Butterflies

The days are starting to dwindle away until the archery opener for South Georgia. As the magical day draws near, the butterflies are really starting to set in. To top it off, I still have five days until I am sitting in a stand waiting for the elusive whitetail to wander by. I have several reasons for the butterflies, but that doesn't make it any easier.

Reason one: This is the first year since we have owned this 92 acres that I have not had trail cameras out giving me an idea of what to expect. This wouldn't be that big of a deal, but the 98 acre lease next to our place had some guys on it last year that did not let anything walk. So, I am not sure where my numbers are. Doe, fawns, bucks, I have no idea. My neighbor has said he has seen a good number of deer and sign around the place, but I haven't seen it with my own eyes, and to be quite honest I am a little scared.

Reason two: I know there has to be a few deer on there, but the quality is something I am concerned about. Money has been tight (tight really doesn't do it justice)and the food plots didn't get put in, mineral sites did not get replenished, and the natural forage is suffering from lack of rain. I can only hope the existing perennial plots came back up enough to provide a little nutrition for them.

Reason three: My new bow is sitting in the local pro-shop having some stuff tweaked on it. As I mentioned money has been super tight and all my hunting equipment went to the highest bidder. A great friend recently gave me a bow and with the help of our great sponsors, I was able to outfit it and now it is about ready for me. I shot it for the first time two days ago and then into the shop to tune it in. I hope to get it back tomorrow and then practice, practice, practice to be ready Saturday.

Reason four: I have been feeling extremely guilty the last couple years of not allowing my son, who loves the outdoors, to go hunting with me. So, this year I vowed to take him with me at every available opportunity. That means, Saturday morning, opening day, he will be sitting 15 feet to my left on a near tree in a ladder stand, completely in the open. He is 9 years old and only been hunting with me a couple times and we sat in a blind. This will be the first time he will be completely exposed with nothing hiding him but the camouflage. To top it off I have decided to put a small camera in his hands to film the hunt. If it all works out and a deer does come by and a shot opportunity is given and he records it, WOW! is all I can say. Even if it doesn't happen, the time spent together will be a memory we will share.

Not really a lot to worry about I know, but enough to get the butterflies stirring. It all begins in four short nights. We will be sitting in our "hunt cabin" waiting for that next morning, when the butterflies reach their max and the moment comes. I know it will be worth it, and can't wait to see what happens. I would like it to be a perfect dream scenario, but will be happy with whatever happens. Stay posted to find out what goes down!

so far, so good

The 2009 hunting season is in full swing, and I have had a blast. I only have killed the one doe, but I have seen deer just about every time I have been in the woods. Just last night I had several deer, including a buck, inside 50 yards. But for some different reasons I couldn't get the shot off.
Last night I got to the woods pretty late so I decided to let my bow take a break and carried a 30-30 to sit on the ground over looking a bottom where I made a mock scrape. After being there about 30 minutes, 3 does came in from my right (my off hand) and browsed for a few minutes. Then all of a sudden the lead doe darted up the hill taking the other two does with her. Thinking I had missed my chance, I started to scan the bottom, when I heard another deer in the same area as the does were. I scan the area with my binoculars and see horns. I grab the gun and switch hands and prepare for a left handed shot. Looking through the scope I see his left main beam, nice mass but only one point. I knew then what buck he was. I have several pictures of this buck on trailcam and had not made a decision to take him or not, he has a great right side with a nice brow tine, and decent g-2 and g-3. But his left side is just bare except a decent 5-6 inch tine.
I looked at him through the scope he walked behind some trees and stopped with just his head exposed, presenting no ethical shot, and walked into the thicket and was never seen again. I grunted and tried to bring him back but he wanted nothing to do with it.
The weekend before a similar thing happened when a nice mature 8 pointer came walking in to check the scrape.
I start to stand up and the seat on my climber catches the back of my legs and rubs as I stand, making all kinds of noise. The buck hears it and stops dead in his tracks and makes a 90 degree turn at 50 yards and walks out of the bottom stopping behind a tree to survey the situation. With no ethical shot I lower my bow and try to grunt him back in, but it didn't work. ((UPDATE: found out Saturday Afternoon this deer was shot by the guys who have the lease to the north of our property - he was only 2 1/2 years old -- what a shame they couldn't let him walk))
Overall, I am very pleased with the way this season has gone. I haven't shot that many deer, but I have already seen more deer this year then my last two years combined. I am sure the shots will start coming around and some deer will go down. Until next time, happy and safe hunting!

