Off to WI to deer hunt with my dad

[lokidog]

Heading to WI, Ladysmith area to hunt on my parent's property.  They've been seeing lots of big deer on the trailcams, though so far mostly at night. Hopefully the rut will get them moving in daylight.

I rattled in a BT here this year, for the first time, so am hoping to do the same there.

[bowhunterforever]

Awesome, good luck

[lokidog]

Thanks.

Flight was good, though TSA went through everything. Honestly, why would they have to go through my bow case? I can't imagine anything in there looking questionable on an x-ray.... 

Of course going through security my camo backpack gets flagged for the sniffer test. I told him up front there was a good chance for gunpowder residue since it was a hunting pack. He says "maybe you should think about your choice of backpacks at the airport". I just laughed and said that would be stupid since I'm going hunting... Duh! 

Checked out their trailcam pics. There were some young bucks including a couple of young "eights". My target is a really nice heavy bodied 5X5 with a little kicker that might make "point" status. However there were at least three other mature 4X4s and a big 3X4.  Heading up tomorrow.

[elkrack]

Tag!!

[JODakota]

Tag!

[lokidog]

Not going to be on the 5X stand, as the window sill is too high to shoot the bow over. :-(  However, there is a nice 3x4 and a few medium sized eights in the area. Rut activity is at night though, the days are pretty warm. I'll be on stand in the morning.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Boss .300 winmag]

Go get'em lokidog! 

[gavinboone]

Not going to be on the 5X stand, as the window sill is too high to shoot the bow over. :-(  However, there is a nice 3x4 and a few medium sized eights in the area. Rut activity is at night though, the days are pretty warm. I'll be on stand in the morning.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Good luck!

[NRA4LIFE]

Good luck Loki.  I grew up deer hunting my dad's property just a bit east of you, near Ogema.  We did a lot of hunting in the Hawkins/Kennan area also.  Good times.  Go Get 'em.  Are you staying for the rifle season, or just bow?

I'm guessing you'll be taking Sunday evening off to watch the Packer game and drink beer....

[Widgeondeke]

hoping to see a pic of a nice buck soon   

[DOUBLELUNG]

Thwack 'em!

[NRA4LIFE]

How's it going?

[lokidog]

First day, 11 1/2 hours on stand, passed a small 3x3 and saw one other small doe. Second day, same amount of time, passed a little bigger 3x3 figuring one if my dad's hunting gang probably needed the meat more than I wanted it. Got back to camp and found my dad had shot him across the river from me over a quarter mile away. :-)

Today had a doe with twins at sunrise come by and about fifteen minutes later saw a buck raking a tree about fifty yards away in the brush. I couldn't get him to come to the doe bleat.     :-(  Right at dark another doe with a fawn came in. Got to see a few grouse as well.

Photos will be some time in future. The weather is crazy warm, almost 70 during the day and freezing at night.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Russ McDonald]

Good luck Lokidog.  Got a buddy who is back there doing the same thing. 

[Boss .300 winmag]

That's terrible weather to hunt whitetails in right. 

Keep at it you'll get a big one. 

[NRA4LIFE]

Good you were on the stand tonight and not watching the Packer game.  Go get 'em.

[lokidog]

Not seeing much yesterday, one old doe st ten yards and a couple of tails in the distance, or today , jumped one under my stand in the dark. After four hours of nothing, I went for a walkabout, jumped three unknowns and am now just hanging out in a different stand where I am actually getting a cell signal. 

A friend of my dad's got this one yesterday morning after missing a bigger one, all chasing the same doe. He said there were four or five bucks, wish I could see that kind of activity.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[lokidog]

Can't figure out how to post pics from phone.... It was a really nice 4X4 with a couple little kickers.  My dad is getting antsy about butchering his deer as the days have been pretty warm, so tonight and tomorrow morning are probably it for me. :-(

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Skyvalhunter]

Good luck & shoot straight

[lokidog]

Well, heading out for the last morning's hunt. It's about 27 degrees out. Hopefully the bucks will be moving. Saw a 3x3 or small four yesterday but could not get him in range.

I just want a buck on the wall I can name Deplorable.... ;-)

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Jpmiller]

Good luck! It's probably all the residue on the bag scaring them away, should have listened to tsa

[lokidog]

:-) Done with the hunt up north. Butchering my dad's deer tonight, but might be able to hunt locally tomorrow and Friday. Just had one doe zoom by me this morning. I was hoping there was a buck on her butt, but no luck.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[lokidog]

Well, back in WA but thanks to the wind, not home yet. Had some success at the local public hunting ground, will post more tomorrow.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

[Boss .300 winmag]

Well, back in WA but thanks to the wind, not home yet. Had some success at the local public hunting ground, will post more tomorrow.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Spending the night in your truck? 

