Monday, September 28, 2009
Trail Cam Pic
Here's the best pic from today's download. Another picture of the "Tall Ten" that seems to like the south swamp. I can only assume he's the one thats making the rubs that I came across this morning.
Bow Hunting / Camera Check (Jason)
Temperature: 56 degrees at 8:30 / 59 degrees at 11:00
Wind: NW, strong!!!
I took today off of work to do some bow hunting after returning from a weekend trip to Rhinelander. We've been under a wind advisory since yesterday afternoon that involved wind gusts of 40 mph so I decided to sleep in this morning. At around 8:30, I decided to head out to The Land, get the pictures off of the trail camera, and sit for a few hours hoping to catch a deer up on its feet or a flock of turkeys pecking around. I didn't have my key, so I parked underneath the knob just off of River Road. I walked the edge of the corn to the trail cam by Doc's Rock. I was disappointed to see only 9 pictures on the camera with only one good pictures of the "Tall Ten". On the way back to the vehicle, I came across the first rub of the season. It was on a smaller tree, about 3 inches in diameter, but it was very fresh. I decided to drive around and park in the food plot, and climb up in my ladderstand in the south swamp. This stand is usually difficult to get to in the early season, and this year it wasn't any different. The swamp grass is very tall and the ground is wet and soft. The wind was howling out of the NW, but occassional sunshine kept it pretty comfortable. I sat from 9:30 until 11:00 without seeing any deer movement.
Total deer sightings: 1
Total hunting hours: 19.5
Wind: NW, strong!!!
I took today off of work to do some bow hunting after returning from a weekend trip to Rhinelander. We've been under a wind advisory since yesterday afternoon that involved wind gusts of 40 mph so I decided to sleep in this morning. At around 8:30, I decided to head out to The Land, get the pictures off of the trail camera, and sit for a few hours hoping to catch a deer up on its feet or a flock of turkeys pecking around. I didn't have my key, so I parked underneath the knob just off of River Road. I walked the edge of the corn to the trail cam by Doc's Rock. I was disappointed to see only 9 pictures on the camera with only one good pictures of the "Tall Ten". On the way back to the vehicle, I came across the first rub of the season. It was on a smaller tree, about 3 inches in diameter, but it was very fresh. I decided to drive around and park in the food plot, and climb up in my ladderstand in the south swamp. This stand is usually difficult to get to in the early season, and this year it wasn't any different. The swamp grass is very tall and the ground is wet and soft. The wind was howling out of the NW, but occassional sunshine kept it pretty comfortable. I sat from 9:30 until 11:00 without seeing any deer movement.
Total deer sightings: 1
Total hunting hours: 19.5
Duck Hunting Opener - Saturday 9/26/09
This past weekend, the entire family went up to Rhinelander to visit Erin's sister and brother-in-law. Almost every time we visit, Brett and I do some sort of outdoor activity whether it's fishing or hunting. This Saturday just happened to be the opening day of duck hunting. Brett, Chris (Brett's friend) and I left Brett's house at 4:30 am to get out to our hunting spot and get set up. On opening day, the season doesn't start until 9:00 am, so we were plently early. We soon found out, Chris had gotten some bad information about property lines, so we had an interesting conversation with the actual land owner about an hour before legal shooting time. We eventually compromised with the generous landowner and he agreed to let us stay in our spot and hunt for the day, as long as we never show our faces in that spot again. It didn't bother me that much because I was the out-of-towner, however my gut tells me Chris knew we weren't suppose to be out there all along. The action in the morning was pretty steady. Ducks were flying and giving both groups (the landowner's group on one end of the marsh and us on the other) ample opportunities. The first few ducks escaped some rusty shooting, however we finally knocked down a few by noon. We hit a slow spot from 1:00 until 5:30, but we stick it out because we had a feeling ducks were goign to congregate to the marsh at sundown. The last hour definately was busy. Lots of ducks flying and a couple more in the bag for each group. Of course, as soon as we started picking up our gear and decoys a huge flock of wood ducks zoomed past our spot. It always seems to happen that way. We had tons of gear which made the trek out very physically challenging. There is a good chance we all lost at least five pounds on the way to the truck. Overall, we ended up shooting three mallards, two wood ducks and one blue-winged teal.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Bow Hunting (Danny and Jason)
Temperature: 49 degrees 5:20 am / 64 degrees 9:30
Wind: SE light
This morning Danny and I bow hunted together for the very first time. I dropped Danny off at "James' Stand" on my way to "Baker's Stand" on the south side of the property. There was a slight chill in the air and a layer fog hovered about thirty feet off the ground. About ten minutes before day light, something ran behind me down the fence line into the woods. It sounded too big to be a rabbit, but too small to be a deer. I am guessing a raccoon or coyote. Either way, it was the highlight of the hunt. At 8:30, a guy on a four wheeler came driving down the fence line, turned south and drove along the corn strip. He had camo on, however I couldn't tell if he had a bow or a shotgun with him. There's a good chance he was sitting in the ladder stand just up the hill from Baker's Stand on the neighbor's property. I am guessing he didn't see any deer either! Danny had an encounter with a large opossum while sitting in his stand. James put this stand up towards the end of last season and so it got little use. It is in a promising spot right about Doc's Rock on the edge of the South Woods.
