I also have pics of four different bucks that have been hitting it hard. They are all pretty good looking bucks.They are not monsters but they all look pretty healthy and are all rack bucks. The one in the pic is the biggest one I have got on cam yet.  I have seen the time where he would have looked big coming through the woods. Two of the other three bucks I have gotten on camera are gonna be solid 6 pointers. The other has damaged his left main beam somehow because it appears to turn and drop downward. If I keep getting pics of these guys then the one with the messed up main beam will be the one I try and target during the early bow season. Not because I think there is anything wrong with his genes or nothing, I just have never killed a buck with a messed up freaky looking rack.

I have gotten several more pics of single does with no fawns. I guess they were too young to get bred last season, but I hope they keep hanging around and bring me in lots of buck action this fall. The doe and fawn below are the ones that stay on the lick the most. All in all things are starting off right this year so far. I am already pumped even though it feels like it is 110 degrees outside. I just wish I owned about three more game cameras though. Them things can get addictive! 

He will always admit when he got skunked, but most of the time he connects with what he is after! Brian, his dad, and his buddies are all cool and make the show great even when they are having a hard time connecting with something. They are true hunters and will tell you real quick that is why it’s called huntin’ and not called killin’. I love watchin Primo’s, Michael Waddell, and Mossy Oak’s hunting shows because they keep it real and are down to earth cool guys also, but PigMan is my favorite show. If you like hunting shows check it out on the sportsmans channel. I think the new episode for the week airs on Wednesday evenings.

 I am happy with the performance of this camera so far. I have it set on low quality image due to the fact I think the higher quality setting will make it slower. The pic below was taken around 5:25 am, and the deer was 15 to 20 yards from the camera so the flash is workin great. I love this new camera and if it continues to work this good I will have to get at least one more before October.  

I just turned 39 this past week, and for my birthday my mom and dad bought me a new Moultrie D40 Gamespy camera. I have read good and bad reviews on this cam, but so far I love it, just wish I would have had it back in October. I actually got it earlier this month and went and set it up over the same feeder that I had my wildview over, and was only getting two or three dark pics from. I set the Moultrie up to take 3 still shots when triggered and in 2 days I had 366 pics of coons, squirrels, and birds. Some were night shots and the flash is great, the pics are clear day or night. The camera runs on six Dcell batteries and after 366 pics they still showed 95 percent full.

Another thing I like about this camera is I can set it up to take either a 10 second video or 1,2,or 3 still shots whenever it is triggered. It also stamps the date and time on each pic which would have been very helpful when I had all the hogs coming in on my feeders at night a couple of seasons ago.

I moved it off the feeder Saturday to a spot I found where deer and hog tracks are crossing the creek. I will check the camera again this weekend and post the results. I am not really expecting alot just kind of playing around to see how good it works and how the batteries hold up. If it keeps taking pics and working like it did the first two days I set it up, this September and October I expect to get quite a few pics of some bucks when they start moving around getting primed up for the rut.

I have always washed my hunting clothes in unscented detergent and stored them in a scent free bag by themselves. I always shower with unscented soap and shampoo, and use a scent free deodorant. Problem now is, that’s  about as far as I take it anymore, other than pinning a earth scent wafer to my cap and maybe spraying down my boots with earth scent spray. Now I just usually shower the night before,  get up and pull my hunting clothes out of the bag and put them on, get in my truck and head to the woods, sometimes stopping for gas and a morning snack at the local store, contaminating myself  and clothes with foreign scent all over again. Then I just spray myself with earth scent when I get to my area and head for the stand.

 My routine used to be to wake up earlier, take a shower with unscented soap and shampoo. Then I would dress in my regular clothes until I arrived at my hunting area, then redress in my hunting clothes and spray everything  down with scent eliminator,  add a scent wafer to my cap and head for the stand. Immediately after I was done hunting and returned to my truck, I would dress back in my normal clothes, and my hunting clothes went back in their bag. It was a little more trouble and I had to get up a little earlier, but at least it assured me that I was controlling my scent as much as I could, and not contaminating my stand sites with foreign odors. 

 I have never been busted and winded by deer as much as I have been this year, that I can ever remember. I have had deer within 5 yards of me while hunting from the ground on my old place, and they never knew I was there. I realize that after owning a piece of ground that I have hunted for 25 years, and entering that place year around filling  feeders, repairing stands, and preparing  food plots,  it is only natural that the deer and other animals were kind of used to my scent being in and around the area. Not that they ever jumped right out in front of me because they were not afraid of me, but they probably were not too terribly alarmed if they came across my scent in the general area.They were pretty much calmer and more relaxed unless they spotted me or my scent blew straight to them head on.  The deer on my new ground seem more nervous and on edge, they will not tolerate human scent for 1 second,  if they even get the slightist whiff of a strange scent, they are outta there in a heartbeat!

It is too late this year as the season is about done, but next season I will be taking alot more precautions and steps to remain as scent free as possible. I know that there is no way that I can completely eliminate my scent, but the more I can cut down on it,  the better my chances will be. There are so many scent eliminating products on the market and I have used quite a few of them and I guess they all work, but you can spend alot of money on products if you plan on buying the whole scent free systems they have.

