Saturday Evening

I got out to the Gametamer fairly early on Saturday afternoon, hoping to see an early feeding buck.  Referring back to the map on the main page, which I'll also insert below, the Gametamer is situated to the west of the Hi-Line road on the edge of a draw that runs east-west through a "pasture" that was cleared many years ago.  The Gametamer is denoted by the red "dot" along the edge of the draw, and from it, I can see clearly for several hundred yards to the south, east and west.  It's a great vantage point for early season scouting.  In addition, there are fresh rubs along the draw.  The lack of access roads makes the area a great place to sit when there are other people at the ranch, like my Dad and step-mom or brothers who like to drive around the roads and look at deer.  

There is, um, should I say was, a feeder set up 30 yards west of the treestand, that mainly in the past has served to attract hogs.  It doesn't look like it'll be attracting anything now!

The hogs obviously did a number on this feeder, as well as several others on the ranch.  I've decided, for obvious reasons, that the best strategy is to simply throw out corn in specific locations rather than waste it on hogs!

It was a couple of hours before I spotted deer about 200 yards south of my stand.  I watched them browse for a while before I spotted a small buck.  Though the wind was blowing pretty hard, I blew on my grunt trying to get his attention.  Finally, after a brief rest in the wind, I managed to turn the buck and he headed my way.  

I saw a lot of deer activity during the afternoon.  Each of them came from the same area to the south and west of my stand.  In addition to the buck above, I also managed to call in another eight point buck from the same area.  As he was coming in, a coyote popped out from the direction the buck was headed, about 15 yards from my stand, and watched the approaching buck before finally turning back and leaving.  

The buck followed the path of the coyote and disappeared behind him in the brush.

Later, a young buck appeared, seemingly from nowhere, as I turned to see him feeding below me, less than 10 yards from my stand.

Well concealed in my Brush Country Camouflage, neither of the deer, nor the coyote, ever suspected that I was lurking above, capturing their every move on film!

I was excited by the sheer number of deer that I had seen, both on the roads as I drove in and from my stand, even though I didn't see a true trophy class animal.  Although the bucks still showed some signs of rutting behavior, they were beginning to group back together, and were definitely enticed by the corn on the ground. 

I returned to camp, and asked Michaela if she was going to get up with me before daylight on Sunday morning to sit with me in the I.C.E. Blind.  We were both excited about the prospect, so much so that Michaela had trouble falling asleep!  How would I know that?  Because I did too!  This was gonna be fun!  Check back tomorrow to see how we fared!