# 2019 Oglethorpe County



## Buford_Dawg

Happy New Year fellow OC hunters and fisherman.  Lets get the 2019 thread started today.  Post your 2019 discussions for OC here.


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## transfixer

I don't know about the rest of ya'll,  but I'm not ready to quit on this season yet,,, two weekends left,  a combination of loggers tearing up our main access rd and all the rain we've had since Thanksgiving has kept me from going in Dec,  I'm hoping to go this weekend, at least for a little while, this constant rain has me in a really bad mood !   I need a day or two in the woods,  bad !   but realistically the sun needs to come out a couple of days to dry the road out some,  otherwise I might have to call someone to come pull me out !


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## Triple C

Count me in!  Love the OC threads and all the guys that post.


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## transfixer

Thanks Tod,   I used to like muddin when I was younger,  now I hate having to clean the truck up,  and up there its not just the red muc, its that's slick gray mud about half the time,, 

    That is a sho nuff hoss right there !   I've had one on camera not quite that big a few times this season,  but haven't seen him in the daylight.


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## Buford_Dawg

Made it down to camp this weekend.  Somewhat windy but thankfully no rain.  I saw several deer in Saturday PM hunt and several this AM while exiting the woods.  All Does.  Was looking more for hogs than deer so didnt pull the trigger.  We had one doe shot at from the hunters in our camp, but no hit from what the young hunter and his dad could find.  We actually had a large number of hunters on our SC property, guys trying for one doe before year end.


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## transfixer

I didn't go this weekend, the road into our place needed to dry out two or three days before I try it,  was hoping for next weekend, but now the forecast says rain AGAIN next sat and sun !     So I'm going to see if I can skip a couple days work this week,  my luck I'll be slammed with work ,,,   latter half of this season has been a washout,  both literally and figuratively


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## Arrow3

Cell cam told on this big sow Friday night in Sandy Cross.  Pic doesnt do her justice.  She  was probably better the 180lbs.


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## Triple C

Nice un Brandon!  Did my last sit of the year, unless something changes for the coming weekend.  My favorite area on the property and always try and end the season on our around this plot.  At 62, I cherish each last sit just a little more than the previous year.


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## Steven037

Missed this weekend but going out next weekend. Looks like it may rain but we’ve got enclosed  blinds for every plot. After three does and a nice buck and a pig my freezer is full but I’ll be out there next weekend. Wouldn’t mind another pig or a fat doe.


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## Arrow3

I'm ready to small game hunt until turkey season starts.  Doesn't look like the ducks are ever gonna show up. I haven't even killed a duck. Only been once and didnt see any. Not getting out of bed to chase 2 or 3 wood ducks.


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## jbird1

I have a snow symbol for Carlton on my weather app for next Saturday...hmmmm


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## benbishop6602

Workin Saturday . Guess I'm done this year . Definitely not what I expected . Haven't hunted since Thanksgiving .  G L everyone still out there .


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## transfixer

Going to camp tomorrow,  but I'll have to leave early Saturday morning before the rain gets going good,  or else I'll have a time getting out,    but I want to get at least one more hunt in,  and I need to check on camp and refill a couple feeders,  I'm sure the deer will appreciate it in the next month or so,  food usually gets scarce about now.


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## Buford_Dawg

What type of feeder you using Fixer?  I need to either build a couple or buy some.  I have one Moultrie broadcast 5 gallon bucket feeder now and it works pretty well.  Need several others however.  Appreciate others feedback as well.


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## transfixer

Buford_Dawg said:


> What type of feeder you using Fixer?  I need to either build a couple or buy some.  I have one Moultrie broadcast 5 gallon bucket feeder now and it works pretty well.  Need several others however.  Appreciate others feedback as well.


 
   I bought a couple of the Game Winner Mini Silo feeders that Academy carries,  bought one from the store , and another from a guy on Craigslist,   they hold 200lbs,  maybe a little more,   all metal hopper and has a wire cage around the spinner/motor box.   So far they've worked great !   and I don't have to worry about filling them up every week or two.


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## Arrow3

Sure am glad deer season is finally fixing to be over.  It's way to long for me.


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## Buford_Dawg

Agree somewhat.  I like to get some small game hunting in as well and the deer season eats into that quite a bit since it has been extended.


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## Arrow3

I would say that probably 60 to 70 percent of guys have gave up on deer for the most part by mid December.  Problem is a lot of clubs don't want you to small game hunt until its its legally over.


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## Buford_Dawg

Yes, Brandon, my clubs dont allow small game until big game is over.  And Yes, most hunters are done by December for most part.  That reminds me, if any of you fellow OC hunters have a good rabbit hunt lined up and don't mind someone listening to the races or need a extra gunner, please let me know.  My honey hole spot that we always hunted was lost last year.  Heck, I will just hang out and listen, Love to hear some rabbit races.  Or, if you have some good rabbit property and dont have dogs but would like to have a hunt, I have a fellow friend that has some fantastic dogs.


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## Triple C

Buford_Dawg said:


> What type of feeder you using Fixer?  I need to either build a couple or buy some.  I have one Moultrie broadcast 5 gallon bucket feeder now and it works pretty well.  Need several others however.  Appreciate others feedback as well.



BD...Google Texas Hunter barrel feeder and Banks Outdoor gravity feeder.  I like em both.  Had the Texas Hunter barrel feeders since 2011 and still going strong.  You can easily move them around.

Had the Banks since 2014.  It mounts on a 4x4 post and with critter guard is pretty much bomb proof from critters.  However, in our area, you will need to secure the Banks feeder ports with long wood screws running through the edge of the port into the body of the feeder.  Otherwise, pigs will dislodge the wing bolts and loosen the ports.  Once in place you ain't moving the Banks feeder unless you want to dig the 4x4 post out of the ground and then dig another hole for it.  I like em both.

Also have a Double D gravity feeder from Wilderness Calls.  It's built out of galvanized and is totally and absolutely bomb proof but bucks for some reason seem to take to the other feeders better.  It's been out since 2011 and looks like it did the day we put it out.


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## transfixer

Buford_Dawg said:


> What type of feeder you using Fixer?  I need to either build a couple or buy some.  I have one Moultrie broadcast 5 gallon bucket feeder now and it works pretty well.  Need several others however.  Appreciate others feedback as well.



   I made it to the lease yesterday a little after lunch,  went to check on my feeders and refill them,  couldn't get to one of them cause a little bridge we had built got washed away sometime in the last few weeks !  my golf cart couldn't cross the creek cause now the banks are too high, even though it hasn't rained in about a week up there ,  the woods were still saturated with water.  Evidently it done some serious raining up that way ?  


As a point of reference BD I  checked my other feeder and it still had some in it and battery was still good !  I hadn't checked on it since the weekend after thanksgiving !  So they will last a long time in between fill ups,  I've got it set to dispense twice a day,  morning and afternoon .   

     I'll go back in a few weeks with my four wheeler to replenish the other feeder, 

 By the way the deer were moving pretty good last evening,   saw quite a few and ended up taking a cull buck with some messed up antlers,   so at least I will have some meat in the freezer now.    I'll still be going back after some pork in the next few weeks,


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## Triple C

Pretty good way to end the season.  Son gave his bride a bow for Christmas.  She sealed the deal on a nice doe yesterday afternoon from a ground blind with Brooks at her side.


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## Buford_Dawg

Tell Brooks and his new bride Congrats from BD.  Just too cold and wet for me to come down this weekend.  Hoping for some small game and hog hunting next 2 months, then on to Turkeys and fishing.


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## Triple C

Buford_Dawg said:


> Tell Brooks and his new bride Congrats from BD.  Just too cold and wet for me to come down this weekend.  Hoping for some small game and hog hunting next 2 months, then on to Turkeys and fishing.


Will do.  Same here on the weather. Hung out at home this weekend and been keeping up thru txts.


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## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> Yes, Brandon, my clubs dont allow small game until big game is over.  And Yes, most hunters are done by December for most part.  That reminds me, if any of you fellow OC hunters have a good rabbit hunt lined up and don't mind someone listening to the races or need a extra gunner, please let me know.  My honey hole spot that we always hunted was lost last year.  Heck, I will just hang out and listen, Love to hear some rabbit races.  Or, if you have some good rabbit property and dont have dogs but would like to have a hunt, I have a fellow friend that has some fantastic dogs.


I see they took a bulldozer to your old CC club. I'd like to have been riding on that thing with my 20 gauge.


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## revans4661

Saturday was a great day for deer hunting in OC. The only problem is that no one told the deer... It got a little windy in the afternoon but the rain held off. While sitting in my stand reflecting on the season I came to the conclusion that I am just thankful to have the ability to enjoy the outdoors. I didn't have the best season, but it doesn't matter. Some people don't have the ability or the means to hunt as much as I do. I am blessed.
BD, the only thing I saw Saturday were 2 rabbits...
Is it Turkey season yet?


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## fredw

I haven't deer hunted for six weeks or so.   Have a good friend that's having some health issues and I made the trip to Oglethorpe Co. twice to try and get him on a deer. Another member who hasn't hunted much and didn't have a deer joined us on Friday for the final attempt of the year.  I got both guys on stand and, like any good guide, went back to the truck (where it was warm) and waited on a gun shot.

One of the fellows shot at a doe 173 yards away (per his range finder).  Thought he hit the doe but we couldn't find any sign of a hit.  We backed out for the night.  The next morning my son brought his dog up.  The dog found the deer in a clear cut.  All that was left of the deer was a head, a skeleton, and two hind feet.  The coyotes had devoured the deer.  I'd post a pic but some might find it cruesome.  I don't know how many coyotes it takes to eat a big doe but they cleaned this one up.

Roads on the lease are still holding water in spots and access can be tricky.  

Trail cams are showing good deer activity on the food plots even though they are mowed down.  Getting good turkey pics too.


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## Buford_Dawg

Speaking of rabbits Brandon and Rick, here is one of our hunts several years back.  Some of yall may remember DEE (Dead Eye Eddy), he was famous on this forum and still is on other forums - http://forum.gon.com/threads/nice-rabbit-hunt-yesterday.865620/

That group of dogs is about as good a pack as you will find too.


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## Arrow3

I bought me a new toy this week. Hoping to get it on some hogs soon.


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## Arrow3

My buddy turned 9 years old yesterday and he got to enjoy it by doing what he loves.


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## Buford_Dawg

OC ducks ?  It so, that is a good variety for that area isn't it?  When we had property up on the Broad river in Carlton, I had good hunts for Woodies, but not much else.  Wish I still had that property


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## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> OC ducks ?  It so, that is a good variety for that area isn't it?  When we had property up on the Broad river in Carlton, I had good hunts for Woodies, but not much else.  Wish I still had that property


Yes they were killed in OC in a beaver pond. Weve also killed black ducks, teal,  and geese in this pond.


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## Arrow3

A few more OC ducks.


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## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Went down today to put cameras out for turkeys and saw these 8 gobblers in one of my fields. Hopefully they stick around until March!


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## Arrow3

ADDICTED2HUNTIN said:


> Went down today to put cameras out for turkeys and saw these 8 gobblers in one of my fields. Hopefully they stick around until March!View attachment 957012


Seems like I know that spot ?


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## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Arrow3 said:


> Seems like I know that spot ?


You’ve seen it before!


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## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Had my wife and little princess with me too. She liked looking at the turkeys thru her “nokulars”


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## Arrow3

ADDICTED2HUNTIN said:


> You’ve seen it before!


Is that the woods where we bumped the gobbler off the roost?


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## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Arrow3 said:


> Is that the woods where we bumped the gobbler off the roost?


Yep, just to the left of where they are is the logging road we walked in on


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## Arrow3

Duck hunt turned into a hog hunt this morning.  I was just standing there waiting on a possible  wood duck when I heard him coming through the canes.  I let him get "close " ?


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## Buford_Dawg

OK, fellow OC deer hunters.  Time to chime in on our yearly "How was your deer season" question.  Tell us how your season went and what shape you feel your deer population is right now.  

I will start off.  As you know, I lost my main lease last year, so I scrambled and fortunately was able to get into a couple of leases in other areas of OC.  So, I spent time on 3 different areas around the county, Sandy Cross, Glades and Palmetto ( I think that is what they call it).  I saw 80 deer from a stand, which is about 50 less than last year, so my sightings were way down.  BUT like I said I was hunting new properties and not familiar with them at all, so that had alot to do with it.  I feel like 2 of my properties have a average to good deer population and one way below average (way to many hogs).  I could not have asked for a better harvest as I was able to take 5 hogs and 1 120 inch class buck.  I took hogs on 2 different properties, but they were on the other property as well, those things are everywhere now.  No does taken, didn't have a need with all the other meat.  I must say it was a great year overall, got to meet some new hunting friends and spend time with others on this forum.  Looking forward to hearing from the rest of you guys.


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## Arrow3

I had a great season.  Possibly my best ever. I bow hunted 5 times and killed 3 mature does. Rifle season was even better . Killed two 4 1/2 year old 10 pointers , another doe, and 5 hogs. 

I saw deer on nearly every sit.


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## Arrow3

OC coon hunt last night


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## transfixer

My season was okay,  wasn't what I had hoped for,  we're still working on getting the population back up in our area,  we have hogs but they come and go,  I saw a good many deer this season,  but no decent bucks,  wasn't able to hunt after thanksgiving due to loggers tearing up our roads and the amount of rain we had, I did manage to hunt the very last weekend of the season, and put a small buck in the freezer.   Overall we didn't take many off of our lease this season, I'm hoping it will show up as an improvement next season,  loggers will be coming back this summer,  so we'll have to wait and see what they do to the land and the roads.


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## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Had a good year. Killed my largest buck to date. Saw a few other really good bucks. Killed 2 does toward the end of the year to fill the freezer. Saw lots of turkeys and zero hogs! We did not put corn out. Over all population is probably about the same as last few years.


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## Triple C

Pretty good year at Tripe C’s place.  Only 1 doe and 1 buck killled.  Plenty passed on.


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## Arrow3

Saturday morning fun helping a friend work his bird dogs. Found a nice bonus on top of bag of dressed quail.


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## jbird1

We had a good season on our place overall.  The woods were full of deer/turkey/hogs.  Several good buck's were seen and a couple were taken.  It's getting harder and harder to carve out time with 3 kids into youth sports pretty heavy.  We are down to 3 weekends for deer season and hopefully a turkey weekend.  It isn't much but really makes you appreciate and savor those weekends even more.  I do more guiding than hunting with the boys.  Just getting into camp and passing on the ways of the woods has been rewarding. 

The camp is evolving and this year we implemented an apple device to stream the Dawgs games.  It still needs some tweaking but sure beats trying to get a signal with rabbit ears from our primitive camp.  I think a good time was had by all and am looking forward to an offseason trip here soon.


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## Arrow3

Worked the bird dogs again this past weekend and got in another coon hunt.


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## Buford_Dawg

Brandon, my buddy Bubba may be calling you about a coon hunt.  FYI.....  He had lost your number and I gave it to him earlier this week.


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## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> Brandon, my buddy Bubba may be calling you about a coon hunt.  FYI.....  He had lost your number and I gave it to him earlier this week.


That's fine.  I like ole Bubba and Blake.  I'm not sure if I'll have any free weekend time this close to turkey season though.


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## Todd E

A little predator control.........


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## Triple C

Todd E said:


> Set out a new trap and on the second night............the door fell shut. View attachment 959274


Todd - You ever start a trapping biz there’s a high likelihood I’d be a customer.


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## Arrow3

I broke the new AR in right this morning.  Walked up on 6 and none lived to tell about it. ?


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## Buford_Dawg

Well finally got back down to OC and had a outstanding end of season rabbit hunt with fellow member Triple C and several other fine persons whom I known for years.  Races were just terrific, one of the best rabbit hunts I have ever got the chance to participate on.  Weather was a little damp on us, but that didn't stop us from having alot of fun.  Too bad small game season and deer season seem to conflict now that deer season is extended.  Really cuts into the rabbit hunters time in the field.


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## Triple C

BD...That was one fine rabbit hunt with awesome races!  Fine set of beagles that never lost a rabbit.


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## jbird1

Nice work!


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## Triple C

Buford_Dawg said:


> Well finally got back down to OC and had a outstanding end of season rabbit hunt with fellow member Triple C and several other fine persons whom I known for years.  Races were just terrific, one of the best rabbit hunts I have ever got the chance to participate on.  Weather was a little damp on us, but that didn't stop us from having alot of fun.  Too bad small game season and deer season seem to conflict now that deer season is extended.  Really cuts into the rabbit hunters time in the field.
> 
> View attachment 960156


Somebody start a petition to bring back the December break and end deer season Jan 1st in the northern zone.  Personally, I much preferred to old season.  #oldschool


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## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> Well finally got back down to OC and had a outstanding end of season rabbit hunt with fellow member Triple C and several other fine persons whom I known for years.  Races were just terrific, one of the best rabbit hunts I have ever got the chance to participate on.  Weather was a little damp on us, but that didn't stop us from having alot of fun.  Too bad small game season and deer season seem to conflict now that deer season is extended.  Really cuts into the rabbit hunters time in the field.
> 
> View attachment 960156


Dag gum . My invite must have got lost in the mail ????

Fine rabbit hunt gentlemen.  Glad yall could close out the season on such a good note!!


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## Buford_Dawg

One less Yote in OC.  My son took this Sunday evening, shortly after dark, with his .223 AR and a Foxpro rabbit in distress call.


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## Arrow3

Few more dead pigs in OC. Dang things are everywhere! That boar I shot 2nd took 2 to the mid section and still ran off. Hope yall enjoy the video.


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## jbird1

Nice stalk...thanks for sharing!


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## Todd E

If there is such a thing........thats a pretty yote, BD. I hope he is getting it mounted. 

Light em up, Brandon. Cool stalking.


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## Arrow3

Todd , you've got  to have  perfected cleaning hogs by now!  Another nice one!


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## Todd E

Arrow3 said:


> Todd , you've got  to have  perfected cleaning hogs by now!  Another nice one!



I feel like I could do it with my eyes closed, now. As long as someone hung it up for me. LoL


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## Arrow3

Got another video uploaded.  I need to step up my ammo to a better hunting round .


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## Buford_Dawg

Brandon, try the Hornady 55 grain Spire points.  About 25.00 for a box of 50 and they work terrific.  Excellent hog/deer/coyote soft point round at a great price - https://www.academy.com/shop/pdp/hornady-223-remington-55-grain-ammunition


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## Arrow3

Thanks Neal. I'll pick some of those up.


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## jbird1

Lol...those videos never get old!  Biggest thing I guess is to make sure you stay pointed down range after you're done slinging lead.  You don't want to miss footage of the aftermath.  Good stuff.


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## Arrow3

jbird1 said:


> Lol...those videos never get old!  Biggest thing I guess is to make sure you stay pointed down range after you're done slinging lead.  You don't want to miss footage of the aftermath.  Good stuff.


Definitely.  It's hard not to pick the gun up and look around . Wish I would have had the camera rolling when I killed 6 at one time.


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## jbird1

Arrow3 said:


> Definitely.  It's hard not to pick the gun up and look around . Wish I would have had the camera rolling when I killed 6 at one time.



What a cool gizmo.  I probably wouldn't be technical enough to take it from field to computer.  My young guns could probably figure it out though.  Keep layin' em down.


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## transfixer

If you're using 55gr pills currently,   try some of the heavier loads available,   for hunting with a .223/5.56 I prefer something in the 62-69 gr range,  Winchester makes some 64gr loads sold as Hog/predator I believe,   you're putting a dent in them though !    I picked up a knock off Go-Pro a while back,  if it will quit raining on the weekends I'm going to head back up to our lease and try to find some pork myself .


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## Todd E

A3, thats why I ditched my AR. Even shooting Win Razorbacks in 64GR, I just wasn't getting the boom flops. If I remotely thought of another, it would have to be an AR10. 
Remington makes some called Hog Jammers. You've got a nice rig and the TCAM is sweet. Keep stacking em.


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## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> A3, thats why I ditched my AR. Even shooting Win Razorbacks in 64GR, I just wasn't getting the boom flops. If I remotely thought of another, it would have to be an AR10.
> Remington makes some called Hog Jammers. You've got a nice rig and the TCAM is sweet. Keep stacking em.


Thanks Todd. Between me, you, and Jason Thaxton maybe we can knock a dent in these jokers . ( in reality,  they are reproducing faster then we can kill them )


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## Triple C

You guys keep shooting those vermits!  We doing all we can on our place but I'm convinced without trapping on a broad scale, population control is difficult to obtain.  BTW...any of you guys trapping using he Circle 6 traps?


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## Todd E

Triple C said:


> You guys keep shooting those vermits!  We doing all we can on our place but I'm convinced without trapping on a broad scale, population control is difficult to obtain.  BTW...any of you guys trapping using he Circle 6 traps?



Ive never heard of it. Fixing to google it. 
The one I looked at and researched is the Bull Creek Game Changer JR. Neat setup on trailer. Portable. Cell phone triggered. Comes in around $7k. Nearest retailer is in TN. 
Have a friend in midwest. WRD offers help for nuisance hog control. They came in and set one up. First or second night set.......they triggered it and slammed it shut on 30 plus hogs. Thats how you put a dent in em. Catch the whole sounder and the trailing boars.


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## Todd E

Triple C ...... after consulting Google thinking I was looking for a brand trap ... are you referring to the figure 6 homemade assembly with t posts and hog panels ? If so, lots of folks do those. Even on a small scale with not many panels. They work. 

Definitely keep a cell cam on a trap in order to know what's going on.


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## transfixer

Todd E said:


> Triple C ...... after consulting Google thinking I was looking for a brand trap ... are you referring to the figure 6 homemade assembly with t posts and hog panels ? If so, lots of folks do those. Even on a small scale with not many panels. They work.
> 
> Definitely keep a cell cam on a trap in order to know what's going on.




   I'm pretty sure that's what he was talking about,  I'd like to build one on our lease this spring,  I'll leave the panel propped open for a couple weeks to get them used to it,, and only close it when I go up on Friday evening to stay the weekend. I've just got to get one of the other guys to help me with it.  Shouldn't be too hard to drive those t-posts in the ground with all this rain we keep getting !


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## Triple C

Todd E said:


> Triple C ...... after consulting Google thinking I was looking for a brand trap ... are you referring to the figure 6 homemade assembly with t posts and hog panels ? If so, lots of folks do those. Even on a small scale with not many panels. They work.
> 
> Definitely keep a cell cam on a trap in order to know what's going on.


Yessir...That's exactly what I'm talking about.


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## Arrow3

This one and a small one definitely died this morning.  Possibly more as me and a buddy were letting them fly ???


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## Triple C

Son decided to put 30ft diameter hog exclusion pens around feeder.  Hog panels n t posts.  We’ll see how they work.


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## Arrow3




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## Buford_Dawg

CCC, that looks terrific, I have seen a hog over there though they may bust thru that fence, I think one of our members killed him back in season, but if not, he may damage that fence


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## Triple C

Buford_Dawg said:


> CCC, that looks terrific, I have seen a hog over there though they may bust thru that fence, I think one of our members killed him back in season, but if not, he may damage that fence



Anxious to see what happens with these.  Got design from one of the TX Universities that posted a how-to video on hog exclusion corrals.  That's welded 34" hog panels so it's gonna take a bruiser to damage one of those panels.  Supposedly, the round design is much more damage resistant that than a square pen.  I'll post pics after we get a camera on a couple of em.


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## Triple C

Arrow3 said:


>



Luv these hog killing videos!  Between you and Todd, we may see a drop in pig population.  You guys are getting it done!


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## Steven037

We have a problem. Trapping and hunting isn’t doing enough.


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## Todd E

Steven037 said:


> We have a problem. Trapping and hunting isn’t doing enough.




I wish I could get the pigs to come out in the day like that.


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## Steven037

I wish I could get them to disappear all together. Don’t think that’s happening. Lots of daylight pictures though.


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## fredw

I pulled two feeders last week along with SD cards from cams on those feeders and also cams on three food plots.  Several thousands pics from the five cameras and only one pic of a hog.


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## Arrow3

I want this one.


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## Triple C

fredw said:


> I pulled two feeders last week along with SD cards from cams on those feeders and also cams on three food plots.  Several thousands pics from the five cameras and only one pic of a hog.


Count your blessings while you can.  They will eventually be there in mass.


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## fredw

Triple C said:


> Count your blessings while you can.  They will eventually be there in mass.


I know.  We've had them and we've killed some of them.  Neighboring properties on both sides had hog doggers out two weeks ago to catch and kill pigs.  

Meanwhile, we didn't see any during deer season and, as I shared in my earlier post, they didn't show on the five trail cams I had running.


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## Todd E

Arrow3 said:


> I want this one.View attachment 961288



Is that a gilt? I really can't identify a male organ hanging down. 
Be a great one to take to The Shed.


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## Todd E

Steven037 said:


> I wish I could get them to disappear all together. Don’t think that’s happening. Lots of daylight pictures though.




I've pressured these enough now that they are pretty much nocturnal. I used to be able to see several in the evenings before dark.


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## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> Is that a gilt? I really can't identify a male organ hanging down.
> Be a great one to take to The Shed.


I don't see one either.


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## Todd E

Arrow3 said:


> I don't see one either.




Compared to the other pigs, if it is a she....she may just be barren. She definitely looks older. No *********** visible. No teets visible. Be a fine one to eat !!!


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## Steven037

Todd E said:


> I've pressured these enough now that they are pretty much nocturnal. I used to be able to see several in the evenings before dark.


Ours honestly see very little pressure and have plenty to eat and hide in.


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## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> Compared to the other pigs, if it is a she....she may just be barren. She definitely looks older. No *********** visible. No teets visible. Be a fine one to eat !!!


I finished off the jalapeno cheddar sausage last night.  She ought to make a pile of it!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Where do you get that sausage Brandon? Been taking ours to Firetower and Greg's in Danielsville, both do great jobs IMO.


----------



## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> Where do you get that sausage Brandon? Been taking ours to Firetower and Greg's in Danielsville, both do great jobs IMO.


Todd brought me some by the other day that he got done at the meat shed in eatonton.  It was great but you better like spicy ...?


----------



## Todd E

*********

If any of you guys like speciality stuff made out of hogs and deer.......The Meat Shed in Eatonton is the best. It's the only place I go now. 

Meatloaf, cleanest pure ground deer around, cube steak that cuts with a fork, backstrap magic marinated straps and loins, jalapeño cheese sausage, regular sausage, bulk or breakfast, habanero mango brats, etc. No place around here can touch their processing.  Feeling froggy......ask for some Trinity brats. Feel the burn all the way down. LoL


----------



## Todd E

Steven037 said:


> Ours honestly see very little pressure and have plenty to eat and hide in.



I'd be wearing them jokers out.


----------



## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> *********
> 
> If any of you guys like speciality stuff made out of hogs and deer.......The Meat Shed in Eatonton is the best. It's the only place I go now.
> 
> Meatloaf, cleanest pure ground deer around, cube steak that cuts with a fork, backstrap magic marinated straps and loins, jalapeño cheese sausage, regular sausage, bulk or breakfast, habanero mango brats, etc. No place around here can touch their processing.  Feeling froggy......ask for some Trinity brats. Feel the burn all the way down. LoL


I'm definitely gonna take them one after your recommendations and samples ?


----------



## revans4661

Todd E said:


> Compared to the other pigs, if it is a she....she may just be barren. She definitely looks older. No *********** visible. No teets visible. Be a fine one to eat !!!


Maybe it's a he that " identifies " as a she...


----------



## Arrow3

Any of you guys taking a child to the turkey woods this weekend?
 Me and my buddy Chad are taking his 9 year old daughter.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Arrow3 said:


> Any of you guys taking a child to the turkey woods this weekend?
> Me and my buddy Chad are taking his 9 year old daughter.



I wish, but my 2 son's have outgrown it.  We certainly had great times when I could take them.  Old Paintbrush bird.  Franchi 20 guage with Heavy 7's.  This was the last child weekend hunt we got to participate on.  Back in 2015.  Good luck Brandon this weekend.


----------



## jbird1

My three have baseball, golf, swimming tournaments/meets.  My wife and I are already playing zone coverage for these events....chasing longbeards before sports entered the equation is a distant memory at this point in our lives.  It will come full circle at some point.  Good luck to all those who can get after 'em this weekend and looking forward to the report!


----------



## Arrow3

My plans have changed a bit . My friend that has the daughter has had a scheduling conflict for in the morning.  

So now I'm going with a guy that mobility impaired.  Maybe we'll get him one.


----------



## fredw

For those using (or planning to use) The Meat Shed for your hog processing.....

They announced a closing for renovation for a couple of months.  From Facebook:

_Hey y’all we will he shutting down our processing shop for renovations and maintenance on March 31 we will be accepting hogs for processing until March 27. We will reopen for processing on June 1. Our retail store will remain open for our normal operating hours! _

If you need an alternative check out Big Buck Deer Processing in Eatonton.  Good folks, good work.


----------



## Arrow3

Success! I struck this gobbler mid morning yesterday and my buddy Keith had his 2nd Turkey ever. His wreck changed his life 5 years ago but his love for the outdoors pushes himself to still hunt and fish as much as he can physically can. It's a hunt neither of us will ever forget.


----------



## Triple C

Not sure it can get any better than that Brandon!  Hat's off to both of you!


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

GREAT stuff right there B!


----------



## Arrow3

I was back at it today ?


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Great stuff Brandon.  I went down early Saturday AM and listened for gobbling but heard nothing.  The quarry right beside us decided to fire up about 15 minutes after light, so it was difficult to hear my self think, much less hear a turkey gobble.


----------



## Triple C

Buford_Dawg said:


> Great stuff Brandon.  I went down early Saturday AM and listened for gobbling but heard nothing.  The quarry right beside us decided to fire up about 15 minutes after light, so it was difficult to hear my self think, much less hear a turkey gobble.


Saw your truck parked across the rd so I went out on front porch to listen for gobblers.  Just bout gobbling time...quarry went in to full force mode. Seems they only run on Saturdays.  I don't recall ever hearing them during the week.


----------



## Todd E

I haven't heard a single gobble in OC. I haven't seen any fresh pig sign lately, either. 
Talk about being bored...........lol


----------



## fredw

I haven't heard any birds either.

