[RiverGulfFshr]

Well Set up this past Sat. afternoon (Dec. 22) and had 8 turkery's move in on me 10 min after getting settled. They all were gobblers ranging from 4" to 10" beards. Shortly after they moved off to roost had 3 does move through and out. About 20 minute before dark had5does move in and 2small bucks (maybe spikes, small forks). Sat in the stand Sunday morning in the rainand saw only3 does and decided to call it a morning with a soked head.Got in the standthis morning andaround 8:00 had a decent 8 pnt come through. He was on the movewith his nose in the air, must have been the Tinks 69 I had hanging. He was notquite a shooter, maybe 2.5 yrs, main frame just outside of the ears, with G3 around 4" and brows 4". Not going to be a bad one next year. From what I am seeing looks like the buckswill be running the does pretty soon. Anyway not a killing weekend but agood none the less...Jeremy

 

[Captain Woody Woods]

where are you located? tinks (or any other estrous) will absolutely scare the hell out of both our bucks and does this early, but respond quite nicely to just doe urine or buck urine...

 

[RiverGulfFshr]

I am hunting in south Jackson County, Florida. I am about 35 miles south of Dothan, AL. I have started to see some pre-rut scrapes and a rub line or two on my property. My cousin told me that he saw a small 8'ter running a few does on Sat. morning in a bottom off the Appilichicola River. So my guess is the next couple of weeks the boy's will be start'n to itch and move!

 

[Grassflatsfisher]

Where in Jackson Co are you located?I hunt my mom and uncles farm just outside of Malone.

 

[David Ridenour]

Great report! Sounds like you are in the right place for sure. Your standards are admirable and obviously will pay off for you and others in the long run.

 

[daddytime]

We got some scraping and rub action going on in Butler County, but...I saw 3 bucks running together on the way in yesterday and then saw 2 more together a mile up the road. None of them were big so...have the big boys run em off orare the little ones making sign?

 

[RiverGulfFshr]

Grassflatsfisher (12/24/2007)Where in Jackson Co are you located?I hunt my mom and uncles farm just outside of Malone.

My property is 15 miles south of Marianna, where Malone is about 15 north of Marianna. I am just north of Compass Lake and the Hills and just south of the head waters of Dry creek, if your familiar with that area. Malone is a great area to hunt. I actualy use to do quite a bit of dog hunting in between Malone and Two Egg/Dellwood area with quite good success. Some of the best hunting in Florida is in Jackson county. There are alot of big bucks killed every year around there. Turkeys are really also starting to pick back up. Its getting to where I am seeing at least 8-20 everytime I go. Also seeing alot of big gobblers together right now, bet that wont be the case come spring time.

 

[RiverGulfFshr]

Tom, you guy's been doing any goodup in Butler How is the Family doing? Hope your having a great Christmas and New Year's.

 

[HeartofDixie]

The Blue Hoo (12/24/2007)where are you located? tinks (or any other estrous) will absolutely scare the hell out of both our bucks and does this early, but respond quite nicely to just doe urine or buck urine...

Blue Hoo,I think you're definitely on to something there.

I put out some doescent(NOT urine) yesterday, and had a doe come up down wind of me. As soon as she got a whiff of that stuff, she took off blowing and going. All the while, I had been watching a decent 7pt in the green field, and he fed around finally getting down wind of me as well. As soon as he smelled that doe scent...he took off quickly...blowing and snorting the whole way. Too early for the estrous stuff huh...I agree 100%.

Questions: Have you had more success with buck or doe urine??? When do you start using your estrous scent.?.when you start seeing does coming into heat and bucks on their tail???

 

[Captain Woody Woods]

HeartofDixie (12/26/2007)

The Blue Hoo (12/24/2007)where are you located? tinks (or any other estrous) will absolutely scare the hell out of both our bucks and does this early, but respond quite nicely to just doe urine or buck urine...

Blue Hoo,I think you're definitely on to something there.

I put out some doescent(NOT urine) yesterday, and had a doe come up down wind of me. As soon as she got a whiff of that stuff, she took off blowing and going. All the while, I had been watching a decent 7pt in the green field, and he fed around finally getting down wind of me as well. As soon as he smelled that doe scent...he took off quickly...blowing and snorting the whole way. Too early for the estrous stuff huh...I agree 100%.

Questions: Have you had more success with buck or doe urine??? When do you start using your estrous scent.?.when you start seeing does coming into heat and bucks on their tail???

hey sorry for the delayed response. been in the woods!! no computer down at primetime, lol. anyways, i think deer have somewhat of a biological time clock, and they know that it is unnatural for a doe to go into estrous before a certain date range...will some go into early estrous? absolutely. but because this kind of "premature" behaviour is near about (for lack of better words) unwelcome, bucks will not answer to it. kind of like when a decently hot chick, approaches you at the bar and she is obviously wasted, but you turn her down anyways because you have only been at the bar for literally all of 5 minutes. i dont know if that is the best of analogies, but it is what popped into this thinktank. to answer your question, i have really started analyzing how deer react to various scents at my place this year. i spend no less than an honest 4 days in the woods a week, and i will try out various brands and types of scents. this early in the year, 100% of the time, deer will not respond to tink's 69 or any other doe-in-estrous scent. it's just not time and they know it. yesterday morning, i drug a scent rag impregnated with just plain old doe urine (not estrous) 4 different directions starting FROM my stand and going outward. i also took both tarsal gland gel and buck urine gel and put it on various treebranches anywhere from 10 to 70 yards around my stand. the little spike i observed came right in with his nose to the ground, following that drag rag trail like a bloodhound, stopping to smell where i had placed buck urine and tarsal gland scent. it was a textbook reaction, or at least, as i had hoped. naturally, he walks because im not shooting any immature bucks. i have had similar reactions in the past 3 weeks. i had a monster walk up on me the other day as i was refilling one of those artificial scrape drippers with buck urine. bucks are becoming more territorial at our place and i think the smell of a unknown deer is taken as a rather significant territorial infringement. he walked up on me AS I WAS FILLING the scrape dripper, and stared me down from about 15 yards for a few seconds. it was wild. he was not happy. i came back to that scrape a few hours later and he had absolutely tore it up. destroyed a tree next to it (rub). it appears to really piss them off. our does appear to come in heat the 1.5 to 2nd week of january, but it all depends. although it varies from area to area, i am really expecting, if anything, an earlier rut this year only because of the signs i have been observing. i will not use any estrous scent until i see bucks running does...which is usually mid-january. hope this helps. i used to be pre-vet at auburn so we got to observe many penned deer and study their behaviour a decent amount, plus i try to spend as much time in the woods as i can.

 

[Grassflatsfisher]

RiverGulfFshr (12/25/2007)

Grassflatsfisher (12/24/2007)Where in Jackson Co are you located?I hunt my mom and uncles farm just outside of Malone.

My property is 15 miles south of Marianna, where Malone is about 15 north of Marianna. I am just north of Compass Lake and the Hills and just south of the head waters of Dry creek, if your familiar with that area. Malone is a great area to hunt. I actualy use to do quite a bit of dog hunting in between Malone and Two Egg/Dellwood area with quite good success. Some of the best hunting in Florida is in Jackson county. There are alot of big bucks killed every year around there. Turkeys are really also starting to pick back up. Its getting to where I am seeing at least 8-20 everytime I go. Also seeing alot of big gobblers together right now, bet that wont be the case come spring time.

I know exactly where you are talking about. Our family property is just north of Malone.