Flash back to January 2006 – Youth Only Deer Weekend. Mason shot, and apparently, grazed a doe. She went down immediately and proceeded to perform the “leg twitching dance†but was up and running some 30 seconds later. We only found four drops of blood over 100 yards, so we felt confident that she would see another day. Since then, Mason has been bound and determined to harvest his first whitetail and learn from his mistakes made on this hunt.
Fast forward to this weekend – OPENING WEEKEND of deer season. Mason has been counting down the days for weeks on end and he was determined to redeem himself from the events some 10 months prior. Friday evening found Mason and I loaded down like Samford and Son heading northbound on 59 with droves of crazed hunters. We arrived at the campsite just before 9:00. My dad and another lease member were already there, so we unpacked, stuffed our face with some homemade stew and hit the sack.
Saturday morning we were up at 4:15 and it was a chilly 39 degrees. Mason wanted to hunt the “double wide†(named accordingly due to its size) and we were on the stand well before daylight. While it was a perfect morning, we didn’t see a thing and heard little shooting around us. We hunted the same stand that evening and again, saw nothing but every species of bird, including a nice owl and a family of wood ducks.
Here is a pic of Mason in the double wide
…And our view from this stand – notice the creek bottom behind the feeder – more to come on that…
Sunday morning we were up at o-dark-thirty again but the temperature was only in the mid-50s. Mason changed his game plan a bit and decided to hunt out of a stand we affectionately call, “Grandpa’s Standâ€. This is a stand that my Grandpa, Mason’s Great Grandpa, hunted out of until he was some 92 years old. While he never harvested a deer from this location, it has produced consistently over the years and some of the larger deer taken off of our place have been taken here. The morning hunt was somewhat screwed up because of some equipment malfunction – I won’t elaborate – and subsequently didn’t produce anything. We hunted this stand Sunday evening and saw several nice hogs; however, they would not come within a comfortable range for Mason to take a shot. He was somewhat discouraged but knew he had one more hunt left.
Here is a pic of Mason in Grandpa’s stand. Mason harvested his first hog last year right under the feeder shown to the left.
Monday morning – our final hunt – AND IT IS POURING DOWN RAIN. Did that stop us from heading out – NOPE. Some may call us dumb, but I call it mine and my son’s obsession with being outdoors. We headed back to the double wide. Soaking wet, fighting off mosquitoes and the temptation to nap made for a shorter than usual hunt. The creek bed shown in the picture above was way out of its banks and underneath the feeder. This also attributed to us leaving because we didn’t want to float the four-wheeler.
During some down time, Mason got a big kick (no pun intended) out of shooting my Dad’s new Kimber 45. My wife LOVES these types of photos – NOT!
Groceries, fuel and all the crap you have to take to the lease each trip: $~150.00
Keeping your son out of school on a Monday: One A$& chewin’ from the wife
Your son leaving empty handed only to ask “when are we going again?â€: PRICELESS
Until next time…
Fast forward to this weekend – OPENING WEEKEND of deer season. Mason has been counting down the days for weeks on end and he was determined to redeem himself from the events some 10 months prior. Friday evening found Mason and I loaded down like Samford and Son heading northbound on 59 with droves of crazed hunters. We arrived at the campsite just before 9:00. My dad and another lease member were already there, so we unpacked, stuffed our face with some homemade stew and hit the sack.
Saturday morning we were up at 4:15 and it was a chilly 39 degrees. Mason wanted to hunt the “double wide†(named accordingly due to its size) and we were on the stand well before daylight. While it was a perfect morning, we didn’t see a thing and heard little shooting around us. We hunted the same stand that evening and again, saw nothing but every species of bird, including a nice owl and a family of wood ducks.
Here is a pic of Mason in the double wide
…And our view from this stand – notice the creek bottom behind the feeder – more to come on that…
Sunday morning we were up at o-dark-thirty again but the temperature was only in the mid-50s. Mason changed his game plan a bit and decided to hunt out of a stand we affectionately call, “Grandpa’s Standâ€. This is a stand that my Grandpa, Mason’s Great Grandpa, hunted out of until he was some 92 years old. While he never harvested a deer from this location, it has produced consistently over the years and some of the larger deer taken off of our place have been taken here. The morning hunt was somewhat screwed up because of some equipment malfunction – I won’t elaborate – and subsequently didn’t produce anything. We hunted this stand Sunday evening and saw several nice hogs; however, they would not come within a comfortable range for Mason to take a shot. He was somewhat discouraged but knew he had one more hunt left.
Here is a pic of Mason in Grandpa’s stand. Mason harvested his first hog last year right under the feeder shown to the left.
Monday morning – our final hunt – AND IT IS POURING DOWN RAIN. Did that stop us from heading out – NOPE. Some may call us dumb, but I call it mine and my son’s obsession with being outdoors. We headed back to the double wide. Soaking wet, fighting off mosquitoes and the temptation to nap made for a shorter than usual hunt. The creek bed shown in the picture above was way out of its banks and underneath the feeder. This also attributed to us leaving because we didn’t want to float the four-wheeler.
During some down time, Mason got a big kick (no pun intended) out of shooting my Dad’s new Kimber 45. My wife LOVES these types of photos – NOT!
Groceries, fuel and all the crap you have to take to the lease each trip: $~150.00
Keeping your son out of school on a Monday: One A$& chewin’ from the wife
Your son leaving empty handed only to ask “when are we going again?â€: PRICELESS
Until next time…
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