This has been one of the driest years in KY for decades. We have had about 1.5" of rain since July 1. That's about 10" below normal. The effects are obvious in many places. We'll see what the hunting grounds look like.
I've got 2 farms that I will be hunting this year. One is in Henry County and one in Trimble, that's how I will designate them.
The Henry Co. farm consists of 500 acres of Kentucky River bottomland.
It has some nice bucks and good numbers of deer. It is rotated between
beans and corn with a few plots of tobacco. I'd guess 350 acres are
tillable. Three main fields make up the farm. One is right
on the road and will be called the "Road Field". It usually draws
plenty of deer from neighboring farms that aren't tilled. It also
has a tall ridge overloooking it that is real thick and serves as the primary
bedding are for the deer. The main tract of land is broken up into
2 main fields by a creek that drains into the river. The creek serves
as a natural conduit for deer and also as a major bedding area. The
creek is also dammed by some beavers so there is a large slough that draws
all types of wildlife. I call one field the "Middle Field" and
the other one the "Back 40". I have 3 stands so far on this property.
One on the "Road Field" in the corner where most deer enter the field.
It is called the "Corner Stand". One in the creek near the beaver
pond called "Bo's Home" after a big deer that lives in there. And
one in the creek called the "Cowskull Stand" because there's a cow skull
on the same point.
The Trimble county farm is basically a creek bottom w/ high ridges on the side I can hunt. There are tobacco fields up top and hardwoods all around. I killed a 7 point here last year. The deer basically flow from the bedding areas on the ridges down to the creek and some of the hardwood areas or up to the tops and eat in some of the pastures and especially later in the greenfields. It's about 350 acres mostly wooded with several large pastures. Cattle run the joint on about half. I have one stand on this farm in a hollow amongst some hardwoods. A nice trail runs along the hollow and another crosses on the ridge. I'm pretty close to the intersection.
August 27
Scouting Henry with Emmy. Talked to farmer who said he has plenty of deer this year. He's planted all beans and a little tobacco. They're tearing up his beans. Saw a doe first thing about 50 yards into the Road Field. Sat at the barn until dark and saw about 15 deer in the field. They're all coming into the field by the Corner Stand. Almost hit a doe and fawn on the road out. Had to stop to let them pass. Fawn still in spots.
September 6
Scouting Henry and hanging corner stand. Beans are looking pretty rough. Deer have them mowed real good in the corner like in 1997. Lots of dropping and tracks. DRY, DRY, DRY! Bucks hanging out near middle of field. Might have to think up a ground blind scheme. Hung stand and got out. Went to the Middle Field and Back 40. Plenty of sign. Beaver pond dried up but still holding plenty of water. Lots of tracks around it. Looks like Bo made it! Big tracks in his core area. Gunhunter's stand still up???! Scouted up to field and then scoped the area. Saw a doe and buck near west end of Back 40. Snuck up near road and had 4 bucks and the doe in field. They sparred a little and 8 point chased the 4s and 6 away. A 4 and doe walked w/i 30 yards of me trying to figure out what this new lump in the field was. Had a great wind and they never spooked. Very cool. I snuck away after they got down into the dip in the field. Saw a skunk with the deer also. Had Cujo try to eat the car on the way out. Too bad I have to mess with him again :-) Saw 6 deer in someone's lawn on the way out.
September 11
Scouting Trimble. First time I'd been here since turkey season. It's DRY. No water in the creek and pastures are dry. Walked up the first hollow past Big Field and got up on top to see how the pond was. Well it wasn't. No water at all on the whole place as far as I could tell. (Kenny said there was some in the deep pool where we killed deer last year). The woods are bone dry. Stalked a couple squirrels on the way up. No shots. Saw 2 bucks eating acorns near the pond, a 4 and a 6. Tried to shoot a squirrel up in a tree on the way down. He just laughed at me. All I did was lose an arrow. Found one though! Spooked a turkey on the way up. Spooked 3 deer (does?) on the way back through right near my stand. Bleated to them and they stuck around. Owl hooted, dove called, mooed and acted like a fool. They giggled a little and took off. The nuts look OK. A little small but plentiful. That's gonna be good for me in my stand.
