Sunday morning I pulled the boat back up to my familiar parking spot, quickly tied it and made my way toward my stand about 45 minutes before shooting light. I expected the deer to be moving through pretty early on their way back to bed because of the heat and I wanted to give everything a chance to settle down well before they arrived. I settled into my stand and enjoyed the sounds of the night while I waited on the sun to rise.
As the sun came up and it became light enough to shoot my anticipation was high. The wind was suppose to be out of the SW which would be a perfect crosswind but it was almost perfectly calm at daylight. I worried that with no wind pushing my scent away it would settle and give me away. I hoped the wind would pick up a little and sat back hoping for the best
Hope in the tree
As the minutes slipped by and no deer showed up my anticipation and my alertness slowly faded away. My mind began to drift and I started thinking about my upcoming hunt in Kansas which was only two weeks away. I started thinking about all the stuff I needed to do before I left and decided I needed to make a list so I didn't forget anything. It was getting late enough now that my confidence in seeing a deer was getting pretty low anyway. I pulled my phone out and stared typing a "To Do" list looking up and scanning the woods ever so often.
After getting a few lines typed I glanced behind me and saw the rear end of a deer no more than 25 yds away and headed toward me on the main trail. As his head cleared a tree and I could see he was a nice 8pt, not huge but probably 16" wide and plenty big for my first buck tag. Unfortunately, he had slipped in without making a sound and caught me with my pants down. I slowly slipped the phone back in my pocket and stood up slowly. I managed to get in position to shoot without him seeing me and he was now about 20 yds shielded by brush and heading my way. I needed about 5 more yards before he came into an opening where I could shoot. As he moved forward I started putting tension on the string then just as his head came into the opening he locked up and threw his head in the air. I knew my fears about the wind were proving true and as quickly as he appeared, he turned and bounded away.
Here is the opening the buck was walking into. His head was just behing the right fork of the closest tree when he winded me
A few minutes later I heard more deer coming from the same direction. 4 does appeared on the same trail. I had a doe tag to fill too so I readied myself for the shot. Unfortuanely this was an instant replay of what had just happened with the buck, they got to within 20 yds when one of them picked up my scent and blew out.
Unfortunately that was all the action I saw that morning. I pulled my stand, walked back to the boat and motored back toward the cabin.
A pic of the river on my way back. The cabin is just around that far bend
Here's one of the cabin
Unfortuantely that would end my time hunting with Hope. I wasn't able to take any animals with her but I sure had a good time trying and really enjoyed shooting her. She is a sweet shooter for sure. Thank you to the Sarrels for donating her and giving us the opportunity to hunt with her and for the money it will eventually provide for St Jude.
Topic: Hope and Faith Sarrels of 2014 (Read 11484 times)
