Bowsite.com

Week 6. Things gotta give.

Cold front, rut, weather? Hope you all have time to hunt. I know a lot of guys that took off this past week.

Keep at it. Good luck.

Cold front? What's this cold front you speak of? It's supposed to be in the 70's the next four days.

Exactly, where do you get your weather from? Everybody is talking about the rut. I and a lot of my friends including the guys I hunt hard with have not seen any of it. We have seen some small bucks checking/harassing does but no chasing or typical rut activity. This heat is brutal, and the mosquitoes and gnats are just as terrible. Late rut here in SE PA fellows.

Shot a nice 8 point this morning at 7:30am. I’ll upload pics when I figure it out. He was on lockdown with a doe and a few other shooters also were observed this morning.

Good luck all!

Nice buck Jason.

Isn't it still the fifth week? We are getting a little rain here Sunday.

Jason, you have to put your buck pictures on the 5th week thread or it will not count. LOL. Cold fronts can bring change like rain, not necessarily colder weather. It was more of a question ? Jr., not a statement. We have mosquitoes too but we are a little farther north and it only got into the 60s yesterday.

Well, were in record setting territory here for all time highs in November. Man, no wonder the deer are not moving.

Goin to try in morning got a vacation day , 80 in the afternoon , hopefully something moves earlier in the am...

Art said

“Isn’t it still the fifth week?”

No, Art. No. According to temps, it’s the first week. In special regs area. Still, gearing up and heading out.

And its close to 60 already this morning at 6 AM. Going to be 70 plus here this afternoon. It didn't seem to matter around here yesterday. Still no more deer on the ground yet.

Still trying to adjust to the fact that the 1100 acre farm I hunted is now public land. Got to my favorite rut stand geared up, went to swap trail cam cards…trail cam is gone. Had one in here for 10 years.

I watched 2 does come out into our big field feeding about 8:30. While I was watching them I saw another deer approaching from across the field towards them. Couldn't see the rack at first but he was a shooter for sure. High, white and at least 8 points very visible thru my range finder at 300 yards. The does went back into the woodlot and the buck very alertly followed them. He walked within 20 yards of where Chise was sitting last evening.

62 at 5:45 this morning. Went out anyway and saw 8 deer between 50-100 yards. I couldn't id them all but at least one of them was a buck. I'm going to move the stand this afternoon to hopefully get a shot.

1 lone spike at 8 15 am , got down at 11 am hot and windy...

Something gotta give soon, just saw that little spike out searching , Goin to be hard to hunt after work much with daylite savings time...

Something gotta give soon, just saw that little spike out searching , Goin to be hard to hunt after work much with daylite savings time...

Something gotta give soon, just saw that little spike out searching , Goin to be hard to hunt after work much with daylite savings time...

Well, Pa just set an all time record high for this time of year! I cannot believe it.....

While bear hunting the swamp edge, I saw the same buck from this morning at sunset. He came out about 150 yards away and I stopped him with a grunt. One more grunt and he hit the mowed trail and came straight to my stand. I actually stopped him at about at 17 yards by saying hey. I was videoing him with my tacticam and just kept talking to him like he was my pet dog. He just stared at me motionlessly. If I can ever figure out how to post the video I will. Crazy. His rack was not quite as big as I thought. If only I had a buck tag tho. He walked off into the creek bottom and did not appear to be spooked. 2 and a half year old at least with a very dark face.

My son shot this guy Saturday morning at 9:15. He seen him about 75yds away, hit the bleat can and nothing, so he grunted and still nothing. He finally hit his rattle bag and the buck circled down wind and came right to his tree. First time in a awhile we both filled our buck tags in archery season. We also both got a doe earlier in the season. Cool thing is he stopped in front of his camera right before he shot him.

Here’s the picture right before he shot him.

Congratulations to you and your son! I think it's great to have a picture of the live deer to go with the ones after the shot.

