First Public Land Hunt 2018

The week of October 8th finally brought cooler temps than what we were already experiencing, and a major cold front starting on October 11th.  With temps dropping more than 30 degrees over the next few days, we knew it was time to finally make a move.  We decided to split up on the evening in hopes of casting a wide net for more intel. One of us picked an oak ridge adjacent to some bedding, which we discovered during the previous summer scouting mission. The other still hunted on top of an oak ridge that was also showing hot sign that was also discovered on a scouting mission the weekend before. 

With the wind right for both set ups, we had high hopes on at least laying eyes on a shooter. As we had planned it, we both ended up seeing two bucks doing exactly what we thought the deer were doing in each of the areas, but no shot opportunities for us today. 

After climbing down, we checked a camera set on a mock scrape that we put out during the summer. It ended producing two bucks that we saw during the summer months.  That night ended up being the best evening for deer movement that we saw over the next few evenings.   Despite the cold front hanging around and also bringing snow on October 12th, deer movement tapered off throughout the rest of the weekend.  One good sit in to the season and we’ve produced solid intel! We are anxiously awaiting the next big front to take advantage of the intel and kill a good public land buck!