Being the first day of the weekend, I figured the woods would be crawling with people. Well, I guess the high heat prevented that from happening. While there were people out and about, I didn’t see an abundance of vehicles along the road.
Josh and I hunted the Wheelchair Stand today. When we made our way there from camp, the thermometer said it was 48 degrees.
I aimlessly wandered through the darkness trying to find the tree I normally sit in. I got a little mixed up and decided to set up where I stood shortly before daylight. After getting up in the tree and watching the sun come up, I looked down to see a giant rub. I also saw where deer had been feeding on acorns. Although I wasn’t in the spot I wanted to be in, I felt confident with my current setup.
Around 8:00 a.m. I had a 3-pointer make his way across the ridge behind me. When he got a ways past me, he picked up my wind and galloped away in the direction from which he came.
When the sun came up, it didn’t take long to get incredibly hot. I wanted to check a few things out, so I made my way down the drainage to a place where we had seen some bucks in the past. It didn’t take me long to see something that got under my skin a little bit. Although it’s public land, I haven’t seen anyone set up in the place I set up in over the last three years. Well, about 25 yards from my normal tree was a climber attached to a tree, and the person did some serious logging. A lot of trees had been cut, and some of the trees were large. I’m not sure why, but I’m always disappointed when I see where people chop trees down in the woods for no reason other than to get clear shooting lanes. When I see cedar trees cut, it gets me too. I’m not sure why cedars have such a close place to my heart, but they do. It might be because big bucks love rubbing cedar trees.
When I saw where the stand was located, all I could do was shake my head. It was almost on top of a major runway and directly between two well-used runways. If a deer came up or down the runways, the person would basically have to shoot at it head-on. I’m not sure why he or she didn’t pick one side or the other to allow a broadside shot. There were a few trees dropping nuts in there too and the person could have more easily focused on those trees. I guess, I’m not an expert, so who am I to say I think the tree stand wasn’t in the most ideal place.
I was just disappointed that someone claimed the spot for himself, and I feel uncomfortable sitting in the area. It’s public land .I really shouldn’t feel awkward about it, but I do. I’m not sure why. I have just as much right to being there as the next guy.
After seeing that, the wind came out of my sails. I have limited time to hunt this year due to Dad’s illness, and that has been one of my favorite places to sit since I’ve started hunting out here.
As I trudged through the woods looking for sign, I found quite a bit of it in different areas. Eventually, I got to a place where Brian likes to sit and saw a giant buck in its bed. It didn’t take him long to get out of the area. I heard him get out of his bed from about 100 yards away.
I was the only person who saw anything this morning. Brian and I checked out a place today by a body of water. On the map, it looked like it would be awesome. It would have been awesome if there weren’t a gazillion horse trails all through it. It just didn’t allow much free space for anything other than horseback riding. We did find some buck sign, including a giant signpost tree. It was one of the largest signpost trees I’ve ever seen. I guess it’s a place I will have to store in my memory as a place to go to sit one day just to see what goes on.
Brian and I set a stand up for Dad this afternoon. Although there was sign all over, it seems as if the woods were too wide open. There was a giant scrape there and the nuts were dropping consistently. He had some mushroom hunters kick four deer past him two different times. There were two other guys hunting in there too. It topped off at 78 degrees today, but it felt even hotter than that.
