Hey gang. Just came in from my best hunt this year!!
Temps today were in the mid 30's with a very brisk north wind. However, for once, I was layered just right as I sat in my tree-stand on the peak of a ridge, sometimes wondering how stupid I could get, as I swayed back and forth in the occasional hard gusts..........
Around 4pm, after being in stand only about 1/2 hr. 4 deer ( twin fawns, their mother and apparently last yr.'s doe) came in to feed on the left over mast and whatever else they could find. I had already decided that I was only going to shoot a buck or large doe, as my freezer is in pretty good shape. The mother looked to be only slightly larger than the yearling------ and these were the first deer I had seen in my woods since last months gun season;so after getting my bow ready, I decided to sit and watch and see what would develop.......
Over an hour and 1/2 these deer browsed, and meandered around in front of me, anywhere from 5 to 20 yds away. I watched their body language and how they interacted. The yearling was not allowed to eat near the other 3. She would be chased off by the mother and also by both fawns.But she vigilantly helped keep watch. I started to wonder why she even hung around, since she was kept at such a distance.
However, something else was in the brush behind me shadowing this group. Over the course of an hour, I would hear an occasional stick snap and both of the older 2 deer would take turns keeping an eye out and occasionally stomp their feet at whatever it was-----coyote, buck, I don;t know........ I started getting aggravated at myself because I couldn't find it as the random noises half-circled the group, but behind me. A couple times, I would get the evil eye from 1 of them if I got caught squirming a little too much trying to find the source, but never got busted and each time, they would forget about me again.........
Out 100yds or so in a nearby field, I watched 2 deer chase 3 turkeys full-thottle across the field and then come trotting back to their starting point w/ heads held high in a "take THAT" attitude.......
Finally, the 4 deer wandered off, over the ridge top just at dark and as I was starting to move to leave...."CRACK!, SNAP!" and I started counting: 1...2...4...8!! More deer came in from behind me and meandered around, chasing each other, I felt the vibrations as twice a deer smacked into the tree I was in while running about!
Then to my dismay, they apparently had bedded down in the brush around me....because when the woods went silent and I tried to move out "WHOOSH! WHEEEEZE!!SNORT!!! I tried my best owl call----sounded pretty sick to me at the time, but the commotion instantly died down. Thinking they had all ran off, I tried lowering my bow and SNAP!! they were right behind and below me again!! By now, I was getting cold, shooting light had been gone for over 1/2 an hr, and I figured in the darkness, maybe they'll just think I'm the clumsiest, sick-sounding, grey owl they'd ever not seen......
Now I'm finishing my supper of venison steak and a good dark beer, wondering how much better a hunt can get!!!!
Topic: My Inner Predator rested today, and WOW! did the deer ever come out to play!! (Read 468 times)