Lease is scheduled for a control burn.  Fire breaks were plowed last week.  We're expecting it to happen any day now.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Good luck to everyone turkey hunting this weekend.  Turkeys continue to be scarce, but there are a few small pockets in OC that are holding some birds.  Not like in the past, but a few.  I plan on being down and hunting or at least enjoying camp with some friends.  I think one of my son's is gonna join me, heck I doubt I carry a gun, let him do the shooting if fortunate to hear and see one.  May kill a pig if one of them walks up on our set.


----------



## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> I haven't heard a single gobble in OC. I haven't seen any fresh pig sign lately, either.
> Talk about being bored...........lol


You've killed all the pigs ???


----------



## Todd E

Arrow3 said:


> You've killed all the pigs ???



I hope not. I'm going to go listen in the morning. Then I will stop and see if any hogs have visited my cams. I know the trap hasn't had a pig visit in almost two weeks.


----------



## Todd E

No gobbling. No hog sign. Y'all have a fun and safe weekend.


----------



## Steven037

Oh they’re  still around.


----------



## DAVE

I am not an expert by no means but I suspect a large portion of your turkey hatches are in the stomachs of those pigs. What do the biologist say about that?


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Heard some pretty decent gobbling yesterday. Sounded like maybe 3 different birds. Sealed the deal on this one around 9am


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Today (Sunday) was a little different than yesterday. Heard at least 6 birds and one was ON FIRE! bet he gobbled 200 times on the roost. but only gobbled maybe 5 times once he hit the ground so I went after another bird i had heard on the roost that I kinda figured I knew where he was. There we're 2 gobbling when I got there and sealed the deal on this one around 8:45


----------



## Todd E

You had a great weekend, A2H. Congrats.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Thanks Todd!


----------



## Todd E

ADDICTED2HUNTIN said:


> Thanks Todd!




You're welcome. 
I had an awesome opening morning. It wasn't OC, so I will post pix in TT.


----------



## jbird1

Yep....clear, cool, calm....perfect conditions!!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Beautiful weekend to be in the woods, Congrats to those who had some luck.  Heard zero birds on Saturday AM.  Heard several birds on Sunday AM on a different property, had several close, just couldn't seal the deal.  It was just great being back down in OC for a weekend.  Gonna try it a couple more weekends, then start fishing trout streams in the mountains and some bass on Lanier.


----------



## Todd E

Buford_Dawg said:


> Gonna try it a couple more weekends, then start fishing trout streams in the mountains and some bass on Lanier.



Good luck to ya. Let us know when you get him.


----------



## Triple C

Congrats A2H on one heck of a weekend!  Hope to be down this weekend.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Thanks triple!!Gonna go back out Thursday and see if I can seal the deal on #3!


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Busted the beak in #3 about 9:30 this morning. Had a buddy with me so we dropped my bird and gun off at the truck and struck out looking for one that wanted to play for him. Was standing on another ones head at 10:30! Great morning to be in the woods!View attachment 963753View attachment 963753View attachment 963754View attachment 963755


----------



## Arrow3

Congratulations Jason. Heck of a season in less then a weeks time. 

I may need some pointers ?


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Thanks Brandon! I'm just extremely blessed to have the place I have to hunt!


----------



## jbird1

It doesn't get much better than that, A2H....Congrats!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

WTG Addicted....  You must have some real fine turkey hunting land.  Glad to see OC hunters having success.  I know of another OC hunter who got one this AM in OC.  Wish I had been in the woods


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

thanks DAWG! it was an extra special day for sure!


----------



## Todd E

Great season, A2H. I had a buddy in OC this morning who tagged one. He said the woods were on fire. 

Born to hunt, forced to work. Glad y'all had a successful day.


----------



## Todd E

After him not wanting to play this morning....I drove off on him, ate, and took a nap. 
When I returned, I was determined not to play fair. Avian X feeder hen, funky chicken, and a fan. Only called once. He showed up an hour later. No.2 down.


----------



## Todd E

App went off just a while ago.........I now have a trap full of pigs. LoL


----------



## transfixer

Todd E said:


> App went off just a while ago.........I now have a trap full of pigs. LoL



    You da man !    you got it going on up there !  I wish I didn't live so far away from Oglethorpe co,


----------



## Todd E

transfixer said:


> I wish I didn't live so far away from Oglethorpe co,




Thats what I say about my hunting spots in Vidalia, transfixer.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Way to go todd!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

WTG Todd, we hunted yesterday AM and got on several birds, close again but could not seal the deal.  One more weekend and I think I will turn to trout fishing, LOL


----------



## Triple C

Todd - That's one great pic!  Congrats.  Son cam down this morn and we located one roosting on edge of swamp.  Got set up and the bottom fell out.  Called it a day.


----------



## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> Found a hot on the limb OC bird this morning. He pitched and headed away. Had some hens and a jake fire up between he and I. He stayed his course......away.
> 
> Beautiful morning.
> 
> Look A3...................hogs. LoLView attachment 963986


Well lookie there lol


----------



## Arrow3

Scouted this bird yesterday and had great idea he'd still be there this morning.  My buddy Chad , who can't hunt but just a few times this season due to his sons baseball team called me last night and said he could go this morning.  I told Chad we'd go after this bird and he'd be the shooter. I wanted him to get him and bird and I have plenty of time to hunt. We were rushed with the weather but the big boy strutted right to us off the limb. He was a stud too. 24lbs, 10 1/2 inch beard and 1 3/8ths spurs. Fun hunt with a good friend.


----------



## Todd E

Thats an awesome hunt, A3. Mighty fine to share a true friendship like that. 
Great calling. Great shooting. Spurs that dreams are made of. Some poundage, too.


----------



## Todd E

BDawg and TripleC.......don't give up. Hang in there.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

That's awesome Brandon!


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Kill all them destructive things Todd!


----------



## Arrow3

The turkey woods were silent this morning.  I walked 4.3 miles and all I heard was a whisper gobble way across the property line.


----------



## Todd E

OC showing 55 total checked so far. 46 over 6".


----------



## Arrow3

Big girl never knew what hit her. To put in perspective,  I'm 6'2 and over 300lbs.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

WTG Brandon, that is one thing I have never done and that is call up a coyote while turkey hunting with turkey call.  I have called in Bobcats and Foxes, several times each, but no Yotes.  I would just as soon knock down a Yote as a turkey, well maybe, LOL....


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Taking my best bud down in the AM to try and get him a bird. I'll let y'all know how it goes!


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Todd E said:


> OC showing 55 total checked so far. 46 over 6".[/QUOTE
> 
> Cool to think I've seen 10% of the birds over 6" die!


----------



## Todd E

I know of:
you(3)
me(1)
acquaintance(2)
acquaintance(2)
A3/buddy(1)


----------



## Todd E

ADDICTED2HUNTIN said:


> Taking my best bud down in the AM to try and get him a bird. I'll let y'all know how it goes!



I'm going back to the dirt road deck first thing. 
Then I'm going to pull two hogs outta trap. 
I'm not expecting much on the turkey hunt. But, only way to know is to be there.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Well my buddy connected on one this morning in OC. We heard 4 on the limb and this one kept going after fly down. He connected at around 8:40 this morning!


----------



## Todd E

That' wonderful, A2H. 

One replaced the deceased bird from last Saturday. He was hot. Only problem, a hen got between us. Then, a utv. 

Removed two hogs from trap. 

Try again. Persistence.


----------



## Arrow3

I didnt shoot them but wanted to see how close I could get. Lucky jokers . If I would have had my AR it wouldn't have worked out good for them.


----------



## Todd E

That's a great pig stalk right there. I'd lit that brindle pig up with some no.5s.


----------



## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> That's a great pig stalk right there. I'd lit that brindle pig up with some no.5s.


I'm low on turkey shells and I goto Kentucky soon. Couldn't waste my dynamite sticks on them ole hogs. ???

I carry some "hog" shells normally but I hat ditched the vest because i had gotten hot.


----------



## jbird1

Was able to sneak away yesterday and try and call one in for my 16 yr old due to an early return from Spring Break trip....one shot only kinda deal.  The woods were silent and we burned up some shoe leather (maybe 3-4 miles of hilly terrain.)  The woods were pretty with some fresh redbud and honeysuckle blooms littering the ground from the rain.  We didn't find much turkey sign but did find what seemed to be some bear sign???  Has anyone seen any bears in OC?  There were 2 holes dug in the ground going diagonally towards a center point roughly the size of a bear paw...almost like they were after a rodent.  They were apporx. 1.5-2 2ft deep.  I could make out 4 claw markings that did not splay with 1.5 inch between individual claws marks.  These were not dog prints and the amount of hardpack earth moved was impressive.  Sign was relatively fresh.  Anyway, true to crazy bird form, as we were coming back into camp, there were several hens feeding in front of an old camper that scattered. Miles walked and they were hanging out in camp!  I just had to shake my head and laugh.  I have found a nest in camp before as well so they must feel secure there.  These birds yesterday were scratching under water oaks.  Good luck to everyone who gets to keep chasin' 'em!


----------



## Todd E

That same ol gobbling freak gobbled 100 times this morning. I was leaned into tree at 615am. I finally got him in front of me, all blowed up, at HIGH NOON. 5 hours worth of trying to seduce him. 

I missed. LoL. I dad gum missed him. 

In eighteen minutes, he was right back gobbling. SMH
#latelunchumblepie


----------



## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> That same ol gobbling freak gobbled 100 times this morning. I was leaned into tree at 615am. I finally got him in front of me, all blowed up, at HIGH NOON. 5 hours worth of trying to seduce him.
> 
> I missed. LoL. I dad gum missed him.
> 
> In eighteen minutes, he was right back gobbling. SMH
> #latelunchumblepie


Man that hurts I know, been there. At least he went back to gobbling. You'll get him!


----------



## Triple C

jbird1 said:


> Was able to sneak away yesterday and try and call one in for my 16 yr old due to an early return from Spring Break trip....one shot only kinda deal.  The woods were silent and we burned up some shoe leather (maybe 3-4 miles of hilly terrain.)  The woods were pretty with some fresh redbud and honeysuckle blooms littering the ground from the rain.  We didn't find much turkey sign but did find what seemed to be some bear sign???  Has anyone seen any bears in OC?  There were 2 holes dug in the ground going diagonally towards a center point roughly the size of a bear paw...almost like they were after a rodent.  They were apporx. 1.5-2 2ft deep.  I could make out 4 claw markings that did not splay with 1.5 inch between individual claws marks.  These were not dog prints and the amount of hardpack earth moved was impressive.  Sign was relatively fresh.  Anyway, true to crazy bird form, as we were coming back into camp, there were several hens feeding in front of an old camper that scattered. Miles walked and they were hanging out in camp!  I just had to shake my head and laugh.  I have found a nest in camp before as well so they must feel secure there.  These birds yesterday were scratching under water oaks.  Good luck to everyone who gets to keep chasin' 'em!



Anybody run across any bears please post.  Kind of selfish on my part but not a big fan of bears moving in.  Hate to see what's gonna happen to our fruit trees if n when bears show up.

Congrats to all you boys getting it done on the long beards this year!  And Brandon, your videos are the real deal!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

I am about done with the birds.  Hunted hard Friday afternoon at one spot and then hit another Saturday AM.  Heard a couple on the AM hunt off the property along ways.  I think we are gonna plant some summer plots in a couple weeks and then start fishing.  I generally have better luck with the rod and reel this time of year.


----------



## jbird1

Triple C said:


> Anybody run across any bears please post.  Kind of selfish on my part but not a big fan of bears moving in.  Hate to see what's gonna happen to our fruit trees if n when bears show up.



I'm no bear expert by any means but I'm fairly certain that young males can disperse this time of year and move through on occasion.  I don't believe we're in any danger of breeding population any time soon.  This dig site was on top of a ridge in mixed timber.  To get through that ground and those root systems took some real power....brute force kinda power only something like a bear could mange.  I snapped a couple of pics but am not puter savy enough to post.  I got lucky with the avatar pic when I got that to post way back when.  I had 2 cameras in the vicinity of that sign but the batteries died in January.  It would have been nice to get a mugshot of ol smokey!


----------



## Todd E

Bears have moved through here while dispersing. I don't feel there is anything to worry about. But, if they don't get them under control in NGA.....more will move in. My cousins in HabCo, hate the things.


----------



## Todd E

Arrow3 said:


> Man that hurts I know, been there. At least he went back to gobbling. You'll get him!



6 hours in lounger on am hunt. 4 hours in evening. I had a red head in front of me(at same location) out of range. He came in at 710pm. I had went solely with the trumpet call every thirty minutes. He came in nervous as all get out. Surveying. Alert. Slowly fanned him and he ran. LoL.

Oh well. Fun day.


----------



## transfixer

Todd E said:


> Bears have moved through here while dispersing. I don't feel there is anything to worry about. But, if they don't get them under control in NGA.....more will move in. My cousins in HabCo, hate the things.



 Would make for an interesting video if one of them were to stumble into your hog trap  !


----------



## Arrow3

This fellow just popped up out of the pine straw about 2 feet from my boot yesterday morning when I was set up. I decided to mess with him since the turkeys weren't cooperative...


----------



## revans4661

I saw a bear 2 yrs ago. It was chasing a small doe. Shocked me! I am by the quarry on Turner Hill rd. My last turkey hunt was an exciting one to say the least. I was blind calling, could hear some noise but far away. I was sitting on the ground in the pines. I shifted my position and turned my head and all heck broke loose! 3 Tom's had snuck up right behind me and when I moved they went nuts! I'm not sure who was more shocked by the encounter. They were not 10 yards away. 2 flew over my shoulder and one decided to run. I just reacted and laid him down. I had to sit there for a few and let the experience sink in...


----------



## Buford_Dawg

revans4661 said:


> I saw a bear 2 yrs ago. It was chasing a small doe. Shocked me! I am by the quarry on Turner Hill rd. My last turkey hunt was an exciting one to say the least. I was blind calling, could hear some noise but far away. I was sitting on the ground in the pines. I shifted my position and turned my head and all heck broke loose! 3 Tom's had snuck up right behind me and when I moved they went nuts! I'm not sure who was more shocked by the encounter. They were not 10 yards away. 2 flew over my shoulder and one decided to run. I just reacted and laid him down. I had to sit there for a few and let the experience sink in...



Congrats again on the turkey Rick.  Been close a couple times, just not close enough.


----------



## Todd E

All I can say is look out OC pigs. 
My turkey limit is complete. 

Pigs beware.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Congrats Todd, did you finish with a OC bird or from another county? It has been a great turkey season for you.


----------



## Todd E

Buford_Dawg said:


> Congrats Todd, did you finish with a OC bird or from another county? It has been a great turkey season for you.



No.3 came from another county. Bittersweet as I wanted the OC bird bad.


----------



## Triple C

Nothing better than a full moon rising over the pines in OC.  Wishing all u guys a blessed Easter weekend!


----------



## Arrow3

Back home tonight from Kentucky.  Hunting, camping, eating way to much and there may have been an alcoholic beverage or 2 consumed in our camp ?

Unfortunately tag sandwiches don't taste very good. I was close a time or 2 but those birds are no joke on Land between the lakes.   Coulda,  woulda, shouldas  don't count. 

My buddy Haven did kill a nice fat 2 year old. 

I think for next years trip we are gonna do a hunt for Rios somewhere.


----------



## Todd E

Arrow3 said:


> I think for next years trip we are gonna do a hunt for Rios somewhere.



I'm torn. Been considering Rios, but want to go for an Osceola. The place I wanted to go with a buddy is booked for 2020 and 2021. Their hunters pretty much experience 100% success. I've reached out to another place. FL is more close than TX, I think. LoL


----------



## Arrow3

We are looking more into the public land route unless one of my contacts out west can hook me up.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Got outsmarted this morning with a buddy (same guy that I called the bird up for on the day I killed my 3rd bird) he gobbled at 6:20am and didn't fly down until 8:25am across the creek from us. Smart ol rascal! Heard another bird a little bit off. If we would have known this one was gonna be so difficult we could have went after the other one, non the less we had a good time and it was good hearing a bird gobble!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Hunted both AM's this weekend, heard 2 birds off the property on Saturday, they gobbled good, but nothing on Sunday.  Was a great weekend to be hunting.  We doing some summer foodplots this coming weekend on my SC club, so gonna be back down helping the other members do that.


----------



## Todd E

Saturday week and this past Saturday.......sat at the Gobbling Freak location. Zero gobbling. No activity. Guess he may have passed over the rainbow bridge. GWs have really been out this past weekend.


----------



## Todd E

And a PSA for you out of towners.......don't speed in OC. 
The whole county. LoL. New sheriff. Deputies doing their jobs now.


----------



## Triple C

Todd E said:


> And a PSA for you out of towners.......don't speed in OC.
> The whole county. LoL. New sheriff. Deputies doing their jobs now.


Yep!  Got pulled over on Wolfskin.  Never noticed that Wolfskin is 45 mph speed limit all the way to county line.  I know now. These days set my cruise control to 52.  Son got a ticket on 77N.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Yes Todd, they sit at the intersection at Sandy Cross store frequently, speed limit drops to 35 suddenly, perfect place to get a ticket.


----------



## transfixer

Thanks for the heads up about the sheriff's dept,  life's been getting in my way and I haven't been up to the lease since Jan,     I guess the county commissioners are on the Sheriff to raise some revenue,  I hate to hear that,  its never good when they devote more time to writing speeding tickets instead of patrolling areas known for crime and drug use.  I quit driving through Watkinsville years ago because Sheriff Berry was determined to have his guys write as many tickets as they could over in that area.  Can't quit driving through Oglethorpe though,


----------



## Triple C

There's a fine line between patrolling for aggressive driving/speeding and running what's viewed as a speed trap.  Just my honest .02 cents worth but feel like they are getting close to the speed trap arena.  Lots and lots of tix being written in OC.  I'm just a weekender there so perhaps Todd, Brandon or other locals can weigh in with their thoughts.  I once paid little attention to my speed on Hwy 77 or Wolfskin Rd.  I do now.  Perhaps that's not a bad thing.  I remember times when turning right off of Hwy 77 on to Hwy 78 heading toward Lexington was nerve racking if a vehicle came barreling over the hill at 70 in a 45.  Think folks have certainly got the message.  I have.


----------



## Triple C

BTW...Got a pic from son today on his 1st OC bird this year from the farm.  I'll post a pic later.


----------



## transfixer

Triple C said:


> There's a fine line between patrolling for aggressive driving/speeding and running what's viewed as a speed trap.  Just my honest .02 cents worth but feel like they are getting close to the speed trap arena.  Lots and lots of tix being written in OC.  I'm just a weekender there so perhaps Todd, Brandon or other locals can weigh in with their thoughts.  I once paid little attention to my speed on Hwy 77 or Wolfskin Rd.  I do now.  Perhaps that's not a bad thing.  I remember times when turning right off of Hwy 77 on to Hwy 78 heading toward Lexington was nerve racking if a vehicle came barreling over the hill at 70 in a 45.  Think folks have certainly got the message.  I have.



     I imagine they'll be racking up this fall,  when all the Dawg fans come down 78 from out South Carolina way,   its funny how some county Sheriffs depts sit back and target speeders , and others don't,  my stepson works for a metro county sheriff's dept, and when he was in the uniform patrol division they were not encouraged to write speeding tickets,  unless it was a blatant situation, they didn't sit and wait on speeders,  they patrolled areas known for crime and drug traffic, most all of his traffic stops were dui or expired tag or license,  many of which ended up with arrests for possession with intent to distribute drugs,  his commanders didn't want a bunch of paperwork for minor speeding offenses.


----------



## Todd E

OC used to be a free for all. Drive however you wanted and hope you didn't meet a GSP. It's a whole new gig now.


----------



## Arrow3

Triple C said:


> There's a fine line between patrolling for aggressive driving/speeding and running what's viewed as a speed trap.  Just my honest .02 cents worth but feel like they are getting close to the speed trap arena.  Lots and lots of tix being written in OC.  I'm just a weekender there so perhaps Todd, Brandon or other locals can weigh in with their thoughts.  I once paid little attention to my speed on Hwy 77 or Wolfskin Rd.  I do now.  Perhaps that's not a bad thing.  I remember times when turning right off of Hwy 77 on to Hwy 78 heading toward Lexington was nerve racking if a vehicle came barreling over the hill at 70 in a 45.  Think folks have certainly got the message.  I have.


Actually I'm a big supporter of our sheriff.  He's cleaning the county up in my opinion.  As far as speeding goes he swears he has instructed his deputies not to write a speeding ticket unless you are traveling more then 15 mph over the speed limit. That's pretty fair if you ask me.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Bitter sweet ending to the season today! I had a feeling the bird that had outsmarted me on a few hunts this year was one I have had pics of for 2 years. I solely hunted this bird last year and it cost me! This year I didn't focus as much on him but still wanted to see him get his beak crushed, well this morning my buddy crushed him! Beautiful OC bird. 1 9/16" spur (the other one was broken)


----------



## Triple C

Arrow3 said:


> Actually I'm a big supporter of our sheriff.  He's cleaning the county up in my opinion.  As far as speeding goes he swears he has instructed his deputies not to write a speeding ticket unless you are traveling more then 15 mph over the speed limit. That's pretty fair if you ask me.



Yep.  I've just become much more conscious of my speed these days.  Came home this morning and set me cruise to 50 on Wolfskin.  2 years ago I never even paid it any attention.


----------



## Todd E

Turkey hunted Kentucky from Wednesday afternoon through Sunday am. This trip made me appreciate OC birds and SGA birds even more. Whew. Had a great time on the trip with a long time friend. Rained doggone near everyday. First time I've had to cross a swollen.. swift.. creek, as only access to a spot. Water up to our privies. Fighting the current using a stick for support. Pretty stupid move, but turkey hunting is a disease. Pic shows normal stage while scouting. First hunt attempt, found it bank to bank and roaring. Way to deep to even consider. This morning, we just went for broke. Walked 125 yards up creek from ford. Second pic is an actual county dirt road that fords a creek twice and then runs up the bed for a spell.


----------



## frdstang90

Just a FYI.  Got a call from a fellow club member this afternoon you never want to get.  Sometime in the last couple weeks our club was broken in to and wiped out.  I had been down 2 1/2 weeks ago which was first time since December and had a camera that was on a trail crossing main road through our property that was missing. Guess it had pictures of perpetrators scoping our place out.  If anyone hears of a lot of hunting stuff for sale around Oglethorpe pm me or Sheriff’s please.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Dang, hate to hear that Stang90, had the same call about 5 years ago from our neighbor about our camp.  Turned out to be MethHeads, OC sheriff caught them several weeks later, we never did recover any of our stuff though, but not alot taken, just had to repair the campers that got busted up per their entry.


----------



## Triple C

Fred - Hate to hear about the thievery.  Hope they catch the low life.  Keep us updated.


----------



## frdstang90

Buford_Dawg said:


> Dang, hate to hear that Stang90, had the same call about 5 years ago from our neighbor about our camp.  Turned out to be MethHeads, OC sheriff caught them several weeks later, we never did recover any of our stuff though, but not alot taken, just had to repair the campers that got busted up per their entry.



Sounds like same thing at our camp.  Talked to one of the guys late last night and he said it looked like a bear went through his trailer.  They had loaded up not only hunting stuff but toilet paper, food, batteries and everything.  They had a lot of his stuff loaded up in plastic totes like they were coming back for more.  They found  a crowbar in the road so hopefully they can get some prints off it.  Aint nothing that makes me madder than a thief.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

What part of the county?  There was a rash in the Sandy Cross area at same time ours got hit.


----------



## frdstang90

We are on 77 South of Lexington in Stephens Community.


----------



## Arrow3

Wouldn't you like to catch these leaches? I wouldn't kill them but I'd make them think I was going to.


----------



## mscamp

I got pulled on Smithonia Rd going 61 in a 45 and my wife got pulled on Hargrove Lake Rd for going 61 in a 45. So that over 15 miles over the speed limit must be right.
I never paid attention, thought the speed limit was 55. I pay attention now, and use my cruise control. He let me go with a warning, but they ticketed my wife!!


----------



## transfixer

Maybe the Sheriff's dept needs to do a little more patrolling out around some of the deer camps ?    they might actually catch some meth head criminals if they did ?   but then that doesn't raise money for the county I suppose,,,,,


----------



## Triple C

Left the farm this morn bout 10:45 heading back home (depressing)...2 cars pulled over with blue lights flashing before I got out of Crawford.  Boys doing their job.  Set my cruise to 52 on Wolfskin and don't dare exceed 30 in downtown Crawford n Lexington. More I think about it the better I like it.  It was once a free-for-all heading into Crawford from Wolfskin.  Get in that left lane and try to get ahead of the traffic running bout 70.  No more.  I'm at speed limit before I hit the Valero station these days.  Having been a regular in OC since 2011, I'm impressed with the lack of crime in the county.  A break-in every now and then reported but not like some of the other counties. Love to see the occasional deputy easing down Arnold Caldwell Rd from time to time.


----------



## Arrow3

Yes sir  . Sheriff Gabriel definitely has his guys working the county. He's very transparent too and constantly posts charts on Facebook breaking down all the arrests that have been made. 

The previous sheriff was to lax in his job and it showed in the last election.  

The current sheriff is a fair, level headed guy and if you get pulled over and ticketed and you think it's wrong he'll be glad to listen to you. 

The speed limit restrictions are MORE then fair. There is no where in this rural county where anyone should be driving more then 15  mph over the speed limit.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

So, we had our oldest son graduate from UGA Friday, It was a action packed weekend with all the graduation ceremonies, get togethers, parties, and then top it off with Mother's day.  Obviously, didnt make it to OC this weekend 

See the thread on the campfire with pictures - http://forum.gon.com/threads/proud-mom-and-dad-weekend-son-graduates-with-honors-from-uga.943029/


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Fellow OC hunters and Friends, 

Alot of things going on with my clubs this summer (clear cutting and rule changes).  I am actively looking for additional opportunities in OC to subsidize what I have now.  If you know of anything or have openings in your clubs, please let me know.


----------



## Arrow3

I'm also in the same boat as Neal. 

I'm looking for  a specific kind of place though. Low members , big acreage,  trophy managed,  good turkey population,  not a bunch of stupid rules , and a club that's ran honest. 

I know it's hard to find. I thought I had found it with my current club but I was greatly mistaken and disappointed.  

More then likely I will need 3 or 4 spots because my friends are leaving our current club as well.


----------



## Arrow3

2019 Turkey season is gone . Here are a few Oglethorpe County birds me and my friends killed off our club. All birds were called to the gun , strutting and gobbling the whole way.

Looking forward to 2020.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Very nice Brandon!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Well, Summer is upon us.  Temps in the mid 90's for the next 2 weeks solid with no outlook of rain.  OUCH...  Gonna run down tomorrow and do some work around our camp and replenish mineral licks at my SC club and move a stand.  Gotta get it all done by about 10:00 or it will be way too hot to deal with.  Happy Memorial day to all you OC'ers, hope you have a great weekend.


----------



## Arrow3

Pulled some deer stands out of the lease im leaving yesterday and low and behold drove right up on a strutter with 2 hens. ?


----------



## transfixer

Buford_Dawg said:


> Well, Summer is upon us.  Temps in the mid 90's for the next 2 weeks solid with no outlook of rain.  OUCH...  Gonna run down tomorrow and do some work around our camp and replenish mineral licks at my SC club and move a stand.  Gotta get it all done by about 10:00 or it will be way too hot to deal with.  Happy Memorial day to all you OC'ers, hope you have a great weekend.



   I have the same plan, but I probably won't get to the lease till 10:30,  its a 2 1/2 hr drive for me, hopefully I'll be out of there by 12:30,    by the way BD it looks like we're full up on members for this year.


----------



## transfixer

Went to the lease this morning,  checked on everything, refilled one of my feeders,  pulled a cam and put up a new one.  All was good on the property,  no sign of the loggers that are supposed to thin,   I hope they don't wait till bow season to start again !  

    On the way there saw one deputy backed up in the trees before Crawford,   and after leaving the lease,  had one come in behind me somewhere on Stephens Grove church rd,  not sure where he came from,  he wasn't around when I turned off of Centerville rd.    he followed me all the way to Lexington,  much to his dismay I was at the limit or under it.    Thanks to ya'lls heads up I was looking for them,   I don't really drive fast anyway,  but usually 50 or 55,,,  in a lot of places where the limit goes from 45 to 35 rather quickly,   so I might have gotten lit up if I hadn't been looking.


----------



## Arrow3

They were really on the prowl with it being a holiday weekend


----------



## Arrow3

Looking for lease .....

Mainly looking for Oglethorpe county. Surrounding counties may be possible. 

Budget is around $1500

I also have some good friends looking too..We are looking for a certain kind of place. No bunch of stupid rules or grown men who act like spoiled kids.

A pin in system and no "picked spots" is a must.

A management system in place is a must.

A good turkey population is a must.

I and we are devoted to working the land to improve hunting for each and every member. If you kill a big buck I will be the first one there to congratulate you and help you get him out of the woods. We would like to hunt with people that will do the same when we kill one.

I hunt. Don't get upset because I know how to read sign and hunt the wind and kill a good buck when you come on Saturday morning straight out of McDonald's and see 1 button head.

I killed two 4 1/2 year old 10 pointers in 2018. First bucks I have killed in 5 years. My friends I hunt with didnt kill a buck. I tell yall this because we don't just shoot anything. We are all looking for deet 4 1/2 years old and older.

I know the kind of place I'm looking for isn't the everyday club advertised on here but I'm hoping someone here will read this that is looking specifically for guys like us.

We don't cause drama and we don't want any.

Please pm me or email me at ..
Southerntradition3@gmail.com 

Thank you for reading.


----------



## Arrow3

Good grief!!! Only in Oglethorpe Co.... ?. So, I pulled into the store just a few minutes ago and When I  was walking in to pay, I noticed one of oglethorpes finest (a Deputy Sheriff) parked on the side of the building. He was watching this woman who was smoking while pumping gas. I saw her too and was thinking this lady is crazy! But anyway, I went inside and all of a sudden I heard a commotion and I heard somebody screaming. I looked out the door and the woman's arm was on fire! She was swinging her arm and running around like crazy! I ran outside to help the Deputy who had just put the lady on the ground and was putting the fire out with his coffee!! Then, he cuffed her and threw her in the back of his Patrol car. Yes, that’s right! The lady who had just caught on fire was getting locked up. I was thinking "What kind of person smokes WHILE PUMPING GAS and thinks nothing's gonna happen?! Just dumb! So being the inquisitive person that I am, I asked the Deputy what he was charging her with. He looked me dead in the face and said, “WAVING A FIREARM!”
??????????


