Work & Football vs Hunting

This time of year is always difficult for me, work is always busy (even more this year) and of course football has started.  So, my Sunday scouting trips are limited around the football schedule and getting out in the woods is limited by work.  Work has been very up and down this year so some days I have very little to do, others there is not enough time in the day.  This past week I was able to get out in the woods mid week several days, but ended up paying for it later  and ended up working this weekend.   I missed out on the Saturday morning hunt, but I know lots of people were out.  Saturday evening was rained out which is when I could have gone and after last year and sitting out in a thunderstorm and getting soaked the idea of going hunting when you know it's going to rain just was not for me.

So today when the weather is picture perfect, it is  Sunday, the one day a week that we cannot hunt.  I was planning a scouting trip today, but was invited to the Baltimore Ravens game and that quickly won over going scouting.  As I sit here and watch Sunday night football, I am also looking at maps and trying to decide where I want to hunt this week, as I hope to get out at least twice.  Early season can be so much fun, but yet so challenging as well.  Many times deer could be 30 - 40 yards away and you will never even see or hear them.  The thick foliage makes it very hard to see once your up in a treestand, depending on where you are of course.  As the weeks continue to roll by we will start to see more rubs and in another 3 - 4 weeks we should even start seeing scrapes.   That means that special time of year that we all look forward too and cannot wait for is quickly approaching and everyone should be putting there time in now so they can spend time in the woods then.  We also will very soon start to see the leaves falling from the trees which always makes hunting more exciting and really makes it feel like fall. Ah, fall, my favorite season of the year!

For those of you who did make it out Friday and/or Saturday how did you do?  Did you see anything good or were you lucky and harvest a deer?  Or were your trips similar to a lot of what I have been hearing about and you didn't see much of anything?

 

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  1. alan
    I was out Saturday morning and didn't see a thing. I thought I heard one snort at me an hour after getting in stand but that was it. I much prefer evening hunts but that was a non-starter with rain in the forecast. Besides getting wet, there's no way I want to try tracking a deer with a deteriorating blood trail.
    Reply
    September 23, 2013
    • admin
      Alan, That is another great point. Hunting in rain can become a major problem should you harvest a deer and not see it go down. Tracking blood that is being washed away by the rain is not easy and within minutes it could all be gone. Thanks for bringing that up!
      Reply
      September 23, 2013
  2. Brian
    Went out yesterday evening (9/23). Weather was beautiful, cool with a little breeze coming out of the west. I was hunting Loch Raven with a friend, we both were using climbing stands. We arrived around 3:30 and were walking back to a slightly different location from where we hunted before. Since this area was a little new to us we were looking for some trees to setup in. While doing this we spooked a doe who was bedded down in the area. She ran up the hill and across the fire trail. We stayed and setup anyway because I had a hunch that more deer might be bedded in this area. Around 6:30 I saw a small buck out in front of me at 30-40 yards but behind brush so no shot. About 5 or 10 minutes later I see a doe enter from my right into the same area with 3 fawns. The doe stopped to browse. I had a clear shot so I took it. Unfortunately I misranged the shot and missed the doe. The doe and fawns continued to browse and kept moving to my left out of my area. I took out my cell and tried to text my friend when I look up and see another doe off to my right about 30-40 yards away in the same vicinity as the previous doe. This doe spotted my movement and slowly walked over the hill behind some brush and out of range. An exciting night for me but it cost me an arrow and broadhead. On the way back to my truck in the dark I could see 3 or 4 sets of eyes stairing back at me from about 20 yards away. Total tally: 1 buck, 3 does, 3 fawns, 3-4 unknown deer, 9 squirrels, and 1 rabbit.
    Reply
    September 24, 2013
    • admin
      Brain, Sounds like a good evening in the woods. Sounds like trying a slightly different area paid off for you. Sorry to hear you missed, but it happens to all of us and you just move on and get ready for the next shot. However, I will say it always stinks when you cannot find the arrow mostly because of the cost. Glad to hear your seeing deer in Loch Raven, I plan to head out to Loch Raven this week (Hopefully) if not I should be able to get out this weekend. I hope i see as many deer as you did! Haha Good luck next time you get out!
      Reply
      September 24, 2013

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