Day 3
I circle the property and discover a commercial stand with a view in a little clearing. I'm not sure who put this here but I have an idea. There's a family that comes and goes at church every so often. I haven't seen any of them this year. One of the sons, a young man around 25 years old told me last year that he shot a deer out here, so I suspect this is his stand. I explore this side of the property by working slowly on game trails. At 7:43AM there is movement ahead. Two does move in. The smaller of the two gets within 15-yards of me to pull leaves off of some kind of bush. I leave these girls alone and they hang around about 20-minutes and then depart. Nothing else is seen all day. In the dark but with some moonlight, I notice two deer run across a utility easement opening. Maybe they'll be around tomorrow.
Day 4
Today I load the flintlock rifle. This is a custom rifle that is my rendition of a "sporting rifle", A .54 caliber with a 1:70 ROT, no ramrod attachments. Sometimes I carry a 3-piece take-down ramrod in a leather pouch but today I take a full-length wooden rod and tie a "sling" to it and wear it across my back. There is some deer movement but all that is seen is tail and they all seem to be headed to the NW part of the property. The afternoon is hot, in the mid 70's. I take a rest through midday and head back out in the early afternoon. I walk toward where all the deer seem headed and end up near that stand I mentioned. I decide that maybe someone else has done the work for me finding the deer and I set up down a ways from the stand. Around 5PM a buck steps right out of the wood-line into a little sand-trap. He has his head down and is eating something. I have a rangefinder this afternoon and I use it - 57 yards. So I raise the rifle, pull the cock and remove the frizzen cover. I look through the peep sight but it is awfully dark. I move my face forward on the stock and now I can see reasonable enough to decipher the buck and the front sight. I set the trigger and slow my breathing. I let the front sight settle on the bucks check and ease pressure onto the trigger. Whoom! On the right side of the smoke cloud I see the deer has his tail tucked and is slightly hunched forward as he enters the brush. I wait 10-minutes and walk over there. There is no sign of impact where the deer was standing. I follow each of three deer trails that enter the wood there for about 20-yards each. Nothing. I do it again, this time going 30-yards each. On the last one I find a single bright red blood spot. Now it is dark. On hands and knees with a flashlight I find a drop or two about every 10-feet and an occasional splatter around every 30 feet. This goes on into the night. It is around 9:00PM and I've gone just over 100-yards and now cannot find another drop of blood. I've also gotten turned around twice and had to head out to the opening and follow the trail back in to take up where I left off. I'll try again in daylight.
Day 5
I get up early and work my way toward the stand. As I get around 150-yards from it my cell phone starts vibrating. Yes, I have my phone with me. I'm hunting alone and need some measure of safety out here even though I'm only 15-minutes from home. I look and notice the number is from someone at church that I am acquainted with. "Is that you" he asks. "Is what me", I reply. He says, "You, walking out here hunting". "Yes" I say. He tells me he is in the stand up ahead of me. I told him I would stay on the other side of the property and good luck. Now I know who put the stand there. Not who I thought. This young man shows up at church a few times per year. He is a former addict and has had his share of trouble. I know he has been hard-pressed for work recently. I'd rather have him out here than someone that is not beneficial to him and besides, he might actually need the meat. I leave the area he is in, but that puts the kabosh on looking for my deer as it would be in the woods out in front of his stand somewhere. About 11:30 AM I am hungry and headed back to camp. My phone rings and its the same young man letting me know he is leaving. He did not see anything either. He does tell me if I get a deer he needs the meat and if anyone needs a fence put up or fixed he needs some work. We pray together on the phone hang up. I change course and head over to look for that deer. I spend several hours looking but there is not blood after the last spot I found last night. No buzzards, no smell. I go back to camp and eat around 2:30PM. While I am there I pull a buck tag off my license and fill it out. I figure its the right thing to do. I have two more buck tags and 2 antlerless tags for the rest of the regular season. Then I have another buck and doe tag for a special area.
I was unhappy about the peep sight, it seemed awfully tiny and dark. I head into town and get a bit that is one size larger than the current hole. I open it up and it is a world of difference even though its just a few thousanths of an inch. That's better......
