good times and bad in Ohio

[huntnmuleys]

kicked around the idea of telling this whole tale for awhile, and I think I will. as usual, I went to my friends place in Ohio this November.  Ron has 20 acres with a woodlot where he lives, and 10 miles away his families farm is a couple hundred acres with a creek running through. some good hunting to be had.  

bear with me as I once again figure out the maze that is posting pics to tradgang....


getting to Ron's place on a Friday, I was greeted at the door by their little dog, Koda.  now, I kind of consider myself to be the "dog whisperer", as im usually great with dogs.  Koda, however, has always been the exception.  this little guy just doesn't know what to think of me....

 

[Hermon]

IN!

Bisch

[Sockrsblur]

That fire looks good... I'll pull up a chair

[Sockrsblur]

Bisch... have any coco?  lol

[huntnmuleys]

that first night of the hunt, I sat in "Armands stand" on Rons 20 acres. Armand was a guy who Ron did a swap hunt with some years back. hes a compound guy (so is Ron) but anyhow this guy was there for two hours his first night and shot a near 160 4x4 buck. Ron has hunted there forever and never even came close to that, hence the stand name. anyway...

was a pretty slow night.  right at dark in the cut bean field behind me I saw three does, but nothing more. the weather was pretty cool too, compared to most of the trips ive made out there.

 

this is the trail back to "Armand's stand".  the stand is just out of the pic in that back woodline on the right edge of this pic.  beautiful area...

[huntnmuleys]

the next day was Saturday, and with that Ron was off, so we could both hunt. now Ron uses trail cams a good bit and had been hunting plenty, and was seeing some nice bucks down at his mom's place.  so, we hunted there. the morning was quite slow actually.  I did see one small buck in the distance, that ended up near Ron.  the stand I was in was just at the creek crossing and overlooking a good trail....

 

[huntnmuleys]

ill shorten this all up a tad, and just say that the weekend was VERY slow on deer movement. I had a small 4x4 come by, offering no shot.  he was chasing does hard, but the big guys weren't around. I did have a couple does and fawns come under me, and I had a doe tag, but the available shots were always the fawns so no shooting.

even after a boring weekend in a stand, im quite a dapper guy!

 

[huntnmuleys]

Monday hit, and with that came the start of the cold front.  Ron was back to work, but I was on my own.  snow was in the forecast for that night, so I figured the deer would be moving. I decided one more morning at Mom's farm was a good plan, the big guys just had to start moving.

and it almost worked.  dawn broke cold...

 

and the morning was slow. kinda.  at first light, just across that creek I saw a BIG buck. he was obviously on a doe's trail and only stopped and looked when I called.  grunts and bleats where not enough to convince him. im not a whitetail expert by any stretch, but this buck looked like hed go over 150 for sure.  not that im a picky hunter, but dang!!!

after he wandered off and I got over the heartache that came with that, I saw another buck coming from the same direction.  he, however, was working my way.  nice 4x4 I figured would be in the 100 inch category.  that's  a trophy to me!  and he came on a string. a shot looked imminent. just a couple more steps... and..

[Over&Under]

[huntnmuleys]

he turned the wrong way!  seriously, he was like 15 yards out and I just needed a better angle.  unbeknownst to me, a couple does had come out in the cut field behind me, and he was off.  now I was beside myself!  two nice bucks in one morning, one I could have almost spit on, and no shots.  ugggg!!!  

when the buck turned, he walked right behind that white branch over my left shoulder. he was literally just a couple yards away at that time with no shooting lanes.  this fall, nothing is working!

 

[VictoryHunter]

[huntnmuleys]

and that ended the action for the morning hunt. on a good note, with all these deer it was a matter of time before I got some shooting I figured. that night wasn't it though. all of the deer I saw came out behind me in the cut field (I sat the same stand) and with the weather coming in I was hoping for a change in my luck as well. was a cold sundown for sure...

 

the next day we did indeed have snow.  an inch or so.  and it was FREEZING!!  with the big buck sighting the day before, Ron got the day off to hunt as well. we figured one of us might just hit pay dirt. I sat a different stand along a dry creek that divides the property, as from what I could see every buck was coming from that ditch.

I have trouble sitting a stand in the cold..

 

[huntnmuleys]

but sit I did.  and stand. and sit again.  and shiver.  talk about miserable. even "ninja mode" wasn't working.

 

on a positive note, about 8 am (felt like noon or later as long as id been shivering there), I saw three does cross the creek a ways in front of where I had been sitting, and were coming my way.  the trees in my ditch were thick, and I lost sight of the deer in a hurry, but was prepared to shoot if need be.

my stalker was ready as well.

 

finally they came. first a fawn, then the two does.  I had the fawn standing at the bottom rung of my ladder for what seemed like forever before one of the does finally broke out in front of me.  now in preparing for the shot, I had had my hands out of my muff for quite a while, bow in hand, and was shaking violently.  I remember when I used to be tough in the cold.  anymore, complete wienie.  I was getting to the point I wasn't even sure I would be able to shoot when the doe committed completely.

the shot was a slam dunk.  I was in a 15 foot ladder, and the doe was walking slowly broadside to me at about 6 or 7 yards.  I controlled the shaking just long enough to shoot, picked a spot, and....

