The day started off badly, head
stuffed up fever coming on hard. You know the perfect way to spend in the cold
yet wet woods. Late start so I got to my blind a little later then I’d have
liked to but once I was settled in Sitting on my pack, blanket coat on and
handkerchief at the ready I was set to go.
I sat there as the world began to
brighten up around me a virtual deer highway of tracks 20 yards away and
contemplated the important questions in life. How much mucus can a human skull
possibly hold and can deer hear the high pitch sound of your skull
decompressing after you’ve blown your nose? The questions important to life.
After
a few hours of this it became abundantly clear it was going to be one of those
days. The days you don’t see anything, no squirrels, not a song bird to be
heard. Just the high pitch squealing in my skull and the occasional muffled
sneeze into a handkerchief from yours truly. The days where the woods seem
creepily devoid of life. The only other noise was the dripping of melting snow
off the trees as the temperatures climbed back up way above freezing.
I
spent the rest of the morning walking the main camp road looking for any sign
of fresh tracks but everything was at least a day or two old. I headed into the
brush at the back of the camp but again no noise, no fresh tracks nothing but
melting snow and stifled coughing. I figured I’d check out “the turn table” and
sit for a while. As I made my way there, I did see a number of fresh coyote
tracks. That could be the culprit. Coyotes have become a problem here in the past
few years ao maybe I need to set some snares on my next long weekend to try and
get rid of a few of these trouble makers.
As
I walked up to the area, I was thinking of setting up in something told me to
do a quick circle of the potential blind. As I cleared a little hump the woods
in front of my lit up. The ground was covered in fresh tracks and signs of
bedding down deer. I walked a few yards
further and then to my left I could see tails pop up and head away from me to
the left. I knew that route headed towards a gulley that would pop out a few
hundred yards to my right so I quickly hustled my way to the end of the funnel.
I
got to the edge of the funnel and got down on a spot with a relatively good
view of the trail below me. I was there only a few minutes when I heard noise
coming from behind me on the right. I could see quick glimpses off two deer in
the brush coming my way. While I was watching these two I could hear the other
deer working their way through the funnel. But once again only quick
glimpses. I sat there frozen as the 5 or
6 deer around me worked there way towards the thick brush ahead of me. After an
hour they worked there way into the brush and out of site. Never once getting a
clear shot I stayed put for another hour hoping something would wander through.
Well,
I’d seen something so now my plan was to walk to another section of the camp
and possibly just head home. I could tell my fever was in full effect now and I
was starting to feel like I’d been run over by one of those deer. If I got to “the
rock” Id think about making a fire and cooking something but I still wasn’t sure. So, as I made my way out of the brush I
tossed two birds nests I’d found in my pack for fire making material later.
About a half hour
later I came up to where the trail splits while talking to myself about how
much I hated coyotes at that particular moment. I froze I could hear some snow
crunching ahead of me. I told myself to
sht up and slowly starting inching around the corner. 2 steps, pause and
listen. More shuffling ahead of me. I scanned the trees towards the sound but
nothing could be seen. I leaned against the last tree for a few yards and
listened. There was something moving ahead of me but were. In the middle of the trail was a large downed
tree but that was it. I took a deep breath an stepped forward from the cover of
the tree one step two steps and then freeze.
Behind the downed tree limbs there was clearly a large doe standing and she was looking right
at me.
I freeze and keep
my eyes fixed on her. She seemed to be looking past me. I studied her and
looked around for the fawns. I know I’ve said this before but I have criteria
before I shoot a doe in late season. I wont shoot a doe with fawns especially
this years fawns. I know its not an 18th century mindset but I’m not
hunting to survive. I don’t want to potentially kill three deer trying to get one.
I’ll pass up deer all day long if I have to this is as much about learning skills
for me as the actual hunt.
Then it happens
another large doe stands up in front of that doe. Great no fawns but is one of
these a buck who has already lost its antlers (its that time of year). I study
each deer as closely as I can while scanning the rest of the tree for other
deer. The closer deer steps a little closer to me and its clear it’s a doe.
They are by themselves. I pull the gun up slowly put the sights on the spot
behind the front shoulder and squeeze the trigger. The explosion breaks the
silence, the doe drops and the other deer leaps out of the downed tree. I go
into reloading automatically keeping my eyes fixed on the downed doe. Hand into
pouch for measure and pre patched ball powder into measure and down barrel,
ball onto barrel and started with pocket knife, rammed home with the ramrod all
while watching that shape.
I waited a few
more minutes before starting to walk up to the deer. I get there and she’s
dead. The 40-yard shot had gone through both lungs and out the other side. Everything
had gone right with my gear. Cows knee had kept the powder dry on this wet day
walking through brush. The off season shooting made sure I hit my target in the
exact spot I needed for a quick humane harvest. It also made sure that my
reloading was quick and natural in case I had needed a second shot.
I tagged and
gutted the deer and then began my hike out to butcher the deer. After the initial
adrenaline wore off I have to admit I felt 100% worse than I had before. So any
thought of awesome 18th century hunter in the snow pictures for Instagram
likes was far in the backseat. I was able to clean this one without any new
scars or injuries.
Ok so take aways….
When I gut a deer I pull its body up into a” high spot” head uphill and use my
tumpline to secure at least the back leg. This allows me to focus on what I’m
doing without having to keep wresting the leg out of the way (it acts like another
set of hands) Its also helpful if you
are skinning a deer out completely on the ground.(picture is from a buck I show
a few years ago like I said I really wasn’t in the spot for taking pics).
Second I love the
wide strap on my new pouch. It made it
really easy to carry a pouch with 30 .58 ball in it didn’t notice it once. All
my tony stuff holds up hunt after hunt shameless commercial posting I know but
it does.
Still a lot of
winter hunting time left and I’m planning on venturing out with the dutchman at
some point. I ended up with a pretty crazy fever last night that led to insane
dreams of John Tanner laughing at me for being a wuss. But hey I got out in the
woods for awhile and away from the weirdness off the interwebs so I’ll take it.
Plus every time you shoot a deer while wearing a red stroud blanket coat an
angel gets his library card.
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