12-4-2011 Sun

12-4-2011 Sun
10:30 AM – 3:30 PM
Weather: NW8, overcast, 31˚, 30.09 rising, and a dusting of snow cover (1153)
Location: Dick’s landlords farm, Genoa, WI
Bagged: nothing
Partners: Dick

Comments

It was the seventh day of muzzleloader season, but only the first time I had been out for it. We were hunting Dick’s landlord’s farm just north of Genoa, WI. There was just Dick and I and the plan was to do about four drives. One on one drives can be productive if you know the area and there are some pinch points where the deer have to go, but today we had neither going for us.
I was still excited to go. I love to see new country and the thrill of making deer drives is what keeps bringing me back to this type of hunting. The thing is you can usually push something past one of the standers, and if you are a driver you also have a chance to see deer and you also get to scout other areas out.
Today we did not see a deer, I am sure we moved a couple from the looks of the tracks we found in the freshly fallen snow. This country is steep, rugged and quite isolated, so you would think it would be a top notch deer area, but it is not! There are deer here, but they are not overly abundant. In fact, trails are non-existent. If it was not for all the rubs I saw, I would say the deer are really scarce. Dick blames the lack of deer on two things: The Amish shoot anything they see, and his landlord pastures a lot of the woods.
I may have not seen any deer but I had a good time and I saw plenty of squirrels and turkeys.

Observations:

Rubs were quite abundant, and there appears to be a healthy population of squirrels.