ND December Bowhunt

[lungdeflator]

Well after getting some great info from the guys here and heading west to ND, I felt like I should get some updates to everyone. I got out Saturday and drove straight through town and got permission on a piece of land I had looked at back in October.

Dec. 17th- New property, never walked or scouted. 40 acres of cut corn and 10 acres of river bottom woods. Most of the corn fields out here are tilled up, but this one still has knee high stalks. Mid 20's for temps when I got up in the tree at 200 pm with 10-15 mph West winds. No deer until 445 pm when a 2.5 yr old buck walked a field edge and came about 50 yards away. Then a doe and 2 fawns came across a field drawing the buck over to them. The buck proceeded to push the doe around for a bit and finally the doe got downwind of me and they all cleared. Somebody here mentioned the "second rut". Might be going on out here.

Dec. 18th- I went to a spot I hunted alot during the fall. Temp was 50 degrees at 300pm with a light NNW wind. This is a spot of big woods running East/West with wheat field that had been tilled under on the south side and a corn field tilled under on the north side. They till up the wheat fields so early that green sprouts come up that the deer seem to like. No deer til 425 when a spike followed a fawn through the wheat field. And then the floodgates opened and the deer poured out onto the wheat field. After the fawn and spike 10 deer came onto the field from a CRP area, one which was a nice 8pt with a broken G3. Never came closer than 100 yards though and didn't respond to grunts or snort wheeze. Before it got dark I counted 26 deer out in the field, with a high probability of there being alot more I couldnt see. Fun night.

Dec. 19- Same spot I hunted the 17th. Temps mid 20's at 230pm with a light west wind dying down to nothing by dark. A doe and 2 fawns appeared onto the cut corn around 450pm and that was it for deer before dark. As I was driving away I swiveled the car around and caught 11 deer in the headlights in the opposite corner of the field I was hunting.

I think I am going to hunt the wheat field I saw all the deer on the 18th tomorrow and Wednesday night for the final 2 nights of hunting. Going to try to pick trees for the wind but I will gamble with the wind if I have to with only 2 nights left to hunt.

[sticknstring]

Sounds like some great late-season action! Hopefully you pick the right tree and can seal the deal - good luck!

[matchset]

Sounds like fun !!

[matchset]

Sounds like fun !!

[lungdeflator]

Dec. 20th- I sat on that wheat field again tonight. New tree on an outside corner. Stronger winds 15-20 that died down before dark. Warmer temps again 40 degrees at 230pm. First deer seen at 330pm were 3-4 does/fawns and a nice buck 200-250 yards out in the CRP. Starting around 415pm deer started piling onto the wheat field. I stopped counting at 32 deer. Without binoculars I couldnt tell how many were bucks or any kind of size. But the one I saw around 330pm came out and stayed well behind the does. Around 450pm he went over and made a scrape. At 500pm I grunted twice and snort wheezed and a few minutes later he turned and started coming at me. He got to the top of a rise in the field, staring down towards me 80 yards away and wouldnt come any closer. I sat til well after dark hoping deer would move away and I wouldnt clear the field on my way out. I think if I would have had a decoy out that buck wouldve came right in. I will try the morning tomorrow in the same spot and tomorrow night as well. Tomorrow might be my last day of the 2011 season unless I can spring some time after Christmas.

[Scoot]

Sooo close! Sounds like a ton of fun! Thanks for sharing with us!

Two thoughts come to mind to help harvest a deer- 1) do you have a decoy? It might be a good idea to try coax one of those bucks over to you. 2) Two people cover twice as much ground as one- maybe you need me to join you!

Good luck!