Ron's 2012 bow season blog

[Ron]

I made the trip up to the Farm Friday night. I arrived just before sundown. The usual fields had plenty of deer out and about.

Sat. Morning I was in the stand a half hour before sunrise. At 7:40 am things got active. I created a youtube video of the morning hunt and the 4 bucks I saw.

[Ron]

Sept 16, 2012 15:51:41 GMT -6 @whiteoaks said:

Nice video Ron - you got stung by a porcupine!

So, why not the 9 pointer...would you have taken him if the bigger one wasn't behind?

No, I dont think I would. That is why I kept filming him. I had several encounters with him last year at 15 yards and less. He always seems to be hanging out with the big 10 point. I have a lot of trail cam pics of the two bucks together so I will wait for the big ten. Besides, I have only once killed a buck on opening morning and I didnt enjoy the rest of that season with my tag already filled.

The season is young. If I eat tag soup again, I am ok with that. Last year I passed on 9 diff bucks at 10 yards or less but I got them all on video. I am enjoying the video-ing as much as killing (and I never miss with the video camera and I dont have to estimate yardage or drag the pictures out. ) After 36 years of bowhunting I'm past the "gotta kill something" stage. ;D

[Ron]

Saturday evening’s hunt was uneventful and very warm. It was 80F with a South wind. After hunting I returned to the farm and was enjoying supper when the phone rang. It was my sister wondering if I wanted to go along with her family as they track down her 13 year old son’s archery buck he hit earlier in the evening. I of course said yes.

When we arrived at the tree stand he told the story of the buck and the shot and the direction it ran and crashing sounds he heard not very far away. The shot distance was 9 yards and he was 15 feet up in a ladder stand. He said he hit it right behind the front shoulder. The blood on the arrow backs up his story.



Last year I made he and his brother a set of arrows and included a half dozen broadheads. He was using the Montecs.



The buck only traveled about 80 yards before crashing. Then it was time to punch the tag.



Little sis (8 years old) inspected the exit hole.






We told them that if they worked as a team they could drag it out. We were right.





His very first archery buck.

[Ron]

This morning’s hunt was uneventful. It was warm (56F) at 4:45 am with a south wind. I saw only tree rats while I was swaying back and forth in the wind. I got down at 9:30 and headed back to the truck. It was a beautiful morning and I was in no hurry so I took my time walking back and snapped a few pictures of the sunny morning. The fall colors are already starting to come alive.





















I will head back to the farm next weekend.

[Ron]

He was very pleased.

[Ron]

Sept 18, 2012 5:38:39 GMT -6 @gibby said:

Really nice pictures Ron ! With the kids adrenaline flowing, it probably was an easy drag for them.
Did uncle Ron show them how to field dress the deer?

No, his mom and dad took care of that with him. He is excited about earning his WBH harvest pin. He palns to write a story for the WBH youth mag.

[Ron]

This morning's buck encounter video.

[Ron]

Nephew #2 didn’t have to wait long after his brother scored to get his first bow buck at the age of 12. Last year he got a doe with his bow. He took the buck with a 100 grain Magnus 2 blade head. He is only shooting 37 pounds but the buck was only 8 yards away.

[Ron]

Saturday night’s hunt video. I’m still working out sound issues but it was so windy that all the camera picked up was the whistling of wind past the mike anyway.

[Ron]

Yes, she cant wait. She is shooting her bow quite well already.

[Ron]

Sunday morning's hunt including a sparing match.

[Ron]

Friday afternoon Oct. 26. I saw a few does.

Sat morn Oct. 27, I did a little rattle, grunt, bleat at 7:30 am and 20 minutes later a buck came in. I was hunting a cedar swamp and while he was only 35 yards away, I could not make out just how big he was. I could see multiple tines so I grabbed the bow rather than the camera. As he milled around looking for the source of the sounds I could see was is not the sized buck Im after. He was nice and tall but not very wide and appeared young in the face. As he walked away I started the video camera and shot a brief video. Here is a still from that video when he was about 50 yards away.



About 20 minutes after that, another buck showed up and walked under my tree. This was a small 6 point. Here is a still I grabbed from the video.



Saturday afternoon My father and I put up a pop up blind for him to use. In the evening I was back in stand but that was the day they began to harvest the corn. I stayed on stand anyway thinking that the combine might shag some deer out of the corn and into the woods. I was wrong.

Sunday morning Oct. 28, I was back in the stand where I had seen the 2 bucks the morning before. This time, I only saw 4 doe but they hung around for over an hour. Later that day My Father and I put up a new ladder stand in a likely abush spot.