TBC
I circle the property and discover a commercial stand with a view in a little clearing. I'm not sure who put this here but I have an idea. There's a family that comes and goes at church every so often. I haven't seen any of them this year. One of the sons, a young man around 25 years old told me last year that he shot a deer out here, so I suspect this is his stand. I explore this side of the property by working slowly on game trails. At 7:43AM there is movement ahead. Two does move in. The smaller of the two gets within 15-yards of me to pull leaves off of some kind of bush. I leave these girls alone and they hang around about 20-minutes and then depart. Nothing else is seen all day. In the dark but with some moonlight, I notice two deer run across a utility easement opening. Maybe they'll be around tomorrow.
Day 4
Today I load the flintlock rifle. This is a custom rifle that is my rendition of a "sporting rifle", A .54 caliber with a 1:70 ROT, no ramrod attachments. Sometimes I carry a 3-piece take-down ramrod in a leather pouch but today I take a full-length wooden rod and tie a "sling" to it and wear it across my back. There is some deer movement but all that is seen is tail and they all seem to be headed to the NW part of the property. The afternoon is hot, in the mid 70's. I take a rest through midday and head back out in the early afternoon. I walk toward where all the deer seem headed and end up near that stand I mentioned. I decide that maybe someone else has done the work for me finding the deer and I set up down a ways from the stand. Around 5PM a buck steps right out of the wood-line into a little sand-trap. He has his head down and is eating something. I have a rangefinder this afternoon and I use it - 57 yards. So I raise the rifle, pull the cock and remove the frizzen cover. I look through the peep sight but it is awfully dark. I move my face forward on the stock and now I can see reasonable enough to decipher the buck and the front sight. I set the trigger and slow my breathing. I let the front sight settle on the bucks check and ease pressure onto the trigger. Whoom! On the right side of the smoke cloud I see the deer has his tail tucked and is slightly hunched forward as he enters the brush. I wait 10-minutes and walk over there. There is no sign of impact where the deer was standing. I follow each of three deer trails that enter the wood there for about 20-yards each. Nothing. I do it again, this time going 30-yards each. On the last one I find a single bright red blood spot. Now it is dark. On hands and knees with a flashlight I find a drop or two about every 10-feet and an occasional splatter around every 30 feet. This goes on into the night. It is around 9:00PM and I've gone just over 100-yards and now cannot find another drop of blood. I've also gotten turned around twice and had to head out to the opening and follow the trail back in to take up where I left off. I'll try again in daylight.
Day 5
I get up early and work my way toward the stand. As I get around 150-yards from it my cell phone starts vibrating. Yes, I have my phone with me. I'm hunting alone and need some measure of safety out here even though I'm only 15-minutes from home. I look and notice the number is from someone at church that I am acquainted with. "Is that you" he asks. "Is what me", I reply. He says, "You, walking out here hunting". "Yes" I say. He tells me he is in the stand up ahead of me. I told him I would stay on the other side of the property and good luck. Now I know who put the stand there. Not who I thought. This young man shows up at church a few times per year. He is a former addict and has had his share of trouble. I know he has been hard-pressed for work recently. I'd rather have him out here than someone that is not beneficial to him and besides, he might actually need the meat. I leave the area he is in, but that puts the kabosh on looking for my deer as it would be in the woods out in front of his stand somewhere. About 11:30 AM I am hungry and headed back to camp. My phone rings and its the same young man letting me know he is leaving. He did not see anything either. He does tell me if I get a deer he needs the meat and if anyone needs a fence put up or fixed he needs some work. We pray together on the phone hang up. I change course and head over to look for that deer. I spend several hours looking but there is not blood after the last spot I found last night. No buzzards, no smell. I go back to camp and eat around 2:30PM. While I am there I pull a buck tag off my license and fill it out. I figure its the right thing to do. I have two more buck tags and 2 antlerless tags for the rest of the regular season. Then I have another buck and doe tag for a special area.
I was unhappy about the peep sight, it seemed awfully tiny and dark. I head into town and get a bit that is one size larger than the current hole. I open it up and it is a world of difference even though its just a few thousanths of an inch. That's better......
TBC
