The River Bottom Trail

The River Bottom Trail is the thread that runs through much of the land I hunt.  The trail winds along the river bottom connecting Stonehenge, The Creek Bottom Trail, The Horseweed field, and points beyond.  It runs for miles and miles along a wooded corridor bordered by wide forested stands of the Hoosier National Forest, and private property composed of mostly hay fields, and dense thickets.

For most of the year the trail seems to be travelled by only raccoons, possums, and coyotes.  But, when the months of October and November roll around the trail is used by different travelers.

Over the years the trail has showed me how genetics and disbursement play out in the whitetail woods.  For instance, five years ago one of my camera's snapped a chance picture of a large eleven pointer with an extra main beam at Stonehenge.  I never saw the deer again.  Last year, however, his genes showed up four miles down the river in a nice two year old deer.  The first picture of any deer like him my cameras had taken, even though I had covered the area around Stonehenge with them every year since.  

Two years ago a mature six pointer with a deformed right beam showed up on one of my cameras.  This was the second picture of this buck my camera's had taken.  Four years earlier I got a picture of him in the exact same spot when he was a year and a half old deer.  Last year I got a picture of another young buck with the same type of deformed right antler.  This buck was over six miles away up a wooded draw that runs off the river bottom trail.

From now through December, or until I tag out with a mature buck I will go into my scent control strategy.  All of my clothes will be washed in scent free soap, I will shower with scent free soap and shampoo, and my deoderant will be scentless as well.  I haven't tried this before, so I am hoping it will help me in the deer woods. 

My hunting clothes will be sprayed with scent eliminator on the outside and on the inside and stowed away in a container with cedar branches.

Let's hope all this is worth it.  I'm not holding out for a monster, I just want a good solid mature buck!  Plus a couple of does for the freezer.

Sometime this coming weekend I will find the time to make my way to Stonehenge.

The Hillside Thicket

The hillside thicket is one of those places we can hunt even late in the season and expect to see deer.  The place is remote, steep, and thick.  Kevin scored first here two years ago on a nice nine-pointer.  It took four people a half-day to get the deer out.  Last year both Kevin and I saw good bucks while hunting here, but Kevin had already shot a buck, and I couldn't get a good shot.

Last year I hunted here on the afternoon of opening day and saw some hunters hauling out two big bucks on four-wheelers.  Needless to say my hunt felt ruined but I stayed in the stand anyway.  About an hour later a nice eight-pointer, about the size of the one in the picture above walked right past me, but I let him go.  Every couple of years we have to deal with other people riding through on four-wheelers, but a call to the game warden or the U.S. Forest Service office typically takes care of the problem.  I don't feel good about calling, but I feel even worse when a noisy machine ruins my hunt.  I spoke with a game warden about this.  "Please call."  He told me.  "It's illegal for them to ride on public ground, it's not fair to the legal hunter, and usually we don't know about it unless somebody tells us."

The buck in the following two pictures was killed on a private farm over three miles away the day after the pictures were taken.

I doubt I will put my trail cameras here this year.  There is plenty of public land I want to learn about -- I just have to find the time to go there.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge

For the past three years my first hunt of the season has taken place at Stonehenge.  It is a long paddle down the river from the pull off spot, but the place is worth the effort.  I go to the place because it is well off the beaten path, but some hunters access the place via four-wheelers, even though it is illegal to drive them on public land here.  I had two trail cameras stolen here as well, but I have gotten a little better at hiding them and I haven't lost any in four years.  Every year there seems to be at least one big buck running the river bottom plus a tassel of good two year old deer as well.  I plan to hunt here the first chance I get when October rolls around.


Last year I watched an immature bald eagle chase a great blue heron past me three times.  The heron croaked loudly as the eagle tried to clumsily knock him out of the sky and I think the eagle eventually gave up on trying to catch him.

Maybe this year a buck like one in the bottom two pictures will walk past me while I'm on stand.

The First New Pictures of the Year

 The First New Pictures of the Year

There are now a lot of signs in the woods hinting towards autumn and the beginning of bow season.  Ginseng plants are beginning to burst with red ripe berries, squirrels are cutting in the walnut trees, the full buck moon has come and gone, the leaves on the buckeye trees are turning yellow and falling, and the first pictures on the trail cameras are beginning to roll in.

August and September are the two longest months of the year though.  For me they seem to last an eternity.  But, that's okay -- there is still much to do.  There is gear to prepare, plans to set, new locations to scout, trail cameras to place, and target practice is in need of taking precedence over everything.

