I was ready for this past weekend. Our first 3-day firearm deer season opened on Friday and ran thru Sunday. I got tags for firearm season (MLers allowed) and ML season. 3 days of deer hunting was just what I needed to clear the mind.
Thursday night I stayed up too late making sure all my gear was rounded up and ready for the morning hunt. The last thing I did was to check the hour-by-hour weather forecast on my computer. Looked great! They were calling for light mostly SW winds, perfect for my favorite place to sit. And temps in the mid fifties with sun shining by 8:00 am for the first time in almost a week.
When I woke up Friday morning and let the dog out I saw that there was quite a bit of fog out there. My favorite honey-hole is a big ravine where the fog tends to be extra heavy and hangs around longer than elsewhere, but with sun by 8:00 it should clear up. :thumbsup:
I arrived at the farm while it was still dark. Had to park by the barn and walk back in. Too much rain to drive the farm lane. The corn fields still standing. I managed to get half-way to where I was headed before I got busted by a deer I never did see in the fog. Just heard a snort and hoofbeats. Visibility was about 20 yards as the sun rose, or at least I think it did, it got lighter...
I got situated in my best spot by 7:30 but still couldn't see a thing. 8:00 came and went and it still wasn't sunny. In fact at 9:00 the sun was just a brighter spot in the fog. See there it is.
At 9;30 my nose was running a little bit with the moist foggy air and I sniffed. At the noise, a deer blew and ran off from what sounded like 10 yards behind me directly downwind.
Around 10:00 the fog finally started to burn off to where I could sorta see.
And I finally saw my first deer, a little 6 pointer at 10:17. From then on there was a pretty regular procession of deer coming by. I saw 14 in range by days end. Mostly does, a few small bucks, one Monster buck that I didn't see until it was too late and he was jumping the fence onto the neighbors property, and another good buck that I tried to shoot.
The real biggun snuck past while I was watching a doe that was feeding about 15 feet to my right. It's real thick right there and she never knew I was there. When I glanced across the ravine there he was, leaving.
When it was all said and done I guess it didn't matter anyway 'cause an hour or so later another good buck walked across my shooting lane at about 60 yards. He was @ a 140 class buck. Pretty nice rack and good size body too. He wasn't near as big as the other, but I tried to shoot him anyway.
When the hammer dropped the cap went off but no boom. Of course the buck heard the pop and stopped to stare at me while I slowly reached into my bag and fetched my capper. I finally got re-capped aimed again and popped another cap at him. Then he decided to turn tail my direction and leave the area.
My nipple was clogged. I had grabbed the nipple pick that doesn't fit the hole in my nipple, but I also had a spare nipple so I swapped it out and waited the last hour of the day out with no more big buck sightings.
The clogged nipple was my own fault. I didn't clean it as well as I should have last time I went shooting. I remembered after the missfire that I had got in a hurry and meant to finish cleaning later. Never did and forgot all about it.
Saturday morning I waited until first light before leaving the Jeep. The wind was bad for getting to my honey hole so I had decided to still-hunt my way allll the way around to get to it.
I had barely got to walking when I glanced behind me and saw a deer come up out of a low drainage and headed my way. Caught out in the open I had no-where to hide so I just sat down. When he got close enough, I could see the deer was a small 8-point year and a half old. I waited until he was at 20 yards before I tipped my hat to him, wished him luck surviving this season, and spooked him toward the safe side of the farm instead of the punkin patch he was headed towards on the South side of the farm.
A couple hundred yards farther along I notice 2 does feeding on Locust pods near a dry pond so I put the stalk on 'em. I managed to get within 75 yards but decided I wasn't ready to shoot a doe yet. I was still dreaming about that biggun I saw the day before. So I backed off and sneaked away.
Spent the rest of the morning still-hunting from place to place working my way to my honey-hole. Shared a Little Debbie roll with a couple of mice that were living in holes in a tree I was leaning against around 9:30. Cute little fellers. Not field mice. Don't know what exactly they were. Saw a mess of deer, 19, got close enough to shoot several does but didn't. Saw that 140 buck again and let him walk too. Maybe next time, but I can't get the monster outta my head.
Ended up the day quitting 45 minutes early after getting peppered by several shots from a couple idiots with a shotgun and cursing at them loudly from my hiding spot in the valley. :cursing: :cursing: :cursing:
Sunday I decided I would shoot a doe. Naturally I never even saw a doe all day Sunday. Nothing but small bucks. I almost shot one of them by accident. Thought it was a doe. The hammer was back, the trigger was set, and then he turned his head and I saw the little antlers in between his ears.