----------



## Todd E

Pay close attention to newly updated and posted speed limits on rural roads in OC. You may be surprised. Just a helpful reminder to drive safely in our county.


----------



## transfixer

I guess I won't be making any quick runs up to that BBQ joint in Vesta this fall ,,,, lol


----------



## Todd E

transfixer said:


> I guess I won't be making any quick runs up to that BBQ joint in Vesta this fall ,,,, lol



Increased speeds lol.  
Maybe TripC can speed up on wolfskin now.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Hey Todd, Is that some customized Pig Loader you go there?  That is pretty neat idea.  BTW, we had a huge sow hit right by our camp last week on Lexington-Carlton just above Sandy Cross, that thing must of weighted 350+.  I would have hated to see the damage to the vehicle that hit it.


----------



## Arrow3

Nice hog Todd. I wondered this week when we were texting if you had been killing any. My hog killin is over for a while anyway.


----------



## Triple C

Todd E said:


> Increased speeds lol.
> Maybe TripC can speed up on wolfskin now.


Holy Cow!!!  That's a big un!  TripC be setting his cruise on 50 these days on Wolfskin.  No more 65 for me.  One warning was enuf and at least it was a warning.  67 in a 45 on Wolfskin just after new sheriff rode into town.  Generous to have given me a warning.  Thanked him and went on my way driving much slower these days.  All good!


----------



## Triple C

Todd E said:


> Increased speeds lol.
> Maybe TripC can speed up on wolfskin now.


You knew it before I did.  Was pleasantly surprised this past Friday afternoon when I crossed into OC on Wolfskin Rd.  1st thing staring at me was a newly placed 55 speed limit sign.  Never knew it was 45 in the past until new sheriff came in to office and I found out in a hurry.  Kudos to the new sheriff for setting the speed limit to 55 on rural roads.  I'm a happy camper!!!


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Had my buck officially scored by DNR today. He grossed 160" dead even! Couldn't be happier with this buck! I really didn't think he was that big!
Not a bad buck from Oglethorpe county!


----------



## Arrow3

^ sucker was a beast . Glad I got to hold him first hand because the pictures didn't do him justice.


----------



## Triple C

We getting any rain around down that way around the Hwy 77 / Centerville Rd area?


----------



## Arrow3

Triple C said:


> We getting any rain around down that way around the Hwy 77 / Centerville Rd area?


Not much yet. Hopefully some is coming


----------



## Arrow3

Good rain now.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Been slow on the OC board recently, Summer doldrums   Meet up with ToddE several weekends back, terrific guy.  And hope to get back down that way in a week or so.  Gonna build a couple of box stands here soon to bring down to OC.  As always this time of year, just waiting on summer to breeze by, so we can get back to the fun stuff in OC in the fall.  And happy fathers dad to all your dads out there.


----------



## Triple C

Right back atcha BD and all OC fathers!  Been slow for me as well.  Son is down several times a week doing what needs to be done...mostly grass cutting this time of year.  Gonna be down for the weekend of the 4th.  Just hangin around NW ATL burbs this weekend.  Got a butt on the pellet grill and the oldest and his crew coming in this afternoon.

Once the 4th gets past us it'll be in countdown mode.  Prolly lime in mid July.


----------



## Steven037

Nice to get back out this weekend. Wasn’t near long enough. Got to shoot some toys, fish, relax, and try for a pig.  Never show up when your looking for them.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Spent most of day Saturday in OC.  Cleared alot of woods roads / trails, got some mineral licks in the ground, trail cams put out, socialized with some really good guys, sweated alot and got some red bugs, hate those little boogers.  The little things you gotta do to keep up the property for the hunt themselves.


----------



## Todd E

The things we do for our obsession.

*sweat equity*

OC was dry for some time. As of late, storms every evening.


----------



## Arrow3

I may be cheating on you guys before long... might be doing most of my hunting in Wilkes and Oconee county this year....


----------



## Triple C

Arrow3 said:


> I may be cheating on you guys before long... might be doing most of my hunting in Wilkes and Oconee county this year....


Just keep it on the QT and tell us you kilt em in Oglethorpe.  Oconee is getting like Clarke...less habitat and more private land = older bucks.  Still like me some Oglethorpe County though.


----------



## Arrow3

I've had this land for 12 plus years now.  Always holds a good many deer but very rarely a really good one.  I have 2 deer mounted that I've killed over there. My best bow kill buck and this one.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Brandon I know you are looking hard for some more OC land.  Hope you find it, but glad you have other options as well.  That is a nice buck there.  I too just got the opportunity to hunt a small tract in Banks county, just me and the boys, it is small but will be a good spot for us to hit during mid week.  It will be my Monday thru Wednesday spot.  Only 30 minutes from the house.  Will hunt OC on the long weekends as I always do.


----------



## Arrow3

May not be so hard to cheat on yall after checking my trail cam yesterday.  They sure love trophy rocks.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Happy 4th fellow OC friends. Posting from lovely Rosemary Beach this AM. Would rather be in in a deer stand in OC but sometimes you gotta get away and make the wife happy.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

It would be awfully hot sitting in a deer stand today! 
Enjoy the beach!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Just had this guy walk by. Inspiration!


----------



## Triple C

Arrow3 said:


> May not be so hard to cheat on yall after checking my trail cam yesterday.  They sure love trophy rocks. View attachment 974861View attachment 974862


That'd make a feller cheat all day long Brandon!  Least it's an OC buck and that goes both ways.


----------



## Arrow3

Any of yall like to eat catfish? Man, I got into them good on Sunday. Had a buddy that works for a grocery store been after me for some fish so we made a trade. My stringer full for 7 new york strips ?


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Heck of a mess of catfish there Brandon.  Sounds like a good trade for both parties.


----------



## Todd E

I'm digging that hat.


----------



## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> I'm digging that hat.



? Thanks! I'm turning into my dad.


----------



## Triple C

Arrow3 said:


> ? Thanks! I'm turning into my dad.  View attachment 975548


Ha!  You could pass for Mr. Blaney in Green Acres    I wish I'd started wearing a wide brim hat many, many years before I actually did.  These days I wear long sleeve in the summer time when working at the farm and if not, cover up with sunscreen.  Too many trips to the dermatologist these days and hate when they pull out he freeze spray for pre-cancerous spots.  Luv the hat!


----------



## Arrow3

Can yall turn down the heat some? This is ridiculous. ???


----------



## DeucesWild

Sure....... In about 8 or 9 more weeks lol!!!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

It is hot Brandon, spent last Saturday in OC pulling stands off the club we left.  I was wore out by 9AM.  Too hot this time of year for me to do much on the clubs.


----------



## Todd E

Whatcha talking about..........it's cool outside. LoL


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

He's almost done!


----------



## Todd E

ADDICTED2HUNTIN said:


> He's almost done!View attachment 977939View attachment 977940




Who is doing it, A2H? I know you have to be excited.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Wildlife taxidermy in Lawrenceville. Have a great friend that knows those guys real well and highly recommended them. I saw some of their work and liked it. He's a little pricey but I don't mind paying top dollar for top work!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Man, it is quiet on right now all over Woody's, not much conversation at all.  Should pick up real quick here in about a month.  Been moving kids back to college and home from college the last couple weeks, hadnt had time to get down to OC, but hope to get down next Saturday and check cameras and start looking at stand site preparation.  Season is getting close, just gotta get thru one more hot month of the year.  Addicted, that is a great OC buck, thanks for sharing.  North, South, East or West part of OC?


----------



## transfixer

Went to the lease today,  loggers started thinning last week,  place is currently a mess,  but they should be through before bow season,   place was dry as the Sahara,  doesn't look like it has rained in a couple weeks.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

transfixer said:


> Went to the lease today,  loggers started thinning last week,  place is currently a mess,  but they should be through before bow season,   place was dry as the Sahara,  doesn't look like it has rained in a couple weeks.


My friend who I hunt with was down at BCR club on Monday and told us he heard the loggers right behind our property, I figured it was on your place.


----------



## transfixer

Buford_Dawg said:


> My friend who I hunt with was down at BCR club on Monday and told us he heard the loggers right behind our property, I figured it was on your place.



  Yeah,   the logging foreman was true to his word when he said he wasn't coming back till the middle of summer,  I'm just glad they are cutting now,  they've put a lot of logs on the ground,  not much left to cut on our tract,  I'm guessing they'll be done in another two or three weeks,   they're opening up a lot of areas that were pretty thick,   we'll have some pretty long shooting lanes in some areas,  and I already see a couple of areas for fall food plots,   especially around the areas they use for loading docks, 

     I don't remember the name of the logging company, but these guys are pretty cool,  they avoid our stands and feeders,   they actually cut a tree that was within 1 foot of my tower stand without damaging my stand ,,, lol    I may have to drive up during the week one afternoon and take them a case of cold ones


----------



## Triple C

Just got home from OC.  When I arrived on Friday it looked like the sahara desert. Rained a little off n on friday evening, again saturday afternoon and evening and then the bottom fell out about 9:00 this morning.  I mean a gully washer bottom.  And it was still raining when I left.  Much needed.  The grass greened up between the time I got there friday and this morning with the moisture.  Clover is just pathetic.  Between dry weather and browsing it's just hanging on for dear life.  I believe this moisture will give it a much needed boost.

Mowed our 2 largest fields in preparation of spraying, followed by a planting of radishes by late August.  Gonna get the brassicas in the ground well ahead of the grains and give them at least 60 days of growing before 1st frost.  Planting them 1st of October, when we normally plant our grains, just doesn't give em enough growing time before 1st frost.  Hope to have a stand of radishes that looks like this from a few years ago.




On a pig killin' note...Son killed 5 pigs yesterday with 2 shots.  we've had this sounder just killing our clover and shot a few out of it.  He spotted this big sow with piglets in our largest filed and put a about a 50 yd belly crawl on er until about 30 yds away.  Head shot her with a .22 mag and the piglets scattered but immediately came back to her.  Next shot, 4 of the lil ones were perfectly aligned and all dropped with the shot.  .22 mag has turned out to be a pig killing machine this summer.


----------



## Todd E

transfixer, tripc, and bdawg ................ it flooded down there today.


----------



## transfixer

Todd E said:


> transfixer, tripc, and bdawg ................ it flooded down there today.



    I wondered if some of the storms would make it over that way,   I've been getting hammered over here in West Ga,


----------



## Todd E

It rained good, in the area, again this evening. 

Days are getting shorter, but the temps aren't getting cooler. 
Been working at all my hunting places. Thank goodness for atv accessories.


----------



## Triple C

Todd - You got it going on in a good way brother!  Love your ATV setup.  Hardest working man in OC!


----------



## Arrow3

I've had 2 bags of corn in my truck for 2 weeks but too lazy to go put some cameras out ????


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Brandon, you too busy fishing to think about deer this time of the year.  Seen all those catfish you catching, good job!


----------



## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> Brandon, you too busy fishing to think about deer this time of the year.  Seen all those catfish you catching, good job!


I have been catching them pretty good.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Went down yesterday and did some much needed work on some stands and cleared some shooting lanes where they had gotten grown up. It's dry!


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Got my OC hoss back and hung in his final resting place! The wife let me put him in the living room instead of my trophy room!
I'm very pleased with the way he turned out and very grateful to have had the opportunity to hunt and kill such a magnificent buck!


----------



## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> Brandon, you too busy fishing to think about deer this time of the year.  Seen all those catfish you catching, good job!




Some more today!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Thats a good mess of fish there Brandon.  Fish Fry time.  Spent 1/2 in OC yesterday putting up 5 double ladder stands on the new lease.  It was hot and tiresome, but had good company to socialize with and learn more of the property.


----------



## Steven037

Went out yesterday to put out some new cameras and check out some logging that’s going on. Hot doesn’t even describe how hot it was. Got a couple rifles sighted in and was done by 2 o’clock. I was toast.


----------



## Arrow3

Caught some more fish ?


----------



## Triple C

Gonna put daikon radish in the ground this weekend.  Sprayed plots 2 weeks ago.  I'll post up a few pics when we get it done.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Look forward to seeing the results CCC, I dont think we are gonna plant our fall plots at our SC club due to logging activities supposedly about to kick off as they will use our plot area for logging yards  most likely.  Gotta get with Todd and see about BCR club, I believe we will do some small areas there.  We may have to relie on natural food sources this year, hopefully the white Oaks are good.  We got our annual work day at SC club next weekend, always look forward to that.  It is getting closer.


----------



## Triple C

Has my phone gone hay wire???  My weather app is showing a high of 83 on saturday and 77 on sunday.  Weird....  Looks like decent rain in forecast so hopefully brassica planting will be timed just right.


----------



## transfixer

Triple C said:


> Has my phone gone hay wire???  My weather app is showing a high of 83 on saturday and 77 on sunday.  Weird....  Looks like decent rain in forecast so hopefully brassica planting will be timed just right.



  I've been following the weather for this weekend,  was planning on going to the lease Sunday to take some materials down,  and see if the loggers were finished,  but now the way they're talking it may be raining Sunday morning up there ?   So not sure what I'll do now ?  I know the area needs some rain,  but why couldn't it wait till Monday or tues ?    lol


----------



## Triple C

Woohoo!!!  Went from 91 to 76 in 15 min. Raining buckets at the farm right now!


----------



## Steven037

Some photos from the past week.


----------



## Steven037

Couple more


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Hogs everywhere in OC now.  Looks like Rut happening already too


----------



## transfixer

Buford_Dawg said:


> Hogs everywhere in OC now.  Looks like Rut happening already too



   I'm going tomorrow to check things out, I'm just hoping our loggers have moved on to somewhere else by now,


----------



## Arrow3

Went to my Sandy Cross tract close to BD yesterday to put up some cameras and a feeder. 1st thing I noticed was hog sign. They don't want me bringing that bad medicine on them ?


----------



## Triple C

Planted 40 lbs of daikon radish yesterday boys.  That's a lot of radish.  Most I've ever planted.  Gonna broadcast either wheat or rye grain into the radish come early October.  I've found deer like radish greens better than turnip greens.  They eat em both on our place but always eat the radish first.  Hoping to get a really nice stand before 1st frost.

Put 25 lbs in this plot which is about 5 acres being planted.


----------



## jbird1

Excellent!....can't wait to see the results!


----------



## transfixer

Triple C said:


> Planted 40 lbs of daikon radish yesterday boys.  That's a lot of radish.  Most I've ever planted.  Gonna broadcast either wheat or rye grain into the radish come early October.  I've found deer like radish greens better than turnip greens.  They eat em both on our place but always eat the radish first.  Hoping to get a really nice stand before 1st frost.
> 
> Put 25 lbs in this plot which is about 5 acres being planted.
> View attachment 981013



   Triple C you have definitely got it going on !    I'm envious !


----------



## transfixer

Went to the club today,  loggers have gone !  and they straightened out the roads before they left  ,,,  I need to find an address for those guys and take them a case of cold ones for sure !   

    Didn't spend a lot of time scouting,  replaced a camera and filled a feeder,   i did notice a lot of hog tracks,  even up on the higher portion of our property, a long ways from the creeks,   so evidently they've been on the move ,  as BD mentioned.  We'll go back up there next weekend to do some work, lots of different areas opened up since they thinned,   probably going to move a stand or two.    I just wish we could have weather like today when Bow season gets here !


----------



## Arrow3

Flatheads bit good Saturday


----------



## Triple C

Arrow3 said:


> Flatheads bit good Saturday View attachment 981160


Brandon...There's got to be some more kinda big fish fry coming in in your neck of the woods here soon!!!


----------



## Arrow3

Triple C said:


> Brandon...There's got to be some more kinda big fish fry coming in in your neck of the woods here soon!!!


I honestly don't  have a single filet at my house. I've been giving them all away after I clean them.


----------



## Todd E

@transfixer 
I haven't cut a hog track in weeks. Maybe even in months.


----------



## transfixer

Todd E said:


> @transfixer
> I haven't cut a hog track in weeks. Maybe even in months.



    I had let my feeders run out over the last few months,   so I diidn't expect to see any sign on our place,  but had a bunch of tracks all over one of our roads on the higher portion of our property, and a few trees with mud, maybe just recently since it started raining a few weeks ago?  

     They probably got smart over in your area and left ,,,,, they may have noticed most of their friends went missing a while back ?    and they decided to find a safer place ?    lol


----------



## Arrow3

First hard horned Oglethorpe buck pic


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## Buford_Dawg

Work day at my SC club this Saturday, headed down tomorrow afternoon after work, start getting camp in shape and put in a full day of work Saturday, gonna be hot, but gotta bushhog, clear logging roads back, make sure all ladder and box stands are wasp free and get new straps to make sure they are safe for another year of hunting, trim shooting lanes as needed, etc......  Anticipating loggers to be in there anytime now, they told us they would be in and out this summer, but they havent shown up yet, so I imagine they will show up about the Friday before bow season kicks in


----------



## Arrow3

Caught 3 last night


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## Buford_Dawg

Between you and Todd, I don't see how OC has many hogs   Keep up the good work.


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## Buford_Dawg

Spent most of Friday and Saturday in OC, got bush hogging done and tree stands prepped on 2 of my clubs.  Stands are already in place on the other club.  So, we are good to go.  Last thing is to tackle food-plots later this month.  Got camp in order, so everything is good to go, gonna be back down Saturday week to sit in a stand somewhere with the crossbow if it not too hot.  Hope all you OC'ers had a great labor day weekend.


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## jbird1

My oldest son and I got out to our primitive camp on Saturday for the first time since turkey season.  On the way up, we saw legions of fellow hunters loaded down with supplies to get their camps, stands and plots going.  We were greeted by the usual knee high weeds and gums upon arrival.  It was nice and cool to start off and just being in camp had a soothing effect.  After a few hours, we had base camp and the shooting lane scalped and ready for the trickle of hunters that will soon be showing up to camp.  I always enjoy the feeling after giving camp it's annual haircut...just something about taking camp from "hairy" to clean that ushers in the excitement of the pending season.  After washing down a few tables and cutting up an old pine that had fallen across one of the camp roads, we felt good about the day and headed out.  I always dread having to leave...wish I could just stay forever.  Maybe one day.


----------



## Triple C

Went down Sunday morning following and spent about 4 hours late Sunday afternoon and early this morning mowing all the interior roads.  I love mowing on the tractor.  It's like immediate gratification when you look back and see nice, clean strips where you mowed.

Also checked on the radish we planted last weekend following a heavy rain.  Great germination with the radish in one week.  Young n tender plants need some rain but looks slim in forecast.  We'll broadcast abruzzi rye into the standing radish ahead of a rain event in early October.  Deer still hammering clover.  Count down to D-Day is here boys!


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## Arrow3

Spent Saturday morning cleaning out this old loading dock for a food plot. View towards feeder is sitting in my ladder.  Yellow circle is where stand is. Super hidden. Had a decent 3 1/2 year old 9 pointer on camera that I'll target with my bow . This is on my Sandy Cross Land. Gonna plow and plant in early October.


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## Buford_Dawg

Those Sandy Cross hogs may trash your feeder Brandon, we had 2 feeders like that knocked over and motors crushed over the last couple months around our camp.  Afraid to put another out anytime soon


----------



## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> Those Sandy Cross hogs may trash your feeder Brandon, we had 2 feeders like that knocked over and motors crushed over the last couple months around our camp.  Afraid to put another out anytime soon


I've seen some mud on trees. If they mess with me , I mess back and they won't like it ?


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## transfixer

Went to OC today,   we could use a little rain over there ,,,  maybe some of ya'll that live local could go wash your trucks ?    or maybe do a little rain dance ?   awfully dry ,, and quite hot !   I'm heading back next Fri afternoon for the weekend ,,  I think its supposed to be a  "little cooler "  next weekend ?     I hope anyway !   We scattered some seed on a couple food plots,  hoping for at least a little rain this week to get them going ,,,,,


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Any of you OC'ers gonna brave the hot weather this weekend and get in the woods for the bow opener.  I am debating it myself, the mornings may be cool enough for a 3 hour sit, but not sure I can handle the evening hunt.  May just go to camp Friday after work, hunt the AM's and sit around camp with a fan blowing on me listening to the Dawgs and other college football games the rest of the day Saturday.  Was also thinking about going to Athens to watch UGA, but that will be even more crazy hot.  I am ready for some cool weather.


----------



## jbird1

Haven't picked up a bow in decades but remember those days fondly.  Mid 90 degree temps use to be just another part of the challenge.  With the York Mojave with "accelerator cams," you had to get em in REAL close....like directly under the tree close..haha.  Nowadays, I REALLY appreciate cooler temps when hitting the woods and really can't get there until mid October these days anyway.  Good luck to you fellas that hit the woods this weekend...love those early reports.


----------



## Todd E

@transfixer  .... I have one customers yard that I can cut and cause it to rain. LoL
But its not on my schedule until next week. Sorry. 

Evenings would be the better choice on these hot archery season days. I can't stand to miss an opener though. I haven't decided what I'm doing yet. I will be hunting. Just unsure where and if I'm sticking to my theory of evenings only.


----------



## transfixer

Well,  I'm loading up this morning getting ready to head to OC sometime after lunch,  picked up a couple of lightweight wicking shirts and a pair of lightweight pants yesterday at Academy,  if it weren't for ticks and chiggers I'd probably try hunting in shorts !  lol,,,   never done that in my whole time hunting ,,,,  I'm questioning my sanity this morning,   heading to the pine woods when its supposed to be 95 or so this afternoon ,,,     oh well !      Good luck for those of you who are crazy as I am to hunt this weekend !


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Good luck Trans, CCC, Brandon, ToddE and others hunting tomorrow.  I am sitting it out and headed to Athens to take in the UGA game.  I may hunt Sunday AM.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Good luck guys! I won't be out this weekend. Too dang hot for me. Seems the older I get the less I care about getting out in the woods when it's 90+ degrees


----------



## Hughy

Getting some much needed rain in the OC tonight!!
Good luck tomorrow guys. Hope to see some kill pics posted tomorrow. I’ll be out there in the pm.


----------



## Steven037

Good luck to everyone hunting. I haven’t bow hunted in years. Just too dang hot for me. I may sneak out and check some cameras or try to kill a pig. Or I might just drink some beer and watch the DAWGS. i


----------



## Todd E

@transfixer ...... I hunt in shorts all the time. Camo shorts, of course. 

Good luck, fellow hunters.


----------



## Todd E




----------



## transfixer

Rained pretty good in OC last night.. but BC road just got a little sprinkle, enough to keep the dust down.. kinda foggy this am... we'll see what the day brings!


----------



## Arrow3

Saw 6 this morning in Sandy Cross.  These 2 were both spikes in velvet.  Rigged up my bow with a gopro. Hoping to get a kill filmed soon.


----------



## Triple C

Just got home after spending Friday n Saturday nite at the farm.  Son left for CO chasing elk on Friday so I was solo.  Shoulda called one of you guys to help me out this weekend.  I dropped by son's place on the way to the farm and loaded up a Rivers Edge archer's ladder stand, got to the farm and proceeded to put that thing together.  Holy cow!!!  Finally got it all assembled n then Saturday morning decided at 63 and working out fairly regularly I could hoist that thing up a tree without any help.  Found the perfect tree...started walking it up and then it got hung up in limbs bout 3/4 up.  Tried to walk it back down but bottom ladder section started lifting off the ground at base of tree.  Short story...I let er go bout half way down and now have a nice, warped, new ladder stand.  Stood that sucker back up and finally got it positioned.  Then...trying to strap that thing to the tree.  Whole nother story.

I'm done doing these  things by myself.  But...enjoyed my time in OC as I always do.  Daughther n grandkids came down saturday afternoon and we chowed down on a couple of Striplin's prime ribeyes.  All good!


----------



## Arrow3

Triple C said:


> Just got home after spending Friday n Saturday nite at the farm.  Son left for CO chasing elk on Friday so I was solo.  Shoulda called one of you guys to help me out this weekend.  I dropped by son's place on the way to the farm and loaded up a Rivers Edge archer's ladder stand, got to the farm and proceeded to put that thing together.  Holy cow!!!  Finally got it all assembled n then Saturday morning decided at 63 and working out fairly regularly I could hoist that thing up a tree without any help.  Found the perfect tree...started walking it up and then it got hung up in limbs bout 3/4 up.  Tried to walk it back down but bottom ladder section started lifting off the ground at base of tree.  Short story...I let er go bout half way down and now have a nice, warped, new ladder stand.  Stood that sucker back up and finally got it positioned.  Then...trying to strap that thing to the tree.  Whole nother story.
> 
> I'm done doing these  things by myself.  But...enjoyed my time in OC as I always do.  Daughther n grandkids came down saturday afternoon and we chowed down on a couple of Striplin's prime ribeyes.  All good!


I'm probably 5 minutes away.   If im at home I'd be more then glad to help you. You have my number.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Dang AC.  Yell next time, if I am down, we will take care of it.  All I saw this AM in Sandy Cross was 2 Coyotes.  Wish I had a rifle


----------



## transfixer

Triple C said:


> Just got home after spending Friday n Saturday nite at the farm.  Son left for CO chasing elk on Friday so I was solo.  Shoulda called one of you guys to help me out this weekend.  I dropped by son's place on the way to the farm and loaded up a Rivers Edge archer's ladder stand, got to the farm and proceeded to put that thing together.  Holy cow!!!  Finally got it all assembled n then Saturday morning decided at 63 and working out fairly regularly I could hoist that thing up a tree without any help.  Found the perfect tree...started walking it up and then it got hung up in limbs bout 3/4 up.  Tried to walk it back down but bottom ladder section started lifting off the ground at base of tree.  Short story...I let er go bout half way down and now have a nice, warped, new ladder stand.  Stood that sucker back up and finally got it positioned.  Then...trying to strap that thing to the tree.  Whole nother story.
> 
> I'm done doing these  things by myself.  But...enjoyed my time in OC as I always do.  Daughther n grandkids came down saturday afternoon and we chowed down on a couple of Striplin's prime ribeyes.  All good!



     I came to the conclusion last year that I was done doing things like that on my own,   I'm just not flexible enough anymore, and with two bum knees,  I usually have to get one of the other guys to help me with putting up ladders and such,  

     We had a pretty decent weekend in OC even though it was rather hot during the day,   I saw quite a few deer,  but nothing I wanted to shoot, two of the other guys saw deer as well,   its still very dry over at our place,  the rain friday night didn't do much but sprinkle it seems much past Crawford,   I'm hoping for rain in the next couple days out our way,  I scattered some more seed today,  one good by product of the loggers was they really churned up the ground in quite a few places,  and I'm trying to make use of them.


----------



## Triple C

Guys...I will NEVER attempt to do that again by myself.  EVER!  Too old for that.  Shoulda waited for Brooks to get back or called one of you guys.  Not smart for a 63 yr old to be attempting such a thing without the help of someone else.


----------



## jbird1

Triple C said:


> Guys...I will NEVER attempt to do that again by myself.  EVER!  Too old for that.  Shoulda waited for Brooks to get back or called one of you guys.  Not smart for a 63 yr old to be attempting such a thing without the help of someone else.



It happens.  I'm sure you suffer from the same affliction as I do...we're still 18 and bulletproof in our minds.  Even after hernias, shoulder surgery, herniated disks, meniscus tears, I still overestimate my abilities sometimes and end up paying for it in some manner or fashion (physically or financially... or both) and I'm only 45.  I'm starting to finally learn where to draw the line though.  You must have good genetics if you've made it to 63 going full bore, no holds barred and are still throwing ladders up solo.  I remember seeing a 4 wheeler technique sometime back on here that looked like a good idea.  But I agree, waiting for backup in the future is a prudent idea for the heavy jobs.


----------



## transfixer

jbird1 said:


> It happens.  I'm sure you suffer from the same affliction as I do...we're still 18 and bulletproof in our minds.  Even after hernias, shoulder surgery, herniated disks, meniscus tears, I still overestimate my abilities sometimes and end up paying for it in some manner or fashion (physically or financially... or both) and I'm only 45.  I'm starting to finally learn where to draw the line though.  You must have good genetics if you've made it to 63 going full bore, no holds barred and are still throwing ladders up solo.  I remember seeing a 4 wheeler technique sometime back on here that looked like a good idea.  But I agree, waiting for backup in the future is a prudent idea for the heavy jobs.



    I'm just 58,   but the last couple years has forced my mind to catch up to my body , in terms of what I think I can do,   as far as what I "want" to do I'm still in my late 30's,  but thats just dreaming,,, lol 

  I'm working up plans in my head on rigging up some kind of hoist to mount on my golf cart,  with an arm that will swivel and using a boat winch to lift deer with,   trying to load an animal that weighs over 100lbs was a lot easier when I was younger,,,,  I saw one on here a while back someone made,  and it got me to thinkin,


----------



## jbird1

transfixer said:


> I'm just 58,   but the last couple years has forced my mind to catch up to my body , in terms of what I think I can do,   as far as what I "want" to do I'm still in my late 30's,  but thats just dreaming,,, lol
> 
> I'm working up plans in my head on rigging up some kind of hoist to mount on my golf cart,  with an arm that will swivel and using a boat winch to lift deer with,   trying to load an animal that weighs over 100lbs was a lot easier when I was younger,,,,  I saw one on here a while back someone made,  and it got me to thinkin,



Leverage & Angle...Leverage & Angle..
Up until a couple of seasons ago, I would stand on the back rack of the 4-wheeler and drag a good sized buck up onto the rack (gutted of course.)  I'm liking your idea more and more these days!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

ToddE has one of the neatest inventions to load deer and pigs and other heavy objects on his 4 wheeler.  I am sure yall have seen it with his hog pictures.  Just turned 56 myself and thanks to my 2 sons I usually have lots of help with the heavy tasks.  Sometimes they have other things going on like girls, sports, etc...   so I have several long time hunting buddies there to help me if needed.  I will gladly help any of you guys down that way if I am available, just yell.  During the season, you can count on me being around every Friday thru the weekend.  No reason to hurt or overdo yourselves with the hobby we all love.

