The recovery is on for Central North Carolina's Deer Herd..... Threeletters EHD.

My apologies for the ridiculously long break in posts.  So much to discuss. Lets start with one near and dear…. The 2014 travesty that was the North Carolina Deer season.  Epizootio Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD).  This is a viral disease, spread by gnats, which causes internal bleeding and is extremely devastating in areas where the deer density is high.  My hunting time was also limited last year so I sat in areas that were known to be high deer traffic areas.  In years past these were gimmees for does.  My goal was meat harvest.  I used 5 vacation days to hunt sun up- down and weekends.  Not only did I not harvest a deer I saw whopping 4 deer, period.  That includes a buck swimming across a lake, a lone doe running along side the road and road kill! Generally, I would see that many per day in front of my neighborhood.  The first sign of bad things to come was the fam across from my office.  Typically we would see herds of 10+ at various times grazing in the corn stalks.  Sometimes as many as 40 deer could be counted.  Last year ZERO.  Not one.  At first I thought it were development pushing deer to new areas, perhaps me… bad wind, timing, perhaps too warm for good movement.  Then gun season began…. A slight up tick but still guys hunting over bait, running dogs  were also coiming up empty  that is when I knew… this would not be good. 

How bad was it? Lets look at number sform some of the numbers comparing the 2013 harvest to the released 2014 harvest.  For camparison we will look at the North-Central counties which have traditionally had some really strong harvests. More importantly, these areas are heavily hunted with hounds, bait and rifles.  I metion this only to say the “great mast” theory does not hold water in this region.  So lets take a look:

County	2013 Harvest	2014 Harvest	Difference in total deer harvested (2014  vs. 2013)	% harvest decline  vs. 2013
Franklin	3,554	1,608	-1,946	-55%
Granville	3,103	1,691	-1,412	-45%
Halifax	5,533	3,921	-1,612	-29%
Vance	2,592	866	-1,726	-67%
Wake	3,279	1867	-1412	-43%
Warren	3,010	1624	-1386	-46%

 That was the past.  2015 I think will be a "good" year.  Early fall into late October provided some great opportunities. Folks were reporting sightings and harvests, I saw more bucks than ever and harvested one with my bow.  One observation, most of the deer look young.  It will be interesting to see how the year finishes with 3 weeks left in the deer season.  Hopefully we'll see more like this one harvested by my frat brother from a stand near Rougmount, NC.

 

An experiment to answer a couple of bow hunting questions

What causes a deer to "jump the string"? It happens within standard hunting ranges (20 to 30 yards),  but I often wonder, why?  Is it the sound of the string snapping upon release? Perhaps the deer sees the arrow in flight or better yet hears the arrow approaching. This weekend I conducted a simulation, an experiment of sorts. From a distance of 33 yards, I shot six arrows at a 5 inch target approximately 6 inches above my iPhone.  Of the six arrows, five were in the 5 inch circle and the outlier was about three quarters of an inch high and to the left.

The recording may not capture the audio as well as being there in person, but from this distance you can clearly hear my feet on the deck and the bow on the table.  You cannot hear the string snap or the arrow's release, but you can definitely hear a whisper just before impact.

This video makes me wonder: is the deer responding to the sound of the shot? This video raises another question: perhaps they're not responding to the sound at all, but instead they are catching movement associated with the process of shooting a bow and the arrows release.  Deer are acutely attuned to any movement. This may explain why shorter shots tend to have more"string  jumping" then longer shots.

http://youtu.be/bucfxIpj090

Based upon the video what is your opinion?

The Saga of the Honey Hole, My Walden

The honey hole is quickly becoming my go to place.  It is not the best place.  It is not the most remote.  The deer are not guaranteed to move through.  I have only seen two bucks there in three years. The deer are ridiculously skittish and prone to go nocturnal.  But it is convenient to my home, less than a quarter mile away, isolated and there are deer, coyote, squirrels, and raccoons.   Public hunting land is nearby, but the proximity to the honey hole often wins out.  It's my Walden.

Last November, I logged my third and final deer of the season. Despite three hunts in front of hounds and several trips to the "big woods", fittingly my last deer was a doe from the honey hole.  A last minute hunt, during the middle of the day.

