Roland is here visiting and hunting with me for a few days. He still has his regular season buck tag and all I have left is the bear tag and antlerless deer tags. I already filled my two buck tags - one with the crossbow and one with the rifle.
Yesterday afternoon Roland went up on the hill behind the barn and sat in the "shooting hut" - a 6' x 6' elevated box blind in the middle of a large hilltop field. When he didn't come back to the house a few minutes after dark Tina asked, "What happened to Roland?" I flippantly responded that he got caught in the blind at the end of legal shooting time surrounded by deer.
Well, when Roland finally made it home he informed us that he had, in fact, had two groups of deer on either side of him. A total of 13 deer were within sight, and he waited until pitch black to get out of the stand.
This morning we went over to the "over hill" where we have several good stand including the infamous "gully stand" - my favorite. Roland opted to use "Roland's stand" - a 4' x 6' ladder stand located on a bench about 100 yards wide and 200 yards long. The bench is located at the southern edge of a wooded hill top bedding area. The stand is in a pine tree in the middle of the bench.
I went to "gully stand" which is a 4' square "Snap-Lock" blind on a 6' x 6' platform 20' in the air. It is my favorite stand with its awesome field of fire.
I got to the stand early and got all set up. As soon as it was light enough to see I could see a doe in one of the shooting lanes. I watched it until well past legal shooting time and it eventually worked it's way up and over the top to the north.
Meanwhile the turkeys to the southwest were yelping up a storm.
At about 7:40 AM - a full hour after daylight, I see a brown spot behind the apple tree in front of me. I think it is a doe and check it with the binoculars. Low and behold, it is a big buck. When it finally gets clear of the apple tree here is the shot I could have had. It is with in a few feet of where Caleb (Captain Cook) shot his buck on Thanksgiving morning.
However, I don't have a buck tag.
I also had this wonderful shot:
Of course, I don't shoot it and hope that it heads in Roland's direction. Well, knock my socks off it heads for Roland:
And here he is just 50 yards from Roland's field of view.
I take one last look at a flock of ten tom turkeys and start to pack my gear up. I expect to hear Roland shoot at any moment.
However, I look up and the buck trots back into my view, all alert and nervous. He obviously busted Roland. He turns and heads up into the bedding woods.
So I text Roland and tell him that he just got busted by a nine point buck (classic 8 point with one kicker point). He texts back that he never saw it......
Personally I had a beautiful morning taking pictures of the wild life.......
Dan
Yesterday afternoon Roland went up on the hill behind the barn and sat in the "shooting hut" - a 6' x 6' elevated box blind in the middle of a large hilltop field. When he didn't come back to the house a few minutes after dark Tina asked, "What happened to Roland?" I flippantly responded that he got caught in the blind at the end of legal shooting time surrounded by deer.
Well, when Roland finally made it home he informed us that he had, in fact, had two groups of deer on either side of him. A total of 13 deer were within sight, and he waited until pitch black to get out of the stand.
This morning we went over to the "over hill" where we have several good stand including the infamous "gully stand" - my favorite. Roland opted to use "Roland's stand" - a 4' x 6' ladder stand located on a bench about 100 yards wide and 200 yards long. The bench is located at the southern edge of a wooded hill top bedding area. The stand is in a pine tree in the middle of the bench.
I went to "gully stand" which is a 4' square "Snap-Lock" blind on a 6' x 6' platform 20' in the air. It is my favorite stand with its awesome field of fire.
I got to the stand early and got all set up. As soon as it was light enough to see I could see a doe in one of the shooting lanes. I watched it until well past legal shooting time and it eventually worked it's way up and over the top to the north.
Meanwhile the turkeys to the southwest were yelping up a storm.
At about 7:40 AM - a full hour after daylight, I see a brown spot behind the apple tree in front of me. I think it is a doe and check it with the binoculars. Low and behold, it is a big buck. When it finally gets clear of the apple tree here is the shot I could have had. It is with in a few feet of where Caleb (Captain Cook) shot his buck on Thanksgiving morning.
However, I don't have a buck tag.
I also had this wonderful shot:
Of course, I don't shoot it and hope that it heads in Roland's direction. Well, knock my socks off it heads for Roland:
And here he is just 50 yards from Roland's field of view.
I take one last look at a flock of ten tom turkeys and start to pack my gear up. I expect to hear Roland shoot at any moment.
However, I look up and the buck trots back into my view, all alert and nervous. He obviously busted Roland. He turns and heads up into the bedding woods.
So I text Roland and tell him that he just got busted by a nine point buck (classic 8 point with one kicker point). He texts back that he never saw it......
Personally I had a beautiful morning taking pictures of the wild life.......
Dan
