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With about three inches of fresh snow overnight, I went out this morning to wander around and maybe find a bull moose on the last day of my season. Didn't even cut a track. Not ready to leave the peace of the early winter woods, I decided to make a loop over to pick up a trail cam card in my deer spot. The plot got eaten right off in mid September, but it is a natural funnel from several directions and a staging area for bedding to feeding activity. And more importantly an area that bucks cruise, taking inventory. There's a few young, up and comer's hanging around and one buck that will likely be 160" made a couple of nocturnal visits earlier.

Now my mind hasn't really been on deer yet this season. Mountain hunts take up all my time and focus from mid August on and deer hunting seems so far away. But when I popped the card in the computer, the first pic was in the daytime of one of the stubby thick 4X4's from last season. Just like that, it's deer season!! Now I'm excited and anxious to get at it! Last year, I kind of had in mind to shoot one of these bucks this year, given the opportunity, And it looks like I might get that chance!

I won't shoot anything right away because I like to drag it out a bit and also to see if there is something special that may show up. Old, thick and ugly will definitely get the nod over most anything else. Score is not a priority, but always a factor.

Anyway, tomorrow morning it all starts again and I will have regular updates throughout the day and there could be many days.

Hopefully the snow and colder temps have put Mr-Fat-Ass-Blind-Wrecker to bed. His options are in bed or dead.

Looking forward to your posts during my hunt. Whack a toad!!

I’m all settled in and morning has showed up. It’s about 26F with three inches of soft snow. I cut one set of big tracks from a toe dragger, long stride and straight line. He’s cruising and filling out his dance card for rut hoe-down coming soon.

His anticipation is not unlike ours. Ours is more sophisticated, but no less visceral. Anticipation for the season, then the week, then the day or moment. We will both have battles, some lost some won, and many of us will limp off with nothing to show for it but tired bodies and dissapountment.

But, in a few scant days we’re already having the “Next Year” dreams. Even the little beam from my headlamp this morning seemed to be dancing on the snow, eagerly urging me to “keep up, we’re almost there!”

Good luck to everyone out this morning!! It’s a magical time for hunters

What was planted in your food plot?

Looking forward to following along, Rod. Good luck!!

Just had two does and a fawn through My Deer Per Hour (DPH) meter just got its first needle bump. Hope some bone is next!

Bet it is chilly this AM! Kurt

I am encouraged by the amount of buck (big, dragging) tracks criss-crossing the area. It's my belief, the dominate bucks are inventorying the does so they can efficiently run checks for hot ones all through their areas, which could easily be twenty five square miles.

Back at it tomorrow and pretty steady from there on.

Take care of your family obligations and get back out there!

Whatever the day brings, I’m blessed and grateful to live the life I do.

It’s pretty predictable. Always starts with smaller bucks hanging with the does, making you think there’s nothing mature around. But then when the does actually become receptive those aloof big guys just come striding in, large and in charge. That’s the small window I wait so patiently for. And it’s always worth the days and days of sitting!

Maybe today! Good luck to everyone out there doing the same.

Enjoying your great posts while experiencing much of the same down here. Just now figuring out where to commit for my decoy/calling/rattling setups in the mornings. Backpack loaded, ready to hike in.

Good luck and keep up the good work!!

One doe came by just after dark. So seven deer total, one small buck for ten hours of “work”. The needle on the DPH meter is going to seize up.

The next two days are afternoons only. Hate to miss any time at this crucial stage, but family first.

Pulled a couple of cam cards and of course there was a big buck there in the mid morning, when I wasn't. There was only one pic and the buck was behind a tree with just the ear and one side of the rack showing. The antler was well past the ear and looked fairly thick. I believe it was the buck that was around earlier and should be about 160". Or possibly a newcomer checking out the girls. Hopefully I get to see him in person. Maybe tomorrow!

He did provide me with a lot of anticipation and also tag soup for a few years.

my best, Paul

Love following your thread. Great work!

Awesome.

Now either you or Lou need to get busy finding one of the big boys!

Lou, your the third solid endorsement, for Nose Jammer, I’ve heard on bowsite this season. Are you convinced?

That nose jammer stuff sounds interesting from the reports. May have to look into it...

Should just keep getting better for you late season guys! We have a good cold front down here in Colorado that should get them moving... Hopefully we get to see one of those big boys on the ground soon!

Two more does and a fawn came by right at dark. We could be in lockdown stage right now. If so, all heck should break loose in the next few days. Back in for a full day tomorrow.

Are you in a place where you can glass during lockdown, or do the mature bucks simply disappear and all you see are frantic little bucks pushing does around?

