Closing in on the rut and Gary strikes Browser off the Hitlist!

When looking for some of our hitlist bucks we always seem to lose one or two over the years, we think they have been shot or killed somehow, but then all of a sudden they show up a few years later... Here is a link to a blog post that Bill Winke of Midwest Whitetail wrote regarding this particular topic.
Midwest Whitetail "Look Who's Back"

Goes to show that he very well may be roaming the depths.

Here are my reasons that bucks disappear....what are yours?

1. Getting their butts kicked...if a Buck is constantly getting pushed around by a larger more dominant buck, why not move locations and be the big man on campus for a year or 2 in an area where there is less competition. With Magic Man (RIP) out of the picture I think Victor himself my be waiting for his curtain call on the Manor. I would sure love to be the one to stick it to him.

2. Maybe he was just a visitor in the first place.  Some of the bucks you get one or two pictures of might have just been passing by, not moving out of the area.

"Moon Charts and Weather Breaks"

After one of the most productive off seasons to date the first month of the season has been a disappointment to say the least.  With countless trail cam pictures of shooters and management bucks it seemed as though we would have our hands full of antlers by now.  As rain, standing corn, and untimely moon phases occupied September and the first part of October, most of us were starting to question our abilities. 

As most of you know, there is always that one day in October when the ice is broken, its like a raspy sound of the trumpet before a fox hunt, everyone now knows, "its on". For the boys of Bitmore Outdoors, Thursday was that day. The funny thing is, it didn't catch any of us by surprise.

The moon chart was showing a B day after countless C days, we had heavy rain all day Wednesday and the forecast called for a clear cool morning with strong winds.  With the combination of the break in the weather and the good moon phase, we knew Thursday would be one of those mid October mornings that define good deer hunting.

We were right!  With smoke pole in hand for the first time of the 2012 season, Gary Kephart and Mike "natural born" Mundorf connected on great bucks that both look to score over 145".

A Farmers Almanac is to a farmer as a ________ is to a deer hunter. The answer is...the deer hunters moon guide.  We have been planning hunts with the help of moon guides for years and they work very well.  During countless hunts the deer movement has been slow, only to pick up during the times the moon guide shows. It can be a great way for guys with full time jobs to pick and choose the days they wan to take off and be in the woods and also very useful when trying to decide when to stay in the stand all day or just hunt the twilight and dusk hours. This is an inexpensive way to become a better deer hunter over night.

Hopefully we will have some more bucks on the ground in the next week.  But if not, its off to Iowa for some of the crew and back to the bows as the pre rut starts to heat up!

Congrats to both Gary and Mike for harvesting some good deer last week.  Pictures of the bucks will be up as soon as possible! 

Thanks for checking in.

~the Bitmore Crew

Also congrats to Brian Sears, one of the Chester River QDMA Co-op members, on his incredible buck taken last week in Queen Annes County.  And congratulations and thank you to Temple Rhodes for facilitating a great program that allows these type of deer to grow here.