Deer Hunting 2013

This past weekend was the annual deer hunting trip. The weather was looking OK and I was excited for a day off of work and getting out in the woods.

We got up to the farm around 10:30 on Friday morning and I started putting together my Dad's new stand. After about a hour it was complete and we were hauling it down to the river.

Ready to go up

The stand went up pretty quickly and we were heading back to the house to get the other stands.

We drove over to the other side of the property to set up the two other stands and came across a bald eagle, falcon, and two ravens sitting on the side of the road staring down a flock of about 20 turkeys. I'm not sure how it all turned out.

After the stands were set up we went back to the house to get my gargantuan stand. It has a nice seat that can swivel 360 degrees and is very comfortable. This required 4 people to set up. So we had to wait for Roger and Matt to help us stand it up. 

Saturday morning we got out of the house a little later than  I would have liked, but oh well, I should have set my alarm. As I was walking to my stand I stirred up 2 does that were walking at the edge of the field, then as I was walking through the woods I scared up 2 more. 4 deer before I even got in the stand. I thought that I may have scared them all away for the rest of the weekend. Nope.

I got in the stand and took the strap off of my gun and sat down. Then a nice 6 point buck came strolling through. I quickly put the bullets in the gun and took aim. The deer was looking right at my and when I fired he hit the ground immediately and started flopping around like a fish. He then attempted to get back up but fell over again and didn't move. I sat thee for a second and made sure that I had clicked the safety back on when all of a sudden the deer got up and casually walked away. It all happened so fast I didn't know what to do. By the time I got my gun up he was out of sight. I got out of my stand and proceeded to look for him for the next two hours. Having not found him I returned to my stand to sulk. I say a few more does, but nothing worth shooting. 

When I went in for lunch Matt had shot a deer and thought that it may have an extra bullet hole in it. Matt's stand is a good 1/2 mile from me and I thought there was no way the deer would make it that far, especially after crossing the river. I went to take a look at it and sure enough it was the deer that I had shot earlier. It had a hole just to the right of his windpipe and the bullet exited the back of his neck just above the shoulder.I couldn't believe it. One inch to the left and his windpipe is gone. Slightly steeper angle and his shoulder is toast. As it was, it was a flesh wound. Such is life.

My view for  the weekend

Saw this when I was walking around the woods

Saturday afternoon I saw maybe 6 more does. This seems to be the case every year. I see way more deer than anyone else, but bucks seem to not like the area. At about 4:30 I heard some shot from my Dad's stand. He shot this guy (pictured below) just before dark. I walked over to check it out while he went to get the 4 wheeler. Not the biggest deer ever shot, but it tastes good.

Sunday morning I got up a little earlier to try and give myself a little more time in the stand before the sun started coming up. I started seeing a few does here and there and could make out a few deer across the river but they were too far away for me to identify or shoot.

We ended up going 3 for 4. Nothing monstrous, but a nice haul.

Maybe next year will be my year.