I need yall's thoughts on this situation.  Not sure of the legal rules.  Can you take a rifle or AR-15 into the woods during bow season and sit in a stand HOG hunting?  I know in the past, it was pretty much a NO NO to have a weapon other than a bow or crossbow during bow season, but with the explosion of the hog population around the state, what is the legal ruling of DNR?


----------



## jbird1

I won't tell anybody BD!...  Knock em down!!
No...not sure about that scenario either.  I'd be interested to know as well.


----------



## transfixer

I was wondering the same thing this past weekend,  as I had taken my .300BO with me to the club this weekend,  I'm pretty sure we can't carry a rifle and a bow with us at the same time,  but if we don't have a bow or crossbow with us,  and we don't have any deer lure on us or hanging in the area where you are hunting ,  then I don't see why we couldn't hog hunt ?  of course it would probably help if we are hunting over a feeder with hog tracks present,  or hog rooting evident ?


----------



## Todd E

Here is the honest truth.. from a hog hunter.. verified with ranger. 

On private land and with proper licenses, you can go sit in a stand hog hunting with a rifle during archery season. You cannot have a bow with you at the same time. Why? Because you are hog hunting only. You cannot do both. 

I have done it for years.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Todd E said:


> Here is the honest truth.. from a hog hunter.. verified with ranger.
> 
> On private land and with proper licenses, you can go sit in a stand hog hunting with a rifle during archery season. You cannot have a bow with you at the same time. Why? Because you are hog hunting only. You cannot do both.
> 
> I have done it for years.



Good to know.  Exactly what I was looking for.


----------



## transfixer

Hey Guys,  
               I am trying something I've never thought much about before,  this past weekend I placed a shallow plastic tub ( about 6 inches deep )  about 10yds away from one of my feeders,  filled it with water,  it held about 7 gallons,   I'm going to place a camera on it and see if the deer start drinking from it,  I should have done this earlier in the summer,  just never got around to it,  as dry as our place stays until late Oct or so,  I wonder if they will use it,   this particular feeder is probably 6-700yds from the nearest water source.    

     I saw a video on youtube a few months ago about doing this,  but the guy was using tubs a lot bigger,  and even kiddie pools,   I'll be able to check this one and refill it every week, or two weeks at the most.   But I'm betting I'm going to have issues with Raccoons getting in it,,,,, 

   Don't know if its worth it ?  or if it will work ?  thoughts ?


----------



## Todd E

transfixer said:


> Hey Guys,
> I am trying something I've never thought much about before,  this past weekend I placed a shallow plastic tub ( about 6 inches deep )  about 10yds away from one of my feeders,  filled it with water,  it held about 7 gallons,   I'm going to place a camera on it and see if the deer start drinking from it,  I should have done this earlier in the summer,  just never got around to it,  as dry as our place stays until late Oct or so,  I wonder if they will use it,   this particular feeder is probably 6-700yds from the nearest water source.
> 
> I saw a video on youtube a few months ago about doing this,  but the guy was using tubs a lot bigger,  and even kiddie pools,   I'll be able to check this one and refill it every week, or two weeks at the most.   But I'm betting I'm going to have issues with Raccoons getting in it,,,,,
> 
> Don't know if its worth it ?  or if it will work ?  thoughts ?




Anything is worth it, if you enjoy it and it is of benefit. 
It takes bedding, food, and water to hold deer. Without all three, you only get passing by deer. We can show you next door what no water means..........


----------



## transfixer

I think I'll pick up a couple more tubs and put them in different areas next trip,  won't hurt,  and the tubs don't cost much,  the one I picked up was a mixing tub from TS,  I think they're cheaper at Home Depot,  and they have two sizes.


----------



## Triple C

Any of you guys ever look in the traditional archery section on here and know the name 'Al33', he's coming down to the farm this weekend to sling some arrows along with possibly dmwolfskin, who's another regular on the trad section.  Anybody that wants to stop by around lunch time on Saturday to sit in the shade n maybe enjoy a cold beverage of your liking just shoot me a pm and let me know you're coming for a visit.  I'll reply with directions.  For general proximity, I'm located off Centerville Rd not too far from Hwy 77.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Funny you mention that Transfixer, one of our members at BCR club has asked about placing some type of watering option such as a small childs pool.  I really have no idea if it would work.  As Todd points out, there is no water on our club there.  I am planning on hunting BCR club Saturday AM, hoping this little cool spell that is supposedly coming in will help deer movement.


----------



## transfixer

Buford_Dawg said:


> Funny you mention that Transfixer, one of our members at BCR club has asked about placing some type of watering option such as a small childs pool.  I really have no idea if it would work.  As Todd points out, there is no water on our club there.  I am planning on hunting BCR club Saturday AM, hoping this little cool spell that is supposedly coming in will help deer movement.



     There are youtube videos by different people showing where it works,  one guy who is supposed to be an expert in deer habitat,   Whitetail Habitat Solutions,   a lot of them say to bury the tub/pool/liner in the ground so it looks more natural,  not sure I want to go to that much trouble,  but I might.


----------



## Steven037

For anyone interested or in the area....


----------



## Arrow3

Good sit yesterday afternoon.  Wound up seeing 15 deer. Does and fawns mostly.  Could have been a few of the same deer more then once. I cant be for sure. The worst part about the hunt was that while sitting in my climber in Oglethorpe,  my #1 target buck was standing in front on my cell camera in oconee county at 7:10 pm. ?


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Sounds like a great hunt Brandon, nothing like seeing a steady stream of deer, time flies when that happens.  Gonna be down later this afternoon to get in a couple of hunts and check trailcams to see if we have any shooters.  Timber company started marking our trees and boundaries at SC this week, so I imagine they will be moving in the big machines and start logging right here at start of deer season.  Figures...  I will be spending majority of my hunting in the Glades area and Bethesda Church Road area this year.


----------



## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> Sounds like a great hunt Brandon, nothing like seeing a steady stream of deer, time flies when that happens.  Gonna be down later this afternoon to get in a couple of hunts and check trailcams to see if we have any shooters.  Timber company started marking our trees and boundaries at SC this week, so I imagine they will be moving in the big machines and start logging right here at start of deer season.  Figures...  I will be spending majority of my hunting in the Glades area and Bethesda Church Road area this year.


I sure hate it for you.  I absolutely despise them cutting during deer season when you have paid to hunt. They have 9 months put of the year that they can cut it. 

I wonder if it will push any my way since I'm so close to yall over there.


----------



## Arrow3

Here is the one I'm after . Unfortunately this is the best I've seen on camera so far.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Nice buck Brandon, I spent Friday afternoon and majority of Saturday in OC.  Didn't get to hunt Friday as hoped due to unforeseen circumstance once I got to the property, so spent my time checking stands and pulling trailcam cards. Ran by CCC place, he was out hunting with fellow Woody members, so I missed him.  Saw some does Saturday AM at SC.  It sure is dry down that way, we probably another 2 weeks or more out before we do foodplots, need some rain in forecast, just don't see it.


----------



## transfixer

Buford_Dawg said:


> Nice buck Brandon, I spent Friday afternoon and majority of Saturday in OC.  Didn't get to hunt Friday as hoped due to unforeseen circumstance once I got to the property, so spent my time checking stands and pulling trailcam cards. Ran by CCC place, he was out hunting with fellow Woody members, so I missed him.  Saw some does Saturday AM at SC.  It sure is dry down that way, we probably another 2 weeks or more out before we do foodplots, need some rain in forecast, just don't see it.



    I got too anxious a couple weeks ago when there was supposed to be some rain on mon and tues,   which never materialized, so what I put out is probably wasted,  doesn't look like rain anytime soon, and this weekend is supposed to be hot like opening weekend ,,,  grrr,,, I'm going to the lease Sat to take some stuff up there, but probably won't do much hunting,  unless they change the forecast.  I was all primed and ready for the season to get going,  but this weather is putting a damper on things.


----------



## transfixer

Arrow3 said:


> I sure hate it for you.  I absolutely despise them cutting during deer season when you have paid to hunt. They have 9 months put of the year that they can cut it.
> 
> I wonder if it will push any my way since I'm so close to yall over there.



      It very well could cause some to relocate , at least temporarily,   they thinned ours before season,  and it seems to have disrupted their normal travel patterns,  I think because of all the tops and debris that the loggers leave in various places,  it also opened up some areas that were previously very thick,  so now they don't have the same bedding areas they used to have.  If it will go ahead and rain it will a lot easier to tell what travel lanes they are using now,  the ground is so hard and dry its really hard to find tracks in a lot of places


----------



## Arrow3

transfixer said:


> It very well could cause some to relocate , at least temporarily,   they thinned ours before season,  and it seems to have disrupted their normal travel patterns,  I think because of all the tops and debris that the loggers leave in various places,  it also opened up some areas that were previously very thick,  so now they don't have the same bedding areas they used to have.  If it will go ahead and rain it will a lot easier to tell what travel lanes they are using now,  the ground is so hard and dry its really hard to find tracks in a lot of places


I've got plenty of does , I just need it to run a few of his big bucks my way ???


----------



## Todd E

@transfixer don't let the heat beat you..........I started hunting opening morning and went all the way through yesterday morning. I did skip one day for errands and skipped some am hunts in order to not spook deer. Played the scent game best I could. Watched the wind directions. Walked to stand at the speed of a turtle. All the effort finally paid off. 

**not an OC deer**


----------



## Arrow3

Congratulations Todd!


----------



## Triple C

Way to get it done Todd!  Give us the backstory on that hunt.  Great pic!


----------



## transfixer

Congratulations !    I know the deer don't care about the temps,   I've just gotten a little too old and lazy I guess to deal with them


----------



## Todd E

Triple C said:


> Way to get it done Todd!  Give us the backstory on that hunt.  Great pic!



My wife and I hunted locally, but it didn't pan out. It didn't take her long to say that she was done with hunting in the heat. LoL So, I headed south Thursday morning. Upon arrival, I pulled the card from my cam. Running untouched for two months. Out of several bucks, we agreed on two shooters at my cam. I had one infrequent stud(rack and age) and the one I shot(age). 

Thursday eve found me in my climber where three trails head to my feeder. I end up with this buck following two others. He was snort wheezing his head off. He got to 20 yards and caught the last half of my draw cycle. Hopped off and went back to wheezing. 

Friday eve I moved climber 30 yards. Ended up with a nice non shooter walking right by me. Trail cam revealed my shooter was standing at feeder. 

Saturday eve, the nice non shooter walks by. 

I never hunted in the mornings in order to not bump the deer. I made the decision to go for broke Sunday morning. It was my last chance. I won't be going back for weeks. I started sneaking in at 530am. Felt confident about my approach. As I sat in the stand overlooking the feeder lane under total darkness, Flat Nine/High and Tight started fighting where my climber was located. I made the right decision to not try and get in climber. 

As dawn begin to break, I could see Flat Nine under the feeder. High and Tight stepped out. East wind blowing right at feeder. I've done everything to control every item on me for scent. My ozonics is pointed right at feeder. All is good while I wait on enough light for a 54 yard shot. I'm mentally prepared. Prepared for trajectory and deer duck.
Everything was good until H&T started scent checking that east wind. He had caught something and he knew it wasn't right. Now or never.....send it. 

I see the Lumenoc sailing and smack. He dropped the entire height of his body. Man.  Spined him. Had to bail out and go finish him off with another. It was a very fun week.
I wish I had changed cam to 30 second vids.


----------



## Triple C

Todd E said:


> My wife and I hunted locally, but it didn't pan out. It didn't take her long to say that she was done with hunting in the heat. LoL So, I headed south Thursday morning. Upon arrival, I pulled the card from my cam. Running untouched for two months. Out of several bucks, we agreed on two shooters at my cam. I had one infrequent stud(rack and age) and the one I shot(age).
> 
> Thursday eve found me in my climber where three trails head to my feeder. I end up with this buck following two others. He was snort wheezing his head off. He got to 20 yards and caught the last half of my draw cycle. Hopped off and went back to wheezing.
> 
> Friday eve I moved climber 30 yards. Ended up with a nice non shooter walking right by me. Trail cam revealed my shooter was standing at feeder.
> 
> Saturday eve, the nice non shooter walks by.
> 
> I never hunted in the mornings in order to not bump the deer. I made the decision to go for broke Sunday morning. It was my last chance. I won't be going back for weeks. I started sneaking in at 530am. Felt confident about my approach. As I sat in the stand overlooking the feeder lane under total darkness, Flat Nine/High and Tight started fighting where my climber was located. I made the right decision to not try and get in climber.
> 
> As dawn begin to break, I could see Flat Nine under the feeder. High and Tight stepped out. East wind blowing right at feeder. I've done everything to control every item on me for scent. My ozonics is pointed right at feeder. All is good while I wait on enough light for a 54 yard shot. I'm mentally prepared. Prepared for trajectory and deer duck.
> Everything was good until H&T started scent checking that east wind. He had caught something and he knew it wasn't right. Now or never.....send it.
> 
> I see the Lumenoc sailing and smack. He dropped the entire height of his body. Man.  Spined him. Had to bail out and go finish him off with another. It was a very fun week.
> I wish I had changed cam to 30 second vids.
> 
> View attachment 984157View attachment 984158



Great story!  Amazing how much a deer will drop before the arrow/bolt reaches the animal.  I was filming a buddy many, many years ago, probably 1989 or 90, and he missed a chip shot at no more than 12 yds with his old slow compound.  We got home and watched the video and couldn't believe the deer actually dropped half her body height before the arrow arrived and sailed right over her back.

Way to get it done!  Assume you gonna put your artistic skills to work and create a masterpiece with the rack.


----------



## Todd E

Anybody brave this dry and hot weather? I stayed home and played with grandkids.


----------



## transfixer

I backed out of going,  didn't feel like making that drive this morning, knowing it was going to be hot today,   hoping for some cooler weather next weekend,  we'll see,    I believe BD braved it this morning though.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

I did.  Was a hot and humid day for sure.  Hunted couple of hours, then did some work around the clubs.  Finally left my SC club around 2, too hot to even consider hunting this evening.  Sitting on back porch now with cold drink chilling and wore slap out. Next weekend appears cooler, I got to shoot my ML and several rifles next weekend to make sure they are ready.  Still hadn't seen a whiteoak acorn on the ground on any of my 3 properties so far.


----------



## Triple C

Too hot n too dry for me.  Can't recall a September that has been this hot.


----------



## Todd E

I did a ride by on the dirt road mid day. Apparently, it rained overnight. Cupped leaves had water in them. Dust was settled. Some low road ditches had some moisture in them.


----------



## fredw

Spent Friday morning with the folks who plow our plots.  Got four existing plots plowed and added a fifth.  We're holding off on planting until rain chances improve.  It was 97 degrees according to the truck reading when I left.  The truck and me were both covered in fine Oglethorpe red clay dust.

Spent Saturday morning with the replace part of building a roof over our porch at camp.  The first part of the morning was nice.  It sure got hot when the cloud cover moved out though.

We did have enough rain Friday night to settle the dust.


----------



## Todd E

I tried a sit this afternoon. Phone said 93 with real feel of 97 at 610pm. 
Most miserable afternoon of bowhunting I've ever experienced. Of course, I saw nothing.


----------



## Arrow3

I had one of my target bucks on camera at 7:45 yesterday so I sat in this oven this afternoon.  Had 2 does and a fawn within 20 yards for over a hout but I was only gonna fool with a good buck in this heat. It was about miserable out there.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Well, it FINALLY appears it is going to cool down enough to feel good hunting.  I will not hunt this weekend, but do plan on going to camp tomorrow and shooting my ML and my deer rifles to insure they are still ready to go this year.  Then moving a deer stand and checking a couple of cameras.  Just a day trip.  It appears we will plant our plots next weekend finally.


----------



## transfixer

I'm planning on doing the same,  need to shoot my Hawken as well,   probably refill a feeder and pull memory cards,    I've got to get some enthusiasm back for hunting,  this weather has killed my enthusiasm,  I'm just disgusted with it,  and its not looking like we will have a normal October either ,  I had high hopes for this season,  but not so much anymore.


----------



## Arrow3

Got this big, mature 6 pointer on camera in Oglethorpe this week. I'd bet he's 5 1/2 years old and close to 200 lbs.


----------



## Steven037

Went down this morning to sight in a couple rifles and check cameras. Beavers have been busy.


----------



## Steven037

Pigs too. This one looks mean.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Had a enjoyable day Saturday at my clubs, pretty much wrapped up everything that needs to be done to start hunting with exception of getting food plots in.  I think that is happening this Friday and Saturday, if our tractor guy is available.  Had a good rain shower on our BCR club Saturday AM and got back to the Sandy Cross area and not a drop of rain on our other club. Confirmed the ML is sighted in and our deer rifles.  The cooler weather is finally bringing some excitement to be back in the woods for me.  For the first time as long as I have run trail cams, this is first year going into ML week, I do not have what I consider a shooter deer on camera in the last 2 months, not disappointed, just strange going into the season without some hit list bucks.  Oh well, they are around somewhere, gotta be in a tree waiting them out.  And haven't found the first scrape, did find my first rubbed tree.


----------



## transfixer

I went to the lease yesterday,  was glad to see that it had rained recently,  I've only been running one cam as of late, but don't have a decent buck on camera either,   I put out another cam yesterday in a known funnel area hoping to get pics of something besides does and fawns.    The seed I had scattered a few weeks ago actually sprouted in the last few days somehow,  so maybe there is hope yet for that little food plot,   

    Now that the weather is changed I'm a little more enthusiastic about heading to the club this friday,   I need some time around a campfire ,,,,  and according to the forecast this coming friday and saturday night will be right for a campfire !


----------



## Triple C

Went down friday and stayed until today.  Only a couple of sits but got a lot done.  Checked all of our stands for safety.  Looks like we're ready to roll.  Speaking of trail cam pics - least amount of decent bucks in years.  Really odd with so many passed in previous years.  We desperately need rain at our place.


----------



## transfixer

Triple C said:


> Went down friday and stayed until today.  Only a couple of sits but got a lot done.  Checked all of our stands for safety.  Looks like we're ready to roll.  Speaking of trail cam pics - least amount of decent bucks in years.  Really odd with so many passed in previous years.  We desperately need rain at our place.



   Maybe all the good bucks are hanging out down next to the waterholes or creeks, laying up in the shade,  just waiting for cooler weather to go rambling around ?   Lets hope so anyway !


----------



## fredw

One doe taken on the Oglethorpe lease this weekend by the primitive weapons hunters.  Other does and small bucks passed by club members.

The big thing......with rain forecast for this afternoon/evening and again on Tuesday, we spent time on Saturday after the morning hunt getting our food plots planted. 1,600 pounds of winter wheat and triple 19 broadcast and dragged to cover.  Now for that long awaited rain.


----------



## Triple C

Congrats on the doe Fred!  I went down Thursday and stayed thru lunch today.  I was solo.  Watched deer from the stand each sit but being by myself, didn't have the urge to draw back on one.  I did like you yesterday - spent most of the day planting one of my small plots in rye grain and durana clover.  It was just starting to rain when I left today.  Timing should be about perfect.

I started a clover thread in the food plot forum since so many folks are interested in clover.  I'm going to do my best to update over the next couple of years to give somewhat of a play-by-play on how this plot does over the next couple of years.  Should be really good as it's some of our best soil and well balanced.

We're just a couple of weeks away from the magic time of the chase phase kicking in along with much cooler temps.  Really looking forward to the rest of the season.  Good luck to all!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

So, terrific weekend for my crew.  Lots of things went down.  Arrived at camp early Friday afternoon, immediately unpacked and went to BCR club and did 6 small foodplots across the property.  Worked till dark 30.  Hunted SC club Saturday AM, saw 3 does, no need for doe this early in year, buck hunting for now.  As soon as hunt was over at 10, we started food plots at SC club, 5 plots done by 2.  Head to a wedding with most of the members of our camp for a terrific young man from the Sandy Cross / Glades community that I have watched grow up and pretty much hanged out at our deer camp thru the last 25 years.  Our camp sits on his grandparents property and he has been a huge part of my OC experience.  Wedding in Watkinsville, so got back to camp after dark 30 again, LOL.  Hunted my new BCR club this AM and saw several deer at the new place, once again, does and only buck hunting for now.  As you can see by the picture, our camp does dress up nicely   This picture is my family, far right, and about 1/2 of my fellow hunting buddies / wives who I camp / hunt with and the Bride / Groom.  Oh, we did have a nice doe taken by one of the young man in the picture with his bow this weekend and unfortunately had another doe harvested by vehicle in front of our gate of the SC club this AM about 9.  Lets hope we get some good rain this week, if so, our plots should take off.


----------



## Arrow3

I hunted in Sandy Cross this afternoon.  Ran 9 out of the field walking in. Heard more running in the woods. After about a hour deer started coming back. Saw 10 from the stand. Probably some of the ones I ran off but I don't know for sure. Passed on a 15 yard shot on a 7 pointer.


----------



## transfixer

We had a good weekend as well,  only three of us at camp, but all saw deer over the weekend,  one member hunts one of our very few hardwood patches,  and the acorns were falling,   Saturday evening from 4:30 till dark he watched 11 deer come through and stop for acorns,   out of those three were bucks,  biggest being a 6pt, 

    As a side note,  the water tubs I talked about a few weeks ago have worked !  I knew the level in mine kept getting lower, and there were tracks around mine,  but never put a camera on it,   well,  last sunday I put a water tub in front of one of my buddy's stands,   he was hunting it sat evening and watched a doe and her fawn come in,   the doe walked straight over to the tub and drank out of it for 20 or 30 seconds he said,   he was amazed !    The tub was there less than a week !   So  @Buford_Dawg  ya'll might want to pick up some mortar mixing tubs at home depot and put them on your place across the road !


----------



## Todd E

@Triple C


----------



## Todd E

@transfixer did you just sit them on ground or dig them in?


----------



## transfixer

Todd E said:


> @transfixer did you just sit them on ground or dig them in?



     I just set them on the ground,   I know they say if you dig a hole and sink them in level with the ground it looks more natural,  but the deer don't seem to care,,,  and with them above the ground you don't have to bother with bugs and crawlies getting into the water .


----------



## Triple C

Todd E said:


> @Triple C
> 
> View attachment 986683


@Todd_E...Bringing wildlife art to a whole new level.  Nice!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Andy Nimmons has done my last couple of skull mounts, does a nice job.  Great mount there Todd, if I get lucky and get one this year, I may hit you up, that is neat.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Farmlogs showing .25 inches in rain in Sandy Cross and .27 inches at BCR area in last 24 hours.  Looks like we hit it just right with our foodplots last weekend.  Still some light rain down that way for couple more hours, so that may increase a little.  Then 40 degree weather for Friday and Saturday should have the deer on their feet.  Gonna be a good rifle opener.


----------



## jbird1

Checking the older young gun out of school around Noon on Friday.  He'll be following me up in his own truck for the first time since he turned 16 a year ago...where o where does the time go?  He started climbing trees last year and he's ready to gut his own deer this year.  It's almost like Christmas eve for him and his other young gun contemporaries that'll be joining him on the Hilltop for the rifle opener.  

It appears I'll be packing the wet weather camping package for this weekend.  The forecast went from pushing the moisture past the weekend to bringing it closer.  I even heard the weather gal mention a possible "tropical moisture" type of development this AM.  I'm gonna run with the 40-60% scattered overnight Saturday happy thoughts.

Good hunting to all you fellow OC hunters this weekend.  As always, I look forward to the report!


----------



## transfixer

jbird1 said:


> Checking the older young gun out of school around Noon on Friday.  He'll be following me up in his own truck for the first time since he turned 16 a year ago...where o where does the time go?  He started climbing trees last year and he's ready to gut his own deer this year.  It's almost like Christmas eve for him and his other young gun contemporaries that'll be joining him on the Hilltop for the rifle opener.



  That brings back memories of when my youngest step son went with me , he started hunting with me when he was 15,  and got his first doe that year,  the next year he drove his own truck and followed me down,  hunted out of a climber , and away from me,  previously I was always close by,   he was over the moon excited!     Good Memories ,,,,  

     I haven't looked at the weather today,  but hopefully daytime rain will be to a minimum,  but I've got a couple places to hunt even if it doesn't ,  my tower stand has a roof on it, and I put a blind up last weekend,  I'm actually looking forward to the ground being wet ,  it'll make it easier to tell where they are currently moving around at.  the ground has been so hard its impossible to tell what tracks are old or what are recent. 

    I believe it will be a good opening weekend, and we haven't had one of those in a while !


----------



## jbird1

transfixer said:


> That brings back memories of when my youngest step son went with me , he started hunting with me when he was 15,  and got his first doe that year,  the next year he drove his own truck and followed me down,  hunted out of a climber , and away from me,  previously I was always close by,   he was over the moon excited!     Good Memories ,,,,
> 
> I haven't looked at the weather today,  but hopefully daytime rain will be to a minimum,  but I've got a couple places to hunt even if it doesn't ,  my tower stand has a roof on it, and I put a blind up last weekend,  I'm actually looking forward to the ground being wet ,  it'll make it easier to tell where they are currently moving around at.  the ground has been so hard its impossible to tell what tracks are old or what are recent.
> 
> I believe it will be a good opening weekend, and we haven't had one of those in a while !



Yessir!  Hard to go wrong no matter...just be thankful to be out there for one more season.  We added a couple of boxes this year so there may be a spot or two to crawl into if it gets too rough.  And of course the fire bucket can be an entertaining hunt as well.


----------



## Triple C

jbird1 said:


> Checking the older young gun out of school around Noon on Friday.  He'll be following me up in his own truck for the first time since he turned 16 a year ago...where o where does the time go?  He started climbing trees last year and he's ready to gut his own deer this year.  It's almost like Christmas eve for him and his other young gun contemporaries that'll be joining him on the Hilltop for the rifle opener.
> 
> It appears I'll be packing the wet weather camping package for this weekend.  The forecast went from pushing the moisture past the weekend to bringing it closer.  I even heard the weather gal mention a possible "tropical moisture" type of development this AM.  I'm gonna run with the 40-60% scattered overnight Saturday happy thoughts.
> 
> Good hunting to all you fellow OC hunters this weekend.  As always, I look forward to the report!


jbird - Every dad that raised young un's in the outdoors can relate to your story. Brings back great memories for me, particularly the very 1st time I let them do their own sit.  Wonderful times for sure.  I'm now reliving that experience through grandsons.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Yes, they grow up fast on us.  I have been posting on here a long time, since my oldest who is now 23 started hunting with me at the age of 5.  Jbird, continue to enjoy the ride, it is great.  I hope he kills the biggest buck in OC this Saturday.  My youngest (18 now) will be with me this weekend, he will drive over from Athens Friday after classes.  He also started when he was 5 or 6, can't remember now.  He now chaffeurs me to the club and we go our separate ways and enjoying texting each other thru the hunt what we are or are not seeing.  The oldest has entered the working world and will not be joining us, first time he will not be with us on opening day since he started hunting I believe.  Somewhat sad, but understand sometimes there are much bigger priorities.  Good luck fellow OC's this weekend and thru the season, I am going down tomorrow afternoon after work to get in a couple of ML hunts on Friday.  Would like to pull the trigger on the ML if a nice one walks out.


----------



## jbird1

Triple C said:


> jbird - Every dad that raised young un's in the outdoors can relate to your story. Brings back great memories for me, particularly the very 1st time I let them do their own sit.  Wonderful times for sure.  I'm now reliving that experience through grandsons.



A wise man once told me when I was kid and just starting out hunting, "One day, teach your kid how to hunt, and you won't have to hunt your kid." I take great pride in passing along the outdoors traditions.  I hope that like you, God willing, I'll make it to the bonus round.


----------



## jbird1

Buford_Dawg said:


> Yes, they grow up fast on us.  I have been posting on here a long time, since my oldest who is now 23 started hunting with me at the age of 5.  Jbird, continue to enjoy the ride, it is great.  I hope he kills the biggest buck in OC this Saturday.  My youngest (18 now) will be with me this weekend, he will drive over from Athens Friday after classes.  He also started when he was 5 or 6, can't remember now.  He now chaffeurs me to the club and we go our separate ways and enjoying texting each other thru the hunt what we are or are not seeing.  The oldest has entered the working world and will not be joining us, first time he will not be with us on opening day since he started hunting I believe.  Somewhat sad, but understand sometimes there are much bigger priorities.  Good luck fellow OC's this weekend and thru the season, I am going down tomorrow afternoon after work to get in a couple of ML hunts on Friday.  Would like to pull the trigger on the ML if a nice one walks out.



Appreciate the well wishes.  He's on a much faster track than I was as far as killing the good-uns.  He has his sights set on Athens as well...largely due to the proximity of the OC.  In the early to mid 90's, I was that UGA kid coming out after classes (and sometimes during...shhhhhh...haha.)  I've got one more buckeroo (10 yr old) that wants to be just like his big brother so I take him to the stand with me for now.  Yes, the work thing puts a twist on things but they'll find YOU when they break free...at least that's what I'm banking on.  Sounds like you've done a great job with them.. Congrats!!...and GO DAWGS!


----------



## Arrow3

Feels wonderful in OC this morning.  Unfortunately I'm at work. Why must we be adults and hold down full time jobs during hunting seasons?? It just isn't fair ??


----------



## Steven037

Making a dent one at a time. From last Saturday.


----------



## Arrow3

Good luck guys. If you get a chance go read my story of my 1st opening morning buck. 

http://forum.gon.com/threads/my-first-buck-on-opening-morning-30-years-ago.953121/#post-11943697


----------



## transfixer

Raining on us in OC this am, started a little while ago,  not the opening morning I was hoping for .. Good luck everyone !


----------



## transfixer

Well...i've learned one thing... can't count on new blinds to be waterproof. .lol.. picked up a Barronett 5 sided hub blind for this season..plenty roomy... but seems to leak everywhere I put my chair...lol


----------



## Buford_Dawg

I stayed in camp and made a fire and sat under the shed. Didn’t see the first creature ?. But I was warm and dry. I will be in a box stand this afternoon.


----------



## Arrow3

Had a funeral to goto this afternoon and guess who walked right in front of my blind.


----------



## Duff

Crap Brandon!  That’s a brute!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

I hope that ole boy visits me down the road Brandon. Nice buck.


