Winter has finally found North Eastern Ohio and the hunting preserve. We have had our first snow cover and really cold temps this week. The snow fall by our standards was just a dusting but the high winds and temps in the teens have shown that winter is upon us. The deer trails are much easier to follow with the snow and it is good to know that our stand placements and food plots are all in the correct places. The younger does are starting to come in now and the mature bucks are giving chase again. The secondary rut is not as intense as the early november rut but it still has the deer all moving. Over the last few days I have seen bucks that I had not seen for three or four weeks. The younger bucks are not being as active with this rut and they seem to be settling in on their winter patterns. It is not unusual to see the older does and younger bucks coming to the food plots much earlier in the afternoon now. This is the time of year when our stand heaters come in real handy!
December 12, 2009
August 25, 2009
Hunting Season Coming
The evenings in Ohio are starting to feel like hunting season. We have had lows at night in the fifties and no humidity. The big bucks are enjoying the drop in temps and have been moving more every evening. I had some success one of my trail cameras this week after I had repositioned it to a new angle. Several bucks were using the food plot at the Shadow Hunter stand but I was only getting distant pictures before the move. I even stotted one younger buck this week that has start to lose his velvet. He didn’t stick around long enough to see how much he has rubbed off already but he was rubbing a sapling when first saw him.
The fall food plots have all been planted and fertilized now and only need some rain to get started. We added a new plot this year in a dense cover area and I am hopeful that it will be a big producer this fall.