While I was searching the web for scent eliminators the other day, I came across a new product I have never seen before called BioExtreme. This product is made by a guy here in Texas and is guaranteed to work. What sounds so great about it to me,  is that it is a complete scent eliminating  system in one bottle. You can wash your clothes in it, shower and deodorize with it, and spray it on as a scent eliminator when you reach your area. Some products will cost 40 or 50 bucks for the complete system, but a 32 oz bottle of  BioExtreme is only $16.00 delivered to your door. It has no harmful chemicals added, says it works for longer periods than the other brands, and it has a money back guarantee if not satisfied. I ordered some and am anxious to try it,  because I like the idea of  having just one bottle that does it all,  instead of 15 bottles laying around taking up space.

If you are interested in checking it out go to bioextreme.com, it sounds pretty cool and I hope it works like they say it does. Let you know how it works for me.

Well I eased my way back to my stand and got there just before daylight. I used my windicator spray powder and checked  the breeze and it was blowing from exactly the way the weather had forcasted. I climbed up about 15 ft off the ground in my Summit Viper Climbing Stand, and got all settled down for the wait. After a bit I grabbed my windicator out of my pocket to check again, because it felt like it changed a little, and dropped the bottle to the ground. I was surrounded by trees, so without the windicator it is hard to tell really which way its blowing, unless it is a pretty gusty or strong wind, and this was only a slight breeze. So I told myself it is probably just me being paranoid and that I was gonna trust the weather forecast,  because I did not wanna climb all the way down to get the bottle, and risk getting caught off guard by deer in the middle of climbing down or back up the tree. 

Well I should have because I sat there for a good 4 hours and saw nothing at all. About 11:30 the wind started gradually picking up a little and then I could tell that it was all wrong. It was blowing from the NW which put my scent blowing right down the trail into the thicket. It had changed on me earlier in the morning, but I could not be sure which direction because it was only a slight breeze and without my windicator spray I could not figure it. I also did not figure on it changing from SSE to NW just like that, but it did! I climbed down and was pretty disgusted at the fact that I had sit there,  probably for at least the last 2 hours, with my scent blowin in the thicket and warning every deer in there of my presence. 

I have not completely givin’ up yet, but I must say I am about ready to admit defeat this year. I know that this time of year, it is like bucks just vanish off the face of the earth around here. With all the hunting pressure that has been on them and the wear and tear the rut put on them, I know they are gonna be in lockdown mode for awhile. I can only hope I get lucky, and a good one might make a fatal mistake, like just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. But I also know that if I keep making stupid mistakes like I did Monday morning, then it is very doubtful that he will!

I started my vacation Thursday, and with the kids being on Christmas holidays and all, I will only have a few serious hunting days to get a good buck on the ground over the next week or so. I plan on taking some time out and taking the kids squirrel hunting while they are on Christmas break also. Michele and I are getting married on Dec 31st,  so after that I will be calling it quits this year for deer. I still love my new place and have learned alot about where I need to be when next bow season starts. I am really looking forward to getting it ready for next year, and predict that I will kill my biggest buck ever in the 2010 season. If not there is always 2011!  Heck,  Michele’s already started calling me” Buck Repeller”!  I don’t think it is very funny at all, but she sure does, and I am starting to believe she is right!

I did see a small 6 point the other evening while me and my dad were moving a hog trap and box blind off of our place. Finally stopped raining this afternoon so tomorrow morning will be my first day to hunt the new place. I really am not sure about where I am gonna start at, so guess I will be hunting and scouting it at the same time.

Since I will be going to a place I have never hunted, trying to shoot a whitetail buck with a bow from the ground, my expectations are not running very high. If it happens and I score on a good buck, I will be the first to say it was just blind luck! I will mainly be looking for sign and good places to hang  stands, so that when my vacation in November gets here, I will have a decent chance at a good buck.

Even though I don’t figure I will be successful my first time hunting the new place, I am still pretty pumped and excited about it. The weather is supposed to be pretty good in the morning, clear and 45 degrees. Maybe since all this rain has stopped, and with the cool temp, the deer will be moving around a little more. With all the odd’s I have stacked against me, if I just see deer or find good sign, I will consider it success.

When I took the tractor back to our place I went and filled my feeder again and checked my game camera. Had five pics but they were all too dark to see, (sorry flash on cheap game camera), and I figure they are of  coons anyhow. Saw quite a few hog and deer tracks on our logging road, and the acorns are really starting to drop.  Everything is still very green from all the rain we have had, so I figure that the feeders are probably not gonna produce much activity until later on.

The weather channel is saying  another cool front is supposed to come in toward the weekend and maybe more rain. I hope it is cool but don’t care if it rains or not. I am excited but to be honest, I really don’t expect a whole lot of action this weekend being it is a full moon and still pretty warm, but at least it is finally here! Hope to be posting pics of a nice big doe this weekend and eating some fresh backstrap and tenderloin! A big 20 inch 10 point would not be too bad either! Lol

He has leased this place for the last eight years, and although it is only 40 acres, he has had pretty good luck with it. He showed me a few places that would be good stand sites and I gotta tell ya I am pretty pumped! The places he showed me were along a creek he hunts that branches several different directions. Deer trails all around the creek, and the big oak trees along the creek banks are already raining acorns. It is a bowhunting heaven!

One week from today and opening day is here! I anticipate opening day like a kid anticipates Christmas! I have been kind of depressed with all the crap that has been going on, but whatever happens now I have a place to hunt this year, I have seen the deer sign, and I am once again PUMPED!