The Early Season

I got out about 8 times in what NJ calls the Early Bow Season, which this year began on September 8th. I saw a few deer, and had some shooting opportunities, mostly fawns. The stage I'm at in my hunting life is not one where I feel the need to shoot spotted fawns, even to fill an earn-a-buck requirement, so I didn't take a deer in the early season. I still have some venison in the freezer from last year so we don't really need the meat, but I am sure they provide very good eating, even if it is only one meal.

On September 29th, Fall Bow season opened for all zones statewide and the earn-a-buck requirement was no longer in effect. A friend of mine took advantage of his first morning out and killed this nice 8-pointer on public land in South Jersey. The buck was coming to his bait pile on a regular basis, and he had plenty of trail camera photos to prove it. Just after 7:00am, he took the shot and ended his quest for a buck until the end of the month, when the Permit Bow season begins.

I don't hunt over bait. I do run a few bait sites for trail cameras, just to get an idea of what is walking around where I hunt, but in my experiences, most mature deer do not come to bait in the daylight. Yet each year, bucks like this one, which is at least 2.5, maybe 3.5 yrs old, get killed over bait. If you care to comment, I wonder how many others have had luck hunting over bait.

Good hunting-DV