Maryland CA/TG hunting blog 2009-2010

The Guide and The Dermist went out this morning with no deer sightings. I (CA)went out this evening with TG behind the camera. Weather man was calling for a NW wind switching to S going counter clockwise which was iffy but doable. Got to the stand a liitle after 4 and by 4:30 had deer out in the fields. Had a big 8 come from straight down wind to 25 yds. just as he was crossing the fencerow a doe busted us and snorted. I was at full draw and holding in the shhoting lane when he ran thru it. He ran 50-60 yds out into the feild and miiled around nervously for a while until feeding off. Then a nice mature doe stepped out at 35 yds. She didn't fare as well as the buck. She to left running but with holes in either side of her chest. 5 points Team 3. Got some good footage tonight. Didn't get any preroll of the doe I shot, when she popped out she was in the only shooting lane I had so we took her. All together we saw probablly 35-40 deer, 4 or 5 shooters and several small bucks and piles of does and fawns. We didn't get footage of the bigger bucks because the closests they got was between 60-100 yds and they were behind limbs and leaves.Will post video when I figure it out. Tomorrow I am behind the camera and TG is behind the arrow.

Sept.16 evening
TG was the hunter today and I (CA) was filming (or supposed to be filming).Hunted a natural ground blind just 120 yds SW of the fencerow stand we hunted last evening. Deer movement started early angain tonight, probablly 4:30. The first deer in the feild were 2 nice 2 1/2 year old bucks and 4 does and fawns. One of the bucks we have velvet footage of and he is going to be a stud in a couple of years if everyone lets him walk. They moved off and then there was a lull in the action for about an hour and a half. Several does fawns and little bucks then fed out in front of us when a nice doe came in at 15 yds beside us, I turned the camera on zoomed and focused, gave TG the green light and whack. He smoked her. After panning back on to TG I realized the record light is not on.WHOOPS. Sorry TG. It looked good on the camera's screen. First and probablly not but hopefully the last time I do that. Atleast it wasn't a nice buck kill. We wont be going out until Saturday morning, we need to get back to work and pay some bills. AW YA 5 points for TEAM 2

Sept 19 morning
Feeder stand: wind was pretty good, 55 deg. and acorns were dropping. We are in for a good hunt right. Wrong one deer went by us in the dark and a spike at 8. Place was dead.

Sept 19 evening
Feeder stand: wind was perfect for an evening hunt, little warm 76 deg. Again nothing but 4 does and fawns ran thru about 6:30. The feilds all around this patch of woods were havested (corn) and disked up last week and replanted in barely so most of the groceries are gone. But with 2/3 of this woods designated as a sanctuary and the acorns falling from one of the properties top producers we figured this would still be a pretty good spot today. But most of the deer must have filtered out of the bottom to the corn and soybean feild tpo the south. Slow day but better than work or honey do lists.

Camoed Assassin wrote:

Sept.16 evening
TG was the hunter today and I (CA) was filming (or supposed to be filming).Hunted a natural ground blind just 120 yds SW of the fencerow stand we hunted last evening. Deer movement started early angain tonight, probablly 4:30. The first deer in the feild were 2 nice 2 1/2 year old bucks and 4 does and fawns. One of the bucks we have velvet footage of and he is going to be a stud in a couple of years if everyone lets him walk. They moved off and then there was a lull in the action for about an hour and a half. Several does fawns and little bucks then fed out in front of us when a nice doe came in at 15 yds beside us, I turned the camera on zoomed and focused, gave TG the green light and whack. He smoked her. After panning back on to TG I realized the record light is not on.WHOOPS. Sorry TG. It looked good on the camera's screen. First and probablly not but hopefully the last time I do that. Atleast it wasn't a nice buck kill. We wont be going out until Saturday morning, we need to get back to work and pay some bills. AW YA 5 points for TEAM 2

Congrats TG if you need some one to "Get it on film" just let me know". Na Don that probally want be last time it happens believe me.

As long as it happens on the does I wont lose any sleep, I'll still feel bad. Just hope it doesn't happen to often.

September 22 evening.
Got to sneak out of work early today. TG up and I'm behind the camera. We hunted one of our best early season spots, the fencerow blind. Southeast wind, which is perfect for this spot, but a little warm. A doe and fawn crossed in front of us on the way in and a doe was 10 yds in front of the blind when we got there. It started slow, nothing but fawns until about 6:00. With the flood gates now opened deer after deer came out in front of us. Had a beatiful ten come out but the closest he came was a little over 60 yds, at about 6:30 another nice ten came out but this one was coming by us at 45 yds. TG grunted at him and stopped him. He took the shot while holding low to compensate if he crouched to take off at the shot, and as luck would have it the deer stood perfectly still. Shot under him and he took off. All in all we saw over 40 deer tonight only 2 shooters , a bunch of small bucks and piles of does. Man do we have our work cut out for us trying to balance the herd. Will have some of the footage up tomorrow.

