I drove a courier van until 21:00 hours on the eve of deer opener. I just wore the uniform I was in, and left for the farm 89 miles north of town as I was. Jane had everything with her. I got there about 10:20 pm, checked for a chair in the deer stand. I drank a couple of beers and watched a movie.
I was up at 430 am to get out to the stand by 625 am. As I hauled my Remington 30:06 into the 14 foot high stand, it was still very dark, no sunrise for 30 minutes. I saw the ghost shadow of a buck 300 feet west career into the brush at 35 miles an hour. Two hunters coming to their spot west of me spooked him.
The next morning I would hear him, but for two days I saw no deer. Jane saw a 130 pound doe in the year when she came in. When I went in for lunch, that doe had fresh droppings by the apple trees but no doe.
Good birdwatching: raven, blue jays, family of cardinals, pileated woodpeckers. pheasant, ruffed grouse calling, chickadees, crows, nuthatches, downy and hair woodpeckers, either tundra swans or sandhill cranes flying over and an eagle screaming.
Saturday the 8th, a red fox came within 60 feet of the stand, He worked clumps of grass for mice bobbing and weaving for 400 feet from southwest to northeast.
This morning he chased a male interloper out of his territory. I watched them for 5 minutes as they romped over 7 acres over and under the stream, and brush doing loops and circles until they disappeared to the southwest. That was precious to watch.
An hour later I saw the red fox again, and he was going to his den between the stand and the house 800 feet away. He never saw me.
The deer count is down, and I was warned that we would see few deer. I hear unusual noise 500 feet west, on our land. Those two hunters were hunting on our posted land, and the noise I had heard for two days, was them rattling antlers to bring in buck.
They were trespassing. But worse, I was watching for signs of a buck that close with a high-powered rifle. Those fools could have been shot, but I never shoot unless I see exactly what I am aiming at, and what is beyond the target. They were very reckless to be so close to another hunter, yet not visible in deep brush. I never do sound shots and never will.
Usually, if I see a deer within 200 yards and I get a shoulder or neck shot, one shot normally kills the animal. I do not take running shots. I am not that good, and I know it.
Those two trespassing hunters scared all the deer away from my stand so I could not get a shot.
I was going to stay to Monday after Jane went home, and try get another chance but Minnesota is to get up to a foot of snow on Monday, so the deer will just lay down, and I do not want to be stranded 90 miles out of town; I came back on Sunday night.
I hope to go out next weekend, and may need to talk to the man that owns that land to make sure we are not on top of each other when we hunt.
The woods are gorgeous, and it was exhilarating to hunt. The deer are smart, and it requires skill to shoot them.
No comments:
Post a Comment