----------



## Triple C

Great read Brandon on your 1st opening morning buck.


----------



## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> I hope that ole boy visits me down the road Brandon. Nice buck.


That will be kinda hard since he's in Oconee county ?


----------



## jbird1

Made the call Thursday to punt on opening weekend.  It was a tough decision, but not a big fan of riding out named storms at our primitive campsite.  I've done it many times before but doesn't jive with my current life phase/obligations.  I really need to work on that hunting lodge!  I was able to take care of some other stuff and be ready to hit it hard going forward.  I can tell you the young guns were not happy about the decision...ha!  Looks like rain next weekend too but hopefully won't have the tropical/windy element that takes it to another level.  I'm happy some of you troopers were able to take a cut at it though.  I did get one report from some other members that the sightings on Saturday were at a minimum.  Today looked like a good day to get on em.  Hope to hear some good reports.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Great weekend in OC.  Boy, did it rain Saturday.  Over a 1.5 inches in SC, Glades and BCR areas.  Should be perfect for those of you who planted foodplots.  I hunted Thursday evening, Friday, Saturday afternoon and Sunday AM.  Saw 5 deer total thru the weekend.  4 at my BCR club and one at SC club.  Turkeys have literally scratched up all our seed at BCR I believe, hopefully we got enough seed deep enough they didn't get it.  Finally heard a few shots this AM in the glades area, otherwise it was a very quiet weekend around the woods, with exception of target practicing / truing up rifles Friday evening at BCR area.  We had no deer taken at any of our clubs, but very limited participation as most of our members stayed home with the weather.  I will be back at it on Friday, lord willing.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Arrow3 said:


> That will be kinda hard since he's in Oconee county ?


Dang, I was hoping he was close.


----------



## transfixer

There will be no shortage of moisture for a while on our place,  I hunted for a while Sat morning,  spent the rest of the day in camp,  either watching it rain , or listening to it rain, Wind wasn't bad at all at our place,  but all those plantation pines have a way of blocking the wind anyway,,,,  After about 10:30 or 11 this morning the weather was great !   but not a lot of movement on our place,   The seed I had thrown out a few weeks back is doing nicely,  should jump a good bit after this weekend.  Seeing a few scrapes,  but still not seeing the big boys,  I know they are around,  I keep moving cams around,  I'm going to catch them sooner or later.


----------



## Souhternhunter17

Anyone here hunt in the Smithsonia area just south of Colbert and Comer? We have a new small lease down there and I am trying to decide what days I need to take off work to hunt. GON rut map says peak is Nov 9-14th but that seems late...


----------



## jbird1

Souhternhunter17 said:


> Anyone here hunt in the Smithsonia area just south of Colbert and Comer? We have a new small lease down there and I am trying to decide what days I need to take off work to hunt. GON rut map says peak is Nov 9-14th but that seems late...



Been hunting Northeast OC for a long time.  I've had chasing/big deer rut encounters anywhere from the week before Halloween all the way through Thanksgiving.  If I had to pick a week, I like the first week of November...followed by the 2nd week of November, followed by the last week of October.  My son did kill a good one on the 17th last year...a knarly, rut crazed buck.  The first week of December is underreated as well.  The secondary rut usually hits that week...just hard to get there as I've usually exhuasted all my weekend passes by then.


----------



## transfixer

We're towards the southeast part of the county,  but typically the first week of Nov is always the peak, give or take a few days either way,  but we've always gotten our biggest bucks between Nov 4th and about Nov 15th,    and as Jbird mentioned,  second rut seems to be about the first week of Dec.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Souhternhunter17 said:


> Anyone here hunt in the Smithsonia area just south of Colbert and Comer? We have a new small lease down there and I am trying to decide what days I need to take off work to hunt. GON rut map says peak is Nov 9-14th but that seems late...


Recently hunted Smithosonia Road area for 5 years.  We found the peak to be Nov. 10th give or take 5 days, however we always killed a good one Thanksgiving week as well.  Good luck, that is a terrific big buck area.


----------



## Arrow3

1 less hog in Oglethorpe.  

Set up on a fresh planted food plot yesterday in Sandy Cross. The sorry jokers have been rooting up my seed I planted. 

Took my AR and he came out right before dark. I only have a red dot on this gun so at this distance (87 yards ) you basically have to put the dot on the hog and let it RIP. 

Thought he was DRT . Went to get the 4 wheeler and when I got back he was gone. I assume he's laying in that thick clear cut. Not really worried about him but he can't be far. The buzzards and yotes should clean him up in a few days. 

Filmed with my tactacam.


----------



## revans4661

I'm still not seeing the buck sign that I normally see on our ace this time of the year. I gutted it out Saturday and saw a few does, went back out Sunday morning and saw 9 does. All deer were seen over acorns and some yellow green leaves that they seem to be really devouring. But no buck sightings or sign. We do have a few on camera so they are there. I do believe the rut is basically the same time every year, but I'm just curious about the lack of sign. Any thoughts? 
Our place is off of old Lexington rd. on turner hill rd. Near the old quarry with the cranes sticking up over the trees.


----------



## transfixer

looking ahead at this weekends weather,,,,, not looking good !   we go a couple of months with virtually no rain,  gun season starts and now its going to rain every weekend ?


----------



## jbird1

transfixer said:


> looking ahead at this weekends weather,,,,, not looking good !   we go a couple of months with virtually no rain,  gun season starts and now its going to rain every weekend ?



Ain't that the truth!  We may have a full on riot with our young hunters if we postpone again.  The local weather upped Saturday from 60% chance of showers yesterday to 90% chance of Heavy rain this morning.


----------



## jbird1

revans4661 said:


> I'm still not seeing the buck sign that I normally see on our ace this time of the year. I gutted it out Saturday and saw a few does, went back out Sunday morning and saw 9 does. All deer were seen over acorns and some yellow green leaves that they seem to be really devouring. But no buck sightings or sign. We do have a few on camera so they are there. I do believe the rut is basically the same time every year, but I'm just curious about the lack of sign. Any thoughts?
> Our place is off of old Lexington rd. on turner hill rd. Near the old quarry with the cranes sticking up over the trees.



Sometimes there's no rhyme or reason behind scrape activity.  My guess is the bucks will lay down a bunch of scrapes after the next big weather change...say if we get a big cold front that pulls us down into the thirties soon.  They may even put some down tonight and tomorrow night with the projected mid 40's temps.  Some years the scrape activity seems more compressed and others more drawn out...just never know.  This year may be more compressed.  I haven't been out yet so I don't have any boots on the ground intel yet though to compare.  One of the biggest deer ever killed on our property was killed over fresh, giant scrapes the week of Thanksgiving, which is long after the traditional pre-rut scraping activity.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

jbird1 said:


> Ain't that the truth!  We may have a full on riot with our young hunters if we postpone again.  The local weather upped Saturday from 60% chance of showers yesterday to 90% chance of Heavy rain this morning.


Same here, my whole crew is coming down if weather is not bad.  Fingers crossed the rain is light and only short periods, so we can get some quality stand time and campfire time around the shed.


----------



## jbird1

Buford_Dawg said:


> Same here, my whole crew is coming down if weather is not bad.  Fingers crossed the rain is light and only short periods, so we can get some quality stand time and campfire time around the shed.



David Chandley just showed a model for the weekend indicating close to 5 inches of rain in the Athens/NE Ga area.  That just can't be right.


----------



## transfixer

jbird1 said:


> David Chandley just showed a model for the weekend indicating close to 5 inches of rain in the Athens/NE Ga area.  That just can't be right.



     5 inches will put every stream in the area in flood stage !  I'll be keeping a close eye on the weather the next few days,  but I've pretty much resigned myself to staying home this weekend,  guess I'll catch up on some reloading I need to do anyway,,,,,,


----------



## Arrow3

Sandy Cross food plot this afternoon


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Looking good Brandon, that little disk sure does work good to be so small.  You ever had to replace the blades?  Did you find your hog, vultures should be getting on it.


----------



## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> Looking good Brandon, that little disk sure does work good to be so small.  You ever had to replace the blades?  Did you find your hog, vultures should be getting on it.


Never had to do anything to it at all. Been a very valuable tool. Works great for something this size because you can turn the 4 wheeler around easy. Faster you can run the better it plows .

Haven't looked anymore for the hog.

If you'll notice in the picture,  the back wheels are off the ground.  As soon as I sit my big butt on my 4 wheeler it really pushes the discs in the ground.


----------



## Arrow3

jbird1 said:


> David Chandley just showed a model for the weekend indicating close to 5 inches of rain in the Athens/NE Ga area.  That just can't be right.


I haven't seen anything talking about that much rain.


----------



## jbird1

Arrow3 said:


> I haven't seen anything talking about that much rain.



That was the American model for 5pm yesterday.  The European model was lighter on precip amounts but still enough to "make a dent in the rain deficit."  This morning, it looks like they are running with the Euro model so that's a good thing.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Oh well, more rain, hard to complain though with all the dry weather we had for so long.  Bring out the rain gear and hit the box stands.  Also, learned last evening our BCR property (which we just acquired several months back and have put alot of time and $$$ into this fall) was put up for sale yesterday.  Signs posted on our gate yesterday.  Hopefully we can hunt it this fall and spring, maybe it will sit on the market awhile.  Good luck this weekend guys, headed down myself this afternoon after work.


----------



## transfixer

Buford_Dawg said:


> Oh well, more rain, hard to complain though with all the dry weather we had for so long.  Bring out the rain gear and hit the box stands.  Also, learned last evening our BCR property (which we just acquired several months back and have put alot of time and $$$ into this fall) was put up for sale yesterday.  Signs posted on our gate yesterday.  Hopefully we can hunt it this fall and spring, maybe it will sit on the market awhile.  Good luck this weekend guys, headed down myself this afternoon after work.



       Sorry to hear about the property going up for sale,  I don't know that anything has changed hands much around there lately,  so it may sit a while ? 

    I don't think any of us will be across the road this weekend,  I'm just not up for the rain this weekend,  not after looking at the forecast,  and our access rd gets messed up pretty bad and real fast with rain like last weekend, and more this weekend, we've got about a mile to go after we get inside the gate,  the loggers did smooth it out after messing it up,  but it isn't hard packed so it gets nasty real quick.

   Good luck !


----------



## georgia_home

Just curious, what was the asking price? /acre?  Listing company?




Buford_Dawg said:


> Oh well, more rain, hard to complain though with all the dry weather we had for so long.  Bring out the rain gear and hit the box stands.  Also, learned last evening our BCR property (which we just acquired several months back and have put alot of time and $$$ into this fall) was put up for sale yesterday.  Signs posted on our gate yesterday.  Hopefully we can hunt it this fall and spring, maybe it will sit on the market awhile.  Good luck this weekend guys, headed down myself this afternoon after work.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

georgia_home said:


> Just curious, what was the asking price? /acre?  Listing company?



Sorry, I do not know any details.


----------



## Arrow3

Another one bites the dust....


----------



## jbird1

Good news for those hunting this weekend...the forecast has taken a turn for the better since yesterday morning. They are now saying periods of showers through Saturday with a main line coming through Sunday...but not a complete washout.  I pulled the plug after yesterday morning's forecast so I'll be at a swim meet in Calhoun this weekend.  Been tough sledding so far this season but happy for those that are hitting the woods this weekend.


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## Todd E

Hasn't rained. Temps too warm for this timeframe. I can turkey hunt in the heat. I can bow hunt in the heat. But when its this warm come gun season........I have zero motivation. This weather needs to change and stay that way. East and southeast winds are the pits.


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## Steven037

Plots look good and I found my first arrowhead.


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## transfixer

I was talking about arrowheads with another club member opening weekend,  we used to find arrowheads fairly reqularly on a couple of our roads on the lease,  to be honest I haven't looked for them lately,  cause I don't walk as much as I used to due to bum knees,  but going to look around next weekend for some. 

   On a somewhat related note,  does anyone here know anything about the history of the area off of Bethesda Church rd ?   we have a family cemetery plot on our lease,  from the 1700's,  Arnold family,   when we first started leasing it there were only headstones and markers,   back around 07 someone related to the family came in and put a sign up marking the cemetery.  We've always been curious if that area was part of a big plantation ?   its basically back behind the former UGA experiment farm.


----------



## Arrow3

transfixer said:


> I was talking about arrowheads with another club member opening weekend,  we used to find arrowheads fairly reqularly on a couple of our roads on the lease,  to be honest I haven't looked for them lately,  cause I don't walk as much as I used to due to bum knees,  but going to look around next weekend for some.
> 
> On a somewhat related note,  does anyone here know anything about the history of the area off of Bethesda Church rd ?   we have a family cemetery plot on our lease,  from the 1700's,  Arnold family,   when we first started leasing it there were only headstones and markers,   back around 07 someone related to the family came in and put a sign up marking the cemetery.  We've always been curious if that area was part of a big plantation ?   its basically back behind the former UGA experiment farm.


I don't know anything about the cemetery but if you goto the centerville end of Bethesda and turn right, the house with all the goats on the left and all the houses around it are all Arnolds.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Back home from a nice weekend in OC.  Hunted 2 of my 3 clubs, saw deer at both, not many but I dont think they moved much as all Saturday due to hot humid weather.  I only heard a few shots saturday evening, none saturday AM.  Had a large crew at camp, the wifes joined us, we ate great.  Triple C joined us for some socializing mid day saturday. Saw my first almost shooter this AM, he was legal by club rules, but let him walk, the older I get the bigger the deer has to be it seems   Our food plots are doing awesome, once acorns give out, imagine the plots will hold deer.  We saw no rain unil about 4 am this morning and it was gone by 6 am.  This AM was a terrific morning to be in the woods.  Deer moved good.


----------



## transfixer

Arrow3 said:


> I don't know anything about the cemetery but if you goto the centerville end of Bethesda and turn right, the house with all the goats on the left and all the houses around it are all Arnolds.



  I've done a little searching online,   it appears a lot of Arnolds settled around there in the late 1700's and 1800's,  we've always been curious as to what the land was way back when.


----------



## Triple C

Just got home a few hours ago from spending the weekend in OC.  What we thought was going to be a bummer of a weekend turned out pretty good.  Yesterday afternoon was miserable setting in the stand plus nary a deer showed.  This morning I stepped out before daylight to an overcast, muggy, humid start.  Went anyway.  Climbed in just after light enough to see and had an enjoyable few hours with 7 deer meandering through my spot.  Porker finally came in and bumped them out of the acorn flat they were feeding in.  Weather turned spectacular by 8:30.  Clear skies and the humidity dropped like a rock.

No venison on the ground.  However, a great morning just the same.


----------



## Souhternhunter17

Had a meeting down in Athens for work and got through in time to get over to our place in Oglethorpe. Hunted in the box stand over looking the “T” food plot that is looking 10x better now we have gotten some consistant rains. Saw a doe and a buttonhead and that was it. Checked my camera that is overlooking a scrape on the edge of the plot and have several good bucks checking it. Had a good buck hanging out with a doe yesterday AM at 7:35. They always seem to be there when you aren’t. From the looks of it they are starting to get rolling.


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## transfixer

The rut should be beginning good by this weekend,  if it follows the last few years,  I'll be heading to OC this friday,  just sorta watching the weather at the moment,  they don't seem to be able to nail down an accurate forecast lately.


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## Arrow3

Good , slow soaking rain at my house in Sandy Cross last night. I was glad to see it since I had planted 250lbs of wheat Wednesday.


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## jbird1

Finally gonna break the seal on the season this weekend...it's been a heckuva wait this year.  I could see some good bucks going down this weekend as they start feeling frisky and let their guard down.  The big dilemma will be Saturday afternoon's Cocktail party with the Dawgs n' Gators.  Through the wonders of technology, we have solved the TV riddle at camp and watching the game will be an option.  If I already had a couple weekends under my belt, the decision would be an easier one...ha!  Good hunting to everyone...have fun and stay safe!


----------



## Esau

jbird, I'd hunt. You can find out about that game after dark.


----------



## jbird1

Esau said:


> jbird, I'd hunt. You can find out about that game after dark.



Ha....no doubt.  It'll be a game time decision I suppose.  I could see myself doing an extended morning hunt til 1 or 2 and then rolling into camp for the game.  The conditions will be perfect and it's that time of year so big decisions ahead.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Going back down tomorrow evening after work.  Looks like cold weather coming in, should get the deer on their feet.  I expect to hear alot of shooting this weekend with the does days starting Saturday, I know several guys in my camp are wanting a doe, they let them walk last year and never got anything.  I think they gonna try early this year.  I am waiting till after Turkey day to take a doe, if I havent gotten a nice buck by then.  I will be in the stand Saturday afternoon, with my phone checking on the UGA game.  I am sure my son's and wife will be texting me as well, good or bad, LOL...  Good luck OC'ers, I hope you all get a nice one.


----------



## Steven037

Man they were moving today. Saw 6 in the food plot this am and took a nice doe. Got in a woods stand about 2:45 and saw 12 and took an even better doe. Even got done cleaned skinned and hung in time to watch the last quarter of the DAWGS beating the gators. Might just sleep in tomorrow.


----------



## Steven037

People were shooting today. Never heard so many shots. Drove past firetower headed to the feed store and they were so full trucks were lined down the street. Dropped of a pig from this morning and they said they took in 187 yesterday.


----------



## Triple C

Magic time of year in OC to be in the woods.  Bucks are on full cruise patrol.  This one came by at 9:00 a.m. Saturday morn.


Saturday afternoon this feller was chasing does all around this plot.  Game camera set on video caught a lot of the action.  Check out the orange blob between his rack in the tree at the end of the food plot.  Had a recurve in my hand so just sat and watched the show as they didn’t make it down where I was sitting.  Just goes to prove that they don’t see blaze orange.


----------



## jbird1

Nice buck TC!

We had a great weekend.  We took 5 deer total on our place... 1 good buck, 3 small bucks, and one doe.  I think it's the perfect mix for maintaining a healthy herd.  The bucks were really pushing/chasing good as I had anticipated.  Saturday was one of those hunts where I didn't know if I saw 15 deer or 30 the way they were running in circles.  My favorite part was the 2.5 yr old buck that was running around snort-wheezing in the middle of a pack of does.  Looking forward to next weekend already!!

To top things off, it was good to see the Dawgs get their third win in a row over Florida while hanging out on the Sandy Hilltop.  Technology does have some benefits I suppose.  Good stuff!


----------



## Souhternhunter17

Killed a good one this morning. Caught him cruising across the foodplot at 7:55 this morning. Hocks were black as night. God is good!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Just got home and settled in.  Been in OC since last Thursday.  Hunted hard and saw alot of deer, just nothing that made me say WOW.  Multiple young bucks cruising and looking.  We had one big buck shot at and missed and one big buck that my son decided needed to walk.  After seeing the picture of it, I cringed, I am thinking I have pressed maturity a little too much.  Hopefully he sees it again, I believe he will take it if he does   Didnt hear much shooting in the Glades and BCR area, but I am thinking there are not many deer left within a couple mile radius of Sandy Cross.  It sounded like a war both mornings I hunted there.  Lots of does on tailgates and trailers going up and down the road.  Good luck, the next 2 weeks are prime.


----------



## jbird1

Souhternhunter17 said:


> View attachment 989285View attachment 989286
> Killed a good one this morning. Caught him cruising across the foodplot at 7:55 this morning. Hocks were black as night. God is good!



Looks like you picked the right week...Congrats!


----------



## jbird1

Just thinking out loud here...what do yall's club rules look like as far as management goes?  I know as a club, we have evolved over the years and have settled in on a common sense approach to deer management.  In the early years, it was just a big deal to see deer so we didn't pay much attention to which animals we took and just loved any deer hanging on the pole.  As time passed, we started getting interested in managing for quality bucks and working towards a better buck to doe ratio.  This led to us letting the young bucks (1.5-2.5 and weaker 3.5 yr olds) walk and upping our doe harvest.  After several years of implementing these goals, our deer herd numbers steadily got fewer and fewer.  I know lots of folks were complaining about the herd in the piedmont during that time.  We got so frustrated with the state of affairs that we decided to change our philosophy.  Basically, we decided that it was far healthier for our herd to take small bucks for venison.  I know some of you will cringe at this and disagree.  That's ok.  I'm a firm believer in hunting the way you want and as long as it falls within the State regs.  I don't begrudge those who manage for quality bucks either. However, we came to the conclusion after trial and error that the does are, in fact, the lifeblood of our herd and that overharvesting of them is unhealthy and leads to a reduced quality of hunting based on animals seen.  So, we shot 3 young bucks to 1 doe this past weekend...and one "good buck"(3.5 yr old.)  To me, that ratio just feels right.  I'm sure a few more does will be taken later in the season to further balance things.  I can also guarantee that there are several older age class bucks in the herd so we aren't worried about that.  Just curious of your thoughts and management strategies to see if hunters like the ones in my camp would be considered "brown it's down" types?


----------



## transfixer

jbird1 said:


> Just thinking out loud here...what do yall's club rules look like as far as management goes?  I know as a club, we have evolved over the years and have settled in on a common sense approach to deer management.  In the early years, it was just a big deal to see deer so we didn't pay much attention to which animals we took and just loved any deer hanging on the pole.  As time passed, we started getting interested in managing for quality bucks and working towards a better buck to doe ratio.  This led to us letting the young bucks (1.5-2.5 and weaker 3.5 yr olds) walk and upping our doe harvest.  After several years of implementing these goals, our deer herd numbers steadily got fewer and fewer.  I know lots of folks were complaining about the herd in the piedmont during that time.  We got so frustrated with the state of affairs that we decided to change our philosophy.  Basically, we decided that it was far healthier for our herd to take small bucks for venison.  I know some of you will cringe at this and disagree.  That's ok.  I'm a firm believer in hunting the way you want and as long as it falls within the State regs.  I don't begrudge those who manage for quality bucks either. However, we came to the conclusion after trial and error that the does are, in fact, the lifeblood of our herd and that overharvesting of them is unhealthy and leads to a reduced quality of hunting based on animals seen.  So, we shot 3 young bucks to 1 doe this past weekend...and one "good buck"(3.5 yr old.)  To me, that ratio just feels right.  I'm sure a few more does will be taken later in the season to further balance things.  I can also guarantee that there are several older age class bucks in the herd so we aren't worried about that.  Just curious of your thoughts and management strategies to see if hunters like the ones in my camp would be considered "brown it's down" types?



   That is basically what we have tried to do for the last 3 to 5 yrs on our lease, before that we were limiting how many does we took,  but weren't taking any immature bucks,   for the last 3yrs we've really not taken any does at all,  I think one was taken last year by a member who hadn't seen many deer and got frustrated,   but even though our lease is small, 366acres,  we've noticed an increase in the population,   last year there were 3 bucks taken,  that I would call immature,   and one nice buck that was at least 3.5 maybe 4.5 yrs old.   this year everyone has vowed not to take a doe,  and we'll shoot 1.5 yr old bucks if we want meat for the freezer,   we've recently seen some smaller 8pts running around that we will let walk,  in hopes they fill out some more next year or two,   

     I think what you guys are doing is on the right track,  next year if we keep seeing an increase in the population like we have we might take two or three does,  but we're satisifed with the ratio we have right now,  at least going by our trail cam pictures.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Jbird, There are so many opinions on Deer Mgmt.  I think it really depends on the deer herd on your club and what you want to harvest and what you think is best for your particular property.  Personally, I have associated myself with like minded hunting friends and we tend to be particular in what we harvest.  We do not shoot young bucks, prefer to see them grow and will take a doe or two towards end of the season if the deer herd appears to support it.  There have been some years here recently where we felt it best not to harvest any does due to low numbers being seen.  However, We are seeing good numbers of does so far this year, so we may take a few this year, really depends on if we get a buck or two over the next month or so.  Based on what you describe it sounds as though your club is making sound decisions to support a healthy herd and not overharvest the does as they are the lifeline for sure.


----------



## jbird1

transfixer said:


> That is basically what we have tried to do for the last 3 to 5 yrs on our lease, before that we were limiting how many does we took,  but weren't taking any immature bucks,   for the last 3yrs we've really not taken any does at all,  I think one was taken last year by a member who hadn't seen many deer and got frustrated,   but even though our lease is small, 366acres,  we've noticed an increase in the population,   last year there were 3 bucks taken,  that I would call immature,   and one nice buck that was at least 3.5 maybe 4.5 yrs old.   this year everyone has vowed not to take a doe,  and we'll shoot 1.5 yr old bucks if we want meat for the freezer,   we've recently seen some smaller 8pts running around that we will let walk,  in hopes they fill out some more next year or two,
> 
> I think what you guys are doing is on the right track,  next year if we keep seeing an increase in the population like we have we might take two or three does,  but we're satisifed with the ratio we have right now,  at least going by our trail cam pictures.



It really is the best solution if there are several meat hunters in the club.  Everyone taking several does for the freezer each season is a recipe for reduced quality of hunts in my experience.  Personally, I like seeing deer most every hunt even though I am primarily a mature buck hunter.  So as a club, we have had to work towards a more balanced approach.  I still see mature bucks...now getting them on the ground is another story sometimes.


----------



## jbird1

Buford_Dawg said:


> Jbird, There are so many opinions on Deer Mgmt.  I think it really depends on the deer herd on your club and what you want to harvest and what you think is best for your particular property.  Personally, I have associated myself with like minded hunting friends and we tend to be particular in what we harvest.  We do not shoot young bucks, prefer to see them grow and will take a doe or two towards end of the season if the deer herd appears to support it.  There have been some years here recently where we felt it best not to harvest any does due to low numbers being seen.  However, We are seeing good numbers of does so far this year, so we may take a few this year, really depends on if we get a buck or two over the next month or so.  Based on what you describe it sounds as though your club is making sound decisions to support a healthy herd and not overharvest the does as they are the lifeline for sure.



I use to be the driving force behind letting the young bucks walk on our club as I tend to be more of a mature buck hunter than some others.  I'm the guy that would go years without pulling the trigger sometimes.  But I have had to try and see things through a different lens and moderate my stance since I've been hunting with the same family and friends since the lease's inception (mid 70's)...family and friends who love to put away several deer each year for venison.  If I were forced to leave that club, I would probably align more with the quality buck folks if I were unable to join a place with those same family and friends.  As it stands, I am happy with the balanced approach...folks get their venison and we all still have a good chance at a mature buck.  The chances may be reduced somewhat as it would relate to a club with strict, quality buck standards, but it is what it is.  I guess you could call us a throwback club, not necessarily a brown it's down club.  We try and manage our does is where we're at.  Like I stated earlier, I don't look down on any management plan...as long as clubs have a plan.  Being good stewards of the resources is what it's all about for me.


----------



## transfixer

jbird1 said:


> It really is the best solution if there are several meat hunters in the club.  Everyone taking several does for the freezer each season is a recipe for reduced quality of hunts in my experience.  Personally, I like seeing deer most every hunt even though I am primarily a mature buck hunter.  So as a club, we have had to work towards a more balanced approach.  I still see mature bucks...now getting them on the ground is another story sometimes.



     There are currently 5 members in our club,  four of us hunt regularly,  the ones that hunt regularly all like to put meat in the freezer,  we all like deer meat, two of us are single,  two are married with families,  the guys with families could easily eat 2 or 3 deer a year,  the single guys usually just one.   We just decided we'd rather leave the does alone and let them add to the population instead of putting them in the freezer,  there haven't been a lot of bucks killed by us in the last few years,  and if the adjoining club is telling the truth not by them either,   and going by our trail cam pics we have plenty of spikes, 4pts and 6pts running around, although we'll leave the 6pts alone,    so this year if I don't see a nice mature buck, I'll likely put another yearling buck in the freezer, and so will a couple of the other guys, but that doesn't mean we're going to take 5 or 6 young bucks out this year,  as a few get taken we'll re-evaluate what to do, and may alter our strategy somewhat. 

 One thing the guys I hunt with all believe in,  we don't kill more deer than we are going to eat,  over the years we've had guys that did do that,  and we've weeded them out .

  it might not be the best plan for some clubs,  but as you said,   we all like seeing deer most every hunt,  even though we aren't going to shoot them,  seeing multiple deer when you are in the woods makes the whole experience more enjoyable,  I wish we could get the population numbers back up to what they were in the late 80's early nineties,   but thats never going to happen I fear.


----------



## Triple C

Great discussion jbird.  Since buying a piece of OC ground in 2011 and spending a crazy amount of time improving habitat to hold deer, here's what I know for certain - Any attempt to manage for mature deer (3.5 and older), is an exercise in frustration and futility.  But...I continue to try.  Just too much hunting pressure with so many clubs in the county. Add a nearly 3 month long firearms season to the mix and and good looking 2.5 yr old bucks sprouting 90 to 110 inches of bone, most hunters gonna have a hard time passing on those.  And here's the reality of it - If it's legal, who am I to even suggest someone else hunt by my standards.  I wish folks would pass on younger bucks but I respect their choice to harvest whatever makes them happy.  And I don't give it a second thought any more.  Like a lot of you guys, I love seeing deer from the stand and particularly bucks.

To your point, I think you are spot on as far as improving deer numbers - better to shoot a yearling buck than a doe.  If we didn't have the deer numbers we do I'd be all for shooting young bucks and letting the does walk.


----------



## Triple C

And, even I don't pass em all.  Put a rifle in a bowhunter's hands and you have the prescription for shooting 2.5 yr olds.  For some reason, this past Saturday morn I decided to hunt the Redneck blind with my rifle which is a rare occurrence.  Watched deer feed in the plot for bout an hour after daylight and then at 9:00, this feller walked out of the pines directly across from me.  Next thing you know...kaboom!  Nice 2.5 yr old.  Having Firetower turn him in to cajun jerky and summer sausage.  He'll eat good!


