Amosgreg, Have you been out with the bow yet in search of bambi? If so have you had any luck? gabe

I got access to a 40 acre farm not to far from work. Was out opening weekend and had a shot at a doe but missed .
In talking to a couple guys who are also hunting the farm there are quite a few deer in the area and hunting should be good once the rut starts.
This farm is a transition area and primarily a Doe hangout.
I should be able to get out a night or 2 during the week and also at least once each weekend. Sure beats driving 1 to 1 1/2 hours every time

How about yourself? See any nice bucks?

Amosgreg,

The weather in your area has probably had something to do with everything thus far. The colder weather setting in may be good for us both. I did a quick 2hr hunt Tuesday night in SW Pennsylvania (also in a transition area), hoping to get a shot at a doe and ended up having a small 8 point walk out of the woodline 15yds from me. I let him walk. I think this may be a good sign that things will be picking up shortly as he was all alone and I've noticed the pre-rut has kicked off. I've also noticed a few juvenile bucks wondering around by themselves.

As is expected Aquavet,
Rut activity dosn't usually kick in until the first Real Frost has killed the leaves and they start turning. I did notice 2 snall scrapes in the area I saw the doe(She was working some apple trees over and not responding to the scrapes yet)
No rubs or other scrapes in a tour of the land late the first morning. In talking to one of the other guys, giving my impressions of what I saw and the trails and patterns I saw, he confirmed I had a pretty good grasp of the land. I also found all but 2 of the tree stands that were hung and he seemed impressed that I found them in 1 3 hour still hunt.

I expect things to pick up over the next week and if it stays cool a real nice rut happening in mid November. If it gets hot again, then all bets are off

[ 10-17-2002, 15:43: Message edited by: amosgreg ]

Greg,

I have been knee deep in building a garage so haven't had any time to shoot my bow this year, only been out once kicking around the woods that I hunt during gun season saw some sign but haven't done any real scouting as of yet. One of these days I am gonna start back up with the bow, just to get some more time out in the field. It is good that you have private land to hunt on, koz public land just is crazy sometimes. Well I hope you stick a biggun!!! gabe