This coyote looks like a drowned water dog, but with the temperatures we have been having I'm sure he is enjoying himself.

There is nothing like hunting a water crossing and hearing the sounds of a deer's hooves clanking loudly on the stones and water splashing to get the heart pumping.

The Horseweed Field

The first time I hunted the horseweed field I saw all I needed to know that the place was a good spot.  Early one morning I set out for the field with an improvised deer stand in my pack.  I had drilled a couple of holes in a thick cedar slab and threaded a long nylon rope through them.  I pulled myself up in a mid size box elder tree and tied off to a couple of strong limbs in the early morning darkness.  I had a good clear opening in front of me with a fresh scrape twenty yards from me.  A constant west wind was blowing into my face which is somewhat of a rare occurrence in the bottomlands I like to hunt.  Typically, the winds seem to constantly adjust and blow from one direction for a while and then change up and blow from another.  I try to compensate for this by taking extreme caution with my scent control and climbing a little higher into the trees I hunt.  This morning I felt it was just a matter of time before something good showed up.

After four hours of watching squirrels and birds discomfort and hunger finally won out.  I climbed out, left for lunch, and returned a couple of hours later.  Upon my return I quietly waded through a small stream back to the tree and pulled myself up.  My camouflage BDU's brushed against a lower limb, making a noise I could barely hear, but it was all a pair of big bucks needed to get up and leave.  I watched in dread as two wide, tall-tined bucks stood up in the tall weeds no more than twenty yards from me and strolled away.  The bucks never winded me, but that little bit of unnatural noise was all it took for them to find a safer place to bed.  A little more patience or better preparation would have paid big dividends that day, but it was still an enjoyable hunt.  For a long time I watched the bucks walk away in the tall horseweeds, shredding saplings as they went.  Though most of the pictures I get in the area are night time pictures, I see enough daytime movement here to give the place a couple of sits each year.

The horseweeds are giving way to saplings now, but a good clear trail still runs along the stream bottom.  Hopefully this year I will find time to wade back in and see what walks along.

The Creek Side Trail

The Creekside Trail

Two hunting seasons ago I placed two cameras along a creek bottom bordered by a grown over field in a remote section of the Hoosier National Forest.  I got busy over the fall and left them there for almost two months before I went to get them.  I was pleasantly surprised to find pictures of several good bucks on the developed rolls of film.

Last year I went back to the creek bottom and found a scrape underneath a box elder tree.  These are some of the pictures from that camera.

Though most of the buck pictures show nighttime movement I believe I will do some summertime scouting here and try to locate a good tree to put my climber in.  The field is in a state of succession and is being taken over by small saplings, so I have to think the bucks will feel more and more secure about daytime movement along the creek bottom.  The area should be worth a couple of hunts anyway and maybe I'll be able to come away with a doe for the freezer.

The Highway

The summer has peaked and now the days will begin to shorten, slowly we are making our way to October and the beginning of bow season.  From now until then I will give you some information about the pieces of public land I will hunt this year and the way I plan to hunt them.  I will start with a heavily hunted section of Harrison/Crawford State Forest located along a main state highway.  I call this place "The Highway."  I don't let the fact that many other hunters hunt here scare me off -- I just try to walk further, higher, or into thicker brush than most people.

Over the years I have driven past this piece of state forest land countless times.  I never realized the property belonged to the state until last year. While carefully looking over my collection of topographic maps I realized I could indeed hunt here.  A quick study of google earth made the place seem like a spot worth visiting and the visit did indeed pay off.  My hunting buddy Kevin walked into it cold last year and killed a nice non-typical twelve pointer on opening morning of gun season.  I saw plenty of deer here last year as well and had a good shooter buck walk past me the same morning Kevin killed his buck, but I couldn't get a good clean shot at him so I decided to pass. 

Just beyond this deer's shoulder is a cedar tree where I plan to put a stand when September rolls around.  This point is on a wooded saddle and is a junction of two old logging roads that are beginning to grow over with briers and thorns.  It is hard to walk the roads, but the bucks still use them pretty heavily -- rubs and scrapes can be found along both of them in October.  I take a meandering route through the woods to this spot and stay off the logging roads.  The wooded saddle the roads are on stands thick with oaks and a heavily used doe trail runs along the middle of it.  Numerous bucks were chasing does into a ragged state over the saddle on opening weekend of gun season last year.  The place was selectively logged within the past few years and there are plenty of tree tops covering the forest floor providing good cover and bedding areas.

Soon I will post some trail cameras here and hopefully have a few good pictures to show you.