Deer Season 2018 – Part 4

Busted Thrice Before Bingo!

 

After breaking my string of less-than-perfect deer seasons with a fat doe, I was able to relax and enjoy some hunting.

And that’s when it started getting fun.

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With my job, as well as grandbabies who seem to have most all wanted to be born during deer season, leaving me busy every year with the ensuing birthday parties, my hunting time is at a premium.  So I was tickled when an evening opened up that I could get out for some time in pursuit of the wily whitetail.

I pussyfooted down the field road toward my blind…and almost made it.

Just before I got to the popup blind, I caught some movement.  Through the trees bordering our farm I saw at least two deer flash by.  They had seen me!

Busted!

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Since I was almost to the blind I thought I might as well go ahead and sit until dark.  I loosened my cheap ghilly suit to try to cool off a bit.  I knew there was a risk of letting human scent out to alert my prey, but I was dripping with sweat.  There wasn’t much wind and what there was seemed to mainly blow away from the neighbor’s land and our hill ground where most of the deer come from into that field.  So I hoped I’d be OK.

Minutes ticked away with no action, then I heard a deer blowing its alarm call.

“What the?”  The deer was calling from south of me and the breeze was blowing more toward the northeast.  The critter blew a couple more times as it slowly moved away.

I honestly don’t know if it actually smelled me, since I had recently gotten game cam pictures of coyotes in that area, but the result was still a missed opportunity for me.

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The sun set and legal shooting hours ended so I looked carefully around the field so I wouldn’t scare any more deer.

Nothing.

I climbed out of the blind and gathered my bow and backpack before walking slowly up the field road.  I’d take a step slowly and hesitate while I scanned the dark field.  Then I’d take another and…yeah.

As I said, it was pretty dark out there so I barely made out the shape of our irrigation pump.  I was getting closer to the road up to the shed, then the house.

But what was that?  Was that a deer in the field out east of the pump?  It wasn’t moving.  Maybe it was a clump of cornstalks or weeds.

I waited a while and it still didn’t move, so I took another step.

“Sh-h-h-huh!  Shuh shuh!”  The warning sneeze of an alerted deer sounded out.

A deer!  No, two deer!  I could barely make out their silhouettes.  They weren’t running, just standing there, but they were on alert and suspicious of my shape.

Thinking quickly I bawled a fawn bleat…or at least my version of one.  Close enough.

It worked…somewhat.  The deer moved away and blew again.  I bleated in reply.  We repeated the process a couple times as they moved slowly away.

By this time I was past them and turned uphill.

“Dang-it!”  Whether they knew what I was or not, it’s never a good idea to put deer on alert.

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The next morning I was up bright and early…well, dark and early.  I suited up in the kitchen and stepped out on the back porch.  I told Sarge not to follow me and he didn’t.  So far so good.

I had planned to sit in my ladder stand that morning so started across the field.  The trip was relatively uneventful.  I didn’t get busted.  I had checked my path through the woods a few days before but, as every hunter knows, things look a lot different in the dark.  I turned on my red flashlight and finally found the trail that had been obscured by a clump of vines that had fallen across the path.

Eventually I made it through the woods, making a bit more noise than I would have liked, and turned west in the gully uphill from the pond.  The sappling I’d screwed to a couple trees for a rail helped me find the spot where my ladder stand leaned against a big oak.  I climbed up the ladder slo-o-o-owly and put my crossbow and backpack in their appropriate spots.

When I’d climbed into the stand, I’d noticed the wind had blown the half-umbrella top caterwampus so that it poked down where I had to sit.  I reached up to straighten it and…

“Sh-h-h-huh!  Shuh shuh!”

Busted!

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The wind was in my favor so I was sure the deer hadn’t smelled me.  It may have heard me climb into the stand but I hadn’t made enough sound to scare it too much.  Then I realized I hadn’t pulled my camouflage net mask down to hide my face.  Maybe the deer had seen my white beard just enough to alert it.

I fawn-bleated and carried on a bit of a conversation with the deer before it gradually moved off.

Dang it.

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I didn’t have to worry too much about my scent because it was cool out there but, hey, it was cool out there.  I fished into my backpack until I found a knit cap to put on, then slid my gloves on.

A-a-a-ah.  Warmth.

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When the clearing finally started to lighten I thought I’d get some video so I pulled the camcorder out of my pack and panned the clearing.

Beautiful!  Some of the trees had recently started changing clothes for the season.  They were turning golden, and red, and some were even turning purple.  People who have never sat in the outdoors surrounded by that beauty have no way of knowing what they are missing.

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A short time later, I noticed one of the deer I’d gotten pictures of on my game cams stepping out into the clearing.  I’d dubbed the two year old Five because of his five points.  Also, he had no sign of a brow tine on his left antler and one about five inches long on the right.  He walked with confidence across the clearing, disappearing momentarily behind the big sweetgum which stands in the middle of the opening.  As he came out the other side, he suddenly looked back the way he had come.

A little four-pointer was following the same path as Five had.  The five-pointer seemed to take exception to the smaller yearling.  He strutted back to the fork horn and tried to look as menacing as possible as he challenged the youngster.  I could tell it was mostly bluff but he was definitely showing signs that he was entering rut, that season when bucks forget about food, comfort, and, well, pretty much everything except making a new generation of fawns, and fighting for the right to do that.

Good.

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The two “negotiated” a bit with the forky trying to evade the confrontation before he finally went around the same side of the sweet gum that Five had at first, then turned and headed my way!  With little hesitation he walked toward the mineral block I’d put out weeks before, but he didn’t lick it.  He seemed startled at one point but I couldn’t tell if it was because of my game cam that hangs on a tree there, or what.  I don’t think he smelled me because he then walked past the mineral block and turned a bit in my direction before heading down into the gully and toward the pond.

I was videoing him but couldn’t keep following him because Five had started across the field toward me too.  I turned the camera to video him as he walked toward the mineral block.  At one point he stopped and looked directly toward the camera.  It didn’t seem to alarm him because he looked away, then back, then stepped toward the block, before he turned west and headed toward the woods at a slow walk.

After Five moved away I tried to find the smaller deer but he had gone out of sight too.

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I sat in the stand a while longer then knew I had to get home to take my meds and get some breakfast, including hot coffee.  I got some more video before finally climbing down and pussyfooting through the woods and to the house.  The dogs weren’t sure if they should come out to meet me but, when I said their names quietly, they danced out to me and surrounded me with wagging tails and love.

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Annie wanted me to go to Arkansas with her to pick up our sweet granddaughter, Harper, so I knew I wouldn’t get back out that weekend.

But, hey, I’d rather see Harper and, well, the rut was clearly on its way.

Hunting was just about to get really good.

 

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(above and below) A video I put together of the early part of this deer season.  I divided the video into two parts because I’m limited in the size of media I can load on my blog and I wanted to keep the image as large as possible so you could see it better.  (warning) There is a picture of the doe I took.  If that kind of thing bothers you, I’m sorry.