Rut...

[back40hunter]

Smaller bucks are chasing and cruising in Warren county. Mature bucks have not been very active yet.

 

[Leadeye]

This years marks.

 

[jimbobcooters]

This years marks.

nice!! Another day no deer sightings. I did have something crazy happen. This morning I was hit in the face by a bat or some sort of flying furry animal!!!! I swear no lie, I have two small marks above my right eye. It was still about 45 minutes before shooting light, and it smoked me . Nothing hit the ground and all I know is if felt like a furry tennis ball. Crazy!

 

[dusty88]

nice!! Another day no deer sightings. I did have something crazy happen. This morning I was hit in the face by a bat or some sort of flying furry animal!!!! I swear no lie, I have two small marks above my right eye. It was still about 45 minutes before shooting light, and it smoked me . Nothing hit the ground and all I know is if felt like a furry tennis ball. Crazy!

Yikes. That sounds like a bat with bad radar. Is this a bad time to mention that abnormally-behaving bats are often rabid?

I'm assuming it didn't bite you though....... right??

 

[yote hunter]

In a weeks time I cover ground from Noblesville to Greenfield/Fortville to Fishers to Alexandrea/Summitville and back to Pendleton/Anderson areas... I drive through the country as much as possible and have seen no deer cruse'n around or chasing of any sort along field edges , but have seen a few dead deer along the road sides with only a couple with missing heads where somebody wanted some antlers but no huge bodied dead deer yet... Did see one little fork horn dead in a ditch that still had its rack outside Knightstown... Been waiting to start seeing some from the road to get a feel for when its going to get started and Im on the road off and on from day break till just before dark... So I cover a lot of miles and should be seeing some chase'n and deer moving when they start get'n fired up...

 

[Jeffrey]

I had this happen to me about three times within about a half hour or so last year. Started before first light and went on till a bit after shooting light. Weirdest thing I've had happen in the woods.

nice!! Another day no deer sightings. I did have something crazy happen. This morning I was hit in the face by a bat or some sort of flying furry animal!!!! I swear no lie, I have two small marks above my right eye. It was still about 45 minutes before shooting light, and it smoked me . Nothing hit the ground and all I know is if felt like a furry tennis ball. Crazy!

 

[Harleyrider_50]

nice!! Another day no deer sightings. I did have something crazy happen. This morning I was hit in the face by a bat or some sort of flying furry animal!!!! I swear no lie, I have two small marks above my right eye. It was still about 45 minutes before shooting light, and it smoked me . Nothing hit the ground and all I know is if felt like a furry tennis ball. Crazy!

if ya start ta fear water.....git some med attention.......

 

[patience0830]

nice!! Another day no deer sightings. I did have something crazy happen. This morning I was hit in the face by a bat or some sort of flying furry animal!!!! I swear no lie, I have two small marks above my right eye. It was still about 45 minutes before shooting light, and it smoked me . Nothing hit the ground and all I know is if felt like a furry tennis ball. Crazy!

Furry tennis ball? Sure it wasn't a flying squirrel?

 

[jimbobcooters]

Furry tennis ball? Sure it wasn't a flying squirrel?

It could have been. But my gut says bat. Something flew by my face about 2 or 3 minutes prior and I thought bat. Then I was looking the other way and wham.

 

[phylodog]

I made it to the farm in time to get in a tree for a few hours before dark. We saw 9 does but no bucks.

A hunter who owns property north of us put a crossbow bolt through a decent 10 pointer we've been seeing on camera. He tracked it for 200 yards and lost the blood when it got dark, he's color blind which doesn't help. He called ask about tracking on to our place in the morning and we went out and tried to track it for him. We followed the blood for another 150 yards before it stopped. Fortunately the blood stopped 15 yards in front of one of our cameras so we pulled the card and it looks like he snuck it above the lungs but below the spine. We'll be seeing more of that buck.

