that but the thought persisted. At 7:30, from
the top of my Wolverine boots up I was one solid block of ice.
Each minute it got harder
to stay with the hunt. At 7:38 a doe came out of the woods on the the hill.
I walked up and checked
things out before browsing around the food plot.
At 7:51 I saw a buck in
the woods to my left -- 85 yards away. He looked interested in the doe.
The buck started walking
closer. I checked the doe and it had not seen the buck yet.
It was the broken hour buck.
He stopped at the edge of my food plot. That part of the food plot didn't
handle the recent frost and it dried up. The doe still didn't see the buck.
He stepped into the sunlight
and gave me a cool pic.
He walks up behind the doe
and she sees him for the first time.
The doe scoots to the other
side of the tree as the buck approaches her. Check the look on the does
face.
The doe stepped clear of
the tree and looked at the buck. Broken Horn watches.
Take a quick look
at Broken Horn. He is a for sure fighter. (You may remember the earlier
pictures when he was sparing with another 8-point.) Now he is darker and
his neck has filled out. But look at the gouge in front on his hip, a healed
gash on his back leg, another gouge behind the front leg, and additional
gouges on his neck and face.
Here you can see the fighter
from the front. His face has several marks from antler pokes. His antlers
are are scraped and chipped in places and the right main beam is broken
off at the first point. His left ear is drooping. I looked at it with my
Nikons and there is dried blood inside the ear.
The doe seemed interested
but the fighter turned and walked away.
And walked up the hill to
the woods.
With the doe walking along
behind him.
A super morning. Let's see
what happens this afternoon.
2006
Deer Hunt Sponsors
 To
The Home Page For This Bowhunt
|
