Season 2 of 'To the Hunt' welcome back!

Wow!! It has been over a year since my last post. No biggie I guess I am sure no one has stumbled across this blog anyway!

A lot has happened since I was last here. Last year I missed and 8 point with a rifle! But that was last year!!!!!

Over the summer I purchased a nice Pink Camo Bow for my girls to share and we tore up the targets all summer getting ready for deer season. We all attended hunter education class and we are ready to hunt!

Big huntin' buddy

my little huntin buddy

 Now I have two of the best 

huntin' buddies ever

As is my way... I was able to get my hands on a nice 42" plasma TV which I traded for a tree stand, well actually cash! LOL! I could not get what I wanted in a straight trade :-( . So I took the money and purchased a tree-stand that seats 2 people comfortably. A friend found us some great bow-hunting land so we set up three ladder stands and one climber. I also created a ground blind in some bushes. This place is sweet! There are traces of deer everywhere. The land owner sees them regularly on his nightly walks.

Bow season opens.....(insert sound of crickets)....After a few days hunting my friend sees a doe from his perch and takes a shot with his bow. Too low! But wait...... she runs towards me (I am in a bunch of bushes and trees) I see her but there are too many branches in the way.....UUUGGGHHH!!! We call it off and find his arrow, 5 yards short I'd say. Fast forward..I am tired of not seeing deer so I decide to make something happen! I stalk around some trees and peer into a field..4 DEER at the bottom. I stealthily stalk down to the bottom, kneel down, draw back my bow and swooooosh they are gone!!! Oh so close. Many more days and evenings here and another friend gets a small doe with a crossbow. I give up on this spot. One guy has seen a nice buck since then but can't get him in bow range.

So off I go to the small farm (7-1/2 acres). I bought a climbing stand over the summer at a yard sale el-cheapo style. I set it up and climb! And what do I see within minutes???? Deer!!!! Deer with lots of brush between us. She finally gets to a clearing my shooting lane is open, I judge it to be 35 yards away, I draw back, put the pin on her shoulder....release!!!! Perfect shot straight and true...just low :-(
Turns out she was 40 yards away! Still I got to fling an arrow at a real deer! Exciting!

I always see deer at this farm in several places so I brought my girls with me one Sunday afternoon. I really want them to at least see some deer while we are hunting! I set the girls up under a tree where I have seen at least 4 deer twice and head up to my stand. Once I get up there I can see the girls under the tree so I feel confident and safe (we are not far from the house either). My youngest is taking pictures and moving all around so there is not too much chance of them seeing deer. But, they spook one up towards me! It is too far for me to shoot so I pull out my handy estrous-bleat-can and try to call it over. No sooner do I put up the call; a doe comes bounding out into the clearing and buries her head in a pile of acorns! Excitement mounts my heart is beating fast, I stand, I lift my bow, I hear something off to my right.......its a buck! A 4 point but a  buck!!!! I watch him...I watch her...he never gives me a chance at a shot! But little Miss Doe still has her head in the acorns and the sun is going down! I raise my bow, draw back my arrow, she is closer than the last shot from here so I guesstimate 30 yards, I place the pin on her shoulder, she is quartering away (the perfect shot according to all the magazines) I hold, I breathe...release!!!!

FFFFWWWHHTTTT!!!          TWAANNGG!!!

The buck bolts into the woods. She jumps and runs! Did I hit her???? 

I am supposed to wait in the stand for 15 minutes but I can't I need to know! Down I climb! I look for my arrow, there it is right where I thought it would be...and it's covered in BLOOD!!!!!!

Wooty woot woot woot!!!!! 

Through and through! It was the perfect shot! Numb!! What to do? I call the girls up from the bottom and show them the arrow! They heard it all: the bow shot, the deer run me climbing down the tree! Up to the house to borrow a lantern, 45 minutes of looking in the wrong spot! A call to a friend and then 2 minutes after we find blood.....

MEAT IN THE FREEZER!!!!!! My first deer ever! 110lb SC doe!

40,000 acres and I'm supposed to see a deer!!!!!

Here we go again!!! So I called a friend who has 400 acres of prime deer country. But cold not get him interested and did not want to damage a friendship over $30.50. That is the price of a permit to hunt WMA (wildlife management area) land.

Have you ever had a friend that can drop an ugly old rubber worm in a mud puddle and pull out a 5 pound bass or take a pot shot at a deer that he can hardly see and it tun out to be a 7 point buck? I do. And that is why I spent $30.50 on a WMA permit to hunt with him. See we planned to go hunting the wed before Thanksgiving on the 400 acre spot but since we couldn't get on it we decided to go to the WMA spot where he killed the 8 point that I posted earlier.