The season is over, but she will be there.  Each afternoon, I will walk my dog along the edge of my suburban oasis and invariably there will be whitetail deer to wave, "good bye".  Perhaps tomorrow I'll visit again, bow in hand and sons in tow to hunt squirrels and rabbits in the fresh snow.

Now, I turn to the flyrod and bassbugs; spinning reels and floats, baitcasters and cranks.  Standing in a stream, waders on, and "waving a stick"..... my favorite way to hunt.

First Deer of 2013 - Archery Hunt

I had a few days off and got in some great public land hunts.

Day 1: Temperatures dropped into the low 30's overnight. The high temperature for the following day was expected to be in the mid 50's.  After weeks of warm temperatures in the 70’s and 60’s, deer should be on the move.  I intended to hunt an archery zone where buck or doe harvest was legal.  So, after dropping the kids off at school I, met up with my hunting partner and headed out to the woods.  The lunar calendar said it was a great day with prime activity between 10am and 1pm.  A pre-hunt inspection of my bow revealed a serving that was coming apart.  We had time so I went back to the house grabbed a shot gun and hit a different piece of public land open to firearms.  About 11:15am I caught a glimpse of a large mature buck crossing a shooting lane about 60 yards off.  I watched as he followed a ridgeline headed my way.  I lost him in the trees.  About 15 minutes later I am surprised by the sound of shots fired behind me, I turned and between me and my partner stood a 6 pointer.  I got off one shot at 16 yards and missed. 

Day 2: After doing some cleaning around the house I decided to do an afternoon hunt.  After all, the trusty calendar said the prime time for today was 2:40pm - 4:10pm.  I prepared to go out with the shot gun when the phone rings..... My bow is ready!  I ran out figuring I could pick it up about noon, sight it in at the shop and hit the woods by 2pm.

With bow in hand, I slipped in downwind of an established travel corridor.  In the past, I have seen rubs along the ridge, lots of deer passing through and one or two mature bucks.  This corridor is a deer favorite because it provides access to the entire property without crossing any open areas and all wind is funneled through.  They can smell and hear anyone the moment they step into the woods.  However, if you make your way within 30-40 yards of the ridgeline, there is a prevalent cross wind that carries your scent away from the corridor. A perfect ambush site.

I reach my tree and climb up about 25 feet with a Lone Wolf hand climber. I tie off my life line, notch an arrow and take a seat. Less than 5 minutes into the hunt, to my right, I see a large doe making her way out cautiously testing the wind.  Immediately I know her, the Nanny Goat.  I and this ole girl have been going at it for a few seasons. She is a very large and mature doe.  Almost every time I hunt this area, I lock wits with the Ol’ Nanny. Her markings are very distinct. I have watched her lead the herd in this heavily travelled corridor of public land for at least 3 seasons.  She is the first one to appear and the guardian who stomps, snorts and blows to warn everyone else.  Smart and wily, I have been busted by her more times than not. In fact, she got wind of me a week earlier.  I only saw her, but she stomped and it sounded like a cavalry scattering in the forest around me.

She appeared about 60 yards out surveying the tree line.  I could see several more does about 20 yards beyond her eating.  She was on sentinel duty, as usual, apart from the group.  She gradually began to forage and wandered out of sight into the trees. I know this game.  She wanders away out of sight, but keeps an eye on whatever in the tree line got her attention. While foraging, she will constantly circle the area to catch wind of anything untoward and peak into the canopy for anything unusual, movement. I did not move and barely breathed for fear of giving off enough scent to blow my cover.  If she picked me off again, it would be same story…. I draw at a deer, she stomps, snorts and everyone runs.  

Like a ghost she re-appeared just beyond a tree about 40 yards out from me, head down, eating mushrooms. She was unaware of my presence and totally relaxed.   I had no intention of taking a shot that far.  I practice out to 50 yards, but 30 yards is about where I draw the line for hunting.  I had a narrow shooting lane and figured she would stay in that position until she finished the mushrooms off.  The canopy hid my silhouette. I could draw smoothly, set a good anchor, aim and hold it for as long as needed. I decided to give it a go; waited for the wind to settle; aimed small and released the arrow.  The shot was true.  I was able to trace the flight and heard a solid thud. She jumped turned and trotted off about 75 yards, made a hard right turn and disappeared over a hill.  I stayed in the stand focused on the last spot I saw her. Trying to memorized everything about that last positive sighting just in case there was no trail to track.  In the distance I heard rustling in the leaves.  I knew then she was down, I was certain that I finally got the Nanny Goat.

