Sorry guys no kill, but I did have one of the best hunts I've ever had the other evening. I hunted a piece of property I've had access to for a long time, but have never hunted for some reason. The deer are bedding in a creek bottom across some railroad tracks. They leave their beds and travel approx 3/4 of a mile to the west to some more creek bottom/wheat fields. The route they travel is wide open with absolutely no cover other than a couple of low areas, and they have to cross a county road.
The only cover I could find to set up in was an old rock house foundation that is on the property. You can see how open it is in the first picture. There is a low spot to the north and south side of the house, and the deer will use either one. I decided to roll the dice with the north wind I had and hope they chose to use the low spot to the north.
A little over an hour before dark I saw the first deer head pop up over the railroad tracks. 5 does and two small bucks emerged and crossed the tracks and fence heading up the small draw in a direction that would take them to the north of me. Bingo! Not long after, I saw another head pop up over the tracks further to the west... not so good. Just after the first deer stepped onto the tracks, I began to hear a buck grunting and "roaring" in the creek bottom over 300 yards away. I was worried that these deer would take low spot to the south, since it was closer to where they were coming from, but was excited thinking a nice deer was going to step out behind a doe any second. Eventually 6 does and 2 bucks came over the tracks in this spot, one was a small spike and the other being the buck making all the racket. He ended up being a small 2 1/2 year old 4x4... Kinda disappointing as I was thinking he was gonna be very nice. To my surprise these deer fed up the small draw and continued to meet up with the other deer on the north side of me. Perfect! I got lucky on that.
Over the course of an hour I got to watch and listen to this buck chase, grunt, roar, and lip curl while harassing the does. On the video you can hear him grunt a little bit at the beginning of the video, and he does the roar towards the end at 1:25. I was just using my iphone so the sound isn't the best. You will have to turn the volume all the way up to hear it, and I haven't figured out how to rotate it upright yet. There were times where he was grunting/roaring almost every step, but I was afraid I would get busted if I tried to take any more pictures or videos.
Video Link - http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/271/ry5.mp4
I really enjoyed this hunt. It was some of the better deer interaction/rutting behavior I have seen, and setting up in the old rock house just added to the hunt. My buddy and I went back and hunted the same spot the next evening. He missed a pretty nice 135" 5x5 twice... lol!
The only cover I could find to set up in was an old rock house foundation that is on the property. You can see how open it is in the first picture. There is a low spot to the north and south side of the house, and the deer will use either one. I decided to roll the dice with the north wind I had and hope they chose to use the low spot to the north.
A little over an hour before dark I saw the first deer head pop up over the railroad tracks. 5 does and two small bucks emerged and crossed the tracks and fence heading up the small draw in a direction that would take them to the north of me. Bingo! Not long after, I saw another head pop up over the tracks further to the west... not so good. Just after the first deer stepped onto the tracks, I began to hear a buck grunting and "roaring" in the creek bottom over 300 yards away. I was worried that these deer would take low spot to the south, since it was closer to where they were coming from, but was excited thinking a nice deer was going to step out behind a doe any second. Eventually 6 does and 2 bucks came over the tracks in this spot, one was a small spike and the other being the buck making all the racket. He ended up being a small 2 1/2 year old 4x4... Kinda disappointing as I was thinking he was gonna be very nice. To my surprise these deer fed up the small draw and continued to meet up with the other deer on the north side of me. Perfect! I got lucky on that.
Over the course of an hour I got to watch and listen to this buck chase, grunt, roar, and lip curl while harassing the does. On the video you can hear him grunt a little bit at the beginning of the video, and he does the roar towards the end at 1:25. I was just using my iphone so the sound isn't the best. You will have to turn the volume all the way up to hear it, and I haven't figured out how to rotate it upright yet. There were times where he was grunting/roaring almost every step, but I was afraid I would get busted if I tried to take any more pictures or videos.
Video Link - http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/271/ry5.mp4
I really enjoyed this hunt. It was some of the better deer interaction/rutting behavior I have seen, and setting up in the old rock house just added to the hunt. My buddy and I went back and hunted the same spot the next evening. He missed a pretty nice 135" 5x5 twice... lol!