We got out there in the 40,000 acre wood (much larger than Pooh's 100 acre wood). And it was slap full of deer!!! Just not where I was standing. It was not a doe day for guns so I brought my bow along. Kinda awkward toting a rifle and a bow through the woods, but I did it for the first hunt. Then I left it in the truck for the second hunt. And on the third and finally drive of the day I left it in the truck again and lo-and-behold what comes my way? Two does yes that's right 2 does! Not only can I see them I can see that they are does with my multi-focal lenses (that's right not just bi-focal multi-focal). So close they are and looking not at me that I probably could have hit them with a rock! And guess where my bow was.....in the truck!!!!!

So once again I see 2 deer so it was a good hunt.

I had to work Thanksgiving and the Friday after but my hunting pal went out Friday and shot at a doe (he has doe tags) he missed but gave due diligence to track it in case he wounded it. Then he sits down, looks up and sees the body of deer. Not the head just the body. So he shoots it. 150 yards later he finds a 7 point buck piled up in a ditch.Yeah my thoughts exactly!

So I get to here a great story on our way out Saturday and how they saw at least 10 other deer in this section of the 40,000 acre wood. So that is where we go. Absolutely beautiful...not a deer for miles!

We decide to set-up a small drive some other guys join us so we have 5 hunters now, 3 of use as shooters and 2 drivers. I find a great spot and clear some leaves from under foot and scare up a doe! She bolts up the hill before I can even raise my rifle! Ok, they haven't even started the drive maybe I'll see more. 10 minutes later I hear shuffling in the leaves and pow there is a fawn. So I put my scope on it and watch  it struggle all the way up the hill to stand broadside at the top. Cross-hairs on the kill zone easy shot! But I had decided when I watched it struggling to climb the hill that it was too small especially to be my first deer. It could not have been more than 7 months old!

Woo-Hoo another hunt and 2 more deer spotted! Soon I will get that shot off!!

Averaging 2 Deer for Every Outing

Well ...seems like I start a lot of stories this way! Well, I went out hunting again.....LOL! I did really I went out three Saturdays in a row. The first was another epic episode in my hunting career. I went to my friends farm (the one where I jumped the deer and came really close to getting a shot off), I decided to try the same route as when I spooked the deer only this time I parked on the other side of the house, so not to put headlights on the deer right away. I snuck around the house and into the pasture, I belly crawled across the top of the pasture so I would not be silhouetted (just like the magazines say) and I eased down along the fence line. Well there were not any deer bedded in the field this time! But to my right I heard something walking in the woods, it matched me step for step almost. Then I hit the barbed wire fence! I could see where the deer were crossing it, unfortunately me not being quite as limber I had to make a choice cross the pasture to get to the gate and come all the way back or try and get over the fence! Hmmm...I found a low spot and crossed the fence and only put one hole in my pants! I got low and listen for the sounds in the woods. Then made my way to a big oak tree with low hanging limbs. I was covered well so well in fact I could not see anything! I turned and moved but still couldn't see So I figured that I needed to move my feet so I could turn my body some. Ever so gently I slid my foot through the leaves just enough to turn my hips and get a better view. And what a view I got!!! Those WHITETAILS are so pretty when they bounce away from you and back into the woods!!! That was the only one I saw all day!

Fast forward to last Saturday. I went to another spot right near the very first spot I went to. Only this time I was determined to get deeper into the big tress and hopefully get some good shooting opportunities. It was great the weather and 4x4's had taken down all of the brush that was keeping me from getting to some other hunting areas. I trekked on. I followed a stream bed for awhile and saw an opening in the trees ahead. Ambush area I was thinking, as I looked up there was an automatic feeder in the clearing! Someone was hunting this area already! WooHoo for me this might be my lucky day! Except the clearing that I saw was actually the river and the feeder was on the other side! :-(  Ok the magazines say the deer swim, maybe they swim across the river get a bite to eat then come back! So I set up at a spot that had several good shooting lanes and I waited...and waited...and waited...and got cold. So I thought perhaps its too cold for them to swim it was too cold for me to sit there any longer so I worked my way out to a sunny spot. And guess what a deer saw me first and again I got a great look at that pretty WHITETAIL bouncing up and down! Several hours later still no deer.

Here is the picture I promised you!

My good friend got this 8 pointer!

Speaking of my good friend we went out to my buddy's farm Saturday with RIFLES!!!It was a doe day and my friends all want me to get a deer so I borrowed his rifle and we went a huntin'!!! I had a great spot with good shooting lanes and great visibility. But there was so much shooting going on around us that I know if I was a deer I would be laying down in a briar patch and not moving at all. Apparently I think like a deer! Not a single glimmer of deer fur anywhere all morning! So I went home for lunch and came back a 4:00 pm hoping for some late afternoon action. And I got it!!! 3 fat raccoons wobbled across right where the deer should have been!

