# Deer season 2016.



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Woods tinder dry leaves are ankle deep since no rain has packed them down. so warm need Air conditioning in the deer blinds. I don't blame the deer for not moving unless some hunter got bored and kicked them up while roaming. 
I saw 6 squirrels for the day, not one chickadee or other winter bird seen.
Not near the shooting opening morning like usual either.
Just checked my weather station and it is already 44F at 4:30 am, with a feels like of 41 and that is with a NW wind of 5mph.
Don't blame the deer with winter coats laying up in the shade some place and the super moon providing light to feed by at night when it is cooler.

 Al


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Foggy this morning but still could see a good 75 yards across the fields. Lot od gripping from tree branches.
Saw a pair of does at 7:52am the one was older you could tell and she was wheezing really bad. I heard her coming before I saw her and thought she was a trespassing old hunter with asma or some thing. Lots of leaves still on the iron wood trees along the creek. I used the range finder and the farthest I can see along the creek is one lane 52 yards. A lot of iron wood trees holding leaves at this blind site need a real good wind and some rain would be nice too.
Just a few squirrels in the afternoon till 4:50 pm then a small racked buck came from the west down a drainage wash out to the flats look with the binocs confirmed he was a 3 point I had gotten a picture of midsummer. Only the second day of the season so I wasnât ready to give up my tag on such a small racked buck. Then at 5:10 a doe comes from the east all alone. 
Still need to have air in the deer blind, probably be wishing for some of the heat Sunday when they are forecasting a high of 39F with rain and snow.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

11-17-16
30F this morning at 4:30am a little cooler.
Seen one tiny doe figure a spring fawn without itâs mom who was probably off with a buck or had gotten shot earlier. Sure can tell there is no corn fields near by deer just are not coming in to my woods traveling to and from the corn. I suspect most everyone around is baiting also as just donât have the deer coming and bedding like normal years. 
Also Jeff isnât hunting next door so some are laying up over there by the pond. Kare has kicked one or two from the north side when she walks the dogs.
  Al


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

Our 2016 season has been ok. Very little deer movement but both my kids were fortunate to get good bucks. My daughter was thrilled her first deer was a buck. I haven't been so lucky. Been very warm. But next week looks promising. Snow flurries expected tomorrow. So fingers crossed. 










Family photo with my son's deer. We all hunt together a few times each year.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Set a new day time high of 71F.
Real warm this morning at 56F, blind got hot inside by noon so picked a different one after dinner hoping the south wind would keep the insides cooler. I stuck it out but thing would have been more comfortable just propped up against a tree and taken a nap in the sun shine.
Saw that wheezing doe again as I was packing up to quit for the day. Funny she can put her head down and graze and not wheez but once she lifts her head to look for danger she started in again.
Kare asked me if I thought it was CWD, body seems sound and coat is sleek.
I don't think it is myself.
 Al


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

alleyyooper said:


> Set a new day time high of 71F.
> Real warm this morning at 56F, blind got hot inside by noon so picked a different one after dinner hoping the south wind would keep the insides cooler. I stuck it out but thing would have been more comfortable just propped up against a tree and taken a nap in the sun shine.
> Saw that wheezing doe again as I was packing up to quit for the day. Funny she can put her head down and graze and not wheez but once she lifts her head to look for danger she started in again.
> Kare asked me if I thought it was CWD, body seems sound and coat is sleek.
> ...


It could be bot fly larva. They build up in the nose ears and mouth. My son's buck had them. It's the first time I ever seen them.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

With my naked eye I though her mouth didn't look right, but I am sure I will see her again. I will not pack my binocs away any more till it is time to climb down from my blind.

 Al


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## big rockpile (Feb 24, 2003)

Well have seen very few Deer and I'm not able to handle the cold so not going anymore. Will be using my Crossbow in the early part of the season in the further.

big rockpile


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

42F wind chill 33F
Windy and cold this morning and dropping. Kept the south window in the blind shut all morning with the wind changing directions around to the north thru the day. By noon it was snowing pretty hard but not sticking to the ground which was still warm from Fridays heat.
Saw one little doe and that was in the morning. She was spooked by a falling tree branch and I never saw another deer the rest of the day.
 Al


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

Wind whipping with snow showers. Seen a small 6 point yesterday. Passed on him. Heading out soon to see what the day brings. Cold weather should get them up. But wind may keep them moving much. Rifle started yesterday. Going to carry the old 3030 and hunt a pine thicket ridge that should be blocked from the wind. Haven't shot a deer with the 3030 in years. But it is shooting great with the winchester ballistic Silvertips with the polymer round nose.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

11-20-16
32F feels like 21F wind NW @ 17mph. by 9:30 am it was down to 32 with a wind chill of 18F and 25 mph winds. Glad the wood burner was fired up as I came in frozen.
4:40pm in my front yard, first seen at 2:30, he was chasing does.
Buck hammer ruined the heart and lungs he went about 10 feet. I call him a 7 1/2 as one brow tine is broken off.






























