I headed back to the stand where I saw all of the does last night. There’s no way I couldn’t return there with that many does hanging out and feeding. As it was getting light, I had a doe go under the stand. A short time later another spike horn, one I didn’t see yesterday, passed under me. Then, at 7:30 I could see a good buck coming across the open hardwoods out of a little swampy area. I decided to shoot him when I saw him coming. When he got behind my tree, I drew the bow and followed him. He stopped 20 yards from my stand, and I released the arrow. Watching the red, lighted nock disappear behind the front shoulder, I knew that he wouldn’t be running very far. A few seconds later, I saw him fall over about 60 yards from the stand. The 100-grain Montec worked well.
As I sat there enjoying the moment and collecting my inner thoughts, a nice 6-pointer walked past me and headed toward the deer. When it got close to the fallen buck, it blew a few times and bounded away. I’m not sure if the dead buck spooked the living one.
I spent much of the morning taking care of the deer and getting it back to camp. Brian saw two bucks this morning in one place, and he saw three bucks tonight while trying to locate Dad’s stand so we can get it out of the woods.
We brought the deer to the butcher’s tonight and met some nice people while we were there. I bought a turkey tag tonight in hopes of slaying one of the pesky birds that has been all around me all week. I’d love to put an arrow through one and eat it for Thanksgiving. I also want to be in the woods to see deer doing their thing. You can learn a lot from deer, and that’s what I hope to do until we leave. You can never be too educated about anything, especially deer hunting. Every day in the woods is a chance to witness something you’ve never seen.
It was 24 degrees this morning, and the wind chill made it 13 degrees. It was a little chilly.
I miss Dad. I wish he was here today. I got pretty choked up in the tree this morning as I tried doing a recording for Alex’s film project. I was disappointed to find that the battery had died. I think the footage would have been perfect for his film, something he would have treasured. It was also something that you can’t rehearse or try to replicate.
