One of my kids got his first deer Saturday morning. So proud of him. He's been my hunting buddy for a few seasons now, and finally got his chance this year. We had a great trip, though it was cut short since I was getting sick with strep throat. Had to leave a buck and some turkeys for next year - or the late hunt if I can get out there.
This area was new to us and I did all I could to learn the terrain, study maps, ask questions, etc before we headed out to my friends property in 121. I could only take a few days off this year, and my son couldn't miss too much school and football either. So we left Thursday night and took Friday to scout about 300+ acres of private forest and field. Turkey all over. Does all over. I spotted some big buck sized tracks and droppings in one area that seemed the most logical for a big buck to be hanging out (near food, water, tons of nasty thick cover, does in every direction, various escape routs, and out of the way from typical human\farm activity).
Saturday morning comes and my first goal is to get my boy a deer. Buck or doe. I'm starting to feel sick, so getting up at 5am and sitting in the 30 degree cold for several hours in our little makeshift blind overlooking a nice grazing area was going to be a challenge.
We snuck in and waited for shooting light. And waited. And after 2 hours and toes going numb, we decided to walk the perimeter. The we figured the deer may be holding to the tree lines and hill sides just out of view from our blind. So we slowly walked the perimeter. We did one big loop and by about 10am we were nearly back to our starting point. We came up a trail into the clearing, and hugged the tree line as we slowly peaked over into the open field. Nothing out there. We walked a little farther, and then I spotted a doe all alone about 100 yards directly in front of us. We froze. She glanced in our direction. I had a hard time judging her size. Mature doe? Young doe? She shifted around a bit as we both scoped her and studied her for a minute. I decided that she looked like a mature doe - the younger ones we had been seeing tended to more brown in color with more fluffy looking hair. Hers was more gray in color and smooth. "shoot her" I said. A second later the 243 fires and I see her bunch up, bolt toward the woods and steep hill - disappearing a few feet away. "Great shot, you nailed her! Now let's wait a few minutes and then we'll go look".
We wait, then walk over. Bright red blood trail about 6 inches wide at the spot she was standing leads down only 15 yards at most to her body just over the hill. Entry and exit wound through lungs and heart - and unfortunately through some of both shoulder sections. Definitely a mature doe. Proud dad moment!
I hunted alone that evening and saw more does, but not a single buck. But I continued to see signs of what I assumed was a nice buck. I was surprised not to find any rubs though. Just the tracks and droppings.
That night the farmer who's land we were hunting (neighbor and friend of my buddy who owns the adjacent wooded property) had something (someone suggested a bear) spook the cattle and they busted out of their pen. We helped collect one that broke out into the front - the others all broke into the pasture. It wasn't easy convincing a freaked out massive beef cow that she needed head back to her pen. But we got the job done. Afterwards, a farm hand started to tell me about the big buck. He told me where it hangs out in the morning and evening - exactly the spots where I was seeing the tracks. He wished me luck and I went back to get some sleep.
I was getting pretty sick and feverish at this point, but I just had to follow-up on this new information. So I got up early and alone and went to the spot where he said he often saw the buck around 7:30 am. I snuck into the area as quiet as I could around 6:30 (I know, if I was feeling better, I would have been there at 5). I came in from the downwind side feeling confident if there was a deer there, I'd have it dead to rights. As I got close, I spotted 2 does in the middle of the small clearing. I froze, but they still caught sight of me. Didn't move. Just looked. The larger doe was really curious and did a few zig zag moves trying to get me to move or do something. I just stood there, barely visible to her, hoping she would continue to feed. She started stomping her foot at me. I started to back away, hoping to not make a big scene, and then come back around from another angle and just watch and wait for the buck to come out. But she wasn't having any of that. As I slipped away, she took that as a clear sign I was bad news and sounded the alarm. She wasn't content with a quick snort and a bounding away with a nice tail wag like every other doe had done to that point. No, she let out an ear splitting yell, bounded as loudly as possible and stomping each jump - bleating loudly every 30 seconds or so. For what seemed like 10 minutes as she got farther and farther away. Geeez, talk about getting busted!!
I was sick as a dog at this point as the fever was getting worse. So I hunted for a few hours and had to throw in the towel. I wanted to make the 6-7hr drive before I got any worse. So we packed up and headed home. No buck, no turkey, but a nice doe for my son and meat in the cooler, so I was happy. Great memories for both of us. I'm just going to keep dreaming of that buck until I can get back there in better health.
Oops, wasn't going to tell a big story - but I guess I kinda did anyway. How about some pics now?