I got a warm bed.

[lokidog]

Well, back in WA but thanks to the wind, not home yet. Had some success at the local public hunting ground, will post more tomorrow.

Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

Spending the night in your truck? 

I got a warm bed.

Kelli had a conference in Portland and picked me up on the way back, so we just stayed at a hotel.  Thanks for the offer.  Working on downloading pics and video, hopefully will get them up later today.

[C-Money]

Sounds fun....tagging along

[lokidog]

Alright, finally some time to post.  I know I've already posted a bunch regarding this hunt, but now photos will accompany the narration.

We went up to my parent's property and the first stand we looked at was The Palace.  They had some great trailcam photos so i was excited to check it out.  Unfortunately, it was set up for gun or crossbow and I would not be able to draw my bow and shoot out the side window as it was too narrow. My dad said he'd sit here instead of at the Turkey Hill stand. We headed over to it, about 0.6 miles away along really muddy ATV trails. I'm not sure what happened to my photo of this stand. It was on an alfalfa food plot they put in after the area was logged quite a while back. We dumped another bag of corn to try to put the deer where we wanted them to stand.  The trailcams here had some nice bucks including some eights (4X4) and a big seven that was out a lot during the day.

I started hunting the next morning and had a doe and this little six (3X3) point come in about a half hour apart. I sat there for 11 1/2 hours each day for the next three. The second day a bit larger six came in, but I was still hoping for one of the big boys. It was about 4:30.  It turned out my dad was on a different stand as he had not seen anything the day before at The Palace and there was nothing on the trailcam. His stand was across the river about a quarter mile away. At 5:10 the buck from my stand walked in front of my dad and he dropped him.

Here are a couple of videos of these bucks and a doe I saw on a different stand the next day. Unfortunately, she did not have a buck following her.

First small buck - www.youtube.com/watch?v=59dN7OLCl8w
Dad's six - www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJcKDoRwDdg
Doe - www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhAhLGyBWek

On the map are also marked where I shot my first deer 40 years ago and where the guy with us got his nice eight pointer with a couple of kickers after missing a big ten or twelve.  And yes, I'm using the local antler count, because that's what they do back there.   

[pianoman9701]

 

[lokidog]

I decided to go for a walk on one of the following days and headed along the river.  There used to be a bridge from camp but it kept getting washed out so the new access is from the road east of the property.

Unfortunately, I bumped three or four deer before I saw them and then later, while sitting in a different stand, had a six or small eight come by, just out of range.  I could not get him interested in my calling. He came in from the left of the panorama and walked parallel to the long shooting lane.

I went back near where I filmed the doe but only had one doe go flying by about a hundred yards out, thus ending my hunt up north.

[lokidog]

So, headed back to my parent's place to take care of my dad's deer.  He called around to see if there was anywhere locally where I could get out to hunt more.  Everyone already had friends or family filling up their properties but one suggested the local public hunting grounds.  So, I got on the computer and did some research.  I found a spot that was a ways from the road, had lots of cover, in a bit of a funnel between swamp and more open woods on a hillside, and was somewhat near some agricultural fields, turned out they had been corn.

As I crept through the woods, I found a decent trail that had several scrapes along it. Amazingly, I found a perfect little Shagbark Hickory that had fallen over to stand in and get myself off the ground.  I was there about an hour and a half before dark closed in.  I didn't see anything but had a good feeling about it so made a plan to get in in the morning.  On the way out, I dropped a couple of apple pieces onto the scrapes I saw.

It was still windy in the morning, in my face as I approached my stand. It was light enough to sneak without a flashlight so I would take a few steps, stop, step, etc. The apples were gone.  And, of course, there was a deer within twenty yards of the tree I was heading for.  It was still at least twenty minutes to shooting time so I doe bleated at it as I got to my stand.

I had lots of mouse and squirrel activity around me and even got to see and hear a couple of Great Horned Owls with some turkeys in the distance. Finally, about eight I heard a bunch of crows in the direction of the corn fields. Jokingly, I quietly told the crows if they chased a deer to me I'd leave them a gut pile....  A few minutes later, with the crows going quiet, I heard leaves crunching nearby.  Figuring it might happen quickly, I turned on the camera and drew my bow.

