Opening day of bow season:
Worked the a.m., excited to be heading out in the p.m. with my climber. Have my bow all sighted in – good at 20 or 30 yards. Go out to the tree that I am planning to climb – rainy, windy weather, but still warm 55-60 degrees. (Didn’t know at the time that this was to be a learning experience rather than a hunting experience) Had difficulty getting climber attached to tree (tree on side hill) – idea being that I would be above the crest of the hill where the deer normally come across. However, climbed to approximately 25 feet, then freaked out – couldn’t stay in this skinny, only 7-9" diameter tree in this kind of wind. Not the first time out for the season anyway. Climbed back down tree, thoroughly aggravated about wasting time going UP in the first place, stayed nearer to bottom of tree, in a bad spot, right at crest of hill. Bunch of does came into field – one walked close – about 14 yards away – looking, and looking at me – I squinted my eyes to avoid hers. Her big ears were spread wide – hoping to catch a sound from this strange new lump in the tree. She leaned her head to the left and stared. And leaned back to the right, and stared. Then she bent down and looked at me under the single-strand of electric fence, and then back up again. It was so funny! Then she swished her tail and trotted off. She and another three does walked around widely, then below my stand, just out of range at 50 yards a few minutes later. By then it was pouring rain, and my water-repellent camo was soaked through. My hands were about numb, but still I sat, waiting for darkness to cover me as I left the woods. There was a nice buck about 55 yards off, munching grass, at the bottom of the hill, across the brook. I could see a big band of white around his dark snout as he lifted his head to chew. Unlike the doe up on the hill, he didn’t have any idea that he was being watched. Another doe joined him and they both meandered away into the woods. Another group of six does came across the field and high-tailed it away from me before I ever had a chance (about 100 yards away). Darkness came and I called it a day. It was nice to be back in the woods, but I should have practiced climbing that tree ahead of time to see if it was as sturdy as I like them to be! Not that it was dangerous, but too flexible for my taste! I saw the most deer I have ever seen, so all was not lost!
Day two:
Back out in the afternoon – to the same area we were yesterday – this time I will be in the fixed stand, down below the hill, with plenty of cover for me – the deer will cross the crest of the hill behind me and then come down the hill in front of my stand. The first group of does showed up at about 5:00 last night – looking for the same tonight. Feel much more confident today – having re-packed my backpack this afternoon and relocated things to where I’d like them to be. And not having to worry about my climber not feeling like it was sticking into the tree enough….
Deep breath – climb up the ladder – a little tricky, but I climb like I’ve done it before (I haven’t in this one). Realize as I start to climb that I need to pull my bow and backpack up after I get up there – so I hooked the "puller" to my pants and begin to climb. Only half way up, I realize that the bow is to the front of the stand on the ground and the pulley strap is with me – wrapped around the BACK of the stand. Hmm… Ok, I can figure this out – once I get myself strapped to the tree, standing in the stand, I pull my bow and backpack up – ever so carefully, or so it went until my sight got stuck on the step below – ugh! I get my stuff up, untangle the ‘miles’ of strap and get settled into the seat. I go through my little checklist: release is on, my bow and bag are hung, the arrow is on the string and rest, my safety strap is hooked up properly….everything seems to be in order. I look over at my sight a second time for some reason and see with dismay that the 20 yard pin is bent at a 90 degree angle. DRAT! I try to push it back into place as best as I can, hoping that the accuracy is not off. Then I wait. And today is the first time that I didn’t nod off. Not that I sleep, but I like to close my eyes and breathe deeply for brief stints of time – I think it’s about not having to DO anything but sit and wait. I am very type A – always DOING something.
The deer are late today – after 5:00 and nothing. I wonder if anything will come this way today, after them catching sight of me yesterday. The weather has changed since I climbed up – the rain is pouring down again – I can hear it coming across the woods then finally hitting me in the stand – that’s kind of a strange sensation to HEAR the rain coming…..The wind is good though, blowing from the same direction that deer come, so I won’t be scented. A squirrel rustling behind me – I turn to watch it for awhile, watch it balance its pudgy body on a thin, shaky vine, as it munches something at the end of the vine…it scampers away. With the exception of some small chirping noises of the birds seeking cover from the rain in the cedars behind me, all is quiet - then something crashing through the woods in front of me! I stand, poised with my bow, waiting to see what it is making all that racket. It’s two young fawns – chasing each other! They come out into the clearing about 15 yards from me – and the little one climbs on the back of the other with its front feet! Then hops down and the chase begins again! As I wait to see if they brought company, I pause to think, how cute! Nothing else comes out of the woods and they playfully run back from where they came. Meanwhile, two squirrels are having quite an argument up in the big tree 50 yards off to my right. Chattering noises and little squawks, then, here they come, racing down the tree trunk, round and round, chasing each other, too. I just sit and smile.…. and think, what’s taking those deer so long today?
