hunt#13
Last night was a very special night!
My wife returned home after a weeks absence and my good friend Jay ( old lodge skins here on TG) was here hunting with his Bob Lee. After cooking them a big early dinner, I hustled out the door to a close by stand.
I chose the stand where a shot almost happened last week. But when I got the to the stand I could see the bluff was playing unfairly with the wind. I was undecided what to do. If a deer came down the trail below I would be fine. But, if they dropped off the ridge like last week , I would most likely get winded.
Since it was nearly 5 pm I decided to risk it and stay . I had barely pulled my bow up and hung it on the bow hook when I could hear a deer running down the bluff directly behind me. A buck fawn ran out into the open from the same trail as last week. He stood below me looking for something. Replaying this in my mind , I think he was looking for me. Perhaps hearing me enter the stand and being alone and looking for company he rushed in. He went left on the trail below, circled around then caught my wind! Crap!
Thinking his loud snorting exit was going to be the last deer of the night, I settled in hoping at least to see deer on the opposite side of the valley with the binos.
By 6 15 I still had not seen a deer anywhere. Nothing seemed to be moving towards the food below. Turkeys began to roost somewhere on the ridge above. I counted what I thought were 6 different birds fly up to the roost. just then I heard foot steps behind me. I had been standing but not holding the bow. I took the bow off it's hanger and slowly turned to my left to prepare for a shot.
The buck was on the same trail that the doe was on last week. But at 15 yards above and behind me , he began to rub his antlers on an Aspen. For 15 minutes or more he put on quite a show for me. He was the 8 point from last week that I watched sparring in the food plot below with the smaller buck. I would guess him to be a 2.5 year old with about a 110 inch rack . Good width , even but short tines. A great buck someday.
I couldn't believe I was not getting winded. But the steepness of the hill and the height of the stand must have been sending my scent stream over his head. It was so cool to see how focused he was on rubbing that tree!
He then turned to his left, came down the trail and I counted coup at 6 yards, at 10 yards and lastly at 15. Once he was past me, he trotted on down the mowed trail to the food plot and joined one lonely doe in the knee high beet leaves.
Just before dark I heard foot steps again behind and above me. I was hoping it would be a doe or one of my target bucks. But the deer seemed to just vanish and never got to see what it was.
We got rained out this am but as I write this the sky seems to be lightening up and the wind has shifted to the west. Perhaps we will come out of this very wet pattern we have been in .
Topic: 5 pines farm 2016 updated 1/2017 page 29 (Read 16097 times)