Here is some of the footage from last night. And if you didn't see my doe kill in The Afllicted's team page you can view that there also.


http://vimeo.com/6717101

Nice videos guys. The picture from that new cam is awesome!!! Cant wait to see you drop one of those bucks. Good luck. see ya soon

Yeah that turned out pretty good. Would have been better if I would have had a hero shot and not an explanation of why I missed.

September 26, morning

We hunted the new hillside set. TG saw 2 good shooters come out into the bean field about 300 yds from this set last night. We figured they would make a big loop over night and hopefully hed back to bed via the narrow wooded hill side in which we were set up on. Wrong, about 7:00 am they pretty much took the same path as which they came out last night. They must have been bedding in the small 5 acre corn field right behind TG's house. We thought they were bedding on the hillside just on the neighbors property a few hundred yards past our stand. We typically don't hunt any of the hillside sets until the rut starts up but with a good wind and with the sighting last night and a couple other sightings of some good bucks traveling the hillside in the mornings going back to bed we decided to give it a try. The only thing we had in bow range was a 3 point and some tree rats. The tree rats got me again. I missed one and when it went into the dirt it hit a rock and broke the nock. Then on the second squirel my string loop came undone. Thats right I punched myself in the face. I dont think we are going to get back out until tuesday or wednesday. In all we saw about 8-10 deer.

September 28 evening.

Went to a new set tonight. We call it The second powerline set. We have had a couple sets in the area before but never put anything on the ground. It's on the south side of the property and it is a hike to get in there, plus it is near some neighbors that shoot anything and everything. We only hunt this set to take pressure off some of our other sets or if the wind isn't rightfor everything else. TG had a honey do list to do so I went solo. Cold front moving in, barley coming up, perfect wind and acorns hitting the ground. Soon as I get setup the wind starts to howl up the hill. A constant wind of 15-20 with gusts of 30. Saw 4 longbeards and 5 fawns. I wished it wouldnt have blown like that so I could've got a good feel for the area, if it was holding deer or not. It seems to have deer still in it so we will probablly give it another shot or 2. Didn't see much but it was better than sitting around the house.

September 30 evening
little woods food plot set. Bumped 3 deer climbing into the stand. Had a doe come in behind us and wind us. Then at dark had 2 does and 2 fawns come out at 150 yds away. Slow hunting the last few sits.It's been windy the last few times out and they just cut the alfalfa. Come on November!

Camoed Assassin wrote:

September 30 evening
little woods food plot set. Bumped 3 deer climbing into the stand. Had a doe come in behind us and wind us. Then at dark had 2 does and 2 fawns come out at 150 yds away. Slow hunting the last few sits.It's been windy the last few times out and they just cut the alfalfa. Come on November!

You should be use to the wind,After the way it blows on us in Illinois.
Slow here to,Think the ole BRIGHT moon may have a little to do with it,Plus the Oct Lul is moving in.

October 3 Morning

Went out this morning by myself because CA had camping plans with the family. Not much action this morning as I went and got in our feeder set. We had a SSW wind and temps. in the 60's and I forgot to mention a almost full moon. So with warm temps and a full moon the hopes were not to high of seeing a lot of deer. About a half an hour after daybreak a spotted movement down by the water hole and it was three small bucks. They got a quick drink and as fast as they appeared the were gone. As for the rest of the morning it was nothing but a few tree rats and about 15 hens eating on the corn. Not much action.

October 3 Mid Day

Went out and did a llittle scouting trying to find where the deer are moving and to hang two trail cameras. I walked down from the feeder stand to a set that has not been hunted this year and found the magic oak tree. The deer have been diging up the ground looking for more acorns. So I knew I had to be there that afternoon.

