Story one: trophy keyfob hunt
I am blessed with a wife that hunts, and yesterday (Saturday Nov 15th) she and I were hunting different areas but within a handful of miles of each other. We had spotty cell service so we decided to just meet up at home after sundown. I'd camped out there and hunted the night prior, though this day hadn't gone well (I burned through plans A, B, C and D and was frustrated) so I left the woods around 3pm and started heading home. I'd been driving for about 2.5 hours and got a text from my wife: "I dropped my truck key, and I don't have a light".
...
I call her and she explains that she was back at the truck and her key fob, the only one we have for that vehicle, had fallen out of her pocket and she'd forgotten to put her headlamp in her backpack. It was now total pitch black outside, dense fog, and had been raining all day. I turned around and drove the 90 minutes back to her location, feeling quite confident: I may be a horrible hunter, but when it comes to preparation I excel. I had 3 separate headlamps, a high-powered Dewalt flashlight with a huge battery, and a smaller but still high powered torch. I can't find a deer but I knew I could find this key.
I expected there to be one, maybe two spots to check. As we walked the trails in the dark we were in high spirts, joking and laughing. My wife felt horrible about the whole situation but honestly I was having a great time. It turns out that it wasn't 1-2 spots to check, it was about a dozen. The grass was 2' tall. Everything shimmered and shined because it was so wet. Just when I'd given up and told her that we'd have to 1.) have it towed somewhere and 2.) have to pay for a new keyfob which is incredibly expensive, she pulled out a miracle and remembered one more spot she'd stopped and she found it. This small, black keyfob had fallen into the tall grass. We both felt like we'd gotten a deer, we were so excited. We went home and celebrated, and decided that we were going to arrange for childcare so that we could both go hunt together as a team the next day.
Story two: still-hunting success
Some of you may recall that my one and only deer hunting success was 2019 when my mom found a deer that I shot. It was an incredible experience and one of my most cherished. I've spent the years since struggling and failing, sometimes at great cost, to find another deer. In my younger years I was very competitive at whatever I put my mind to: soccer, weight lifting, track, basketball, chess, career, etc. Experiencing this much consistent failure has been a very bitter pill to swallow and has left me feeling like I may need to reconsider any future investment in this activity.
However, as previously discussed, I am blessed with a wife that hunts and after yesterday's incredible keyfob salvation we were both riding high on euphoric accomplishment and decided we would get out as a team today with plans in hand. She was going to sit a tall reprod cut that she'd seen a buck at twice before but never gotten a shot opportunity, and I was going to still-hunt my way through some tall dark timber up to a lookout spot she'd seen previously.
I began my still-hunt wearing legs/jacket raingear, and it's been warm. I used thermal regulation as a way of ensuring I was moving slowly enough: stopping every couple steps to keep from overheating and scanning the forest as I did. The wind was in my favor, consistently in my face from the direction I intended to press into the woods. I felt confident that I'd been moving slowly enough when during one of my pauses I noticed that a chipmunk was alarming at something and it wasn't me. While common, something about this stood out. The alarming was constant, and I heard branches. I scanned the forest and saw what initially appeared to be a large stone, but with binos I could tell was the rump of a deer which turned out to be a doe. Then a head from behind a tree: another doe. I had two does uphill from me and while one of them was looking in my direction, neither were alarmed. I was able to check the yardage on them: 75yds away. One shook off the rain (really cool to see) and bedded down, and eventually the other did as well. Hoping for a buck to show up, I settled in and tried to find a comfortable position but that turned out to be impossible. 30 minutes go by and I've been sitting on my knees with feet under me for so long that my muscles are cramping and feet are tingling and going numb. Just as I am getting ready to reposition, I hear a different chipmunk start to alarm: this time off to my right. More branches snap.
The bedded does got up, and looked off to the side. Happy for the distraction, I was able to reposition. I was expecting any moment for a buck to show himself, but more time went by. I could faintly hear what sounded like movement but it was difficult to tell over the sound of the rain. I began to catch scents on the wind, something I'd never smelled before. It only took a moment to realize that was a very stinky buck (sharp, tangy, urine smell but unique from anything else I'd ever smelled before). Over the course of the next 2 hours I sat there, watching the does get up once in a while, shake off, then re-bed. Intermittently the wind would carry the smell of that buck. During those times I would pay very close attention to my exposed skin, specifically my hands, to see if I could identify the direction the scent was coming to me from. I had a pretty good idea of where that buck was located, and there's no way he was unaware of those does, he just didn't care. I waited until the very last moment of shooting light and probably a bit more, then carefully got up and walked out of the woods. As far as I know, they were never aware I was there.
I learned a few things today: what a rutting buck smells like, the behavior of chipmunks alarming on deer as a form of identifying moving animals, and most importantly and what I am most proud of: that I can actually successfully still-hunt through the woods and find deer. I didn't get a shot, but I was ready for one. I didn't bring home a deer, but I found them and got into their bedroom without me knowing. The drought continues, but maybe one day (one year, one decade...) it will end.
Sorry I don't have a picture of a dead 4 point blacktail buck for you, but use your imagination: I bet he was a stud! Here's my only trophy for the weekend: a beautiful wife that has a great attitude and loves getting out in the woods to have adventures.
