So, a long off season as usual. Couldn’t quite wait to get back hunting but this fall has been a busy one. First, Forest and I spent 10 days in the mountains of Idaho hunting elk. Forest had a tag, I went along to slow him down. He’s like a gazelle. We saw and heard elk nearly every day, called in one 5×5 bull, saw a giant bull at close range, but ultimately we didn’t even get off a shot. When it comes to elk hunting, I feel like I’m lost. Every day, during the archery whitetail season, I pretty much know exactly what my next moves are. Hunting elk I really struggle to decide what move is next. Still learning!

Next, as soon as I got home from out west, it was harvest time for the soybeans. This year, we took over the farming here at our home farm…a whopping 60 acres of tillable. But it’s something I’ve alwasy wanted to try and this seemed like the year to do it. The drought gave our beans a hard time and overall our yields were way down from what I believe their potetial were, but we still did ok for our first year. Thanks to the neighbor for letting me use all his equipment!

Then, next, I planted cover crops on the whole farm. Again, it’s only 60 acres but it still took almost 2 days of drilling to get it done. Rye and vetch covers, we’ll see how this works going into corn next year. All in all, this has been taking up my time the past few days. Amy and I hunted the opener, last night, and I sat with her tonight at the north fence jump. So far, only a small handful of does and fawns and we got skunked tonight.

That being said, let’s lay out 2022 a bit. I have 2 hunters hunting the cabin farm this year. Zach Pethan and Bo Skornicka are both from Wisconsin and they’ll be hunting from October 1st until November 19th. They’ve alreay hunted opening weekend (saw a couple baldies) but are planning to hunt weekends and a longer stint more near the end of October or November. The cabin farm, as usual, has a number of shooter mature bucks on it. I hadn’t checked cameras there for a bit, but Zach and Bo did this past Sunday. Some nice bucks showing up! They could have killed a nice 10 point opening night if we had the right wind, but only east winds opening weekend. Most years, one or twn big bucks show up a little later in October or November, but so far it’s looking pretty good. Here are some of those bucks.

Amy and I will be hunting the home farm this year as well as a few other farms we have permission to hunt. We have our favorite stands like the north and south ditch crossings, a new stand we are calling Danger Zone, and some others we are pretty confindent will produce some good hunting. Because we took over the farming, it actually made it a little easier to leave some crops this year. We left maybe 1/2 acre of beans standing, and I also planted a test plot of corn that turned our well that is about 1 1/2 acres in size. Those grain plots will get better as the season draws on. This time of year, a nice green plot or some good alfalfa to hunt over (or in the area to pattern movement) makes for the best early season hunting. Unfortunately, here at home, we are in a severe drought. I was able to plant some green plots in late August that caught a small rain…germinated…then they all died with the heat and parched earth. I replanted with some rye and those are barely hanging on. Established alfalfa fields in the area look great, but we don’t have any of those to hunt over. So, for now, we might just have to buy some time until more crops come off, maybe we pick up some rain for our green plots, or deer begin to eat more grains. None of those is true right now.

Also, Amy and I decided on two different things this year. First, because we will both be hunting and hunting hard, we have to do better keeping pressure off the deer. One thing we’ll be doing more of is observation sitting. One thing less of is checking cameras. We have 7 cameras out at home and on our permission farms and have only checked one in the past month. We know there will be big bucks around, and we are confident that we know how to hunt them. We just don’t want to be going in checking cameras. In fact, some of our best cameras trap areas we don’t even have cameras this year because we felt it might be too intrusive. So, you’ll likely see less game camera pics form our end. At least for now. Oh wait, we have 8 cameras out? We do have 2 cell cameras out in areas we don’t hunt that are more right in the middle of deer bedding/high cover areas that we plan to just leave all season to see what happens. So far nothing much to talk about. One of those is in a thick patch of cover I think Ranger might hang out in each fall as the hunting pressure around here increases….we’ll see?

Ok, that’s it for now. I will not be doing daily updates this year simply because we probably won’t hunt every day like we usually do to keep pressure down and because I will be helping the neighbor with his harvest too shortly. Look for an update every other day maybe and probably the next day of each hunt if I don’t have time at night. One last thing, nephew Brady will also be in camp later this month and into November. This will be his first Iowa hunt so we’ll see how that goes.

Good luck hunters! Stay tuned. Keep checking back! I’ll try to add some commentary in coming posts about the awful state of the hunting industry, You Tube and TV hunting stars, and other rants.

10/6

Sat the south ditch crossing tonight with Amy. This is a great spot, probably one of our best but right now the deer are still spread out, mostly on green food, and that’s not what this stand really has to offer. It is a much better spot when bucks are moving better toward the end of October and into November. But with a heavy north wind, it is also a great spot to hunt with superb access and I don’t know that we’ve ever been busted on stand there with a good north wind. We also don’t have a camera in there. It is one of the spots we’ve decided to not put a camera this year, instead relying on past experience with the stand. The mock scrape in the area was hit but was not impressive. And, it did look like deer were using both the ditch crossing and the fence jump…both in range of the stand.

I love hunting night like tonight with strong winds that don’t drop off completely at quitting time. In my opinion, that’s the best wind to have; consistent from one direction and not dying down. Unfortunately we only saw one small buck. Tomorrow, looks like very strong winds out of the NW. I’m sure we’ll be hunting just not sure where yet? I thought tonight we would have seen more deer just because this spot is so bullet proof, but an honest look would tell you that there is really no compelling reason for deer to be traveling through that area with purpose quite yet. There will be, but not yet.

10/07

Tonight Amy and I double tag teamed up on a huge buck we’ve been hunting the past couple years called Ranger. We are confident we know where his core bedding area is, but he has picked a spot that makes it very difficult if not impossible to get close to his bedding. To be honest, we are not entirely sure he is still alive, but a buck this big our thought is if he was killed by a hunter last year we would have heard about it. We aren’t running any cameras any place even close to where we hunted tonight which is basically two brushy draws leading south out of his bedding area. Both draws lead into standing corn this year which based on past years is his favorite fall food source. With a perfect north wind, which is what we had tonight, we can hunt both draws at the same time upping our odds that one of us will get a shot. We’ve seen him many times use this area in the past, only never this early. Our thought this year is to be more aggressive since the past couple years being more passive hasn’t worked.

If being aggressive pushes this big buck out of his core bedding, we have another backup plan…we think we know where he’ll go next which would actually be easier to hunt him. That part of the equation is more of a long shot…maybe an educated hunch, but hey we are going for it this year. Again, not knowing he’s even alive, we set up double on him tonight and only saw a couple does and fawns. We’ll be back in there, no doubt!

10/08 I was able to hunt an observation blind overlooking almost our entire home farm, and part of my neighbor’s farm to the north. My goal was to just see what kind of movement was out there, what deer were feeding on, maybe pick up a long range buck sighting.

In front of me was about 1.4 acres of standing corn food plot, some beans I left standing, a mock scrape just in front of the stand along with a fence opening I cut in. Along two side of the corn I planted some greens that are just starting to grow because of the drought. Throughout the evening, I saw does and fawns feed out into the cut beans, along the edges of the corn, and some came right past the stand. So, that blind I would think is situated in the right spot. I have no doubt in a few weeks when bucks are moving a bit better on something other than a bed to feed pattern, that blind could pay off.