She was much bigger than I expected. No camera tricks, her body is as large as it looks below. She has some very distinct markings on her that allowed me to identify her.  This, to me, is the equivalent of a trophy buck, an OLD doe. The smartest deer I have ever hunted.

Nearly 70 degrees in December and I have a day off from the office.  The kids will be in school until 3pm, what to do…… sit in the house, watch television?!?!?!  Nope, I’ve had buck fever since last night.   Today will probably my last time to hunt for more than say 2-3 hours at a clip.  In reality, I MIGHT get out maybe once or twice more during the Christmas break (weather permitting) and that will be it for the 2012 deer season.  Within an hour I was standing in the woods trying to decide where to hunt.  My usual spot would be the easiest to access, but I decided not to go there.  My instincts told me to take my climber and hunt a different location.  From my usual stand, I passed on many does and spikes for a mature buck.  The location was good but, I believe we are now late or early post-rut and the patterns have changed. 

I noticed that the does always came from the west, but one mature buck (and maybe a second) always came from the east.  I have long suspected they entered the corridor via a funnel bordered by a high ridge on one side, water on the other and scrub pines in the ravine.  I was certain they bedded there as well, because the wind is almost always perfect and renders the area almost unapproachable.  It was near perfect.   There is a catch; I noticed a strong cross wind.  If you were able to get close to the water on and about 50 yards from to entrance, the cross wind is consistent enough to carry your scent away from the funnel and out to the water.  So I got set up in a tree at the edge of the funnel above the cross wind and about 25 feet up to maximize the cross current scent cover.  Should those does return and approach from behind, I am good. 

About 5 minutes after I settled in, two nice mature does appeared like ghost at the entrance of the ravine where I expected the buck. I waited hoping for either the buck or a younger smaller doe (better eating) to follow them out into the clearing.  They were feeding beneath a tree I ranged at 45 yards.  I watched them for about 20-25 minutes and learned a lot about deer behavior and how sounds affect their behavior and level of alertness (the sounds of cars, horns, sirens, dogs, people talking even doors opening and closing carry much farther than I thought).  After getting caught up in observing the does, two things came to mind: this is a really good spot, they have been inside of 50 yards for almost 30 minutes and have yet to see, hear or wind me; secondly, his may be my last or one of my last outings for the season and I have not punched a single tag!!!! 

So I decided to take one of these does as it appeared there was nothing behind them.  I reached down (love the Lone Wolf platform’s bow/gun mount), grabbed my bow, flipped the seat up and slowly rose into position to stand for the shot.  The larger doe moved into a shooting lane and stood in front of a tree 30 yards out.  She looked down; I drew the bow, held the pin just behind her shoulder and let it go.  I saw the arrow nock light up and disappear.  She jumped, spun around and both does ran off together.  I watched them run side by side for about 75-100 yards then I only saw one tail waving over the hill.  From my stand, I could see the arrow nock.  It was still illuminated and I knew from the positioning it was a hit.

I waited about 15 minutes packed up my stand; threw it on to my back and headed over to the arrow.  Covered in pink slightly foamed blood and missing a vane.  Good and bad………. Good: probably a solid lung hit, she will fall inside 100 yards or so.  Bad: lung shots don’t provide much of a blood trail and worse, it is starting to drizzle.  I searched no blood, but I could see a trail of disturbed leaves in the direction they ran.  Not 100% sure she was down I backed out went home, ate left over pizza, answered email from the office and about 3 hours later grabbed my secret weapon…….. Jake, our trusty German short haired. 

No, not a trained hunting dog, but he points and tracks rabbits and anything else all over the yard.  Last month, he chased deer into the woods and was lost for about 4 hours.  I took him to the arrow; he sniffed it and on queue took off dragging me up the hill.  Without coaxing he was going exactly where the deer ran!!! I was excited but trying to keep from getting dragged on my face by a near 70 pound dog in full trot.  We went over the hill and I felt we were way past where I thought she was but I let him run.  He stopped and started back and forth until he got a scent and dragged me within 10 yards of her!!!  It finally hit me, he followed the scent of the first deer over the hill where I saw her, then doubled back to the down deer that was now dropping a little blood. He tracked her perfectly, they ran together and she doubled back to lie down… Jake did it!

