TOPIC: DeerHunting 2012

Just got my 2012 buck this afternoon. Hope you other guys get lucky like I did today;)

Nice one 5 ! Looks like he was worth the wait and effort.

Hillhopper

Ditto!!!! Nice job 5.
Latt

Congrats 5prong! That is a great looking 8 pointer!

I am going to have to change my hunting strategies for the buck I missed last Saturday as well as any of the other bucks in the area (from all of the signs, it appears there is at least one more big buck and some smaller bucks) that I have been hunting. The deer have all but abandoned this location and it appears that only one of the bucks may be checking the rub trails and scrapes late at night. I believe that bear hunters have been hitting this area hard just to run their' dogs at night since there is no Bear Season in right now! I have seen dog tracks in almost every scrape as well as many of the spots where the deer have pawed up looking for food. This is the only explanation I can come up with for them to abandon this area which hit heavy in acorns and am now left to find where they have moved.


Frank

Thanks for all the nice comments guys.

Frank, I don't know how the rut is coming along down there, but bucks have been seeking and chasing does for the past week up here. I had been hunting just off of doe trails. Last Tuesday I saw about 30 deer total with about 7 or 8 of them in shooting range, but only the smaller bucks and a few does offered shots. The buck that I took on Thursday was taken in a real good funnel area just off a doe trail. I was actually set up in the same tree that I took last years buck from. I've dubbed it the \"killing tree\" as I've also taken several does from that tree. It's the best set up I've ever stumbled upon, especially when something causes the deer to move. sometimes its pressure from other hunters or predators, sometimes they are just moving from feeding to bedding areas or vice versa, but my favorite is just that natural urge to reproduce because those bucks let their guard down more than any other time of year.. that dude that I got actually spotted me in the tree before I had a shot opportunity. Any other time of year he would've blown out of there, but because he had other things on his mind he just turned to walk off, took a couple of steps and offered up his ribcage for a 25 yard broadside shot...

Sometimes its better to be lucky than good

Nice buck 5.Huntsman Tinks has a drip bag that is very effective on bring big bruisers out of thier normal patterens.might be worth a try for a good bruiser thats a cruisen..

5prong, There is plenty of evidence that the rut is in here. However, I have not been able to witness any bucks dogging the does yet! This is due in part to the deer spotting and/or winding me when I was seeing them and because of the long drive and my back problems, I am unable to stay a whole day or hike extreme distances. This location is located almost 50 miles from my' home, is around 3,400 to 3,600 feet in elevation and rises over another 1,000 feet in less than a 1/2 mile. Due to whatever has spooked them, it is possible that the deer have moved to or near the top of the mountain and some only come down during the night to feed and breed, then move back to the top by morning. However, I believe that they have moved further around the mountain to where I use to see a lot of deer and also have taken quite a few over the years but signs of deer in this area have been very sparse in the last 4 years. On a hunch, I will try to get up there Sunday or Monday morning and see if I am right and hope my luck changes!

Just A Senging, I have had a large variety of mixed results with using scents to lure in bucks. I once had a young buck following me while I was bow hunting because I had cotton balls soaked in Tinks #69 Doe In Rut lure tied to my' boot laces and had some come in and investigate mainly after the fact. However, I have found that if there is an old caretaker doe with a group of deer and you use Doe Pee or Doe In Rut scents, she will bust you everytime. In the past few years, I stick mainly to using grunt tubes to imitate does, fawns and even bucks and the occasional use of rattling horns but even these give mixed results.


Frank

P.S. There is only 6 days left in Muzzleloader Season and then Gun Season comes in. While I am somewhat handicapped by the effectiveness of a muzzleloader and getting use to a new muzzleloader, I am not as handicapped with my' Deer Rifle and the bucks should be forwarned!

Frank,
My wife and I were on the mountain yesterday and Bear Season is open in N.C. They had run a bear out of the N.C. side and it had come down into the Boomer Den Gorge. The hunters were all over the road with radio receivers tracking the dogs and listening to them run from a 1/4 mile away. I did not see very much fresh signs in the upper area and I was all over the mountain. Boomer got another grouse up and that was it. We saw several deer in the area along the road as you are approaching the mountain that I had mentioned to you yesterday or the day before. You're going to have a tough time in that upper section if you go today.
Hugh

Nice buck there 5Prong! Good shootin! And great eatin, later....

I think we are entering the post-rut here in piedmont NC. Not nearly as much pushing of the does going on here.

How much meat did you get?

Hugh Hartsell wrote:

Frank,
My wife and I were on the mountain yesterday and Bear Season is open in N.C. They had run a bear out of the N.C. side and it had come down into the Boomer Den Gorge. The hunters were all over the road with radio receivers tracking the dogs and listening to them run from a 1/4 mile away. I did not see very much fresh signs in the upper area and I was all over the mountain. Boomer got another grouse up and that was it. We saw several deer in the area along the road as you are approaching the mountain that I had mentioned to you yesterday or the day before. You're going to have a tough time in that upper section if you go today.
Hugh

Hugh, I did not go hunting this morning due to my' back but it is just as well! With the Bear Hunters and their' dogs stirring things up on the mountain, you are probably right about having a tough time. I know that they have as much right to be there as I do but they have long been a thorn in my' a** in trying to deer hunt on the mountain! While most of the other Deer Hunters have all but given up hunting that area, I am a tenacious S&% that refuses to do so. However, maybe it is the time right now to try out some lower elevation areas where the rut might still be in progress. I can keep that area in mind for Gun Season as the later season has always seemed to be better for getting a buck there. I have hunted that area sporadically over the past 15 years and in that time, (if my memory serves me correctly) I have taken 6 bucks during the 8 Gun Seasons that I have actually hunted there.


Frank