Another great day in the woods

[deadeye]

Ok, I will be the first to admit that I'm somewhat of a fair-weather hunter. Of course, being retired makes it a lot easier to do this. For me yesterday's forecast of sunshine, light winds and above freezing temps, meant heading out to my land for if nothing else, some nature watching and if the opportunity presents itself, shoot a doe or if I'm really lucky, a big buck. I picked a stand that would be favorable for the southwest wind and was setup and ready shortly after 7:00 AM.  Just as it got light enough as is my custom, I started ranging various trees and trails, so I don't have to guess the distance if a deer passes by the area. Something odd caught my eye in the range finder. Ha, it was a doe about 45 yards away. As I got ready to shoot, I noticed another deer approaching so I held off until I determined it was a small buck. By that time the doe was in some brush so no shot. A half hour later, on the downwind side, a string of deer approached that would pass by at 35-40 yards. I checked them one by one all does except the last one had some antlers so again I held off shooting a doe until I could determine the size of the buck. Just as I decided not to shoot the buck, the lead doe winded me, snorted, stomped and bounded off. The other 4 deer had no idea what she was all fired up about, so they just started running every which way. The woods came alive with running deer a couple which ran straight at me. It was quite a sight, and I had to smile a bit. Over the next couple hours several more small bucks and does pass by. I did shoot at one doe, but my arrow hit a small stem of brush (about the size of a finger) and sliced it clean off. The arrow landed near the deer but hardly frightened her as he hopped away about 10 yards, stopped for about 5 minutes to assess the situation, and then moved on. A while later I was using my binoculars to follow a doe and fawn passing through the woods but too far away for a shot when suddenly a big doe was in my field of view. There I was, holding bino's, bow resting on my seat and a big doe looking at me from 30 yards away.  Fortunately, she just stood there while I put the bino's down, picked up the crossbow and fired an arrow.  As I watched her run away, I saw a few more deer departing the area. The doe went down about 50 yards from where I shot her. After gutting, and hauling the doe back to the cabin, I had lunch and there was still enough time left in the day to skin the deer and gather up the camo and seat cushions from all the stands. I was beat but it was a day to remember. The doe weighed in at 147 pounds.

 

[LPS]

What a great day DE!

[Jerkbiat]

Awesome day!