My Dad is a property manager for a local real estate company. He asked me to hunt a property which he says the tenants are tired of mowing deer poop in their back yard. I'm told they had 15 deer that would make their way through the property in the evening and the morning.
I packed up and got out there around noon yesterday and no one was home. After about an hour of making phone calls trying to get a hold of the owners (I like to be overly cautious about permission) I got an OK. I hauled all of my gear down to about 20 yards away from the treeline. Then I grabbed my bow and made a trip around the treeline to find the most heavily utilized paths. Finding a tree that would hold the stand became a serious task. I had to cross a small 'bog' that took up another half hour of my time.
When I finally had my gear on the other side I decided to take a break and sit on the tree-stand. Mind you I'm bare foot and drying my feet before I put my shoes on. Previous to sitting down I'd heard a buzzing and assumed it was a few random wasps. After sitting on the stand I realized it was not a random wasp or two, it was an entire hornets nest my tree stand was resting on. When I sat down I crushed the hive and all of the hornets swarmed out in attack mode. I had to jump and run leaving my gear behind. I ran about twenty feet away and jumped behind a stump. The dang things were about a half dollar size and swarmed my gear. Very quickly they began following the path I'd taken to get up the stump. I was sure they were tracking me. Instinctively I reached for my side-arm. I realized that wouldn't help...and then I was really scared. See...I'm deathly allergic to bee / hornet stings. So much so that I SHOULD be carrying an epi-pen. This was literally life or death for me. Just when I thought I'd have to haul off barefoot in the woods they stopped following my tracks and went back and settled on my gear. Gear included: Shoes, socks, bow, quiver, pack, tree-stand, harness, rope.
When I was sure they were done following me I made a couple phone calls...one to my Dad to tell him what an 'exciting' spot he'd found me. The second was to my wife to BS until the wasps went about the work of putting their home back together. When they had gotten off my gear I started sneaking back over to get my bow, step one. With my bow I was able to extend my reach and get my shoes, socks, pack, and rope. Then I waited a while longer and tied a rope around the end of my tree-stand. I finally got up the nerve to walk back on the path I'd come with the rope and hauled butt with the tree-stand in tow. Just as I thought those wasps started going ballistic. They were on that stand in a second and working their way up the rope. I made it about fifty feet before they gave up and went back to their hive. This made for an awesome pre-hunt work out!
So I gave up on that portion of the property because I'm sure I pissed the forest off enough to drive away any Deer for a day. I found a spot that would work for my stand. After getting it set up the tenants arrived and I went to introduce myself. They are VERY cool people, he bow hunts and makes beer...my kind of guy! After the into I went back to the stand, climbed the tree and 'hung out' for about five or six hours. NOTHING came in which according to the owner and tenants is very rare. They said five of the deer had been spotted that morning. Any guesses as to why the deer didn't show? I suspect I was right about their main entrance to the field and mucked that up with my hornet experience! I'm planning to set up a blind in the middle of the field as a back-up spot, any thoughts on store bought blinds vs. home made?
