It's time in WNY....

[wilmsmeyer]

In 3 days archery season opens here and the forcast looks good from a weather standpoint. Much of the corn is now down and things are opening up.

Where I hunt we do not do tons of scouting. The land is the same each year for the most part. Bottlenecks, ridges, feilds, thickets and a large swamp. Most stands (all hang-ons) are left in place each year and only checked for trimming and safety. This year there are 4 new locations for bow. Total of 29 stands.

So...no one has seen any real big bucks out here yet. However, we haven't really been looking. There are sure to be a few beauties around. Don't have trail cams and don't spotlight and the big boys don't seem to play much during daylight....yet.

Leaves are at, or just past, full peak color and some trees are dropping them fast. It's time to hunt in some form or another from now until almost Christmas. Like every year, time is going to fly for the next 2 months.

Having a digital camera this year, I will be trying to take a bunch of pictures in the woods of deer that get passed on and other interesting things seen while on stand. Although it is very hard to hunt and take pictures at the same time.

Good luck to everyone and ware your safety strap!

[wilmsmeyer]

The weekend was fun. Saturday I saw alot of deer including 2 bucks. Neither very big. Sunday was better. The picture of the small 8 pt was taken right after he and a smaller buck got done sparring under the stand. Saw 3 bucks and no does from that stand Sunday am. Sunday pm was interesting. Went to a very easy to reach stand at 3:30 pm. It's a south wind stand. We had a south wind. However it swung from south to north 1/2 hour into the hunt so I bailed out and went to a different stand. We normally use it for gun season but there is limited bow potential, and almost unlimited viewing. I figured I would just "waste" the afternoon "scouting" from that tree.

No pictures (I said it was tough to hunt and take pictures!) but, I saw 2 very nice bucks over 100 yds away in a small clearing. The view was not perfect due to a thicket between me and these deer. By very nice I would estimate 120 or so. Right on the borderline of what I want....so they may have gotten a pass if they came in. 3 other bucks and a few does also were seen here. Fun times
this is where I saw the 2 good bucks
This is where I hunted Saturday am
The little 8pt that was sparring 15 yds from my tree with a smaller buck.

I'll try to keep reporting if anyone is interested

[DW]

Well heck yeah we are interested . Thanks for the pic and report. Good luck.

[wilmsmeyer]

Some large bucks are beginning to show themselves around here. Sightings by the roadsides of big bucks is a sure sign that things are starting to shape up for pre-rut.

Saturday is supposed to be a nasty, washout. So...I'm leaving work at 3:00 this afternoon and heading to a sweet spot for a quick hunt before the front moves in.

It is amazing how the "big guys" stay so hidden all summer and fall and then show up. Makes me tingle. The bigger bucks are truly a different creature of habit and that what makes it so much sweeter when one gets close enough for an opportunity.

One day I'll try out a trail camera. My only problem is that I'd want 7 or 8 to just begin to cover the areas that need to be monitered. A guy 20 miles from here has a huge farm (4000+ acres) and is friends with my hunting partner. He just got a trail cam and captured a truly HUGE buck the other night. Appears to be a 12 or 13 pt. Brows are over 8 inches and the other points are fairly even and in the 10 inch range. Booner. He spends most of his days outside in that area and has never seen this buck. But...there he is moving at night. It's things like this that make me want to be out there every minute I can be...with the right wind...and to live forever!

Maybe I'll get a few more pictures on stand tonight if situations allow.

[wilmsmeyer]

Wind was SE tonight: Got in stand at 3:20. Saw 7 or 8 bucks and when I had the chance, I took a few photos: No really big ones tonight but one good 10 pt that needs another year.

Hawk (Sharp Shin) that landed close by and hung around long enough to "shoot"

Small 8 pt that walked right under the stand with a 4 pt that got a pass.

Doe that was trying to make me but never did.

Ok 10 pt (Probably 110 class) that will get passed if he ever comes closer.

Fun afternoon. weather looks crappy for the morning.

[DW]

Nice pics and report.
Everything seems bottled up on the farm I hunt, I haven't seen a deer in daylight the last two times I've been out , cold weather is on the way though, and the rut soon to follow..

[wilmsmeyer]

Back at it this morning. Nice light North wind which will put me in a very unsoiled stand that is one of my favorite. Last weekend was a bugger. Wet and windy Saturday and very windy Sunday. Hunted a little but deer did not seem very active.

Hoping today will be "hot" in the woods. November is here and bucks should be a little more active. Maybe Mr. Big will show up.

[wilmsmeyer]

A pair of small 8 pts in the am. Took picture of one that was close enough (20 yds). The afternoon was better. Only saw one buck but it was "him". A 130-140 class Buck. Could not glass him due to deer all around me. Looked like a 10 PT. But at 100 yds I really couldn't say anything for sure other then he had 3 long tines on each beam.

He harrasses all the deer in the feild and then chased most of them into a pine thicket. Very nice deer and with a totally different wind today, I have to hunt a stand on the other side of that thicket this morning.

[DW]

Thats odd, I had a chance at a 130 class 8pt yesterday also. If it had been a bang-bang situation I would have pulled the trigger for sure due to the great tine length(8-12" G2&3's) but the brow tines were short+small circumferences and spread. Beautiful looking buck and if he makes it to next season he will be a dandy, but I'm trying to hold out for something in the 140+ range.
The rut is close at hand here. A scrape that is always in the same place year after year about 70yds upwind of the stand is active. When I walked past the scrape I could see where something had urinated in the scrape during the night, the 8pt I passed on might have been checking it from downwind, also passed on a 8pt that would have went around 115" that passed downwind of the scrape. I have watched 2 bucks in the past week urinate down their hind legs. A guy I work with says the 6 bucks he has been feeding in his yard are starting to wreak of buck urine.
Keep the pics and reports coming.