Wind: SE light
This morning Danny and I bow hunted together for the very first time. I dropped Danny off at "James' Stand" on my way to "Baker's Stand" on the south side of the property. There was a slight chill in the air and a layer fog hovered about thirty feet off the ground. About ten minutes before day light, something ran behind me down the fence line into the woods. It sounded too big to be a rabbit, but too small to be a deer. I am guessing a raccoon or coyote. Either way, it was the highlight of the hunt. At 8:30, a guy on a four wheeler came driving down the fence line, turned south and drove along the corn strip. He had camo on, however I couldn't tell if he had a bow or a shotgun with him. There's a good chance he was sitting in the ladder stand just up the hill from Baker's Stand on the neighbor's property. I am guessing he didn't see any deer either! Danny had an encounter with a large opossum while sitting in his stand. James put this stand up towards the end of last season and so it got little use. It is in a promising spot right about Doc's Rock on the edge of the South Woods.
Total deer sightings: 1
Total hunting hours: 17
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Weekday Bow Hunting (Jason)
Temperature: 73 degrees at 1:30 / 58 degrees 7:35
Wind: slight from the NE
I had a dentist appointment today, so I took the rest of the afternoon off to do some bow hunting. Danny met me in the quarry at 1:30 to help me get set up in the far north bean field. We both drove to the field road, parked, and lugged all of my gear to the far field. My plan was to set up my ground blind overlooking the bean field hoping to catch some deer feeding in the evening. We picked a spot about 75 yards to the east of the field road and got the blind set up. My blind isn't ideal for bow hunting as it is small and narrow. Danny left around 2:30 and so I hunkered down and waited for sun set. It ended up being my longest sit of the season. Five hours in a small ground blind is not easy for me! Either way, I was able to read most of my Outdoor Life and texts from Danny and my wife kept me occupied. At about 6:30, I heard something walking towards me in the woods. I never saw the animal, however I heard turkeys roosting in the trees about 25 yards to my right so I can only assume it was the flock of turkeys causing the disturbance. I sat until dark and never saw a deer. Lots of corn and leaves are keeping the deer sightings to a minimum.
Wind: slight from the NE
I had a dentist appointment today, so I took the rest of the afternoon off to do some bow hunting. Danny met me in the quarry at 1:30 to help me get set up in the far north bean field. We both drove to the field road, parked, and lugged all of my gear to the far field. My plan was to set up my ground blind overlooking the bean field hoping to catch some deer feeding in the evening. We picked a spot about 75 yards to the east of the field road and got the blind set up. My blind isn't ideal for bow hunting as it is small and narrow. Danny left around 2:30 and so I hunkered down and waited for sun set. It ended up being my longest sit of the season. Five hours in a small ground blind is not easy for me! Either way, I was able to read most of my Outdoor Life and texts from Danny and my wife kept me occupied. At about 6:30, I heard something walking towards me in the woods. I never saw the animal, however I heard turkeys roosting in the trees about 25 yards to my right so I can only assume it was the flock of turkeys causing the disturbance. I sat until dark and never saw a deer. Lots of corn and leaves are keeping the deer sightings to a minimum.