Saturday, September 18
Hunted Henry Co. today. One of the best hunting days of my life! Had a great 8 pt come into me at 9 am. 2
more steps and he would have been shot. As it was he saw me since he was only 12 feet away and I was on
the ground behind a very small tree! He never did really ID me but he knew something was uncool. 20
minutes later a doe comes down the same trail and I'm getting ready to make a move when her brother, a
decent 6, sees me. They both hung around w/i 15 yards for 10 minutes trying to figure out what I was. Had a
4 and a doe run by being chased by a dog at my midday siesta. Met up w/ Kenny for the evening. went to
our stands. Around 7, 2 fawns show up w/i 15 yards and hang out for about a half hour. I almost shot but one
of them still had SPOTS! I just couldn't do it. About 10 min. to dark, 8 deer get out to the field. The 3rd one
in line is a HUGE buck. 10 pt w/ lots of mass. The biggest deer I've ever seen. They were too far off and it
was too dark but I'll be back tomorrow. Kenny made some strange whistling noises a few minutes after dark
and somehow got me to follow him up the hill to help him dress his doe but I'll let him tell you that story!
Congrats BUD!
Here's Kenny's story:
"As John said, I scored about 7:20pm Saturday evening. Had a small doe
right behind my stand for better than
an hour. She
was so close I could here her crunching the acorns! I was on the edge of
an open power line
and thick woods.
The two that went to John came directly under my tree. A little later a
good doe came out
to my left.
A downhill shot that I misjudged or she jumped string. A little of both
I think. Knew it was a clean
miss. The doe
behind me never left. Then a bigger doe came out with a couple of smaller
ones behind her.
Had to swivel
in my stand and shoot uphill. She was quartering away at 15-16 yards. Got
a pass through and
watched her
run uphill into the woods. In less than 30 seconds she was down. When I
went to trail her, I
could not find
blood. She bled pretty good where she fell, but nothing from where I hit
her to there. It was a
good shot, just
a tad high from where she squatted when I released. Took out liver and
part of lung. Still
haven't figured
out why she didn't bleed better. Anyway, had 10 or 12 total around me.
Some I couldn't see
but heard in
the woods. The doe went 110-115 lbs. Thanks for the help John. It sure
made the drag alot easier! Good luck to everyone! Kenny
Sunday, September 19
Hunted Henry again Sun. night. Trying to get to the big guy I saw Sat.
night. There're a few trails that come
into the bean
field from the ridge so I cut out a ground blind near the one they came
out on Saturday. The
wind turned
out to be bad so I moved across the trail and felt real good about it.
Should have a 10 yard shot
on anything
that comes out. About 7:40, a 6 point comes down the trail and I got my
bow up. I'm using a
selfbow so I
couldn't draw right away. He steps into my shooting lane and busts me when
I try to draw.
Spooks a little
back on the trail and hangs out for a few minutes but couldn't ID me. He
tried going downwind
but couldn't
because he would have had to go into the field. He eventually wanders off.
Around 8:00 another
buck comes down
the ridge on a different trail about 20 yards away. That's my limit w/
the selfbow. He gets to
the last bit
of brush and hangs, checking out the field. I never got a good look at
his horns but he was bigger
than the 6 that
came in earlier. He eventually either sees me or smells my other blind
'cause he never gave
me the shot
and spooked back into the woods. Nothing else moving except the damn mosquitoes
and a owl
that swooped
in to check me out. All in all a fun but frustrating weekend. This hunting
from the ground w/ a
stick and string
is TOUGH! Friday is the next day I get to hunt. I think I'll sit
in Kenny's stand :-)
Friday, September 24
I had a little problem Friday night. I have vowed to hunt only
with my selfbows so that I can
concentrate on accomplishing a personal goal of taking a deer with
a bow I made.
