Baby, it's cold outside...

Decided to head up to the club tonight for some muzzy. I went to the Cadillac again in hopes that I can get into a better position if those does decided to show back up. I tucked myself into the "turkey blowdown". It was cold...only in the teens. My eyelashes were forming little icicles. I didn't see a thing but it was really nice out. a thought came to me, however...I spend hours in the woods and when I tell people, they think...wow, that must be so relaxing. There is nothing relaxing about it. I mean, sure...it's peaceful and I would die without it, but not relaxing. From the moment I enter the woods, I am constantly scanning...trying to look 360 degrees without moving a muscle. Looking for a flicker of a tail...a turn of an ear. Scanning so hard to see even the slightest movement that you notice every leaf that moves slightly in the breeze...every bug, every creature that moves. You strain your ears too, to hear every sound on the chance that a deer is sneaking by. You can hear a tree creek, a leaf hit the ground...I love the sound that a flock of birds make when they fly overhead...you hear the wings beating the wind. It's so quiet sometimes that all you can hear is your heart in your ears. So...beautiful and wonderful? Unquestionably yes! Relaxing? Not so much. lol

I just knew it!

I went to the tower today and I just knew I wasn't going to see anything...I was right. The weather was great...chilly and mostly sunny. There is a front coming in tomorrow, which would normally indicate that I'll have a good night, so why did I know that I wasn't going to see anything? Well, last night, I went to go pick up Gianna from the bus and while I was sitting in the parking lot, I looked up and noticed a FULL MOON...it gets me every time. Oh well...it's almost Saturday.

oh, soooo close!

I decided to go to the club with the muzzy today. It's a cold day and I wanted to try the Cadillac. I got to the club and the only evidence of someone being there was Bob's name on the map, stand 13. I didn't see him though. I drove over to the Cadillac side and got into the woods. I saw a few runs from the top of the hill near the tower but I was expecting deer to cross over, under the old Cadillac. I wanted to get myself situated between them. I picked out a big tree on the edge of the woods, right on the edge of the hill to the railroad bed. At about 4:00 I saw movement up the hill towards the field (didn't expect that one!). I looked through my scope and it was 4 does, about 60 yards away but they were in the brush and didn't offer a clear shot. I watched them for a while in my scope...as my gun got heavier and heavier. One broke off from the group and started to meander closer and clearer. She didn't get a whole lot closer but she was starting to break free from the brush. She was turned away from me now and I thought, just turn broadside and you'll offer me a shot. Just then...one from in the bushes must have seen me and busted...well, they all busted giving me no shot at all. What an exciting, heart-pounding experience.

Nice 8

It snowed last night...about 7 inches so I decided to hit the woods this afternoon. I left work around 1 and went to the tower. I met up with some guy from the cull on the way in and after some chit chat I headed in. I went, as I usually do, as close to the bottom of the apartments as I could. I set up in my tree and just as I did I noticed that someone hung a lock on right next to the apartment. Not sure if they are part of the cull or not...we decided to maintain the 450 feet rule and this clearly is not. Whatever!

Just about 3:00 I noticed movement to my left. Just as I expected, from under the apartments there were three does (and just under that guy's stand). They picked around for a while and left up the hill. At around 4:00 I noticed movement to my left. From the top of the hill I saw a nice buck walking just about where the other guy was. I was actually expecting to hear him shoot any minute..but he didn't. The buck started to walk down the hill then turned and went slightly up and then across. Then he started to come down towards me...my heart was racing. I couldn't believe that I was going to get a shot at this beautiful 8. He was nice and wide and big bodied. He got to about 35-40 yards and decided to turn slightly up hill and out towards the bottom of the apartment (just under that guy's stand). That was all I saw for the rest of the night. When I walked out the guy I met said it was around 30 yards away and he let it walk (WHY?!). There was also another guy there. How is it that I saw only one other guy, one time the entire early bow, regular bow and extended bow...now that it's winter bow, snowy and about 20 degrees (oh, and windy as hell) I see two other guys?

A beary Happy New Year!

I went to the club today...what a great way to spend New Year's Day. In the woods! The weather was just gorgeous...it had gotten really warm...in the 50's. There is a storm front that is going to be coming through so I was going to the club with high hopes. I wasn't exactly sure where I would sit when I got there but it would depend on who else was there and where they would be.

I pulled up to the club around 12:30 and saw Tony sitting outside of his truck. He said that he was waiting for Greg to show up and then asked if Greg told me about the bears. Of course, I didn't hear anything so he proceeded to tell me that there were bear tracks all over our club. At every stand. He said that he saw where the bears have made a den down by stand 9 (or course where I was sitting just two days before!!) Greg showed up and we decided to do a little mini-drive of the area near the horse farm. Well, needless to say, I was quite nervous sitting in the woods while Greg did the walking. He didn't push any deer and we decided to just sit the rest of the day rather than drives. So, with bear in mind, I headed to 10 1/2 and sat the rest of the night there. I did see a fox come into my field, but that was it. Greg was at the "big feeder" field (even though there isn't a feeder there anymore) and Tony was past 14 at the new feeder. Neither one saw anything.