October 3 Afternoon

I had a WNW wind and was not sure if the magic oak tree was going to work. The only advantage was there were about six different trails coming into this tree. So all in all they could come from any where. I decided not to take the camera and just use this as a scouting trip to see if we needed to adjust this stand or if they were using it at night. But I did take the bow and I was glad I did. I got to the stand around 4 and about 5:30 a doe and a fawn came up the hill but went just out of range. I could still see them through the trees as they feed on acorns for a while. About 30 min later I seen one coming in from where they were feeding and out steped a 3 pt. Not what I was looking for but then the doe and the fawn where coming in and again the offered no shot. As they turned to go down the hill I saw another coming from the same area and out steped a young doe and at 10 yards. I burried the pin and squezzed the shot off, she ran about 50 yards and pilled up. Then about 30 min. later two more does came up the hill to the magic oak tree and I was able to shoot another mature doe at 20 yards. She ran about 75 and pilled up. This was turning into a good night. To bad CA was not here to run the camera. It would have been some awesome footage. A few more does came in at dark but I decided two was enough for tonight and packed it up and started to get to work. We are planning to get back in this stand on Mon. or Tues. this time with the camera and hopefully lay down a few more does. We will keep you updated.

October 6 evening

Went to the set that TG sat saturday. Wind was perfect for this set. A front was moving in and the barometric pressure was falling along with acorns. There were some fresh rubs on some descent size trees and the ground was pretty tore up under the oaks. The multiple trails leading to the oaks are being beat down. No deer. Man I hate October.

October 10 morning.

Went to the second powerline stand. As soon as the sun popped up the wind started blowing 10-20 right into the the hillside we were hunting. At first light we had a hen yelping below us then a small buck come right under our stand. We also had a gobbler gobble 6-8 times down the ridge from us. Didn't see anything else the rest of the morning.


October 11 morning.

This is the first Sunday we have ever been able to hunt here in Frederick county Md. We sat the Magic Oak stand. We bumped 2 on the way in. One went to the north which was allright, but the one that was just below the stand went south. It blew a few times then ran down the hill out into the field, probablly taking eveything with it. Didn't see anything today except a ton of tree rats. A few more descent rubs showed up in the past few days. Nobody else on the farm has been seeing much either. With the alfalfa being freshly cut, the beans turning and the corn still standing on the neighboring properties the hunting is going to be a little slow till November. The corn hopefully will be coming off in the next few weeks from what we hear.

October 17th evening

We sat the new hillside set. TG has been seeing most of the deer on our hit list coming out near this set for a week every evening. With the temps being about 15-20 degrees colder than normal for this time a year, the deer were hammering the standing bean field. It has been raining for the last 3 days and today was no exception. With a steady rain all day and a high of 42 this was going to be a miserable sit but it should be productive. We got to the stand at 2:45 and we had deer in the beans before we got strapped to the tree. The rain kept falling and the deer kept coming. The big 8 we got on video opening day came into 40 yards and I MISSED him. Shot under him. After he left the field the Big 9 and Lucky Buck came out. We also saw The High Rack 8. These deer stayed out about 70-80 yds. The Piebald Doe I've been after for 3 years made an appearance but she was about 400 yds to far. We saw over 40 deer tonight and probablly over a dozen bucks. I'm working on the video now and hopefully will have it up tomorrow. Sorry THE AFFLICTED should of had some good points to put up tonight.

October 18

We went back to the new hillside set because of all the action last night and the wind was suposed to be good for that set again. Well the wind didn't stay consistent, it swirled pretty much all evening. It seemed that when a deer got close to being in range the wind would switch and blow our scent right to them. We saw about 30+ deer tonight. Some deer came in behind us as camera light was just begining to start to fade, so I picked a nice doe, made sure TG was on her and let one loose. The Rage cut a nice 2" gash right through both lungs but the old girl had some fight in her. She ran 150 yards before piling up. Feels good to get one after the miss last night. I will work on the video of the last to hunts and hopefully get it up this week.

October 25 morning

Hunted the magic oak set. Tried a rattling session at first light and about 20-30 minutes later 2 small bucks came up the hill looking all over the place. At about 9:00 another buck slipped in behind us in a thick gutter and we diddn't get a great look at him but he appeared to be a 2 year old. Before we left we made a mock scrape.



October 25 evening

Got to the spot were we park and get dressed and we saw a group of 5 4 wheelers coming thru the midle of TG's property. They saw us and turned around and took off. We went to the neighbors and one of the guys over there took his 4 wheeler and tried to find them. Well he found them and told us where they were going and where we could cut them off. Went down there and gave them a stern warning and left it at that. We went back to the neighbors and we found out where most of them live and talked about hunting for awhile, then we left to do some hunting.
Got to the magic oak late about 5:00. At 5:30 a button buck came in and fed under us for over a half hour. Right at last camera light a spike came in and was freshening up all the scrapes around the stand. He sniffed our mock scrape and licking branch but didn't mess with it to much. He worked his way to a scrape behind us and was tearing up that one when another buck came up from the gutter. It turned out to be the last buck we saw this morning. He made his way up the hill to the spike and pushed him off the scrape pretty aggressively and then he worked that scrape. Looks like things are starting to heat up!