----------



## Triple C

Saturday afternoon I'm sitting in a ladder stand on the lower section of our property with recurve in hand.  Had a couple of young bucks chasing does through the plot.  Check out the orange blob between the bucks horns in the background.  That's me in the stand and wearing my orange vest.  I have this camera set on video and when I pulled the card the next morn I got several videos of this buck chasing does with me sitting in the tree.  He didn't get close enough.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Nice buck and nice blind CCC, great day you had there.  If I can get my son's truck repaired today, then I am headed down this evening for a 4 day weekend.  This time of year, you just gotta be in the woods as a big one may walk out at any time.  Expecting a big crowd at my camp again this weekend, they all know when the time is right


----------



## jbird1

transfixer said:


> There are currently 5 members in our club,  four of us hunt regularly,  the ones that hunt regularly all like to put meat in the freezer,  we all like deer meat, two of us are single,  two are married with families,  the guys with families could easily eat 2 or 3 deer a year,  the single guys usually just one.   We just decided we'd rather leave the does alone and let them add to the population instead of putting them in the freezer,  there haven't been a lot of bucks killed by us in the last few years,  and if the adjoining club is telling the truth not by them either,   and going by our trail cam pics we have plenty of spikes, 4pts and 6pts running around, although we'll leave the 6pts alone,    so this year if I don't see a nice mature buck, I'll likely put another yearling buck in the freezer, and so will a couple of the other guys, but that doesn't mean we're going to take 5 or 6 young bucks out this year,  as a few get taken we'll re-evaluate what to do, and may alter our strategy somewhat.
> 
> One thing the guys I hunt with all believe in,  we don't kill more deer than we are going to eat,  over the years we've had guys that did do that,  and we've weeded them out .
> 
> it might not be the best plan for some clubs,  but as you said,   we all like seeing deer most every hunt,  even though we aren't going to shoot them,  seeing multiple deer when you are in the woods makes the whole experience more enjoyable,  I wish we could get the population numbers back up to what they were in the late 80's early nineties,   but thats never going to happen I fear.



You're club sounds about like mine.  We've also had to weed out a few abusers through the years.  To me, the worst ones had no self control.  They would make a habit of shooting at pieces of deer so you were always tracking their wounded deer.  It gets old quick.  We also have no shortage of small bucks..and does for that matter now that we have settled in on our balanced approach which seems to meet the needs of the various members as a whole.  I passed on a several bucks this past weekend in fact.  The herd seems healthy for sure.


----------



## jbird1

Triple C said:


> Great discussion jbird.  Since buying a piece of OC ground in 2011 and spending a crazy amount of time improving habitat to hold deer, here's what I know for certain - Any attempt to manage for mature deer (3.5 and older), is an exercise in frustration and futility.  But...I continue to try.  Just too much hunting pressure with so many clubs in the county. Add a nearly 3 month long firearms season to the mix and and good looking 2.5 yr old bucks sprouting 90 to 110 inches of bone, most hunters gonna have a hard time passing on those.  And here's the reality of it - If it's legal, who am I to even suggest someone else hunt by my standards.  I wish folks would pass on younger bucks but I respect their choice to harvest whatever makes them happy.  And I don't give it a second thought any more.  Like a lot of you guys, I love seeing deer from the stand and particularly bucks.
> 
> To your point, I think you are spot on as far as improving deer numbers - better to shoot a yearling buck than a doe.  If we didn't have the deer numbers we do I'd be all for shooting young bucks and letting the does walk.



That's what I like about your place TC...it's a Dictatorship!

As you undoubtedly know, moving the needle philosophically amongst a group of hunters with varying ideas about what hunting means to them can be a task that can prove difficult and takes some time.  I truly believe that's why we have settled where we are on our club.  From one end of the spectrum to the other, we settled somewhere in the middle after 40 years.  I'm hoping we can avoid the yo-yo effect with the herd and just hunt.  

Good talk, Guys!


----------



## Triple C

jbird1 said:


> That's what I like about your place TC...it's a Dictatorship!
> 
> As you undoubtedly know, moving the needle philosophically amongst a group of hunters with varying ideas about what hunting means to them can be a task that can prove difficult and takes some time.  I truly believe that's why we have settled where we are on our club.  From one end of the spectrum to the other, we settled somewhere in the middle after 40 years.  I'm hoping we can avoid the yo-yo effect with the herd and just hunt.
> 
> Good talk, Guys!


Totally agree jbird.  I have absolutely no issue with whatever any other hunter chooses to harvest and happy for them all.


----------



## jbird1

Buford_Dawg said:


> Nice buck and nice blind CCC, great day you had there.  If I can get my son's truck repaired today, then I am headed down this evening for a 4 day weekend.  This time of year, you just gotta be in the woods as a big one may walk out at any time.  Expecting a big crowd at my camp again this weekend, they all know when the time is right



You're livin' the dream getting away early..I'm envious!  We'll be down for the Friday evening hunt if all goes well.  Knock him down!


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## revans4661

Fortunate to be in the woods from now until Sunday. They are starting to lay down some scrapes and tear up some trees. I have seen some deer but no real rut activity yet. It's about to get good...


----------



## Triple C

Here's an OC (Oconee County) buck my son took Sunday afternoon on a tract of land I picked up earlier this year.  Oldest deer he's ever killed.  Thing's got a snout that looks like a horse.  Lot less hunting pressure over there.  Hope to break ground on our retirement home in a month or so as soon as we can get permits pulled.  A couple more years and I plan to be in both OCs full time.  Can't wait!


----------



## jbird1

Congrats on the new acquisition and great deer!  Look at the Roman nose on that deer.  Grass sure doesn't grow under your feet does it?  Sounds like you'll have the Hunting Cabin and the Hunting Lodge within' striking distance of each other...haha.  Good  Stuff!


----------



## Arrow3

Can't beat hunting with great friends.  Me and 2 friends decided to go camp down at the lake and hunt corps land the last 2 days.  None of us have ever really hunted public land for deer . We waited to daylight yesterday morning before going in . I dropped Chad off by boat in a cove he had never set foot in. A hour and a half later he had this 9 point down. We had a heck of a celebration with fried crappie, fries , and some cold adult beverages that night. If I can't be the one killing them I just as soon see my best friends kill them!! Fun times.


----------



## Triple C

Doesn't get any better than that Brandon!  That's a great buck! Truth is I'd quit hunting if I only hunted solo.  I ain't that good of a hunter but I sure do love the social aspect of it.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Heck of a public land buck!


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Terrific day in the woods.  Bucks running does. Bucks responding to grunt calls and rattling horns(bag). Took a pretty good 8 shortly after daylight this morning. One of those split second decisions when the buck is running doe all over creation ? and you pick a spot between the trees and pull the trigger as he runs thru it. Knew he was outside the ears and had good tine length from initial sighting. Thanks to my friend and fellow hunting member REVANS4661 for helping me load him up.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Arrow3 said:


> Can't beat hunting with great friends.  Me and 2 friends decided to go camp down at the lake and hunt corps land the last 2 days.  None of us have ever really hunted public land for deer . We waited to daylight yesterday morning before going in . I dropped Chad off by boat in a cove he had never set foot in. A hour and a half later he had this 9 point down. We had a heck of a celebration with fried crappie, fries , and some cold adult beverages that night. If I can't be the one killing them I just as soon see my best friends kill them!! Fun times.
> View attachment 989819


That is a great buck. Hard to beat that. And on new territory. I bet u guys do that trip again. Maybe sooner than later with that outcome ?


----------



## Triple C

BD - Great looking buck!


----------



## buckbull

Those are some good bucks you guys are knocking down.


----------



## Arrow3

Killed this mature 7 pointer yesterday in Sandy Cross.  Good hunt with several bucks bumping does, 2 bucks squaring off, and 1 throwing out a snort wheeze. I had this deer on camera close to a mile from where he showed up yesterday.  Hoping to fill my 2nd buck tag with my AR-15. Good luck guys.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Terrific deer Brandon. We did not have that deer on camera at our place.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Well, just returning from a extended weekend in OC.  The weather was fabulous, the camping was fabulous and then deer move pretty good.  We had a large group at camp this weekend, I think I counted 15 persons at one point Saturday night around the fire pit.  Wives, kids, girlfriends, etc.....  One of our campers did a big Jambalaya for everyone and it was outstanding.  Now to deer hunting, I posted my Thursday luck, but also saw 7 other bucks this weekend, and several that were close to what I took on Thursday.  They all got passes.  We had no other deer harvests which is crazy for this time of year, no one saw a shooter that they cared to take and for some reason, they decided to wait another week or so on Does.  The buck I shot on Thursday was chasing big time, but all the other deer I saw and our other members saw were cruising or tending does, just staying close   Should be good for another week or so, then it might get tough.  Good Luck.


----------



## Todd E

Nothing like an afternoon spot and stalk before you go deer hunting. 

I was out, in the car, checking things. Hadn't had lunch. Spotted her and babies. Called my buddies. They were all tied up. Went all way home for truck and gun. Do a ride by. Yeup.....still there. Go park. Grab vest, gun, and stix. In no time, she was pinched. I love those quickies. Course, its 7pm and I still ain't had lunch. SMH


----------



## Buford_Dawg

WTG Todd, get rid of all of them


----------



## transfixer

I agree with BD,  it was a perfect weekend to be in the woods !  Great weather , even if it was a little chilly first thing in the am,  lol .    One of our guys took another 8pt friday around lunchtime,  decent buck, but nothing special, not near as wide as Arrow's buck a few posts above,  so now that guy is tagged out on bucks,  kicking himself actually,  cause he went back friday afternoon and sat in the stand with his camera and saw one bigger than either of the ones he took.  " a good bit bigger"  was all he would say,  lol 

     I'm still not seeing anything to entice me to pull the trigger,  maybe this weekend.


----------



## jbird1

Checking in from the weekend.  Friday evening started out with a bang.  My 10 year old and I had just finished the long walk into our hunting area when I heard my 17 yr old shoot.  Soon after I get the "buck down" text.  Then I get a "10 point" text.  At this point we make a joint decision to extract and go assist.  The way he tells it, a giant, ancient looking doe eased through.  She was so mature that at first he thought it was "an old buck with no antlers."  He then realized she was with another deer.  He said the buck eased out of the brush and looked up at him in his climber.  He felt as if the buck was about to bolt so he took the only shot he had, a neck shot. The deer dropped right there.  The deer was a large bodied, main frame 10 just outside the ears with good mass.  I would hazard a guess that he was 3.5...possibly 4.5 depending...definitely not an old, old buck.  We managed to link up and get him dressed without the need of a torch which was nice.  That was the only deer of the weekend for our crew.  Everyone saw plenty of deer but they were family groups moving with purpose single file, not feeding or running in circles like last weekend.  I feel like the healthiest matriarchs were probably locked down with breeders on our property.  I know it varies from one part of the county to the other, and even property to property sometimes.  That's just the feeling I got on our place.  We'll be back at em for the next two weekends for sure.


----------



## Triple C

Magical time of the year boys!  Great, great weekend in OC with nothing to show for it.  Convinced we have more deer than ever.  Everybody saw plenty and all got a pass with the exception of 4 pigs.  I had my closest encounter ever with a shooter buck with my recurve yesterday morning.  Very nice tall-tined 8pt at 10 yds but couldn't get drawn back on him.  It was seriously unnerving.  Ladder stand made the slightest creak when he was at 20 yds and as I was attempting to stand and he went into full-alert.  Came in within 10 and locked up but I couldn't move.

Been at this trad thing for a few years now and yet to take a buck.  But...it's gonna happen.  Safe hunting!


----------



## jbird1

Triple C said:


> Magical time of the year boys!  Great, great weekend in OC with nothing to show for it.  Convinced we have more deer than ever.  Everybody saw plenty and all got a pass with the exception of 4 pigs.  I had my closest encounter ever with a shooter buck with my recurve yesterday morning.  Very nice tall-tined 8pt at 10 yds but couldn't get drawn back on him.  It was seriously unnerving.  Ladder stand made the slightest creak when he was at 20 yds and as I was attempting to stand and he went into full-alert.  Came in within 10 and locked up but I couldn't move.
> 
> Been at this trad thing for a few years now and yet to take a buck.  But...it's gonna happen.  Safe hunting!



That's a great hunt TC!  Just getting one in that close is a win as far as I'm concerned.  I have been needing a new challenge in the deer woods and was debating a traditional bow...


----------



## Triple C

jbird1 said:


> That's a great hunt TC!  Just getting one in that close is a win as far as I'm concerned.  I have been needing a new challenge in the deer woods and was debating a traditional bow...


You'll do 95% watching and 5% shooting.  But man is it fun to try and get em in that close.  Case in point, the previous weekend I decided to hunt with rifle - buck walks in to big field at 80 yds - within 30 seconds - buck down.  Kinda over before it started and nothing wrong with that.

Buck that came in yesterday I saw at about 40 yds in the middle of a thick hardwood draw with knarly vines and such in the bottom.  I'm sitting up on a very slight ridge and he's coming straight toward me.  I should have stood the minute I saw him behind the brush but I didn't.  Now I'm having to watch him come in and then try and stand when he's about 20 yds.  A slight sound and he's on full alert.  What seems like an eternity goes by and he's now at 10 yds where he's locked up and trying to identify this strange object above him.  He doesn't bolt, just turns and trots behind me where I watch him walk down an interior road and turn toward the pines.  I grunt loudly and he stops, comes back across the road into the draw i'm sitting in but about 40 yds away and then just disappears.  It is a heart pounding way to hunt for sure.  I'm just not very good at it.  I make too much freakin' noise.


----------



## Steven037

I’m excited to be headed back mid week after the rain to hunt this week. Gonna be hunting all day Wednesday and Thursday.


----------



## Arrow3

Steven037 said:


> I’m excited to be headed back mid week after the rain to hunt this week. Gonna be hunting all day Wednesday and Thursday.


That's definitely gonna be prime time.


----------



## transfixer

jbird1 said:


> That's a great hunt TC!  Just getting one in that close is a win as far as I'm concerned.  I have been needing a new challenge in the deer woods and was debating a traditional bow...



    I tried a few years back to get into traditional archery, bought a longbow and a takedown recurve,    I might could have hit a deer at 10yds consistently,  but I was trying to get consistent at 20/25yds,  figuring I couldn't hope to get closer than that to one,   I just never could get consistent,  I finally gave up,   I've got a good bit of patience,  just not enough to master traditional archery  !   lol


----------



## revans4661

What a week... I was fortunate enough to spend 5 of the last 7 days in the woods with nothing to show for it but some good memories. I saw a lot of deer, the couple shooters I did see just weren't in the cards for one reason or another. I was talking with friends while watching the UGA game , and one of the wives heard me say that I spent 10 hrs in the stand on Friday. She asked me how in the world do you sit in the woods for that long? I said how many people do you know that will sit in front of the tv, computer, phone for hours on end? Instead of sitting in the den I choose to sit in mother nature's den. I experience every emotion that your favorite TV show can offer and they are much more intense. The picture quality is second to none, instead of staring at a box on the wall I have a 360 degree 3 dimensional view. And I can promise you that unlike most of today's electronic entertainment, what I see and what I will see are 100% unpredictable. I can and will continue to "binge watch" the most incredible, longest running reality series, created and produced by mother nature.
She just stared in amazement, mouth wide open. Her husband, a fellow outdoorsman high-fived me and yelled to her, "what he said!"
It's easy to explain your true feelings...

Congrats again BD, glad I was there to help!⁸


----------



## jbird1

Triple C said:


> You'll do 95% watching and 5% shooting.  But man is it fun to try and get em in that close.  Case in point, the previous weekend I decided to hunt with rifle - buck walks in to big field at 80 yds - within 30 seconds - buck down.  Kinda over before it started and nothing wrong with that.
> 
> Buck that came in yesterday I saw at about 40 yds in the middle of a thick hardwood draw with knarly vines and such in the bottom.  I'm sitting up on a very slight ridge and he's coming straight toward me.  I should have stood the minute I saw him behind the brush but I didn't.  Now I'm having to watch him come in and then try and stand when he's about 20 yds.  A slight sound and he's on full alert.  What seems like an eternity goes by and he's now at 10 yds where he's locked up and trying to identify this strange object above him.  He doesn't bolt, just turns and trots behind me where I watch him walk down an interior road and turn toward the pines.  I grunt loudly and he stops, comes back across the road into the draw i'm sitting in but about 40 yds away and then just disappears.  It is a heart pounding way to hunt for sure.  I'm just not very good at it.  I make too much freakin' noise.



I do the 95%/5% thing already so I'd be ok with that.  I hunt OTG mostly too so I'd have that challenge to complicate things as well.  The good thing is that by virtue of ground hunting mostly, I'm use to close qaurters hunting.  Like what you were alluding to, I get on my feet or one knee If I can hear them coming first.  I want to get on them as soon as they show because the likely hood of being busted goes way up at eye level...and if there's more than one set of eyes, forget about it.  

My son wants a compound, which I guess I could join him and get a compound too.  That would extend my range a little over traditional/recurve.  I'm just not sure at this point.  I get tired of hunting that 150-160 ghost and I'd enjoy killing just about anything with a bow because of the new goal/challenge that's more attainable is what I'm thinking.


----------



## jbird1

transfixer said:


> I tried a few years back to get into traditional archery, bought a longbow and a takedown recurve,    I might could have hit a deer at 10yds consistently,  but I was trying to get consistent at 20/25yds,  figuring I couldn't hope to get closer than that to one,   I just never could get consistent,  I finally gave up,   I've got a good bit of patience,  just not enough to master traditional archery  !   lol



That's some real world, boots on the ground intel there!...and something to think about.  Maybe an old flashpan smoke pole would be fun to try too..haha.


----------



## transfixer

jbird1 said:


> That's some real world, boots on the ground intel there!...and something to think about.  Maybe an old flashpan smoke pole would be fun to try too..haha.



   my smokepole is an old hawken,  percussion cap style,   I gave in and went to the dark side on archery,,  I'm using a crossbow now,  of course I have yet to draw blood with it,


----------



## Buford_Dawg

revans4661 said:


> What a week... I was fortunate enough to spend 5 of the last 7 days in the woods with nothing to show for it but some good memories. I saw a lot of deer, the couple shooters I did see just weren't in the cards for one reason or another. I was talking with friends while watching the UGA game , and one of the wives heard me say that I spent 10 hrs in the stand on Friday. She asked me how in the world do you sit in the woods for that long? I said how many people do you know that will sit in front of the tv, computer, phone for hours on end? Instead of sitting in the den I choose to sit in mother nature's den. I experience every emotion that your favorite TV show can offer and they are much more intense. The picture quality is second to none, instead of staring at a box on the wall I have a 360 degree 3 dimensional view. And I can promise you that unlike most of today's electronic entertainment, what I see and what I will see are 100% unpredictable. I can and will continue to "binge watch" the most incredible, longest running reality series, created and produced by mother nature.
> She just stared in amazement, mouth wide open. Her husband, a fellow outdoorsman high-fived me and yelled to her, "what he said!"
> It's easy to explain your true feelings...
> 
> Congrats again BD, glad I was there to help!⁸



Rick, Appreciate your help, would have never got him loaded without you.  You had a terrific week, just didnt pull the trigger, lots of time left, and you got to see a huge buck or two, I believe you will get one soon.


----------



## jbird1

Steven037 said:


> I’m excited to be headed back mid week after the rain to hunt this week. Gonna be hunting all day Wednesday and Thursday.



Tonight and tomorrow gonna be prime conditions...would love to be out there.  Good luck! One of my best rut hunts ever was 95' or 96', Nov. 13-14 when lows were in the teens during the middle of the week...college days...


----------



## Arrow3

I knew this weather change would get them on their feet. I've been sitting at work all morning daydreaming about being in the woods... Then my cell cam went off a little bit ago ... Joker is just teasing me. I'll be sitting there this afternoon and I dare him to come back


----------



## Steven037

I’m fired up. We’ll get out there late tonight and hunt all day tomorrow and Thursday. Hopefully they’ll be moving good.


----------



## Arrow3

Take some warm clothes !  Plus take something to sit on ... Stands in the woods are gonna be wet!!


Steven037 said:


> I’m fired up. We’ll get out there late tonight and hunt all day tomorrow and Thursday. Hopefully they’ll be moving good.


----------



## Steven037

Arrow3 said:


> Take some warm clothes !  Plus take something to sit on ... Stands in the woods are gonna be wet!!


Box blinds and buddy heaters looking over big green fields.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Arrow3 said:


> I knew this weather change would get them on their feet. I've been sitting at work all morning daydreaming about being in the woods... Then my cell cam went off a little bit ago ... Joker is just teasing me. I'll be sitting there this afternoon and I dare him to come back View attachment 990922


i hope that ole boy eases down the road about a mile this weekend


----------



## Arrow3

Buford_Dawg said:


> i hope that ole boy eases down the road about a mile this weekend


He'll be about at North Oconee high school if he does ??


----------



## Todd E

Just wanted to share a finished euro of my son n laws OC 8 pt taken about two weeks ago. . He had never owned a deer rifle. I gave him one as a gift. Brand new 30/06 bolt action. He is very proud of that thing. I must say, he has put it to good use on deer and pigs. I have a ton of fun doing euros for him.


----------



## Triple C

Todd E said:


> Just wanted to share a finished euro of my son n laws OC 8 pt taken about two weeks ago. . He had never owned a deer rifle. I gave him one as a gift. Brand new 30/06 bolt action. He is very proud of that thing. I must say, he has put it to good use on deer and pigs. I have a ton of fun doing euros for him. View attachment 991014


Love the euro's you've posted over the years Todd.  Be nice to see a collection of em on here if you'd post em up.  We did a euro on a table top base after seeing one of yours several years ago you posted.


----------



## jbird1

Steven037 said:


> Box blinds and buddy heaters looking over big green fields.



With the moon like it is, hang tight for late morning action...preferrably near some bedding areas.  Hope you already have him down!


----------



## Arrow3

I get off of work at 3:30 every day in Winterville. I can hunt the last good hour and a half nost days of light if I bust tail home. I'd been thinking about going all day yesterday till I was on my way home and the wind was totally wrong for my tripod where I killed the 7 pointer.  I'm thinking another shooter is gonna show up looking at those does coming to feed in the evenings . Might go today if it's not raining hard when I get off .


----------



## jbird1

Arrow3 said:


> I get off of work at 3:30 every day in Winterville. I can hunt the last good hour and a half nost days of light if I bust tail home. I'd been thinking about going all day yesterday till I was on my way home and the wind was totally wrong for my tripod where I killed the 7 pointer.  I'm thinking another shooter is gonna show up looking at those does coming to feed in the evenings . Might go today if it's not raining hard when I get off .



Is that your back yard stand? (thought I remembered you had one)


----------



## Todd E

@Arrow3 Rain is holding off until tonight. East wind this evening.


----------



## Arrow3

jbird1 said:


> Is that your back yard stand? (thought I remembered you had one)


No sir. That property sold this year just before deer season started. I hated it bad.


----------



## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> @Arrow3 Rain is holding off until tonight. East wind this evening.


I can't hunt it on a straight east but I can on a northeast.  Looks like it may switch to that by the time I can make it to the stand.


----------



## Arrow3

Wind was good...Bad thing about going in so late is I run deer out of the field.. Ran 8 out... Had 7 in the field when I left at dark. Only buck was a 3 inch spike giving the girls heck


----------



## O_2BHUNTIN

Was fortunate to take this deer yesterday afternoon. He was out cruising looking for hot Doe. This is in the Clouds Creek area of the county.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Great buck. I miss that clouds creek club some days. Some good bucks on it.  Just viewed another strong buck on a tailgate that a buddy of mine took this AM in Glades area. Big heavy horned 9 point. I am sure he will post pictures soon.


----------



## revans4661

The deer woods never disappoint... patience finally paid off this morning!


----------



## Arrow3

Congratulations Revans and O2BHunting on a couple of nice bucks.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

revans4661 said:


> The deer woods never disappoint... patience finally paid off this morning!
> View attachment 991333


Great buck Rick. You deserved it as much time you put into the woods the last 3 weeks. Funny we never had either of those bucks on trailcam. Both just showed up in the last week or less. Does pulling them onto the property ?


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Another splendid 4 days in the OC woods.  Seen deer almost every hunt, got to view full blown chasing involving 2 or more bucks on 2 different occasions, including one chase with several really nice bucks.  Had 3 bucks taken by our camp over the weekend, all taking during chasing activities.  I had thought it was slowing down after last weekend, but this weekend was crazy good.  Best I've seen in many years down there.  We still have taken no does at camp, but I imagine some members will here soon.  Also, you pretty much can not find a open deer processor in OC.  I heard someone say Firetower may not open up again most of the season based on what they took in several weeks back.  I picked up a buck at Greg's this afternoon on the way home and they are not taking any until at least mid week.  And after the shooting I heard again Saturday and Sunday AM's, more and more are hitting the ground.  Get in the woods right now if you can.


----------



## jbird1

Great OC bucks, fellas!

We had a great weekend in the woods although the report is a 180 of Buford Dawgs.  We saw a couple of deer here and there but the woods in our part of the county were pretty much dead.  I think our deer were on lockdown.  I also heard very few shots all weekend.  Some years we're still going good on this weekend but most times ours has ended in large part by 17th.   The GON rut map has a pretty good handle on it too.  The line between the 9th and 15th rut peaks runs right through the county.  Ours in the NE happens slightly earlier than central and Western Oglethorpe's does.  We're probably done hunting until after Thanksgiving.  I'd love the get out there first week of December but we'll see.  Good hunting and GO DAWGS!


----------



## Triple C

Buford_Dawg said:


> Also, you pretty much can not find a open deer processor in OC.  I heard someone say Firetower may not open up again most of the season based on what they took in several weeks back.  I picked up a buck at Greg's this afternoon on the way home and they are not taking any until at least mid week.



BD - Dropped by Firetower Saturday mid-morning to check on my jerky/summer sausage and you're right...no more deer until further notice.  Good indication of a healthy deer herd or too many deer being killed.  Lot of deer hit the ground over the past 2 weeks.


----------



## transfixer

Triple C said:


> BD - Dropped by Firetower Saturday mid-morning to check on my jerky/summer sausage and you're right...no more deer until further notice.  Good indication of a healthy deer herd or too many deer being killed.  Lot of deer hit the ground over the past 2 weeks.



   I'd be curious as to the numbers of does turned in versus bucks ?   our county is one of the hardest hunted in the piedmont I believe,  lets just hope its not too many being killed , especially too many does.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

transfixer said:


> I'd be curious as to the numbers of does turned in versus bucks ?   our county is one of the hardest hunted in the piedmont I believe,  .lets just hope its not too many being killed , especially too many does.


I heard it was about 75% bucks the first doe weekend.  Supposedly, FT took in over 400 deer that first doe saturday, crazy. That is rumor I heard at Sandy cross cafe.


----------



## Todd E

Game Check shows OC at 1594 total.
77 buttons
283 less than 4 per side
576 4 or more per side
658 does

**checked as posting this**


----------



## transfixer

Todd E said:


> Game Check shows OC at 1594 total.
> 77 buttons
> 283 less than 4 per side
> 576 4 or more per side
> 658 does



  At least thats more bucks than does,   but its a lot more does killed than I would like to see,,,,


----------



## Todd E

Wow. Everybody went quiet on the OC thread. 

I've been up and down the OC roads a lot lately, after hours. Many does grouped up on the ROW feeding. Anywhere from 2 up to 7. Haven't seen a buck anywhere.


----------



## Hughy

By living next to a deer cooler, I can honestly say they may all be dead. Especially the ones 2 1/2 years old and younger


----------



## Buford_Dawg

They been a ton shot, that is for sure.  Most shooting I have ever heard in the SC area in my many, many years of hunting there.  And you can not find a open cooler to drop off a deer, at least in that area.  Hopefully, we will not see the adverse effects in the next year or two  Headed back down tonight for a extended stay, got next week off, gonna stay around camp most of the time.  I really need to get my youngest son on a good buck, he has put in alot of time and seen many bucks, just not a good shooter.


----------



## Arrow3

I hunted my field yesterday afternoon in SC and only saw 5 . That's the worst sit yet there. I normally see at least double that.


----------



## transfixer

I have been griping and complaining for the last 4 or 5 years about the ridiculously long doe days we have, along with 10 doe tags,  especially for a county hunted as much as OC is,  but it falls on deaf ears at DNR,   I guess when the harvest numbers drastically drop from one season to the next they'll pay attention ?


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Arrow3 said:


> I hunted my field yesterday afternoon in SC and only saw 5 . That's the worst sit yet there. I normally see at least double that.


We hadnt taken a doe there yet this year, that may change soon, but most of that club hesitates from shooting them.  We probably will take 3-4 at most.


----------



## Todd E

Hughy said:


> By living next to a deer cooler, I can honestly say they may all be dead. Especially the ones 2 1/2 years old and younger



Great to see you posting. Didnt expect it. Glad you're okay. Been a lot of praying, my friend.


----------



## Todd E

@Hughy


----------



## Triple C

Todd E said:


> @Hughy
> 
> View attachment 992198


You should be making a living or at least supplementing your income with euro mount art.  As good as I've ever seen.


----------



## Triple C

When all processors are full, we either have an abundance of deer or we're killing way too many in the county.  And, I agree with Hughy...when I dropped my buck off at Firetower I was blown away at all the deer piled up outside, about 40% bucks and 60% doe, and the vast majority of the bucks were young deer.

Interesting enough, I feel like we've had less shooting around us than any year since buying the property.  The club across the dirt road that borders Loyd Smith and Arnold Caldwell has been significantly quieter than years past.  I understand they had a huge turnover in membership and perhaps not as many folks hunting this year.  And the 1000 acre tract that borders us to the south seems to be much quieter than years past.

We're seeing more deer than ever on most sits and feel like we need to take a few does off the property.  I was adding up this morning and think we've killed only 5 or 6 doe since 2011.  From a purely selfish point of view, I'd love to see more young bucks passed up.  One can only imagine what would be produced in OC if more bucks made it to the 4.5 yr old class and older.

I'm taking next week off and spending a few days with my oldest grand son in OC. Then the crew will come in Thursday for my favorite holiday of the year.  Great food with family with none of the pressure and commercialization that comes with Christmas these days.


----------



## Todd E

In the distant past, processors were not full. I do not recall ever being turned away. 
2018 rolls around and it begins. Guess what also began...legalized baiting. 2019 rolls around and processors are full at the same time frame. 

Staunch opponents to baiting gave the prediction. 

Whether baiting or overzealous killing....I have no clue what has brought about full processors. But, I do predict that in 2 to 5 years We will all pay for it.


----------



## transfixer

Todd E said:


> In the distant past, processors were not full. I do not recall ever being turned away.
> 2018 rolls around and it begins. Guess what also began...legalized baiting. 2019 rolls around and processors are full at the same time frame.
> 
> Staunch opponents to baiting gave the prediction.
> 
> Whether baiting or overzealous killing....I have no clue what has brought about full processors. But, I do predict that in 2 to 5 years We will all pay for it.



