Got back from Vermont last Thursday after a week of hunting for whitetails and figured I would share my trip. I grew up in Vermont and began hunting when I was about 9. I am now 29 and have only missed 3 seasons since then. About 10 years ago the deer population took a big hit, due to a few harsh winters and a coyote problem. About 5 years ago the implemented a 2 point restriction and with a few mild winters the population has came back.
My dad had put out some game cams on our property and had numerous pictures of legal bucks all through the summer and early fall. I was getting pretty excited as soon as November hit and I was watching the weather forcast back there. It was cooling down and already snowing. I arrived in Vermont on November 15th, and had my gun sighted in and bags unpacked at camp. There was about 2 inches of snow on the ground for opening day, but it would only last for the day as a warm from came through and had the temps in the mid 50's for sat and sun.
My dad had set up a ground blind on our property and my brother was using it sat and sun so I chose to do a little still hunting. I have to admit that I was excited to be in the woods and got even more excited when I saw all the deer sign in the area I was hunting. It was the most I can ever remember seeing. But sign was all I saw on Saturday and Sunday. My brother on the other hand had seen deer both days in the blind. Just none with antlers. My brother left Sunday night so I decided I would sit in the blind the next morning. Sunday night we got a big rain storm and heavy winds. I ended up sleeping in until the rain stopped on Monday morning. About 8 am my buddy and I decide to head up to the blind. We jumped one deer on the way to it but could not tell what it was. We had been in the blind for about 10 min when my buddy hits my leg and says deer. It disappeared so I gave a couple of grunts on my call and about 2 min later the deer was headed strait towards us. It was a big spike horn. We tried our damnedest to find another point on his rack but we couldn't. We sat there for the rest of the day and didn't see anything else. We got a break the next morning as the temperatures dropped down into the 20's and there was about an inch of snow on the ground. My buddy and I got to the blind at about 7. We got all settled in and told my buddy "man the deer have to start moving here pretty soon it's freezing". About five minutes later he taps me on the leg and says shooter buck!! I tried to find him but there were a lot of trees and brush in the way. So he tells to switch seats with him. So I switch seats am finally pick him out. I still didn't have a shot yet as he was blocked by a birch tree. He knew something was up but didn't know what. We played the staring game for about 5 min then he finally turned broadside for me. So I pull up my rifle and that damn birch tree has his vitals covered. So I swing my scope up to his neck and I noticed how swelled up it was. I said to myself that's a big enough target for me, safety off and boom!! He dropped in his tracks. He ended being a small 3x3 and dressed out at 135 pounds.
My dad sat in the blind the next morning and shot a small 2x1 60 yrds from where I shot mine. Then as we were headed to report his in another buddy who has a cabin on our property shot a beautiful 5x4 that dressed out at 208. It was a long drag down off the top of the ridge. So all in all it was a great trip this year and already looking forward to next year.
