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Shortly after we arrived back at our ICE
Blind setup, the action began to get exciting.
Even as we were walking in, we could hear deer splashing
as they ran through the several inches of water
accumulated on the ground. We quickly set up
inside the blind, and soon we had deer coming from the
adjacent property to the corner of the fence where we
were set up. Two large doe and two smaller yearling deer
made their way to the edge of the fence. They were
cautious and curious of the ICE Blind as they
approached. I believe it was the two dark
"eyes" of our shooting windows that had them a
little leery of coming in.
Normally, I put shoot-through mesh
material over the windows to cover the eyes, but because
the material had water accumulated between the fabric,
it was difficult to see out. After several
minutes, one of the yearling deer, a small button buck,
crossed the fence and began feeding in the shooting
lane. The mature doe, however, walked up and down
the fence line, acting as if she was going to come
across, but each time turning at the last second and
walking away. She did this for most of the
hour. The other yearling later crossed the fence,
but the second mature doe did the same as the first and
never would cross the fence. Casey stood ready
with the video camera, while I waited impatiently for
the deer to cross and give me a shot opportunity.
Finally, we saw several more deer
approaching from the other property, and the two mature
deer walked down the fence line to our right, and
appeared to cross about 40 yards from our
position. Casey peeked out the side window of the
blind as the deer approached. Suddenly, he
motioned to me that a big buck was pushing the deer
toward us! He stuck the camera out a small opening
in the window to get some footage of the buck.
What an awesome buck. Click on the
image above to see a short video clip. The buck
pushed one of the doe along the fence until she entered
my shooting lane. I asked Casey if he could video
the doe from the side window, but the brush blocked his
view from that vantage point. I decided to let the
doe move into the next shooting lane window to shoot so
that Casey could capture the shot on video.
Unfortunately, somehow the doe spooked and all the deer
scattered back onto the other property. How
disheartening! I had a perfect opportunity to
shoot the deer at 15 yards, but I opted to pass in favor
of getting the shot on video and now we were empty
handed!
We sat back in the blind and lamented
the missed opportunity. About 20 minutes later,
however, I saw the spike from this morning's hunt
walking along our side of the fence. Moments later
I saw several doe approaching from the thicket on the
other property. Darkness was coming fast, but we
still had a good 20 minutes of shooting light. One
of the does crossed the fence to our right. About
the same time, Casey motioned that two doe were
approaching along our side of the fence to our
left. At this point, I had the camera on a tripod
to my left, focused on the shooting lane to my
right. The deer were converging to the corner of
the fence, and it appeared we would have a choice of
which to shoot. The two doe on the left were in
the shooting lane, and a shot opportunity was
there. However, the camera was focused on the
other lane, and I could see the deer on that side was
just about to enter the viewfinder. I pressed
record on the camera, and prepared to draw, when I saw
on the camera that the deer on that side was the
spike! Without hesitation, I immediately drew and
took aim at one of the does on the left, placed my pin
low just behind the shoulder, and then watched as the
white fletched and dipped arrow disappeared perfectly
into the doe's chest. Casey and I both immediately
knew it was a perfect shot, but the realization of the
difficult tracking job ahead on the flooded ground set
in. In light of the shot placement, the weather
and the fact that darkness was rapidly approaching, we
only waited 10 or 15 minutes to begin the tracking
job. We initially found little blood, until
finally I focused the flashlight on the tips of the
grass and found a heavy trail. Within 65 yards, we
found the doe piled up!
We pulled the deer back to the road, and
Glenn and Don met us there. Don had also arrowed a
doe. We took both deer to the check station and
gutted, weighed and skinned them.
Congratulations to Don for a fine doe as
well. Check back tomorrow for more action. |