Friday night
I'm in my treestand and have several deer in the woods behind me feeding
on acorns. I had
numerous 15-20
yard shots into the woods but have vowed to only take 15 yards and under
perfectly
broadside and
clear shots. I don't want to take any chances. So after 2 hours of deer
crunching away
on the acorns
w/i 20 yards, I finally have one come out of the woods. I knew this was
going to happen
because they
feed at night in a bean field that forces them to walk past me in the clear
area. Well this
deer walks out
10 yards away and stands perfectly broadside in the open. I remind myself
to come to
anchor, pick
a spot and draw. Everything felt perfect but the unthinkable happens. For
some reason, I
miss. And I
missed in the bad way. The arrow completely penetrates his neck better
than 10 inches
from my "spot".
I didn't get a complete passthrough but I have arrow on both sides of him.
He lets out a
bleat and dashes
back the way he came.
Now what? It
was too high for a carotid or esophagus hit and obviously the spine wasn't
hit so I'm
pretty sure
of a muscle only hit. Not good! I take up the trail pretty quick and find
my busted arrow
right away.
Fletch half only, no broadhead. I find a spot of blood 40 yards down the
trail and another at
70 yards. Single
drops. I don't have permission to get deer on the adjacent property so
I do a quick grid
search from
the last blood and decide to come back in the morning after talking to
the owner. It was a
terrible night.
I return in the
morning after getting permission and go back to the last blood. I find
where he bedded
down. 3 small
drops of blood. This is not good. I trail him down the hill and find another
place where he
laid down. 1
drop of blood. That's it. No more blood anywhere. I spend the rest of the
time gridding the
area searching
every bed and there are at least 100 of them. Nothing. I spooked deer 3
times and found
their beds.
Nothing. I'm sick!
So here I am,
faced with a situation that is new to me. I've run out of options. It's
almost 3 pm and 90
degrees. I've
done all that I can. I give it up.
I'm pretty sure the deer will live but that doesn't make me feel much
better. I consider myself an ethical hunter and as such make getting
clean kills a priority. There was nothing clean about this night.
I am sick about it.
Friday Oct. 1, a.m
Hunted the beaver pond stand. This was my first day back on this side
of the farm. I was eagerly awaiting the big guy I saw opening morning
but it wasn't to be. Nothing showed all morning but some squirrels.
Had fun watching the ducks. Had a couple beautiful wood ducks swim
right up to the bank near my stand. Took my accuracy frustrations
from last weekend out on an old lightbulb that had floated up from the
river. Nailed it and had a satisfying pop at 17 yards. Now
why couldn't I have done that last Friday on the deer? :-(
Saturday Oct. 2, p.m.
Hunted Kenny's stand again. Had cows visiting me all night long.
The deer never showed until after dark when several were munching on acorns.
I finally climbed down, pulled my stand, made plent of noise and they never
spooked until I walked away. They couldn't have been 20 yards away
from me and I had my light on the whole time. Go figure. Several
deer were in the field even though it has been harvested. The farmer
left an acre or so of beans to the deer. That should bring them in
for a while yet. I walked w/i 20 yards of one doe shining my light
on her the whole time. I'm not sure what she thought I was.
I probably won't get to hunt for a couple weeks. October 15 is my
next best bet.