The buck came in on the trail with the scrapes, he was traveling quickly on a mission. He was going to pass downwind of me, but it would also be downwind of my doe in heat rag. Just as he  reached an opening at about 17 yards, he stopped.  He was already past my scent stream, I think, and hit the doe in heat scent, he turned away and started walking again. Then he angled back across the opening and I let fly.  I should have probably mewed at him or something to stop him.  When going frame by frame through the video, i can see that I was dead on with the arrow 3/4 of the way there, but then he continued his step.  The arrow hit him in the ass, I thought it hit ahead of his leg though when I saw a gush of blood go down his side.  It turned out it was gushing down the inside of the far leg. He took off, ran around me, stopped about 30 yards out with some thick brush between us, and then turned left and bolted.  I waited a couple minutes to get down and check out the impact point.

There was good bright blood, though it did have some corn bits in it.  I saw several blood splatters in the direction he ran, so realized he was, luckily, probably down and I might actually have a decent trail to follow.  I decided to go get my dad to both let the deer sit and bring him in on the recovery since it had been many, many years since we'd done that.

Knowing it would be a long drag out and that my dad's 76 year old hips and knees would not let him help do much pulling, we stopped by a local hardware store and bought an ice fishing sled to haul the deer the 0.8 miles back to the truck.  Sure enough, we followed a great blood trail to where the deer had stopped, then followed it right to the deer.  He only ran about 80-90 yards and went down.  One funny thing is, I would have never thought I would have more than a quarter or so mile drag to get a deer out of public hunting grounds in southern Wisconsin.  Fortunately, there was a pretty good trail (National Ice Age Trail) to drag him out on most of the way.

[lokidog]

In the previous photos, you can see my luminok arrow on the way in looking good....  Here is a link to the video: 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qerE6QdSAZM

So, I lucked out on the efficacy of the hit, and learned that I should probably try to stop the deer next time.

Here are a couple of photos of the drag out, one of the really cool white strip down his chest, and a skinned photo showing the path of the RAD TiCon tipped arrow.   I was quite impressed with the penetration from about a 60 pound bow. 

Oh yeah, this is deer number four for lucky arrow number 13.   He wasn't the biggest boy on the block (58 pounds of meat), but I'm pretty stoked to have pulled a buck off of unknown public land late in the season. 

Hope you enjoyed the story.  My mom wants me to come hunt with my dad again next fall, so maybe, to be continued.....

[RB]

Wow great write up!

[bowhunterforever]

Congrats and great story

[blackveltbowhunter]

Awesome story and deer! Congratz!

[Jpmiller]

I get scoffed at alot for saying it but I love the closed rack whitetail bucks. Great looking deer, glad it went down quick even with a less than perfect shot. Thanks for sharing!

[lokidog]

I feel a bit bad, he had some great genetics and would have had a huge rack next year, but, it was a long way to go to pass on everything.....      

Thanks.

[NRA4LIFE]

Awesome, great job.  I was pulling for you.  What general area was that?  Looks a lot like my homeland.

[AKBowman]

It's absolutely amazing how those deer blow up from 1.5 to 2.5 then again from 2.5 to 3.5. In two years of hunting down there I'm almost positive I've never seen a 4.5 YO buck on the hoof. There is a SERIOUS rifle gauntlet that they have to run to make it each year. It is funny though that if a guy can find some public property that has tougher access that seems to be where most of the bigger (older) bucks can be found. Most land is parceled off into 40's or 80's (at least in central WI farmland) and EVERYONE hunts, which I love!! We have at least 30 stands on the small amount of land that we have to hunt. Take a drive down the highway or a country road and there are shooting shacks EVERYWHERE.

Deer hunting is a religion around there. It's an amazing experience to partake in. Completely different than our west.

[lokidog]

NRA, The first part of the hunt was SW of Ladysmith up in Rusk County about 50 miles NE of Eau Claire and the harvest occurred near Lodi, just north of Madison.

AKB, I second the ability to talk about hunting without worrying so much about being spit on, it is refreshing.

[Elkrunner]

Looks tasty!

[lokidog]

Here are a couple other pics from the northern deer camp.

My dad's opening and second day bucks from five or six years ago.

Stacking them like cord wood from a year or so before that.

Gorgeous eight point with two stickers harvested on the property while I was there.

[Elkrunner]

That is a mess of deer!!!!