Last night, October 26th, I raced home from work in hopes of squeezing in a quick evening hunt. I threw on my camo, grabbed my gear, and raced back up the road to a 40 acre piece I call "The Hill". It's half CRP and half planted trees with a home right in the middle. The land owner keeps the edges mowed down well and their house is within 100 yards of my stand so the deer are pretty used to the smell of human scent and it's kind of like a state park setting- that's why I love hunting there! It wasn't 15 minutes and a doe showed up, just what I'm looking for. As soon as I spotted her south of my tree the west/ northwest wind shifted to the north and blew my scent right at her. I could tell by her body language that she had smelled me and was uneasy about it, but she kept coming up the fence line. She literally stopped at the base of my tree and sniffed around a while. All she had to do was keep meandering to the north and I could pick my quartering away shot. Instead she sprinted to the north and stopped at what I thought was 25 yards- it wasn't. I let one fly and it went right under her belly and she was gone.
It wasn't long and I saw a deer moving in the next field over. It was a doe coming out into the cut bean field. Then I noticed movement on the edge of the standing cornfield next to it. Through my binos I saw it was the Mule!
I foolishly got out my grunt tube thinking he would hear me from 80 acres away. I was so jacked up at seeing a mature buck on his feet that my first attempt at grunting him in sounded like a kindergartener in music class trying to play the kazoo for the first time. Great, now I'm really not going to see another deer near my stand. Of course the Mule didn't even come close to hearing my desperate attempt at calling him in. I sat there again feeling like an idiot. In all reality, we're on the doorstep of the rut, bucks are staying close to the does they think will come into estrus first. Did I seriously just think that 2 grunts would entice a mature buck to leave a potential mate and travel nearly a half mile crossing 2 fences and traversing 50+ acres of standing corn just to see who in the hell is grunting at him? You moron, Seth.
As I watched through my binos, more deer began filtering out on the bean field. I counted four does and the Mule. Then a smaller buck came running in from the south to check out the ladies but the Mule sprinted right at him and convinced him otherwise. Man, things are heating up! As I put my binos down I noticed to the north a doe was out on the mowed trail. Alright, a second chance! But she jumped the fence in to the standing corn before she was even inside of 75 yards of me. Just as shooting light was running out I noticed another doe come out of the trees on to the mowed trail. She was moving south. Yes, a third chance! She was moving down the fence at a steady pace and as she came inside 20 yards I drew. I stopped her at 15. She was quartering to me but I use a Muzzy broad head and they have proven to me over the years that they don't care what angle a deer is to you, they will blow through anything. (shameless Muzzy plug I know, but I love 'em!) I put my pin on the top and front side of her shoulder and let it rip. This time I heard the familiar SMACK when an arrow finds its mark.
She sprinted 3 quick steps and jumped the fence into the standing corn. I saw the corn stalks moving as she sprinted deeper into the abyss of maize. Over the years I've learned that deer never go where you want them to go after you shoot them. Deep ditches, ravines, wash-outs, rivers, cornfields, thick, tangled, gnarly, thorny brush all seem to be favorite final resting places for fatally hit deer and are all places I have had to go to retrieve deer. Then about 100 yards out the stalks stopped moving. After 30 seconds I heard a crash and I knew it was over. Yessss!!! I'm on the board and ol' dad here is putting some meat on the table!
I texted my dad and he met me at the house. Joanna and Jeremiah came along for the ride. Joanna kept Jeremiah busy in the truck while my dad and I searched the cornfield. Luckily we found her withing 10 minutes but the work was just about to begin. I field dressed her and the drag was on. After 100+ yards of dragging uphill through corn and after many stops to catch our (my) wind, we finally got to the 4 ft. tall fence. We hoisted her up and over and took a well deserved break. Unfortunately my phone battery was so low that it wouldn't use the flash while taking pictures. We had to rely on the truck's high beams which explains the poor picture quality and the white-washed faces of the Bartlett Family. Special thanks goes out to my beautiful wife, Joanna for bringing along our son to experience his first of hopefully many deer hunting experiences. And also special thanks to my dad, Mike for helping in the search and recovery and the dreaded drag to the truck.
