11/12/2011 Hunting Trip

 

 

I thought today would be a good day for hunting.  After a very slow morning, I had high hopes for the evening.  The early afternoon was slow, but shortly before 4 p.m.  I had two does get pushed down a hill to me, I heard several grunts behind them, but sadly I was never able to get him to come down the hill.  I never even saw him for that matter.  Worse yet the does never got within shooting range and then turned and went back to where that had come from.   I was hunting a section of Loch Raven that has private property adjoining to it, turns out this afternoon was the day to blow their leaves into the woods.  I listened to a blower for over 2 hours…..  Needless to say it made for a slow evening other than the two does that got chased down the hill to me coming from the other side of the woods.  Around 5p.m.,  I saw one good size doe walk about 100 yards away along the top of the hill that the other does had run down, but she clearly was on her way to a food source.   I was pretty surprised by this slow activity because this is normally a very active area if nothing else for smaller bucks and does.  Rut is clearly on by the activity that everyone is seeing. So like any good hunter, I will continue to try new locations over the next few weeks.

 

How was your Saturday hunting trip?

2011 Hunting Season Journal
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  1. Gino Ciotola
    Well my morning started off pretty crappy. There were people everywhere in the woods and I wasn't able to get to the area I planned to hunt. I went into a different tree in the same general area and didn't see anything. I wasn't thrilled with that set up, so I reloacted about 200 yards away around 8:00. Sat in this set until 12:00pm and didn't see a deer. Went back to the truck, grabbed a sandwich, and headed back into to a completely different section of woods around 1:00pm. Saw my first deer of the evening around 2:30 and the action was steady from there. I was looking to harvest a doe, so I went to one of my "go-to" doe areas and man they were in there. I saw about 8 does throughout the evening and ended up shooting one at about 4:30. That wasn't the highlight of my night though. As these two mature does were coming in, they got within about 30 yards over my right shoulder. All of a sudden, both their ears perked up and they whipped their heads around. Here comes a doe running through the scrub field, dogging here is a really nice 10pt (at least I think it was a 10). Bigger than the one I shot earlier this year. Absolutely beautiful buck. He ran this doe in and out of the scrub for what seemed like 30 minutes (it was probably only 5) grunting the whole time. It was awesome. The two does, which I almost forgot about, watched the whole time until he ran here over the hill and out of sight. They ended up passing behind me and over my left should where I drilled her at a whopping 8 yards. She only ran abut 20 yards and piled up. Can't wait for the backstraps!! All I can say is these deer are rutting hard, get in a tree and be patient...it's only a matter of time before something good happens! Good luck!!
    Reply
    November 13, 2011
    • admin
      Gino, As always, thanks for sharing your hunting trips with us! Glad you had an exciting evening and got to watch that. You can never get enough of watching bucks! Plus you were able to harvest a doe on top of that. What a great night, congrats!
      Reply
      November 14, 2011
  2. Pablo
    NOT FAMILIAR WITH LOCH RAVEN FIRST YEAR HUNTING AS HAVE LOST MY LAST FARM TO REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT. IF WILLING TO HELP ME OUT WOULD APPRECIATE SOUNDS LIKE YOU KNOW THE AREA. I HAVE BEEN HUNTING FOR YEARS AND HAVE EXPERIENCE JUST NOT USED TO HUNTING PUBLIC LAND, IF INTERESTED LET ME KNOW PAYESTAS@AOL.COM. HOPE TO HEAR FROM YOU.
    Reply
    November 13, 2011
    • admin
      Pablo, Loch Raven is a tricky place, but the good news is there are lots of deer. You pretty much could hunt anywhere within the legal hunting areas and have a great chance to see deer. Finding bucks is very hit or miss as it is mostly impossible to pattern big bucks. However, they are out there and if you happen to be in the right place at the right time you may just have one of those encounters such as Gino's experience last evening. The best advice I can give you is, do some scouting on a Sunday, I spent 4 hours scouting this morning looking at different locations I scouted before the season and one new area I had never been looking for signs that bucks have been there as well as does as I am looking for both right now. My best suggestion is take a look at the Loch Raven map that shows where you can hunt and where you can park. Here is the link to it: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/Publiclands/pdfs/lochravenmap.pdf After you look at the map pick an area and head to the closest parking area, get out and take a walk around. Again I suggest doing this on Sunday because Loch Raven has a lot of hunters and you could interrupt a hunt and spoil another hunters day and that just is not cool. Otherwise pick a location and take your treestand and walk into the woods till you find an area you like. Loch Raven is very hit or miss, as I have been places and see 20 or more deer in one evening, gone back the very next night and seen nothing at all. It all depends on the hunting pressure, other people such as hikers, dog walkers, bikers, and of course the weather changes the deer's patterns. If you have a general area you are thinking about hunting such as the northern, central, or southern part I or some of our other readers may be able to give a little advice on a direction to head or not to head in any event. Hope this helps and good luck! Keep us posted and feel free to ask as many questions as you like!
      Reply
      November 14, 2011
  3. Ramsay
    Congrats Gino on the successful hunt. The rut is definitely on! I had a fantastic weekend of hunting. Though we didn't harvest anything, I witnessed some of the best rutting activity I've seen, had encounters with several young 6 and 8 pointers and could have harvested the biggest doe on our property - but I was hunting for bucks this weekend. All in all, I saw most of the 2 1/2 year old bucks on my property, and one of the 3 1/2 year old shooters for about 3 seconds, but the monsters didn't come out. I saw the greatest chase by our big 6 pointer, that started off far in the back of the woods, came running through the field within 15 yards in front of me, back into the deep woods and back out, with a second buck added to the chase. My favorite encounter was watching the new tall 8 point 2 1/2 year old come into the field and chase around some does, eat, and basically just pose like the bruiser that he is with his smaller 6 point brother for minutes just 30 yards in front of me. It took a lot of discipline not to harvest him. He is a real big bodied dear, but his rack is only just a bit outside his ears. Next year he will be a true monster buck - so, I am letting him walk this year. While I didn't have any opportunities on any of our shooters, it was one of the best hunting weekends I've had. I'll post some trail pics of several of the nice bucks on the property - including our monster 8 pointer with what looks like foot long brow tines - when I get a chance. Good luck!
    Reply
    November 14, 2011
    • admin
      Ramsay, Sounds like a very exciting weekend and some great hunting! Glad to hear you were able to witness what all of us hunters think is one of the best shows you could ever see. Sounds like you still have some hunting ahead of you to find one of those monsters, as I am in the same boat. Good luck, the next few weeks should be very interesting as rubs and scrapes are just really starting to show up. I think we should have at least a week or two of some great hunting around central Maryland. We look forward to the trail cam pictures and once again good luck and keep us posted on your hunts!
      Reply
      November 14, 2011

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