November 1 evening

We sat the magic oak stand.Had a good wind, a NNE. We bumped 2 little fawns on the way in. Saw a few more rubs around but with the wind and rain we had the last couple of days all of the scrapes were covered up, so they haven't been hit lately. About 5 a small year and a half old 8 came in right under the stand. Then we saw a little button buck, and that was it for the night. Hopefully we can get out atleast one evening this week. TG has seen a couple of young bucks pushing does, we want to be in the stand when the big boys decide to join in on the chasing.

November 6 morning

We sat the old lower hillside set.It was nice and cool in the low 30s with the wind do the typical changing every couple of minutes. The wind is never constant down here but as long as it doesn't blow from the NE or SW we are fine and usually it wont. We had a doe and 2 youngins come in just as we were finishing setting up. Had 2 more little ones on top the hill and a bunch way off in the distance. We got out of the stand at about 10 after no action for over 3 hours. We went to check a few scrapes and while we were there we had a big 8 crossing the field about 300 yds out just cruising.

November 6 evening

After a quick lunch we hopped back into the same set as the morning. We were back in by 1:30. At about 2 we had the little ones back out in front of us. Had a bunch out in the fields on the neighboring property but nothing close. At 4:45 we had a real nice 2 1/2 year old 8 come into 35 yds chasing a doe. No shooters today but the rut is here and it's just a matter of time.

November 7 morning

We were back in the old lower hillside set. We had a nice young 8 we have been seeing alot of cutting off a doe in the field below us. He chased her up by us at 60-70 yds. He has a 8-10 inch gash in his right hind quarter and another puncture wound right in front of the gash. Someone put a whoopin on him. Saw a bunch of youngings by themselves. Had a nice doe stroll by but couldn't get her to stop in range. We left the stand at 10.

November 7 evening

Back to the same set and back to the orphanage. We probablly saw 10 little ones and right before last camera light we had 2 does and 3 fawns come by at 40 yds. We get back to the truck and another guy hunting TG's farm said he shot a biggin but when he shot it quartered to him. We went to look for some sign because from what he said it hit right behind the shoulder then to the opposite rear leg so he should have gotten one lung and liver. We only went about 30 yds from the shot and couldn't find anything so we will look after the morning hunt tomorrow.

November 8 morning

We sat the new lower hillside set. We had deer skirt us yesterday and go right by this set so we figured we get in it and smoke a doe or something to get a kill on film for TG before I go to Iowa. Not gonna happen today. We saw the same nice 2 1/2 year old 8 that we saw chasing a doe yesterday but now the doe wasn't running from him. Other than that we saw a few way out in the field and a little one came near the stand. We went and looked for the deer that the guy shot last night and we found him within 30 minutes of looking. He made it about 250-300 yds. When we found him he was still warm, limber and the blood trail was really fresh. The deer couldn't have been dead for an hour. Will shot this deer at 5 last night and we found him at 9:30 this morning.The shot was bad, it entered 4 inches in front of the left rear leg and exited in the middle of the opposite leg. It just goes to show, if you dont have good blood and a bad hit, back out. We probablly would not have found this deer if we would have pushed him last night because we had hardly no blood trail. All in all it was a good morning. We didn't see many deer but we found a friends biggest buck with a bow. I'll get some pics up of his deer in a little while.

November 13 Iowa

Got to camp, shot the bow and went scouting. Saw a nice 150s ten and a 130s ten both doggin does so we should be in for a good hunt. Guys are saying they have noticed alot of action the last 2 days. 2 guys in camp hunted one of the Illinois camps and shot a 182 and a 144. Another couple of 160s hit the dirt this week in Illi to. Will be going to the woods tomorrow with the bow instead of just binos.

November 14

Went out this morning to the second power line set. No deer while on stand. I get out and start heading back to the truck and I spot a shooter, I think he was an 8 but I know he had a good frame and spread with decent tine length. I called a couple of guys hunting around that area and told them to be ready because it was spot and stalk time. I started in and got a phone call and my Uncle had put an arrow in a nice buck. I don't know if it was the one that I had seen but he had came from that area. While taking it all in I was sitting there packing my stuff up when The Big 8 dogged a doe across the wheat field about 150 yards away. The same deer that CA had missed earlier in the year. I tried grunting to him and I got no response. I was albe to get out with out him knowing I was there and met up with my uncle. He said his shot was way back and he could not find any blood. So we are going to go look for blood later this evening. If we don't find any we will back out until tomorrow morning. I will keep you all updated and hopefully post some pics.