Total deer sightings: 1
Total hunting hours: 13
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Downy Monday
Temperature: 48 degrees 5:15am, 71 degrees 10:00am, 78 degrees 3:00pm, 64 degrees 7:00pm. Wind: minimal. Skies: clear
Had a rare monday off (9/14) and decided to spend most of the day in the stand. Reached the cedar stand on the south side around 5:15am. The stars were out and the Barred Owls were welcoming to the woods. Around 6:50 am I noticed movement to the ridge on the right. What I saw was a deer using its back leg to scratch himself. I first thought it was a doe but as it turned its head I could tell it was a small buck. Most likely the small buck that Jason saw the morning before. The buck was a little more leary that what Jason described the day before. After about 7 minutes the buck started to paw at me in the dirt and then turned and ran to the east. A couple of minutes later he sneezed at me multiple times and was gone. Around 7:30am a rabbit took off running up the left ridge which must have startled a deer. The same type of sneezing started. This time louder and more aggressive. Possible member of the elusive "Big Boy" club. Eventually sounded like the deer trampled its way toward the foundation field. The rest of the morning was spent watching birds and squirrels. A Downy Woodpecker decided to land on my tree and peck its way up and down to keep me awake.
After a couple hours of sleep I headed back out to the ECO lodge for a late afternoon hunt. Decided to give the North Woods a try, so I went to James' stand by the sand pit/pines. Host site of many epic bow hunts of the 1990s and James encounter with the "big one" in 2006. With the temperature approaching the 80 degree mark i thought there would be some visitors to the pond/swamp behind me. No such luck. Only thing using the pond was a couple pairs of Sandhill Cranes.
After 12 hours of hunting in two days and one deer sighting I had to head back to work. On the way back I came within 5 yards of hitting a young buck. Maybe get that close later this week.
Had a rare monday off (9/14) and decided to spend most of the day in the stand. Reached the cedar stand on the south side around 5:15am. The stars were out and the Barred Owls were welcoming to the woods. Around 6:50 am I noticed movement to the ridge on the right. What I saw was a deer using its back leg to scratch himself. I first thought it was a doe but as it turned its head I could tell it was a small buck. Most likely the small buck that Jason saw the morning before. The buck was a little more leary that what Jason described the day before. After about 7 minutes the buck started to paw at me in the dirt and then turned and ran to the east. A couple of minutes later he sneezed at me multiple times and was gone. Around 7:30am a rabbit took off running up the left ridge which must have startled a deer. The same type of sneezing started. This time louder and more aggressive. Possible member of the elusive "Big Boy" club. Eventually sounded like the deer trampled its way toward the foundation field. The rest of the morning was spent watching birds and squirrels. A Downy Woodpecker decided to land on my tree and peck its way up and down to keep me awake.
After a couple hours of sleep I headed back out to the ECO lodge for a late afternoon hunt. Decided to give the North Woods a try, so I went to James' stand by the sand pit/pines. Host site of many epic bow hunts of the 1990s and James encounter with the "big one" in 2006. With the temperature approaching the 80 degree mark i thought there would be some visitors to the pond/swamp behind me. No such luck. Only thing using the pond was a couple pairs of Sandhill Cranes.
After 12 hours of hunting in two days and one deer sighting I had to head back to work. On the way back I came within 5 yards of hitting a young buck. Maybe get that close later this week.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
1st Bow Hunt (DW)
Temperature: 78 degrees at 5:00pm, 64 degrees at 7:40pm. Wind: minimal. Drove back from Milwaukee to sneak a hunt in before the packer/bear game. Had to park in the second entrance off of tunnel road into the south side hunt because i did not have a gate key. Walked in on the fence line before the corn and knob and sat on my cedar stand. Many deer tracks on the way in. Jason sat in this stand in the am and saw the first deer of the fall. Woods were quiet accept for falling acorns and birds. Did not see any deer, just a few squirrels. Sat until dark to see if there would be any late movement. On the way out something was making a huffing noise at me from the ridge SE of the stand. No idea what it was. Overall excellent first bow hunt. Definitely a different feeling sitting in your stand with a bow other than a gun. A little more excitement. Will try again tomorrow.
