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Hunt Introduction This Whitetail Deer Live Bowhunt will be a little different than past Live Hunts. I'll be posting my hunts throughout the season, instead of just over a several day or one week period. The reason is that I moved to Ohio last year and will really be concentrating hard on having a good season here this fall, and hopefully get a chance at a big buck or two. All hunts are self-guided and are taking place in southeast Ohio on a variety of public and private land. I'll be hunting everything from wooded, rolling hills to bottom land habitat near agriculture. Pre-Hunt Scouting I've been scouting all summer long and have found about a dozen good spots that I plan to rotate through this fall, so as not to pressure any one spot too much. I've seen some very promising big buck sign from last season. I'm very anxious for the rut to get started! Most of my early season hunts will be near White Oak trees that I have found acorns in during my scouting. October 1 - Opening Day A.M.   This morning I hunted an area on public land that I had scouted several times prior to the season. I found a relatively small grove of white oaks, a few of which had a good number of acorns. I hadn't been to it for several weeks before season started, but I had a hunch there would be deer visiting. I had to smile when I got there in the dark and saw deer eyes reflected in my headlamp, right beside the tree I was going to hunt from. That was a good sign.  My doe as she came in to feed....  ....On delicious white oak acorns Half an hour after legal shooting light a deer snorted right behind me. I hadn't heard a thing until I heard the snort. I turned to look but all I saw was a fleeing tail. Not sure what happened there, but I'm guessing it winded me. About an hour after legal shooting light, a young doe ambled past about 40 yards away - too far for me. Ten minutes later a lone fawn came trotting past, with some destination apparently in mind. It stopped for a few secons to pick up some acorns beneath me, and then continued on it's merry way. A little while later a yearling doe appeared about 75 yards away and made a beeline straight to the white oak I was in and started chowing down. My freezer had been devoid of deer meat for a few weeks, so I decided to take this doe if given a shot. I wasn't keen on a straight-down shot, so I waited till she fed out a bit. She turned quartering away at 15 yards and gave me a perfect shot, which I took. I saw the arrow pass through and she ran into a creek bottom where I could no longer see or hear her. I felt confident that she wouldn't go far.   I'm always able to get down the tree with my climber in record time after I've made a good hit, and this was no exception. I went over to the arrow and saw good lung blood. I started walking in the direction I last saw the doe, and there she was, piled up just after she had gone out of my sight. It was a good lung shot, entering about 10 inches behind her right shoulder and exiting through her left shoulder. I was using my Diamond Machete bow, GoldTip arrow, and a new broadhead, the Wasp Sharpshooter 4-blade. Glad to have meat on the table!  My Opening Day Ohio Doe  Some rubs and scrapes I found this morning....
October 1 - Opening Day P.M.  This evening I hunted a completely different area of public land, and completely different habitat. This morning I hunted a mildly rolling area of pine forest with a few oaks sprinkled in. This evening I hunted an area with steep, big hills and huge oak forests. I scouted this spot a few days ago and the hillside was absolutely torn up by deer looking for acorns. Plus, there was a small pond/source of water nearby. Long story short, I didn't see a thing this evening. Sat until dark and didn't see a deer. Oh well, it happens sometimes. October 4 - A.M.  This morning I hunted an area of public land where a few weeks ago (before the season started) there was a single white oak that had a great amount of deer sign around it. That is where I set up. Unfortunately, it was a slow morning. I heard a deer snort about 75 yards away. It was a pretty windy morning, not the most enjoyable time to be 25 feet up a tree. The bad news is that the deer had apparently really spread out to other oak trees. The good news is that I found a fresh scrape on my way out after the hunt that hadn't been there on the way in. I'm seeing a LOT of ground scrapes so far this season. It seems early to me. October 4 - P.M.  This evening I hunted a real steep area, overlooking a natural spring. I found this spot back in the summer, and even saw a pretty decent velvet buck in the area when scouting one day. This natural spring is always just loaded with tracks. I'm not a super big fan of hunting over water sources (never seem to see much daylight activity), but I wanted to give it a try, especially since I had seen that buck here earlier in the year. Like my last evening hunt, I didn't see a deer while hunting, although I did see a few does crossing the road as I drove out after dark. Despite my luck this evening, I like this spot, and will likely be back here as the rut gets closer. October 8 - A.M.  A doe and fawn pass through the area This morning I went back to where I killed the doe on opening day. When I got there in the dark I heard at least 3 deer running away from around my tree stand tree. That got me pumped. Alas, it was a slow morning. I saw one doe with a fawn who came puttering through the general area, doing nothing in particular. When I got down there wasn't as much deer sign under the tree as there had been last week...but on the other hand, there were three deer there when I arrived in the dark....regardless of the acorn situation at this spot, I'm definitely going to be back here. There are scrapes everywhere, and the habitat/area just says "big buck area - you definitely want to be here when the rut starts"!  A scrape I found this morning.... October 13 - P.M.  This evening I hunted some private land I have permission on. I realy went to hang a stand in an area I'm always seeing deer feeding, but I had time to hunt for a while after I got that done, so I got my gear and my climber stand and headed to an area I thought I remembered seeing a few white oaks in a big forest that was otherwise mostly non-oak trees. It was also in a good natural funnel where the big woods meets a grown-up clearcut. When I got to the white oaks, there was a lot of deer sign under them, and lots of acorn-scratching. After seeing that, I decided to hunt somewhere else - NOT! There was a good straight tree about 15 feet from the nearest white oak, so I climbed about 25 feet up with my Summit climber and got settled. About an hour before dark, deer just started appearing out of the clearcut and came straight to the white oaks. There were two different groups, in all 6 deer, all does. There was one doe that was bigger than all the rest, so I set my sights on getting a shot at her. I waited about 15 minutes as she slowly worked her way closer. When she was at 12 yards, quartering away, that was close enough for me! I drew, found "the" spot and released. The arrow hit her perfectly, and she did a mad dash of about 50 yards and crashed. 2nd Doe down! She was a good-sized doe. My arrow entered about mid-way back on the ribs and exited low in front of her off-side front leg, breaking the leg in the process. I was using a Simmons RazorShark broadhead on this doe. It left a pretty good blood trail, but I didn't need it since I saw her fall.   My 2nd Ohio Doe of the season October 20 - P.M.  This evening I hunted an area on public land that was between a primo buck bedding area and a big scrape line. There were also lots of falling white oak acorns nearby. It was drizzling all evening, and I thought it would be good weather for deer movement. I did some rattling, with no response. I did see a yearling spike buck that walked by at 10 yards. With the drizzling rain I didn't hear his footsteps and he was right on me before I even saw him. I wasn't able to get a pic of him. He's all I saw this evening. 
Joshua Flournoy owns and manages the Livehunts.com web site. Joshua resides in Ohio with his wife and five children. |
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