Went to see about a deer. Didn’t get any.

[DiabeticKripple]

thats some manly man stuff.

like that guy that shot the lion in the head with a hip fired shot at 3 yards and it died on top of him.

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by DiabeticKripple

thats some manly man stuff.

It would be. After changing the pants, lol.

[fishnguy]

I went out for a couple of hours yesterday and just over three hours today. All I saw yesterday was a moose, a cow. The second moose I saw this season, which is really underachieving given where I’ve been. I was lightly dressed yesterday and I still broke some sweat, which isn’t surprising because as I was leaving the temperature gauge was indicating 10 degrees above zero:



When I was driving in today, the temperature was the same, lol:



Looking at the clock, I picked up yesterday’s slack today, haha. Tomorrow, the plan is to include all of the above and the hours before that. It is currently raining outside (crazy). The hope is that it keeps doing that to melt all the frost and soften things somewhat. Not exactly surprising, but while it is very warm out, most of the trails remain frozen and crunchy the entire day, making it very difficult to move around. We will see what happens tomorrow.

Today all I saw was a doe far and away about 20 minutes before lights out.



I was hoping (wishing?) that the doe was full of hormones and it would come down, followed by a good buck, but it never did.

The field with the bear had no bear either but a lot of geese.



We will see what tomorrow will look like. Looks promising with the rain. At least a guy should able to move around. We will see. Likely, it will get colder before the morning and what rained tonight will freeze and make things even worse for tomorrow, lol.

The first moose I saw earlier in the season, on September 24:



There is a calf there, which you may or may not see on that photo. I guess that makes it three moose I saw this season. The fact that I haven’t caught a bull yet is a little troubling though.

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by fishnguy

Likely, it will get colder before the morning and what rained tonight will freeze and make things even worse for tomorrow, lol.

This aged very well. Woke up in the morning, got dressed and ready, went outside to see ice all over, went back to bed. Lol.

In the afternoon, it looked more or less the same but a little better, so I went out for a few hours. Saw another teddy on the same field as last time, but this one was much smaller than the other one.



When I hit the bush, about 10 minutes later I heard a vehicle driving by down towards the field and a shot ten or so minutes later. Then two more. Wonder if they shot the teddy.

The bush, of course, was nasty and loud. Extremely slow pace. At least the wind was perfect for a while. Was a finding day of sorts. Found a neat looking wasp nest in perfect condition.



Found a very old shed. Hard to say, but pretty heavy beam and tines, probably an old mature buck. How big remains a mystery because it was chewed up by critters and time. Must have been a nice looking deer. The G1 is pretty massive in both height and thickness.



Also found some pile of leaves, dirt and deer hair mixed in that is now being discussed in another thread titled “What is this?”, so I am not going to post or discuss it here as well.

Found more very nice rubs and destruction left by a rutting moose, but I think we had enough of those pics.

Spooked a young bull elk, but he didn’t let me get a good look at him before he barked and took of into the wind. Later on, I found a cow moose that also barked a few times and took off. I guess it was a barking kind of day too, lol. I stumbled into (likely) the same cow about an hour later. Due to the pace, you do not get far in an hour. This time, she ran ten paces and “hid” behind the trees, lol. I had to move around a bit to take a pic of more than just a dark spot in the trees.



She stood there a minute or two, then barked again and left semi-casually.

I haven’t seen any deer today. This weather really kind of sucks. It was a little cooler today though, 6 above zero, lol. But it was -3 when I was leaving. Yesterday, it was 3 above. There is also a chance of snow in the forecast for tomorrow afternoon, but unlikely (30%) and minus one during the day. Then it is warming up again and no precipitation in the forecast. Womp womp.

[vanslays]

Love this thread. Thanks for posting.

[Jeff/1911]

Man, do you ever see a lot of game!!! Great report!

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by Jeff/1911

Man, do you ever see a lot of game!!! Great report!

I think not enough, haha. Today, I haven’t seen a living thing except for chicken and squirrels (man, if I were a squirrel hunter, I’d have freezer full by now, lol).

