Trophy Buck Scouting

October 1, 2008, Today I wanted to go hunting after working 12 hours but decided I was to tired and the wife needed the truck for some shopping with our daughter. Plans changed quickly after reaching our daughters house and I ended up doing some scouting with my future son-in-law who had been telling me that he was finding big buck rubs in his neck of the woods. We headed out the door at 9:00 a.m. and upon getting into the area he told me had all rubs I couldn't believe my eyes there was big rubs everywhere and tracks and trials that looked like a herd of 50 or more deer where in the herd. The woods were under selective timber cutting by the owner and was all steep hills. I could tell the area hadn't been hunted for years and supported a large number of deer in the area. As we walked and climbed up and down the hillsides my hunting buddy told me he and my grandson had jumped two monster bucks just before bow season started with really wide and tall racks on them and that the best he could tell the smaller of the two bucks was either and 8 or a 10 pointer and wasn't sure about the other one but that it was even larger. After seeing the tracks, trials and the rubs for myself, I decided to put up some stands and see if I can help him take one of these trophy bucks. I 've never seen bucks in our hunting area here in Tennessee rubbing trees as these bucks are until late October or November so these bucks are for sure worth hunting. The brush on these hills are really thick but has some areas where the woods just kind of open up and will make for some great rifle hunting when time comes. I should be able to limit out on this farm with no problem and if I do I'll be sure to donate a couple of my deer to the " HUNTERS FOR THE HUNGRY " program as I challenge all hunters to do this year.

Hunting-- A Weekend Update

Saturday morning the barametric pressure was changing so I decided to go hunting again and of course my grandchildren wanted to go along only this time there was three of them. Fortunately for me I was hunting in a long saddle area so I spread the young adults out up the draw as I made my way to the top. AS I dropped each one off at a stand I would give explict instructions to stay put till I returned to get them. Just two hours after daylight one of them showed up at the top of the saddle and had gotten with the other two on his way. That not being bad enough ,they stood around talking and laughing just 75 yards from my stand and did all this just about the time for the deer to come in. This is the very reason why I prefer to hunt farmlands without other hunters. Now I have been told that I have the patience of a saint but for some strange reason this incident of hunting with the grandchildren just didn't sit well with me and I came down out of my stand madder then a bull in a china store. I came crashing through the brush straight toward the young adults and as I got to them I ask why they were out of their stands and talking so loud. I could here them over at my stand 75 yards away.Their reply was "well Ihad deer all around me snorting and some hunter came walking through so after he got out of sight I came up here". I ask how many deer he saw and he said none. By now I was out of the mood to hunt any longer so I decided to check the back side of the saddle for deer and tracks but the young adults just couldn't be quick so we headed for home empty handed again.That evening we collected three of my deer stands from across the lakebed and I spent the evening by myself putting them back up for rifle season. Sunday morning I hunted one of the new stands and spooked a deer out of the area as I went in to my stand before daylight. Unfortunately the deer never returned while I was on stand but at least I may have finally gotten away from the dogs and atv's. Only time will tell if my new stand sites are any good or not but at this point it doesn't matter to me anymore.