Friday October 28, 2011

When I left the house at 5:30am the temperature was 25 degrees and it was calm. The sky was crystal clear. I figured it would be a good morning in the woods. Heck after my visit to the doctor yesterday anytime in the woods is good. I have to head to the hospital for a bunch of tests. Hopefully they can figure this out pretty soon so I stop losing valuable hunting time. This week is usually the week that things start happening.

When I got to camp there was quite a bit of snow on the ground. As I walked through the woods snow was hanging all over the branches. It was impossible to see very far. I wanted to sit near a place where I’ve been seeing a lot of fresh tracks. It appeared that deer had been using the area to get into a pretty big area covered with beech trees. Since the beechnuts are plentiful this year the deer have been feeding heavily in that area.

The sun peeked out from behind the mountain a little while after it got light out. The snow glistened in the trees and I patiently waited as I took it all in. The morning actually passed slowly. Around 8am I heard a coyote howl and he was pretty close to me. I thought I would get a look at him, but never did. When I got up I walked over to where I thought he was when he howled. I found his tracks and decided to follow them. Low and behold a couple minutes later and I walked right up to my lost trail camera. If they coyote hadn’t howled I probably never would have found my camera. I have to think him for that, although that doesn’t mean he gets a free pass if I seem him later in the season.

Since I’ve seen a lot of sign in that area and something in my gut kept telling me to stay there I decided to still-hunt for a while in the afternoon and then find a place to sit for the last couple of hours before dark right in that general area.

I heard a few blue-jays cawing but didn’t pay much attention. A few minutes later I spotted a deer coming up out of the bottom. From a quick glance I thought he was a 10 pointer. Within 5 seconds from seeing him I took a shot because I knew I wasn’t going to get another one. He would be out of sight any second. I wasn’t positive if I hit him and he ran back my way so I shot again. When he hit the dirt one antler got caught under some routes. I had to wrestle around and dig it out. After I gutted him out I tried to drag him. That was a mistake. My broken ribs and guts couldn’t handle it. I called my dad and my buddy Doug Coons to help me. Without their help I would have been screwed. It’s always nice to be surrounded by good people. I feel very fortunate for that. It’s nice to be in that fraternity.

The buck was a nice 8-pointer. He was a long deer. I’m guessing that he’s pretty young but I won’t know until I have the teeth checked. I also think he looks very similar to Tank, the buck I got a trailcam picture of last year. I’ll post a few pictures of my day. It’s great to be out in the great outdoors.

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