Sunday, October 8, 2023
Although we had a good plan for the first few hours of the morning, we didn't plan anything beyond that. We figured we would take things on as the day progressed. We also agreed that we would take any big doe or buck that might wander past us. With barely any venison in the freezer, we figured we would make good on it if the chance presented itself.
I uploaded the picture at the beginning of this because I couldn't get it to upload with the last entry. That's the rub I found last weekend. Hopefully, I get a look at the guy who made it.
Our morning sit was uneventful for the most part, but Jimmy did have a big doe handcuff him shortly after daylight. That's always the issue when you sit on the ground with a bow. She was coming right at him and didn't give him time to get ready to draw the bow. She sensed something was up and began blowing at him before heading back up the ridge.
I didn't see anything throughout the morning. It felt good to be in the woods. I feel alive this year the few times I've been out, and I very rarely have that feeling early in the season. After meeting to discuss the morning's events, we decided to head farther north and check out an area that neither of us had ever stepped foot on.
We had a difficult finding a place to park because there was no shoulder. Instead, the road dropped directly into a ditch, so we hugged the edge of it and hoped we wouldn't sink into any soft ground and find ourself in it and unable to get out.
As we made our way through the woods, we didn't see much sign at first. Then, as we began covering more ground, we hit the gold mine. I named the place Signpost Bog, as we found old signposts littered throughout a bottom. The area had tall, brown grass throughout it. There was a heavy hemlock grove on the opposite side of the swamp, and many fingers running down into the area where we began finding piles of scrapes with licking branches. Although only one scrape had been opened this year, I knew this place was one for the ages. It's a place I can kill a good one if I put my time in, and I might just do that.
Over the last few years, I've gotten away from using a lot of trail cameras, and I've gone back to my roots. I still do use a few here and there because I enjoy the pictures, but I also like the challenge of trying to figure out what inhabits an area without ever knowing until I begin seeing animals. I could tell this area holds big bucks, and I'm excited to return. I'll probably give it a shot a few days before I head to the Midwest. With all of the scrapes in the area, I know the bucks will be back in there to begin opening them up and setting up calling cards. The picture below is a track in one of the scrapes. It's difficult to see it, but you can see that it's a 4-finger track, as Jim has his hand in it. I'd love to get a look at this buck when it comes back to visit the scrape he already opened.
We hugged tight to the base of a mountain to see what we could find as we headed back toward the truck. Then, Jim found what I call a money scrape. It was a primary scrape that was the size of a compact car, and the licking branches had been torn apart for many years, including this year. It had been hit one time by the looks of it, and he decided to put a camera on it. I'm not sure I'll be back to that area, but I have a feeling he will get some good pictures on it. I look forward to seeing what shows up. It's in a perfect location for a big buck.
Before we got back the car, the heavens let loose and dumped buckets of water onto us. In the process, we reached a creek we needed to cross and had no choice but to shed our shoes and socks. The water was chilly, and the current was strong due to all of the rain we had received the last few days. Shortly after, we were in the truck and on our way home. According to our tracker, we had put on about 8 1/2 miles for the day.
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