    Since baiting has been made legal and pretty much everyone is doing it to some extent or the other,   its going to require restraint on the part of hunters not to overkill the area population,  but as well all know, not that many hunters even consider that, especially those that haven't hunted for years and years,    the only way I can see to curtail the overkilling of deer,  especially does,  is to cut back on the tags allowed, and cut back drastically on doe days,  but the DNR doesn't seem to see the need in doing so,  they cut back one year if I remember right, and then the next was right back to wide open.   I still believe the automobile insurance industry has a large say in our deer regulations,  although no one wants to admit it. 

  Myself and those I hunt with have voluntarily cut back on killing does, to the point last year and this year we've agreed not to take any, and we agreed years ago that each member would not take more than 3 deer from our lease 7 or 8 yrs ago, for the last 4 or 5 years no one has taken more than 2,   and its helped in our area,

     But I still see guys who think its perfectly fine to take 7 or 8 deer each season , even though their family might only use 2 or 3 at the most,  they'll take the others for friends or co-workers,  legal ?   yes, of course,  make sense for the future ?  absolutely NO !    but getting them to understand that is like talking to a brick wall,   had one guy tell me if the population dropped to where he didn't see many deer on the lease he had joined,   he'd just go find another club to join.


----------



## Triple C

Great topic and discussion transfixer.  And to Todd's point, I hadn't considered the impact on baiting since made legal last season.  Purely anecdotal with no data to back it up, but when all the processors are slap full and no longer taking in deer, something has changed.  And, it could very well be baiting.

What are your thoughts on baiting and do you and/or your club members hunt over bait?  If yes, has it increased the number of deer killed.

Based on our own personal experience, I was of the opinion that it neither helped or hurt.  But after reading Todd's comments it got me to thinking that perhaps it is having an impact on the total deer harvest in the county.

If you do put out corn and want to prevent any loss to pigs, build yourself a corral that the deer easily jump over but the pigs can't get in.  We built 3 of these this past March and fed all summer long.  Not a single pic of a pig inside the corral since building.  And this time of year, you could just pour the corn out on the ground inside the corral.  Here's a pic of one of the corrals.


And lastly, I really enjoy this thread.  We have the most active county report thread on the forum and hope we get even more guys participating.  Even though I've not met most on here, I feel like I know most of you as friends.  Pretty awesome.


----------



## transfixer

Triple C  ,   we did start putting out corn last year during the season, prior to that we put out corn after the season was over and up until about March,  

 We haven't noticed a benefit other than it has allowed us to get a good feel for how many deer we have hanging out on our property,   we haven't killed any more than before, even though we have consistently seen more deer each sit, at least when they were active and moving around.   but thats because as a club we are trying to get the population back up, and we only take what we will eat.   Could we have killed more ?  Absolutely,  if we were taking does out especially,   so I can see where some clubs that don't have a quota they restrict themselves to could easily kill a lot more than in previous years.


----------



## Triple C

I'm spending too much time in here today when I should be doing other things. 

But, hard not to.  We haven't filled feeders since 1st of Sept.  Not for any reason other than we haven't seen the need or stopped by the feed store.  Come mid-December, we have an access road that's about 3 to 4 hundred yds long that's quite wide and straight where we will broadcast corn.  Last December, we slung corn from the 3 pt spreader down that access rd. Put a couple of guests in a ladder stand overlooking the entire access rd.  They saw a bunch of deer but didn't shoot a dern one.  Just watched em.  We seem to have a problem with just watching em.  Pretty sure we're on the docket to host one of the Outdoors Without Limits hunters in December and plan on putting him or her in a blind overlooking the access rd.


----------



## Todd E

I hunt in SGA. I was used to the baiting gig. We planted any opening we could. Various grains. Heavily limed. Deer just walk through them. Three 10 acre places where pines are clean and someone has the straw leased out. Other than that.......thick young pines choked with gallberry bushes. Wet bottom of black muck that will go over your boots. Very few pin oaks. You have to bait in an opening if you wanna shoot a deer. Only way to pull them out. 

With the legalization in the northern zone, it up'd the anti. It helps those with restraint and a sound population mindset. For those who wanna lay em out, it made it easy to. I'm not against it. It's legal now. But.....I can show restraint. 

We took this land back over this year. Last year, my club member didnt bait. By end of November he was disgusted with stand time, plot work, and minimal deer sightings. Out came the bait. Voila......started seeing deer. Depending on the topography, acreage, and dpsm, .......... if you're not baiting, you're not seeing deer. We didnt bait last year on another tract. By December frustration....bait came out. Voila. This year.....two free choice, then converted to spinners, two pipes, salt and minerals still out, plots in. Always see deer. Haven't shot a doe and not going to. Real picky on bucks. Only shoot by age. Most of you saw my dads buck. Baiting is what you make it. Some folks may be taking it too far.


----------



## Steven037

Triple C said:


> Great topic and discussion transfixer.  And to Todd's point, I hadn't considered the impact on baiting since made legal last season.  Purely anecdotal with no data to back it up, but when all the processors are slap full and no longer taking in deer, something has changed.  And, it could very well be baiting.
> 
> What are your thoughts on baiting and do you and/or your club members hunt over bait?  If yes, has it increased the number of deer killed.
> 
> Based on our own personal experience, I was of the opinion that it neither helped or hurt.  But after reading Todd's comments it got me to thinking that perhaps it is having an impact on the total deer harvest in the county.
> 
> If you do put out corn and want to prevent any loss to pigs, build yourself a corral that the deer easily jump over but the pigs can't get in.  We built 3 of these this past March and fed all summer long.  Not a single pic of a pig inside the corral since building.  And this time of year, you could just pour the corn out on the ground inside the corral.  Here's a pic of one of the corrals.
> View attachment 992231
> 
> And lastly, I really enjoy this thread.  We have the most active county report thread on the forum and hope we get even more guys participating.  Even though I've not met most on here, I feel like I know most of you as friends.  Pretty awesome.


How long before the deer were comfortable jumping the fence ? I like the idea. I’m in the same boat. We have tons of deer/does but we’re mostly just enjoying seeing like to of deer every sit. Trapped number 48/49/50/51 hogs for the year plus the ones we’ve shot so far this year.


----------



## Triple C

Steven037 said:


> How long before the deer were comfortable jumping the fence ? I like the idea. I’m in the same boat. We have tons of deer/does but we’re mostly just enjoying seeing like to of deer every sit. Trapped number 48/49/50/51 hogs for the year plus the ones we’ve shot so far this year.


The doe(s) took to it within days.  Filled feeders in March with a mix of Oglethorpe Seed n Feed store's own pellet blend and corn.  Didn't take bucks long to start jumping the fence as well.  Made of hog panels and T-posts. 30 ft in diameter.  Good on you for trapping.  We need to do the same.  We shoot em all year long and a bunch of em in the summer but trapping is so much more effective.


----------



## Steven037

Triple C said:


> The doe(s) took to it within days.  Filled feeders in March with a mix of Oglethorpe Seed n Feed store's own pellet blend and corn.  Didn't take bucks long to start jumping the fence as well.  Made of hog panels and T-posts. 30 ft in diameter.  Good on you for trapping.  We need to do the same.  We shoot em all year long and a bunch of em in the summer but trapping is so much more effective.


They were fun at first. Pest that we hate now. We trap them year round and shoot all we can. Never seem to go away


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## Todd E

While typing that long response earlier, this happened. She was hotter than a $2 pistol. Busted in and a spike busted her out. While I was typing that post, she came trotting back 15 mins later. I do not know what buck was behind her. She busted me on phone. So I ..........

Only deer taken off property so far.


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## Arrow3

Last year I put corn out during bow season. I bow hunted 5 times and killed 3 .... After that I never put any out. I don't like feeding the hogs and that's about all that's gets it.  

This year I baited during bow season and could have shot a bunch but never did because I didn't need the meat. 

Right now most of my sightings are coming from a field that I planted about a acre and a half of wheat in. I usually average about 10 per afternoon.  It's where I killed my 7 point.


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## Arrow3

This was last night in my plot. That's a pretty good size one ?


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## jbird1

I missed all the fun yesterday.  It's kind of an extension of the "how do y'all manage your deer" conversation from back before the processors got full.  I was worried about the yo-yo effect in the deer heard and then TODD E pointed out the baiting correlation with the full coolers which I hadn't thought of. That is yet an additional layer to the cake.  To my knowledge, the only baiting we've ever done on our property was for hogs in the off season.  I have no idea how effective it is for deer hunting...seems the evidence is pretty strong that it helps.  As a club, we decided that we would not bait our "big woods" deer and just hunt based of natural mast, browse, and the minerals that come out of the earth...(not that we wouldn't put in some food plots if we had some tillable fields or logging decks but we don't.)  And for the record, I have nothing against those who do bait as it's legal.  I do have a concern on how the herd will be affected though..and to that concern, that the response will be reactive.  In other words, controls put in place after the "effect" of baiting in the North.  I have a feeling the yo-yo effect will continue.  At my stage, I'm all about sustainable harvest.  Take what you need and nothing more.  Have balance in what you are taking from the herd...some young bucks early, a few does late, hopefully a couple of mature bucks along the way.  Common sense basically.  At this point the genie is out of the bottle so hang on to your hat for the results of baiting in the piedmont.


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## Todd E

I've seen four deer this morning. Three ate corn. Didnt eat plot greenery. Some days, it is 50/50 on what they choose. Baiting is VERY effective, until you start shooting rifles over it.


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## transfixer

I've got a small food plot about 20yds from one of my feeders,   it should be up high enough now that the deer would browse it, I'll check when I go back first part of next week,  but I do expect them to go for the corn first.


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## Triple C

Grandson and I each expect to be on a stand by 3:30 this afternoon.  Might even stop by feed n seed store and load up on some corn...


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## Todd E

Triple C said:


> Grandson and I each expect to be on a stand by 3:30 this afternoon.  Might even stop by feed n seed store and load up on some corn...



I've seen your haul from the feed store. 
Y'all better beat TripC.  He's gonna empty the place.


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## Triple C

Son’s bringing gooseneck in morn. Downsized from a GMC 2500 to 1500 n can’t haul enuf in mine...


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## Triple C

View right now. Got recurve so they gotta get real close. Cant believe AT&T has service down here  1st time I’ve ever been able to post live from the stand


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## Triple C

Got my 29 yr old Archery Traditions chamois shirt on for old times sake for any of u guys that remember Dan Quillian when he had his shop in Beechwood. Lot of memories in this shirt.


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## Arrow3

Used to love to go in Archery Traditions as a kid. Talked many times with Mr. Dan.


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## jbird1

Love it TC!  I have a camo long sleeve T from there...same orange writing.  Now I probably couldn't fit into it anymore..haha.  I use to wear it with a pair of Walls overalls from Franklin's during bow season.  Good Stuff!


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## Arrow3

That's a big ole rooter right there. If I was at home I'd strap my green light on my AR and go but I'm in Athens eating with my wife at Cheddars.


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## Buford_Dawg

Arrow3 said:


> That's a big ole rooter right there. If I was at home I'd strap my green light on my AR and go but I'm in Athens eating with my wife at Cheddars.
> View attachment 992394


 We had a big boar hog killed this afternoon at my SC club. First of the year. Been getting them regularly across the club at night. One finally decided to venture out in daylight.


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## Triple C

Arrow3 said:


> Used to love to go in Archery Traditions as a kid. Talked many times with Mr. Dan.


Brandon, when the boys were growing up we practically lived in his shop. Shot so many nights at his indoor range. Got one of his longbows n one of his cane break recurves today. 



jbird1 said:


> Love it TC!  I have a camo long sleeve T from there...same orange writing.  Now I probably couldn't fit into it anymore..haha.  I use to wear it with a pair of Walls overalls from Franklin's during bow season.  Good Stuff!


Had that same T shirt as well. It’s still around here somewhere. I just can’t find it. 

As for my hunt yesterday, I had 2 young bucks come into the plot about 150 yds below me. One stood on his back legs n worked the branches of a tree then worked a scrape under it. Finally came on a rope up the plot toward me and the other buck followed. I got a little heart rise as they were coming up on my side right on the edge of plot.  Had a perfect South wind. Both ducked in to the hardwood draw behind me at about 60 yds n must have headed toward the swamp as I never saw them again. Great sit though. Perfect weather. 

Grandson headed to the enclosed blind this morn with all the rain. Pops sitting in cabin drinking coffee this rainy morn. I’m getting soft. 

Good luck boys!


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## Todd E

Arrow3 said:


> That's a big ole rooter right there. If I was at home I'd strap my green light on my AR and go but I'm in Athens eating with my wife at Cheddars.
> View attachment 992394



Prego sow?? I can't really tell.


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## Todd E

I've been on vacation for two weeks. I guess I'm soft, too. Home drinking coffee this morning. Hope y'all can stay dry and "catch a deer". 

I dropped my quartered/cooler doe off yesterday eve. I mentioned the discussion of processors being full and if there was any correlation with baiting. Something was mentioned that I hadn't thought about..................

With the ability to legally bait, there are more hunters in the woods.


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## Seavy

I am have a slightly different opinion about the current discussion. I see the processors being full as a good thing for the localized deer population. Based on the harvest reports of the past 5 years. Harvested deer reported in OC averages about 2500 annually the majority if that number is met by the end of thanksgiving. We are currently at around 1700. I would be surprised to see more than 400 more deer harvested by the end of the season. If people don’t have a way to process many are not going to bother hunting. I however do agree with the majority that letting the does go is best if the habitat allows it. I believe that as long processors stay full we will have a better herd in two years than we have had in the last 2 years.


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## Triple C

Seavy...You just had to throw facts n data into the discussion. 


Interesting enuf, only 696 doe reported to date vs 1341 all of last season. Just a guess but that seems like fewer doe are being killed. I would have thought more based on processors being closed. 

Sitting on front porch of cabin in shorts n t shirt, sipping coffee n listening to rain. A happy, happy man.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

I didn’t hunt either. I drank coffee, grabbed a biscuit at SC cafe and came back to camp and pressure washed mine and my dad’s campers. He turned 79 yesterday, figured I would clean his camper up. The only person in our camp that is hunting has zeroed. It pouring now. Gonna head to Athens shortly and watch the Dawgs play ball. I will be in my full camo rain suit ?.
As far as baiting it certainly is a great attractant, especially for a lot of the timber leases which is all pines now. Hard to eat pine cones ?. We are not allowed to bait on my SC club and I can tell you our neighbors are reaping the benefit of us not baiting. I can show you 3 different neighbors on our southeast property line that have feeders less than 50 yards from our property line. Each neighbor owns 3-4 acre lot. My son’s primary stand sits 125 yards from these lots. He has counted 5 times this year and 9 last year where small buck or does came by him and go that way. Within 5 minutes the deer was shot. Up until last year there was never a shot anywhere around that area. Perfectly legal. But for someone with a very small acreage to hunt it is really a big deal to draw the deer to ur area from ur neighbor. It will be interesting to see the final deer harvests for OC this year.


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## Todd E

Fewer does killed could mean fewer does out there to kill..................

I must say, it's an interesting discussion.
Only time will tell.


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## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> Prego sow?? I can't really tell.


Me neither


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## transfixer

We've seen more does this year on our lease than in the last couple,  and we haven't heard a lot of shots in our area,  I haven't been there every weekend,  but I have on the weekends when the weather was favorable,  I'm home this weekend because of the predicted rain today,  but will be at the lease by Tues or Wednesday morning,   

  If those numbers are an accurate reflection of less does killed this year than the last few ?   I hope it continues and holds true !   Most hunters don't stop and think every doe killed removes more than just one from the population,  sometimes 2 or 3,  I enjoy seeing deer when I'm in the woods,  even though I have no intention on taking the majority of them.   I have my fingers crossed the weather stays favorable next week ,   it seems lately rain comes in only on weekends, or when I try to hunt 

   I know the deer don't care about rain,   but now that I'm older,, its not as much fun to hunt in the rain as it once was,,, lol


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## Triple C

Holy Cow!  Lexington got a Burger King!  Grandson n I went to Bells bout lunch for chili ingredients. At 15, he eats like a freakin horse. His parents are in Israel so I get to let him eat what he wants. No granola bars with Pops when you’re 15. He hadn’t ate a Whopper ever. Ordered him a Dbl Whopper with cheese, large fries n Dr Pepper. He destroyed it. I ordered the tree hugger whopper (meatless) and was surprised at how good it was. Don’t know if it will continue but the service was fantastic. Really quick drive thru even with several in line. 

Speaking of OC, as we rode by the court house I told him you would not find a more beautiful building in the southeast. Such an iconic court house.


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## Todd E

I have to be back at work Monday. I'm fixing to brave the rain. Maybe it's out of here by 5pm. 
I do not think anyone but my crazy self is gonna try.


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## Arrow3

Meatless whopper?? ???


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## Triple C

Arrow3 said:


> Meatless whopper?? ???


Yessir...Meatless Whopper. They got a name for it but I can’t remember it. Tasted sorta like meat.   I’m with Todd. Sitting this one out n watching the Dawgs. Grandson headed to ladder stand with a cover over it. He still gonna get wet. But he’s 15. I’d a done the same at that age.

Edit...Just saw where Todd was venturing out in this stuff. Maybe he n Jaden will both connect on a big un for venturing out.


----------



## Arrow3

Triple C said:


> Yessir...Meatless Whopper. They got a name for it but I can’t remember it. Tasted sorta like meat.   I’m with Todd. Sitting this one out n watching the Dawgs. Grandson headed to ladder stand with a cover over it. He still gonna get wet. But he’s 15. I’d a done the same at that age.
> 
> Edit...Just saw where Todd was venturing out in this stuff. Maybe he n Jaden will both connect on a big un for venturing out.


Oh I know what it is... the impossible whopper. I was just shocked you were eating it ?


----------



## Broncobird

It was a good morning to be in the woods seen 12 deer by 8:30 bucks running does 2 8pt 6pt and smaller buck all got a pass sure wish I could be in the woods the next couple days


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## Duff

Man, y’all have a great thread going. Im in Rayle, one lease is just across the line off Centerville. So I’m always checking to see what you guys have going on in the deer woods. Some great bucks killed in here!


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## Triple C

Duff said:


> Man, y’all have a great thread going. Im in Rayle, one lease is just across the line off Centerville. So I’m always checking to see what you guys have going on in the deer woods. Some great bucks killed in here!


Thx Duff!  You close enuf. Join in and let us know what’s happening in ur neck of the woods.


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## transfixer

Duff said:


> Man, y’all have a great thread going. Im in Rayle, one lease is just across the line off Centerville. So I’m always checking to see what you guys have going on in the deer woods. Some great bucks killed in here!



   Our lease is about 1/2 mile, maybe not quite a mile,  from the Wilkes county line, we're off Bethesda Church rd.


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## Todd E

Friends, Hughy had surgery a few days ago to repair an issue. Was doing good. Pain erupted last night. CT scan showed a leak. He just got taken back for surgery again. 

He is a great guy. Wonderful wife. Whether you believe in God and the power of prayer or not.....please think of he and his wife.


----------



## jbird1

Duff said:


> Man, y’all have a great thread going. Im in Rayle, one lease is just across the line off Centerville. So I’m always checking to see what you guys have going on in the deer woods. Some great bucks killed in here!



The more the merrier.  I'm active in the Madison County thread since we're on the line up there.  The hunting reports have always been my favorite part of hunting for some reason..each hunter gets to tell his story after the hunt.  The OC thread stays pretty active all year which is nice too.  If you can't be in the woods personally, you can live vicariously through fellow hunters.


----------



## jbird1

Todd E said:


> Friends, Hughy had surgery a few days ago to repair an issue. Was doing good. Pain erupted last night. CT scan showed a leak. He just got taken back for surgery again.
> 
> He is a great guy. Wonderful wife. Whether you believe in God and the power of prayer or not.....please think of he and his wife.



Prayers sent...


----------



## transfixer

Todd E said:


> Friends, Hughy had surgery a few days ago to repair an issue. Was doing good. Pain erupted last night. CT scan showed a leak. He just got taken back for surgery again.
> 
> He is a great guy. Wonderful wife. Whether you believe in God and the power of prayer or not.....please think of he and his wife.



   I will keep them in my thoughts and prayers


----------



## Steven037

Been a week and a half but feels like forever since I’ve been out. Drove out to check on things and get an afternoon hunt in. Then back Friday after Thanksgiving. Fire tower taking deer again yet?


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Prayers here for Hughy.  Windy and chilly this AM. Slow for us for most part though my buddy missed a doe ??. We get to rag him awhile.


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## Buford_Dawg

Fire tower appears to be open. Drove by there on way to UGA game yesterday.


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## Todd E

Hughy is out. Stable. In icu for the night. 

Thanks.


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## Arrow3

Todd E said:


> Hughy is out. Stable. In icu for the night.
> 
> Thanks.


I text him this morning to see how he was feeling. I wondered why I hadn't heard from him. Thanks for the update.


----------



## Arrow3

Me  and some friends kicked off Rock's 9th duck season this morning.


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## jbird1

Awesome!


----------



## Duff

Triple C said:


> Thx Duff!  You close enuf. Join in and let us know what’s happening in ur neck of the woods.



Thanks!  I haven’t made it down in a few weeks but looking forward to a long weekend after Thanksgiving. 
IMO, we have way to many does on our property. Last time I hunted, I saw 13, 13, 15, 30 and 13   That’s 5 hunts in 4 different stands. Very little buck sign in the woods. We’ve only killed 1-2 good bucks the last couple years. (1200 acres). I know they are there, they just don’t have to move. 

Some members are very protective of the does, and I understand why but a few need to be taken out imo. We have taken 6 this year and hope a few more before seasons end. 

Mr C, Chuck came over and hunted with me last time I was down. I put him in my stand and he killed the best buck we’ve killed in 2 years. Lol. A dandy 8 pt.


----------



## Duff

Great morning Brandon!


----------



## Triple C

Todd - praying for Hughy. Thx for sharing.


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## Arrow3

Had a great afternoon hunt in Sandy Cross.  I saw a pile of deer , not exactly sure how many they kept going in and out of the woods so much. It was definitely in the teens. Saw a real nice 3 1/2 year old 8 pointer. He was grunting 180 yards from me across a field and I could hearing him good. I may have to go back in there and get closer to the back with my AR-15.  My goal this year was to kill a decent buck with it.. The deer this afternoon was a higher scoring deer then the one I killed.  

BD.... I heard 2 shots over back towards your club.


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## Steven037

Good afternoon sit. Quiet. Didn’t hear many shots. Maybe only two and one was my son. We saw probably 15 deer between the four of us hunting. Mostly does and a few small bucks. My son dropped two pigs with one shot. 80/90 pound boar and a @125 pound pregnant sow.


----------



## oglebuck747

Todd E said:


> @Arrow3 Rain is holding off until tonight. East wind this evening.


----------



## oglebuck747

My dad got this one Thursday evening in OC. He claims it was a 300 yard shot. I wasn’t there to confirm it. However, he thought it was a miss but the next morning he went back to figure out a new stand placement to put himself in a better position because we a hunting pines that have just been recently been thinned and deer patterns a different. To make a long story short while scouting a new spot he found the buck he shot at the night before. I hate it the meat spoiled but it’s great that the buck didn’t end up with the coyotes.


----------



## Souhternhunter17

Been 2 weeks since I have been back down to our OC property and its only been hunted once since then. Football and duck season starting has kept me away. However I am itching to get back into the stand. I plan to be down there Thur-Sun off and on. Anyone still seeing many bucks moving does around?


----------



## Triple C

Souhternhunter17 said:


> Been 2 weeks since I have been back down to our OC property and its only been hunted once since then. Football and duck season starting has kept me away. However I am itching to get back into the stand. I plan to be down there Thur-Sun off and on. Anyone still seeing many bucks moving does around?



Had a buck dogging a doe yesterday morning. But, nothing like it was 2 weeks ago. Still seeing deer pretty much every sit. Had a spike walk within 3 yds of me this morn while I was moving from one stand to another. I could almost have touched him when he walked by.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

I’ve been down since Friday AM. Seen zero chasing and few deer. Been tough trying to find a good buck for my son. We gonna hang with it.


----------



## Triple C

Back in same stand I hunted Friday afternoon. Grandson at the far end of this plot in another ladder. Quiet as a mouse. Just being honest...I’d doze off right now if I was sitting the Millenium ladder stand. Hoping one gets within 15 yds of either of us this afternoon.


----------



## Todd E

Triple C said:


> Back in same stand I hunted Friday afternoon. Grandson at the far end of this plot in another ladder. Quiet as a mouse. Just being honest...I’d doze off right now if I was sitting the Millenium ladder stand. Hoping one gets within 15 yds of either of us this afternoon.
> View attachment 992773



That's what I call gorgeous Fall colors. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## JWT

Duff said:


> Man, y’all have a great thread going. Im in Rayle, one lease is just across the line off Centerville. So I’m always checking to see what you guys have going on in the deer woods. Some great bucks killed in here!


I’m about 4 miles from the crossroads at 22 &44 in Wilkes county & I’m always checking this thread


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## Steven037

Son laid down a 132# doe this afternoon. Can’t wait to get back out there Friday.


----------



## Arrow3

Cleaned my ducks yesterday afternoon from Sunday morning's hunt when I got home from work. Walked out to the backside of my 5 acres to clean them and spotted this. There was a scrape near it so I threw out about 5lbs of corn and put a camera up. My woods are so open that I'm sure that he did it at night but it will be cool to see him on camera.


----------



## Triple C

Little smack down action on a porker with recurve...

Set up this morning near the creek with the swamp behind me. This is one of the prettiest spots on the property. Has a section of 30 yr old loblolly bordered by a creek bottom with mature hardwoods that drains into the swamp. I was set up on the edge of pines next to the hardwood creek bottom in a perfect red oak with lots of low limbs to hide me. 

Had a spike come by at less than 5 yds but decided to give him a pass. Just after he passed by, I had a sounder of pigs come down the hardwoods vacuuming acorns. As they got closer I decided I was gonna sling an arrow if given the chance. This 80 poundish sow works her way to about 20 yds and turns broadside but I had junk between us. She turned and gave me a quartering shot at 23 yds. Drew back, picked my spot and released. Bam!!!  Quartered the woodsman 3 blade right behind her ribs n up thru her boiler. 80 yds n heard the death squeal. Pretty proud of that shot as it doesn’t happen often. 


This was my view. Shot her in that fire break rd.


----------



## Todd E

Triple C said:


> Little smack down action on a porker with recurve...
> 
> Set up this morning near the creek with the swamp behind me. This is one of the prettiest spots on the property. Has a section of 30 yr old loblolly bordered by a creek bottom with mature hardwoods that drains into the swamp. I was set up on the edge of pines next to the hardwood creek bottom in a perfect red oak with lots of low limbs to hide me.
> 
> Had a spike come by at less than 5 yds but decided to give him a pass. Just after he passed by, I had a sounder of pigs come down the hardwoods vacuuming acorns. As they got closer I decided I was gonna sling an arrow if given the chance. This 80 poundish sow works her way to about 20 yds and turns broadside but I had junk between us. She turned and gave me a quartering shot at 23 yds. Drew back, picked my spot and released. Bam!!!  Quartered the woodsman 3 blade right behind her ribs n up thru her boiler. 80 yds n heard the death squeal. Pretty proud of that shot as it doesn’t happen often.
> View attachment 992846
> 
> This was my view. Shot her in that fire break rd. View attachment 992847



That is great TripC. Way cool with the traditional gear.  Is it your first traditional kill or just first in some time? Congrats, sir. 

Perfect pig to split and que whole on the coals. Just get those glands out.


----------



## Duff

Great job Mr C!!


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## Triple C

Todd E said:


> That is great TripC. Way cool with the traditional gear.  Is it your first traditional kill or just first in some time? Congrats, sir.
> 
> Perfect pig to split and que whole on the coals. Just get those glands out.



1st trad kill since my “freshman” trad year in 2014 or 15. I’ve missed 4 or 5 deer since then. Spent a lot more time practicing this year. Shot felt great when I released and went like it had a laser on it. Honestly, pigs are the perfect animal of trad shooting. You can spot n stalk em much easier than deer. I hate em so bad I rarely shoot em cause I don’t want to lose an arrow or broad head. This morn was different for some reason. When I saw em come in I decided to shoot. 

Now I need something with horns on it. It’s a blast shooting trad even though the killing is few n far between.


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## jbird1

Very inspiring,TC...the magical flight of the arrow!!


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## Buford_Dawg

WTG AC, nice hog and with Trad gear.  I meant to get over and visit you this week but it seemed like we had all kind of things we had to take care of in between hunts.  Came home today to rest up, LOL, hunting can whoop me sometimes.  Be back down Thursday evening for the weekend.  Deer sightings have really slowed down for us.  Pressure, less deer around after some heavy killing the last 3 weekends around the clubs and deer wising up lead to that this time of year.  Happy Turkey day to you fellow OC'ers and good luck this weekend if you happen to get in the woods.


----------



## Triple C

Been n this bottom snow 2:30. Pretty sit with the leaves mostly gone.


Buford_Dawg said:


> WTG AC, nice hog and with Trad gear.  I meant to get over and visit you this week but it seemed like we had all kind of things we had to take care of in between hunts.  Came home today to rest up, LOL, hunting can whoop me sometimes.  Be back down Thursday evening for the weekend.  Deer sightings have really slowed down for us.  Pressure, less deer around after some heavy killing the last 3 weekends around the clubs and deer wising up lead to that this time of year.  Happy Turkey day to you fellow OC'ers and good luck this weekend if you happen to get in the woods.



BD - grandson and I have been at it since last Friday. 3 dead pigs so far. We’re still seeing deer just about every sit. So far they’ve all gotten a pass. I’ve got an old friend coming down Friday to hunt the weekend. I’m hosting a couple of hunters on Dec 13 n 14 for the Outdoors Without Limits organization. First time doing this and hope it goes well. OWL seems like a fine organization offering physically challenged folks the ability to experience the outdoors. I’ll post pics n story following the event. 

No hunting today for me. My wife and one of our grand daughters came rolling in yesterday afternoon to prepare for Thanksgiving so a few honey-do projects on the board for me today.


