GA Deer Season 2022

[RobertD]

Season's already in full swing, but I figured I might as well get a little hunt journal going.

Rut is wide open here in my home county. Later in the season I'll move west and follow it as it peaks in some different counties.

We get two buck tags and ten (yes, ten) doe tags each year here. I'll be working on the two buck tags between now and early January and this thread is where I'll chronicle the effort.

 

[RobertD]

Hit it this morning and I got tucked in to the stand early.



It's a pine hill between two oak bottoms. Very cold this morning by November in S Ga standards - something like 30 degrees I think.

Plenty of deer came through but nothing worth getting excited about. I did have a nice chase at one point featuring a buck that's likely too young/small to fight off any competition they might encounter... regardless he was earning that "A" for effort.


Lot of these type fellas out and about. Maybe we can find his papa.

 

[tillicant]

Our season in WI opens Sat 11/19, tracking snow came just in time, high in the low 20's.
Good luck!

 

[RobertD]

Like molasses!

Back in the same spot this evening and I don't know what happened to all the rut activity from the past few days. Probably happening in front of all my other stands.

At least it's a pretty evening in a nice chunk of woods.

 

[RobertD]

Good evening folks of HuntTalk, we return to you live from forty feet up a pine tree.

I took the morning off on account of I was being soft. All that's over now and we're back to the hunting.

Warmed up slightly. Little wind and the faintest, quietest of rains. I'm not in a pretty spot this time, but an ugly spot, and I'm hoping that helps break the trend of slow sits I've been seeing.

This old fallow field in the wood sits almost a mile off of the road. It's a sweet, sweet spot for a few reasons.



Good history and good mojo here. As good a place to find a nice buck as any. I bumped a doe on the way in; we'll see what transpires from there.

 

[Rack Daniels]

Looking forward to seeing what this evening brings. Good luck

 

[Shangobango]

Good evening folks of HuntTalk, we return to you live from forty feet up a pine tree.

I took the morning off on account of I was being soft. All that's over now and we're back to the hunting.

Warmed up slightly. Little wind and the faintest, quietest of rains. I'm not in a pretty spot this time, but an ugly spot, and I'm hoping that helps break the trend of slow sits I've been seeing.

This old fallow field in the wood sits almost a mile off of the road. It's a sweet, sweet spot for a few reasons.

View attachment 251044

Good history and good mojo here. As good a place to find a nice buck as any. I bumped a doe on the way in; we'll see what transpires from there.

Happy hunting. Looks like a honey hole to me lol.

 

[kansasdad]

Salivating looking at those trails for you @RobertD

 

[RobertD]

Not the change of pace I wanted. Had a world class hog chase in the woods adjacent, all evening really, and it kept the deer that did show up on pins and needles. Had five or six does feeding and what I'm certain was a buck soon to emerge but eventually a hog screaming out into the field ended all deer activity for the evening.

On the plus side I did see two gobblers, one of whom is likely the bird that put a few juke moves on @CowboyLeroy and I this past March. Our turkey population is in a bad way right now though, so seeing a few birds is always good.

Weird to have had so much rut activity earlier this week and then to run into such a dry spell (on my part at least).

I'm gonna have to do some scheming for a bit on where to sit tomorrow.

 

[Shangobango]

Weird to have had so much rut activity earlier this week and then to run into such a dry spell (on my part at least).

My camera activity as been way down over the past few days. Same for a couple buddies. Who knows why.

Not a dull evening by any means it doesn’t sound like. Action is action.

Were the pigs having a turf war?

 

[RobertD]

My camera activity as been way down over the past few days. Same for a couple buddies. Who knows why.

Not a dull evening by any means it doesn’t sound like. Action is action.

Were the pigs having a turf war?

Pretty sure there was a hot sow, because it was a dry, lone sow that came out and she was carrying on the way they do when a boar has been chasing.

I really think she led him onto a neighbor property and got him shot too. The sequence of events gave me that feeling. Heard a shot in the rough direction they were fighting and running around. Then she shows up on a dead run. Winded.

Hopefully that's what happened. As you know, anytime someone shoots a feral hog, an angel gets its wings.

 

[Shangobango]

As you know, anytime someone shoots a feral hog, an angel gets its wings.

Boy aint that the truth.

 

[noharleyyet]

Cool thread…

 

[RobertD]

Blue morning.



Movement early.



This was encouraging. Second buck of the morning and he shows real promise for the future.


Plenty of action so far. I'll have some notes to add later.

 

[RobertD]

Well... I owe y'all a story.

 

[kansasdad]

 

[RobertD]

Earlier in the day I posted some pictures of deer out in front of my stand, working downhill on a trail through the pines. Here is where the trail passes the stand:



Note the doe, moving opposite the arrow. This doe is northbound, roughly, with the arrow pointing kinda south. It's pointing at a little wet oak bottom that looks like this:



Let me tell you my friends: That oak bottom was the place to be this morning.

 

[MarvB]

 

[RobertD]

You can tell it's a solid spot to be in general because there's a gang of squirrels that have opened up shop on a serious mast collection project. (I will be back with my .22 in a few weeks.) They knock big peals of rainwater out of trees as they move about the canopy - it's quite a show.

Throughout the morning a few does moved across and down into the oak flat. Eventually the last of them disappeared into it. By now it was after nine, and I had decided on ten as my get-down time.

It wasn't actually that cold but the rain and wind was making it an uncomfortable morning. I stuck it out a bit, checking my phone and making plans for the evening hunt.

I heard a racket across the dirt road behind the oak flat and knew it was likely a chase. And it was. In a few minutes, as many as a dozen does left the oak flat in several directions.

Everything else faded out, and my only purpose in life became finding out what pushed all those does out of there. (We all know the feeling!)

Silence now. The does were spread out, looking back into the trees. I checked the time. It was nine twenty seven when the does flushed.

It was nine thirty three when I saw sunlight bounce off a buck's antler.

 

[RobertD]

Alright, that was cheeky but not entirely intentional. Story continues now with at least 50% fewer interruptions.

It took a bit for the buck to show himself. The suspense was about like you can imagine. Finally, breaking forth into the light he came, all one hundred and thirty five pounds of him.

Talk about a buzz kill. Here we'd had all that commotion, all those does, and it was caused by an absolute dink. Two little forked antlers up top, he stepped out into the light and I sighed quietly and kinda slumped down in my seat.

It was then, as the tension eased and I started to relax, that I saw the second buck, deeper in the woods but following the young buck out towards me.

I got one halfway passing glance at his antlers and that was enough. I purposefully avoided looking at them as I scanned his path to negotiate my shot. I had to move my rifle over to my left side and shoulder it without him seeing me.

Behind some trash he goes. Rifle shouldered.

Into the light he comes. Safety off.

I decided to try for the shot at the first good opening, which offered about 80% of what I'd get if I let him come as far as the little buck had at that point. I didn't want perfect to be the enemy of good and give the buck even one extra second to change his mind.

He hit the opening and looked right up into my stand. His damn antler tines were like church candles and they caught the light something brilliant. His eyes bore a hole, then he looked away.

Your move, Robert.

I focused on his anatomy and finding a spot that would give me plenty of lung but not too much shoulder. Drove it home right where I wanted it- it was a chip shot, really, something like 70 yards - and watched his reaction.

Won't belabor it any longer. He left on a dead run. Blood wasn't hard to find, as he didn't make it ten yards before the first drops hit the ground.



Blood on blackberry leaves... sounds like November to me.

The trail was good and I found him further west, headed back south through the low ground he came out of.



It was a fitting place for a buck like this to breathe his last.