The heat has been tough to deal with and today wasn’t any different. It was 67 degrees when I headed into the woods this morning, and it topped out at 79 degrees. I went to the stand that we call the Shit Stand. We gave it that name because Dad had to go to the bathroom one day when he was sitting there, and he couldn’t hold it. He scurried down the tree and went to the bathroom right there.
We walked in a circle through some plantation pines on our way in and ended up exactly where we had started. Brian and I couldn’t believe what we did.
Although it added to the duration of our trip, we still made it into the stands well before daylight. About 20 minutes after it got light, I saw a nice 5-pointer make its way past me. It headed down the hill and into a briar patch. Around 9:30 a.m., I had a doe and fawn come in from behind me. They fed for a bit before heading into the thick stuff. I’m pretty sure there was a buck in the brush.
Brian sat on the hill above me in the stand where he killed the buck last year. He saw a small 8-pointer early. Then, he saw a shooter buck around 9:00. It was an 8-pointer with tall tines.
I spent the afternoon with Jeff scouting some new areas after we went into the area where I killed the buck last year. There was no sign at all in the area where I killed the buck last year and minimal sign in the spot we checked out.
Brian and Josh went into the Wheelchair Stand today. They saw a guy from Tennessee who had an attitude. Brian had two small bucks, a 6 and an 8, chasing a doe in front of his stand at dark.We are all going back in there tomorrow.
On the way back to camp this morning, Brian grabbed a tree to balance himself on a steep hill. When he shrieked, I laughed. I didn’t know why he shrieked, but I quickly freaked out when I saw the reason. A very large snake was in the tree he had grabbed. If you take a look at the picture you can see where it is well-camouflaged in the branches. It was probably 5-feet long.
We also came across a turtle. When Brian’s foot barely missed the turtle, I saw it’s head quickly dart into its shell. It was cool to experience.