Good luck to all out enjoying the gift of nature and the love of it. I wonder what would be a WAG as to how many bow hunters are out this morning across NA

Wish I was out there but I have to be at work so I'll just keep checking in on you. Good luck!!

Cooped up in an office and not getting much of any time in the woods this fall.

Love these threads with good pictures and details of your observations and thoughts as you enjoy all of nature’s glory. Helps me cope with my sterile, drab surroundings!

Crab4 is a DOI (deer of interest) but not a big buck at all. Only a personal, up close appraisal can decide yay or nay. His general confirmation does appeal to me.

But I got a text from good Buddy that he just put an arrow through the big 6X6 he’s been waiting on. He’s going to give it half an hour then go get him. Said the shot was perfect.

3" of foreskin and 4" of clothing... :>)

Over the last two nights there has been a small fork, a big fork, two different 2X3’s and the Crab4. Last night a 5X6 showed up that is pretty much a carbon copy of the 6X7 I shot last season when he was that age. He’s not a big buck, just nice and it would be cool to hang him next to his Dad on the wall. Knowing his potential, but also that he likely won’t be around next year, I’m not sure if I should shoot him, given the chance.

Right now I’m leaning toward the Crab4. He’ll never be a cranker and I do like his looks. There’s also the 160” somewhere around here. Plus the chance of the Wild Card buck that could waltz through.

It’s great to be blessed with tough decisions!!

Can't wait to see a wild card pop up! Show us a picture of your buddies buck!

Yeah, the “perfect shot” on my Buddies 6X6 turned out to be not perfect. He was quartering away and the arrow hit to far forward. Looks like one lung. They jumped him out of his first bed. They watched him bed again within one hundred yards. Repeated the process one more time then backed out till this morning. They should be on the trail now.

This spot has five trails that all intersect a long creek bottom. When the bucks are chasing, the does do long figure 8’s, clover leafs and loop-D-loops that often come right past me. It’s not unusual to see the same young bucks four or five times a day as they chase scent and hope for a (get) lucky break. It doesn’t seem to be happening yet this year though. Not in the daytime anyway.

To midwest’s Seinfeld reference. “Like a frightened turtle”

It’s about 35F and raining steady for the day. But the temp is supposed to dive well below freezing for a couple of days and night. I firmly believe that the temps have no effect on rut/breeding timing. But when it gets real cold here the deer simply have to put more fuel in the stove and that means they are on their feet and moving. And that means more sightings and chances.

Anyway, I have two more days, then my buddy, Adam, is off work for three days and he’ll sit this blind. The timing should be perfect for him to body slam his mule deer monkey.

The rain has turned to snow. It’s dark, dreary, wet and chilly. Just not much friendly in the weather today. But a warm carcass with improve things greatly!

Thanks for taking us along!

"There is hope when carbon is in the air!"

-An Old Canadian Proverb

Mark

Another Canadian bowhunter once told me something similar to what Mark said "if arrows aren't flyin' nothin's dyin'...." I forgot who told me "they all get prettier at closing time...." =D

17F this morning and that soft, wet three inch blanket of snow is now a crunchy crust. Cams show lots of nighttime activity and I’m hoping the cold keeps the doe’s up and padding their hips. The bucks will just tag senselessly, but aggressively along behind.

A BILS showed up Wednesday night. A 4X5 with nice long brows, for a muley. He might be (dare I say) a shooter, or shootee or some other acceptable term.

Hope the deer run as much as my nose today.

Well, there isn’t much Live in this live hunt. My total for the day was six deer, two being bucks and no BILS. I did see the fork four times throughout the day , so at least he has started doing loop-d-loops. Hope a good buck does the same.

“What do we have if we don’t have hope.”

At 9:40 he wandered casually past my blind. He’s been rubbing the poplar saplings by the green on his bases. Hard to see but this is the other 2X3. They’re nearly identical, but the third point is on opposite sides.

So Righty shows up at 9:40, again at 12:20 and one more time comes following a doe and fawn in right at dark, at which point he decides to bed twenty five yards in front of my blind. I had to wait to well after dark and then run the whole works off. Meanwhile Lefty had a pass through at about half hour before dark and I saw another deer coming down the hill just at dark likely to join up with the others. I think that was Lefty also, seeing if his twin wanted to share, but I couldn't identify him in the dark.

So all in all I saw four different deer in ten hours. But being the optimist I'm going to say it was a great day 'cause i saw just as many bucks as does!

