Why didn't I do it when I had the chance.

I took the afternoon off to go hunting at the club again.  After missing the day on Saturday I needed to get back out.  I decided to try stand 13 and made my way there.  I climbed the tree and noticed that it had grown in so much there wasn't a good shooting lane.  I couldn't trim it out then so I decided to go sit on the hillside instead.  I thought it was cool out but by the time I was walking back from the tree I was sweating my butt off.  I got settled in and waited.  It was a nice spot but I learned that sitting, without having my back supported by a tree, is painful.  Anyway...I hadn't seen a thing but a fox but by 6:30, I made out some movement coming from my left.  I put up my bow and saw that it was a buck.  A 7-point buck.  Why didn't I take that doe the last time I was at the club!  Then I could have shot the buck...instead I had to watch him walk away.  Which, by the way, didn't take long because he must have caught my scent from walking back from the tree.  He knew something was up and he stepped back into the autumn olive.  I found it strange because the wind was blowing in my face.  I guess I laid down scent on the path.

Covered in stuff....

I took the afternoon off of work.  Considering the bust that was opening day I wanted to get back into the woods.  I decided to try the "farm road" between the first field and the upper field.  It was a beautiful day.  Slightly warm but not too bad.  I went down the farm road and hopped up into the tree.  I didn't realize how "open" I would feel in the tree but hopefully it would be ok because it was a bigger tree.

I got in the tree around 2:00 and by about 4:30 I saw a flock of turkeys in the first field.  They were feeding all over the place...even came to within 10 yards of me.  I could hear them clucking and purring.  It was cool.  As it was getting darker, perhaps around 6:30, I saw 4 deer near stand 4.  They slowly worked their way towards me.  A small doe, clearly a fawn or yearling at best, was ahead of the group.  She came to within 15 yards and presented a broadside target.  It would have been an easy shot but I decided, because i would have to bring this one to a butcher (Grandma's stuff was taking over my garage so i couldn't butcher it myself), that I would wait for the biggest one to come to me.  She, however, stopped 80 yards from me and started stomping her foot and snorting.  I am assuming that she caught wind of me...the wind was swirling and i did work up a sweat getting into the tree.  Either that or she saw me.  As she carried on stomping and snorting the one that was in front of me looked back and started to slowly walk back to the group.  The group by this point had taken off and she slowly walked back across the field.   I got out of the tree at dark and that was my day.

Perhaps I'll wish I took that shot as the season goes on but for now I'm ok with holding back.

Opening day 2014

It's opening day!!  The weather forecast isn't looking so good, which sucks because all week it was supposed to be sunny and cool.  In the morning I decided to head over to the recycling center.  I wanted to try the spot that the other guy used to go to, in the back.  That's close to wear I saw that big buck a few weeks earlier.  I got in the stand early and it was a beautiful post.  The weather was cloudy and still.  I sat post until just about 10am and saw nothing so I went home to nap and get to the club for the afternoon.  I left home at 12:30 and as I was driving to the club it started pouring out.  Grrrrr.  I sat in my truck at the club waiting for the rain to stop and kept checking the radar.  I sat in my truck until almost 3.  There was a break in the rain so  I got out of my truck and got dressed.  As I was going to put my pin in the board I saw 4 does on the other side of the 10 field.  I belly crawled up the side of the hill hoping to sneak closer and have them walk towards me but they were going the other way.  I got back down and walked to the first field.  Almost as soon as I got there it started to pour again.  I don't mind the rain but I didn't want to shoot a deer and have the blood trail wash away so I packed it in and went home.  So much for opening day.