North Carolina Archery Deer Season Opener - Off To A Slow Start

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Just a real quick update. Should’ve taken a picture or something, but only got a few minutes of video this morning, and forgot the camera when I went back out tonight…

Which is just as well. This morning was so slow, I didn’t even see the ubiquitous bushytails. The turkeys didn’t pop out of the brush to get my heart racing, the doves didn’t swoop in and wood ducks didn’t squeal overhead. In fact, except for the roar of I-40 in the background, it was a pretty damned quiet morning.

This evening started with promise. The afternoon heat dropped out a bit and a breeze came up. It was light, but between that and the Thermacell, it was enough to manage the starving hordes of mosquitos. Hurricane Irene didn’t do a lot of damage here, but all that rain got the skeeter population up and running! I can’t say it enough, but thank heavens for Thermacell!

About an hour before sunset, the squirrels showed up. I get a kick out of watching their antics, even though they can sure get the pulse up when they hop on a branch during a quiet lull. I kept waiting to see them scatter as the bucks came rolling in, but the deer never showed.

So day one is down, and the deer are quite safe and unscathed. Thankfully, NC now allows Sunday bowhunting on private property, so I get another chance tomorrow. I’ve got high hopes, although I’m pretty sure at this point that the “game cam” pictures my brother keeps showing me are actually taken at a deer farm down in Texas.

More to come…

Brian Degan

Posted September 12, 2011 at 1:34 AM

Good luck tomorrow Phillip! I’m hoping to get out Thursday up my way. First ‘cool’ weather is supposed to finally show up then. Can’t wait.
Got back from Oregon Inlet yesterday…bailed dolphin and limited out on yellowfin. Great day.


Phillip Loughlin

Posted September 12, 2011 at 1:16 PM

I saw Hank posting about it on Facebook. Sounds like a truly epic day! I was holding my breath for you guys with all the storms bouncing around out there. How was the water?

The deer hunting has been slow here with the full moon on the opener again. I don’t know how the State times it every season, but I think this is the third opener in a row where the moon was close to full.

Good luck up there. Hope to hear success stories!
- Reply
  
  Brian Degan
  
  Posted September 13, 2011 at 12:39 AM
  
  Water was unreal…had a nice swell, but with a long period. Getting through OI wasn’t as bad as we expected. Bailing a mess of tasty peanut mahi is one thing, but I’ve never seen a tuna bite like that last as long as it did. Unreal.
  
  I hear you on the full moon. Hopefully the weather will get them moving come Friday. I’ll shoot you a note if I’m lucky.
- Reply
  
  Neil H
  
  Posted September 13, 2011 at 4:59 PM
  
  The moon sure can make things tough. My opener for (California) A-zone was a night time full moon. I couldn’t make it up there again until this last weekend, which was, yes, another night time full moon. Plus Friday and Saturday were really hot, a great recipe for only seeing (only a few) deer at the extreme fringes of the day. It took some doing to make it work.
  
  Good luck on your hunt out there! Someday I’d love to hunt those hardwood forests like you have back east. Until then I’ll look forward to to your stories about it.
  - Reply
    
    Phillip Loughlin
    
    Posted September 15, 2011 at 12:21 PM
    
    Neil, I was out there for that A zone opener too, up at the Golden Ram Hedgepeth Ranch. I saw a few deer, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the blacktails there must reproduce asexually and no longer produce bucks at all.
    - Neil
      
      Posted September 18, 2011 at 3:01 PM
      
      I would imagine those bucks have ninja-like skills living on that property, especially if they live very long. My thought is that unless you’re lucky, you only see the young and inexperienced bucks if there’s much hunting pressure. Any buck that makes it past that is practically a ghost. The stuff of legend and they disappear at first light.
      
      I had responsibilities that kept me busy until pretty late at night yesterday, but I woke up with the if-I-had-driven-up-late-I’d-be-hunting-now-blues today. It sucks to watch sunrise from your house.
    - Phillip Loughlin
      
      Posted September 19, 2011 at 4:07 PM
      
      Neil, Ninja-like is an understatement. If it weren’t for the fact that I always see a couple of real nice bucks when the November pig hunting starts, I’d swear there were none on the property.
    - Neil
      
      Posted September 18, 2011 at 3:01 PM
      
      I would imagine those bucks have ninja-like skills living on that property, especially if they live very long. My thought is that unless you’re lucky, you only see the young and inexperienced bucks if there’s much hunting pressure. Any buck that makes it past that is practically a ghost. The stuff of legend and they disappear at first light.
      
      I had responsibilities that kept me busy until pretty late at night yesterday, but I woke up with the if-I-had-driven-up-late-I’d-be-hunting-now-blues today. It sucks to watch sunrise from your house.

North Carolina Archery Deer Season Opener – Off To A Slow Start

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