ANT MAN

YEAH IT"S SOMETHING TO MARVEL ABOUT

Time is slipping by for primitive weapons season, only a few more days until the start of rifle season here and I still have not let an arrow fly on a deer!

Fortunately I have been allowed to hunt on a 1000 acre plantation this year, which is a good thing since the other area has been sold! This new area is awesome the owner has several stands set up around the farm but doesn't always use them. Case in point: last night, (my first time there) the owner was unable to meet me to show me around so he guided me, via cellphone,to a stand that is under an oak that he saw a big doe at the night before. After driving there (1 hr 20) I find the stand right where he said it would be. Let me back up just a little during my drive through areas I have never been before I see 3 deer on the side of the road one a young buck , so it is obvious this area has deer to spare.

Anyway I get to the stand, nothing special 15' ladder stand, it has a piece of camo material wrapped around for concealment. So I climb up and see there are 2 foam seats which is nice it is a "buddy" stand. In between the two cushions there is a pile of leaves and some ants on the seats. No biggie, I wipe the ants from the seats and reach in and grab a handful of leaves to start clearing them away, did I mention there were ants?! Good. Well not too good....who knew fire ants would make a home out of a bunch of leaves fifteen feet in the air!!!! Not me! Fortunately I had gloves on so I only suffered a couple hundred bites rather than thousands! Needless to say it did not take long to figure out a different way to clean out the ants. All I had was an arrow! But it worked I got all the leaves and debris out of the stand and threw the seat cushions to the ground. Then after a heavy dousing of Dead down wind evolve 3d scent killer most of the ants were either dead or leaving quickly. But I still have plenty crawling on my gloves and shirt. Thankfully it was still early and all the noise and motion wasn't scaring the deer off. I finally settle in I was able to use my brandy new range finder and ranged a few landmarks 22yds, 27yds, 29yds feeling good, feeling confident, but I wasn't about to sit and lean back against the tree still too many ants.

Not sure if you've ever gotten into a mess of fire ants but for me they always tend to go under my watch band and bite. Or in this case under the strap of my release. So now I sit here typing this feeling the bites on both wrists!

Back to the hunt.....I wound up standing on the seat of the stand which worked out good it got my bow above the rifle rest/shooting rail and the seat area was actually larger than the floor section so I could turn easier.

My host said that he saw a 150# doe the evening before right at dark under the big oak. I am ready....I am waiting.....Just as the sun settles past the treetops...BOOM....off goes a muzzle loader in the distance. Awesome!..deer are moving! Boom goes another I am feeling good! Sun keeps dropping no deer, sun drops some more..no deer..then I hear something I have only heard people do on video..a grunt! Man how cool is that, mind you it is in the woods behind me I am pinned against the tree and my grunt call is in my zippered shut backpack. I was settled in but not quite set up as normal to have access to all my items there were no hooks in the tree and I did not have any on hand...(insert sad face). So I waited and listened another grunt..then another..wait that last one was my stomach growling. Sun drops some more no deer, I see donkeys up the hill though. Finally at exactly 7:30pm out pops a doe. There is some light left but not much, she is too far away and facing in such a way that there is no shot. She moves closer, she is at a fence post that I have ranged at 25yds!!!! It is so dark now that when she turns her head I can't tell if she is looking at me or away. I think about raising my bow...its now or never my red sight pin isn't even glowing its so dark (yep that is my 25yd pin). I'm ready, I'm gonna do it, nope says she....snort, wheeeze, hop, bound and she gone! Maybe next time! In a few days I will have the Marlin .30/.30 lever action with me and that too far for bow shot will be a plink.

A beautiful day none the less. I started out hunting my stand in 55 degree weather in the morning and ended at a great farm with lots of possibilities. I even went to work for a couple of hours in the midst of it all.