Deer in Rut

[kyratshooter]

The deer here went into full rut overnight!

Yesterday the roads were clear and this morning there were 4 dead does on the highway between home and town.

At the moment all I can use is a bow, but that will change shortly. We also have a crossbow season comming up in a week or so, plus ML season and regular gun in late Nov through Jan.

[intothenew]

Fresh scrape this morning about 60 yards from one of my stands.

[rebel]

We had deer opener this weekend. It was pretty quiet. The does weren't moving very fast.

[hunter63]

Lots of dead deer along the roads.......been seeing a couple at "The Place" in the fields.

They just finished cutting the corn, got 500 bushels off my little 7 acres,....gonna go down and check the edges of the fields in the morning.

[ClayPick]

I’m having a venison burger any minute now.

[kyratshooter]

I just watched two big does amble across the lot into the patch of woods by the pond.

Smart critters! Anything that comes at them has to cross 200 yards of open space on 3 sides and penetrate the thick brush, making plenty of noise. My back porch is only about 75 yards out.

This might be a two man job with one pushing and the other stting on the porch with a rifle, waiting to see what pops out of the thicket.

[ClayPick]

I remember when hunting meant spending time in the woods, learning what the deer were eating, where and when. Finding where they travel, where they yard etc. Over the years I’ve noticed it getting watered down to “where can a person find a sack of apples for bait.”? One dude from away bought woodland here and put in a two acre feed lot so him and his buddies could hunt. I wonder if he realizes that all the local guys have the perimeter cased. There’s still a lot of sportsmanship out there but it’s getting harder to find. Around here it’s more about putting meat in the freezer.

[kyratshooter]

And I remember when deer were not considered "nuscience animals" and you had to "hunt" for them.

Now we do not even bait them, we just plant new shrubbery and keep a gun handy!

The game wardens here issue citations for running over them with subcaliber vehicles because more are killed on the highway than harvested by hunters each year.