The hunters from Wisconsin hunting the cabin farm drove down as well. One hunter sat a fence jump and saw some does and fawns. Bo sat a spot I call the Boot setting up on a buck I call Inside 10. Bo and Zach are getting consistent picks of Inside 10 in the evening, and with the right wind, Bo set up for him. A handful of does and fawns came into the transition plot in the evening with some smaller bucks, and then sure enough Inside 10 came in. He offered a 20 yard broadside shot and unfortunately Bo hit the buck high. We went to look for the buck the next morning (10/09) but nothing was found. We couldn’t even find a spec of blood. Sucks to not find him but based on Bo’s observations of the buck running off, no blood, no beds, etc. we are convinced the buck was hit high and not mortally hit. So, we’ll just have to see if he shows back up. I think he will.

This happens to the best shots out there. These high hits are the most common “bad” shots put on deer in my opinion. In this case, Bo didn’t take a poor shot, or take a long shot, or a bad angle. It was just one of those things that results in a high hit. Please take a look at an article I wrote several years ago that addresses these high hits. Click HERE

10/09 Tonight Amy and I both sat a neighbor’s farm. We had two good stands that set up for today’s west wind so we decided to split up and hunt these spots while also observing what would come out to picked corn at that farm. We both saw a fair amount of does and fawns at a distance and had some in close. I did see our first good buck of the year come out a draw about 200 yards from me at quitting time. It was too dark and too far to make out exactly what buck it might be, but I could tell it was a big deer with a big rack. We were both able to get down and out without bumping deer when it got dark.

We have rain in the forecast Tuesday 10/11 and Wednesday 10/12. I’m looking forward to it. It might help along some of my green plots a bit as well as germinate the cover crops I have planted here at home. I feel like hunting will be getting better and better as we go here!

10/10 We took off because we installed a patio door for a neighbor. I know…during hunting season?

10/11 I sat with Amy in a new elevated blind along a fence line at home. Along the fence line, I cut an opening creating a fence crossing, plus there is a mock scrape there, plus some standing corn. Our hope was that we could again do some observation from that spot and possibly shoot a doe. We did see some does and fawns and almost got a shot at a doe toward quitting time. That’s it.

10/12 Tonight we split up. Amy went after Ranger and only saw a spike buck. She almost got blown out of the stand it was so windy tonight.

I picked a stand in a small woodlot on a neighboring farm. It is not a new farm but it is my first time in that spot this year. The spot, and that farm, generally get better and better as the season wears on but I wanted to check that stand out. The heavy west winds made for a great entry in. As expected, some of the shooting lanes had grown over. I’ll have to get back in there with a pole saw the next time I go in.

On 10/11, I took the mid day to brush in two different stands that so far we are saving for later in the season. Again, these are not stands that are typically good this time of year. Both are located downwind of great bedding. We both feel so far this season that we have not been into deer. We know why (not having a preferred food source to hunt or in our area that we can take advantage of) and because we are purposely being a little cautious so that we can maximize our time in the field while not burning out our hunting spots. It’s all good.

10/13 Sat the neighbor’s farm with a heavy west wind tonight. I saw a doe and fawn early, then at quitting saw a pretty 2.5 year old 8 point come out and eat in corn stubble.

10/14 Heavy west winds today so far. I’m writing this post mid day as I’ve just got back from cutting those lanes I talked about the other day. Also, our cell cameras (I have 2) are starting to pick up more deer and a couple bucks we haven’t had yet on camera. This was expected. As crops come off, heavy frosts stunt alfalfa hay in the area, deer are predictably starting to shift like they always do to a more fall habitat type settings. Heavier cover, possibly more grain food sources. My two cell cameras are not by tree stands but rather in places I don’t want to ever have to go pull cards, and just to see if what we had been predicting every year was to come true. So far, we went from only a couple pics a week all September to now several or more every day.

Sometimes, it’s the little things or attention to little details that can be the difference between a story ending in I almost got a shot but those branches…and getting a shot at a big deer. In season clearing of a shooting lane on a windy day…brushing in a stand or two with cedars on a windy day…they all add up to increasing the odds of making it all happen. The odds of me killing a buck in this exact shooting lane are probably not that high. But, the odds of my killing a buck in a stand I slightly moved to get closer to movement, or a stand I brushed in, or a stand like this one I cleared a couple branches in, is actually very high. Taken individually, probably not. But taken as a whole, my odds are very high that one little detail will make the difference. Of course, doing this work at the right time like during a rain or very windy day makes all the difference too.

10/14 Sat the home farm tonight. I was able to check a camera at the blind we sat and a couple good bucks were on it, all at dark so far. We did see 9 does, 13 fawns, and one little buck that thought our farm was his tonight pretty much chasing anything he could lay his eyes on. Amy would have shot a doe had one come in close enough, but the closest doe was 40+ yards away. I feel like the past couple days deer have really started to shift to more fall bedding and cover like they do every year, and our cell cameras have really lit up the past couple days with movement.

10/15 I sat the north ditch crossing tonight with Amy. Was hoping she would get a shot at a doe or maybe even a buck. We did see 7 does and fawns, and like last night, nothing came in range. Close, but not close enough. There is a camera at that stand that we can check while getting in to the stand, and we never have to go out past the stand to check it. In other words, we cross a cow pasture fence on the back side of the stand, the cameras is located pretty much at the stand, and any deer we see there are typically out in front of the stand using that ditch crossing. Kind of the perfect set up for both the stand and the camera. The last time we sat there was the 4th. We did pick up what we think is another nice buck.

10/16 RANT I forgot to mention, last night on stand I got a text from a good friend that had deer out in front of him and the neighbor decided to do an evening stroll out to his food plot. He bumped all the deer off, then just turned around and walked home. These things happen. But, all the deer came back pretty quick after. My friend said “All the deer came back, must be a new moon, cold front, low pressure, high barometer, snow day here with all the movement we are seeing tonight. Gotta check the app.” My response was, “and the lilacs are blooming. No wait, that’s the crappie spawn.”. In all seriousness, if you are a gadget and equipment hunter (you know, the hunter that buys all the latest stuff), which ultimately makes the makers of the gadgets and equipment more money, which allows them more access to great hunting land, which allows them to kill more big deer and thus market more useless products to make them more money to gain more access…(it’s a cycle where you part with your money to make other hunters more successful), all I can say is yeah, it’s a cycle where you part with your money to make others more successful. That’s it. That’s the goal. I can be such a smart ass about the whole thing because I used to buy into all the hype and at some level believed that those products and gadgets and methods was all I needed to kill big deer. Then I started killing big deer ONLY because I got access to property that actually had big deer and I realized that all those other things were simply just ways to get me to part with my money so that “they” could have better hunting.

Stop and think about it for a bit. You buy a gadget that (for example, this is not an actual real example only an illustration) eliminates your scent. Only, all the experts admit that it doesn’t 100% eliminate your scent, but close. Really, really close. So close that it doesn’t actually work…but all the hunters they GIVE THEM TO to promote the product swears by their FREE stuff. Sorry it’s not actually free for those hunters…no actually THEY GET PAID TO TELL YOU HOW GREAT THEY WORK. So you buy it, hell it’s only $100 and it might give you that edge you need. If, and that’s an eye roll at best, but if “they” actually had something that truly eliminated your scent, wouldn’t it be worth like $1000, hell $5000. It would right! But they don’t, so they get you to buy it because hell, it’s only $100, so you’ll give it a try. 100,000 hunters buy it at $100 each, made in China for about $5, and BAM, 100,000 hunters are now no closer to killing a big deer, but the gadget maker and their TV star hunters all get more of your money, and then get better access to more big deer. That’s how it works. Of course, it goes without saying, that there are some very limited products that can slightly help the hunter, but holy cow try to sort through all the ones that don’t! I love some things in my equipment inventory, but I don’t have much and I don’t plan on buying anything anytime soon. Equipment and gadgets don’t and never will give you access to great land or make you land great. In fact, by spending resources on the stuff that doesn’t help only draws resources away from something that could.

