Thursday, October 26, 2017

Thursday, October 26, 2017 am. Sunrise 7:41 am.  Hunting opens 7:11 am.  Sunset: 6:11 pm. Hunting closes: 6:41 pm. Temperature 43 degrees. Partly cloudy. Wind: W SW 7-10 mph. I decided to start this hanging trip with one more sit in Cannon Falls. Heidi and I have been traveling a ton for work, so it was nice to have an evening alone as a family. I was planning on driving down to Copper Creek last night and then sitting all day, but if I ended up getting tempted down there by a nice buck, I would not be able to hunt with Haag this weekend. Also, the farmer to the NW was picking the beans last night, so I had a plan. I decided to go to Spaghetti Junction with both fold up decoys and hope that I could sneak in there before the does come in to bed mid morning. My theory was the bucks would then come searching for them after feeding all night. At 8:25 am, I looked to the NW and there was a medium sized doe feeding in the south corner of Arlie’s food plot about 50 yards away. After feeding for a few minutes, she trotted over and bedded to the west of me in the creek bottom. At 10:05 am, I heard something behind me to the SW, I turned around and it was a nice 2 1/2 year old 8 pointer. He had a bunch of cedar bark in his horns as he has been rubbing them hard. He circled to the south of me (up wind) about 50 yards out. I grunted to him, he looked up and saw my decoys and took off to the SE. He was not a shooter, but a nice buck. I am not sure if I have any photos of this particular buck. It is good to see them moving at mid day. At 1:45 pm, I looked to the NW and there was a small spike feeding along the edge of Arlie’s food plot. He ate for a few minutes and walked up the hill to the west. At 5:15 pm, the same spike came out into Arlie’s food plot again. He fed a bit and the walked up towards the Apple Tree stand. That was it. Totals: Bob - 4 deer. 3 bucks and 1 doe.