----------



## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Happy Thanksgiving to all the fellow OC hunters out there! 

I haven't posted much this deer season because there hasn't been much to post about. Haven't been seeing a ton and haven't even seen a buck worth getting my gun up for! I have saw a dozen or so 8's and 9's but nothing to write home about


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## Hughy

Good morning guys and Happy Thanksgiving. 
I’m still carrying a fever this morning in the “Hotel St Maryiot” not exactly the tract of land I was hoping to be sitting on in Clarke county this morning but the Lord knows what’s best. 
I wanted to thank each of you for you prayers on my behalf, not quite out of the woods yet but we are seeing progress. More prayers are welcomed if you think about it. 
Y’all enjoy your family time today and this weekend. Continue to post your stories and pics.


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## Triple C

Got 2 turkeys on the Traeger @325. Grandson n I have been here since last Friday. Wife been down since Tuesday n rest of crew gonna roll in later this afternoon for our 9th Thanksgiving celebrated in OC. Love the easy going life of OC and all the folks that make this thread one of the best on the forum. Wishing all u guys a blessed Thanksgiving!!!


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## Todd E

@Hughy so sorry you're still in the hospital. Even though the road to recovery has been slow, great to see you're traveling down it. 

I've been helping a young man with some tips on night hunting hogs. He headed out Wednesday night by himself. I received the call about 1130 pm Wednesday night. " I need help "  Loaded Big Grizz up and off I went into the night. After retrieval, field dressing, quartering, etc crawled in bed at 430am. Up to alarm at 630am and started all the cooking for the day. 

I love helping and watching younger people enjoy the Outdoors. Guys first ever hog. Though it was a sow, it was a good one. I think he is hooked on hog huntin now. LoL


----------



## transfixer

Todd E said:


> @Hughy so sorry you're still in the hospital. Even though the road to recovery has been slow, great to see you're traveling down it.
> 
> I've been helping a young man with some tips on night hunting hogs. He headed out Wednesday night by himself. I received the call about 1130 pm Wednesday night. " I need help "  Loaded Big Grizz up and off I went into the night. After retrieval, field dressing, quartering, etc crawled in bed at 430am. Up to alarm at 630am and started all the cooking for the day.
> 
> I love helping and watching younger people enjoy the Outdoors. Guys first ever hog. Though it was a sow, it was a good one. I think he is hooked on hog huntin now. LoL
> 
> View attachment 993253View attachment 993253View attachment 993254


Good Deal Todd !   I feel the same way about helping the younger generation learn about the outdoors and hunting.. can't find many these days that are interested.


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## jbird1

Not an OC report but a rut report.  Spent Thanksgiving down at my dad's in Peachtree City/Fayette County area.  He lives in a neighborhood on about 3 wooded acres with a creek running through it.  After the mid-afternoon meal, we were all treated to a stud, 130's 8 pointer chasing several does for about 15 mins in the back yard. This was the type of deer that the size of the body makes the rack look small. He was heavily grunting and even aggressively chased off a smaller buck in the process.  This all happened after my 10 yr. old had spent most of the day carousing those woods, playing in the creek, and leaving lots of human scent.  Now the buck was "rut crazed," but the does that fed through first were not.  I explained to the non- hunters that if this were OC, the first doe that cut my son's scent trail would have most likely backed out and we wouldn't have been treated to the whole chase scene.  Anyway, these suburban deer are most definitely accustomed to human scent and don't associate it with danger.

After that, I advised my 10 yr. old to make tracks for the house if the deer came back.  I didn't want that bruiser to take him for a threat!  On the way out, we passed two cars stopped at a downed buck in the road not a mile from my Pop's house.  It was a smaller buck than the one we had watched so a different deer.  It was definitely "ON' down in Fayette County yesterday.  

Hope everyone stayed safe and GREAT Thanksgiving!


----------



## transfixer

Just got home from OC a little bit ago,  went down Tues evening,  hunted 4 days,  very little movement this week,  at least during daylight hours,  only three of us hunting,  one buck was shot, only two or three drops of blood found,  searched half a day,  never found it,  I'm hoping it wasn't a fatal wound,  guy that shot it was quite disappointed,  it was the only deer he saw all week.   It was a very enjoyable week,  we eat entirely too good at deer camp !  I'm afraid to step on the scales !  lol  

   I'll be back at it next weekend,  but I'm changing my strategy from here on out,  heading to the thick stuff and hunting off the ground,  they appear to have abandoned the big woods and retreated to the thick hard to get at areas,   at least on our lease.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Well, great week again in the woods, not as many sightings, this time of year there are multiple reasons why as noted in earlier post.  We had several deer taken, does or unfortunately mistaken young bucks thought to be a doe.  And several misses here and there.  I am gonna take a couple weekends off and rest up and help the wife around the house decorating and getting ready for the holidays.  Go back down after pressure calms down and the deer get back to normal patterns again.  Our cell cameras are showing pretty much all activity after dark now.  Very little day time movement.  Most of the guys in my camp will not be back, so it will be me and one other guy the rest of the year.  I think my boys are called it quiets till Rabbit and Turkey season kick in.


----------



## Todd E

I went and pulled a card. Only thing moving in daylight was squirrels. It is that time....... tough deer hunting !!!


----------



## Triple C

Whew!!!  Been here since Friday before Thanksgiving. Longest I’ve ever spent here at one time. Saw deer just about every sit but nothing I cared to shoot. It’s been a very enjoyable week. Visited Vesta Baptist Church this morn and worshipped with Eddie from Bells Grocery if you happen to know him. Beautiful old church. Bout to head home.


----------



## Arrow3

Just got in from visiting the in laws in North Carolina.  Been there since Thursday so no hunting for me from the last few days. 

I posted a few days ago about a good rub here on my 5 acres at my house. The 1st day I had my camera out he showed up at the rub. Not a bad buck to be here on my little homestead.  This was at 2:30 in the afternoon.  I've since put up a cell camera and he visited several times over the weekend but all in the dark.


----------



## Todd E

The young man I've been giving tips to checked his card and found this.

Right before the lights went out. That's him in his climber with my weapon light. Can't tell but that's a 191.2 lb sow. T


----------



## Arrow3

Deer were feeding good this afternoon.  I couldn't get to the stand till 4:40. Saw 16 before dark in the plot/field.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Good luck to you OC'ers this weekend, I am gonna give it a rest and catch my breath.


----------



## transfixer

I'm headed to OC this evening,  need to pull cam cards and move a stand,  going to try and hunt a few days next week after the rain moves through, with a cold front predicted and the moon table predicting a lot of activity,  maybe my oldest and I can connect on a buck,  he's in law enforcement and doesn't get to hunt much because of his schedule,  I'd really like to see him get a nice one !


----------



## Triple C

Another here sitting on the sidelines this weekend.  Wife and I are headed to NYC Sunday afternoon.  Son will be hunting with his bride this weekend and I'll be tagging along on this thread to keep up with what's happening.

Next week I'm hosting a couple of hunters for the Outdoors Without Limits organization.  This will be my first so hope it all goes well.  You guys knock em dead this weekend!


----------



## transfixer

Went to OC Saturday morning and came back yesterday,  didn't see anything this trip,  but trail cams showed some daylight movement finally,  found a fresh scrape, hoping that indicates the second rut is starting ?   My oldest and I are going back tomorrow sometime,  depending on what the weather ends up looking like, hoping Wed and Thurs are cold and clear,    I did hear some shots Sat afternoon right before dark from nearby properties,  this is the tough time of the year, thats for sure


----------



## Arrow3

Another great job by Todd Edwards on my 7 pointer.  I've had it back a while and planned on hanging it on the wall but for right now I like how it looks right here. Gotta eventually throw that old tv away in my "mounts room" .. can't even give box TVs away anymore.


----------



## Todd E

Woods seem absolutely dead. OC deer are most definitely over pressured in comparison to other places I hunt. There is not a deer in OC that will step hoof up to bait in legal shooting hours. And that's from a cam over bait that is NOT hunted.


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## Buford_Dawg

Arrow3 said:


> View attachment 994603
> 
> Another great job by Todd Edwards on my 7 pointer.  I've had it back a while and planned on hanging it on the wall but for right now I like how it looks right here. Gotta eventually throw that old tv away in my "mounts room" .. can't even give box TVs away anymore.



Gonna get Todd to do my next one, I should have had him do my first buck this year.  Great job both of you guys.


----------



## transfixer

Todd E said:


> Woods seem absolutely dead. OC deer are most definitely over pressured in comparison to other places I hunt. There is not a deer in OC that will step hoof up to bait in legal shooting hours. And that's from a cam over bait that is NOT hunted.



   I'm headed back tomorrow afternoon,  we'll hunt Wednesday and Thurs,  coming back Thursday evening, I figure if they're going to move much at all it'll be after the cold front moves in overnight tomorrow night,  and the moon table is saying high activity Wednesday and Thursday ,  so we'll see ?


----------



## transfixer

Got back from OC last night, my oldest saw a spike from the stand Wednesday morning,  nothing in the middle of the day,  and about 25 turkeys kept him company that evening, roosting in the trees behind him,  Yesterday morning he had three does come by,  midday had a couple more come by,  nothing he wanted to shoot. 

  I saw a couple does wednesday  evening right at dark,  last evening a spike and then a doe,    yesterday when we cam back to camp after midday sit, we had two does hanging out about 100 yds behind our camp that took off as we got to the camper.  

 So they were moving in daylight the last couple days,  just not a whole bunch,   we didn't take anything for the freezer,  but it was an enjoyable couple days.


----------



## transfixer

Triple C said:


> Another here sitting on the sidelines this weekend.  Wife and I are headed to NYC Sunday afternoon.  Son will be hunting with his bride this weekend and I'll be tagging along on this thread to keep up with what's happening.
> 
> Next week I'm hosting a couple of hunters for the Outdoors Without Limits organization.  This will be my first so hope it all goes well.  You guys knock em dead this weekend!



 How did your Outdoors without Limits event go Triple C ?


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## Triple C

transfixer said:


> How did your Outdoors without Limits event go Triple C ?


Went without a hitch.  Had 2 hunters Friday afternoon and Saturday morn.  Put an older lady in the Redneck blind friday afternoon to keep her out of the rain.  She saw 16 deer and didn't shoot.  Wanted a "big" buck so all survived.  Put another overlooking what we call the hourglass plot.  Saw 4 but also wanted a "big" buck so none died.  OWL supplied 2 guides that sat with the hunters and transported them back to Camp Maranatha.  Oddly enough, as nice as it was Saturday morn, the lady saw only 4 deer.  She wanted to hunt the redneck after seeing 16 the afternoon before. Other guy didn't see a deer Saturday morn.  Seems like a fine organization with quite a few wheelchair hunters and others with various disabilities.  I made sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast after their Saturday morning hunt.  Fed em and sent them on their way.

Had one of Brooks friends and his son come down saturday afternoon to hunt.  Made a big ol pot of chili.  Mercy, it was good.  Brooks and I hunted this morn.  He had 8 meander by him but none he wanted to shoot.  I saw none.  In fact, not even a pig this morn.

December hunting is so different once the leaves are gone.  Not near the activity as far as bucks are concerned as the magical time of the chase and rut phase.  Deer pile into the food plots in the afternoon.


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## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Awesome job TC! I have a really good friend that owns land that butts up to Camp Maranatha, he actually lives across the road from it.
I went down to the farm this morning with the intentions on killing a couple does and didn't see a thing!


----------



## Triple C

ADDICTED2HUNTIN said:


> Awesome job TC! I have a really good friend that owns land that butts up to Camp Maranatha, he actually lives across the road from it.
> I went down to the farm this morning with the intentions on killing a couple does and didn't see a thing!


First time I ever visited Camp Maranatha was Friday at lunch to meet hunters and volunteers.  Really impressive place.  Had no idea all of that was back in there.


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## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

*beautiful lake back there too!my buddy owns a good portion of that lake. Caught some good fish in there and plan on killing some ducks off it *


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## Arrow3

No duck hunting.... no deer hunting.... no coon hunting...

I wasn't worth killing all weekend  ?


----------



## sea trout

ADDICTED2HUNTIN said:


> Awesome job TC! I have a really good friend that owns land that butts up to Camp Maranatha, he actually lives across the road from it.
> I went down to the farm this morning with the intentions on killing a couple does and didn't see a thing!





Triple C said:


> First time I ever visited Camp Maranatha was Friday at lunch to meet hunters and volunteers.  Really impressive place.  Had no idea all of that was back in there.



I went to camp Maranantha also Friday for the lunch so I could meet up with some friends and help guide some OWL hunters on their property.
I've never been to that camp before either but man it was nice!!! Big dinin hall and kitchen, loved the big open pole barn they had out there!


----------



## Hughy

I went to Camp Maranatha several times as a kid as a camper. Great camp back then and even still today. If you have kids or grandkids I would highly consider sending them there for a week. 
And yes, killer watershed with some excellent crappie fishing.


----------



## Souhternhunter17

Hughy said:


> I went to Camp Maranatha several times as a kid as a camper. Great camp back then and even still today. If you have kids or grandkids I would highly consider sending them there for a week.
> And yes, killer watershed with some excellent crappie fishing.



Went to Camp Maranatha 4 or 5 times when I was a kid until I couldn't go anymore. Loved that camp. It was only $5.00 back then! They used to let us swim in the watershed lake.


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## Souhternhunter17

Hunted our OC lease for the first time in a month or so. My deer hunting drastically drops off when duck season comes in. Needless to say it was a good hunt. Saw 3 different bucks and a doe. One was a nice 3.5 year old 9, that I let go... someone shot right at dark about 4-500 yards down the creek... I hope it wasn't him. Grunted in one of the younger bucks, One of the does was being follwed by a buck. At dark there were two bucks fighting off to my left until it got plenty dark and I got down.


----------



## Todd E

Not the best of ratings, but for the price.....will try it out and see how it does. 29.99 online at academy.


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## Triple C

Todd - Give us a review on that cam after you've had it in use for a week or so.  Love to see daytime and night pics.


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## Buford_Dawg

Todd E said:


> Not the best of ratings, but for the price.....will try it out and see how it does. 29.99 online at academy.



Hey Todd, check out http://forum.gon.com/threads/primos-bulletproof-cams.954488/#post-11998891 in the trailcam section.  Several members are running them with no complaints.


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## Arrow3

The deer are hungry! I poured out a bag of corn yesterday before dark and put my cell cam on it. Between the deer and 3 hogs I bet there's not a kernel left this morning.


----------



## transfixer

I may go pick one of those up myself,  I've been running the more expensive Bushnell trophy cams and Browning strike force cams,  but lately I've been having problems with a few of both,  its almost like they start to mess up after 2 or 3 years so you'll go buy a new one ?


----------



## transfixer

Arrow3 said:


> The deer are hungry! I poured out a bag of corn yesterday before dark and put my cell cam on it. Between the deer and 3 hogs I bet there's not a kernel left this morning.



 Yeah,   by now there isn't much of anything left out there for them to eat,  last week there was a little green left in our overgrown clearcut,,  but not much,  the freezing temps last thurs probably took care of that,  if not this morning sure did !   the couple small food plots I planted came up good,  but then just sorta stopped growing, so they aren't helping,  ( I didn't prep them like I should have )   I'm not planning on hunting this weekend,  but I may ride up to replenish feeders,  depending on weather I'm going to try and hunt the thurs and fri after Christmas.  This corn thing is a double edged sword,  once you start you feel like you can't stop,,, and it adds up after a while !


----------



## Arrow3

This one just came. I think it's the 3 year old 8 I let walk about 3 weeks ago.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Same here Arrow, I moved a spin cast feeder last Sunday afternoon, placed a Spypoint cell camera over it and the animals found it Monday evening, getting deer, turkey, hog and coons on it nightly and a few deer during late afternoon hours (after 5:30).  They hungry.  I just wish those hogs would venture out in daylight, every picture is from midnight till about 3 am


----------



## Triple C

View from the stand on edge of swamp this afternoon.  Luv sitting near swamp in deade of winter just to listen to waterfowl coming in. Was hoping to catch an ol wily buck slipping thru this pinch point but didn’t happen.


----------



## Duff

Not much happening in Rayle this afternoon. Gonna give it a go in the morning for a couple hours. Think I’ll do a little crow calling/shooting after that.


----------



## Duff

Great looking spot mr c!


----------



## Todd E

Woods are absolutely dead this morning. I've seen a coyote. Too fast to get in scope. A buddy is one road over. Predator hunting. Hes already called in and shot a bobcat. Varmints are hungry.


----------



## Arrow3

Killed my 1st with my AR-15 this afternoon in Sandy Cross.  Saw at least 10 . My sightings on my field had all but stopped so I took a climber back in the woods and cut them off before dark.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Nice doe Brandon. Last I heard we had taken 5 bucks at our place.  Not sure a doe has been taken yet. Couple of members don’t report until after season ends. Be back down day after Xmas thru the weekend.  Merry Xmas to all you OC guys. I appreciate trading information with you.


----------



## Triple C

How many of you guys miss the old December break?  I sure do.  Right now we'd be all excited about the 2nd season about to open for 1 week following Christmas.  Prolly just the old in me coming out but I liked it better when deer season ended 1st Saturday of December and reopened for a week on the 26th thru the 1st.

With such a long season as we have today, I lose the drive to wanna climb a tree this time of year.  And, my last hunt of the year is usually still the afternoon of New Year's eve.  Just kinda rambling this morning.


----------



## transfixer

Triple C said:


> How many of you guys miss the old December break?  I sure do.  Right now we'd be all excited about the 2nd season about to open for 1 week following Christmas.  Prolly just the old in me coming out but I liked it better when deer season ended 1st Saturday of December and reopened for a week on the 26th thru the 1st.
> 
> With such a long season as we have today, I lose the drive to wanna climb a tree this time of year.  And, my last hunt of the year is usually still the afternoon of New Year's eve.  Just kinda rambling this morning.



      I agree,   I wish the DNR would go back to the way things were when we had a much better population of deer,  by this time of the year the deer move mostly at night, so the longer season doesn't really add anything,   

    The break from the first of Dec till the day after Christmas gave the woods a while to calm down,  and us something to look forward to after staying around home for a few weeks,    I wish they would cut way, way back on the amount of doe days we have also,  but I still believe there are outside influences keeping those doe days and number of tags in place.  DNR is in total control of all that now,  but they still get instructions from those in higher places. 

    Deer hunting is not what it was back in the 80's,  probably never will be again.


----------



## Todd E

I still need a deer or two to last us until next season. It has been tough. I hunt four places. Two of them, we aren't shooting does. The other two......I cant buy a deer. And, both of those places are in OC. SMH


----------



## transfixer

Todd E said:


> I still need a deer or two to last us until next season. It has been tough. I hunt four places. Two of them, we aren't shooting does. The other two......I cant buy a deer. And, both of those places are in OC. SMH



    I agree,  I started out the season seeing quite a few deer,  and thinking our population was on the rebound, I've since changed my mind,  this season has been weird for us,  only thing different is that our mature pines were thinned, and that seems to have disrupted their patterns,  what is odd to us is that we've only had 3 guys hunting regularly this year,  and virtually no four wheeler or vehicle use within our lease, as two of us use electric golf carts,   but its almost like they have been over pressured,  but they haven't ?   I still need one for the freezer,  and I'll probably hunt this thurs and friday,    I did see deer in the daytime when I was there on the 11th and 12th,  just nothing worth shooting.


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Agree with you CCC, loved the December break, I bet alot of guys on the forum never remember it cause they not old enough, not sure that is a good thing or bad .  But it definitely saved some deer and once the Xmas week hunt came back in, we always new we would see some deer as the pressure had died down.  Oh well, this year I have not hunted at all in December yet, some of my fellow members have hunted quite a bit, but not seen much I understand.  Be back down in a few days, hog and yote hunting only this time.  As Transfixer alludes to, that December break was in the good old days of OC hunting, where you could see deer every sit and in many cases 10-20 deer per sit.  Loved the 80s and early 90s in OC.  Hunting paradise for sure.  Nowadays, I go many sits with not even a sighting, but still love to be out there.


----------



## Arrow3

I need another deer for a high school friend. I have a buck tag left and a bunch of bucks on my Oconee land. There is 5 + bucks to every doe over there. Got some funky looking jokers too. If I see one of them I'm just gonna take one of them instead of killing one of the few does I have.


----------



## Arrow3

Well i did just what I said I was gonna do. Went to Oconee . Nothing but bucks showed up as usual.  No need in killing one of the 3 does I've got ?.. Probably 15 bucks on that place.  Freezer is full. Doubt I'll go back deer hunting unless I get an invite or goto public . I've got a hoss of a boar hog tearing up my tract in Sandy Cross that I'm going to kill soon. Hopefully before I have to go back to work. 1st small buck I've killed in a long time but it was a fun hunt with my AR.  55gr barnes through the lungs and he made it 40 yards. 

Enjoyed spending another deer season with you guys even if I didnt have any prime spots to hunt this year. Killed 2 deer with my AR-15 and a decent 7 pointer.  2 of my deer came off of a 12 acre tract of land.


----------



## Duff

Congrats Brandon!  Wasn’t much shaking in Rayle this weekend. Was a pig and a couple of does shot, but tuff hunting, as expected this time of year. I ended up crow hunting most of Saturday then cooked for the tribe that evening.( not crow, lol) Great relaxing weekend though. 

The complaint I had with the break was these mtn bucks would be in full rut when the season closed. Now that I’m old and lazy, I rarely hunt the mtns, so Bring BackThe Break!  Lol


----------



## Buford_Dawg

Congrats Brandon, been a good year for you.  Lots of meat in the freezer.  We chasing several big black boars at SC as well, 2 have hit the dirt so far, but several more running around.  They love to move around the midnight to 3 am time frame however.


----------



## jbird1

Arrow3 said:


> Well i did just what I said I was gonna do. Went to Oconee . Nothing but bucks showed up as usual.  No need in killing one of the 3 does I've got ?.. Probably 15 bucks on that place.  Freezer is full. Doubt I'll go back deer hunting unless I get an invite or goto public . I've got a hoss of a boar hog tearing up my tract in Sandy Cross that I'm going to kill soon. Hopefully before I have to go back to work. 1st small buck I've killed in a long time but it was a fun hunt with my AR.  55gr barnes through the lungs and he made it 40 yards.
> 
> Enjoyed spending another deer season with you guys even if I didnt have any prime spots to hunt this year. Killed 2 deer with my AR-15 and a decent 7 pointer.  2 of my deer came off of a 12 acre tract of land.
> View attachment 996483



Prudent call on the nice freezer buck!..gotta protect what you got if you see an imbalance.  Great stewardship of the resource.  We've done some of the same.

Merry Christmas fellow OC hunters!  Hope your stockings are hung with care and full with backstrap and jerky!  Gonna try it one more time after Christmas and set up some turkey cell cams in the process.  I'd love to spring a trap and ruin ol' Tom's day right out of the gate in a few months. Good hunting to everyone and look forward to the reports as always.


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## Triple C

Congrats Brandon on a late season buck!  Oconee will produce some huge bucks in the next 10 years.  More and more folks moving there which means less and less hunting pressure.  We moved there in 1983 and spent 23 years there.  All the kids grew up there when it was a relatively small, sleepy, agricultural community.  We lived on 13 acres near Lane Creek golf course when it was in cotton fields.  Could have bought the adjoining 20 acres around 1986 for $1,500 an acre.  Imagine that. 2 of our 3 children and their families still live there.  And this time next year, good Lord willing, we will be celebrating Christmas in our last home in the Flat Rock Rd area.  Bout 2 weeks from breaking ground.  Looking forward to spending time between OC and OC in the coming years.


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## Arrow3

Triple C said:


> Congrats Brandon on a late season buck!  Oconee will produce some huge bucks in the next 10 years.  More and more folks moving there which means less and less hunting pressure.  We moved there in 1983 and spent 23 years there.  All the kids grew up there when it was a relatively small, sleepy, agricultural community.  We lived on 13 acres near Lane Creek golf course when it was in cotton fields.  Could have bought the adjoining 20 acres around 1986 for $1,500 an acre.  Imagine that. 2 of our 3 children and their families still live there.  And this time next year, good Lord willing, we will be celebrating Christmas in our last home in the Flat Rock Rd area.  Bout 2 weeks from breaking ground.  Looking forward to spending time between OC and OC in the coming years.



Mr. C that's real close to where my land is over there. I've got about 60 acres to hunt off of Cole Springs rd  just above the golf course.


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## Triple C

Arrow3 said:


> Mr. C that's real close to where my land is over there. I've got about 60 acres to hunt off of Cole Springs rd  just above the golf course.


Just proves it's a small, small world.  We lived on Lane Creek Rd which runs into Cole Springs.  Can't wait to call Flat Rock home.  But my huntin' heart will always be in Oglethorpe and still plan on spending a whole bunch of time at the farm.


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## ADDICTED2HUNTIN

Pretty good day in OC today. Went down to kill a couple of does and saw nothing but bucks this morning. I did kill a coyote. Went to another friends farm this afternoon (also in OC)and seen a lot of deer. Mostly bucks and I was on doe duty. Seen some does but didn't pull the trigger, most of them looked a little small and it was getting late. I definitely didn't want to make a mistake and shoot a small buck on my buddy's place so I just watched


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## Buford_Dawg

Been down since Thursday. Seen a few deer thru my sits. Trying to kill a hog. They showing up on my cameras consistent. And during daylight hours. Just hadn’t been in the right stand. I was able to bust a yote one afternoon. We had several sightings of bucks following does the last 3 days. The does being followed / chased are small. Thinking this years does.


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## Triple C

Buford_Dawg said:


> Been down since Thursday. Seen a few deer thru my sits. Trying to kill a hog. They showing up on my cameras consistent. And during daylight hours. Just hadn’t been in the right stand. I was able to bust a yote one afternoon. We had several sightings of bucks following does the last 3 days. The does being followed / chased are small. Thinking this years does.


BD...Doesn't seem right to have to carry a Thermacell to the stand in late December...Crazy temps today!


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## Arrow3

I'm off till Thursday.  I think I'll go squirrel hunting tomorrow.


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## Buford_Dawg

Triple C said:


> BD...Doesn't seem right to have to carry a Thermacell to the stand in late December...Crazy temps today!


Was swatting mosquitos yesterday evening and this morning   Decided to pack up and head home late this afternoon, misting rain and calling for more rain overnight and into the morning with high winds.  Was a good 3.5 day weekend.


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## Buford_Dawg

Deployed a new feeder and Spypoint cell camera when I went down this last trip, Xmas gifts.  Deer found it same night I put it out.  Got a kick out of these pictures, this old doe knows how to get her corn when the feeder is not broadcasting


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## Triple C

Buford_Dawg said:


> Deployed a new feeder and Spypoint cell camera when I went down this last trip, Xmas gifts.  Deer found it same night I put it out.  Got a kick out of these pictures, this old doe knows how to get her corn when the feeder is not broadcasting


I'm gonna have to break down and buy me a cell camera one of these days.  Been looking at the Cuddeback Cuddelink setup but holy cow...hate to dish out that kind of money for pictures.  Oddly enough, sometimes I long for the days of not knowing what's out there and letting them be a surprise when you see em.  But...doubt I ever go back to that.  For now, it's still old school pulling cards.


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## transfixer

Buford_Dawg said:


> Deployed a new feeder and Spypoint cell camera when I went down this last trip, Xmas gifts.  Deer found it same night I put it out.  Got a kick out of these pictures, this old doe knows how to get her corn when the feeder is not broadcasting



   We've got a feeder like that not far from camp, went to fill it up about mid season and discovered the batteries were dead, we didn't have any new ones, filled it up anyway,   when we came back the next weekend it was empty  ,, ?   We were scratching our heads wondering how that could be,  until we looked at the trail cam pictures,  and saw a momma doe  doing the same thing,  constantly bumping it to get the corn to fall out,  she emptied the whole thing over a weeks time.


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## jbird1

Triple C said:


> I'm gonna have to break down and buy me a cell camera one of these days.  Been looking at the Cuddeback Cuddelink setup but holy cow...hate to dish out that kind of money for pictures.  Oddly enough, sometimes I long for the days of not knowing what's out there and letting them be a surprise when you see em.  But...doubt I ever go back to that.  For now, it's still old school pulling cards.



I've been resistant to new technology as well TC.  I'll tell you though, I can't believe  we've gone from running to the store with a roll of film to scent free, instant gratification with pics delivered to your phone from a cellular cam.  Pretty amazing advancement in technology and one heck of a scouting tool.  These younger guys will never appreciate it the same as the older crowd.  I can vouch for the cams Buford Dawg is running...they have been consistent and a lot of fun during my pre-deployment testing.


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## transfixer

I've resisted the cell camera thing,  I think I would be really bummed out if I'm at work, or just got home from the lease and get a picture of a shooter buck in front of my camera when I'm not there !    I'd rather just wait a few days and see the pic when its way too late to do anything about it.


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## jbird1

transfixer said:


> I've resisted the cell camera thing,  I think I would be really bummed out if I'm at work, or just got home from the lease and get a picture of a shooter buck in front of my camera when I'm not there !    I'd rather just wait a few days and see the pic when its way too late to do anything about it.



Haha...no doubt that would create some anxiety!  I like getting them on camera almost as much as getting them in the crosshairs.  It's like I can be hunting when I'm not even there...24/7.  With the cell cams, I don't have to drive an hr. and 45 minutes to retrieve the images.  It's a nice feature being as limited as I am these days getting afield.  So for me, the expense of the data plan is worth it.

I haven't used the cell cams in a hunting application yet.  The cameras were a tremendous asset in my feral cat trapping operation around the house during my field testing recently though.

Next season, I picture sitting around the fire bucket in the evenings deciding where to hunt the next morning based on real time cell cam images... without having to physically access the area to retrieve the images.  May even decide after I get up the next morning pre-hunt based on overnight activity.  I'm thinking it'll be a nice tool to have.


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## Todd E

I can tell you for certain.......if you find a community scrape and place a cell cam on it, it will tell you everything you need to know about the stages of the rut. From beginning to end. Who is local, when the does are ready, when they're locked down, trolling newbies, when it is over, and who is still alive at the end local and still looking for that last doe. You will never have to disturb that scrape.


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