The saving grace of a doe and herd management...

October 6, 2012 - Bowhunt report


After a slow couple hunts in the opening week, the first weekend of Illinois bow season met with cooler than average temperatures and perfect winds for me to slide into a stand I affectionately call the "hurt locker" due to a number of injuries that occurred to myself and my son while setting the stand in August.

Despite being skunked on 2 of my first 3 hunts the clear sky, 37 degree temp and steady west/nw winds had me optimistic.  As shooting time arrived and nothing was happening in the deer woods, my optimism began to wane a bit, but by 7:00 A.M. I had spotted my first movement.  A doe group moved across in front of me 100 yards out or so before turning and crossing the field I was set up on just out of range.  That opened the flood gates, as no more than 20 minutes went by at any one time without a deer sighting.  I had deer at all points of the compass around the stand, with a majority of antlerless deer being constantly harrassed by three smaller bucks that were chasing them all over the timber. On three occasions I came close to a shot but it just seemed like the deer wanted to cross into the timber just out of range.  This action continued through 10 a.m. when  doe and a very large button buck came in and bedded within 35 yards of the stand.  I watched them for 30 minutes before a doe I had not spotted walked in behind me and busted me moving, sounding the alarm they exited the area and I climbed down and snuck out in time to make a soccer game in town.  All tallied I had seen 30+ antlerless deer and 3 different bucks (some several times over the morning).

On the way out I scouted a sight closer to the days action for a climber and made a plan for the following morning.

October 7, 2012: The saving grace of a doe...

I enjoy every moment from first spotting a deer to watching that arrow disappear behind the shoulder and it matters not if it were a buck or a doe.  I set goals for myself of harvesting mature deer and not by score.  I consider myself an equal oppurtunity bowhunter, and I relish for the chance to kill those does for my freezer that my family enjoys so much throughout the year.  So this summer/early fall, I have monitored trail cameras heavily and on my in-laws farm where I spend most of my time, I have seen an alarming rate of almost 80 to 20 doe to buck percentage...that's 4-1 for those counting.  So with little or no mature bucks to speak of on camera or spotted, I set my heart on taking a mature doe with my new bow.

Climber in tow and another uncharacteristic 38 degree october morning, I settled in about 20 feet up in the tree I had scouted in the previous days hunt.  Unlike yesterday, the morning winds were non existent for the first hour, it was dead calm and relatively nothing was moving.  I finally spotted some does and a small buck from yesterday in the far end of the field.  This is the part I love about deer hunting.  It had been an hour since I saw or heard a thing and I was in the process of planning an early departure when I glanced up to see a doe headed directly at me on the field edge.  Perched above a dry slough 20 yards off the field edge, all I needed to do was stand up and wait.  My heart rate jumped up and my breathing coincided (doe fever I guess), as she closed the distance and stopped as I came to full draw.  The arrow found its mark and she crashed down just a 60 yards away.  Just like that the first deer of the year was down and the season was up and running with a great first week!

1st deer of 2012

Cannon's first tree stand hunt...short hunt long story as usual.

The spring turkey season is far in the rear view, and I have let the faithful followers of my little blog down with a summer of nothing.  No writing, no reports, nothing.  I honestly hit a bit of a funk for writing, with two kids, a soccer business and my "real" job pulling me in several different directions, by the time I was ready to sit down and type, I was more ready to hit the sack. 

I did manage to continue to prepare for this fall, with a new bow that was a warranty replacement after problems with my last bow, I was ready already thinking about whitetails, long before the summer days were beginning to shorten.  Stands were prepped, climbing stand locations set, and trail cams out.  Since July I have monitored two farms that I spend the majority of my time on.  One is a very small farm near my home and the other is my in-laws farm.  For the first time in many years, we were able to take advantage of dry conditions in the bottoms and get approximately 1/2 acre of wheat and forage radishes planted.  Coming off the severe drought here in central IL (and most of the Midwest), that tiny field is proving to be quite the attractant for deer looking for something green to forage on.  The remaining ag fields on that farm are now in the CREP program and the deer hunting should only improve from here on out.

Flash forward...or is it backward...to the opening of bow season in IL.  The opener was uneventful, but on October 4, 2012, I got the joy of spending an afternoon in a tree stand with my oldest son Cannon.  At age 6, it was his first hunt from a stand, and we were both excited to try out the new safety line/prussic knot system, and the safety harness.  The hunt was short and sweet, but a great joy.  We snuck in after school and climbed into a buddy stand that a friend loaned us, and enjoyed father son time while we waited.  Cannon had free reign on this stand, he chose the location and I must say he made me proud.  He picked a nice walnut tree on the edge of a waterway connecting two small fields.  A natural funnel, with a creek bed behind us and another small ditch dividing a corn field and clover field on our North side.

Shortly after enjoying a snack of fruit by the foot, we had our first visitor as a mature doe worked behind the stand just out of range.  I have previously spoke about youths and hunting and specifically Cannon, who is my running experiment and as I have noted others great advice, I always make the hunt about him.  It was his call on any shot we may face, and though I make a habit of letting anything younger than 4.5 walk in the buck category, I was prepared to shoot anything that he chose.  I noticed the doe and tapped Cannon on the leg to let him know she was there, he leaned around my side of the stand and his eyes lit up when he saw the deer.  He immediately said "shoot her" but she was just out of range.  Unfortunately a random rain shower cut our trip short, and as we climbed down to head for the truck at sunset we spotted three more does in the field, heading towards our location.  I elected to avoid a blood trail in the rain and we exited the premises. 

Overall, the hunt was a positive experience that left him wanting more.  I have always taken that approach, much like training a puppy (my wife would scold me if reading this), I treat Cannon the same way, make it positive, let him want more and as always let it be about him.  He is truly a "no pro" outdoorsman in training.

Cannon on stand for the first time with dad enjoying a snack!