I did get barked at by another moose yesterday that heard me coming and it took off making a lot of ruckus. I took the camera off the opening where I placed it a few days ago and moved it to another spot. On the way there, the moose took off, just about 10-20 meters or so from where I was going to hang the camera (it’s another opening). I made quite a bit more noise while hanging the camera up a tree, then crossed the opening and stood there on the opposite side for about 15-20 minutes with wind blowing in my face. About 5 minutes into my stand, the moose started barking, not directly behind me, but a bit to the side. Surely the same moose that took off and while doing so, it made the effort to run around instead of out in the open (hence all the ruckus). Here is a tip. Many think that if you are barked at by moose or elk, or sneezed on by deer, you’ve been made and can pack up and go home. This isn’t the case at all, most of the time. While the barking/sneezing party certainly knows you are there, it doesn’t know what you are and believe me it wants to know. Some are more careful than others, elk is the most cautious one, in my experience, while moose is the least. This moose from yesterday stood there and barked probably 8-10 times (surely caught my wind), but it still wanted to know. So what it did was make a whole circle around the opening out of my sight, pretty much coming back to where it got spooked from the first time, to check things out and likely to check the spot where I made the most noise while hanging the camera. I haven’t seen it and no idea if it was a bull or a cow even, but I heard it doing what it did. If I was hunting moose, I could probably attempt to do something about it. The other thing is that if there is another moose around within the vicinity, it may get curious and come to check things out as well. This exact thing happened in this instance, another moose came rolling 5 or so minutes after things got quite. Again, no idea if it was a bull or a cow, but sure heard it coming from a distance away. Another example is the buck I mentioned above, that sneezed and jumped but never left and walked around me trying to figure it out. As long as you are not out in the open, and even then if you are motionless, they can stare right at you and still not get it. If you ever hunted elk and got to the middle of the herd in the bush, you probably experienced it best when a whole bunch of cows are around you and eventually not one cares when you do the calling, until you start actively moving again. I do not think I can explain it, but it is what it is.

Anyway, today was a dud. Well, I actually saw another living thing. The teddy appears to be alive and well. Saw him from a distance at the field again on the way out and was hoping the senior was making another appearance, but the senior likely hit the bed, it appears. The smaller guy is still poking around what used to be a wheat field this year.



It was much further away, so just a ball of fur in that pic.

Oh yeah, yesterday the promised snow (and more) came true and we got about a whooping half an inch or so. Didn't help with noise at all, but at least you can see tracks in it. It snowed the entire time I was there (4-ish hours?) and I looked like a frozen snowman when I was getting into the vehicle. I ran into a muley buck and that was all I saw. He saw me first and ran a few meters before I yelled at it to make it stop to see what it was. He gave me a good look and took off.

Today, the only reason I went was because of the snow and it would be a shame to miss this opportunity to be able to see the tracks. Specifically, it is going to warm up again (as it already did today) and the whole thing is going to melt and freeze again making it suck more than it already does.

When I arrived, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction of my travel, so I hit the bush before seeing any tracks. I held out as long as I could but I had to go in sooner or later. It was also a convenient way to get to the new location of the camera through the bush and actively hunt while doing so, and switch the card that I remembered to bring. The bush was empty as well. I found some tracks, eventually leading to a small hardly trashed little thing, so likely chasing a dinky dink buck.



Shortly after confirmed by the tiny bed, lol.



So long story short, I took a few stands trying to spot something or wait it out, but to no avail. I then went to switch the card in the camera, took a bit of a stand at the opening and started moving out. Found a whole bunch of activity on the way out though, lol. Tons of tracks, some scrapes, etc.



For the first time this season I relieved myself onto the scrape pictured above. Was definitely worth the wait, lol. Side note, I am not finding many scrapes this year. Even the long existing community scrapes are gone. That’s probably the proof that if you take your focus for a year or two from the area, you would have to figure some things out all over again.

Anyway, as luck (or lack of knowledge) has it, I was browsing the wrong side of the action, haha. Oh well, not the first time and certainly not the last.

I took a look at the camera pics and found a kitty there, as you may have seen in the “What is this?” thread already. There was also some deer and a couple of moose. No deer picked my interest though and I am now thinking to try and find that cat instead. It is definitely not a small task as I have no slightest idea about cougar hunting, what to do, what to look for, where to look, and so on. But I think I am going to try and do the best I can to get it done. If I happen to run into a deer, that would be great too. However, the cat, I think, is going to be my focus now. Maybe.

Here are a few pics of best deer that showed up for the camera.

This is probably the biggest buck:







Another buck:



And another:



That last one was at the new location, so the camera was there less than 24 hours. I also know for a fact that it missed another deer because there were two sets of tracks on the trail in front of it.

Here is a weird muley just because there is a pic:



There is nothing that really picks my interest there. Of course, the camera has been there only a few short days and there is a whole bunch of space where other the deer is… I want the cat instead, I think.