Bow Hunting
Temperature: 52 degrees at 5:30 am / 67 degrees at 9:00 am
Wind: None
I decided to sit in "Danny's Stand" located in the woods on the south side of the property. After seeing all the deer tracks that ran along side the corn yesterday morning, I thought it would be a good spot. It was another beautiful morning with no wind and mild temperatures. Around 7:00, I heard something moving in the woods to my right. Eventually, on top of the hill to my right, I see a deer. As it raised its head I could see a set of very small antlers, so I knew this was going to be more of a sightseeing opportunity than a hunting opportunity. Being that it was the first deer sighting of the year, it was still exciting all the same. The small buck actually hung around my stand for at least 20 minutes. He walked down the hill and started moving away from me only to turn around and come within six yards of my stand. He had no idea I was there. As he circled around behind me, he would stop ever so often to munch on acorns and check his surroundings, still not knowing I was watching. Eventually he caught my movement and realized that he wasn't alone. After staring and stomping at me for a few seconds, he "blew" at me two times and galloped up the slope to my left. I "blew" back at him which enticed three more aggressive "blows" from the young deer as he loped away. All in all it was an entertaining encounter. I was pleased that he spent that much time, that close to my stand without smelling or noticing me. I counted six separate times where he presented me with a short yardage shot. Looks like a promising spot for the rest of the season.
Wind: None
I decided to sit in "Danny's Stand" located in the woods on the south side of the property. After seeing all the deer tracks that ran along side the corn yesterday morning, I thought it would be a good spot. It was another beautiful morning with no wind and mild temperatures. Around 7:00, I heard something moving in the woods to my right. Eventually, on top of the hill to my right, I see a deer. As it raised its head I could see a set of very small antlers, so I knew this was going to be more of a sightseeing opportunity than a hunting opportunity. Being that it was the first deer sighting of the year, it was still exciting all the same. The small buck actually hung around my stand for at least 20 minutes. He walked down the hill and started moving away from me only to turn around and come within six yards of my stand. He had no idea I was there. As he circled around behind me, he would stop ever so often to munch on acorns and check his surroundings, still not knowing I was watching. Eventually he caught my movement and realized that he wasn't alone. After staring and stomping at me for a few seconds, he "blew" at me two times and galloped up the slope to my left. I "blew" back at him which enticed three more aggressive "blows" from the young deer as he loped away. All in all it was an entertaining encounter. I was pleased that he spent that much time, that close to my stand without smelling or noticing me. I counted six separate times where he presented me with a short yardage shot. Looks like a promising spot for the rest of the season.
Total deer sightings: 1
Total hunting hours: 8
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Bow Hunting Opening Morning
Temperature: 51 degrees at 5:15 am / 70 degrees at 9:45 am
Wind: None
This morning marked the beginning of the 2009 Bow Hunting season. I was up bright and early at 4:20 this morning to give myself enough time to get everything ready. I got settled into "Baker's Stand" on the south side of the property by 5:30. There's always a good chance deer will be seen out of this stand because it sits at the cross section of two major fence lines that are used as travel corridors. This morning, however, I didn't see any deer movement. The temperature rose very quickly after the sun came up so around 9:15 I decided to stalk my way back to the quarry. I traveled down through the woods, to the south side food plot. I checked out an old pop up blind that has been in the same spot for a handful of years. By the tracks in the mud, it appears the raccoons have been using it more than anyone else. I cut through the finger of the food plot and up to "The Rock". I sat on The Rock to listen for anything moving through the woods, but after twenty minutes of silence I walked down through the swamp, along the corn field, past the foundation, and back up to the quarry. I did notice that there were many more deer tracks along the southern corn field compared to the corn field above the quarry.