So I'm tired, sore, and happy even tho I didn't shoot a deer. There's still second firearm/first ML season December 3-6, ML again December 11-13, and 7 more doe days in January. I'll get one.
Thursday night I stayed up too late making sure all my gear was rounded up and ready for the morning hunt. The last thing I did was to check the hour-by-hour weather forecast on my computer. Looked great! They were calling for light mostly SW winds, perfect for my favorite place to sit. And temps in the mid fifties with sun shining by 8:00 am for the first time in almost a week.
When I woke up Friday morning and let the dog out I saw that there was quite a bit of fog out there. My favorite honey-hole is a big ravine where the fog tends to be extra heavy and hangs around longer than elsewhere, but with sun by 8:00 it should clear up. :thumbsup:
I arrived at the farm while it was still dark. Had to park by the barn and walk back in. Too much rain to drive the farm lane. The corn fields still standing. I managed to get half-way to where I was headed before I got busted by a deer I never did see in the fog. Just heard a snort and hoofbeats. Visibility was about 20 yards as the sun rose, or at least I think it did, it got lighter...
I got situated in my best spot by 7:30 but still couldn't see a thing. 8:00 came and went and it still wasn't sunny. In fact at 9:00 the sun was just a brighter spot in the fog. See there it is.
At 9;30 my nose was running a little bit with the moist foggy air and I sniffed. At the noise, a deer blew and ran off from what sounded like 10 yards behind me directly downwind.
Around 10:00 the fog finally started to burn off to where I could sorta see.
And I finally saw my first deer, a little 6 pointer at 10:17. From then on there was a pretty regular procession of deer coming by. I saw 14 in range by days end. Mostly does, a few small bucks, one Monster buck that I didn't see until it was too late and he was jumping the fence onto the neighbors property, and another good buck that I tried to shoot.
The real biggun snuck past while I was watching a doe that was feeding about 15 feet to my right. It's real thick right there and she never knew I was there. When I glanced across the ravine there he was, leaving.
When it was all said and done I guess it didn't matter anyway 'cause an hour or so later another good buck walked across my shooting lane at about 60 yards. He was @ a 140 class buck. Pretty nice rack and good size body too. He wasn't near as big as the other, but I tried to shoot him anyway.
When the hammer dropped the cap went off but no boom. Of course the buck heard the pop and stopped to stare at me while I slowly reached into my bag and fetched my capper. I finally got re-capped aimed again and popped another cap at him. Then he decided to turn tail my direction and leave the area.
My nipple was clogged. I had grabbed the nipple pick that doesn't fit the hole in my nipple, but I also had a spare nipple so I swapped it out and waited the last hour of the day out with no more big buck sightings.
The clogged nipple was my own fault. I didn't clean it as well as I should have last time I went shooting. I remembered after the missfire that I had got in a hurry and meant to finish cleaning later. Never did and forgot all about it.
Saturday morning I waited until first light before leaving the Jeep. The wind was bad for getting to my honey hole so I had decided to still-hunt my way allll the way around to get to it.
I had barely got to walking when I glanced behind me and saw a deer come up out of a low drainage and headed my way. Caught out in the open I had no-where to hide so I just sat down. When he got close enough, I could see the deer was a small 8-point year and a half old. I waited until he was at 20 yards before I tipped my hat to him, wished him luck surviving this season, and spooked him toward the safe side of the farm instead of the punkin patch he was headed towards on the South side of the farm.
A couple hundred yards farther along I notice 2 does feeding on Locust pods near a dry pond so I put the stalk on 'em. I managed to get within 75 yards but decided I wasn't ready to shoot a doe yet. I was still dreaming about that biggun I saw the day before. So I backed off and sneaked away.
Spent the rest of the morning still-hunting from place to place working my way to my honey-hole. Shared a Little Debbie roll with a couple of mice that were living in holes in a tree I was leaning against around 9:30. Cute little fellers. Not field mice. Don't know what exactly they were. Saw a mess of deer, 19, got close enough to shoot several does but didn't. Saw that 140 buck again and let him walk too. Maybe next time, but I can't get the monster outta my head.
Ended up the day quitting 45 minutes early after getting peppered by several shots from a couple idiots with a shotgun and cursing at them loudly from my hiding spot in the valley. :cursing: :cursing: :cursing:
Sunday I decided I would shoot a doe. Naturally I never even saw a doe all day Sunday. Nothing but small bucks. I almost shot one of them by accident. Thought it was a doe. The hammer was back, the trigger was set, and then he turned his head and I saw the little antlers in between his ears.
So I'm tired, sore, and happy even tho I didn't shoot a deer. There's still second firearm/first ML season December 3-6, ML again December 11-13, and 7 more doe days in January. I'll get one.