I guess it also should be noted that the absolute majority of activity is taking place at dark. There was one deer that showed itself for the pic during daytime and it was mediocre.

Not sure if I mentioned previously, this year’s antlered whitetail tag is pretty special to me because the area I chose to hunt is my favourite, the area where I started hunting, the area where I learned the ropes, so to speak. More importantly, this is the area where I am likely not going to hunt anymore because we, with pretty high degree of certainty, will be relocating south of the province next summer. So there is a lot of, call it, sentimental value to this deer tag for me and finding something special is kind of pretty important. However, if I can try and find that cat… I think it is worth it to concentrate my effort on. Surely not enough time to learn a new thing in this business, but hey…

[Smoky buck]

That mule deer is my niece’s deer buck an Elliot lol

No BS she really wants a mature buck with one antler. She likes animals with odd ball antlers of any kind but that is her favorite with giant forkies probably being her second favorite

I got a few pictures of a younger whitetail with 3 main beams she is bugging me to keep an eye on for her

Good luck out there

[fishnguy]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

That mule deer is my niece’s deer buck an Elliot lol

No BS she really wants a mature buck with one antler. She likes animals with odd ball antlers of any kind but that is her favorite with giant forkies probably being her second favorite

I got a few pictures of a younger whitetail with 3 main beams she is bugging me to keep an eye on for her

Good luck out there

Haha. There is also a whitetail like that hanging around that piece of bush. Pretty sure I posted his pics here previously.

And thanks.


I went out the day before yesterday and today. The day before yesterday was a fairly quick run with the main purpose of installing another camera to where the cat was spotted before and just looking around for tracks and whatnot. Found another dead deer, but all is already described in “How to kill a cougar?” thread. So I will continue from where I left there or what was left out.

So yeah, all trails within the vicinity of the kill site(s) were heavily covered by coyote tracks as they were coming in and out to the feast from every direction it seemed. Ironically, I haven’t seen or heard a single dog that day. However, I haven’t seen a single deer track there either. So I went further away to find some action, of which there wasn’t much. Here is a great rub from a long time ago on a spruce that survived:



You can see how the bark grew thicker all around but the part that was destroyed by the buck. It’s really old, no doubt, and is still “bleeding” with tar leaking all over, but the tree survived. Usually, when it gets that bad, the spruce dies within a couple of years, more or less, like so (another “living” spruce behind):



And this is the one that was pictured in one of my previous posts with a rifle leaned against that tree:



These rubs are 5 years old. There are a few more there from the same year and every tree is no more and spruce is kind of scarce around there. Maybe that is why, lol. The bad news is that I haven’t been finding rubs like those here lately. Not sure, are the big bucks gone? Can’t be because the genetic pool is certainly there. But where the heck are they?

Here is one thing I always do, no matter what I hunt - I scout for something and everything else. I really do not need to scout this area much at all, but I always keep my eye out to see what is happening and how everyone and everything is doing. For example, I already mentioned it in a couple of other threads I believe, but I look at things like this:



That right there tells me that there is consistent moose presence there because that particular shoot has been fed on for many many years, including this year and just hours before I showed up. Those brightest bites were taken just hours before, but you can also see the bites from earlier in the year, from year before and before; some are so old that the new shoots grew from or next to them and yet newer grew from those. That picture really tells a story and I am always excited about these type of things. Furthermore, if you look at the height of that particular willow, you can tell it was a good size moose that fed on it recently:



Which was also confirmed by the nearby bed I stumbled upon shortly after:



It’s a really good size moose. Too bad I didn’t run into the moose itself.

So yeah, always look around for other things and learn all you can about the place you are in. Basically, that’s how you learn where to draw your next moose tag, for example, if you are usually hunting 2+ neighbouring management units and whether it is wroth it to spend any time here when you are moose hunting or if some other areas are more attractive. Same goes for elk and deer, etc.

On the way out, I ran into a very (like very) fresh deer track, which wasn’t far from a scrape and a lame rub (these are the only kind of rubs I am finding this year).



I really had to rush at this point because I can’t leave my kids hanging yet again, lol, but I slowed down just a bit. Two minutes later I heard a deer bouncing and saw that familiar orange butt and tail. I froze for a moment, the buck stopped and soon after walked away. This is the fourth time I am running into this guy (at least I think it is the same deer) and I think he is a shooter from a very brief and very partial (as in part of) look at his rack. And all four times he ran before I saw him (which is how I saw him too). Three of the four times he was also in pretty much the same area: I could probably stand on a high ground and pinpoint all three spots where I spooked him from. It ain’t easy because it is very thick.



