Whitetail
University Writers Camp #1 - 2007
Arrival
Day - Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4
| Dream Woods Adventures |
| Dave
Parker & P.J. Reilly | Bear Archery
| 2007 Deerhunt Sponsors |
Day
4
Afternoon Hunt: P.J.
Reilly hunted near a pond. He saw 7 does, a 4-pointer and 6-pointer passing
by him going to the pond.
Morning Hunt:
Dave Parker hunted a wooded
travel corridor between a freshly cut corn field and a bedding area. At
the crack of daylight Dave glassed some dark movement. It was a raccoon
80 yards away in the woods. Ten minutes later it was at the base of Dave's
tree looking up at him. Dave tried to spit on it but missed a few inches.
Like a lightning bolt the raccoon climbed the tree. In an instant the raccoon
and Dave were even and Dave kicked at it -- but missed. The raccoon jammed
on the brakes and raced back down the tree and disappeared in the
woods. And that was it for Dave this morning.
P.J. Reilly hunted the same
travel corridor that Dave was in, but on the opposite end. A 4 pointer
walked by at 15 yards at 8:00.
I hunted in a 15 yard circle
of woods surrounded by a recently cut corn field and was knee deep in deer
action in half an hour. Here is the view where most of the deer were. The
wood line across the corn field is 105 yards from my treestand.
A spike and two does eased
into the edge of the corn field. If you look close (near the middle) you
can see the strap of a treestand on the thick tree. That's good info for
future hunts.
A young buck with short
tines walked by in the cut corn.
A group of does walked across
the field toward my hide out spot.
On my right the edge of
the corn field and beginning of a strip of woods is 30 yards away. The
first doe leads the other between me and spot.
The other deer followed.
And across the field I count
5 different bucks searching for corn remnants. Here are a couple of them.
Does come by me again in
the less than 30 yard slot.
Across the corn field more
deer, both bucks and does, entered the field and spread out in their search
for the pieces of corn cobs left over after combining. This particular
field was combined last week so there are still a lot left.
More deer move my way.
They does take the same
route the others did. I'm definitely in a good spot. I just need a buck
or two to come this way.
Time passed. A group of
16 does come through my funnel The sun gets a little lower and when some
more does walk by me they stop and stare into the woods and then turn around
and leave.
In the shadows I see a buck
and take its picture. It's 30 yards away and has a heavy and very high
rack with 10 points. But I am busy trying to get a pic of what I see across
the field.
You probably can't tell
it from the picture below, the buck is 157 yards away, but this is a dandy
buck with a heavy rack with high tines and nice with.
I switched to the video
camera and managed to get some video of this buck. After he got to the
other bucks there were five in all. And the buck above slowly worked this
way along, getting closer and closer to me. My pin lost its color as the
sunlight faded. By the time the buck got to me he was just a shadow.
While I waited for Dave Parker
to walk over to me after his hunt I scrolled though the camera's pictures
at stopped at buck that had been in range. When I showed Doug Doty the
picture after the hunt he recognized the high 10-point buck as one he had
been scouting.
I saw a lot of deer this
afternoon. At least 40. And there were a bunch of bucks of all kinds, from
spikes to mature big boys. What a great place to hunt and I've got to hand
it to Doug Doty, he knows where to place the treestands where the deer
travel.
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