[huntnmuleys]

the shot looked great.  the arrow blew straight through, and the doe trotted out about 30 yards. the fawn and other doe didn't even move, they had no idea.  as my doe was standing about 30 yards out, broadside, but with some branches in the way, i could tell my shot wasn't perfect. it was back.  only slightly, but back.  i was figuring back of lungs/liver area.  she stood forever, acting sickly, before finally walking in behind me and bedding about 17 yards away. she offered no 2nd shot at any time, but i was pretty confident.  

i watched her for 40 minutes bedded there, and in the brush i couldn't tell if her head was even still up.  she didn't appear to be moving, but it was 28 degrees so no reason to push. i snuck out of the tree and over to Ron.  we decided to give plenty of time just in case, and go in to town to lunch.  also, Ron owns a car wash and we had to do the daily maintenance stuff.

all in all, it was 7 hours from the time i shot to when we got back.  it was up to 29 degrees but snow was melting.  i have no idea how this is.

[huntnmuleys]

when we got to her bed, she wasn't in it.  ugh.  we figured she went down the ditch to water, and started our efforts there.  both sides of the ditch were cut crop area so we could easily see she wasn't there.  she also wasn't down at the creek.  panic was setting in.  what could have happened?  i had a decent looking shot, and good blood. the only problem was the blood had been on snow, and as it melted the blood disapated.  made trailing impossible.  also, the blood that covered my arrow and was on the ground was not dark liver blood.  it was much lighter.  i was kind of dumbfounded by this. we figured if she hadn't went down to the creek, maybe i bumped her getting out of my stand, and she had moved up.

it was me that walked up on her.  in the completely wide open bottom, i found her.  she looked so peaceful, like she had died in her sleep.  i yelled at Ron that i found her and he hollered back asking if she was dead.  even though i was only 10 feet away, i honestly wasn't sure.  she looked dead, and i could see a breath, but i wasn't broadside to her, more lengthways from her back end.  i yelled back that i would get to her broadside angle, and i  could see a breath put another shot on her but i didn't think she was still alive.

i was wrong.

[huntnmuleys]

when i was 6 or 7 steps from her she bolted.  i never saw even a hint of life before this.  it had been 7 hours. i had been yelling just 10 feet away in clear sight. but run she did, and i watcher her go over 300 yards, and cross into another ditch.  that ditch was the property line, so i was sick to my stomach.

Ron and i decided to hunt the rest of the evening, and then go look for her in the morning, giving her more time.  that was all that made sense.

my confidence was beyond rattled. how could i botch a shot from mere feet?  how could i watch her seemingly die within 40 minutes of the shot?  how could i walk up to her and yell and see no life?  it all just didn't make sense.

that night was a cold sunset in more ways then one...

 

[huntnmuleys]

Ron had to work the next morning, but the ditch she went into wasn't too thick, and it bordered the neighbor's property that wouldn't allow me to go look.  it was there or bust.  Ron and i talked about it that night and he felt i should hunt the morning at his 20 acres, since we hadn't hunted it since my first day, then go look when it was mid morning and i had good light. that did make sense.

my confidence was still shaken though. i sat the "tower stand" on his place.  it kind of is on the border between a small food plot and a thick bedding area.  deer were moving everywhere!  i saw small bucks, numerous does, and one dandy buck in the distance. honestly, i could have shot quite a few deer, but my heart wasn't in it. or more so, maybe it was my confidence wasn't.  thousands of practice shots, and one slight miscue was on my mind.  so, i did what i felt i needed to do for myself.

i had a little heart to heart with Brad.

i reminded myself that i AM a competent shot, and that i COULD do this.  that might seem like a simple feat, but it took an hour and a half of this watching deer all around me. i was finally starting to feel a bit better about myself, and i finally heard a deer coming from one bedding area to the one i was guarding. i could tell by his walk that it was a buck, and when he appeared i could see it was a smallish 4x4, maybe 90 inches. he walked right by this scrape (pic taken the first night before the snow)

 

[huntnmuleys]

now Ron hasn't maintained this stand sight much, and there are no shooting lanes cut anywhere behind the stand.  so, i watch the buck walk by at 20 yards and start to venture away.  my calling wasn't working either.  suddenly i noticed a doe coming in from the other direction. she walked right up to the buck and then he started paying attention!  

 

they circled from right to left in this pic, and although he had been walking away, they came back my way. he was moving quick when i made noise to stop him at about 20 yards in the open, and i picked a spot and done what ive done a thousand times in the last few months.

i made a good shot. the buck didn't go more than 40 yards and down in sight.  now the part i forgot in all of this, i realized when he was moving after the doe that he was better than 90 inches. i figured more like 100-110.  still a bad guess.

 

[huntnmuleys]

a better guess maybe was 125-130

 

i was happy about my buck to say the least. what a turn of events. after some quick pics, and gutting i was on a mission. one that had been on my mind the entire time.

i needed to find that doe if possible.  back to Mom's farm i drove.