Today made me question my sanity. Since I know that deer movement rapidly decreases when the temperature is in the teens, I didn’t feel that great about heading into the woods this morning. When I got out of the truck, it was 9 degrees. The wind was blowing out of the northwest, which made it feel like it was below zero.
On my way in, I flushed a flock of turkeys out of the roost. They scattered in every direction imaginable. Shortly after it got light, they began making all sorts of racket to get back together. I was able to snap a few pictures, but I never got the one I really wanted to capture.
Around 8:30, I could hear some deer running but couldn’t locate the origin of the noise. I never saw the deer before the noise stopped. When I got up, I walked out over the top of the mountain. I wanted to see some country that I haven’t been around in a few years.
I found a lot of sign in a few places, especially the place where I killed a pretty good deer a number of years ago. I could see where there were a few big scrapes on a flat. There had been a lot of traffic on the flat over the last couple of days. It felt good to rest my back against a tree that I had sat against many times in my younger years. A small pile of rocks still rested at the base of the tree. As I sat there, I went back in time to the evening I rushed in there after work and killed a nice buck shortly before it got dark. I remember the drag taking a lot out of me, and my father had to go back in with me to help me get it the rest of the way out.
Dad sat on a ridge about a mile away from me. He had a pile of deer go by him this morning but no bucks. He had about 10 deer filter past him before he decided to get up and move. He said there were tracks all over the place.
I went back to the same place this afternoon. Between the time I got up earlier today and when I returned for the evening sit, a nice buck had rubbed a tree about 20 yards from where I had sat. The bark was lying on the snow. That’s the kind of season it has been, too. I’ve just been a day off, an hour or two, or even just a few minutes behind. I haven’t been able to crack the code this year.
Around 3:10, I could hear a deer walking. Upon further examination, I could see a small buck making its way up the hill toward me. At first, I thought it had a nice rack. When it got closer I saw that it was a small buck with pretty good genes. It was basically a spike, but it had a couple of itty, bitty brow tines and a few tines where the beam hooked that wanted to be an inch long. If the buck survives the winter, it will be a good one next year. I didn’t see anything the rest of the day.
Dad didn’t see any deer tonight. He’s going to give it one last shot with me in the morning before the storm rolls in. We’ve both put a lot into the season. I’ll be glad to get some rest when the season is done.
Brian and Josh hunted a new area today. They covered some ground and found a lot of sign. They also saw quite a bit of people sign. There were a lot of buck rubs scattered around the area and a few scrapes had recently been opened.
Doug heard a shot after dark last night by his farm. Today he found a spikehorn about 100 yards off the road. The coyotes had made a meal out of it. The poaching never seems to stop in the area around his place. It’s too bad that people have to resort to doing things like that. Hopefully, the person gets caught if they continue breaking the law.