Here's my edited entry from my hunting journal for today...
31-Jan-09
Today was the last day of deer season for us. Once again, it was very cold and crunchy. My son hunted the corner again and I sat next to a tree and ambushed the heavy trail I had spotted the previous week. I lasted until about 10.30 and had to get up and walk to shake (literally) off the cold.
Up until this point, I had seen woodpeckers and crows but no game. Moving down the middle ridge back towards the road, I immediately started seeing better deer tracks. Just beyond my field of view from the morning, I saw several deer beds and loads of tracks, poo and so forth.
Beyond this, in an area that I've ambushed before, I noticed tracks of an apparent tap dancing contest for whitetail. I've never seen so much sign in one area in my life.
Crunching up the trail from this, I startled a group of does. As loud as the footing was, there was no question of attempting to sneak after them.
Later, my son and I decided to try to work a pincer move on a group of does he had seen in the area where he took his buck earlier in the year. He came in from the bottom and I moved down from the top seeing three or four does almost immediately. I played cat and mouse with them for a while (and with a last moment fox squirrel – which I missed) as I tried to drive them to my son.
Following his's tracks from earlier in the day, I saw where he had laid his bow down to mess with his hat. All too soon, he and I met up and that was all she wrote for this deer season. It was a blast.
Next – bunnies.