Had a good weekend out there, got into stand Friday morning and there wasn't anything moving except squirrels. Friday night I had a doe and a forky come by right where my nephew Andrew would have been if he could've gone hunting that night. Saturday morning I see a handful of does more squirrels than I can count, and watch a coon climb a tree within 10yds of me, he looks at me, a few times, climbs into a crater in the side of the tree (from where it looks like lightning struck it), and curls up and goes to sleep. An hour later when I climb down, he's still in there sleeping, not a worry in the world.... ( Lucky bastard ) I made my way to the backside of the property and glassed and spotted a couple does bedded in the soy beans. I made a move to get near them, and a small buck came by them and they bumped up, I saw where they were heading and moved slowly to try to pick 'em up. Something spooked them and they curled back and circled around where I'd been and settled on a little bench. I circled back around and got within 40yds of them but it was so thing and mama and her single fawn will live another day. I pulled back and headed for the house. A good morning all in all. This is big open area, over 500yds from top of hill to river bottom, and probably 1000yds from the SE to the NW corner of this big triangle of land. The CRP is about 4-5ft tall though in some places so you'll barely see heads bobbing up and down in some areas. Saturday evening, I get the nephew out, and he shoots his bow a little. BH's hitting high and left, I make a couple adjustments, BH's consistently about an 1.5" high still but perfect on windage. Walkback and about 3" high. At this point, I put a 25yd restriction on him, and we headed. Before we could even get away from the house a handful of deer slip across the soybean field and bed in some CRP, so we make a stalk into the CRP. We get up in there and it's wet so we're moving pretty quietly, peak up over the ridge and the damned things bust out of there like rabbits, couldn't have been 15yds away when they popped up and bolted. Andrew wanted to walk and stalk, so we headed for the backside of the property to sneak along the river. We kept glassing and moving, but couldn't see a whole lot, so I let him lead and we worked our way around. (He didn't really know what he was doing, but I was up for a wet walk, and a little exercise so I kept reeling him in to remind him to move SLOW and quiet, and we covered a LOT of ground through some CRP and river bottom, bumping 4 small bucks in a groups and a couple does and similarly to the first group, they didn't bump until we were pretty close. I got drawn on one of the does, but it just wasn't a good shot. We head back to the house, all and call it a night. Sunday morning, we set up on a scrape line, along the river. Scrapes looked fresh Saturday night so we wonder when he's hitting them. I wanted to go sit in the stands (I'm a little more lazy as the stands are only a short half mile walk, the river is about over a mile), but the thought of figuring out the buck was definitely appealing as well so I went with what Andrew wanted to do because my whole goal of the weekend was to get him a shot. On the way in we saw a really light colored coyote, that tail was almost WHITE. We set up along a scrape line, wind perfectly in our face, river to our backs, there is a little group of trees that I put Andrew by, and it give him good cover, he can see well out of them, space to draw, and the buck would be completely clueless as to anyone being there until too late if he runs this line from the direction is would appear he's likely running it. I set up to the backside of a big old cherry where I could watch the whole thing happen if it were to happen. By about 9, I decided he probably ain't gonna show, and I had to be getting ready to roll, so we scooted. All in all a good morning though as I got a nice LONG walk in, saw a neat 'yote, about a dozen wood ducks and a blue crane in the river, and a couple more coons along the river. I needed to go grab my stand, so we headed back over by my stand, and I told him again to move slow and quiet as we may find something bedding in the bottom near my stand and low and behold, there was a group of 3 does right down in there. We could only get so about 55yds of them without being totally exposed so I tried a route to sneak up on them and stepped on a stick hidden under the grass we were sneaking through and it was OVER. Ironically, had we been in the stands, they would've been within shot range.... Back to the drawing board. Then Sunday night, I take Kate, my oldest (see avatar picture) to the woods with me. I have a little spot that is almost always good for at least a doe or two. Well, we get in there and she's being good and quiet, whispering her questions, pointing out the squirrels and different birds. I lean forward to try to put a hook in the tree next to us (we're on the ground, I'm next to a tree, and she's sitting on the ground under a bush that leans over to the tree I'm next to, no blind or anything ) to hang my bow from, and see a deer coming. Again, this is a set up where the deer come from the left, and I have good cover from the deer seeing me until it's gonna be too late for them. I come to a full draw, and wait. It browses some more, and slowly, ever so slowly finally comes clear and I decide this is NOT a night for this deer to die as his little 6" curled spikes would cost me my buck tag. So I hold and peek behind him to see if he has any friends. Once I determine he's all alone, I let down, and he disappears into the woods. Only one deer, but it was a surefire slamdunk kill opportunity with my little girl at my side. When it was all over I think I could see her heart pounding through her shirt. She LIKES it!!!
Good read, I wish I had better spots to take the kids into. Next year there will be. congrats on you and the youngins hunt.
Doug; Nice youth mentoring of your nephew. Your daughter is a camo bandit cutie. Have agreat time with them. It was always a secret joy for me to spend time afield with my three camo bandits. Those times and photos will be priceless to you. HH in Pa
Thanks guys, it was a great weekend and those certainly are PRICELESS moments that I'll be able to keep near and dear in my "memories file." A weekend dedicated to getting others out and hopefully getting someone else and opportunity is sometimes far more enjoyable than doing getting that opportunity myself.