Today, I buy almost nothing year in and year out in the form of gadgets. My bow it 15+ years old, most of my camo and outdoor clothes is even older. And yet, today, more than any time in my life, I can say with confidence that if I want to, I’ll kill a mature buck this year. If I don’t, it will likely be because I passed a buck that was mature (or several for that matter) because I wanted to. How is this possible!!! Because simply, I spend all my time and resources making the properties I hunt the best they can be through mostly habitat work and less hunting pressure. And, because I hunt in an area with low hunting pressure and a bunch of nice bucks. And, because I have more time to hunt them. Not a single gadget anywhere in the world will ever help you be a better hunter or have more success than ACCESS, TIME, and some basic hunting skills! All the other stuff is just there to get you to part with 10 dollars today, 14.99 tomorrow, maybe 100 dollars here and there, and in the end I would argue that spending your resources on that “stuff” could actually hurt your chances. If you believe a scent elimination product works thus you cut corners even though it doesn’t, you spent money to make your hunting worse. If you bought new camo because the latest and greatest camo design blends in better than ever before, well deer don’t see camo patterns a millionth as good as they see movement. Faster bows, better broadheads, micro adjust sites, ozone generators, back tension releases (are those still a thing?), super trophy food plot seed…the list is endless. All junk! All hype! All designed and marketed for one thing only.

Stop the madness fellow hunters!

10/16 Amy and I split up again last night. She went after Ranger even though we are not sure he’s alive this year. The stand she’s been sitting in offers a chance at any deer walking down a draw into standing corn. It’s on the very edge of movement but what’s nice about it is the entry and exit is pretty good, and she’s able to see any movement into or out of the bedding area we think Ranger uses. She only saw a short glimpse of a couple bald deer.

I sat a stand that hasn’t been sat yet this year overlooking a small water source and on the south end of some pretty good bedding. It’s not a spot I would target quite yet but I do like getting to all my spots early in the season to make sure they are good, lanes still clear, no noise with the stand, etc. All was good. When I got close, some does and fawns were drinking in the pond already. I hunkered down and thankfully a small buck came in shortly after and chased everything off. That was it for me for the night.

So far, our strategy has been to check stands for future sits, sit observation stands, and sit some stand locations we feel entry and exit is very good and where we can get some hunting in without putting a ton of pressure on the deer. For example, tonight we are looking at brisk north winds. The south ditch crossing here at home is perfect for that…but Amy will likely not sit it tonight because our observations behind the house don’t show a mature buck using our property right now during daylight. It’s early, no reason to go in there quite yet.

We are getting more and more pictures every day on our cell cameras. Again, located close to bedding in an area we can’t or won’t access all season. They are there to monitor movement in those areas, and to see what’s hanging around.

I forgot to mention Bo and Zach were back at the cabin farm this past weekend. They both had good sits seeing a bunch of deer. Zach passed a really nice 10 point. It’s one of those bucks that has a really good set of antlers but just might be a little younger. Not judging by any means a hunter who wants to shoot a buck like this! But, Zach passed him up. I hope he’ll be rewarded with a giant later in his hunt.

Below is a few of the new bucks we picked up lately. Many of, or most of the pictures on these cell cams close to bedding are during the day confirming we are in close with these cameras to bedding. Our luck, the one buck has a completely broken off G2 already.

10/17 Tonight, Amy and I split up. Amy sat a ground blind at home trying to get a shot at a doe. She saw 15 does and fawns but only had one fawn in range. She was able however to watch all those deer and see where they were coming from and what they were doing, where they went. So it was a fun night and gave us a lot of intel for future hunts.

I went after Ranger, a deer we are not even sure exists. I saw 6 does and fawns and two small bucks. The stand I was in was in a perfect spot and although the deer I saw all came in range, not a single deer spooked or smelled me. A couple of the does hesitated when they crossed my entrance trail, but moved on.

Right here at home, there is still a ton of crops in the fields yet. Standing corn is the worst. The reason is because even sparse cover, like a grassy water way, becomes good cover if it’s in a standing corn field. Thus, right now, there is way more cover than normal. That spreads out the deer making it harder to pinpoint movement and making it harder to keep deer in front of you. When teh combines move in, it won’t take them long to get that corn off, but for now it’s something we’ll have to contend with.

10/18 So, today was a no hunt day. We had plans to sit a neighboring farm tonight but after talking it through, and it being Amy’s idea, we decided to instead glass tonight watching a known bedding area. We have done this before and it helps us figure out what deer are doing, where they are going, preferred food sources, etc. We can glass a long way and can see a lot of deer typically from this location. Tonight, we saw 21 does and fawns, and 9 bucks. Now, that may sound like a lot but remember we are watching a ton of ground. We did lay our eyes on one shooter buck for sure, one buck that might be a shooter, and another buck that if it was the buck we think it was, was another really big 10 point. Most of the deer, best we could tell, were headed to an alfalfa field about 1/2 mile from where we could see them. That didn’t surprise us, but it also didn’t leave us with many options just yet on how to hunt them. It was a fun night, and we got a ton of intel by taking the night off so to speak.

At mid-day today we did take advantage of some strong winds to get into a ladder stand Amy sat earlier in the season to fix the seat and to rake open the mock scrape that was in there. The licking branch on that scrape was still there from last year, but the ground below was too grown up with tall grass and weeds and the deer just weren’t using it. So an aggressive raking took care of that—they’ll be in that scrape within days.

10/19 I sat with Amy tonight behind the house in a blind we’ve sat before this season. On setup tonight, I taped up some black plastic to block off the top of 4 windows in the blind on our back side. I felt that the past couple times we sat in this blind, deer were possibly seeing our movement cross over the light on the tops of those 4 windows, so we blocked them off. We saw 4 or 5 does and fawns, all far away.

We do have a game plan of sorts to start hunting some other stands soon. We need southerly winds to hunt two stands that we feel are in decent spots to take advantage of the bed to feed pattern of all those deer we saw last night. So, the next south wind we might try one of those spots. Until then, we’ll just keep waiting on harvest to narrow down some of this movement and keep hunting fringes and edges so that we don’t put pressure on the deer. It was a beautiful night for hunting tonight. We know we are on the fringes of movement, was just hoping to catch a stray doe in range. If we were only hunting weekends let’s say, or just hunting every 5 days or something like that, we’d be more aggressive. But, we want to keep hunting every day, or almost every day, so we’ll be less aggressive.

Let’s talk a bit about hunting mornings. There’s always some discussion about hunting mornings early in the season. Back when I was a weekend only and vacation hunter, I hunted mornings all season long. Early season mornings are actually a great time of season and a great time of the day for doe harvests. Now, hunting every day, I don’t typically hunt mornings early for two reasons. First, I simply don’t have enough acreage to keep moving around and not put pressure on deer, which will prevent our hunting areas from gettting burned out, if I hunt every evening and mornings. On an evening hunt, it is pretty predictable where deer will be when going in, and fairly predictable where they’ll end up at quitting time. Plus there are strategies I use to make sure I’m not bumping deer on my entry and exit for an evening hunt. Mornings are much less predictable. Some deer may already be back in their bedding areas very early in the morning—well before I would get into a stand. Some will be on their way back, and some will stilll be near food sources. This makes early season morning hunting for me so difficult to not be putting pressure on deer. A good time to go in would be on a windy morning near bedding, this has worked pretty good for me in the past. The second reason is now that I can hunt most or almost every day, I stand the chance of getting burned out if I try to hunt mornings and evening for like 60 straight days. I call it hunter fatigue. It’s more of a mental thing and I see it all the time with hunters. Hell, you can get burned out just trying to hunt all day for just a couple weeks. I feel like I have it pretty good to be able to hunt as much as I do, so I’m not whining about being able to hunt too much. But I even see this hunter fatigue thing with my hunters. It’s hard to stay focused and not take shortcuts when you hunt hard for weeks on end all day.