Very hard to see anything, which is why he fled from me every time. And he doesn’t need to run far, a few jumps and he is gone. You make a step, he jumps a few more times (you do not see him at this point), so he gets further away every time you move a step. One thing I sometimes try and I know it works, especially if the visibility is slightly better, is when that deer starts jumping, instead of standing frozen or making that tiny step, I make 3-5-7-whatever giant leaps towards that deer while he is on the move. That is only possible if conditions permit doing so and is best done when there is plenty of snow to dampen the noise. Here, I would break my legs if I attempted to that. So I let it walk away and didn’t literally chase it this time, lol. And that was a wrap.


Today… Well, you know it’s rut time when mule deer start acting weirder than usually do, like walking the bush roads like it is nobody’s business, lol.



You can see on his face expression that he means it too, lol. Could be what or rather why it happened to the other buck I mentioned in the other thread.

Anyway, today I went to a different spot in the same general area. I won’t blab much here because it is late and the post had already gotten out of hand, but will let photos tell the story where they can.

I found another shed. Not as old as the other one (maybe?) but has some age on it and is a pretty cool one:





I climbed some serious hills:



I watched some mulies with their shiny white butts in the distance while climbing those nasty hills:



When you are on the south facing hills in the Peace Country, watch where you step. If you don’t care, you should definitely care about where you are going to take a sit though:



After doing all of the above, I went back to the vehicle because I had to leave. However, on the way, I got a call informing me that they wanted to cancel the meeting and… I got another hour, lol. So I drove a bit further and hit the big bush. I quickly found a good trail and followed it slowly. This damn weather is really a bitch. For example, what I covered today in about 40-45 minutes on that trail, took only 5 to come back. It was worth it though. There were some fairly fresh, but who could really tell, deer tracks on that trail and plenty of them. Long story short, some time after, I heard a sneeze ahead and to the left. I froze completely. I could hear a deer run and stop. I kept the pose I froze in. Some time later, another deer blew its nose at me from behind and to the left. Then the one ahead again. And again. And again. I thought I heard the one at the back walking away. The one in front was just sneezing. Not moving is a very good idea in this situation, lol. I never do, but this time I had a call with me. I decided to sent a couple of bleats, as I would the mews in the similar situation when elk hunting. A couple more sneezes from the deer ahead and then silence. A couple more minutes and I decided to move forward, very carefully. There was clearly some high ground just ahead and if I could make it, I could probably see the sneezer. Very slowly, I made it to the top and as I was making my last step, I heard a deer moving around. I froze again, which was really a bad timing because I was in the middle of a step and leaning to pass under a log. But what are you going to do. I could clearly see the body of a whitetail deer just ahead. Extremely carefully, I took the half step back and stood up. Looked through the binoculars a dinky dink 3x3 buck in the thicket. A very small 3x3 too, but one that could maybe grow into a beautiful adult. He trashed some brush in front of him and then I noticed he wasn’t alone. There was another 3x3 buck, lol. Significantly larger, but likely one that isn’t going to turn into anything more beautiful, lol. Anyway, they crossed their antlers, the smaller guy bounced shortly and the other one walked away as well. All about 15-20 meters away from me. Cool stuff. I’d like to know who walked away behind me though.

So that was the day. While nothing of substance, it was pretty good couple of hours. The weather though… And the forecast still sucks:



It showed plus twelve when I was driving home today.

[fishnguy]

Another look at that shed. I knew I took a better pic:



Small but neat.

[jqsk]

Loving this thread. It feels like I've been along for the adventure. I hope you find a buck worthy of your connection to this place!

[fishnguy]

^ Thanks. As I mentioned in your “monster fawn” thread, haha, I might be settling on one as well the way things are going.

The last three outings update, Saturday, Sunday, and today.