Way to go, nice pictures.

Great pics Banjo- congrats to you and your son!

I saw a small 8pt tending a doe on Saturday- she bedded down and he just stood there for several minutes just watching her. He eventually bedded down there about 30’ from her for almost an hour.

Yesterday saw 2 small bucks chasing a bunch of doe around my yard while I changed my oil. Not chasing hard, but making the does pretty nervous.

This week should be good! : )

Just when the record books have seen it all, along comes another record high in November. I should have went to work and day dreaming about not bowhunting but a day in the 40's, too much to ask I guess.

Bowhunting 5c , this Saturday calling for 44 degrees for the high....

And rain too, Same as Friday, 62 and rain. 68 Friday and rain.

We can hunt this Sunday too.... yea been frustrated too, tell you the truth the rut is hit or miss , hate to complain but I havnt seen a good rut in years , sometimes I think the rut is over rated you mite get 1 decent day when there out there on the move then nothing.... maby I'm in the wrong spot , or wrong area of pa....

Bowhunter, I agree with you. To me the rut is way over rated. I’ve been bow hunting for 33 years and have killed a buck every year except 4 of them years. Only three of the bucks I killed were in November. Most of the guys I know don’t really start hunting until November, I hunt the whole season and see way more deer the first couple weeks of the season than I do during the rut. Don’t get me wrong, the rut can be a magical time but it’s hit or miss. The first week of the season I seen 42 deer and only hunted evening’s, was on vacation all last week hunted mornings and evening’s every day and seen 6 deer. 90 percent of the bucks I’ve killed were in the 3rd or 4th week of October. I take between 2 and 3 weeks vacation every year in archery season and average around 150 hours setting in a tree, even when I kill a buck before the rut I’m still out there hunting with a camera, or like this past week trying to kill a turkey with my bow. I’m on vacation this whole week as well, we’ll see what this week brings but I can pretty much guarantee I won’t see 42 deer like I did the first week of the season.

This morning was fun. Watched a 7 point trail a doe that was not interested for about 15 minutes on the other side of the hollow. There were a couple does in the big field on my way back to the house. This afternoon was not to hot but it cooled off quickly when the sun went down. About 5, a 4 point came off the hill behind me and and slowly worked his way to the field on top of the hill where I had been watching a doe for a half hour. 5 more deer were in the big field.

Well, Banjo, yes I hunt the entire season as well. Every chance I get to go out. I am snake bit a little right now, I have not even pulled my bow back on a deer yet. And have been at it since the SRA opener. I am not a big believer of the rut is only a November thing, over the last 5 years I have pics of newborn fawns in November and December. Not a week old. So it happens when it happens, and by this time I usually have 3-5 doe down, and this year I am just not seeing them. This year is brutal in a southerly weather pattern that will not end, and some of the stands I cannot burn out on terrible winds because I want to just hunt them. I have been at it since 1990 when the archery bug bit me hard, and I have touched double digits in bow kills twice in a season, when they actually let you buy doe tags. So yes, the frustration is setting in and the stand time wears on like a razor in this heat. In the last 3 weeks, there was only 1 buck that showed during daylight, guess which day? Yesterday of course! So yeah the frustration has set in, and I am just snake bit I guess. But the full moon was my friend tonight walking out, along with the record setting heat.

Slowest November for me ever, based on my records. I did shoot a decent 8 point his evening that I grunted in. Been skunked on quite a few sits. Interestingly, my records show the most intense rut activity prior to herd reduction. I did have a nice bobcat walk right under my stand this past Saturday. That was cool.

Dpms, I agree with you I havnt seen a good rut since the herd reduction. Not saying I don't shoot doe , but if I do it's with a compound or a flintlock, and I'm not a trophy hunter neither, if there was no antler restrictions and I'm up in my tree and a 4 point came by me he would be in my freezer.. them horns are tough eating.... some guys would pass that 4 point up but with a bow every deer is a trophy...

