Thursday, October 23, 2008 p.m.

Thursday, October 23, 2008 p.m., 54 degrees, overcast and cool, wind E-SE 13-17 mph, sunset 6:14 p.m. (Hunting closes 6:44 p.m). After having a talk with Arlie last night, I hope that my problems with cows and Rusty have ended. With the wind being out of the east, I figured that I better give the ladder another try. This time I decided to add a little something new to my set up...my buck decoy "Stubby.". I named him after my older brother Steve, and you can guess why. :) I put him 10 yards upwind of me on the trail facing towards me. I figured if any bucks came from the east, they would see him and try to circle him to get his attention. If he does, he will hopefully do it in one of my shooting lanes. A similar set up worked perfectly on October 28, 2008 (see blog from last year) over at Arlie's Nob on a beautiful 10 pointer. At 4:45 p.m., I saw some movement out in the field. I looked through the binoculars and it was a hen and 3 tom turkeys feeding on my beans. They slowly fed to the east and walked right past the feeder. I did get some video. Five minutes later, I looked to the north and 2 does and a fawn snuck in on me. They ended up circling around me to the west and did get down wind of me. Fortunately, they didn't spook and just ended up feeding north west towards the field. At 6:10 p.m., two does came running through 70 yards to the south of me heading east. Five minutes later, I saw 3 does to the south feed to the east into my bean field. That was it. Totals: Bob - 7 deer, 7 does.