Post by Davidmil on Jan 31, 2004 12:13:07 GMT -5
So today is our last day. Len and I decided to go to the zoo. He was going to bring a friend. I went out yesterday at mid day to see if I could figure out these late season deer. I found 3 trees about 100 yards from each other. I walked them in and dropped them off at their trees and I took the last one. Well, nothing was moving. I was afraid the goose hunters set up in the field about 500 yards away had busted the deer coming in to set up their decoys. They were alread doing it when I arrived at 5:30. But the plan had been laid so we were going to see it through.
Sat there and froze for a couple hours. I could see a long ways in all the snow. Didn't see so much as a squirrel. Talked to Len and his guest... same with them. I decided to try and see if they had bedded up against the road behind this house. I circled back behind Len and the other guy, out to the road and then walked up into the corner, swung back to cross their front at about 150 yards. I thought I caught a glimpse of a deer and told them so. What I had seen was one of 10 I jumped. They parallelled the lawns and fields across their front. Len told me which way they were headed. I broke out into the lawns and boggied trying to cut them off. In the middle of this big lawn there are a few scattered pines that have limbs that go all the way to the ground. I jumped 8 bedded under the trees. They cut back toward Len. So now there are 18 deer in this small patch somewhere between Len and Roger and myself. I swing all the way to the head of the woods to make sure they don't escape that way. They turned back I later found out about the time I got there.
8 sneak by Len at about 60 yards and he figures the jig is up. But they angle behind him giving him a 30yard shot. He had the tree between him and them. He leans out to shoot his left hand bow and they turned away from him. He had to swing to the other side of the tree, draw and shoot his left hand bow as if he were right handed. Yes, he does it all the time. He sits in a tree with a release on each hand. The deer had gotten out a ways but one stopped in a big hole at what he thought was 45 yards. He whacked her with a perfect shot.
He then calls me and tells me there are still the original 10 between he and Roger. They had come right towards him stopping in the brush at about 30 yards where he couldn't shoot. They eventually winded him and went back 100 yards. I swing back into the woods for the 3rd trip, crossing their front about 125 yards away. I had Roger on a great trail, but the deer didn't use it. They crossed it an milled around 30 yards in front of him in the brush. When I got even they turned his way but crossed his lanes at 35 or 40. He just flat missed... but he got a shot on the last hunt of the last day. Those deer had 250 acres of woods behind the hunters but were really reluctant to leave that little patch. It's probably 500-600 yards long and 200 across. I had them running around in circles before I got any of them to think of leaving. Just goes to show,... they do what they want.
This area is not that big and if it weren't for them 30 or 40 feet up telling me what was going on I never would have known. Those deer just stayed 150-200 yards ahead of me. I only got the glimpse of one butt going over a little knob. The place is so tracked up it's hard to tell what's going on. I must have come across 40-50 old and new beds. The one pine tree in this big 50 acre lawn had 5 beds under it. They walk under these sagging limbs and it's just like being in a tent.
Sorry for the long story, but I'm trying to warm my dang fingers. Cold out there this AM. So, Len finished with exactly 20 with his bow for the year and a handful of others with the muzzleloader and shotgun. So, we got meat the last hunt of the last day. I handed my bow to Len as we left the woods to take to his shop for an end of the year overhaul, strings, cables, axles, grease etc etc.
Tough walking in that snow with a big frozen crust on it. I was sweating by the time I was done. Then while Len gutted his deer I froze as I'd left my hat and mask at the truck when I walked to the head of the woods. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Sat there and froze for a couple hours. I could see a long ways in all the snow. Didn't see so much as a squirrel. Talked to Len and his guest... same with them. I decided to try and see if they had bedded up against the road behind this house. I circled back behind Len and the other guy, out to the road and then walked up into the corner, swung back to cross their front at about 150 yards. I thought I caught a glimpse of a deer and told them so. What I had seen was one of 10 I jumped. They parallelled the lawns and fields across their front. Len told me which way they were headed. I broke out into the lawns and boggied trying to cut them off. In the middle of this big lawn there are a few scattered pines that have limbs that go all the way to the ground. I jumped 8 bedded under the trees. They cut back toward Len. So now there are 18 deer in this small patch somewhere between Len and Roger and myself. I swing all the way to the head of the woods to make sure they don't escape that way. They turned back I later found out about the time I got there.
8 sneak by Len at about 60 yards and he figures the jig is up. But they angle behind him giving him a 30yard shot. He had the tree between him and them. He leans out to shoot his left hand bow and they turned away from him. He had to swing to the other side of the tree, draw and shoot his left hand bow as if he were right handed. Yes, he does it all the time. He sits in a tree with a release on each hand. The deer had gotten out a ways but one stopped in a big hole at what he thought was 45 yards. He whacked her with a perfect shot.
He then calls me and tells me there are still the original 10 between he and Roger. They had come right towards him stopping in the brush at about 30 yards where he couldn't shoot. They eventually winded him and went back 100 yards. I swing back into the woods for the 3rd trip, crossing their front about 125 yards away. I had Roger on a great trail, but the deer didn't use it. They crossed it an milled around 30 yards in front of him in the brush. When I got even they turned his way but crossed his lanes at 35 or 40. He just flat missed... but he got a shot on the last hunt of the last day. Those deer had 250 acres of woods behind the hunters but were really reluctant to leave that little patch. It's probably 500-600 yards long and 200 across. I had them running around in circles before I got any of them to think of leaving. Just goes to show,... they do what they want.
This area is not that big and if it weren't for them 30 or 40 feet up telling me what was going on I never would have known. Those deer just stayed 150-200 yards ahead of me. I only got the glimpse of one butt going over a little knob. The place is so tracked up it's hard to tell what's going on. I must have come across 40-50 old and new beds. The one pine tree in this big 50 acre lawn had 5 beds under it. They walk under these sagging limbs and it's just like being in a tent.
Sorry for the long story, but I'm trying to warm my dang fingers. Cold out there this AM. So, Len finished with exactly 20 with his bow for the year and a handful of others with the muzzleloader and shotgun. So, we got meat the last hunt of the last day. I handed my bow to Len as we left the woods to take to his shop for an end of the year overhaul, strings, cables, axles, grease etc etc.
Tough walking in that snow with a big frozen crust on it. I was sweating by the time I was done. Then while Len gutted his deer I froze as I'd left my hat and mask at the truck when I walked to the head of the woods. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
;D Twas the Devil made me do it.
