I got Faith to the woods yesterday and this morning.
Yesterday was an uneventful morning up until about 9am. I heard a rushing thrash of leaves kicking up and caught a deer to my right but about 50 yards away. The deer stopped and nature's camouflage took over. I left the binocs in the truck so I had to rely on my less than perfect vision. I noticed it s-l-o-w-l-y meandering away and caught a glimpse of antler. From where I was it looked to be at least an 8 pointer. I could see three points on each side and if brow tines were properly in place that would make it an 8. He was a nice big bodied buck with a rack at least as wide as his ears. I lost sight of him and figured it was over. After about 45 minutes I grunted a few times and hit the rattle bag a time or two without seeing him. I figured he had skipped country.
I stood in my stand and leaned forward to try to eye the area I last saw him. I noticed a limb that looked an awful lot like an anlter. I locked in on it and couldn't detect movement. I hit the grunt another time and rattled some more while watching and then I saw him turn his head.
He had bedded down behind a huge downed Oak with his head just high enough to see approaching danger. I grunted and rattled bit by bit and I guess he finally had enough. He casually got up, turned directly away from my sounds, and walked out of sight. I heard him as he left for good this time. I guess he was not in the mood to confront any other ficticious bucks in the area.
I hunted that afternoon and saw nothing. The same squirrels fought over territory and whatever acorns they had not yet found. Night fell as silence took over the woods and the swollen yellow moon rose in the northeast. I stayed until moonlight was all that filled the empty spaces between the trees. I slipped out with a return planned for this morning.
I got to the frigid stand today after walking to the stand under the full moon's light. Usually if I make it to the stand without getting blewn by a nearby deer I feel like it may be a good morning. As silently as I could I climbed in the ladder stand and afixed the camo netting around the stand. Good! I made it safely without scaring away any deer in the area. WRONG! After being the the stand about 5 minutes I was leaned back on the tree with my heaard tilted back and eyes closed. I do this to try to better my hearing. Tinitis plays heavy on my ability to detect where exactly sounds are coming from. As I sat there imagining that buck returning for a close broadside shot and finally getting some mojo going with Faith, my daydreams were abuptly interrupted by a deer springing from its bed and an immediate whistling wheeze at my presence. DANG IT! It crashed through the woods taking out every low lying limb from the Virginia pines it passed. I knew my morning was gone.
I sat there as morning started taking over the night. The rolls reversed, the full moon now setting and the sun not yet over the horizon but lighting the woods anyway. A nearby neighboring property owner's penned up dog began franticaly barking. He's a pretty good alarm system. The small tract of land I hunt is surrounded by homeowners, kids, dogs, and cattle. Sitting in total silence is not a common occurrence but I have leaarned that this dog barks at anything in the woods that makes noise. I heard it too. An occasional stick breaking and leaves rustling. I sat back again with my head tilted back, eyes closed. About five minutes passed and I heard a slight crunch nearby. I leveled my head and opened my eyes to find a deer to my right coming up an old overgrown four-wheeler path. It was a large doe. I made my way to my bow and got to a standing position. Then another doe appeared. Gotta be careful, while focusing on the one to shoot the other could bust me. I had to let the large one pass as the yealing came catching up. The larger doe then turned and came down my path towards my stand. She was heading right for my open lane. Suddenly she made me, or she made something. She stopped, glared, and froze. I did too. We locked on each other for what seemed like forever but it was probably about a minute. She turned and went back up the hill. The smaller doe was now coming up the four wheeler path to an open area. I drew back to loose the arrow when she hit the opening. She stopped and fed. I didn't have a clear shot so I held for about 15 seconds and let down. As soon as I let down she tried to catch up to the other doe. I knew I'd have only a split second to time it right. She passed the opening at a walk and I drew and loosed the arrow. The silent woods were awakened by the sound of the string being released and launching the arrow. The dead silence before allowed the sound of the bow to cause both does to explode in flight. Mine spun to the left. The arrows was heading for her right slightly quartering away shoulder. Her alert spin caused a clean miss. I knew it didn't hit any unseen limbs during its flight. I didn't hear it even hit the ground. The sound of the larger doe was all I could hear. She ran about 20 yards and stopped. The smaller doe ran about three steps and looked around as if confused. I was able to retrieve another arrow to prepare for a second shot, but it was not meant to be. They both trotted off, never blowing an alarm wheeze, and disappeared in the area where the buck had gone the morning before.
So far no luck with Faith. I still think I'll be able to connect. I just gotta do my part.
Topic: The Adventure of Hope and Faith Stalker (Read 10812 times)
