Had a good night in the stand tonight. Weather was great, lower 50's, sunny with a light NW wind. Got on stand about 2:30, pulled up my bow and got settled in. About 3:15 saw the small forky that I have been seeing most nights. Last Saturday night he worked a scrap about 30 yards behind me, peeing and rubbing his legs together, working the licking branch. Was a really good show. Anyway he came down off the hill behind me, feeding and passed about 35 yards away and moved off to the south without a care in the world. About 15 minutes later, I heard another deer approaching from the direction the forky came from. Ended up being a nice doe, probably last year's fawn, judging by her size. About 20 minutes later heard a deer moving toward me from the north, moving very loudly. When he got closer, I could see he was at least a ten pointer. Really high rack, wide, but not extremely, lost of points at the top on the right side. He crossed the crick and got on a run that would take him right past my stand and to the doe. At about 35 yards from me, he took the left fork of the trail and ended up passing me and the doe by about 40 yards to our west. She made herself very small and never made a sound. I thought when he crosed her trail, he would come to investigate, but didn't even seem like he noticed. He was stomping through the leaves like he was on a mission, it was kind of funny to watch actually. The buck keep moving and the doe went back to feeding behind my stand. Now I do have a doe tag and still have my buck tag. I got one doe in the freezer this year, but would sure like another. So, if I can just get a good shot, I will take it. 15-20 minutes later the doe has feed away alittle and I hear more deer coming from the direction she came from. Two more does come out and the first doe comes back toward them. There is alot of sniffing and neck licking going on. All of them seem about the same size, 1 1/2 year old does. At first I think the last doe out is going to lead them past my stand, but ends up, they all just mill about and feed in this small clearing that the first doe was in, about 30-35 yards behind me. 4:30 hits and a hear another deer coming from the north, where the other buck came from. Ends up being a VERY nice eight point with really long tines and a wide semetrical rack. He comes down the opposite side of the creek than the other buck came down. Now I think, he can't help but notice the three does and hope he will come over to investigate. He just passed along, never even seeming to notice us. As he passes the crick crossing and continues on, I grab my grunt call and give him a grunt that stops him in his tracks. Another grunt gets him looking hard and a third grunt turns him and brings him across the crick toward me and the does. Now, this grunt call is something special, cocobolo and hand turned and made by my good friend. We grew up together and although he lives in another state, we still hunt together whenever possible. Anyway, the buck crosses the crick and heads toward us, stopping perfectly broadside about 40 yards away. Big body, mature whitetail, my hearts a pounding! About this time, I hear another deer walking off the hill that the does came down. I am hoping that it is the first buck coming back to investigate. The eight pointer hangs up there at 40 yards and I give him another couple grunts. His reaction was this. He looks around, quick trots over to the closest doe, hooks her in the rear and runs her off. That sly old buck, obvious not the area dominate, just stole my doe! Down to two does and one unknown. The deer moving down the hill ends up being another doe and joins the other two milling and feeding behind me, bring my total back up to 3 does. As that last magical 1/2 hour arrives and begins to depart, the does slowly feed away. Now I have been standing and on and off lock, for the last hour and a half. I plan to sit down for a quick 5 minute break and stretch and then stand back up for the last 20 minutes of shooting light. I sit, crack my thumbs (is that a sign of old age of what) stretch out my back and the squirrels who were pretty quiet all afternoon start that last game of grabass, before heading to bed. I am watching a squirrel across the crick and another up the hill, play and search for food. One is coming down behind me also, I can hear it, but don't move to check it out. My rest complete, I stand and fold up the seat of my stand, the squirrel that is behind me jumps to a tree next to me from the ground. At that time a doe that was standing where all those other does feed all night, take three bound and blows. She is the biggest doe of the night and I have no idea where she came from. She continues to stand behind be for the next 10 minutes, stomping her foot every once in awhile. Finallly as the light is fading form the sky she exits in the direction she came from. With five minutes of shooting light left, a grey squirrel crosses the crick in heads my way, I put my broadhead arrow into my quiver and remove and string up my judo. As the last light fades from the sky, the squirrel passed by my stand just out of my range. Maybe it wasn't my night you think, but I think it was. I am hunting the same small timber that I have hunted the last 15 years. I have hunted it with my father, who has hunted it much longer than I. I do not own the land, but the gentleman that does, was a good friend of my father's and and been gracious and kind enough to allow me to continue to hunt his land after my father's passing a year and a half ago. I feel closer to my father, there than any other place. It is where I took my daughter to witness the first squirrel to fall to my rifle in her presence. It is the place I took her to track a deer I shot with my bow last fall, her first tracking job. We have sat in turkey blinds there together, picked moral mushrooms in the spring, and maybe one day, if it is her destiny and desire, she may kill her first deer there. I am not a religous man, but I have a strong belief in God and that small timber is often my church and confessional. Tonight was a truely magical night for me, for the wildlife I saw, for the close encounters and for the talk I had with my father. You can bet tommorrow night I will be sitting a stand in this timber again. Maybe this time the one to the north where those two bucks came from. And maybe I will loosen an arrow and be rewarded with a fine deer or squirrel to feed my family. Or maybe my reward will be another beautiful sunset and close encounter with an animal or my father. I hope you all have such a place too and I we never lose them!
The picture is of the largest buck my father took from this farm and show the genetics the eight pointer tonight, was carrying.
Topic: A Good Night in the Stand (Read 324 times)