 Al


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

Great deer Al! Congrats buddy. We didn't see a thing today.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

The cold has them moving about here. Took the deer behavior and figure our rut is yet to come and is at least 15 days later than normal.


 Al


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## Michael W. Smith (Jun 2, 2002)

Good job alleyyooper! Deer makes some good cheap meat for in the freezer.

Archery season here in PA has just ended (and my son & I don't hunt archery), so we are waiting for rifle season to start next Monday.

We hunt in the woods, and it would sure be nice to have snow on the ground. It makes seeing the deer so much easier.


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

I seen a great buck running 3 does hard this evening. Less then 60 yards from me but too thick and he was moving too fast.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Friend in WV e mailed me last night and said colder than Blue Blazes there. He has taken the week off work to deer hunt, so his meat isn't going to be cheap. Last years buck got him a spot in the top ten biggest WV deer harvested.

 Al


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

finally turned cold the day before opener 11-19-2016 , I was in my tree at 5:40 and had really snuck in as quiet as I could , but when I chambered a round and the bolt carrier group held up for a second on the full magazine then slammed shut I heard one get up in front of me about 25 yards and thought it looked like a good size shadow moving slowly in the tiny bit of light there was , the wind was howling I thought I heard 3 shots to the north west while it was still to dark to shoot about 10 seconds later I realized it was not shots but trees that had fallen as I could hear the sound of the the gust as it approached snapping limbs and stirring leaves as it reached me and swayed my tree back and forth. sitting in my tree waiting for it to get light enough to see every few minutes I could see a few more feet season opens at 6:26 about 6:30 heard a crack behind me and turned to look over my right shoulder just as I turned the deer heard me and started looking he was only about 20 yards behind me , I had only put myself up 2 sections of ladder knowing it was going to be a windy day so I wasn't very high up I was reaching around as far as I could right knee on the platform of the ladder stand and left foot on the top run of the ladder it was still all I could do straining around the farthest around I could get was a shot high behind the right shoulder angling down to low in-front of the left shoulder . I thought about changing hands and shooting left handed but he was already looking to see what had made the noise positioned to jump right into a run so I called it good enough and squeezed off the round. he stood there for a half a second like he wasn't sure what direction to run yet then lept into a run and in a stride had turned back the direction he had come from. I had been able to see that it was a buck with at least a long tined fork I really couldn't see much more than that nor had the time , about 20-30 seconds latter I heard what I was sure was the flopping and kicking of death throws.

my son called me a few minutes later he had had 5 get up just 15 minutes before I shot but it was to dark yet. I told him just wait more they could be circling that if we hadn't seen any more in 30-40 minutes we would get down and look. 

when I got down and walked over to where the deer had been then started in the direction of where he ran I got just past the cedars that had been blocking my view he hadn't made it 25 yards and was down.

yes this was shot with an AR-15 pistol


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

I killed a nice fat doe real early in archery season, then took a real nice 20" nine point buck last Saturday. Hunting several states this year, would like to put four in the freezer since I skipped elk hunting and won't have one of those.


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## MichaelZ (May 21, 2013)

Only have an archery license this year, but got a spike buck today that someone hit on the highway. Was still warm and was able to register it by phone and take it home. Most of the meat was fine. Great to make use of what otherwise would have been crow and coyote food. Might still get out a little for late season archery. Buck only by us this year again.


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## rininger85 (Feb 29, 2016)

Our season has been about the same Al, but we're blaming ours on a lot of standing corn in the neighborhood of my grandpa's farm and the weather being what it was... They are slowly taking down the corn but there are still at least two huge fields of corn that butt up to his property, so the deer just have not been moving much. 

I saw about 12 deer opening day, only one little 4 point in the bunch so I ended up shooting 2 does to make sure we had meat in the freezer, but we were out hunting every day and I think the 16th my dad and I might have both seen 2 deer on opposite sides of the property, then the 17th I saw 3 deer and he saw nothing, the 18th I decided to hunt my property instead of my grandpa's, I had a little buck step out of the corn first thing in the morning but he was small, 19th and 20th back at my grandpas neither of us saw anything, then I am back to work this week but he still went out the 21st and 22nd and didn't see anything so today he is headed back towards our TN property on his way back to Florida. 