I am only about a week or so away from starting to moring hunt. I might sneak in a morning hunt earlier than that if I get a windy morning. We’ll see.

10/20 and 10/21 On 10/20, I sat a neighboring farm in a stand I’ve sat 3 times now? I’m not sure. But, it is an out of the way spot where I can see a bunch of cut corn. Amy was about 400 yards to my south on the same corn field but we can’t see each other or in theory the same deer because of the rolling terrain. I saw nothing, Amy saw upwards of 20 deer. Had I gone alone, you could easily say “well it was warm out, the deer weren’t moving”. Deer always move. We need to adapt to what they need at any given point in time or for any hunt. Not only that, because I’ve sat that stand 3 times now, there has no doubt been pressure in the form of scent left behind, deer bumped while leaving (that I didn’t know about) etc. making this spot already seeing signs of being burned out. I’m ok with that. It’s not a favorite spot of mine and in putting pressure on this area which is actually harder to hunt, I in essence am “pushing” deer to other areas of that farm that are easier to hunt. This is a strategy I have used many times over the years. Anyhow, the point was that deer will move every day. If you didn’t see any you probably did something wrong or they just weren’t there. We actually anticipated this might happen, so at quitting time I got down, headed to the truck, and went over to Amy to bump the deer where she was hunting. The inside corner where she was hunting I think is a much better ambush spot.

Last night (10/21) Amy hunted a blind by herself and saw our first verified mature buck and shooter of the year while on stand. The wind toward quitting time died down to nothing and a different deer snorted closer to Amy spooking the buck which then vacated the area. It was 86 degrees when she was walking in last night. I sat an observation spot, no weapon on me, and watched for movement going from bedding to standing corn. I only saw a small handful of deer with 2 bucks total.

Bo and Zach were in camp last night and saw minimal movement with a handful of deer. This heat can get hunters down because we’ve been told over and over that deer won’t move in the heat, but it’s simply not true. They will and do. Recent radio collar deer studies show there is no correlation between deer movement and any weather pattern. So, hunt smart, but hunt.

Here is a good explainer about what factors do actually contribute to deer movement. Click HERE There is also a whole bunch of information about deer movement by the MSU deer lab that talks about GPS studies debunking the myth that deer move better after a cold front, during different moon phases, high winds, low winds, high and low barometer, etc. Here is a link to the first video in that series. Click HERE It’s very good information and coming from two sources that aren’t trying to sell you something.

10/22 Tonight I sat a new stand for this year. It is on the inside corner of a cow pasture and timber with crop fields directly to my west. Right now, the crops are standing corn. I had little confidence the stand would pay off tonight, but I’m still playing the long game. We had heavy south winds tonight so I used that to my advantage and was able to slip into this spot tonight to check out the stand. I wanted to make sure it would be ready when I wanted to use it in a week or two. I’m glad I did. I accomplished some things tonight. First, I was able to check a camera over there on my way to the new stand that gave me some good intel. Two different target bucks were all over that camera and twice came by a stand that is right there (the north ditch crossing). Second…and third, that new stand has a very loud rubbing/creak sound in it that I think can be fixed with a ratchet strap tightening it to the tree. And one of the primary shooting lanes I had cut for the stand was filled in with a broken branch that had fallen and hung up about 10 yards out from my tree. So, I successful night in that I got good intel and a new stand I’m pretty excited about would have really pissed me off had I not gone in there tonight…now I can fix those issues. I didn’t see any deer tonight, but I didn’t plan on seeing any really. This stand is more rut movement type stuff.

10/24 Bo and Zach had a pretty uneventful weekend hunting the cabin farm. I think they saw some deer but had some skunk sits as well. Amy and I had much the same the past couple days. Yesterday, we both went out early. Amy went around noon, I went out about 1 or a little after. We both hunted first time in spots for a south wind. It was mid 80’s for temps on the way in and for me it was actually uncomfortable sitting in direct sunlight at that temp. Rain and lightning moved in about 4 so we both dashed for the house. The rain blew through pretty fast, so we ran back out and sat the rest of the evening. Between the two of us we heard one deer sneezing and one fawn. The spots we were sitting could work as a bed to feed area but they aren’t really moving through there this year, right now, on a bed to feed pattern. Both spots are great run spots so it was good to go in under heavy winds to make sure the stands were in good shape. They were.

Today, as I’m writing this (10/24 around noon) we are getting good rains. The winds are expected to shift from sw to nw around 3 or 4 so I can’t go out until after that wind shift. If it’s heavy rains I won’t go, but if it is light to medium I’ll sit tonight.

10/24 Total rain out on the 24th. I wanted to hunt this evening but the rains stayed too heavy for me to consider going.

10/25 I went this morning to the South Ditch crossing stand. It was super quiet in the morning but with all the rain I was pretty quiet getting in and I believe I got in clean. I saw a doe with her yearling fawn and another young fawn.

Tonight Amy and I split up. I went after Ranger and saw two bucks and maybe 5 or 6 does and fawns. All movement was about 4-5 oclock. Amy saw a doe with two fawns at the south ditch crossing. Still too much corn standing in the area and with deer mostly bed to feed, it is hampering our hunting right now. But, our cameras are picking up buck movements almost every day now during daylight hours, and many of these bucks are mature. And, this is only with those two cell cams. I haven’t checked any of the other cameras recently. We just need the right wind direction and speeds to go to a couple of these near bedding area spots to have a better chance at daylight movement of these bucks. It’ll happen.

To hunt this spot we call Danger Zone, we need a brisk SW wind to be perfect. I’ll take a straight south if need be, but calm winds will make it tough to get in. This spot was scouted out two years ago and I never went in to hang a stand. This spring, I again scouted the spot while shed hunting with Amy, Forest, and Jessica. And again, I didn’t hang a stand. Then, this summer, Forest and I went in there again and this time we found a way to hang a stand and get in. The issue I was having was the access. You’d have to cross a small creek that was too deep to walk across, so we instead pulled a few dead logs and layed them across to walk across. Not ideal, but it seemed safe and stable…so we hung the stand. The pictures you see are on the opposite end of that bedding area, maybe 200 yards away. The bedding area is maybe 10 acres but it is the best bedding in that small area. Tough access, but maybe, just maybe we’ll sneak in there one of these days.

10/27 So, today I really wanted to sit a stand for the evening hunt that requires an east wind. We had an east wind, but the forecast said the wind was going to drop off to almost nothing this afternoon. The stand is located very close to bedding. I thought the only good way to do it was for Amy to drop me off on the road and I would walk in this morning and sit the stand all day. That way I wouldn’t have to walk in past good bedding during the day. It was a long sit but as expected this evening I caught 5 bucks working their way from bedding to feeding to the north. I could have shot all 5 bucks but the largest was only a 2 or 3 year old 10 pointer. It was good to get into that stand but I’ll admit I’m getting too old for these all day sits in a tiny stand.

Amy sat the new blind close to the north ditch tonight and saw 5 bucks and 7 does and fawns. She passed on a few of the bucks and one she said was a tough pass. There is a camera right there so hopefully we caught some pics of it. That blind looks to be in the right spot. Those bucks all walked the edge of our standing corn plot right past the blind.

Tonight, late, nephew Brady will be in camp. I don’t think any of us will be hunting tomorrow morning. He will need to sleep and I have to take Amy’s car in for some tires. We’ll hit it tomorrow evening.