I'm going to take a couple days off. One of my daughters just donated a kidney and her husband is home with their three little boys now, so I'll help out with my grandkids. I guess if she can go through all that to give someone the gift of life, I can take a few days off trying to deliver the Kiss of Death.

But my Buddy will takeover. Maybe I just stink and he'll have better luck. I should be back after them Wednesday and hopefully there is one less.

I’ve got a new buck I’ve seen a couple of times this year. I call him “Harvey Weinstein”. I watched him sexually harass every doe on the bedding flat the other morning. Not a single word about it on the morning talk shows, either.

My wife donated a kidney several years back. Amazing gift that will change a life for the better!

My week will be chopped up a bit with helping out my daughter and some volunteer commitments. On a happy note, my daughter is doing well and the kidney receipient is doing fabulous. Near perfect match and perfect kidney.

One doe so far this morning and I just caught a flash of fur farther out in the bush. Good luck to all the others lucky enough to be out today!!

But the buddy (these two buddies are brothers) that got the 6X6 mule deer a few days ago, got a beautiful old whitetail yesterday from the same blind.

Another slow day so far and when I’m bored I eat. Bowsite is slow, no live hunts and Elkman is too busy to really put out the hate for Votex and Mathews. I solemnly promised myself this morning to use all my resolve to NOT eat my lunch before 12:00.

I’m happy to say I lasted till 10:30! Started with the peanut butter, honey, Nutella and bacon on toasted whole wheat. I wonder if there is a propane powered George Foreman grill? A little heat in it would have made it perfect.

The little guy has one side broke off. Must be fighting up a weight class or two.

Rick, I’d love to have an excuse to get as excited as you did on your video. Unequivocal comes to mind!

At 4:00 the same doe and dink came back for an exact repeat performance. Dark brought two more does. At the end of the day, I’m starting to feel like Charlie Brown when Lucy pulls the football away again.

AAAARRRRGGHH!! I can’t stand it!

It’s about 40F this morning and that’s WAY too warm. I guess it’s good for all the pussy’s putting up Christmas lights instead of hunting ‘cause their wives told them to. I’d rather see it around 15F, but at least my hands won’t freeze when I’m gutting and skinning. Just have to see what the day brings. Good luck to everyone.

Keep the reports rolling and good luck!

Mark

And just now another small buck marched straight through, nose down, almost like he’s backtracking the doe. I guess if a dink can walk past, so can (forgive me) a shooter.

It was pretty entertaining for a bit watching a magpie and a red squirrel trying to bluff each other off an apple core I threw out. They took turns charging each other until they both turned tail and left at the same time. Core is still there. Now, how does a squirrel know a magpie is not a hawk? And how does a magpie know a squirrel is not a weasel. I’m sure they don’t have that much interaction.

I watched a fawn nose bump a rabbit around the clover for a few minutes here once too. Rabbit had no concern.

The day was another in the series of bad beat downs. I saw nothing after 11:00 until I was just about to close the window. Three does came from the east and within a couple of minutes the dink fork came trotting in, for the second time, from the west. “Whoa, lucky break for you girls, you almost missed me.”

After a chilly reception, he wandered on his lonesome way, muttering to his hooves that someday they’re going be chasing him.

Beautiful day, sunny and just below freezing. Didn’t need the headlamp walking in with the full moon on the snow. Just seems like such a great day to kill a deer. And I’m sure once a deer got used to it, he wouldn’t mind either.

I have to take tomorrow off and look after grandkids. Twin, four year old boys and a very mobile one year old boy. It’s like herding cats with a garden hose sprayer. I’ll be very happy to get back to the peace and quiet of the blind on Saturday.

I’ve never seen this little guy before. The top of one point is kinked ninety degrees and looks like it has an acorn stuck on it. It’s not ‘cause we don’t have acorns. He snort wheezed the doe and she just fired out of there.

About forty five minutes of shooting light left.

It’s Monday and the start of the last five days of my season. I’ll be spending ten hours a day with my blind or until death do us part. Cam pics have been disappointing, with no decent bucks recorded for several days. But like I tell people, cam pics are a lot like tracks, encouraging and somewhat informing, but they make a thin soup. Just keeep putting the time in.

The little hybrid buck is bedded thirty five yards away. I could legally shoot him as a whitetail, but as a yearling, not much meat to risk missing a mule deer buck.

Just a matter of time. Thursday, I think.

Lou, are you in a post rut situation there too and changing tactics? This must be kinda like riding a (e)bike for you by now where actions come naturally. Keep on them and be smiling when the sun goes down.

