Since Aram and Ru were delayed in getting out on Friday, I went and found a good spot to sit for the evening. Then it started pouring and I headed back to the car. By the time I got there it had let up enough and I decided to go up to the top of the next ridge to take a look around. Not much sign and my lungs hadn't recovered enough from the flu for the climb... spent the night hacking up a lung in punishment.
We ended up staying at my parent's house for the weekend. Rainy nights in a tent didn't seem like the smartest idea to us when there were warm beds 15 minutes away
We went out just after first light Saturday. I put Ru right near the highest concentration of deer sign hoping he'd catch them as they were leaving the apples and the only acorns on the mountain. Aram was about a half mile away in a stand of pines by more apples trying to stay dry; both of them were right near major travel corridors. I decided to go another quarter mile down and still hunt while checking for sign.
My real excitement was around 8:30. As I was still hunting my way through the deer woods I catch movement off to my left - a doe! I drop to my knees and see a yearling follow here out of the stand of pines and pass her on the trail. A short minute later puts that little one through my first shooting lane at 25 yards. Pass on that one; the doe is trailing behind and I haven't been shooting enough to take that shot at an animal comfortably. Another 10-12 yards puts it in my second shooting lane at about the same distance - pass.
The doe picks up her pace a little bit and goes through my first shooting lane a bit faster than I'd like at about 20 yards. Pass on that, as she'll soon be in my second lane a little bit closer. Her head is in the clear, then her shoulder, I start my draw then two things happen: I see a third deer come out of the pines and she stops with her vitals still behind the brush! As I'm watching the third deer, another small one, to see if I've been made the doe continues on through my lane and out of my life. Chalk another missed opportunity up to tunnel vision!
The third deer continues along the same general path without any clue I'm there, but closer to me. I let down (I was still at about half draw) and the dang arrow falls off the string!! I pick up the arrow and look back at "my" deer. She'll go through the first shooting lane at 15 yards, but I'll need to stand up to shoot. The other two deer are walking away from me, so there's no issue there. The deer approaches the lane, I slowly stand and start my draw and the fourth deer, another adult doe, starts blowing from where she had come out of the pines, unseen by me. They all take off 30-40 yards back they way they came, then stand there for 5 minutes to figure out what just happened. Then they start walking back the way they came - along a trail that led right to where Aram was set up. They never arrived.
So 5 shot opportunities on 3 deer that I snuck up on! A pretty good morning in my mind!
I was in the same general area that evening getting rained on and didn't have anything come through. Turns out the deer all get to the area at least 30 minutes after sunset. We saw at least 2 groups going in as we were driving out.
We went in before first light Sunday morning; Aram went back to the same spot and Ru went in about where I ran into the group of deer. I went up above to see if they were leaving the area that way. I saw nothing... hardly cut a fresh track at all when I decided to scout around after sitting just off a trail for a few hours.
As for bloody arrows... well, Ru decided to start taking shots at the red squirrels and when I left for home after the morning hunt he had two of them for the pot. Aram and Ru went back out Sunday afternoon, so hopefully they'll chime in with their version of events.
Topic: NY Hunters - Oct 24-25 in the Catskills (Read 4562 times)
