hunts 11 and 12
Last night I finally sat over the little rape field up top. We had an ENE wind and heavy skies. But the forecast did not call for it to rain. Still quite warm and very sticky to say the least.
After last night I am thinking of changing the name of this thread to 5 Pines Follies
I had stood in the stand from 5 to 6 pm. At 6 pm I decided to sit, for just a bit. Murphy's law # 10 is, as soon as you sit, a deer will show up.
I hadn't been sitting for 5 minutes when I hear the slightest noise below and behind my location. Looking down I see that a spring buck fawn is almost directly beneath me. He had come up the ridge behind me and was going to walk past the foot of my ladder from about 5 feet. He stopped and smelled the ground where I had set my pack down and smelled around the stump where I stood and changed shirts. I expected to be busted at any second. But he walked out into the food plot and as he did so, he looked back over over his left shoulder.
I knew another deer must be behind me and sure enough mom was standing beneath the oaks about 20 yards back. Now I have removed a lot of understory invasive brush here and she need not walk on the trail the fawn did to reach the food plot. She was going to pass to my left at about 15 yards. As she stepped onto the mowed trail I turned to my left to take the shot. But the bench seat on the ladder would not let me turn far enough to get my bow arm/ shoulder perpendicular to the target. I would have to stand to shoot.
As she stepped into the open, beneath the tree limb above I rose to my feet. But she turned to her left and all I had was her butt to shoot at.
She went out into the rape and began to feed. The fawn had moved on up into the clover and was heading south to the beets. Eventually mom followed suit and if she stayed mid field I would have 20 yarder. But instead she angled to the top of the plot and I let her walk on.
I watched them feeding and every once in awhile she would stare in one direction or another. Finally she had turned and was staring in my direction. I looked to my left just as a spike buck walked in to the Rape. He walked thru the plot, past me and on towards the doe in the beets. The doe and fawn began to walk back in my direction and were angling down towards the mowed trail that goes past the front of the stand.
At 30 yards away she stepped off the mowed trail and back into woods and started to feed on what few acorns were on the ground. It looked like she was going to end up right under me.
I wish google earth would let me draw in the route she has traveled thus far.
At 15 yards she turns to come back out on the mowed trail. It's going to be a perfect set up!
So she is broadside at 15 but not quite on the mowed trial and a small dead tree that fell along the field edge has a just a couple of small branches between us. No worries she is still going be on the mowed trail I tell myself . So I wait.
As she takes two steps further and is right where I want her, the fawn walks up. They begin to groom one another. So now I have a totally unaware deer , standing at 12 yards, nurturing her baby and my heart softens. I can do it! Anyone who has domestic stock or dogs or cats knows that this type of behavior is more than just instinctive. Some thing clearly tender is going on between these two individuals.
Finally the buck steps away and I tell my self to harden my heart and to shoot. I drew the bow and the lighted red nock was a laser that flew harmlessly over the does back!
Topic: 5 pines farm 2016 updated 1/2017 page 29 (Read 21245 times)
