I was way back down this road known as Peach Orchard Road. You could go for miles and end up anywhere if you took enough turns. I was driving a beat up old Dodge truck that had seen better days. But with some good mud and snow tires and a posit track rear end, it would take me most places.
I had found this interesting stretch on a long low ridge top that held lot of deer sign. I even found numerous fresh early scrapes and numerous rubs that I figured was a young buck. But I was meat hunting and a doe would be just fine. I unloaded in the dark and began my long walk up and over to the area and trees that I had looked at. This area had been thin cut a few years back and the underbrush had begun to grow.
But the remnants of an old logging road remained and I was making my way down it. The red clay showed that the deer and other critters had been using it as well. I found some old faint boot tracks but they were pretty old. As my old headlamp lit the way and dimly so, I made my way to section of the ridge top that narrowed quite a bit. A quick look around and I picked my tree. The old headlamp needed a new strap, the old one was stretched out from years of use. Heck, it needed new everything, the light was more of a yellow than white.
I assembled the climber and climbed into it, it was a newer climber made of aluminum and so much lighter than my old steel one. I had to cut a couple of small limbs but that was nothing and soon was sitting high and dry about fifteen or sixteen feet off the ground. I pulled everything up and was soon back in the dark as I waited for daylight.
Daylight came and off in the distance, I could hear several other bowhunters driving to their spots. Other than the crows, it was a pretty slow and quiet morning until a red squirrel began feeding close to me. Yeah, I was tempted to take a shot but the sheer amount of rocks usually meant a trashed broadhead.
So I just sat there and watched the squirrel feed all over below me. I guess it was about nine when I caught some movement way back up the logging road that I had come down earlier. So I slowly sat up and grabbed my bow as I tried to see thru the underbrush what it was. Then I saw it, a young hound dog and it looked like it was tracking me. So I hung my bow back up and sat back as I watched the dog slowly work its way towards me.
I have had a lot of dogs walk under me and never know that I was there, I always remained quiet and watched. So this was what I was doing as I watched the dog trail me right up to my tree and then look up at me. I bit my lip for a few minutes but then it plopped down right under me. I went ahead and yelled at it to git but all it did was to wag its tail. From the looks of it, it had been out here in the woods for several days.
So, here I was with no flu flu or rubber tipped arrow to run it off and so it just camped there. After about three hours, I decided to call it a day and began to climb down. As I tried to get everything ready to head back to the truck, the dog had to get right up to me and rub against me. Now I don't know if you have ever been around any dogs that have been kept up in a small pen but this one smelled like he had been. It was a nasty smell that stuck to you like glue. Again I tried to run it off but no way, so I started back.
Yeah, it followed me all the way to the truck, so after unloading my stand into the bed of the truck, I went ahead and checked the name on the collar. I kind of knew about where this guy lived so I went ahead and picked the dog up and put it in the bed and then got into the truck. I had to roll the windows down because the dog stench was so strong. So, about forty minutes later, I pulled off the road and got the dog out and let it go find its home. I had to wash my clothes twice and my back pack, that was one nasty dog. From then on, always one rubber tipped flu flu in the quiver. You don't have to come to full draw to get their attention to leave.
Topic: The hound dog (Read 496 times)
