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Full Moon Makes for Slow Bowhunting

By Justin ZarrOctober 25, 20101 Comment

LAST UPDATED: May 8th, 2015

This past weekend I decided to stay close to home and try to connect with one of the suburban bucks I’ve got on my trail cameras.  Unfortunately warm temps combined with a full moon and some on and off rain made for one slow weekend!  In three sits for a combined total of about 10 hours on stand I saw exactly ZERO whitetails, which now makes me 0 for 5 on my suburban hunts.  The only wildlife I managed to see was a lone coyote, a few squirrels, and a lonely raccoon who decided to take a nap ontop of my bow sling which I left at the bottom of my tree. 

Although it is a little discouraging not seeing any deer from stand, I know it’s only a matter of time before one of the bucks I’m after shows up.  I’m not necessarily concerned with seeing a lot of deer, I want to see the right deer!  Having trail cam photos like this certainly does help keep me on my toes though.


This is a new buck that just showed up on my camera earlier this month.  He’ s not a monster, but he’s definitely a shooter for me.  Since he’s sporting the same crab claw on his left side like two bucks I’ve chased in years previous (Mr. Buck and Mr. Buck Jr.) he has earned the name Mr. Buck the 3rd aka MB3.


A side profile of MB3 shows off his crab claw a little better.  Over the past 8 or 9 years we’ve gotten photos of probably 6 or 7 bucks with this exact same characteristic, all 9 pointers with virtually identical racks.  No matter how old they get their frame never gets much bigger than this.  They put on some mass and maybe spring a few kickers but by and large they don’t get much bigger than 135 to 140 inches no matter how old they are.


Check out this little guy that was hanging out with MB3.  He has what looks like an old injury on his right side and some sort of growth/abscess on his left side.  It looks like a possible arrow injury from last season, but it’s hard to be 100% sure.


Here’s a close up.  Sure looks like an arrow hole to me.


Another interesting photo, this buck appears to have a busted antler on his right side that’s hanging down over the side of his face.  Not sure if it grew like that or if he broke it in a fight.


And what trail cam photo montage would be complete without a photo of my #1 target buck “Little Mac” as he walked by my stand about 20 minutes before I arrived on Saturday morning.  Sooner or later this guy is going to make a mistake and when he does I hope I’m ready!

With the full moon now past us and a cold front set to move through the Midwest later this week primetime is right around the corner!  If you can be in the woods this Thursday or Friday after the front moves through I have a feeling you’ll see a lot of buck movement.  Calling should work well as the bucks are getting pretty aggressive before the does start to pop.  So whatever you’ve gotta do to get in the woods, do it this weekend!

 

Justin Zarr
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General Manager at Bowhunting.com
Justin has been bowhunting for more than 30 years and co-hosting the popular bowhunting show Bowhunt or Die since 2010.  He lives in the NW suburbs of Chicago with his wife, 3 children, and semi-smelly dog.
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