Dave Eder’s 2009 Bowhunting Season Weeks 2-3

In Early September my hunting partner and I hung some game cameras at the land we hunt in new Jersey and as I posted a couple of weeks ago, we got some cool deer on camera…including a piebald 8 point. We started hunting at the end of September and until this weekend it had been very slow!

The first two weeks of October brought what my brother calls the “October Lull” The deer just seemed to stop moving, we had had a lot of deer on camera but none were walking around during the day. Well, that all changed this weekend.

The camera had been showing a small but respectable 10-pointer (actually probably a nine since one point was quite small) had been coming by every few days. In fact a week before, it was a Ten-Pointer..see above. But a few days later, it had broke the front tip of its left rack. See below:

The Day of the Hunt
On Saturday, we were pretty confident that a recent cold-snap would help get the deer moving and that proved to be correct…it was an incredibly short hunting trip. I hadn’t been in stand for more than a a half hour when a couple of yearlings showed up. Shortly after that, a spike joined the party. I enjoyed watching them for about 15 minutes, the trail camera even got a photo of the three of them..see below:

The cool thing about this photo is, it was taken just as the small spike picked up the scent of a buck approacing, and he is staring into the woods trying to see it. I noticed the spikes behavior and was staring into the thicket as well. It took about another 15 minutes for the buck to show up. It took it’s time to get into an opening, but when it did, it was only about 15 yards from me and was perfectly broadsie…I couldn’t and wouldn’t turn down that opportunity. I hit the deer right where I was aiming and it ran off out of eyesight. I waited about an hour and then met my hunting buddy and we went to go track the deer,…turns it out it only ran about 70 yards.

This buck is by no means a monster, but for me it is a really nice trophy and will fill the freezer. I still have my New York Tag and will be able to shoot another buck in New Jersey after the 31st, so I’m hoping this isn’t the biggest of the season, but for now SCORE FOR TEAM 5. I believe this will count as a nine point.