Saturday was actually pretty great. I went to the same spot where I saw the little guys figuring out their differences. I don’t usually go there much and never spent lots of time in that particular place, not sure why. I mean I browsed around there a bit before some years ago, but never invested the time to look into it closer. I did on Saturday. I think I mentioned that when I was leaving there on Friday, the thermometer showed 12 above zero. Crazy weather, almost September like. The following night was around zero and it warmed up a bit the next day again. Since I was only able to go in the afternoon, most of the remaining snow had melted and the moisture provided for an opportunity to move around quietly. What a difference! Nevertheless, the first thing that happened was I got barked at by a moose again, lol. I am not really sure if it was barking at me, because it was quite a bit away judging by the sound, but got to be because there was no one else there. I have to say, this season, I got barked at more than my entire “hunting career” prior combined. Not even kidding. Usually, I see moose as opposed to hearing it barking. I heard the moose bouncing around a bit letting out a few barks, I tried to wait it out so it would shut up and move on, but it just did what it was doing, so I figured I should be the one moving on and I did. Unfortunately for me, I did so without glassing and spooked a buck less than a minute later - he was probably on the alert as it was and then I rushed a bit and made a few more steps than I should have.

The buck jumped a few times, stopped, and sneezed. A few more sneezes. I knew he didn’t see me, so he had no idea what I was. But I hardly saw him too, just the body when he was jumping. I tired to find him with and without the binoculars but to no avail. I made a few more steps and glassed the bush again. Moments later, I saw the buck in the thicket staring right at me, lol. All I could see was his face and neck clearly. The only thing I could see about the rack is that it was very dark brown. To note, if a deer is staring right at you, it doesn’t mean that the deer can see you and know what you are. For the most part, if you stand still motionless, the deer would likely eventually decide that all is dandy. I, of course, was moving my my head/torso around as I was glassing before I saw the buck, so he knew something was going on. He sneezed at me again once or twice and jumped away. I decided that this guy is probably a lost cause, but took out the tube and grunted a few times. Another note here, I have no idea what I am doing with a bleat or a tube and, while I have a couple and experimented previously, I just never saw the results myself, so all these deer calls spent most of their existence in the box. I stumbled upon that box (man, there are many different calls there that I will likely never use, lol) when we were moving a few weeks ago and figured I will try these again this year. So here I am, likely making things worse with them, lol.

Anyway, I made a few more steps, listened, a few more, and so on. Next time I glassed around, I saw the same buck staring at me and again, I could only see his face and partial neck. Another sneeze and he bailed. A few more steps and I could hear this buck sneezing again, but he moved quite a bit to the right (he was almost straight ahead of me). Another sneeze but now almost behind me, so he was leaving. Well so I thought, because the next time I glassed around, there he was, face and full neck in the “window” in the thicket. Another sneeze and jumping. I decided to find a good spot where I could see some ground around me and try to catch this guy as (or if) he circled around me again.

While all this was happening, I also stumbled onto a few scrapes. A couple are definitely pretty old and have some depth to them (one is especially deep) and another one is just another scrape, but freshly raked.





There is clearly some action taking place there every year. Next to one of the deep scrapes is a nice old rub, but nothing interesting recently as far as rubbing goes.



Anyway, I found some ground that is higher than most of the rest, which happened to be 15 or so meters from that fresh rub. The buck sneezed again a couple of times while I took position and “organized” my spot. I waited, but heard no movement whatsoever. No sneezing either, haha. Not sure how much time had past, but I finally heard something coming on the left (I was now facing where the buck was last heard) and far behind. I was sure it was the same buck that circled back and was finally coming in to check me out. Some minutes past a different buck showed up 15-20 meters away from me with his nose down. He had some mass to his rack, but low tines and not much colour. It looked like an older buck, a 5x5 (from what I could see), but not what I am looking for. I tried to snap a pic, but that didn’t work out. The buck moved straight to where the other one was sneezing last. I waited some more, but nothing happened. I figured that the first buck had probably left, so I moved a bit further in, found a good high spot where I could fairly clearly see 180 degrees or so, as well as somewhat behind. Nothing else happened and with about 15 minutes left on the clock, I started moving out.

The strangest thing had happened that almost never happens to me. As I was walking out, I felt something was off. After looking at the map on the phone, I saw that I was walking almost in the opposite direction from where I needed to be going. And I was so convinced I was right, I tried three different maps and still was suspicious. I followed the map and it was correct, but hot damn! Don’t really remember the last time I felt like that - has to be decades ago. To note, it isn’t possible to literally get lost there if one is familiar with the geography of the place even a little bit, but it would potentially take me much longer to come back in the dark.

While I was walking out, I spotted a couple more deer, no idea what they were as it was past shooting time, and three does that spotted me first, flashed their tails and ran away sneezing. This is how you know that they ain’t coming back, lol. There was some other movement, likely other deer, but I have no idea. I decided to come back on Sunday to the spot and hang another camera overlooking that fresh scrape.

