A tall-tined 8-point in Beaver County
I extracted these photos from my video footage. I apologize for the poor quality, but my camera budget isn’t what I’d like it to be, and it’s usually hard to find the big boys close to the road. Still, I think you can get a pretty good idea of what’s roaming around my neck of the woods.
A big 9-point in Allegheny County and a nice Beaver County 8-point
These two bucks sized each other up, but decided it was too early to do any fighting.
With all of the sightings of nice bucks, I was eager to get some treestands in place over the weekend. My hunting partner, AJ Johnson, and I spent most of Saturday morning hanging stands in some of our productive spots from last season. We knew it was going to be hot and humid, so we got an early start.
Our first set-up was in a dense stream bottom not far from where AJ harvested a nice 9-point last year. The site overlooks the intersection of three well-used trails and has great potential for funneling deer during the rut. We decided that hang-on stands were the best option due to the prevalence of small, crooked trees in the area. Luckily, we found a maple tree large enough to hang a stand and provide some good camouflage to conceal our presence from the deer below.
Safety harnesses were critical for keeping both hands free for installing the stands; A deer’s-eye view of our stand location near the thick stream crossing
AJ and I agreed that this should be one of our most promising spots this Fall, so we decided to put up two stands next to each other. The twin stands will allow us to attempt to capture some video footage of our hunts, as well as provide a great location for taking some young archers on their first bow hunt.
AJ peers down from 20 feet up in the maple; Our dual stands should produce some memorable hunts this season.
Before we left, we installed a trail camera to monitor the deer that are traveling the nearby trails. We’ve had good luck in the past getting some photos of bucks that we never knew were in the area. The new digital cameras on the market produce better image quality and have longer battery life than those of the past. And personally, I don’t believe these cameras alarm deer as long as the camera is not visited too frequently and human scent is kept to a minimum.
AJ makes sure all of the settings are correct on his trail camera; That’s me looking down from one of my favorite stand sites
Our final stop of the morning has been one of my most productive locations over the years. The spot is situated between a large bedding area and an oak ridge that overlooks a series of agricultural fields. The fields always contain rotated crops of alfalfa, clover, and corn and draw deer like a magnet. Because the stand site is a good distance from the fields, I can hunt it in the morning or evening depending on the wind direction. Plus, a small woodland pond nearby is often visited by deer on their way to the fields to feed in the evening or in the mornings before they bed down for the day.
I should also mention that my first field test of the Medalist Silvermax apparel was on Saturday while setting up the stands. Due to the hot weather, I figured it would be a good opportunity to experiment with the silk-weight crew. As most of you know, installing treestands is hard work, and with 90-degree temperatures, sweat was pouring off me most of the morning. However, I was impressed with how quickly the silk-weight fabric dried and I stayed relatively comfortable despite the daunting humidity. My first impression of the Medalist gear was that it’s a noticeable improvement over the cotton t-shirt I would have worn in the past.
Until next time, happy scouting!
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