 

[jblomenberg16]

I made it to the farm in time to get in a tree for a few hours before dark. We saw 9 does but no bucks.

A hunter who owns property north of us put a crossbow bolt through a decent 10 pointer we've been seeing on camera. He tracked it for 200 yards and lost the blood when it got dark, he's color blind which doesn't help. He called ask about tracking on to our place in the morning and we went out and tried to track it for him. We followed the blood for another 150 yards before it stopped. Fortunately the blood stopped 15 yards in front of one of our cameras so we pulled the card and it looks like he snuck it above the lungs but below the spine. We'll be seeing more of that buck.

Will be interesting to see if you see him again on camera, or limping around your farm. Maybe see him in your cross-hairs / pins!

 

[bwframe]

...but have seen a few dead deer along the road sides with only a couple with missing heads where somebody wanted some antlers...

 

[BigMatt]

I am sitting in the blind as I type. I have seen 4 nice does and there was a buck following rwo of them. I couldn't tell how nice he was because his head was down trailing those does hot and heavy.

 

[dusty88]

We thought things were starting to move. However, I spent 5 hours in the blind yesterday (sunrise and sunset hours), 2 this morning, and husband was in a stand for 4 hours also. Zilch.

 

[Hookeye]

If the shot went under the spine it got the lungs.
There is no "void".
Now, can a deer survive a peripheral lung hit?
According to a bowhunter in a well known publication..............yes.
He shot and lost a buck, only to shoot it 2 or 3 days later. It was obviously stressed, but alive and moving about, possibly on the mend.

Dunno if such a hit can be survived for a short period of time or allow for full recovery.

Now will a peripheral hit that could be survived (full recovery) cause enough stress to limit a deer's short time escape efforts should it be set upon by coyotes?

Probably a safe bet to go with a high lung hit being fatal.

 

[phylodog]

Time will tell how he fares.

 

[dusty88]

If the shot went under the spine it got the lungs.
There is no "void".
Now, can a deer survive a peripheral lung hit?
According to a bowhunter in a well known publication..............yes.
He shot and lost a buck, only to shoot it 2 or 3 days later. It was obviously stressed, but alive and moving about, possibly on the mend.

Dunno if such a hit can be survived for a short period of time or allow for full recovery.

Now will a peripheral hit that could be survived (full recovery) cause enough stress to limit a deer's short time escape efforts should it be set upon by coyotes?

Probably a safe bet to go with a high lung hit being fatal.

It looks like that arrow is actually in the muscle above the spine.

 

[phylodog]

Does look a bit higher than I originally though last night

 

[jblomenberg16]

Time will tell how he fares.

He didn't look too bad there. Pretty clear wound on his back though.


I checked our cameras today...just a solitary doe last weekend. Interestingly enough, most of the deer I've seen on camera this year have been on the day that I changed the cards on the camera.

I think I'll reposition the cameras towards what look to be a bit more well used game trails. I didn't see any rubs or scrapes, but perhaps given the rain earlier in the week they haven't done much.

 

[Mark 1911]

Last weekend I hiked several miles looking for signs, didn't see very much. I took yesterday (Friday) off work hoping that things would have picked up. It was a beautiful day. Low 40s in the morning, dead calm. It was partly sunny most of the day, and stayed calm almost the entire day, although there was some slight breeze around 2 to 3, the rest of the day was still in the woods. Didn't see anything. When I broke for lunch, I heard a deer snort that was kicked up by some squirrel hunters making their way back to the parking lot.

I had packed a portable along in the pickup, and had a spot in mind where I had seen some slight sign the weekend before. I didn't see any additional sign in the spot I was considering, but decided to put up the portable stand anyway. As it turned out, one of strap on steps was bad, and I didn't have enough steps to get to the spot I needed to be so the stand would set right. Mission aborted. This morning I brought a ladder stand and put it up. There was a brand new scrape right out in front of my treeline, it wasn't there yesterday. I am very hopeful I'm going to stick one in that spot.