10/28 Well, Amy and I doubled up tonight on Muley and Ranger. See their stories

Amy’s Muley HERE

Tom’s Ranger HERE

10/29 Celebration day. I’ll be back in a day or two for some final thoughts on our bucks. And, I have a landowner tag, so I’ll probably get back hunting in a day or two. Right now, it’s just take it in and celebrate, talk hunting, visit with friends time. Good luck hunters!!!

10/30 So, I’ve kind of neglected to tell you about Brady, Bo, and Zach.

Nephew Brady has seen a few deer so far. He came down for this past weekend to get his feet wet so to speak, and so he would make any adjustments before he comes back this next wext for a weeks stay. He did see some sign of other hunters when he was here. And he did have to do some scouting the past couple days…but he’s learning new ground which is always a challenge. I think he’s in good shape for when he comes back this next Friday.

Zach and Bo have been hunting our cabin farm and have been into deer on many sits. They bounce around playing the wind and just today finally got some winds that they were able to sit a few different spots. Zach has seen a couple shooters, and tonight Bo talked with me and he saw two shooters tonight. The great news—the Inside 10 is back and looking healthy as ever. That’s the buck he wounded a few weeks back. So, They do have several mature bucks they can and are hunting right now, as well as the Inside 10. I feel like any day I’ll be getting a call that it came together for them.

Amy and I spent the day caping out my buck and skinning hers. Tomorrow is meat cutting day and I’ll see about getting another tag. I’ll possibly hunt tomorrow night, but more likely Tuesday starting up again for me.

I would like to circle back one more time and talk about lessons learned from my hunt for Ranger, as well as some more insight as to what might have went wrong the night I missed him. Amy and I went back to that stand today to retrieve my miss arrows, and kind of go through what happened that night. I also shot my bow today to make sure I’m still good. We learned some stuff that I’ll get into when we get into it.

For now, I would say check back November 1st or so and we’ll kick things off again.

If you’re still out there hunting, or just getting started this year, we are coming up on the time bucks spend the most amount of time each year moving during daylight. Spend as much time you can in their world for your best chance! Good luck.

Some Final Thoughts on Ranger

Amy and I have not slept much the past couple days. I think my adrenaline levels are finally back to normal. I did want to circle back and point out some things I learned, some things I think I always knew but wanted to share, and just some thoughts on this crazy hunt.

First, the things I learned.

1. Even the most seasoned hunter can lose it under the circumstances. My hunt for Ranger taught me that. I seriously doubted I would ever get those adrenaline rushes again. But I was wrong.
2. Temperature Inversions—This is a tough one to explain. But I’ll try. In my hunting career, if you want to call it that, I have had isolated experiences where deer have gotten down wind of my position, and close enough that there is no doubt they should have smelled me…but didn’t. Or did but only slightly and didn’t spook. In some cases, it was an optical illusion—in other words the deer really weren’t down wind exactly. My scent was going there way but because of a ditch or draw, the wind currents were being drawn away from where the predominant winds were headed. Think like a flowing river and the eddy currents behind a large obstruction. But, in other cases, like Friday night, there were deer all around me, from point blank out to about 100 yards. Yet only slightly did a couple does about 1/2 hour before dark even remotely smell me. By the time I shot Ranger (the second time), there were deer everywhere and not a single wiff.

Had I been using a gadget, or sprayed down with more gadget spray, or used a gadget cover scent, etc. I would be convinced that this or that worked. I would be a true believer. But, that’s not what happened at all. How do I know? Because I don’t use any of that stuff. I do my best to control my scent, but under normal conditions, when deer get down wind it’s over.

This brings on the temperature inversion. It’s something I learned about because of my entry into the farming world. You see, there is a morning and evening inversion. An evening inversion works something like this. On a very warm day, with no clouds, and very little to no wind. What happens is at dusk, or nearing dusk, warm air, which is lighter than cold air rises upward in the atmosphere…and colder more dense air settles near the ground. With these conditions of warm air above colder air, and no wind, there is no mixing of air. Scent molecules therefore don’t mix in the air either, but stay above the ground and can drift off never mixing with the air below. This is especially possible when hunting out of a higher tree stand. Therefore, a hunter thinks deer are down wind, and I guess technically they could be. Only they aren’t exactly because of the inversion. That is what happened Friday night. My scent essentially stayed up at 18 feet or so and simply drifted away, never actually reaching the ground and the deer’s noses. AWESOME STUFF RIGHT!!!

Now, I can’t prove this happened. There is scientific proof temperature inversions happen and exist, but I can’t prove it happened Friday night. But I’ve seen this before, and now I’m convinced I was in an evening temperature inversion. Hot day temps, crashing sunset temps, no wind, no clouds. Just another thing that worked in my favor. I will say this, I would never not hunt the wind and hope for a temperature inversion. It just happens sometimes. Had the “normal” evening thermals been at play, I would’ve been busted 10 times over—not by Ranger, but by the does that came in right before him and got to my west. That would’ve ended the hunt.

Normally I hate nights with no wind. Because a lack of wind on a normal night would mean the evening thermals are taking my scent down out of the tree and dispersing them around me for all the deer to smell me. But, not in a temp inversion, which in my experience, to work perfectly in your favor are probably pretty rare.

Now , some thoughts to share.

1. First, I always tell everyone to wear what they wore hunting in their pictures. I had several people call me out on this in my pictures with Ranger…only that is what I was wearing. I wore a t-shirt up until about 6 maybe, then slipped on that thin green long sleeve. I wore the brown jeans all night. Who cares right? Well, the hunting industry would have you believe that you need expensive camo patterns and clothes to “give you that edge”. Not true. Stay away from blues, purples, and yellows that deer see very well, wear quiet clothes, and wear clothes that fit your budget and works best for you. That might mean camo hunting clothes, it might not. But don’t get hung up on the hunting industry marketing.
2. I almost got burned by not having my quiver attached to my bow. Or, by not having it easily accessible. I think now I’ll likely switch to leaving the quiver attached to the bow. I’ve taken the quiver off as long as I can remember because I feel it creates less movement…but I don’t know that I’ll continue doing that going forward.
3. Don’t give up on deer that you aren’t seeing or that aren’t showing up on camera. This is not something I learned with Ranger, but something I’ve known for a long time now. Cameras DO NOT always tell the whole story. I can give you a dozen examples of stories similar to Ranger’s where cameras simply were not picking up deer at all, or were deceiving me. Cameras help us a lot, but if you let the cameras always do the hunting for you, you’ll miss out on some great hunting.
4. Deer move every day. Doesn’t matter cold or warm, cold front, warm front, rain, snow, moon phase….it’s all bullshit. I can say this like this because I used to be a believer. I used to think cold fronts were the ticket…or that a rising evening moon gave me an edge. But I was just convincing myself because of experiences I was having in the field, that were tainted by my biases created because I believed in the stuff to begin with. I kill big bucks when its warm (like Ranger), I see big bucks when its warm, my cameras pick up big bucks during all weather conditions during daylight. And contrary to someone trying to sound impressive or all knowing, or sell you a hunting app (again I can be a smart ass here because that used to be me), radio collared deer even mature bucks, move just as much during any weather pattern as the next. If you refuse to take in this information, you are only hampering your own ability to hunt these deer effectively all season. I’ve learned to hunt deer effectively no matter the weather or moon. Boy am I glad I went after Ranger on a mid 60’s warm day in late October…just sayin.
5. Patience vs. Being Aggressive For the most part, because of my hunting conditions, I emphasize using a slow play hunting approach. I hunt the edges, hunt only stands with superb entry and exit routes, rarely go all in after a target deer or target area. This allows me to have good hunting all season. If I was aggressive right out of the gate, I would likely burn out my hunting areas very early in the season leaving me with shitty hunting very quickly. Being patient helps me to have good hunting all season. Knowing when to be aggressive, can also put me in the right place when I need to be. It’s about playing the odds. For example, I told myself I was going aggressive with Ranger early this year—-why? Because if he showed up and I didn’t go aggressive when I could, I stood a real chance of losing him again in mid-November. I was willing to take the risk of being in his inner-circle, letting him get down wind of me, because playing the edges didn’t work for him in the past. It was worth the risk. Now, as a hunter, you need to be honest with yourself about why you want to get aggressive. Is it because you are letting your emotions get the best of you? Or is the aggressive approach really the best option. My default is a slow play, hands down.
6. Finally, some thoughts on Ranger himself. This year, I think he is maybe 10-15 inches smaller than last. This is based off multiple sightings with him last year. He lost his forked G2, his tines are just a little shorter, and his right side is smaller than his left this year. 2 thoughts on this…first, remember he was hurting last year, he had a bad limp coming from his front left shoulder/leg. Rebuilding from that injury likely hampered antler growth in 2022. Second, his G2’s are shorter than his G3’s….something different than last year. I would argue that it is because when his G2’s were developing this year he was slightly malnourished, or again rebuilding from injuries sustained in 2021. His right side was about 10 inches smaller than his left….was that also a factor from his injuries? I think so. I put Ranger at 210 to 220 last year…maybe I’m wrong but that is what I feel happened to him year over year.

