I hope you've all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and managed to spend some quality time with your loved ones.  Turkey day has come and gone, and we've all but digested our feasts (well, we still might be digesting our leftovers).  I have many things to be thankful for:  Family, friends, an amazing wife and daughter, and ..... and ...... the big ole' mature buck that made a mistake on Thanksgiving morning!  That's right, it all came together for me, and the exclusive details of the hunt start.....right now!

First of all, let me preface this post by saying a sincere THANK YOU to all of our Veterans that have fought for us to be able to keep our freedom.  Without you, and those that have made the ultimate sacrifice, I wouldn't be able to live the life I have now.  I will never forget what all of the Veterans have done for my life....

In my last blog, I posted about late October scrape hunting.  Since then, I've been out twice.  As luck would have it, I found multiple scrapes, freshly worked, on a field edge about 100 yards from my tree stand.  The wind was right, everything seemed good to go.  Both nights, however, were quite uneventful, other than perhaps a dozen does that came out to feed.  I wish I had more to report for the hunt, but the bucks simply weren't moving in this location during daylight hours.  On a positive note, the does circled downwind of me and I went undetected (thank you, ScentMaster!!)....

Without a doubt, the rut is the ultimate for big buck encounters.  But if you're hunting a specific buck, it's hard to tell where he may be; for all we know, he could be several miles down a drainage or in a pasture chasing estrous does.  In November, I may very well kill a big buck that's been hunted by another deer hunter in a completely different location.  So it stands to reason that, while the rut is great for seeing nomadic giants, it quite possibly could be the toughest time to kill a specific mature buck.  The does are his pattern right now.  So.....how can we take advantage of the rut's influence on specific mature deer we're targeting on our properties?  Late October scrape hunting is that meal ticket for us.  That's what this blog entry is all about.

By now I'm sure all of you deer hunters are chomping at the bit to get into a treestand. Trust me, I've only made it out once, and boy am I ready!  During this time of year, I really tend to stay out of my best spots and just hunt field edges, but on special occassion, I will sneak in and hunt some of my stands close to where I believe my shooter bucks are living.  We just happen to be having one of those special occassions in the next couple days.  We are going to see a major drop in temperatures.  Wednesday was a high in the mid 80's and yesterday a high of 60 and now today a high in the mid 40s.  Nothing gets the deer on there feet in Oct better then a drastic drop in temperatures.

This scenario is bound to happen to a hunter sooner or later:  As darkness falls, there are deer out in the field that you simply don't want to disturb.  No matter how you plan it, the walk out is going to disturb one of these animals.  Last week I ran into this exact scenario, so I thought I'd share the tactic I used to (hopefully) keep the deer from becoming too paranoid about me being there.

First of all, let me preface this blog entry with an apology .... for I've been scarce around these parts as of late.  Between work, school, and other commitments, my life is as hectic as ever - I guess some things never change!  But enough of that ... I'm back, and I'm ready to post about the best topic there is to talk about, and that's deer hunting!