Wind: None
This morning marked the beginning of the 2009 Bow Hunting season. I was up bright and early at 4:20 this morning to give myself enough time to get everything ready. I got settled into "Baker's Stand" on the south side of the property by 5:30. There's always a good chance deer will be seen out of this stand because it sits at the cross section of two major fence lines that are used as travel corridors. This morning, however, I didn't see any deer movement. The temperature rose very quickly after the sun came up so around 9:15 I decided to stalk my way back to the quarry. I traveled down through the woods, to the south side food plot. I checked out an old pop up blind that has been in the same spot for a handful of years. By the tracks in the mud, it appears the raccoons have been using it more than anyone else. I cut through the finger of the food plot and up to "The Rock". I sat on The Rock to listen for anything moving through the woods, but after twenty minutes of silence I walked down through the swamp, along the corn field, past the foundation, and back up to the quarry. I did notice that there were many more deer tracks along the southern corn field compared to the corn field above the quarry.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Scouting
Tonight after work, I was able to head out to The Land to upload pictures from James' trail cam. The camera is hung on a tree just west of "The Rock" on the south side of the property. The Rock is a one of Doc's favorite hunting spots and the area has been an absolute whitetail highway this summer. There is a fence line that runs east/west and separates the south swamp and the woods that acts as a natural trail for all kinds of wildlife. We have had deer walk within less than 5 yards while sitting at The Rock and Doc shot a nice 8 pointer from this location a few years ago. James has gotten some great pictures of a handful of really nice bucks. We have counted at least 4 different large bucks including two 10 pointers, a 12 pointer and a nice 8 pointer. James hasn't had a chance to pull pictures since the end of July, so Gus and I ran out there tonight and uploaded them to my laptop. There seemed to be a lot of night time pictures in this batch and the deer movement seems to be more random that it has been throughout the summer. We still were able to get a picture of the "Tall 10" and some nighttime pictures of a bigger deer.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
3D Shoot - Marshall Bluff Bowhunters
Today was the last 3D shoot of the summer, which was a good warm up for the bow hunting opener next Saturday. It just so happens that today was my 29th birthday as well. I shot my best score of the summer, 269, which included 15 bonus points for a successful "iron buck" shot. They also had 5 "pop up" targets that would pop up every 20 seconds in random order that was very entertaining. All of the proceeds from today's shoot and raffle went to the Monticello FFA and the archery program they are attempting to get off the ground.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Summer 2009 Summary
Over the 2008-09 school year, the high school shop class constructed a hunting cabin for The Land. The cabin turned out out to be a 20' x 24' hunting lodge that will eventually be the home of the Exeter Crossing Outfitters. The cabin was built in two halves at the school, brought out separately and connected on site. After much debate, it was placed on concrete slabs in the north west corner of the quarry. James and Mr. Anderson, the high school shop teacher, worked very hard over the summer to finish the last major tasks. Over the past few weeks, Doc and Danny have begun to paint the interior walls while we decide what exactly to do with the floor.
Last Sunday (August 30th) Danny, Gus (my dog), and I checked all of the tree stands for the upcoming bow hunting season, which opens next Saturday 9/12/09. Gus had a great time chasing a flock of turkeys and running through the lush corn fields. The south side stands didn't have many problems other than the two freshly-laid piles of raccoon crap on "Baker's Stand". We then drove to check the various stands on the North Side. This year, there are soy beans planted in the field on the far north side of the property making the "Ladder Stand" that sits along the field road a pretty nice spot for early season bow hunting. While Doc put a second coat of primer on the cabin walls, Danny and I were able to sling some arrows and shoot my newly purchased rifle for the first time. I ended up scoring a sweet deal off of lake-link.com. I purchased a Remington 700 in a caliber of .300 win mag with a custom wood stock for $300. I shot a handful of shots from 25 yards just to get a feel for the rifle and was very satisfied how it shot. I can't wait to sight it in at 100 yards before the gun deer season in November.
Last Sunday (August 30th) Danny, Gus (my dog), and I checked all of the tree stands for the upcoming bow hunting season, which opens next Saturday 9/12/09. Gus had a great time chasing a flock of turkeys and running through the lush corn fields. The south side stands didn't have many problems other than the two freshly-laid piles of raccoon crap on "Baker's Stand". We then drove to check the various stands on the North Side. This year, there are soy beans planted in the field on the far north side of the property making the "Ladder Stand" that sits along the field road a pretty nice spot for early season bow hunting. While Doc put a second coat of primer on the cabin walls, Danny and I were able to sling some arrows and shoot my newly purchased rifle for the first time. I ended up scoring a sweet deal off of lake-link.com. I purchased a Remington 700 in a caliber of .300 win mag with a custom wood stock for $300. I shot a handful of shots from 25 yards just to get a feel for the rifle and was very satisfied how it shot. I can't wait to sight it in at 100 yards before the gun deer season in November.
First Post
Exeter Crossing Outfitters is a group of hunting buddies that hunts together on a piece of property outside of Monticello, Wisconsin. Doc and Mike have been co-owners of the land since 1982. I've been hunting with Danny (Doc's son), ever since he invited me on a hunt during the gun deer season in 1998. Over the past handful of years, as us younger members finished college and had more time for the outdoors, we all became a little more serious about hunting and spending time at "The Land". In conjunction with a new hunting lodge that is currently nearing completion, we've decided to name ourselves Exeter Crossing Outfitters. Exeter Crossing is a road which runs along the south end of the property, so it was only fitting to include that in our name. For future reference, I will refer to our hunting area as "The Land" and use ECO for an abbreviated version of Exeter Crossing Outfitters.
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