[wilmsmeyer]

DW,

Had a awesomely perfect wind in a perfect spot this Sunday. Waiting for things to start happening. However, just afew does at daybreak. Then 4 hrs of nothing. Very Very odd for that spot. To me that says that something had the place riled up earlier and scattered everything. Seen it B4.

Anyhow it was a great sit. 24 degrees and heavy frost and very light rising SE winds. It was so perfect. The afternoon was different. I went to 2 stands. Both times the wind switched 180 Degrees on me and by 4:00 I gave up trying to predict swirls and went home early. I wont stay on stand if the wind isn't right. The kind of buck I want won't put up with that.

I see your sights are set high too. That's good. We're on the same page. After a 10 year period of killing the first nice buck I saw I began letting them go. Now a 100 class buck is an automatic pass no matter the stage or lack of success during the season. 110-120 bucks get a good look and if they give me enough time I will let them slide too. At 125 things get hairy for me. My best bow buck is about 120. 2 Gun bucks in the mid 140's. At 125, especially a 125 8 point cause he's got it in tine length, I might still pull the trigger. This is the stage I want to get over. We kill so many of these bucks only to wish we didn't.


DW, I can tell by your posts that You know what I mean. Sounds as if we are both lucky enough to be able to pass on ANY bucks no less 120-130 class bucks. I'm lucky to hunt where I hunt and hunt with the folks I hunt with.

[DW]

I'm lucky to hunt where I hunt and hunt with the folks I hunt with.

That's the key IMO. If you hunt with like minded individuals it is not as hard to let them walk, never easy, but it makes a big difference. The guy I hunt with and I have an agreement, if one of us lets one go the other guy will not take him. Mistakes are going to happen, especially in gun season when you just don't have time to nit pick a rack and have to make split second decisions on whether to shoot or not, everyone has to deal with that. There is no doubt, if I had only seen a side view of that buck Saturday morning I would have taken the shot, I would have regretted it after wards because like you said, those are the ones that need passed on to get into the mature stage of their life.

I don't hunt the type of acreage you are hunting but with the exception of last year we usually see at least two 140+ bucks during the summer, so really there is no good reason to settle for less, especially in bow season. We don't have the bedding cover so we might only see them once a week or every other week. We know they are there or close by but there is no way to pattern them, pretty much you have to be lucky enough to be sitting in the right stand on the right day. I haven't gotten lucky, yet.

[wilmsmeyer]

The life of a trophy hunter is bitter sweet. I think the ultimate high would be to score on a great buck in the last hour of the last day of bow season. This would give me the chance to witness many many deer and bucks, hold a "live" tag the whole time, and fill it with a great deer....never missing one day afeild. So far it's working that way. If I wanted to kill a buck that would be easy...so why just do it...harder things mean more if you can do them.

I have Thurs, Fri, Sat and Sun to hunt. Peak chase phase according to what I'm starting to see and what I have seen in the past. We'll see what goes down. Maybe the big one.

Since nothing changes much except weapon, gun season, with Savage in hand, opens up the possibilities more on Nov 15. The "scouting" that bow season provides gives me an edge for an opening day stand choice.

Right now I feel like it's christmas eve for the next week. Christmas could be any day now! Sleep comes hard.

Good luck to you DW.

[wilmsmeyer]

Here we go. I've got the next 4 days to hunt and then bow will be over for me. Rut is kicking in. My partner has the whole week off and this morning he passed on a 130 class 10 pt. It's the biggest buck he's ever passed and he has set the bar now.

I will have a tough time doing that.

Bucks are showing themselves even though the temps are very warm. A few people in town had bucks get trapped in their yards and "lost" as they went from one yard to another. That means things are starting to cook.

[wilmsmeyer]

Put in 8 long shifts over the past 4 days...coming in for lunch only and shooting 2-3 shots with the Savage. Sad to say no arrows fired this year.

However, I did pass a "chump" shot on a 115-120 8 pt on Thurs am at 15 yds broadside. This may be the best buck I've passed and I don't regret it. Hope he survives gun season.

I probably passed 15 bucks this season waiting for a real nice one. Saw 2 that qualify that never came in. Was hoping to at least bloody an arrow on a fat doe last night but with 30 mph winds the tree was awfully swaying and deer were skittish and distant.

Savage time on Nov 15. Guess this thread is over.

[DW]

Unfortunately the peak of the rut I feel has come and gone here as well with no "Big Ones" surrendering to us either. Still have a couple more weeks to go before the guns crack though.

Hope your sacrifice this year turns into a great harvest with the bow next year.
If you can keep everybody on the same page for a couple years hunting the amount of acreage you are hunting I feel confident you can increase your odds greatly of at least seeing those shooter bucks every year, never going to be easy getting an arrow in one year in year out, but you have the acreage to do some quality management.
I went to a seminar by Dr James Kroll years ago, I got an autographed copy of his book and we had a chance to ask a quick question or two for buying the book. The question I asked was how much property did he feel was the minimum for quality management and he told me at least a 1000 acres, so at least you have that going for you. That and the commitment to let the little ones walk. Good luck.

[wilmsmeyer]

Thanks DW for your input on this thread. Reinforcement is good. My season did not put meat in the freezer but did put memories in my brain. Having the opportunity for "success" is almost as good as success itself.

Savage time!

[DW]

Thanks for sharing the pics and your journal so to speak. Look forward to following along next year if you decide to do so.