Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Mid day rut hunt on Corps of Engineer land.

Saturday went to Yellow Creek PHA.
Didn't see squat nor hear the typical amount of firefight gunfire on opening day.
Which has been the same for gunfire the past 4 days.
Very little from the norm..
I think corn prices for illegal baiting have alot to do with it...

Sunday I hunt this southern hardwood bottom flat I'm sitting on right now on the COE land.
About 930 I get up to head north about 900 yds still hunting to a cedar knoll and oak boundary area.
And off the boundary are AG fields.
I run into this dead spike 200 250 yds from my stand.
Spent like 15 20 mins CSI back the blood trial.
Find hair and initial exit wound blood splatter and tore up ground.
Scumball whoever had to see the spike go down in those open hardwoods 45 55 yds away from where he shot it...
I just keep moving.
Nothing I can do about a dead spike some dikhead seen bone from....

I get about 75 80 yds away from the knoll slope.
Big Ole brown rack buck hauling azz after a doe.

Fuuuk me..
I would have been on that ground if that dikhead hadn't shot that spike and the time I wasted.

Known spot to sit for me.
Place is tore up with buck sign and converging trails.

I sit for about an hour.
Mr brown rack is chasing the doe on the field about 250 yds out into another wood.
SMH.....
Trim a couple of low impact shooting lanes.
Mark my stand tree with a glow tack , place where I can see north and south slopes of the knoll and leave at 1pm.

Go back into knoll yesterday morning.
About 7am
Mr brown rack is chasing a doe again.
About 200 yds out in the field off the COE boundary.
Still ain't got but brief looks at this buck.
But have seen tines and size to his beams.

Coming from the east
Does a big loop to west of me into connecting woodline that feeds to me or away from me.

Maybe maybe maybe that jezebel slickhead will lead him thru here.
About 45 mins later a doe comes in about 25 30yds out.
Oh.,...
It's game on
Watching her back trial and her.

See a obscured back line coming thru brush and behind blow downs about 40 ydsout
Get the rifle up in a shooting lane it will cross.
Your dead like fried chicken dude....

Her fawn.....
Fuuuk me....

They hung around for 2 or 3mins about 25 30 ydsout.
Still keeping an eye on the back trial.
It's november you never fuuuuking know what might go down.

Doe is sensing something ain't right.
Staring at my partial outline.
I blink my eyes.
She hauls azz blowing like a maniac 6 7 22 times.
Educated slickhead ....
Fawn hauls azz...

Sit for another hour.
about 11am move back to sunday spot still hunting.
Get about 75 yds from the dead spike and push another buck with a blonde rack and doe probably 10 yds on other side of dead spike.
They haul azz towards my hardwoods bottom stand and I know they are heading off the southern boundary.

JFC.....
Sit down for an hour right where I am at now.

Walk back to truck.....

Someone's tearing it up!

Hang in there have you tried late evening in that area

So....
I'm doing a mid day sit in the southern hardwoods.
Been out here since 830
Gonna leave around 2 or 230.
Got 150 ish 175 yd shots in lanes.
Totally staged pic for effect.
It,s november and you never know what might go down.
And it took me almost 45 mins to make that initial post BTW.
Type a little and look alot 360 around me.

I have never been a big evening hunter.
Slumlord is and I have hunted with him in the evenings.
He has alot of success with it .
Me not so much.
He has some bucks on his dad's place.
Doing my man some courtesy right now, he don't need my rifle out their dropping something yet.👍
Letting him go lone wolf so he can drop a good one 1st.
I'm on call for recovery and gutting and he knows that.
His meds have made him progressively really intolerant to the cold in the mornings.
Once he drops one.
I will start doing some mid day and evening hunts with him.

Good luck today.

Good luck RENE, go get ya a Katonka!

Good luck. 👍

It was painful here opening weekend, sat 3 days and saw "A" deer, well out of range. Fuggin windy as schidt and snowing off and on the first 2 days. Only heard 5 shots all weekend, all very distant. The last few seasons here have been really slow, just haven't seen many deer at all. Seems like around 2015 they just packed up and left, used to see a lot more 🤷‍♂️

Good luck.

I like mid day for buck movement. Until this year my last 5 of 6 or 6 of 7 bucks came between 11.30 and 2sh.

Same in west central MO. Turkeys are getting to be a rare sight.

I got a herd of 7 does like pets on my place you can literally walk right passed them like a petting zoo I use them for bait

It's much quieter here on the rifle opener as well.
It seems that between our early MZ[2 weeks] and reduced hunter #'s opening day just ain't what it used to be.

Just discussing that

$15 a bag corn has really put the wimper on Bubbatards and Poachtards

That’s their propane and trailer lot rental budget since Mr Lahey imposed major adju$tment$

A lot of it here is less hunting because of diminishing land access, and consolidation of acreage. There was never an overabundance of trees round here to begin with, and a LOT of what were here have been chopped down over the last couple decades. So the deer aren't moving around as much because most of the treelines that were along property borders are gone.

Then throw in the fact that the days of walking up to farmer Frank's door and getting permission to hunt are over... you got better odds asking if you can screw his wife. Most of the prime hunting acreage has been sold off to hunting clubs from out of state, or parcelled up and got a bunch of transplant city folk McMansions on it now. What's left is pretty slim pickins.

You are aware that COE land is shotgun or bow only, right?

Don’t know where you’re from, but rifle is legal on the COE property I hunt in Tennessee.

Bingo!!!
Just like TVA land.

Got another COE place about 15 miles down the road
190 acres
Ain't been their yet this year.

This spot has my attention currently.
👍

We won’t see the rut here til last of Dec / first week of Jan.


Usually about 80* then.

🤬🤬.


Know a guy that hunted around Ross Barnett Rez in JXN.

Maybe not COE land, but similar.

Lot of it is accessed by boat only.

He killed some good bucks. No one wants to be on a boat or canoe in Jan.

Guessing Ranger Ren knows the rules where he's at.
If you haven't noticed, he can be a bit anal retentive.
(No offense)

No way!!!!
Bet that rifle is fuggin filthy....too