Great fun on a last minute hunt. 

A wrap up of the 2011 Deer Season

I intiated this post November 2, 2011... edited it December 29, 2011 and didn't remember to review and release it until well....... now (January 16, 2012).  What can I say? Life happens and sometimes a lack of time for hobbies or play is an indication of great things to come and memories in the making. 

Football, school, work and (gasp) social invitiations significantly limited my opportunities.  The biggest factor being little league football (Pop Warner).  My Wife has had enough of football and she has never been one for hunting or fishing. She was not exactly thrilled by prospects of bowl games, big plays, road trips, last minute victories and..... a trip to the playoffs.  So let's take a moment to blog out a quick review of the 2011 deer season before we move on to the 2012 fishing season. 

• Hunt 1: The season 2011 deer season started September 8, 2011.  Our first hunt didn't take place until mid-October.  The temperature was above normal in the mid 70's.  The warm temperatures meant food was abundant and as a result, the deer were scattered about, well into pre-rut patterns and  pretty much nocturnal.  So the boys and I hunted from a pop-up ground blind.  A shoot through blind is great for this type of hunting because: it holds in odors; is very mobile; and most importantly it is really the only way to hunt with two restless boys.  We set up about 4 yards off a 20 yard cutover with lots of natural cover, acorns, tracks and other signs of heavy traffic.  I took some "doe pee" and began covering our scent trail in and the perimeter around the blind.  About 15 yards from the blind in a hardwood stand I look up and there are 3 does looking at me!  I stare at them, they stare at me.  After what seemed like an hour (a few seconds), I blink, they snort and wave goodbye.  End of the day.........

• Hunt 2: Started pretty much the same, but I did not go on a long walk to cover our scent this time!  I just cleaned up our scent around the blind (quickly and queitly) and hunkered down expecting the does to come back up the trail.  About an hour into the hunt, I looked out of the window and what did I see coming in? A coyote!!!! I got around to a stable position and tried to draw my bow when I realized that I had my release strapped on backwards. We had a really good wind and he was no more than 10 yards out when he heard me fumbling with the strap and/or the boys moving in for a better vantage point to watch.  Did he run?  No, he actually circled us about 10 yards out then drifted 15 yards and stopped to look back at us. I shuffled again to turn his way, drew back and he jumped behind a log and slowly walked away. We must have done a great job of playing the wind.  He went about 20 yards further and started digging at something under a tree. I think he heard us again, moved to try to wind us, didn't get a good bead on us, but was nervous enough to move on. They are smart! He just seemed to keep outside of my shooting lanes.  Of course about 5 minutes later in that general direction, I saw the does we were waiting on take off tails flashing. If the coyote couldn't wind us from 10-15 yards, I don't think the does got us from about 40-50 yards. I suspect they either ran up on the coyote digging or got his scent and ran off.

•  Hunt 3: The third hunt was an evening hunt from a treestand (~2 hours) which I actually tried to blog live.  The most exciting part about it was that it took place on Christmas Eve a few hours before church.  This time I hunted a nice parcel behind my home.  As as soon as I sat in the stand, I heard dogs barking in the background.  and shortly after I saw about 4 does high tailing it across a ridge.  I never saw what was chasing them, but I didn't see any dogs or hunters either.

•  Hunt 4:  The fourth was a last ditch effort to avert a 2011-2012 skunk!  The boys and I grabbed the groundblind and headed out to a known travel corridor for some does.  This hunt occurred on the very last day of the season, during the last two hours of shooting light. Our last chance.  We waited, desperately watching the tree line for any hint of deer or movement.  Suddenly, in the very last minute of light, there appeared a head bobbing.  It just appeared like a ghost. I could see a really nice mature doe, but she was quartering hard towards us and about 10 yards out, from the corner of the blind.  A really bad bow shot.  I needed two steps .  Just then, a light wind, I heard a short.  BUSTED! Suddenly, it seemed the woods came alive around us!! Deer were everywhere!  Their camo is perfect!  Never saw them.  My boys were adrenaline junkies at this point!  We didn't get one this year, but the final hunt was exciting enough to bring us back. 

The 2011 deer season is over............. 4 months until we hunt the screamer again!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Time to practice!