The wearher here is terrible. One of the warmest November’s I can remember. It should be routinely close to 0F at night, instead it’s raining. The worst part of this is the aftermath if the temps suddenly drop and the ground gets an icy layer. Much of the deer’s feed is on very steep hillsides which they can’t access with the ice cover. That’s far worse than severe cold. Hopefully we get some drying before the winter weather hits.

So Tuesday starts. Good luck to everybody lucky enough to be out in this marvellous creation!

BOWNBIRDHNTER, congrats on your buck!! Thanks for the encouragement.

Tuesday is done and it turned out to be a four doe day. It rained until about 2:00, quit for half an hour then started up heavier till dark. A dark, cheerless day that offered only the comfort of eventually being over. Can't wait for tomorrow! Temperature should be just below freezing for the morning.

Three days left and like t-roy says; What else I got to do?!!

Two days ago three of the biggest bucks in the area were staging with seven does only 500 yards from my camp. Snuck in on top of them but no no recurve shot. None spooked, but I havent seen any of them since.

The good news is that I'm calling and decoying bucks into range pretty much every morning. Keep the faith. We still have three days!

Walking in this morning was uplifting. The leftover snow, that yesterday was sloppy wet and made a depressing “schluk” with each step, this morning crunched under foot and glittered in the clear half moon. Stars were out to wish me well as their night shift was nearly over. As much as yesterday’s mood seemed to say “sorry bud, better luck next time”, today’s is reassuringly positive.

I have a good feeling about today! Happy hunting, all.

But at least I’ve seen a buck before noon!

Digging through my lunch, I pulled out some meat leftover from last night’s BBQ. A memory from my childhood came to me. When I was a toddler, I was so homely my Mom had to tie a pork chop around my neck to get the dog to play with me and it worked great until the bone was clean.

It’s been about an hour now and so far it’s not working with deer. But the chop is getting warmed up a bit and will be better eating, so not a total loss.

Looks like my optimism for the day was a bit misplaced. Besides the buck at first light, two does and a fawn showed up at last light. That’s a long time between deer. Tomorrow is another day and two days left.

Just above freezing, overcast, foggy and damp. The ground is icey and that’s not good for the critters big and small and not good for hunting either. But you only have a chance if you’re out.

If the hybrid buck shows up today, I’ll have to consider my freezer situation and maybe cut a whitetail tag. If I was convinced he’d taste more like whitetail than muledeer, it would be an easier choice. I really like whitetail meat.

There’s an old Dutch saying that goes “Do not praise the day before it is done.” But any day that’ll be spent hunting is going to be a great day. For those fortunate enough to be out today, good luck, hunt hard and let the sunset find you still smiling.

This morning is 28F and low, fast moving clouds with plenty of holes to see the stars and waning moon. Feels like a really good deer day!

If the hybrid buck comes in today and I can get a shot where he will run either east or west I’ll try to kill him. I don’t want him to go south or west and create a commotion where ninety percent of the mule deer come from. East is toward my truck and an easy, quiet drag out.

Last day is here!

Today’s the day, Rod!

Thanks for taking us along!

Stick n string. Would I take it immediately and text my wife or wait till I get home and surprise her?

Saw four does at last light. And that is it for the 2018 mule deer quest.

BTW, on Thursday, when I was sure you would kill him, he was 40 yards away on the wrong side of the blind and caught you scratching your nethers.....he snickered, killed and ate "Lefty" and slunk back into the bush.....

Why so little deer action in a historically good spot? Warm weather is a factor, for sure. But all summer and fall, I've had the nagging feeling that numbers were just down. We had two big dumps of snow in February, but it was cold, fluffy snow, and from snowshoeing around it looked like the deer and certainly the moose were still moving freely. Coyotes, on the other hand, were hit hard, not being able to dig deep enough for mice or stay on top for rabbits. That was good news for fawn survival!

I have checked back on trail cam inventory and December '16 and '17 there were about eight to ten 3 1/2 year old bucks using the area and multiple younger bucks. They are just not here this year. I'll run cams all through the winter to see if anymore show up. I put out bales of alfalfa hay under big spruce trees and very cold weather finds them bedding in it for hours. Fawns in particular benefit from the thermal protection. Any energy reserves they can store for the rest of winter means a better chance of survival.

Hopefully December/January pics turn up good news. I don't mind not killing a deer, but I don't want it to be because the herd is suffering. Lots of yearling bucks and the fawns look to be in good shape, so that bodes well for the future, but missing an age class in the structure is not good either. The 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 year old's have a high mortality rate normally anyway with likely half not seeing their fourth birthday. A "natural' rise in mortality can wreak havoc for a few years. I hope they are just laying low!