BOOM……Boom, boom! Someone nearby shot and my guess was a deer was down. The shots startled me in my tree stand, which was hidden in a patch of thick brush and hardwoods. I was hunting whitetail deer in western New York State on private farmland located just south of Lake Ontario. The terrain was flat with mostly tilled crops with large patches of woodland like the one I was sitting in.
The particular property I was hunting was planted in alfalfa and rye. This hunt came about from a new friend, someone I met just the summer prior, another woman that hunts. Phyllis and I became fast friends and she told me about this place she went deer hunting and asked if I wanted to give it a try as well. I said sure, what the heck.
So I prepared and gathered up the information I needed to get a New York deer license and applied for some antlerless management tags. A few short weeks later my information arrived along with a buck tag and two antlerless tags. The area I was hunting was a non-rifle area. That meant one could use a shotgun, handgun, muzzleloader or bow. I elected to take my CVA muzzleloader. This firearm has always been a tack driver for me. I double checked the zero at the range a few times before leaving and stayed with the Hornady sabots, which have worked so well in the past.
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Alfalfa field and woodlot of the hunting area
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Finally the day came to leave for this trip, Phyllis and I caravanned in our own vehicles from Vermont as I had plans to finish the trip by going on to Michigan after hunting for Thanksgiving with family. We were excited for another hunting adventure. Phyllis had some awesome bear and moose hunts already behind her for the season. I didn’t see any deer in my area of Vermont so I was itching for some venison for the freezer.
As I left my place, I had to cross a big section of the Green Mountains to get to Phyllis’ house. At the same time, an early blizzard was also pushing through and I had a 2500-foot climb ahead to get over Lincoln Gap. The mountain road was treacherous - more so going down than up, but I went slow and made it to Phyllis’ house without trouble.
Once we left her house and crossed the bridge at Chimney Point over the south end of Lake Champlain, we found ourselves in bright sunshine for the rest of the drive. Our route took us through the heart of the Adirondacks. Once out of the mountains, the land leveled out and many hours later we reached our destination. We unpacked in our motel room and settled in for an early morning meeting at the outfitters farm.
Our host and Outfitter, Tom, is a registered guide in New York State. He allows a limited number of hunters to come in during deer season on his farmland and land bordering that he has leased. There are stands set in numerous sections through out the 2000 acres he utilizes. His alfalfa fields were gorgeous and I anticipated the deer to be pretty healthy there. Tom’s assistant guide was Jim, a successful New York fishing guide who would be responsible for getting some of us to our stands each morning. We were booked for a three-day hunt.
That early first morning we met the rest of the hunters in front of a woodstove in one of Tom’s big barns. Some of the hunters were from New York, many from the Big Apple area and a couple of guys were from Pennsylvania. I was the newest of the group; Phyllis and I were the only women. Some brought their teenage boys with them to hunt. After warming up and chatting over a cup of coffee, we departed into the brisk cold of the morning darkness.
I was assigned to hunt the “Cat House” stand, which was located in some thick woodland near a small camp the men had named. It looked like one of those places reputable girls were not allowed to go to but a fun place for the guys. I had a comfortable tree stand and settled in and listed to the world wake up as it got light out. The heavy frost was popping leaves off the trees surrounding me. As it began to get light out I was able to make out a large rub line running past the stand. That’s a very good sign, I thought to myself!
The morning wore on with birds, chattering squirrels and lots of local gunfire. Then I heard the unmistakable sound of a deer coming through the woods behind me. I slowly moved around to take a look and saw a deer approach. It was a button buck so I relaxed and watched him until he finally meandered off, disappearing into the thick underbrush.
Late morning approached and I was beginning to feel hungry. I had brought some food out with me and I was about to dig into it when I heard the close by shots mentioned above. So I sat back and listened since I knew the shots were not very far away. I was hoping who ever it was had pushed deer my way. Suddenly I heard something walking through the leaf litter and then saw shadowy movement. Through the tangle I recognized a deer and it was a buck. I could see antlers! He was walking casually, periodically sniffing the ground.
The deer started moving through the woods off to my right side when it stopped and then turned and began to cross in front of me. I had difficulty picking a spot to shoot due to the thickness of the woods but determined the buck’s path and focused on that spot. Once I saw him enter the hole I fired. He was still walking but his shoulder was clearly visible. Once the smoke from my muzzleloader cleared I could see the buck running with the near front leg sticking straight out. His shoulder was broken and I knew it was a killing shot.