Wednesday Oct. 20
OK, so I went out last night. It was to be a quick hunt and I had to hurry to get my stand set up. So I
get there about 5:30...last light is 7:30. I had to get to my tree, set up the stand, and get it all quiet before
they start moving through (I was shooting for 6:00). So I get everything loaded onto my back, get up the
hill, put up the strap on steps, set the stand and make sure it is secure. It's 5:52 so I'm thinking
great...perfect timing. I tie my pullup rope onto my belt buckle and the other end to my quiver and then
look for my bow...and look...and look...and then realize that something was missing on the way in...MY
BOW! I left the damn thing back on top of my car. I just had to laugh. So here I am...crunch
time...with a decision, run back to the car, get the bow, get back to the stand and climb up...about a 20
minute proposition. Or I could hunt another stand I had set up on the field, not likely since they weren't
even hitting the field 'til well after dark. Or I could pull the stand and hunt from the ground. I chose the
latter. Pulled the stand and got the bow (I discovered another advantage to Dean's sunburst finish, it
virtually glows while sitting on top of a car in bright sunlight from across a soybean field, hehehehe). I
got back to the area I hung my sand and did a little rattling and grunting to cover the sounds of clearing
a blind. I had a doe come in right at last light but blew a stalk when a nut fell and she looked up at me in
midstep. All in all a fun night :-)
Friday October 29 and Saturday October 30
Hunting was pretty much a bust. Friday morning I hung my stand in the spot where I saw the deer opening morning. Nothing showed except a raccoon, some ducks, and about 20 squirrels. After I got down I shot at one of the squirrels from 20 yards and missed. He runs TOWARDS me and I get another shot at 5 yards and missed, he runs a little farther and I get another shot at 10 yards and missed. Hows that for boosting your confidence? :-) Had an interesting thing happen on the way back to my car. I'd talked to a guy earlier that is a cousin of the farmer's wife and he said he was hunting this week w/ his two sons on the farm. He said as he walked in he saw 2 fawn does standing by my car. As I was walking out, they spooked from down near the beaver pond. They ran up into the bean field and stood there about 100 yards from me. I gave them a grunt and they actually came into me to about 30 yards. Here I am standing in the middle of a field and these deer think I'm their momma or something. Anyways, one of them has some sort of growth about as big as a basketball hanging down from her chest betweeen her front legs. She had a very tough time running. I think I could have caught her but didn't feel the need. It was pretty wierd. I don't know what it was. But the interesting thing was I had another deer from the opposite direction coming into my grunting also. I went ahead and set up for it but it never showed.
Spent the rest of the morning checking out a new spot in the hollow
on the east side of the farm. Looked pretty good so I hung my stand
neer a trail that exits the field. Got in Saturday morning and had
a deer right under my stand. I stalked nearly to it but s/he busted
me. Saw 6 does that the guy and his two sons spooked. They
never got close. Rehung my stand for the evening down in the hollow
near the only scrape I found. Nothing showed but about 50 squirrels.
I didn't shoot at any of them! I think most of the deer have vacated
the farm since the beans are gone. Might be time to switch farms.
Friday November 5
Well I switched farms and it turned out to be a good decision. Gun season starts on the 13th of November and since I am deerless, I'm planning on filling my tags with the shotgun. So I went to the Trimble County farm to set up for it. The rut is just getting going hard so I got in right at first light planning to set up my stand and maybe hunt some. I pulled out the compound for this hunt. I saw a deer about halfway through the large field up on the bench in the ridge and spent about an hour trying to persuade it to come in. It didn't so I moved up to the trail and followed it around to the spot I was planning on setting up the stand. I had tied on a scent drag hoping to get lucky on a trolling buck. I got to the point I wanted and found a great spot in a cedar tree overlooking several large white oaks at the intersection of two main trails. It was a beautiful setup. It took some major limb cutting in the cedar but I got it done about 9:45. I was going to stay until 11:00.
About 10:15 a large doe starts up the hill right into my setup. She got on the trail I walked in and starting sniffing pretty hard. I think the scent drag made her a little nervous. She stopped about 4 feet from my shooting lane and then turned around. She did show me that I needed better shooting lanes so I sat on my treestand platform and lassoed a tree that was in the way. I cut several branches to clear that lane. I now had a great lane just in front of the stand right to the trail I walked in on.