So on Sunday, I did exactly that. It was still wet floor and movement was still quite, not as good as the day before, but decent. I could only get out closer to the afternoon again. Long story short here, I didn’t see or hear a single thing during the entire time I was there. Like there were no animals there the day before. Damn… but I did hang the camera by the scrape as I planned. About the camera. It is a supposedly “fancy schmancy” Stealth Cam DS4K Ultimate that I happened to stumble upon last year on “super” clearance for… 80 bucks? Something like that. I bought it, even though I told myself prior that I would never buy another Stealth Cam ever again because I bought another “fancy” one (at the time) maybe 7 years ago and had to exchange it and it still didn’t work (either not taking photos at all or took them by thousands on calm windless days, etc, basically garbage). So I bought a new memory card, formatted it in the camera, put new batteries in, and left it looking directly at the scrape. I then browsed around some more and found another great scrape. I debated with myself whether I should move the camera but opted not to because of the proximity of the other one to the old established scrapes and it would also involve quite a bit of rushing, noise, etc. So I went home at dark. A pretty disappointing day overall.

Today, I had a couple of hours, so I drove to the same spot. It was windy on Sunday night and it dried it all right up. Today, it was loud as hell all over the place. Moments later after I moved in, I saw three tails waving around and running away (wonder if it was the same three does I saw on Saturday). No sneezing this time, which isn’t necessarily a good sign. Not long after, I spotted a buck that looked like a mule deer from my very brief look and the sound of his jumps confirmed it when he ran away, lol. I scared him away once more a little later and that was the last I saw or heard of him. I went to the camera I left there on Sunday because I wanted to pull the card and maybe move it to that other better scrape. Well, the display showed zero photos and zero battery life, lololo. The Browning cam that took pictures of the cat posted in the other thread has been taking photos with the same batteries and card since last November and it has been outside since then until about a month ago and then back out a couple of weeks ago or so. So I will never buy another Stealth Cam product ever again! This time it is definitely for real, no matter how good of a deal it may appear to be. Not sure why, but I still moved it to the other scrape with the same batteries, but I put another card in. At home, I confirmed that the card that was there had nothing on it. I guess I should say that the scrape was surely raked, the leaking branch was actually broken off in one spot and debarked in another. So there was some serious activity going on and none of it was captured on the damn camera.

So anyway, that’s about it. Today was another dud, though I did see a few animals. Also saw a cow with a calf.



It is windy again right now, so even drier from now on and the forecast still sucks (maybe snow next Monday, lol). 8 days left. I will be able to get out a couple more times before the weekend, a couple of hours here and there, but I cannot get out at all on Saturday. Hopefully, some good effort on Sunday.

Oh, here is a funny thing from Sunday. Can you see a bunny?



Yes, I bet you can. That poor thing was running for its life to hide in grass under that little spruce, lol.

So yeah, we will see what the next few days bring about.

[fishnguy]

So I have gotten out on Thursday, the next day after my last post above. Not much to say about it because the day was a turd and I haven’t seen a thing. Except that the Teddy was back at the field when I was leaving. I haven’t seen it the past few outings and was sure the bear called it and went to sleep, but there he was, poking around the same field. I stopped and walked out to take a good pic becuase it was finally close enough to take a very good pic, but Teddy didn’t like the idea and quickly ran away. Oh well.

The other thing I did on Thursday was I pulled out the cards from the two cameras (cougar and the other one). That was a disappointment too. The cougar one decided to only take day pics - where aside from a herd of elk passing by a couple of times (20 heads or so), there was nothing interesting - but the night pics were mostly completely black, like the flash doesn’t work anymore. Interestingly, there were a few night pics that did work - more elk and couple of deer - but the rest were just blackness. Not sure what gives, but it is what it is.

The other camera was even worse, lol. I accidentally put a card in it that was previously used in another camera and, I completely forgot because I don’t use the cameras much anymore, that one refuses to recognize cards that were used elsewhere, so no pics there at all. Lol.

So yes, Thursday wasn’t good for anything but getting out for a couple of hours. To run ahead, I pulled out the Stealth Cam out completely and, as expected, not a single pic there as well. Still can’t believe I bought it.

The next day was Sunday. Surprisingly, the ground was pretty quiet, even though dry as heck (one could probably start another forrest fire with little effort, lol). I went to the place with the scrapes and found quite a few more, but none have likely been used the past few days. Still, a good thing. One is a scrape line with 4-5 excellent scrapes in about 50 meters length of trail. And within about 30 meters from a bedding area of a big bodied buck.