I sat back in my stand to reflect. Missing an easy opportunity like that on any deer is disappointing and the hunter is left to sit there and think about it like a kid in time-out at the baby sitter. I quickly realized the doe was farther than 25 yards, it was more like 30. I began to wonder if I would even see another deer. To the far north is another house at the next road. I could see a black speck in the front yard. I pulled up my binos to look. It was their black lab hunched over taking a dump. Fitting for this hunt, I thought. At least I had a beautiful view.
It wasn't long and I saw a deer moving in the next field over. It was a doe coming out into the cut bean field. Then I noticed movement on the edge of the standing cornfield next to it. Through my binos I saw it was the Mule!
I foolishly got out my grunt tube thinking he would hear me from 80 acres away. I was so jacked up at seeing a mature buck on his feet that my first attempt at grunting him in sounded like a kindergartener in music class trying to play the kazoo for the first time. Great, now I'm really not going to see another deer near my stand. Of course the Mule didn't even come close to hearing my desperate attempt at calling him in. I sat there again feeling like an idiot. In all reality, we're on the doorstep of the rut, bucks are staying close to the does they think will come into estrus first. Did I seriously just think that 2 grunts would entice a mature buck to leave a potential mate and travel nearly a half mile crossing 2 fences and traversing 50+ acres of standing corn just to see who in the hell is grunting at him? You moron, Seth.
As I watched through my binos, more deer began filtering out on the bean field. I counted four does and the Mule. Then a smaller buck came running in from the south to check out the ladies but the Mule sprinted right at him and convinced him otherwise. Man, things are heating up! As I put my binos down I noticed to the north a doe was out on the mowed trail. Alright, a second chance! But she jumped the fence in to the standing corn before she was even inside of 75 yards of me. Just as shooting light was running out I noticed another doe come out of the trees on to the mowed trail. She was moving south. Yes, a third chance! She was moving down the fence at a steady pace and as she came inside 20 yards I drew. I stopped her at 15. She was quartering to me but I use a Muzzy broad head and they have proven to me over the years that they don't care what angle a deer is to you, they will blow through anything. (shameless Muzzy plug I know, but I love 'em!) I put my pin on the top and front side of her shoulder and let it rip. This time I heard the familiar SMACK when an arrow finds its mark.
She sprinted 3 quick steps and jumped the fence into the standing corn. I saw the corn stalks moving as she sprinted deeper into the abyss of maize. Over the years I've learned that deer never go where you want them to go after you shoot them. Deep ditches, ravines, wash-outs, rivers, cornfields, thick, tangled, gnarly, thorny brush all seem to be favorite final resting places for fatally hit deer and are all places I have had to go to retrieve deer. Then about 100 yards out the stalks stopped moving. After 30 seconds I heard a crash and I knew it was over. Yessss!!! I'm on the board and ol' dad here is putting some meat on the table!
I texted my dad and he met me at the house. Joanna and Jeremiah came along for the ride. Joanna kept Jeremiah busy in the truck while my dad and I searched the cornfield. Luckily we found her withing 10 minutes but the work was just about to begin. I field dressed her and the drag was on. After 100+ yards of dragging uphill through corn and after many stops to catch our (my) wind, we finally got to the 4 ft. tall fence. We hoisted her up and over and took a well deserved break. Unfortunately my phone battery was so low that it wouldn't use the flash while taking pictures. We had to rely on the truck's high beams which explains the poor picture quality and the white-washed faces of the Bartlett Family. Special thanks goes out to my beautiful wife, Joanna for bringing along our son to experience his first of hopefully many deer hunting experiences. And also special thanks to my dad, Mike for helping in the search and recovery and the dreaded drag to the truck.
I must say my BOYS have great writing ablities! Very proud of both of you!
ReplyDelete