The two pictures of Ranger above are from 2020. They are the clearest pics I have of him that year. I don’t have any clear pics in 2021 (although we have a bunch), and none in 2022. You can see his G2’s are the same or almost the same as his G3’s that year. In 2021, he only got bigger. I think, because of his injuries in 2021, his rack got smaller in 2022.

11/01 I took the morning off to put some brakes on a car, then I was able to hurry into a tree for the evening hunt. I was close to bedding, but didn’t see a thing.

11/02 This morning, I sat a normally good evening spot in a transition from bed to feed. I got in early hoping to catch deer going back to bed. I did. I saw a handful of deer fairly early. Then a couple here and there until about 8. I did see and pass a big 9 point dark racked buck we have a history with by our house. He’s a beautiful 4 year old this year, but not something I want to end my season on. That stand I was sitting is on an inside corner and it works perfect for the wind we had this morning…but several of the deer I saw busted me even though I didn’t move at all. The deer that busted me eventually gave up and moved on, but I was in lock down mode with each for quite a while. I took some time mid day today to hang some cedars in that stand to help break up my outline and brush in behind me to help with skylining. This stand was hung specifically to take advantage of that inside corner and the standing corn plot I have there which will be good the later in the season we get.

Tonight, I sat the same corn field that I killed Ranger, although tonight I was about 400 yards in a different spot. I can only kill a buck on my land right now with my landowner tag, but I figured I’d go for a doe in that area and also do some scouting for next year. In other words, I’m gonna continue to hunt buck spots even if I can’t kill a buck there because of my landowner tag, especially if it’s a new stand so that I can make sure it’s a perfect set for future years. I saw 4 small bucks all use draws and waterways in the corn as expected. I could have shot 3 of them. So, I think that stand, at least so far, is pretty good.

Some side note stuff:

I had a friend contact me the other day right after I killed Ranger and said they were having trouble seeing mature bucks during daylight. Thought maybe the warm temps was hurting them. I told them to focus on getting closer to bedding areas, possibly hitting water, and focus on green food sources when it’s warm. Don’t worry about it being warm…just switch tactics. Today, he sent back two pics…both he and his brother shot great bucks by getting close to bedding. CHA CHING! Deer move during all weather.

I had a hunter ask how many acres Amy and I hunt. Well this is a tricky question/answer. We have access to about 500 acres. However, 350 of those acres are wide open cow pasture, another 60 or so acres is open row crop. The pasture acres do hold some deer, but we use that land mostly as access (entry and exits) so that we can get in to other spots clean. We have another 120 acres we call our cabin farm but we don’t typically hunt it at all during archery because we have hunters on it. That farm, we do hunt late muzzleloader. So, other than access acres, we “hunt” about 100 acres give or take. Those acres hunt bigger than 100 acres of solid timber because they are spread out over several farms and we can move around a lot. We feel very fortunate to be able to own and hunt some great land, but it’s a far cry from some TV and YouTube stars that hunt 1000’s and 1000’s of acres and still need every gadget in the book to kill a deer. It’s got to make you think….

I had someone else contact me about where are we at in the rut. Well, most years I really look for that first hot doe and then hunt that action hard when I see it. I didn’t catch that action this year, so either I missed it or where we hunt one hasn’t popped yet. In any case, every day now should be good. Peak breeding for us every year is November 15th, so leading up to that and then after (but not as much) is all good hunting. I’ll spend as much time as I can on stand, while moving around and not bumping deer, over the next 3-4 weeks

Just some context going forward here on the blog. Now that Amy and I both have bucks shot, I am now hunting on my landowner tag. This allows me to shoot another buck but it has to be on our land. We have the home farm…which is 80 acres and of those 80, 60 are tillable open ground. We have two blinds and 3 stands on it, but I can’t just pound this farm every day or it will burn out fast—even with great access. Then we have our cabin farm which right now has two hunters on it (Zach and Bo from Wisconsin). I can shoot a buck at the cabin farm as well but I typically don’t hunt it hard at all, and this year I won’t/can’t hunt it until after Zach and Bo are done. It’s a good problem to have really…it just means that it’s early November and we already have had great success this year. From here on out, I will try to hunt the home farm as much as I can when the wind direction and speed allows for it. But, I will also hunt new stands, and favorite stands on the other farms we can hunt with my doe tag. The goal is to learn the new stands and how deer are using those micro areas the best I can while keeping the home farm viable for the remainder of the season. I also have late muzzy to think about…I don’t want to over hunt any area I plan on late muzzy hunting either. So…completely back to the slow play here for the remainder of the archery season.

11/04 Total rain out today. It was raining hard this morning when I got up so I went back to the bunk. It rained hard all day so no evening sit. Deer move really good in the rain, in fact it’s one weather factor proven by GPS tracked deer that actually does make deer move more. How much more? Well, I’m not sure but they do move more in the rain. Anyhow, I’ve seen this before in very dry and warm falls….where a good rain event like today will actually get or allow deer to move to different parts of their home range. They are no longer required to have their daily lives revolve around sparse and specific water sources. We’ll see if that holds true this time this year. I’m sure it will.

11/05 Today was almost a total rain out. Brady is back in camp and he went out in the morning and hunted all day. He had deer around him almost all day, especially good movement in the rain. He saw three different bucks that he would have shot, but nothing close enough. Interesting…he needs to cross a wet weather ditch to get to his hunting spot. In the morning it was a foot deep, but when he was leaving it was (or would have been) over his head. The rain the past two days finally saturated the ground and that ditch filled fast. It even had a strong current moving through. He was forced to walk a pretty good distance to find a way to cross that ditch in the dark.

I sat in the house ready to go but waited for the rain to stop. Around noon it did so I headed out. I saw three does and a fawn, one little buck all afternoon.

