This one started out early and doing something I hadn't done in a long time.....setting a treestand in the dark. Usually not a big deal, but I knew this tree was very big and I'd have my hands full trying to make it work!
I had a bit of a walk, so with just long johns(top and bottom)and boots on, I hit the woods at 5 am with all the rest of my cloths in/on my pack, strapped to my treestand on my back.
Anyone that has dealt with a big tree hanging a stand knows the difficulty of doing so. You can't reach all the way around the tree, and it doesn't help when the hooking/locking mechanism is on the opposite side of the stand that you're hanging it from!
Oh yeah, did I mention I forgot my linesman belt!
As much as I tried not to, I'd worked up a sweat getting it done, and probably made way more noise than I realized...but it was finally hung.
This spot was like "Grand Central Station", and with the wind expected to be west/NW, I just new it would be worth all the effort to get back there and hang this set in the dark.
But Halloween had a "trick" for me before it would offer up a "treat".....the wind was nowhere near what it was predicted to be!
After getting dressed at the bottom of the tree, and climbing back up, I really had no other choice and just hoped to get some action from the south or west. The north was cut off by the wind. But I knew if things didn't work out today, at least the stand was up, and ready for the next time I got a N/NW wind....I settled in....
Within an hour, I caught movement from the south, two does. They were working in slow when all of a sudden only about 40yds. from me, and only 15yds from them....standing up and busting out of the brush here comes a little buck....how and when he got there, I truely have no idea!
His aggresiveness turned the does back the way they were coming from...dang it!
But within a minute I could tell the lead doe was looping around toward me. When she got about 20yds from me, for some reason she started to trot and was crossing only 10 yds out, but moving way too fast.
I hate to stop deer with noise, but as she got right in front of me, I grunted as I was drawing, she stopped, and I shot...
Instantly I could see blood gushing! I'd hit her a little high, obviously cutting the big hose under her spine. I knew she wouldn't go far as she crashed around me in a half circle and ended up stopping about 20 yds. behind me. She stood for a few seconds, then started to stumble...seconds later she was still....
I quickly turned around to see what the other deer were doing, they had no clue what had just happened!
The little 3pt...
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And with the doe...
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From the stand...
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You can see a faint logging road that splits. The deer cam from the right split and the buck was bedded right at the "Y"...
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Topic: Halloween Treat (Read 1665 times)
