Wednesday, September 28, 2011

It's all about the moon!

With a few days into the season and limited success let's take a look at what makes or breaks our hunts.




It's all about the moon!  
The moon guide doesn't lie!  The first two days of the season we had great weather with the temperatures both days more then 10 degrees below normal.  Yet the movement in the morning was extremely slow!  In fact on the season opener we had six guys in the woods and only saw a few deer !  The evenings were a little better but still slower then you would expect with the cool weather.  By the time the moonguide improved and told us to be in the woods we got three inches of rain followed by four days of extremely warm weather and high humidity.  The mature bucks have now transistioned to their fall coats and habits, and the weather shut them down during daylight hours.  We only had a few mature buck sightings and nothing close enough to get excited about.

Forecast for the rest of the month!!


The weather in the Northeast is not supposed to change until Thursday or Friday when we can finally expect some cooler temperatures.   We plan on getting a few doe kills on video early this week and then hunt some of the hit list bucks we have located later in the week!  


The moonguide we use can be found at http://www.moonguide.com/.  According to the moonguide, history tells hunters that the best times to see the most deer movement hunters need to be in the woods or field when the moon is directly overhead (primary time), directly under foot (secondary) or at the sunrise/sunset times. As with anything else, weather conditions and hunting pressure certainly have an influence on deer movement but day in day out the moonguide is an excellent tool that we use to plan our time in the woods! Of course we also subscribe to the old adage you can't kill 'em on the couch! 


I hope this helps with an understanding of how the moon influences deer movement, and more importantly a mature bucks needs this time of year.  


Keep looking in at the website as there will be a new video up soon with a recap of the past few hunts as well as Wil's doe kill last Wednesday.

Here are a few recent photographs that we have gotten, and a nice shed that Mike found on tuesday! 





Old Yeller
MAD

Friday, September 23, 2011

Blood on the tailgate!

Finally, fall is here! Well it's a rainy, muggy Friday here for the Bitmore Outdoors Crew.  

With a shifting moon and warm South winds the past few days have been fairly slow for most of us.  

Matt and Mike have been out every day without seeing a whole lot of action or letting any arrows loose.  

On wednesday afternoon I was able to finally seal the deal on a nice mature doe. After I posted about going into stealth/predator mode in, "Back in the Grind", it paid off. I was able to slip into the corn with these funky SE winds we've been having and put down a doe.  After fighting off the millions of mosquitos and enduring a long sit, at about 6:50 a few does slipped out of the corn at about seven yards.  In my excitement of having deer so close to me while I was on the ground, I forgot to press record.  I realized this right about the time I squeezed the trigger on my release and the arrow flew right over her back.  I forgot to adjust to how close she really was.  Dejected, I nocked another arrow and waited in hopes of another doe, seeking to redeem myself.  At about 7:12 two fawns filed across the waterway at the same 7 yard mark and I knew momma had to be close behind.  I was looking out and picking a spot at 40 yards to judge distances, and just at that moment out came a nice mature doe.  I judged her to be 38 yards and pressed the record button.  Double checked that it was red, and settled in for the shot.  After I released the arrow I knew it was a touch forward, but I heard her crash in the corn about 100 yards out.  After reviewing the footage I packed up and headed home to meet Jenna and get Nelli for the track.  Now once Nelli gets her harness on she gets really excited, and as soon as Jenna and I walked her to the first blood, she was right on the trail. Within five minutes Nelli led us straight to the dead deer! Even with flashlights I am sure a blind man could have found the deer but it was very exciting and rewarding to watch Nelli use her instincts to do her job.  I couldn't have been happier!  She has come a long way since her first track at 8 weeks! Here is a few screen grabs from the film, that should be up in next weeks episode.
38 yards


Successful track by Nelli!
Matt and Mike are headed this way to the Shore as we speak.  Hopefully someone will put down (what I realized today) one of our 26 hitlist bucks this weekend, it's only a matter of time!

Every day we are picking up more and more geese, and the other night I saw my first flock of migrating mallards.  It's getting closer and closer!

Go check out the website when you have a chance, as I have updated a few things.  

Also look for a video sometime next week recapping our the past two weeks of the season!


Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Back in the grind!

Opening evening sunset
Well we made it, the season is here! Cool temperatures and North winds have made for some great sits, and tons of migrating geese.  I love this time of year when you can go outside and hear the geese cruising in.

Nothing big has hit the dirt yet, but it is only a matter of time before someone here at Bitmore Outdoors scores.

The first week has been pretty slow compared to the anticipation we all had going into the season.

Mike Mundorf (Matt's brother) was the first to break the ice on a nice doe the other night at the Manor.

Gary saw two shooters that were just out of range and had a few opportunities at some does, but is still holding out for one of the many bucks on his list.

Jenna has been hard at it every evening and has had some great encounters with some young bucks and a near death experience for the Big 9 on Saturday evening.  It was just a touch out of range and after camera light (lucky for him).

I had a great encounter with the Homer 8 here at home and have been trying to outsmart him this week to no avail, time to switch it up a little.  It seems as though he has gone into his solo mode and split away from his normal group, as I had the whole harem of does and his best buddy, the little 8 (still in Velvet), at ten yards yesterday morning.