About 30 minutes later I was planning to get down since it was blowing pretty hard when I spotted another large doe walking the same trail. She started to turn the same way the other had gone but decided that she needed to check the oak tree for newly dropped nuts. She walked right into my setup right into the lane I had just cleared. GREAT! I drew back on her and my arrow fell off the string. I was sitting down so I caught it without it making a noise. I got it back on the string as she stood 10 yards away. She was head on but turned just as I got back and I grunted to stop her and hit my spot. It was perfect and I could see her stagger as she fell at the end of a short dash just 60 yards away. I could hear her for a second longer and all was quiet. I was sure she was down. I took a compass heading on where she fell and took some time to gather my thoughts and relive her trail. I saw my arrow had passed through and stuck in the ground just past where she stood for the shot. Everything was just right. I got down at 11:00, ten minutes after the shot, and tried to call my wife but the phone wouldn't work. I had hoped to get Kenny to help me drag her but it looked like I was going alone. I walked her trail for a while and couldn't find any blood for 20 yards or so. I still couldn't see her down and was kinda anxious to get to where she fell but I gave her about 20 more minutes and slowly walked that way. I saw her right away...down for good! Then the work started. She was a HUGE DOE. I had double-lunged her and slipped past all the ribs. She died in about 7 seconds. I had about a mile and a quarter drag through the pasture. About halfway through I hear a deer coming down the ridge and spotted a small buck rubbing a tree. He was rutting hard and never saw me standing in the middle of the field dragging the doe. He walked most of the way across the pasture about 40 yards away from me. I might have taken the shot if I had my release handy but just decided to watch the show. He gets just past halfway and hit my scent stream. He stopped and jerked back like he had stepped in something. He still never even looked at me. He ran to the woods edge and stood like a statue just 60 yards away until I finally decided to resume my drag. Only then did he spook. COOL! What a great day the Lord has blessed me with!!!!!
Here's her picture. She dressed at 120 pounds so live weight was around 150. A big doe. Her teeth showed her to be 3.5 years old. She had a lot of fat on her and netted 50 pounds of boneless meat for me and my family. I had the tenderloins that night after processing her.
Sunday November 14th
Went out yesterday morning to Trimble County. Sat the same stand I killed
the doe from last week. Saw
nothing moving
on its own. Very few shots heard also. Had a doe run past me right at 11:00
at 40 yards. Got her to
slow down enough
to take a shot w/ the shotgun but hurried and didn't get the sights levelled
off and shot
over her. Got
to see a couple turkeys and had one leave the roost about 50 yards above
me and glide over
200 yards down
to a field.
I don't think
they were moving well yesterday which really surprised me. I might have
to take a couple
mornings off
this week now that it's cooled off some.
Friday November 19th
Went out to Trimble again today with the shotgun. Hunted the bedding
area above where I missed the doe on Sunday. Had a doe charge in
to me at 9:00. She stopped at 20 yards but I hurried the shot and
ended up hitting a tree. I proceeded to walk the trail and 10 minutes
later had an 8 point come in to me obviously trailing a doe. I basically
had to yell a "grunt" to get him to stop. I took the shot at 40 yards
and missed. He didn't flinch! I chambered another shell and
missed again! He still didn't flinch. Got another shell in
(my last one) and tried to get another shot off as he resumed trailing
the doe. Ended up hitting another tree. How embarrassing!
Guess buck fever gets to everyone at times :-) I had another deer
come in to 15 yards 5 minutes later but she busted me as I tried to raise
the gun. What a wild and wonderfully exhausting morning! Wish
I had some venison to show for it but then I'd be tagged out...hehehehe!
Sunday November 21st
Hunted Trimble again this time with a scoped 30.06 since I can't hit
anything with the shotgun :-) I saw absolutely zilch all morning.
I did get to see a flock of turkeys on the way out.
Sunday December 19th
KY has an extra weekend of gun hunting this year. Given my performance during the regular season I'm not sure why I wanted to torture myself but I did. Hunted the same ridge...had 3 deer come in to me at 8:15, missed one at 20 yards...same old story. I'm gonna give up gun hunting. Give me a bow any day :-)
Sunday January 9th
See James' First Hunt for the story on this day's hunt
Monday January 17th
Last day of the season. A.M. hunt at Bobby's. COLD! Took #3, my osage selfbow. Mostly just walked around to stay warm :-) Saw a flock of turkeys in the river bottom field. Found tons of turkey sign. I'll have to secure permission to hunt them this spring. Had a great time stump shooting. I really like this bow! Thanks for watching my season with me! See ya next year!
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