Pursuit 002 - October

This little fella to the right is "Grey". I felt I should mention him for every time I was in my tree stand he would make his way across the forest floor to see me. Yes, I know it's actually a red squirrel. Oddly, and thankfully he never made a warning call to let the forest know that I was around. He'd just sit on the limb he's perched on in the photo, looking at me, and perhaps trying to figure out what I was or what I was doing up in a tree. Perhaps I'll go out and gather up a pile of pine cones for him to mess with during the winter.

From the Journal:

10/29/2009

"Did some scouting this afternoon out beyond my treestand. I had been out there a couple of times and knew there was a wood lot, but didn't want to get lost as I did the first time I explored the property. I had never really taken a good look at it though, so I just walked around. Found plenty of deer sign in one part of the logged area in the form of droppings, tracks, and trails. But, no rubs or scrapes yet."

"I also spooked something that was in the swamp (West Creek). Not sure what it was but it sounded too big to be a deer of the size I have seen around here. Had to have been a bear, moose, or a giant deer. I'm leaning towards a moose (they make me nervous). I'm not sure who owns the land that was cut, but I'm gonna try and find out tomorrow."

"On the way out from the logged area I tracked my way towards my tree stand and find fresh deer tracks right down the trail my stand overlooks...just 20 yards from my tree! The bugger! Not that I could have done anything today...the season is closed.

10/30/2009

"I called the family who owns the area that was select-harvested (the wood lot) last year and got permission to hunt the remainder of the property. It is essentially one-half square mile per my estimation, and includes the wood lot, pasture lands, swamps, and lake boundary area. She advised that I pick up property maps from the town and bring them by so she could define the boundary lines for me, if needed."

10/31/2009

"Scouting was a somewhat productive day. I determined that moose are indeed using the swamp. I saw one adult bull, numerous tracks and droppings. Saw some deer sign around the swamp, but not much. The wind has been blowing crazy all day with gusts over 40 mph, trees snapping off too. It was also warm today, around 65 degrees F and was difficult to keep from sweating."

Prior to Oct 29, I had permission only to hunt a small area of the property...a total of about 25 acres. My initial surveys of the property lead me to believe the deer may be using the area surrounding one of the homesteads and thus I decided to put my treestand at an area where the forest transitioned from hardwoods into pines along East Creek (an edge within the standing timber). I had found a point where two deer trails met and put my stand up to overlook the junction. My first half dozen hunts from the treestand revealed nothing, except that deer weren't passing through while I was sitting in the stand.

View of the left-hand trail passing my tree stand.

During October, my main objective was gaining access to the land and practicing with my bow and getting it re-tuned. I was sad that the early season was over, but there were times as I sat in the tree stand where I wasn't confident that I could hit anything anyways...and it bugged me. So, in the off-season I continued practicing and exploring more and more of the property.

Even at this point, I began to feel that my tree stand could be in a much better location, such as over looking the wood lot. I just didn't know where exactly to put it.