About 15 minutes in, I spooked likely a moose and it was quite a bit away, but it ran for its life. No barking this time. Not even sure how it heard me because it was fairly quiet. I just kept moving. Not long after, I heard a deer bouncing as well, but that one sure did hear me because it was close enough. It was close to an opening and there was no good spot to stand, so I moved a bit further and off to a side, waited a bit, and moved on. With all the spooked animals, I decided to find a good spot and just stand there and wait to see if anything shows up. A long while after, I finally heard a deer coming down the trail. Wind really sucked as it was all over, but nothing I could do about that. At that moment the wind was in my face when I was looking towards the direction of the deer movement, which was good news for the time being. The deer sure was coming. I took the rifle off my shoulder and even took the safety off. It kept coming for another 5 or so minutes until it took a detour and walked on by. When I realized it was taking another trail around, I moved to another spot trying to spot it, but to no avail. Sounded like a buck, but who can tell (I am pretty confident it was a buck, likely with its nose down on the ground).

While realizing that deer is likely gone and being a bit disappointed, I heard something behind me, not too far off, but not that close either. It did sound like deer moving though. Hard to say. I was really open from the back side because something coming from that direction wasn’t part of the quick plan I had in mind stalking the other deer, lol. So what to do? Well, I turned around very slowly and as quietly as I could, stood, and listened. Nada. For the longest time. To note here, if a deer can see you and you are moving very slowly and for a long time, it isn’t necessarily a good thing at all because the longer the movement, the longer the exposure, which you want to avoid. I was betting on the sound though because of where I was standing and if the deer could see me, it wouldn’t have mattered much how I moved. I knew I was quite open, but I couldn’t see anything worse seeing with or without the binoculars either in the direction I thought the noise came from. That would mean that either there was nothing there or the deer, if it was somewhere there, likely could not see me either. So again, I stood there motionless with the gun ready in case something popped out. When I decided it was a dud (trust me, it was long enough to assume so), and started turning making a bit of noise, the most epic sneezing started from almost that very direction, lol. I was a bit off with where the initial noise came from. The deer was in there (clearly a view through the binoculars):



Yep, pretty thick stuff. Zero chance the deer could see me. The bugger stood there and listened, just like I did. He was just more patient (that is a lot of patience!). Well, it happens, but what do you do now? Clearly, I can't just walk around now because there is way too much intensity in the air. Since the guy (I was sure it was a buck) couldn’t see me, I figured I would just trash the brush next to me, the leaves on the ground, and just make a lot of noise in general - that would surely make it stop sneezing (the sneezing wouldn’t stop), but would still keep me out in the open if the buck decided to move anywhere at me but straight through that thicket. Thicket is actually the wrong word here as the undergrowth is not too bad, but the density of that poplar, most of which is not so young at all, is pretty remarkable. There was nothing else I could do there, really. Either it wouldn’t like my plan and run; it would wonder what the heck and stay; I could also do nothing, remain still out in the open, and it would likely just walk away. So I went ahead with my plan and made a ruckus. The buck surely stopped sneezing but didn’t move. I was waiting to see what it does and act accordingly. The buck decided to let another sneeze out. Once that happened, I took a few giant leaps, almost jumping, towards some cover but there wasn’t any close enough (in that direction). The buck remained motionless though. While I was now more exposed than before, I was closer to where I wanted to be and another similar exercise would solve the problem completely. Given I get a chance. However, the buck didn’t agree and took a few jumps while sneezing a bit more. I saw some young poplar moving when he did and it wasn’t where I wanted it to be. When the deer jumped though, I took a few more leaps and was now in a much better spot: while still more open than I would like to be, I had two very good lines of sight and if the luck had it, the buck would move exactly where I wanted it to. We both were now motionless again, lol. Me with the gun up and ready and the buck likely throwing its nose up in the air trying to figure it out. He definitely had an advantage because… well, it’s a deer in the thicket that had already had me played once, but also the wind was all over the place - during this “standoff”, I could feel it in my face, my sides, as well the back of my head. Nothing was happening now. Had the deer left? One way to find out: I sniffed in as hard and loudly, as well as as shortly as I could. Surely, it doesn’t sound like deer, lol, but it does the trick sometimes. Desperate times call for desperate measures, as they say. The buck sneezed back and jumped around a bit. He went exactly where I wanted it to go (luck had it, lol). However, when I finally saw it, it was a pretty mediocre buck.



