Williamsburg Bow Hunter

Things have really been slow lately for this tree hugger. Bowhunting is particularly difficult this time of year because the deer have become so wary of bait and tend to become more and more nocturnal around it. The exception might be the case of late estrus does. There are still some of them around and if you’re fortunate enough to find one you may get that opportunity at a good buck even at this late date. I was very surprised to catch on trail cam a real pig of a buck a couple of days ago on one of my stands at 7:15AM – a 10 pointer that will easily top the scales at 200+. He seemed to be tending a doe. Hang in there, it’s not over yet. Later…

Thanksgiving Day. Deer moved early in the morning. Had a shooter come in behind me right at daylight. He came right under my tree heading out to the corn. I expected him to stop and feed, giving me a shot opportunity. However, he proved to be smarter than I as he veered off to the right and never stopped. Returned to the same stand this afternoon. Different result. Had a deer come in real late, also walking right under my tree. When I looked at him with my binoculars I took him to be an 8 pointer, not particularly wide but with pretty good mass. This time the buck did stop to feed, giving me a broadside shot. Made a great hit on him and he only ran about 50 yds before rolling up. Turned out to be a 15″ nine pointer, maybe only 2 1/2 years old. Wish I had passed on him and given him another year. Didn’t have enough camera light to video. Later…

I haven’t noticed any real rut activity since I returned from Kentucky a week ago. Of course the weather has not been the greatest- quite warm for this time of year. I think the rut is over for the most part. This is supported by my trail cam pictures as I’m not seeing any good bucks in the daytime, only small ones. I guess there might be some isolated rut activity going on but I do believe it’s light at best. Time to start taking out some culls and does. Later…

Just returned from a week at Riverbend Whitetails in Kentucky. Went with four friends from the Enon days- Baylen Moore, Travis Tyler, Chris Adams and Keith Chichester. This was supposed to be a rut hunt but the rut had not kicked in yet- running about a week behind. Weather was not the best either- wind, rain, warm temps, you name it. Nevertheless, several guys had close encounters with shooters ( 130 minimum ) and everyone shot does. Lot of bucks in the 110-125 range were seen. I have some pretty good video from the hunt and will be editing it and uploading to the website later this week. Later…