It was 12 degrees this morning when we went into the woods. Unfortunately neither one of us saw a deer. I sat in a stand that overlooked a logging road with a big scrape on it. After it got light I saw a few rubs scattered through the woods in front of me and quite a few runways filtering off the ridge and down the steep bank on both sides of the stand. Although the stand was in a great place I didn’t have any confidence while I was sitting in it.
Dad sat in one of my favorite places. There’s an old culvert laying in the middle of the woods and a short ways behind it you can see steps from an old tree stand that have grown into the tree. The steps must have been built out of some really good pressure treated lumber because they’re in good shape considering what the tree has done to them over time.
I set a stand in the Big Timber for the morning. I moved from where I sat the other day so I could be closer to where I saw all of the deer including the shooter that wandered by in the middle of the morning. I learned a long time ago not to wait too terribly long to move your stand if you identify a place they’re using more than the one you’re in, so that’s what I did. As I wandered around looking for a good tree I heard some sticks cracking and seconds later I was staring eye to eye with a big doe. She looked through me and trotted down the hill to my right.
That’s when I heard the unmistakable grunt of a buck. Not being able to see him yet I nocked an arrow and squatted next to the tree in front of me. I saw his antlers coming through the brush and he made his way past me on the same trail the doe had just used. He was a nice 8-pointer, but nothing I wanted to shoot. It was 2:30 when I saw him.
As soon as he vacated the area I found a tree and settled in for the evening. Although I would have preferred to be in another place I felt good about getting the stand in the tree for morning so I wouldn’t have to mess around with it in the dark. At 3:35 a 5-pointer came up out of the bottom with his nose on the ground. After he disappeared a doe came out of the field above me. She didn’t stay very long before she turned and headed back over the hill she had just come across.
Dad sat in the south plot tonight where we put the camera. Nobody sat there last night and a nice buck decided he wanted to be a movie star while nobody was in the stand overlooking the plot. I got some nice pictures of him. Dad saw the same 8-pointer I saw a few days ago and five does. I hope he gets an opportunity in the coming days. He really deserves it. It was 35 degrees tonight and it seemed like a heatwave had arrived. Hopefully the deer will move tomorrow since the cold temperatures finally broke today. Here are some deer from the trail camera we set up.
