Legacy

Cameras were on fire overnight!!!

October 11 am

L43 H66

Partly sunny

SW/variable light wind

First morning sit of the year and it was a good one. Lots of deer on their feet this morning up until I snuck out at ten. I never seen so many bucks spar in one sit before. I saw over a dozen different bucks and they were feisty this morning.

October 7 pm

L47 H66

Partly cloudy skies

15-20 NW (windy mid day but becoming calm at dusk)

Another action packed sit. Bucks are starting to get feisty and I now have 2 bucks on on the property with half racks. Saw 6-7 bucks tonight (and a bunch of flatheads). Lots and lots of sparring among the ranks. 

October 4 pm

L50 H70

Clear skies

High pressure building 

Late report... 

Tons of action again on friday night. Lots of active deer the last 2 hours of light. 7 bucks seen tonight with 2 of them being shooters. Had one about 70 yards but unfortunately he fed away from me. The bucks were busy doing buck stuff... rubbing scaping, sparring... very cool  to see. I "freshened" up my mock scrapes walking in the day before and 4 new scrapes appeared overnight on my walk in.

Hung a new set on the edge of the oaks today!

It has been a year since I bought an Ozonics unit, so I thought I would share my thoughts...

I'm a believer. Is it worth the money? I think so. I think the whole ozone thing seems like a game changer. Is it perfect? Nope. Its tough to beat a deer's nose. Especially a mature doe's nose. Making sure to play the right wind is everything however deer don't always do what we want them to do and I think that this stuff buys us an extra second or two. 

If you're not using an ozone locker/tote for your clothes then that's step one. https://www.feradyne.com/brands/scent-crusher/products/?product-page=1 First and foremost It's a great scent killer for your gear. I will say that deer seem to notice the ozone "odor" however they don't seem to act negatively towards it. 

Second step is ozonics. https://ozonicshunting.com/collections/scent-elimination-devices It works great on those days with winds under 10mph and gives you  a bit of protection on your down wind side. Both bucks I shot last year I had the Ozonics unit with me. My bow buck was 20 yards and my gun buck was 15 yards. The wind was in my favor for bow buck consistent 5-10 out of the west but for my gun buck it was a little suspect. 

Im certainly not encouraging anyone to hunt with the wind not in your favor. But Im just saying on those light wind days it gives you a little bit of help.

7 bucks (1 and 2 year olds) all passed within 10-20 yards, downwind of me last night and never acted like they had a clue i was there. Funny thing is they didnt wind me in the tree but 4 of them cut my walking trail in to my stand and investigated it. 2 of them actually back tracked my walking trail from the field edge all the way back to my ladder. Funny how they could smell my footprints but never winded me. Another testament to ozone and ozonics??? Do I think a 5 year doe would have acted differently? Absolutely!!! 

My methodology for being as scent free as possible in the woods then

bathing with scent killer soap

Washing clothes/pack with scent killer

Treating clothes/gear in an Ozone locker/tote/bag

spray gear with scent killer

hanging an ozonics unit in the tree

and #1 having the wind in my favor

Deer are crushing acorns and green food sources.... if you got them hunt them!!!

October 3 pm

L54 H72

Clear skies

High pressure building 

Great first night in the NY deer woods. Saw 30+ deer including 9 bucks. The only buck that didn't walk by me was a shooter 8pt. All the other bucks passed within 20 yards of me. Lots of fresh scrapes along the field edge and I watched one of the 2 year old bucks freshen a couple of them up. Saw some sparring also.

In the stand for the first time (in the NY season)... Where are all the big bucks at???

The past 18 hours my cameras have been on fire. no doubt the busiest period so far this year. bucks of all age classes.

The highlight of the Ohio camp was this crazy deer.... 186" It was shot Tuesday PM.

Well I just got home from the Ohio opener. Not the outcome I had hoped to get the season started but that's hunting and the hurricane arriving on Friday certainly didnt help things for me. I spent my time sitting overlooking a clear cut. It seems pretty common to log medium size chunks of timber and then "chip" the remaining underbrush for paper in the region. The landscape seems to be littered with these clear cuts, agriculture, and hardwoods and It really creates some great ground for whitetail. 

I was lucky to get a shot on a unique buck while i was there. This buck had daylighting a bunch leading up to the season. From what I know he seemed to be leaving his bed in the clear cut and then hitting a corn pile before finally hitting a soy bean field at dusk. So the set was designed to catch him in between that final destination and his bed. He gave me a 22 yard shot from a ground blind. With his head down he jumped the string enough to result in a shot 4" higher then i had hoped. He was broadside (slight quartering away) and I hit him 1/3 down and perfectly inline with the back of the front leg. The shot was not a pass through and the arrow broke off with about 7" in the deer. It was raining/ misting most of the afternoon and by dark it was rain and fog. We made a hell of an attempt to find this deer with absolutely zero luck. We even attempted a thermal drone the night I shot him but the rain and fog made it impossible. We made a second attempt the morning after with the drone (and some blind searching) but zero luck. It really sucks because I felt even though the shot was not where i was aiming it was still a "deadly" shot. Shooting Lumenoks I no doubt saw the shot and i saw the deer run with the arrow in him.  I believe the deer is dead and it sucks!!! At this point I hope the crows show us where he is.

What's up guys? Anyone get out for the opener?

T minus 24 hours until I hit the road for the bow opener in Ohio. To say Im looking forward to spending time in the woods is a serious understatement. Ill be there to hunt 5 days total and all the sits are afternoon. For the most part it is the crew from 2023 returning to camp and we had a great time last year. Looks like the weather will be a bit better as they are forecasting a weather pattern similar to what we have had this week. Cooler temps with a chance of rain every day. Last year we saw temps in the damn 80s!!! Lots of bucks on cam there, so we should see a bunch of bucks get arrowed. If my cell signal allows I am hoping to do a play by play on the trip.

LOTS of bucks on their feet this morning... Im sure the heavy rain quitting at day break would be why.

Well the fishing season is officially over and it's time to change gears to hunting season. I'll be heading to Ohio on Friday to start the season and once again hunting with Southern Ohio Outfitters. I'll be in the woods Saturday through Wednesday. Looking like some cooler weather is in the forecast. Fingers crossed the season starts with a bang!

12 hours ago, Gator said:

So, you're going to shoot him in the first couple days...AGAIN? Was it last year you nailed your buck early? There's nothing beats having a big guy patterned, but I just can't bring myself to pull the trigger in the first couple weeks. Every time I've done that, I've missed the excitement of the rut. And then I have to perch fish with Brian lol.

 

We had a bachelor group of big bucks on camera since mid-August that have dispersed now, so exactly the opposite of what you're seeing. I expect that we will start to see migratory animals soon. Last week they all had velvet hanging, just prior to disappearing.

Haha... Ill take an October kill any day!

Well, I missed my window of opportunity getting my cameras out in mid August and I finally got them out a couple weeks ago. Up until a couple days ago buck sightings have been very limited. Most of what seeing was young and still in velvet. Well that all changed. Bucks everywhere! Every buck is hard horned! Lots of sparring. Handful of big guys day walking. 4 different camera visits by my #1 in the past 48 hours also.