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.