Matt and Mike have had some good encounters with some young deer and some serious restraint on a few does that were tempting Matt to let one fly.

Brendan has definitely putting his hours on stand this week and like the rest of us has had little action.  He and Mike filmed a nice 140" 3.5 year old the other night, determining that it was too young to shoot.

The Full moon that we had last week made for tough hunting all around, but every day it seems to be getting just a little better.  Everyone keeps seeing just enough deer to keep fueling the fire.

I am going to throw a curve ball at the deer tonight and use the standing corn to my advantage.  These S, SE winds are horrible for most of my stands, so I will be forced to go into stealth mode tonight.  Hopefully it will work out.  I love changing it up every once in a while, but I was inspired by the latest Muddy's Midwest Whitetail to do this tonight.


It feels good to finally be back in predator mode.  


Lastly I will leave you all with some pictures from the past week of hunting, including some great shots from our goose hunt.


~Wil
Setting some stands prior to season in the Hunt Ve




Season's almost here, last minute stand prep.




Early season Goose hunt on Southeast Creek
Doesn't get a whole lot better

Sunset over the Chester River


Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Almost here...

It's so close we can taste it!

It's Tuesday afternoon, only 38 hours until we're back in our stands with arrows knocked! 

Yesterday Matt, Mike and Wil joined up in Queesntown to do some last minute stand placement, do a few safety checks on some of the other stands and pulled some cameras.  We were able to test out Matt's new Sony NX5U and that camera is awesome! Lightweight, smooth, easy operation, hopefully another will be joining the ranks soon...

After double checking everything, Matt headed back to Howard County and Mike and Wil met up with Brendan and headed up to Southeast Creek to try their hand at some resident geese.  As luck would have it, last night was the only night that they failed to come in at dark.  With no wind and a Full moon, if I were a goose I would feed all night as well.

This morning the Bitmore Outdoors crew joined up with Bob Lynch and put the finishing touches on the website.  There are still a few small things to do yet, but it is about 95% complete!  This is going to be a fun season with all of the footage we are expecting to get. 

Be sure to check out the video we posted with a short intro clip and a small look into the hunts of the past.

We love feedback and will take any and all ideas that you, our audience, has to offer.  Let us know if anything is misspelled or misplaced. Bitmore Outdoors is an awesome crew but we're not perfect.

Thanks for your time and your interest, stay tuned here and on our facebook page, and keep checking back to the website for more videos!

Thanks,

~the Bitmore Outdoors Crew

Friday, September 9, 2011

Final touches...



Well, here we are, less than a week away from the Md archery opener.  A week that all of us at Bitmore Outdoors have waited seven and a half months for.

All over the internet hit-lists are popping up, check out the Midwest Whitetail guys, and already the rut predictions are rolling in, Rut Report and Wired to Hunt.  Although November is a few months away, the anticipation is at an all time high.

I know that our watch lists are stacked right now and hopefully a few of these deer are going to hit the dirt within the next few weeks.  Gary has done more homework in the past seven months than I could do if I spent the rest of the season in the woods.  If I were a betting man I would put money on Gary having one down within the first few days.

Another good note is that I was able to secure permission on a piece of property very close to home that I have been watching and filming a beautiful 4.5 year old tall eight point.  With a few last minute preparations Jenna and I should be able to get within bow range of him this week!



Hopefully the weather will slack off on us this week, we have gotten over 7 inches of rain since Sunday here on the shore, and the flash flooding over on the western shore might force the hip boots to go on come thursday.

Wash your hunting clothes and get your therma-cell refills, it's about to get bloody.

Hunt Smart, Hunt Hard

~Wil

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Great Weekend!

Well here it is, the tuesday after Labor Day Weekend, the day all of us dread, back to work, back to the real world.

This past weekend was a blast!  The Bitmore crew participated in the Fourth Annual Chester River Catfish Invitational. Although none of us caught the winning catfish, we still caught a few.  Brendan Mundorf caught the biggest one out of our group, coming in at I think 22 inches. I believe there are some pictures somewhere, I'll have to dig them up.  The overall winner was Pete Brocker with a huge fish, and the biggest  winner yet to date, weighing in at 11lbs 14oz.

Monday brought groggy fishermen/women, a welcomed day off.  With cleaning and packing up, The Mundorf clan headed back to the western shore as Jenna and I went dove hunting here in Pamona.  It was a slow day in the patch but we managed a limit between the two of us! Not bad for not having to work!

This next week is probably the longest week of the year for us, the week before Maryland's archery opener.  Everything is in place, except Mike's bow, and we are all itching to climb into a stand next thursday.

Keep an eye on the website for updates as everything should be finalized this week!

I'll check in  as things progress.

~Wil

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Progression

Looks like things are coming along with the website! Keep looking back for updates.

Tomorrow is the 4th Annual Chester River Catfish Tournament, the Bitmore crew will have two boats competing this year.  We will update with results after tomorrow!

~Bitmore