Well, as some of you already saw, I had a pretty decent opening day, but unfortunately had to cut me weekend a little short, some guy I call "Chief" told me I had to be at work this morning. Anyway, the morning hunt was no good, weather had me hunkered down in a cattle panel blind to stay dry, and apparently the deer had the same idea, because they weren't moving much. I did have a little fawn come in, still in spots, right about the time I was about to get out of the stand. I watched her for about an hour and fifteen minutes, waiting for the rest of the heard to show up, but they never did. So, around noon, I finally crawled out of my little hut and headed back to camp. We milled around, had lunch, and headed back to the stands about 3 that afternoon. No sooner than I got in the ground blind, it came a poop floater of a rain storm, thought I was going to need a lifejacket to get out. Then came the thunder, all around me, and remember, I'm sitting in a steel cage!!!! It was raining too hard to make a run for it, so I just resigned myself to the realization that if it was my time, nothing I did would change that. Well, about 4:45, the rain started to slack off a bit and the feeder spun, then all of a sudden, the rain completely stopped. I'm thinking, PERFECT, they've been hunkered down all day, surely they'll get up and eat now. Sure enough not long after that, I had a doe and two BIG fawns come in. At first I wasn't sure they weren't yearlings, but they nursed for a bit until momma popped them one and they went back to eating corn. I had decided I was going to take the doe, but she never would give me the high percentage shot I wanted, she kept quartering too me. The one short period when she was dead on broadside, she had one fawn in front and one in back of her, I would have ended up shooting all three just to get the big one. After a few minutes of corn eating, something from my right and behind me spooked them and they ran off....or so I thought. The only ran off about 20 yards, I could still see then if I leaned forward and looked left out the window. I just kept waiting for whatever it was that spooked them to walk out, but it never did. Then, all of a sudden, the three of them were back under the feeder. I waited until momma gave me a slight quartering away shot, and put her head down behind a cactus, came to full draw and steadied the pin on her ribcage, a little farther back than normal, since she was quartered away, and a little higher than normal, since she was a little farther than 20 yards. I let the arrow fly and watched it bury in, a little further back than I was aiming! Crap, GUTS, but she was quartered, so MAYBE I got vitals, I better go check my arrow. I figured she had run off a good ways, so I got out of the blind and walked over to where she was standing and started looking for my arrow. It wasn't long before I heard some grunting and moaning, so I turned and looked over to the right where she had run, and there she laid, up under a cedar tree, right at the trunk. I actually watched her pick her head up and drop it with her last breath. I decided to leave her alone for a little longer to make dang sure she was done before I went crawling into a tree with her, so I found my arrow and went back to the blind to text the guys and what not. Then I went and recovered her. For as small as them critters are, they sure are hard to pick up and put on the back of a 4 wheeler by yourself!
Anyway, I got back to camp and commenced to skinning and quartering her up and tossing her in the cooler when I got a text from one of the other guys on the lease that he had shot a buck and would need help tracking. I finished what I was doing as fast as I could, then went to help them look. They had already covered 400 yards or more and were running out of blood. We called in a tracking dog from the list (BTW, if you read this, thanks for coming out, sorry I couldn't hang around to meet you, but I was already in trouble with the better half). I got a text about midnight last night that they didn't find the deer, were going to let him lay and head back out this morning. They did, and the dog tracked all the way to the property line, beyond which we don't have permission to track on. They tried to locate the owners of that property, but no luck. CRAP, one deer lost already on opening day!
Well, that brings us to this evening and my other buddy went back after them, I had told him he could sit in my stand since I wouldn't be there and my location has been established longer than his (he had some feeder problems this month). He sat there for several hours, then text me that he shot a doe sometime around 7pm, but he was going to call the dog back out before he even went on the trail, because he has to work in the morning and didn't have time to go on a long tracking job if he didn't have to. I told him that was a good idea, the dog will work a trail better without the human scent already on it. Well, I finally heard back from him at almost 11pm, they didn't find his deer either, everyone had obligations to deal with tomorrow morning early and had to get home. CRAP, 2 deer lost on opening weekend!
I know it happens, and we do have an abundance of does on the property that need to be thinned out IMO, but it still sucks to lose a deer, much less two deer, and one of them was a big 10 point, the biggest we've seen on camera. I think we're all just sick over this, I know I am, and it's not even my deer that got away. It was strange too, the buck from last night was bleeding really well, great trail for 300-400 yards, then it fell off to footprints in the mud. Like I said, he's probably dead on the next property. I wasn't there for the deer this evening, but the shooter reported great blood, and he was confident they would have found the deer if they had more time, but they just didn't. The property is VERY thick with cedars and shin oaks, which is was the doe ran into. For those who've never been around shin oak, it's easy to find blood on, because it is a very light grey color, but it's a pain to try to move around in because it's a very tangled mess of limbs.
Anyway, I'll be back at it next weekend, so wish me luck.
Anyway, I got back to camp and commenced to skinning and quartering her up and tossing her in the cooler when I got a text from one of the other guys on the lease that he had shot a buck and would need help tracking. I finished what I was doing as fast as I could, then went to help them look. They had already covered 400 yards or more and were running out of blood. We called in a tracking dog from the list (BTW, if you read this, thanks for coming out, sorry I couldn't hang around to meet you, but I was already in trouble with the better half). I got a text about midnight last night that they didn't find the deer, were going to let him lay and head back out this morning. They did, and the dog tracked all the way to the property line, beyond which we don't have permission to track on. They tried to locate the owners of that property, but no luck. CRAP, one deer lost already on opening day!
Well, that brings us to this evening and my other buddy went back after them, I had told him he could sit in my stand since I wouldn't be there and my location has been established longer than his (he had some feeder problems this month). He sat there for several hours, then text me that he shot a doe sometime around 7pm, but he was going to call the dog back out before he even went on the trail, because he has to work in the morning and didn't have time to go on a long tracking job if he didn't have to. I told him that was a good idea, the dog will work a trail better without the human scent already on it. Well, I finally heard back from him at almost 11pm, they didn't find his deer either, everyone had obligations to deal with tomorrow morning early and had to get home. CRAP, 2 deer lost on opening weekend!
I know it happens, and we do have an abundance of does on the property that need to be thinned out IMO, but it still sucks to lose a deer, much less two deer, and one of them was a big 10 point, the biggest we've seen on camera. I think we're all just sick over this, I know I am, and it's not even my deer that got away. It was strange too, the buck from last night was bleeding really well, great trail for 300-400 yards, then it fell off to footprints in the mud. Like I said, he's probably dead on the next property. I wasn't there for the deer this evening, but the shooter reported great blood, and he was confident they would have found the deer if they had more time, but they just didn't. The property is VERY thick with cedars and shin oaks, which is was the doe ran into. For those who've never been around shin oak, it's easy to find blood on, because it is a very light grey color, but it's a pain to try to move around in because it's a very tangled mess of limbs.
Anyway, I'll be back at it next weekend, so wish me luck.
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