It was our last day on this new piece of public ground today. The wind just wouldn’t let up and we put up with another day of 25 mph winds. I had a big buck chasing a doe around my stand before it get light. I could see his outline, but not well enough to get a shot at him. When it finally got light he was nowhere to be found. I’m pretty sure it was the same 10-pointer that I saw yesterday afternoon. I saw another doe later in the morning, but nothing followed her. Dad saw his first shooter of the week. He had the buck at 35 yards, but they saw each other about the same time and the buck nonchalantly walked in the opposite direction. When dad got to my stand to head out he realized that he lost his quiver. We covered every inch of that swamp over the next few hours looking for his quiver. Dad found it, but it was more unlikely than finding a needle in a haystack. After we packed everything up we had to retrieve the stands we left in the woods down the road on the river bottom. On our way in we ran into three guys who were setting up for opening day of gun season. They were hustling around trying to set up three ladder stands before dark. They were nice guys and I wish them luck. I’m pretty sure I’ll probably never see them again. It makes me wonder if they were lucky enough to tag anything the next day. I’ll surely never know. We headed for Kansas as soon as we got out of the woods. It was just about dark and the sun quickly set on our first trip to this area……………….until next time.
I must say I’m disappointed. While I’m sure you are having great hunts in the Midwest, it is not what attracted me to your site. I thought I was finding a site specifically journaling about hunting exploits in the North Country, particularly the big woods. Quite honestly, I am bored to tears watching the saturation of Midwest hunting shows on the outdoor channels. I don’t go out of my way to watch them anymore. We may not have the most deer or the biggest bucks here, but they are ours. It’s the unique and specific experience that attracts me. I don’t fault you a bit for hunting where you do now; I just am not interested as I was in the North Country hunts.
Vince