Might be the first year in my life that I can remember my dad not shooting something during the first week of gun season in Michigan... but he took one of my does with him and my grandparents shot two does and a little buck on our TN property, so they will at least have 4 deer headed back to Florida even though the 3 TN deer are probably pretty small compared to our Michigan deer, it should hopefully get the three of them through the year, but we will be hunting our TN property between Christmas and New years so there is still a chance for more... grandparents said they saw the biggest buck they have ever seen on our property in TN this past week, so we have something to hunt for in December =)

My father in law asked if I wanted to hunt with them this weekend as we're headed up there (over there actually... in the thumb...) for Thanksgiving tonight, so I might hunt there Thursday and Friday but won't shoot anything unless I see a monster of a buck... they have already taken four really nice bucks off their property this year though so I don't know how many are left =) my brother in law shot two bucks in a row, a really nice 9 point then no more than he shot it a really nice 8 point stepped out behind it... I think my father in law shot a really nice 10 point, and his brother shot a smaller 8 point. They don't shoot does over there because they have so many bucks to choose from every year they don't need to... but I like to at least get some meat in the freezer then I'll look for the big guys afterwards.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

I have in the past had standing corn all around me. If it is normal November weather I have had not problems getting a nice buck. I love to be in my blind when they are running the combines thru the corn too. 
I also do not shoot does I leave them for the children and wish the people next door that shoot button bucks would stop. But they do other stuff I don't care for and have called the RAP line a couple times on them so slowly they are not poaching as much any longer. 

 Al


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

Made it out this morning. Right at first light I could make out a deer coming through the field. Couldn't see what it was. Got the scope on it and could see it was a buck. It was on a steady walk nose down. It finally stopped. I could see it clearly. Squeezed off and he dropped. About 150 yard shot. Couldn't tell just what it was. Walked over and it was a broke up deer. Had 12 points. Likely a 14 if his beam wasn't broke. Not a giant but good for a slow season.


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## Bret (Oct 3, 2003)

Good one. I passed on 10 points. Went to walk off dinner and saw a 4 and a 6. Isn't that 10? That's always a good hunt.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Nice one.

 Al


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

Bret said:


> Good one. I passed on 10 points. Went to walk off dinner and saw a 4 and a 6. Isn't that 10? That's always a good hunt.


He had split brows and 2 tines broken on left side plus half his beam. I want to see the deer that busted him up. Lol


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## rininger85 (Feb 29, 2016)

my grandpa got this guy 11/23 on our property in TN. Nice 10 point. He had already packed his gun away in the truck to get ready to leave the following morning when this buck stepped out on the trail. He said he watched him for 15 minutes before he decided to walk up to the truck and get his gun. By the time he got back to the cabin the buck had walked off the trail but he waited about 10 minutes and he came back again...









my dad got an 8 point the following morning 11/24 on our TN property.









The hunting report down there seems much better than up here. Grandpa said there are so many deer down there now that within an hour of shooting a deer there are more deer right where they shot the last one at. Grandma and Grandpa shot a total of 4 deer (5 point, 10 point, two does) plus dad's 8 point from our TN property and after my dad shot the 8 point he changed his trail camera cards and said within 24 hours he had pictures of at least 5 more little bucks and several different does, and there is still at least a couple of big bucks that he has pictures of on other cameras down there. Seems like we're having a positive effect on the deer population down there. We try to keep mineral blocks and salt blocks out year round and keep corn out for them as much as possible. 

These are two of the five nice bucks that my in-law's have taken this year. These two my brother-in-law shot that I had mentioned previously... but my uncle-in-law got another one Thanksgiving evening plus the other one he had already got and the one my father-in-law had already got (all 8+ points). And they said there is still plenty to go up there... they have a little 40 acre chunk of woods that no-one has stepped foot inside in at least 5 years maybe longer... they hunt blinds on the outside of the woods and try to play the wind to keep their scent out of the woods so the deer have a sanctuary that they aren't afraid of being in. Said Thursday evening there were 20 deer in one field on the east side of the woods, and there were 20 deer in the field on the west side of the woods at the same time, with 7 different bucks in the west field all at the same time. Thinking if we get skunked at my grandpa's again next year that we'll be headed up to the in-laws early in the season instead =)


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## Nathan (Jun 8, 2006)

Ive actually been seeing more deer this season, got a doe in October, and an 8 pt opening morning of gun season, but only hunt on colder mornings. Its also been nice to use the too warm days to go fishing. I havnt had to freeze much in my treestand this year, and now that its getting cold I'm glad to be tagged out. wish everyone a good hunting season


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## Vahomesteaders (Jun 4, 2014)

Been real slow here. Haven't seen a deer in a week. But hound season starts soon fir the bear hunters. Once they start running they usually stir the deer up big time on top the mountain and we start seeing them again.


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## rininger85 (Feb 29, 2016)

these were all shot on the same farm... my father in law's farm... I already posted a couple times talking about them and posted a picture of the two my brother in law shot already, but they cut all the heads off to skin them and do european mounts on them this weekend so got a picture of them all together...


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