11/19/06 Frustrated
I quit. I give up. There are no deer at Cheatham WMA. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. This is more than frustrating.
Saturday was opening day for rifle season. Howard has been inviting to me to hunt with him on a private farm in Robertson County. I figured opening morning of rifle season would be a good day to stay away from the WMA as bullets would be flying everywhere. So, I took up Howard on his offer. Unfortunately, he didn't know where the deer where on the place. The only deer we saw was one that saw us first... and he was a half mile away across a soybean field. Howard didn't see him. By 8am, Howard was showing me around and we were pretty much done. By 9:30 I was headed home. Since Cheatham WMA was on the way and I was already geared up, I decided to stop and see how crowded it really was.
I got there about 11:30. On my way in, I was walking, someone driving out said he shot a small buck in the morning, but lost it.
I walked to the top side of the pine field on Sidney Bluff road. I saw no one and saw no deer. I scouted around the east side of the pine field, which is very difficult to walk through. When the area was logged, all of the scrub brush was pushed to the edges of the field. The pine trees appear about 10 years old, but the leftover brush from the logging days is still piled high and thick. I hiked through some rough area that I figured the average Joe hunters would not mess with. I have seen deer sign throughout the pine field and was thinking there were likely a few highly traveled entrances to the field. I figured if I could find one on this side of the field, I would have little interference from other hunters. I did find a well traveled path and noted a tree nearby that would make a good stand location.
On the way out, on the logging road, I ran into a hunter...said he had not seen anything all day, but that he and his buddy were planning to hunt near the [Bio Logic] field until dark. It was 1pm and this was my cue to get out of here. I went home frustrated.
Went again today (Sunday). Low 40's, overcast, thought it would be a good day to be out. I headed for the same hard to get to spot I found Saturday. I impressed myself being able to find it again in the dark. Also, there were few hunters out today. So far so good. Except two hours later and still no deer. I did see a bobcat and actually could have likely killed him (it would be legal and is actually encouraged). bobcats, I believe, are considered a nuisance to turkey poults and other game animals. I didn't want to mess up my deer hunt over a Bobcat and I really don't have the desire to kill something I'm not going to use. So I let him go.
Although I had plenty of clothes on, sitting still in breezy 40 degree weather gets cold. At around 10:30 I climbed down. I decided to slow walk the rest of the way in the woods all the way around the pine field. I found some exceptionally quiet woods - lots of acorns. Why wouldn't deer that bed in the pines for warmth, come this way to feed on mast and avoid the hunters? On the last ridge near the north of the field, there was a small rub. This rub is about 100 to 150 yards from several other rubs in the pine trees. There were also several trees which I believe were Persimmon trees. They did not have any fruit on them (too late in the year?) and I think I can tell from the bark, but I am not sure. If they are all persimmon, this will be an excellent late September early October bow hunting location. I explored a bit more until about 1. Called Becki, she said if I come home without a deer I will come home grumpy or something - the phone cut out - she said you might as well stay. She was taking the kids to the YMCA. I decided to find a good tree where I could see some of the pines, some of the rubs, some of the woods. I stayed here until about 4. Again was getting cold and saw nothing. I figured if I at least saw something it would be worth staying until dark, but not since I haven't seen anything. I climbed down and started slow walking northward up Sidney Bluff road.
I had about an hour till darkness. A little ways up, I noted several good rubs on pine trees. I also found a discarded buck. His antlers were cut out of his skull. His shoulders, his hindquarters and his loins were cut out and the rest was tossed off the side of the road. There were not guts here, so I don't think the butchering took place here. Someone likely took what they wanted and then hauled the rest here. It is definately not legal to cut the animal up before it is checked in and I also don't think it is legal to discard leftovers. Perhaps they did check it in. Hopefully. I walked to the end of the road. There is a dead coyote up here that I found last week...not much left of him now. I headed back. I got back to the truck at 5...it was dark.
It was a beautiful day in the woods. Saw blue birds, lots of woodpeckers, blue jays, found persimmon trees, saw a bobcat. Didn't get shot - in fact didn't see many other hunters at all.