At least it was a beautiful day. Got to see the start of the eclipse this morning from my front door. Then I watched from my tree stand as the moon started to reappear then set behind the ridge as the sky was getting light. Deer next to the house when I got back.

Well, the tide turned for me tonight. This is the craziest thing though. I seen 9 doe tonight, 9 and 0 bucks, 4 different groups, and I finally got a chance to break in the new Hoyt tonight. 28 yards, downhill, broadside, she went less than 50 yards. A long nosed nanny, and again, zero bucks seen by all the guys tonight.

Tag is in the opposite ear, as an FYI.

I got lucky tonight after work shot a 6 point , got off work at 3. Shot him at 4 pm...

Congrats guys!

Congrats guys!

Seen a nice 9 point today, he's hanging out in Walmart's parking lot:(. Spikes and four points around the house. Congratulations to the successful hunters.

I got out for a few hours yesterday. Wind was swirling and it was like walking on corn flakes. Didn't see a deer even in places I usually see at least a couple.

I did run into another hunter as I was leaving in mid-afternoon for an appointment. He was complaining about the roads all being open to cars where we were hunting because people were lazy. Then he pulled out his crossbow, slung it over his shoulder and walked away while I thought about the irony of it all.

Way to go John and Shawn. I think that Hoyt is going to work for you Jr.

Thanks Art.. I can't agree enough. It's pretty awesome. One for one.

My buddy out in Fleetwood got a beautiful 10 point on the property I hunted when I was out in 5C the week before the doe hunt.

Thanks art , it was my first archery buck from the ground , 15 yard shot. There was no good trees to climb in the area with my climber so I winged it and found a big tree to hide behind it worked . Harvested a doe on the ground couple years ago. It was pretty cool... was in the woods 40 minutes , that don't happen often...

That ain't easy Shawn. Some of us here at the farm have been successful in blinds the last few years. Hard to just carry one with you tho. Gillie suits work at getting close until you move to shoot.

Tagged out this evening in 2A. She was being chased by a big half racked 8 point, seen lots of chasing this week. Tuesday evening I watched a little spike run off a bigger 6 point and a 5 point then proceeded to mount a doe 15yrds in front of me. The other two bucks probably had 30/40lbs on him but he was a little brute. Got it all on video too. Seen more rut action this week than I’ve seen in years.

Way to go, and before it got dark.

Rain in western PA

Yesterday AM was magical here in southern 2B, other than having something to shoot at. Action started as I walked in at dark (550 am), deer scattering everywhere and proceeded to have action from 6am on, about every 15 min., until I decided to get down and come home. At 6am, in the dark, a buck ran a doe past me, grunting the whole time, a couple times, and finally got to catch him in my binocs at 615am at 15 yds in the moonlight on a lone pass by the stand and it looked to be a decent 2.5 8 point. Couldn't see brows but did see 3 up on both sides as he was walking away in the dark. Then at 630, a smaller 8 point walked right under me, sniffed where I laid my bow down and stood to climb, then ambled off grunting away. Seen 2 6 points, a 5 point and a 4 pt (4 pt came right under me just as I was wrapping it up to climb down). Multiple doe seen in the chases and a mom and two little ones feeding. Didn't want to leave but it was 10am and needed to get back to home office for a practice session with a corporate lawyer for a deposition for work at 11am. As I was putting my climber on my back, a red fox came up over the hill and got to within 15 yards of me. Didn't see me until I squeaked and boy did it hightail it out of there when it figured out what I was! Got it on video plus several of the deer....every buck I seen yesterday was grunting up a storm, whether they were chasing a doe or were just out searching. Couldn't make it out to the woods in the afternoon but wished I could. That area was hot. Hoping the weekend, after the rain passes, brings similar luck, but with shooters this time.

Great job banjo...

Thanks Bowhunter!

Register here to reply to this topic