almost but no cigar

I had the most awesome encounter this morning. After talking to my neighbor last night, and finding out that there was a decent doe feeding every morning in our front field, I decided to sit in a stand that I set up last year in the late season for gun hunting. Just about every time I sat in the stand last year I saw a deer. It is a SHORT ladder stand at only 10 ft high but sits embedded in a pine tree giving it great cover. Sitting off a main trail from bedding to feeding it is an awesome morning or evening location. The trail comes out of an oak bottom onto a 20 acre field with some hedge rows that the deer use to bed in. The stand sits about 40 yards from the woods along a stand of pines behind a pine tree that allows enough time to either draw my bow or raise my rifle for a shot without spooking the deer. Well, it works great unless you are not paying attention to the opening of the trail and a doe walks out and the first time you see her is when she comes under the draw tree at 10 yards. After spotting her just on the other side of the tree and hoping she would go to my left giving me a perfect broadside shot, she decides to come right at me while grazing. She ends up coming within 5 yards of my stand (downwind) and across where I walked in. This is the closest I have been to a deer and was so pumped about the encounter, even though I didn't get a chance at the shot.

The entire encounter lasted for what seemed like forever, but was probably 2 minutes. I had no chance of getting an ethical shot off, but next time will be ready for her and my venison skewer will find its mark.

Breaking the Ice

The night of Sept. 17th, a night of firsts and of what I hope will be many more to come.

The weather was rather warm and humid, as it normally is here in Southwest Georgia. I was lucky to have a decent steady breeze, that would sometimes crest as a heavy wind, blowing from the southwest as I peered east awaiting the arrival of the elegant whitetail deer. Hoping for a mature buck, I knocked an arrow and began the wait overlooking two groups of persimmon trees, each 25 yards away, one to the north the other to the east.

As I sat waiting, a jay flies in and lights behind me in my backdrop of a wild cherry tree and scrub oaks. He hangs out for a few minutes providing a small amount of entertainment, and eventually flies off to search for more food in the next group of trees. Time continues to pass and is filled with admiring God's great creation and catnaps. ;^) A light sprinkle begins to fall, with the sun shining bright and no clouds above me. This was a common occurence in Florida but was my first time seeing it here in Georgia. The sprinkle fades away and the sun begins to set.

As the sun is setting, I hear a loud blow of a doe through the woods and on another field to the east of me. It was followed by another and then a sequence of short lighter ones as she ran away to the south. I was hoping she would turn and run into the hardwood bottom between us and come out in my field, but it didn't happen. A few minutes pass and I scan my persimmons to see if anything is coming in when I see a deer's head passing through the tall grass, coming right at me to feast. It was a good size doe with a brilliant brownish/red coat. Behind her was more movement, an old grey doe that I had been trying to harvest for three years. I had the chance last year, but right as I went to draw back my bow she spotted me and began to blow like mad for 13 minutes. Not entirely spooked she did present a shot, but my release let go in draw back and the arrow when flying to the ground. As I reached for another arrow the movement was enough to push her over the limit and send her on her way, with her yearling and fawn closely behind.

