Morning Hunt
For my fourth morning I went back to the tree belt long before shooting light. I sat for an hour before I was able to see. A doe and fawn hit the bait at first light and an hour later four more does started to head in followed by a mature buck. I pulled up my binoculars and decided he was nice, but not a shooter. I captured some footage of him.
He followed the does east. I never saw him again. I would not see another deer until 10 AM when another mature 8 point cruised the south side of the tree belt. I didn't get a chance to video him since I only had a few moments to glass his rack. Like the buck earlier, he was mature - but not a shooter for me. I stayed in until 11 AM.
Jake saw 3 deer including a young 8pt. Tom saw 6 bucks but nothing mature. It was a cold morning so it was a little surprising how slow the action was.
Afternoon Hunt
Back to the Treebelt for the third time. I was hoping the action would pick up but it was slow again this afternoon. The wind died down and temps were in the low sixties. It's creepy hunting the rut at these temps.
I had one doe within range and the rest of the deer were a half mile away in the wheat field. I spotted that big 10pt at last light but he was walking east through the wheat field. I tried a soft grunt - which he heard - but he paid little attention and continued walking east. It was very slow here and I'm going to switch out to another stand for tomorrow.
Jake had two bucks show up, a young 8 and a mature 8. No shooters. And Tom saw only does this evening. Seems our brief cold snap had a little effect on buck movement but it may have been too brief. We need cold, snotty weather rather than this mild "bluebird" stuff. The forecast calls for more of the same, if not a little warmer for the last two days.