However, still saw no deer. Extremely frustrating.
Saturday was opening day for rifle season. Howard has been inviting to me to hunt with him on a private farm in Robertson County. I figured opening morning of rifle season would be a good day to stay away from the WMA as bullets would be flying everywhere. So, I took up Howard on his offer. Unfortunately, he didn't know where the deer where on the place. The only deer we saw was one that saw us first... and he was a half mile away across a soybean field. Howard didn't see him. By 8am, Howard was showing me around and we were pretty much done. By 9:30 I was headed home. Since Cheatham WMA was on the way and I was already geared up, I decided to stop and see how crowded it really was.
I got there about 11:30. On my way in, I was walking, someone driving out said he shot a small buck in the morning, but lost it.
I walked to the top side of the pine field on Sidney Bluff road. I saw no one and saw no deer. I scouted around the east side of the pine field, which is very difficult to walk through. When the area was logged, all of the scrub brush was pushed to the edges of the field. The pine trees appear about 10 years old, but the leftover brush from the logging days is still piled high and thick. I hiked through some rough area that I figured the average Joe hunters would not mess with. I have seen deer sign throughout the pine field and was thinking there were likely a few highly traveled entrances to the field. I figured if I could find one on this side of the field, I would have little interference from other hunters. I did find a well traveled path and noted a tree nearby that would make a good stand location.
On the way out, on the logging road, I ran into a hunter...said he had not seen anything all day, but that he and his buddy were planning to hunt near the [Bio Logic] field until dark. It was 1pm and this was my cue to get out of here. I went home frustrated.
Went again today (Sunday). Low 40's, overcast, thought it would be a good day to be out. I headed for the same hard to get to spot I found Saturday. I impressed myself being able to find it again in the dark. Also, there were few hunters out today. So far so good. Except two hours later and still no deer. I did see a bobcat and actually could have likely killed him (it would be legal and is actually encouraged). bobcats, I believe, are considered a nuisance to turkey poults and other game animals. I didn't want to mess up my deer hunt over a Bobcat and I really don't have the desire to kill something I'm not going to use. So I let him go.
Although I had plenty of clothes on, sitting still in breezy 40 degree weather gets cold. At around 10:30 I climbed down. I decided to slow walk the rest of the way in the woods all the way around the pine field. I found some exceptionally quiet woods - lots of acorns. Why wouldn't deer that bed in the pines for warmth, come this way to feed on mast and avoid the hunters? On the last ridge near the north of the field, there was a small rub. This rub is about 100 to 150 yards from several other rubs in the pine trees. There were also several trees which I believe were Persimmon trees. They did not have any fruit on them (too late in the year?) and I think I can tell from the bark, but I am not sure. If they are all persimmon, this will be an excellent late September early October bow hunting location. I explored a bit more until about 1. Called Becki, she said if I come home without a deer I will come home grumpy or something - the phone cut out - she said you might as well stay. She was taking the kids to the YMCA. I decided to find a good tree where I could see some of the pines, some of the rubs, some of the woods. I stayed here until about 4. Again was getting cold and saw nothing. I figured if I at least saw something it would be worth staying until dark, but not since I haven't seen anything. I climbed down and started slow walking northward up Sidney Bluff road.
I had about an hour till darkness. A little ways up, I noted several good rubs on pine trees. I also found a discarded buck. His antlers were cut out of his skull. His shoulders, his hindquarters and his loins were cut out and the rest was tossed off the side of the road. There were not guts here, so I don't think the butchering took place here. Someone likely took what they wanted and then hauled the rest here. It is definately not legal to cut the animal up before it is checked in and I also don't think it is legal to discard leftovers. Perhaps they did check it in. Hopefully. I walked to the end of the road. There is a dead coyote up here that I found last week...not much left of him now. I headed back. I got back to the truck at 5...it was dark.
It was a beautiful day in the woods. Saw blue birds, lots of woodpeckers, blue jays, found persimmon trees, saw a bobcat. Didn't get shot - in fact didn't see many other hunters at all.
However, still saw no deer. Extremely frustrating.
posted by Tim Baumgartner at
4:40 PM
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