This has been while unproductive harvest wise the best of times hunting! The leaves are sooo pretty and watching the landscapes change while the sun rises and sets is awe inspiring. As a matter of fact there were several times that I may have missed a deer because I was sucked into watching the leaves!!!

I am going out Wednesday after work hopefully there will be a picture of me and my harvest soon!!

Hunt success Harvest fail

Its been awhile since my last post (no one is reading anyway!) but I have been on several hunts since then. I was ready bright and early one Saturday morning but... the fire alarm went off at work so I had to go in and make sure the place wasn't burning down! It wasn't and I got into the woods pretty late. Same spot that I ambushed the second deer but since it was so late in the morning I did not see anything. I went back to the first spot again and went into the woods at daybreak at the same place that the screaming deer crashed in but did not see anything but squirrels! At least I know my camo is working! I had one squirrel jump onto the tree I was leaning on! I thought he was going to jump on me!!!!! But no deer. I went with a friend one evening to his 10 acre plot but the area he said the deer should come from was occupied by a couple of punks camping and making a bunch of noise! So no deer came from over there.

Then there was this morning! I scouted an area Saturday and actually found a scrape in an area below two oak trees. So there is food and traces of deer activity. I found a natural blind within my comfort range for shooting too! So I wake up at 5am load myself into the Trooper and head to the field. When I pull up my headlights find 2 deer just hanging out! I didn't even make it out of the truck and got busted!!!!! Well I waited a few minutes then got out and when I did the big doe snorted at me and went into the woods. So I proceeded the round-about way through the first field going away from where the does just went. About three quarters of the way through the field which by the way is only lit by moonlight I jump 3 more deer!! They were running over each other to get awayt from me! I saw them when I shined my flashlight on them. They ran to the corner of the field where 2 fences meet. So I moved into the second field heading for my "spot" in the dark! I stopped and listened to those deer still crashing through the thickets (later I found where they crossed the fence). When the sun finally started coming up I was able to make my way to my spot still hoping that the 5 deer I already spooked would relax and visit the acorns and scrape. And I waited, and waited and waited some more. Finally I see a really big doe and a fawn making their way towards the acorns. Now, I have read that hunters need to 'play' the wind, HA! the wind where I was was swirling every which way so there was no way for me to 'play' the wind. Apparently the big doe caught a whiff of me or something else spooked her but with a snort a yelp and a leap whoosh they were both gone! The big one was only like three or four steps away from giving me an opportunity to shoot too! Then a chill set in me that I just couldn't shake so I don't think I could have held my sights on target from the shivering anyway so I called it a day.

Things I learned:

1. theres no need to get anywhere before dawn if you need sunlight to see where you are walking.
2. I will set up at the farm equipment in the first field and let the deer come to me
3. I need a scarf!

Hopefully the next entry will include a photo of a harvested deer!

Second try

I went this morning to another spot that I have never scouted before. SO not knowing the lay of the land I trekked into the woods. I was following an old road and as I came down a slope just out of the high grass I could see another trail intersecting ahead. And there right where the to trails met stood a doe! Broadside, presenting a perfect shot!!!!!

A perfect shot for someone who was ready! Not me I was holding my little chair in one hand, but I did have an arrow nocked in the bow but couldn't drop the chair or she would have bolted so we stood staring at each other. She stomped a few times and I tried to remain still.....then she screamed and bolted. BUSTED. Turns out the trail she was on is a pipleine. I was hoping for that from the google maps. No luck after that but now I know to stalk up to that area slower.

I also broke my stool! SO now I need a new one!

So far its been a great hunting season soon it will be harvesting!

Opening Day

Well opening day was Sept 15th. I went in late to work that day. I learned a lot in the woods that morning. One deer crashed into the woods screaming like I never heard, (since I have never hunted that makes sense). So I got to see that one and then I heard another one which according to the internet was a buck! It was exciting!

My New Target

I made a new target today. Stopped by the garden shop and got a free burlap sack then went to the carpet store and got some carpet padding. Stuffed the sack full and sewed it shut with some string I had in the garage. Some old spray paint and presto! 

 Here is the new target and the one that I have shot so much the arrows are going through the wore out areas.

I have the new one tied to the trapeze bar so it doesn't fall over. I have to keep it away from other objects since the arrows shoot through and stick out the other side. At least it is kind of self healing. I may get it off the ground a little so the swing of it can absorb the energy.