5 pines farm 2012 semi live

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

It is going to be hard to decide which bow to carry out to hunt with from now on. I couldn't believe how alike it is to my widow!    
I decided to name this bow " Anubis" after  one of the Egyptian gods of death.  I had Roman put that on the upper limb. Thanks Roman for a super weapon! I'll try to make you proud!

[Hopewell Tom]

"Took the Mrs. out to dinner."
That's it - taking care of business. No wonder you get to hunt so much!
Still my favourite thread, although I see Charlie Lamb has started up...

[goldflinger]

Those are some sweet pictures! Nice looking property. Guess I was wrong about seeing a deer down in the 1st 12 pages, but with 3 friends all killing deer, I guess you can be picky on which one you choose to harvest. Still lots of time :-)

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

Goldflinger , if i had done my part better your prediction would have been spot on!

[goldflinger]

[4runr]

Glad she got there OK Jim. Looks good in that Yurt.

Also looks like it didn't take you long to have her shooting well for you. I'll pass on the news to Roman.

[coaster500]

Dang Jim I'm late to the party .......

Great story and pics....  oh well I guess it's like finding a good book and now ya can't put it down !!!

Great to have two bows that shoot alike.

Man I'm going nuts!!! Got to go hunt soon!!!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I was wondering where you had been Kip!

Today was one of those rare days here.

I GOT SKUNKED! Didn't see a darn deer while on stand all day. I went up to the 20 footer this afternoon as the wind was straight out of the north and that stand sits on the SE end of a food plot. I had my game face on all day but no one showed up to play. I was especially pumped after a visit with my neighbor to the north. He watched a giant buck we are both after last night from his living room with his spotting scope. Glad to hear he is still in the immediate vicinity. Tomorrow's another day and I'll be out after em!

[Shinken]

Keep the wind in your face!

Drop the string on a Big-un!

Shoot straight, Shinken

   

[scbowhnter]

This is a great thread!! Thanks for all the effort and please keep it coming.

[GRINCH]

[maineac]

Great tale so far.  I'll keep checking back.  You have definitely taken your signature line to heart and made it a reality!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

here is a picture of my back yard.    

I am showing you this because this  is where the deer were when I walked out the door of house last night after dinner to go sleep in the yurt! I have several springs that empty into a culvert that runs along the edge of the back yard. With the lack of rain my retention ponds are all dry and the deer were in the little stream drinking when I walked out on them! Two really big does. Guess i need to hand a stand on the utility light pole!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

So this am it was cold again but not as cold as Monday. We had light winds from the north and I chose a stand not yet hunted from this year. It sits down the logging road East of the ladder stand on the food plot on the middle ridge. No one has killed a deer yet from it so I call it the CrissCross stand because of the way the tree the stand is in crosses behind the tree next to it.
   

Deer coming from the food plot usually walk right down the logging road on their way to a bedding area just on the other side of my Eastern property fenceline.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

This is an up close and personal shot. The deer go by at 7 yards and should never see you, that's the theory anyway!  The wind was perfect. The warmth of the rising sun was a welcome sight, it was cold!      

At about 7:30 I hear a deer bleating, bleating  bleating up from the direction of the plot! I grab the bow off the hanger and focused on the trail coming from the plot. I could see legs but could not see anything else about 50 yards up the logging road. Despite the two hard freezes we have had there is still quite a bit of leaves on the trees and bushes making long distance visibility poor. The bleating faded and it was evident the deer had exited the plot in the opposite direction. It well could have been the same yearling I saw and heard doing that in the food plot last Thursday when I was in the hang on stand on the North side of the food plot. After that I got to enjoy a huge fox squirrel just above my head in the oak come and check me out repeatedly but no other deer appeared.  As I walked down the hill I snuck up on 2 sleeping yearlings bedded under a crab apple about 100 yards up hill from the yurt. I was about 15 yards from them when one of them saw me move. What fun! Wind is out of the north all day. Got to fling a few arrows and then be on my way.

[Whip]

Same kind of weather (and deer activity) here too Jim.  But what glorious days to be in the woods!

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

sure was great whip!

So i got to thinking about those two does in the water last night. Chatted with the neighbor to see how his hunt went last night. He counted a dozen does and fawns go to water in the creek up on his end of the valley! All early in the evening too!

Well that same creek comes down thru the valley and I have a little one lane bridge  I cross it with. As it comes along through my land I have rental ground on each side of it with standing corn. I am sure there are some deer hanging in that corn for cover and to be close to the water. There is no way to hunt them if they are all ready in the corn. But there is a way to do it if they are bedded in the 23 acres across the road and up the hill.

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I returned to the ultra view stand now to be known forever as the "Joel" stand since he killed the first deer out of it Monday AM.

here is a photo of that spot again.
 

Normally i don't hunt this little spot in the afternoon. Because the deer will either hear you or the thermals will kill you and the deer blow out of top of the bluff. But this stand is right on the bottom edge of the woods and i decided I would wait until the thermals changed before heading up into it.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

[LITTLEBIGMAN]

I walked the road to bottom of the field  and waited till 4 :30 before sneaking up the final 150 yards to the stand. I had put on my harness and coat at the bottom of the hill and all i had to do was climb the ladder and hook into the safety rope up above my head.

I ever so slowly and silently got into the stand. I got all in order and released a few fibers of a milk weed pod into the air. Rats they floated up hill! I started to rethink this plan and started to feel the cool air start to drop. This bluff is so steep and faces directly East so after 4 pm the entire bluff face is in the shade and is 5 to 10 degree colder then the hill on the opposing side of the valley. I released some more fibers and they sailed straight down the hill. Game on!

At 5:15pm I stood up to prepare for the eventual deer encounters I knew were about to happen. A stick suddenly cracks up over my right shoulder. I jerked the bow off the hanger, I wasn't ready yet. I looked uphill and saw the flag running up and away. Darn! I am sure it saw me grab the bow.

I resolved to hold the bow the rest of the night. 10 minutes or less I hear a stick crack to the left. A single doe is standing no less then 25 yards away scanning the bottom of the hill for danger. The trail she is on most likely won't give me a shot at her. She finally decides all is safe and she progresses the rest of the way down on to the logging road, crosses it , then drops into the prairie grass and goes on down towards the water and corn. Another crack and  sure enough another deer is approaching from my left. This one is on the trail that goes right by me! I ooze into shooting position but it only takes a second to determine this is a last spring's fawn. A buck fawn at that. It gives me the perfect shot, multiple times! Then it hangs out in front of me grooming itself for about 15 minutes. It reminded me of our cats. I have never seen a deer so concentrated on cleaning its tail before! Eventually it headed down the hill towards water and food. There was still plenty of time for more deer to come but none came and soon it was time to go. It was a great night and I felt good having thought the situation through and getting a shot opportunity again. Hopefully tomorrow it will be at an older deer!