That is a blown up part of the following photo, where you can see those antlers closer to the middle:



That was a really long time I spent with that buck. Funny enough, I pretty much convinced myself that it had to be a shooter, lol. Nothing wrong with the deer: in fact, the photo is quite deceiving because there was some good spread, good mass, but just not what I am looking for.

So anyway, I let that buck leave to wherever it was going and moved on myself. I ran into a few more deer after that, but the day was quickly coming to an end. One notable deer was this buck:



Yes, the photo does doesn’t reflect much, but it was one of the bigger body deer I had seen to date (the biggest one was actually my first ever buck and nothing came close to that since, but this could maybe challenge it). If I was out for meat, I’d be now positing pics of that deer with my rifle on it. Alas…

Can you find a deer in this pic?



There is one just to left and down from the middle of the image.

Another fork muley I ran into:



So yes, it was a pretty good day. Nothing to show for it in the freezer or on the wall, but it was a pretty great day. I heard, but did not see a few more deer as I was coming out. It was after hours, so it didn’t matter anyway. Tomorrow I may be heading out for about 3-4 hours again. Maybe one more outing after that and then that is a wrap…

[fishnguy]

^ I see the last photo I attached there is of nothing, lol. Meant to be this one:



(Edit: I now see there is that deer in the original picture as well, lol. Oh well. Need glasses, I guess).

Anyway, this is a wrap as far as deer is concerned. Those who followed and waited, sorry to disappoint, but the deer has lived to see another season, haha.

I have not been able to get out since Sunday, but was out today for a few hours. Didn’t have much hope, but had a good feeling. Definitely was expecting some movement as it was finally a cold day; well, the coldest this season, 13 below when I got there and -9 when I was leaving, lol. The good feeling didn’t materialize and the only thing I found was blood on one of the trails when I was already in the bush, so I am not sure where it came from.



It was a good amount. Maybe (likely) came from the direction of the road, but who can tell for sure (I didn’t walk that trail that way). I looked around a bit and it seemed to go where I was heading anyway. I ended up following the trail for two hours while still hunting. The bush was pretty loud and I was pretty distracted by the blood. As a result, I spooked a couple of deer while they were still quite a bit away ahead of me. Quick spotting indicated a couple of does. The amount of blood seemed to be decreasing, but once in a while there would be a good smudge. It was definitely a deer, likely bleeding from the right side, maybe shoulder because eventually it was clear the blood was dripping from or next to the right front leg. It snowed on Tuesday night, I believe, (well, hardly, really, as it was almost transparent) and this deer passed there before that snow. It was pretty easy to follow in the beginning, but was getting harder and harder as it went on. Especially when it was on the trails that other deer used afterwards.







I only found one bed where the deer took a break and it looked too big to be a doe, but you can never say for sure. Quite a bit of blood in the bed, but not devastating. While I followed the blood trail for two hours, I was still hunting, so I didn’t cover that much distance (though I was moving faster than I would otherwise). Eventually, I had to turn around and go back and this deer season was over. Seriously debating to head back there on Sunday and follow that trail as far as I possibly can (unless (highly unlikely) it snows and makes it completely impossible). But I also want to go out on Sunday and see about that cat and what I can find.

So yeah, that’d be a wrap. Good tracking practice today, but nothing else. Overall, the weirdest season weather wise. I definitely can’t say it completely sucked, as I saw some action, quite a few deer, even though not the ones I wanted to find, the cougar stuff, etc. With utmost certainty, I can say that I was sneezed at by deer and barked at by moose more than any other season and all of them combined, lol. But it was fun. And I never hunted in such warm weather in November. Those plus 12-13 days were nuts. The forecast still tells me it is going to be above zero next week. Normally, we would soon be heading into the coldest time of the year, but…

Anyway, sorry, Smoky, I tried. Hard enough or not? Who knows, lol.

[fishnguy]

Was looking through the pictures on my phone and figured I would post this one (well, two) as well because I think some might appreciate it for what it is. Somehow I missed on it posting it earlier.

Here is a rub I ran by:



This me standing right beside that tree and reaching up as high as I can, pretty much on tippy toes (I am 6’ 2”):



So where it peaked, has gotta be about 9 feet tall. Pretty impressive, if you ask me.

That’d be all, lol.

[Demonical]

The only creature that rubs that high is elk.

[fishnguy]

Yes, indeed. While not a real rarity, it’s not an every day sight though.