We are having a great finish to our first hunting season. We have had two successful hunts this last week and took two really nice looking bucks, a 130″ and a 141″. The secondary rut continues to move on with a couple of the younger does coming in this last week. I see the trophy class bucks still tending a couple of the does but for the most part the deer have all settled into their winter patterns. The weather has warmed up and our snow in the preserve has melted down to three or four inches in most places making it much easier for the deer to move around.
We will be attending the Northeast Ohio Sportsman Show in Dalton, Ohio this coming Friday and Saturday at the Buckeye Event Center. If you are at the show please stop by and say hello.
January 18, 2010
End of the First Season
January 8, 2010
Snow Bound
Winter has turned the hunting preserve into a winter wonderland. We had about two feet of snow this past week and then just to keep us interested Mother Nature gave us freezing rain yesterday followed by another 4-5″ of snow. The snow has settled considerably but I would guess there is still around 20″+ on the ground. Going around the paths has become an adventure in itself but the scenery is beautiful with the snow covered trees. I’m sorry to report that it has been so overcast that I have not been able to capture any of this on film. The deer were sitting pretty tight for the first few days this week but seem to have adjusted to the snow depth and are back to their winter routines. All of the trophy bucks still have there antlers as best I can tell so far but I’m sure that some will start shedding them soon. Last year we still had some bucks with antlers into March so they would have another couple months if it happens the same this year.
January 2, 2010
New Year
The holidays have come and gone for another year and they brought us some successful hunts at Oak Ridge along with some new friends. We had two great hunts last week and also our first measurable snow. With the second rut still going we took a 156″ buck right after Christmas and then a 203″ the following Monday. Both of these bucks will be posted on the photo gallery very soon.
The secondary rut has never been as heated as early November but it has been proven to produce when you can find a hot doe near your stand. We had a young doe coming running in on us last week after a quiet morning and what she had in tow was amazing. We went from no deer in nearly three hours to one doe and five mature bucks in about twenty seconds. As is the case with the primary rut they all stayed well into the brush but it gave us about 30 minutes to watch the bucks before she took them off on another chase.
After lunch in a lake effect snow storm the doe helped us out again and this time the biggest of the bucks made a mistake and we took our largest mature buck to date at Oak Ridge, 203″ with a 22″ inside spread! We all had a great hunt and hopefully the video will be coming to the website this month.
New Years Day started out 2010 in great way with my nephew Nathan getting his first deer, a mature doe. It is always exciting to share in the “first deer” experience. The preserve bucks were not the only ones to make it a great day as the OSU Buckeyes brought home a Rose Bowl victory to finish out our day.