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"2024 Scouting & Hunting"
"2024 Scouting & Hunting"
It's all about the Hunt, not the Kill!
by Bryan Austin
Nov 25th, 2024
Just one more day for me to hunt deer and bear for 2024. No bears in sight since Nov. 28th posting down below. I have seen a few does and three different spikes. All moseying the spurs, contours and pinch points eating acorns. Plenty of acorns this year. I am wondering if Hurricane Helene interrupted nature. No sign of any rut activity so for this year.
As a reminder, I do not bait my hunts...all scouting and waiting. All still hunting this year with all the blow down.
If no luck tomorrow, this will end the 2024 44-40 hunting season.
Nov 29nd, 2024
Rifle season starts in the morning for deer here where I live. No luck on coyotes and bears so far, switching to deer for a while BUT bear starts back in December.
Some coyotes were close to me this morning at 7am but could not get them to come out. A spike shows up at 8am, watched him for nearly 30 minutes. When the wind started to blow, he made a B-line right for the pines.
Always opertunities for photos...
Some hurricane Helen damage and the 73'
Trying to warm up a bit
Bear scat
73' thinks it is visiting the tropics!!
Spike walking up and across the pinch point!
Nov 28nd, 2024
Bear season is over until Mid December. I left early for Turkey Day...then this guy shows up. This is one of two adolescents, with the mother (see Oct 30th photo) still around as well.
Nov 22nd, 2024
He just won't come out during the day...here he is again!
Nov 17th, 2024
No bears today!!
Got some good videos of a pair of Bobcats and a Spike this morning.
The Bobcats came out at about 7:30am and the Spike, from the same direction, came out at 8:30am.
I am after Bears, so I watched these guys disappear down the spur!!
Nov 11th, 2024
No bears today!! The fight continues!! After this photo was taken, I moved the stand, and put it up higher....on that tree leaning to the left.
Oct 30th thru Nov 10th, 2024
Three bears for Oct 30th, and the torture continues!!
Oct 30th, 2024
Well there he is again, right by the stand!!!
Oct 28th, 2024
Unfortunately a lot has changed with Hurricane Helene. Trees are down everywhere. I saw this bear Sunday morning, the 27th but not close enough, or for long enough...to take a shot. I will make a better update soon. Some hurricane tree damage can be seen in the photo. The white antenna is about 7 feet off the ground.
In reference to the below photo, this photo was taken from the center of the circle, looking up and right about 45 degrees. The pines can be seen in the background.
Oct 20th, 2024
This is my deerstand amongst 400 acres. This is on the slope facing east and suffered tree blow down during Helene. All of the "brown" is evidence of down trees. My stand survived in a small cluster of hardwoods. This area is a small narrow spur that makes for a small pinch point where game cross.
I do have some trail cam photos that I have failed top post.
Aug 17th, 2024
Your days are numbered Mister, just like one of your mates!
Oct 19th, 2024
I saw this guy while hunting the bear, it is not gun season here yet so had to let him go. I think it is the same one as seen below from Aug 15th. He got to within 15 yards, and is standing in nearly the same place as below.
Aug 15th, 2024
The past few days has shown some deer activity at the stand. This little guy showed up during daylight. Hopefully over the next few weeks, we will see more activity.
July 28th, 2024
I got the deer stand (center top right) and trail cam set up early this year. Although there is not a whole lot of activity expected on this small flat area where my stand is, I put the camera up anyway just to see what walks by. Already had a bear pass by within hours of setting it up.. The deer stand is actually facing to the right, looking out across the deep draw to a spur running from upper right down hill to lower left, 65 yards away, where all of the activity was last year. All kinds of rubs, scrapes, beds etc. The spur drops down to the creek area where the large rub (see Jan 20th photos below) was made last year.
Jan 20th, 2024
The first image is of the rub I discovered in early December, and was the rub I was hunting the day the big boy came out after he was making the second rub. I could hear him rubbing and could see the whole tree shake.
The buck I heard rubbing a tree got away from me...but I did find the tree today (second image).
I'll be trying to set up a few stand locations to concentrate on a 15 acre area on the side of a mountain. It contains quite a few draws and steep slopes as well as clear areas and a few places of hard cover.
The secondary images shows the view of the area from a high steep slope overlooking the spur and draws descending from the top, where there has been a ton of rut activity.
Above Photos - Actually looking down at the spur that runs uphill, top center, the draw to the left and right (running down and right) merge together at the lower right side of the photos...then runs down into the creek. My new deer stand location will be located to the far right and up just out of view, overlooking the spur running down the center of the photos (see July 2024 Description above).
Jan 2024
With 2023 behind us, we can try to do better in 2024. I have all year to set up for a new adventure. I learned a lot this past season when it come to hunting deer in the mountains of NC. Unlike how we hunt in the flats of South Carolina, these mountains are a lot more challenging.
I was unable to video my hunts because I was walking alot. I actually walked up on three does feeding on a steep slope. I was able to get about 50 yards from them and watch them walk off to my left. As I was trying to get some video from my phone, a buck was hot on the trial coming down from the top. I took a shot and hit him but failed to finish the job for several reason of which I would never take that kind of shot again. First, I was moving to fast and was exhausted when I took the shot, although blood was found...it was not a fatal hit for whatever reason. Lessons learned for the end of this this year's 2024 deer season to come!
Meanwhile, I got a lot of work to do for the landowner...two more coyotes to get and a bunch of groundhogs.
As far as hunting in South Carolina in 2023, I never saw a buck!!!
Stay Tuned!!
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