Bowhunting Deer 2012
Bowhunting For Deer is sponsored by Access Tonneau Covers, ThermaCELL, AZ E-Z Fletch and Grim Reaper Broadheads.
The season started out weird. My buddies on our deer lease were not seeing deer, let alone any bucks, Opening week was uneventful. I saw some deer but the Big Boy-9 as well as the Big 8-point were not around. A week passed with the same no results and on October 9 I hid a Barrington Tall pop-up ground blind in a clump of trees above the water seep.
Then I set up a Spypoint game camera so it could watch the seep area. I had some stands weilded up to hold game cameras and you can see it to the left of the camera.
Below is the the view of the set up from the water seep. We have the blind, the camera stand and the Spypoint all set up and ready to go.
The morning of October 10 I was in this ground blind wondering if I would see any deer activity in the area. As soon as I could see deer were moving around, both bucks and does. The narrow 8-point with longish tines showed up and chased a young buck around right in front of me.
Right then two does got in a scrap to my left I got my camera in on them. Before taking any pictures I glanced back at the bucks. They were gone. But this buck was only a few yards away drinking water from the seep.
I took one picture set down my camera and reached for my bow. The buck turned and began walking straight away a few yards and stopped. As it looked around the area ahead I drew. He was butt toward me and that’s not a shot I would take but I was totally ready if he turned left or right and got himself broadside or quartering away. But he didn’t and he walked out of my life, butt first.
I returned to the H2O Seep but the buck didn’t. After the next morning’s hunt I picked up the SD card from a camera I have on at a trail crossing between the seep and the woods to the north.
During the night, October 15, at 8:32 PM the BB-9 buck walked in front of that Spypoint camera. From the look of him I believe he is coming from the east.
And at 8:34 the camera caught him further away and walking to the north.
On the 17th at 11:29 PM the camera took a singel picture of him walking to the north.
On Oct 18 He was right in front of the Spypoint at 3:22 in the morning.
I positioned another camera nearby but pointed to the east and on Oct 20 at 10:59 it got a picture of BB9. But he did not walk by my other camera. Now I know for sure that he is definitely approaching from the east.
I have 2 ground blinds in this area in addition to the one at the H2O Seep. Normally I would be hunting other areas to see what was going on there but I wanted to be around is the BB-9 showed up in the daylight. So I hung in here.
The Game Changer
On Oct 28 the whole hunt changed. At 12:44 Pm the BB-9 was caught approaching a doe. His neck is swollen good now, much thicker than it was during the hot summer.
In the next picture they definitely have eye contact working and BB-9 is going right for the doe.
Two days later, on Oct 30, at an early 3:45 AM he’s back and a young doe has his full attention. Actually there were several pictures of the two together but they all looked so similar I only posted this one.
Ending the month with an appearance just before midnight on October 31 the camera caught BB-p walking through.
Here’s what I know at this point in the season. Big Boy 9 either was some place else for the first half of October. Both he and the 8-point that was his buddy buck were caught on a game camera nor did I see them until the 8-point showed on the 10th,
Once BB-9 came around on Oct 15 he continued to visit the area during the night through the rest of the month. I stayed in the area and hunted but I didn’t see either buck during the daylight.
BB-9 usually approaches from the east. That is the gully area and there are plenty of places there that can give a buck secure cover. I believe BB-9 is staying in or very close to the gulch. So I think he has to show up during daylight, all I need to do is hang in.
The RUT is starting. No doubt about it. And BB-9 is the boss of the immediate area. He’ll want to take care of as many does as possible. All the doe groups will break up post haste and all the bucks will be out looking.
So will I.
Continued…
CONTINUED…
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