This time would be different. As she stepped out of the grass and began feeding, she walked behind a young persimmon tree that provided the best time to draw. I come to full draw and wait for her to present me with a clean shot, and as she does I see more movement from where she come from. It was her fawn from last year, and she walked right behind her keeping me from taking the shot. As I remain in full draw for what seemed like eternity but was more like 45 seconds, she raises her head and looks right at me. "Great, she is gonna get spooked and run off", I think to myself while I sit there starting to shake from being at full draw for so long. She turns her head to the side and attempts to make me out but my leafy camo suit provides enough break up to put her at ease and she continues feeding. She takes a couple quick steps clearing her two offspring and I attempt to bleat to stop her. The bleat sounded like a doe getting hit by a Mack truck, but it worked. She stopped and turned to look, presenting me with the ideal broadside shot. I centered my pin, hit the release and listened to the thwack of the arrow as it struck just behind her shoulder in the heart area. She takes off to the north into the field and her offspring head east into the bottom. She ran to what I thought was about 20 yards and stopped, I watched for a few seconds and then she disappeared as she fell into the tall grass.

It was 7:45 pm (est) when I shot her, just at sunset. I knew I still needed to let her lay for at least 20 minutes, so I call my wife to let her know, her husband the mighty hunter, had broke the ice and would be bringing home some meat for the freezer. I make a few more phone calls, ask a buddy to come help me load her up and head to my truck to complete the recovery. He arrives and the search begins.

Knowing where I last saw her, I figured it wouldn't take long to find her. Well... the sun had set and darkness was in full effect. The spot where I thought she fell was not the one. So we start to circle out and a few minutes later, jackpot, he finds her. On the same line I thought she was just 20 yards out further. We put her in the back of my truck and take her to his house for processing. He shows me how to do it since this the the first deer in my recent hunting experience that I can actually harvest the meat. I had harvested a button muley while stationed in Wyoming, that I processed but did not do it too well. And last year I took my first antlered whitetail, but it took me a week to find him.

This was my first doe ever, she weighed about 170+ on the hoof and toothed aged older than 6 years old. She was an alpha doe that ruled our 92 acres, keeping off any deer that she didn't like. And now will provide many a meal for me and my family.

Hope Restored

After several weeks of getting more and more depressed due to not being able to get to the woods and spend some time there, I finally got the chance earlier in the week. And was it ever a breath of fresh air, literally! The last couple times going to check my trail cameras I got very disappointed. There were very few pictures on them, and even fewer pictures of deer. Where I used to average 120-180 pictures a week per camera, the cameras only took 80 pictures each for three weeks; talk about scary. I attributed it to the hot weather and the deer not travelling far from bedding areas. However, it still had me scared. After returning on a couple occasions the pictures seemed to increase but the pictures of mature bucks were not there. I am by no means a "trophy" hunter, but must say I like the reward of harvesting a mature deer. He or she has lived several years and hasn't done it by accident, and to have the privilege to harvest one brings me even more joy.

This brings me to the past week when I had finally managed to get enough time to spend some quality time in the woods. After the short deterrence, I headed out with my wife and son to our 198 acres a few miles up the road. When we got there it had just finished raining a few hours before, so all tracks were washed away. However, we did see a couple sets of fresh tracks that showed they were walking around. Then it happened, we had walked down a path to a field where one of the cameras is located and my son and I broke the wood line and started walking toward the camera when two hens and four poults jumped and flew into the trees. I was ecstatic!!! These were the first turkeys we have seen on our property. They are several to the east of us but they haven't ventured to our place. After seeing them, I was complete, but we decided to walk the rest of the property and it was uneventful. Well not completely, I did find that the persimmon trees are loaded down and will be prime early season blind locations, the acorns are looking to be a heavy harvest for mid fall as well.

A few days later, the in-laws decided to drive up from Florida and pay us a visit. So that gave me another chance to travel to the property and check the cameras. Low and behold, the trail cameras captured two decent bucks, one of them is mature (further one) as well as a couple of younger bucks, and several nice does that will help fill the freezer.

This week has been an incredible week for me, a much needed breath of fresh air, and hope is restored! Now, I just need to find a job ;-)