Here they come, they’ve caught me watching in the other direction. The rain has made the leaves quiet, and I nearly miss seeing them until they are directly under me – four does. Two bigger, two smaller. They graze, then walk, then graze some more. It is so cool that they don’t know I am here! They continue walking right under and past my stand, and by now I’ve gotten my act together – or so I thought. I even have my senses calm enough that after I stand, hook my release on the string, and get ready to draw, I whistle to get them to stop! (good for me!) I draw and take aim on the doe closest to me – she is quartering towards me – I shoot and I miss! The does don’t even run- they turn back towards my stand and sniff the air. Then the little ones trot a short distance and stop. The doe is obviously not too alarmed – she walks a little further and stops. And while they are trying to figure out what just happened, I am struggling to get another arrow out of my quiver. It is jammed and I cannot free it from where I am standing. AAGH! I want to scream – I have plenty of time to shoot again, but I can’t shoot without an arrow!!! I finally get the arrow out and put it on my string, but by now they have all walked too far out of range. As I try to calm down so I don’t scream profanities (lol), I look behind me and there are two more deer up on the crest of the hill. I wait and watch. I can see that the one is a very solid, large doe. (Some background info: My daughters and I were horseback riding two weeks ago and we saw a really big doe. The horse spooked and threw my youngest and I off. My other daughter had her horse under control. We were both bruised pretty good, and to lighten the mood I said to them, well, the good news is, in a couple of weeks I will shoot that big doe!) Now, here she was coming towards me, and I wasn’t falling anywhere this time! However, she was taking her sweet time getting to me. By the time she came down towards me, it was too dark to shoot. Ugh! I called it a night and let her walk off. Then I had to sight in my 20 yard pin once back at the house. Luckily, I have a long dairy barn that has lighting to do this even in the dark of night.
It seems to be ok now – we’ll see tomorrow!
Day three:
Was going to go out this a.m. early – decided to sleep in and now regret – temps dropped to about 38 degrees last night – deer would have been moving this a.m. for sure. The winds have picked up sunny, but high temps due only in the low 50s today. We’re going to go up above this afternoon, so as not to spook the deer on a daily basis down below. Hopefully, we’ll see some movement above as well. That is very cool seeing deer, even if they’re not in range – I was wondering last season, even though I shot a buck, if I would ever see anything else. This year has proved to be different – and now I want to see something every time! I realize it can’t always be that way, but it sure is cool!!
Like I said, it can’t always be that way! (smile) Sat in upper stands this afternoon – very windy – saw nothing! Rain is expected for next 6 or 7 days…. Hopefully that forecast will change – I want to hunt!!
Day Four:
Didn’t hunt today, but thought of some things worth noting:
Particularly about driving and it being hunting season now….. I really have to pay attention to the road when I am driving these days! Geesh! I find myself looking in every field and straining to see some kind of deer in all the woods that I drive by! I guess I have really caught the hunting bug! It was pretty bad just prior to the season opening, but now that I have seen deer up close in the first few days, I can barely stay on my side of the road!! It’s really kinda dangerous!! Lol
Day Five:
Got out this afternoon again – saw a few does, but again, it was too dark, and they were behind me, so I just watched them. Mike saw (and I heard) a large buck rubbing his rack on the trees across the brook, up on the hill. We grunted a bit, but couldn’t get him to come down our way. I saw a squirrel fall out of the big tree – what a racket THAT made!! J Loads of birds flitting about – twice I almost got flown into! J Well, another day of nothingness as far as "availability to take aim" goes. But the deer are definitely there and once the rut kicks in (a few weeks away yet) – hopefully, the buck on the one side will come to meet the does on the other – and we’ll be right in the middle of it all!! Woo-hoo! J
Day Six:
Brisk, sunny day – about 37 degrees this a.m. Should have gotten out there, but with soccer coaching, I have to be at the games early for our team, so my priorities were straight (even though I REALLY would have liked to have gone out this morning!) This afternoon, we are headed to a new location – went by and scouted for sign and where to climb after the second soccer game… Holy! I have never seen so much sign in one area!! Scrapes on a bunch of trees and there were even deer in the area that we saw as we pulled up. Not to mention all the tracks! I am actually nervous about the hunt this afternoon! I am wound up like a spring, and I don’t know why – maybe because I have never hunted there before, maybe because the tracks in the mud are the biggest and most plentiful that I have ever seen, or because it’s day five of being out there and not having a deer yet, I don’t know. I just know that I am very tense today, and it’s not a comfortable feeling. The other good thing about this location (it’s an apple orchard) is that the deer are used to human scent being all around the place, because the pickers have been there all season tromping about (which just ended about two weeks ago). So…. My new range finder is all set to go, my stuff is in the truck and I am off to the soccer game first. Maybe I can unwind there first before I head out to hunt. Wish me luck!! I am ready for an awesome deer!!! Come to Momma!! J And may all go smoothly for my hike and climb!
Day Six:
Again, at the orchard…heard lots of deer in the woods, but none came within range. I am getting VERY discouraged! I wonder how I was calm about it last season…maybe because now I have deer under my belt, I am all that much more anxious to be able to get another? Or maybe because we are actually SEEING deer all around us, just not within range?
Day Seven:
We were planning to go out this a.m. – the time changed to daylight savings last night. It was pitch dark with rain and very windy this a.m., so I backed out and stayed in bed!
I really did not want to go out and sit in the rain, swaying back and forth violently and not see any deer. Am I falling out of love with hunting or what? I feel like I should have gone out, but couldn’t get myself to do it… I am tired, so resting was probably best….There will be other days that will be better for hunting.