11/06 Today, it was a flip of yesterday. Brady slept in a bit recovering from his water experience the day before, but I went out for the morning hunt. For the first time this year, I saw bucks cruising. First, I saw a couple does and fawns…they all followed the same path taking them right through one of my shooting lanes. About 9, I saw a big buck coming and figured out pretty quick it was this drop tine buck. He’s a buck Forest and I both passed last year. Him with his bow, me late muzzy. We thought he was 4 last year, and he did grow quite a bit this year. Big bases, a lot of junk, and a nice drop tine. He was the one buck I thought right now I would kill. Anyhow, sure enough, it was Mr. Drop Tine coming down right where those does had gone. I got my bow, came to full draw just as he was passing through the first shooting lane….but I couldn’t do it. Dang he is a nice buck, but I just don’t want my archery season to end. He’s, I think, the biggest/oldest buck I’ve ever passed. 30 yard shot, there he was…but I couldn’t do it.

He eventually went south and I caught a glimpse of him chasing a doe…then he appeared right to my south. I really wanted another close look at him so I picked up my bow, and grunted a couple times at him. After a couple minutes hesitation…here he comes again this time making his way just over my left side to my west. At 20 yards I came to full draw again watching him, but again, I couldn’t do it. What a nice buck and quite the morning hunt!

He’s definitely big enough for me, and old enough, but I just love this time of year hunting so much that I didn’t want it to end. Not saying he’ll get another pass; who knows, but wouldn’t it be awesome to see him again!! How about next year?

11/07 and 11/08

Sorry I haven’t updated the past two days. On 11/07, nephew Brady had to go to a whole new area because the area he had been hunting was no longer accessible because the creek was too deep now with the heavy rains we got the other day. So, the evening of 11/06, we fixed him up with some portable sticks and a portable stand with back-pack straps so that he could do a hang and hunt in the morning. So, he did, and minutes after settling in he saw a nice mature 10 point working scrapes along a draw coming right toward him. He made his last scrape only a few yards from Brady’s stand and that was it. Brady made a good shot and saw him go down. I got down early then, and it was dragging and picture time!!!

On 11/08, I saw a ton of deer but everything was running and going nuts. Corn on both sides of us is coming off and all the deer were sure worked up. I did see a few mature bucks, nothing huge but some really nice deer, and they were stirred up as well. These deer have been using that corn and the adjacent draws and ditches as their homes for the past 7 months…now it’s coming off in a matter of days. They’ll have to adjust, but in the meantime they sure are worked up. In just a day or two. hunting will be phenomenal. It is already, just a little hard to hunt with all the commotion going on.

11/11 I’m updating on 11/11 at noon here. On 10/09 and 10/10 I sat behind the house at home here and hadn’t really had much luck. The neighbor’s combined corn, and they have now been raking and bailing the stalks. A lot of trucks in and out, tractors in and out. The deer herd has been bumped and pushed so much that it has really affected the hunting. Not bitching…it’s just how it is. When that ends, the deer will start using my standing corn food plot better. I just have to be patient. I’m glad I have the whole season to be patient and do what I would call the slow play on these deer. I much prefer taking it slow and not pushing my way in. And, who wants to kill a deer quite yet anyhow and end the season with 3 weeks left right?

Bo and Zach have been hunting the cabin farm since Wednesday…seeing a lot of deer, some good encounters with some nice bucks. Just haven’t been able to close the deal on anything yet. Some good bucks showing up on camera for them too, some daylight as well. Just haven’t been in the right place yet.

I think still, for the next few days here, I’ll be hunting some, I might skip a hunt here and there…kind of buying my time until everything settles down from harvest. I can hunt the cabin farm when Bo and Zach are done but will likely target some doe harvests over there. It’s all good!!! Right now, based on cameras alone (which is never a good idea) I’d say there is nothing I really want to hunt. Not like a giant that keeps me up at night. But there are some bucks that I haven’t seen yet this year, no pictures of them yet (although I have several cameras I haven’t checked in weeks) that I think might be around again this year. One would be a giant 10 point I passed late muzzy last year mostly because I couldn’t make up my mind fast enough if he was big enough (he was). So there’s no reason to be in a hurry just to fill a tag and end the season. Mature bucks have been moving steady now for weeks as far as I can tell. Many sightings and day pictures. Patience is key for me right now while I enjoy the hunt. Below are some examples of mature bucks I’m getting on the cell cams. Beautiful bucks, but not ones I want to end my season on quite yet.

I hunted with a guy once that couldn’t believe that you could pass a buck, then kill that same buck later in the season. How could it be big enough at the end of the season, but not the first week? Simple. It’s not about how big it is necessarily…it’s about extending the season, or extending the hunt. All the bucks above are way big enough for me. Absolutely mature, absolutely way big enough racks. And, a part of me doesn’t want to kill a buck that I know some hunters around would love to kill, might be their biggest deer. Or maybe Amy gets a chance at one of them during late muzzy. That to me is what it is all about. The hunt. Time in the outdoors. The experience. That’s why I’m so bitter about the “hunting industry” and social media because it takes away from that experience and turns everything into a competition or a way to generate money. It’s all so stupid to me.

11/13 Well, today, this morning Brady and my in-laws went home. It was great to have them in hunting camp. The father-in-law (Leif) got to sit with Amy last night and they saw a bunch of deer. I saw a bunch as well and one really nice buck right behind the house. Nothing to shoot at but it looks like it has finally settled down here after the harvest and bailing of corn stalks. Should be some good hunting left at home here in the next few weeks.

Today, Amy and I saw off our guests and then headed out. We got on stand at about 11 and sat the rest of the day. We both saw shooter bucks. I sat the neighbor’s farm so I couldn’t shoot any bucks but had a great hunt. Saw a couple really nice bucks, will be huge if they make it a couple more years as they are already nice. I’ve decided to hunt like I have two open buck tags, and if I go on a property other than my own, then I’ll just hunt for does or have an observation sit. I saw at least 10 bucks today, most of them were from the time I got on stand until about 3 then tapered off. I saw some bed to feed activity at night, otherwise all the movement at mid day was cruising by bucks.

Amy had a really nice 10 point walk right under her blind. Great encounter!

Bo and Zach are done at the cabin farm. Zach closed the deal on a buck we call Inside 10. He’s a 4 year old buck I’ve been watching since finding his sheds two years ago. The past two years he busted off his left side early in the season, and this year he did the same. Zach got him and we noticed the antler is like hollow? Looks like he is busting off his left side because it might be defective? Anyhow, Zach got him the other day. Good job and Congrats to Zach.

Bo had a great hunt (his words) and saw a lot of really nice deer but never got a shooter in range. I thought it was going to happen for him the past couple days as he chased a couple super deer, but it didn’t. I don’t have a picture of Zach with his buck, but I do have last years picture of him and this years. Again, congrats to Zach.

I don’t have the latest pictures of Inside 10 this year because I haven’t pulled cards on that farm in a long time. Bo and Zach were getting pictures of him all fall.

Much like what Ranger did, Inside 10 actually got smaller this year compared to last. Was it an injury? Hard winter? Maybe the drought? I don’t think we’ll ever know for sure…maybe a combination of all three.

Over the next few days, I might pull cards at the cabin farm and re-locate some cameras in prep for late muzzy. I might also try hunting that farm in late November because it seems every year over there, that farm pics up a big buck in the latter parts of November. Actually, most of my hunting areas seem to pick up a big buck out of nowhere at the end of November. That’s kind of what I’m waiting for right now…just enjoying the hunt and seeing what else might show up.

Also something interesting. After my update tonight, Amy and I got to talking about the buck she saw tonight. We also got a cell cam pic of it about 200 yards from where Amy was sitting tonight that we looked at tonight after the hunt. The buck she saw is a wide 10 that has been around the farm the past few years. I’ve seen him a couple times, and each year we get a few pictures of him but not many. He is at least 6 years old because 2 years ago when I first saw him, I aged him at least 4 years old. He is a target buck but one we just don’t have really any idea of where he spends a lot of his time. We are naming him Gummy—we have our reasons!

