Strange season with predictable results.

[cadmaster]

Well so far the season has been way too warm and wet and I have not seen deer like I usually do. I generally sit early morning and spot and stalk after about 10 am. this year has been different as I have not really wanted to run around and was quite happy sitting most of the day.

The first few days of season that I hunted the leaves were still in the trees and it was rather dry then the "monsoons" hit the leaves fell and were soaked in a day or two. leaving me at a disadvantage as I rely on my hearing to detect animals. some mornings the frost makes the leaves crunchy for a little while in the morning, but we are not getting very cold recently so the one morning I detected a deer it was able to come off a hill behind me and get to within 40 yards with minimal noise. I was barely able to hear it walking and by the time I did it had my scent and was looking for me so as soon as I moved my head it snort wheezed and headed back up the hill. the bush was so dark (overcast sky and dense pine at 8:05 am) that all I could see was the white rump of the deer as it headed up the hill. the deer went 10 -15 yards stopped and pawing at the ground and stomping then snort wheezed again and started walking off. I used my grunt call softly a couple of times and the deer stayed around for several more minutes and walked away. I never did see anything but it's butt as it went up the hill, but I could hear it pawing the ground and stamping. I figure it had no idea what I was and that the call confused it, but was wary enough not to investigate any further.

My season is probably at an end (nine days in the field), but with a lot of luck I might be able to get out once or twice more. I will be very selective of those days. I will try to get out with a little snow on the ground (under 2 inches) and/or when it is much colder so everything is froze up and noisy. those conditions give me the greatest advantage and hopefully I can fill my tag.

[john g]

I wish you good luck for whatever time you have left. Our season starts Oct. 15 and runs thru Feb 15. That is archery,primitive weapons & gun, but you can use bow all season long.

Garry

[Fletch2]

Hope it freezes up for ya.

[DaveShooter]

Good luck to ya !!!

[bubba]

Good luck bud!

[colouredchameleon]

Hang in there. The big boys are just starting to get fired up and roaming during daylight . It has been too warm andvwindy over the past few weeks most movement I have seen here has been at night.
But Tuesday of this week I seen the first day time activity myself after two weeks of nothing. Even bait piles were abandon but not anymore.
Another issue has been the acorn crop is unbelievable this year in Ontario.
I collected approx 40 lbs in just few hours .

Good Luck

CC

[j.krug]

Been real mild down here in southwestern Ontario too. Hoping for a good cold snap to move in soon.

[cadmaster]

The perfect day?

well I got my wish saturday as we had 3/4" snow and -7 degree C. I was excited. I was first into the hunting area (no other track on any of the trails). I had several different options of where to go and I was planning to go where we had seen the deer earlier this week, but as I walked up the trail I saw several sets of tracks go into the area where our most productive spots are so I figure time is running out and shooting time is almost here so go to my dad's old spot (the most productive stand we have) since there are deer heading into that area and the other spot is 20 minutes away. so I head into dad's old spot and see 6 different sets of tracks crossing my path and think this will be a great day as the snow did not start to accumulate until after 6pm the day before. I settle into the stand and start watching. at about 7:30 I hear the sound of walking a couple hundred yards away (absolutly no wind) so I get ready and gun up looking directly at the area where the walking noises are comming from after about 10 minutes the walking stops and shortly after I hear a doe bleat. I yanked my grunt tube out and called quietly 3 times. I hear the walking resume and I figure this is great got a deer incoming and is responding to my calls. soon after the walking stops and I here another doe bleat which I respond to again. Then nothing..... about 10 minutes later I hear walking noises coming from around my old spot and I concentrate my attention in that area, but it has lots of different ways to get to me from there and tons of cover. the walking noises receed and fade away and I resume a general scan of the area calling once and a while.

At about 11am I decide to walk up to the old rock stand following a set of tracks that actually went through the stand I am using. I am frozen and the walk will warm me up. I slowly follow the tracks and they as I thought were going to pass near the rock stand. they go with in 40 yards of the rock stand and go out on a bench on the hill side. I continue following and find a deer bed, a large one where you can see clear outlines ( frozen into the snow/ice) of the front/ rear legs and body where they were folded up under the deer and easily determine that by length that this deer was a mature animal. anyway the tracks resumed and generall went back towards where I had just come from so I started following they lead down towards the highway and I did not want to climb back up that steep hill so I reversed course and headed to the rock stand. when I got there I noticed several food wrappers that I did not leave there and no tracks into the snow so someone has been using that stand when we are not. they probably found our flagging tape trails and followed then. anyway investigated the hill top and continued to our friend's old stand nearby and then headed to my old stand where the walking sounds were coming from. About 30 yards later I came across 2 sets of tracks from hunters coming from the highway where we sometimes enter the hunting area, we have flagging (well hidden near the trails and highway) to allow us to sneak in just before shooting light. the track lead me to their stands and to just with in sight of where I had been sitting and then heading back to the highway.

Now I know what was making the walking noises and doe bleats.....DAMN! what a waste of the morning I thought as I headed back to where I was sitting. I sat awhile and had a smoke some lunch and a coffee contiplating what to do next all the while wishing I had gone to there I was originally planning. During my little jaunt I did not see much in the way of sign when usually I would find piles of sign so I was wondering how often they have been using "our" stands this year.

Anyway after an hour or so, with the wind now freshing, I decided to head in the opposite direction and look for fresh sign and maybe surpise a deer for the freezer. followed the usual trails and where there was plenty of sign now there was almost none in the snow. I headed back to my stand had some more coffee and packed up. I followed my own tail out finding no new tracks and no sign of other hunters. the two that were in must have snuck out as soon as they discovered me. after loading the truck I headed to the places I know you can park (very few) finding only one truck parked at a sand pit and tracks heading nowhere near my hunting area I decided to take a run down the highway to see if they were parking on the highway. the hidden taril where we sometimes head into the bush to the older stands there was a set of 4x4 tracks tearing up the ditch. someone had actually taken a 4x4 trunk into the ditch and parked at the enterance to the flagged path into where we hunt. well that explaines everything now. usually we don't have to worry about competition here but now it looks like we are going to have to be in real early in the morning for now on. Headed home and unloaded the truck and started sorting my gear out for cleaning and storage until next year.

As an after note at about 10pm that night I went out for a smoke, just after I got outside I heard a noise just outside the carport so I went to investigate and was face to face with 2 anterless deer, one only 4 feet away and the other 10 feet away. I retreated into the carport and turned the light off then went back and watched the two of them for about 10 minutes. In my head I could just hear them laughing at me! all that hard work and they show up at my back door!

Well so much for the 2015 deer season.

[j.krug]

Sorry to hear the season didn't pan out for you. Hopefully next year will be a productive one. Sounds like you might need to put a stand up in the yard??

[cadmaster]

I keep threatening to I have seen 6 deer in the yard this fall and only one in the bush.