11/14 So this morning I went to a new stand that was originally hung to hunt Ranger in mid-November. With Ranger dead, and me unable to hunt this spot without a valid buck tag (it’s slightly off our land). I decided I’d go in anyhow with the goal of checking out the access and to see how deer moved through that little thicket. I’m glad I did. It was a bust. I’m required to cross a deep creek that we dropped some logs across. The logs were covered in water and I was unable to reach my stand only 50 yards away. Then only other way to that stand was to walk around to the south about 200 yards, cross the creek on a beaver dam, then head back north to the stand…terrible access. I bumbled two buck/doe pairs bedded in there. Both bucks were pretty good. So, I’m glad I ran a test for that stand. I’ll have to get some better plan to cross that creek to use this spot.

I gave up early and basically went home, ate, and headed back out. I was on stand around 10 for the day. I saw 7 bucks and 5 or6 does and fawns. None of the bucks I saw had does with them, although one was chasing a doe. All the others were just out cruising. 4 of the bucks were 2 and 3, and I saw one old massive brute buck that scores about 100 inches. He’s a huge bodies buck that’s been around a few years with a massive but short tined 10 point rack. I actually rattled him in. All in all, a good sit. Back at it tomorrow.

Oh, were I went this morning I had a cell camera soaking all fall so far. I pulled that camera, and plan to pull one more that I will take over to the cabin farm here shortly in prep for late November archery, and late muzzy seasons.

11/15 So today we got our first dose of snow. About 3 inches were on the ground at sun up. I didn’t hunt this morning because winds were variable (all over the place)…so I waited until the winds switched to the NW as forecast. I was ready to go sitting in the recliner watching the snow come down until I saw it was steady out of the NW which happened about 9:30. I threw my last couple layers on and headed out.

I sat a stand on the neighbors that is downwind of pretty good bedding. Because I was on the neighbors, I was unable to shoot any buck. But that’s ok and that was the plan. I just wanted to have fun and see what I could see. I had deer in and around me all day. I saw 9 total bucks with two mature bucks (nothing huge) from right after I got on stand until just before dark. It was interesting that both mature bucks, and all the other smaller bucks were without hot does. November 15th is peak breeding, so you would think at least these mature bucks would have hot does?

Anyhow, so much for the “lock down”. The more I get to hunt this mid November peak breeding the more I think this “lock down” thing we all think happens really doesn’t exist…or that maybe they do lock down with a hot doe but nearly as long as we think they do…and then they are out looking again for another doe. Also, if your herd is was out of balance with a ton of does and only a few bucks, I could also see why the “lockdown” might seem more real. Where I am hunting, there is a pretty balanced herd and a lot of competition for does getting bread. I would say, if you are still hunting, hunt as close as you can to bedding for morning or all day sits, and then possibly sitting more toward food for the last hour or so. I like sitting down wind of bedding this time of year all day because I see deer close to bedding all day and because generally I can get out clean at dark because most of the deer have left the bedding area.

I plan to sit the cabin farm later this week. It’s supposed to get real cold (that’ll get em on their feet…kidding). No really, I’m going there during that cold snap because I have some blinds I can sit in unlike at home.

11/16 I sat the neighbor’s farm again today. I went in early and could only stay until before 10 because I froze out. I did see a bunch of deer, and every buck I saw was either on a doe track that I had seen come through earlier, or was on a hot doe. No surprise since the vast majority of does are bread in my area between November 10th and 20th.

After a brief warm up, Amy and I both went out for the afternoon hunt. I went back to the neighbor’s again and saw another 7 bucks. So, maybe 12 bucks total today, and maybe the same does and fawns. I “passed” a really good 12 point that I couldn’t actually shoot. He was a buck I had seen before but tonight I got a really good look. Super nice buck with 12 typical points and one forked brow tine. Amy saw one buck and almost got a shot at a doe as it was getting dark.

One thing to note, again, was that out of the dozen or so bucks and another dozen or so does and fawns, I think maybe only 2 or3 of those deer went into my camera’s picture zone…yet most of them were within range at some point during the hunt. Don’t trust camera data as gospel. The biggest buck I saw, that typical 12, I still don’t have a single picture of him this year. Granted, I have a handful of cameras I haven’t checked for a couple weeks now, but unless you have like dozens of cameras per 40 acres, there is no guarantee you’ll get them all. There are camera strategies to improve your odds of getting most of them, but no guarantee of getting them all. I could tell stories….

Tomorrow…I am hunting the cabin farm. I have to winterize the cabin Bo and Zach were staying in, and then I’ll hunt a blind on food tomorrow night. I think Amy is coming with!!!

Zach sent me a pic of his buck. Too bad he busted the other side off but a very nice deer anyhow.

11/17 and 11/18 The past two days I have not hunted in the morning. Mostly because I’m getting weak in my old age. It was just too dang cold and windy and it was so much more fun to bunk it.

Amy and I both went to the cabin farm yesterday evening. Amy sat a lookout stand, I sat a ground blind about 400 yards to her south. We saw a ton of deer from the time we got in (about 2) until quitting time. 2 mature bucks, a handful of other 2 and 3 year olds, and a bunch of does and fawns.

Tonight, I went to the cabin farm myself and sat a blind half way between where I sat and Amy sat last night. I saw 5 or so small bucks and one really nice buck that I only caught a short time crossing some soybeans. The big buck, same as last night, was without a doe and was out looking it seemed. The little bucks, same as last night too, were chasing anything that they could. I’ll likely sit the cabin farm again tomorrow in a stand I call East Boot. A bunch of deer both night crossed a fence opening by that stand, and East Boot allows for very good entry and exit. I’ve seen some big bucks go through that fence opening so we’ll see what happens.

I do like my chances of seeing a big buck that hasn’t been around yet this year. It seems like (and this is just from cameras and observations over the years) that late November big bucks make excursions. I’d like to get through this next week or so before I try to go back and make a play on some of the bucks I’ve passed so far this year. In the meantime, the home farm is just soaking with standing corn available to the deer. I’m hoping that corn will draw some deer in, and by leaving it alone, I might have a good hunt or two in late November. We’ll see how it all unfolds from here.

So…from here on out, I’d like to see if a giant shows up between now and say the 26th or so. If one does, I’ll go for it. If one doesn’t, then I’ll likely go back and try to make a play on the drop tine buck or maybe Gummy. The odds wouldn’t be good, but a perfect scenario would be to hunt every day and kill one on the last day of the season…but I won’t push my luck.

11/21

So the past couple days I’ve been bouncing around hunting the cabin farm and trying to sit food in the evenings and as close to bedding as I can on morning hunts. I missed a couple morning hunts because it was too cold and loud and crunchy to get in for a morning sit. Deer movement around bedding morning and mid-day has been phenomenal. And, activity around beans and corn on evening sits has been phenomenal. Between Amy and I, we’ve seen three different mature bucks at our cabin farm, and 5 different mature bucks here at home. Every hot doe is like gold. But, the deer have started to go back to a bed to feed pattern a little bit. This late November hunting can be great…exceptional. But, you need to keep your farm fresh and not put too much pressure on it. Also, it helps immensely to have grain food sources in the late season.

Last night I set up for a bed to feed pattern at home in the north ditch stand. It was a good night and I ended my season on a great buck! Click here

So, for now, the 2022 archery updates is over. If you’ve been following along, stop back here in a week or so for some final thoughts about this year’s archery hunt. I’ll have one final update and some editorial! Thank you for following along.

UPDATE 12/03 With archery season ending yesterday, I finished up my 2022 archery review. You can read it here

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