My deer season this year was (too) short and sweet.
I had high hopes for the archery season at my cottage spot since I had lots of deer coming to my salt block, and several young bucks. I could not hunt on October 1, and of course, a buck showed up right at 8 that morning. After that, the buck action dried up for a while at the cottage. Despite that, I hunted there 4 times and saw a doe and fawn during one of my hunts. I also archery hunted once at my regular spot in WMU 64A, and saw a doe and fawn there as well.
On the rifle opener, I hunted at my regular spot in WMU 64A, but saw nothing. I had to leave early since it was my oldest son's birthday, so I could not hunt in the evening. I hunted Wed of the first week at my cottage, and also saw nothing, but enjoyed listening to all the dogs running in the surrounding crown land - it was a new experience for me.
Friday evening of the first week I collected 3 big bags of windfall apples from the in-law's place in preparation for a week off to rifle hunt during the second week. Saturday morning I headed to my spot in 64A, and decided I would use one of my stands overlooking a huge field based on intel from the neighbour, who said he had a buck coming in to his nearby stand earlier in the week. When I arrived at the property, I didn't feel like lugging a backpack full of apples at 6 a.m., so I decided I would set the apples out later in the morning instead (I didn't end up needing them!). I took a different route to my stand since I occasionally spook deer when I take my regular route. I was in the stand just before 7. Right around sunrise, I saw 2 deer about 340 yards away - I used my binos to get a better look, and they looked like a doe and a fawn. I watched them for a few minutes, then they moved out of sight. About 10 minutes later, I thought I heard a deer walking around sort of behind me and to my right, down wind and pretty close. I stood up and turned in that direction since I had learned a lesson in a previous season when I had a nice buck come in from the same general area and was caught unprepared, then got busted as I tried to stand up to get into a position for a shot. This time, after about 5-10 minutes of nothing happening, I decided to let out 2 soft grunts. A few more minutes later and a nice little buck appeared amongst some cedars, very close. He headed towards a clearing about 15 yards from my stand, then decided to zigzag through the low cedars. I was getting nervous that he would spot me and I would not get a shot, as had happened to me before with that other buck a few seasons prior. Lucky for me, this buck was a bit younger, a bit dumber, and a bit more interested in the source of the grunt. He came out of the cedars and started following a trail that passes right by the ladder to my stand. I followed him with my scope, then took a shot as he was about 10-15 feet from the ladder - it was a very steep downward angle. At the shot, he dropped in his tracks and died almost instantly. I used a new load I developed for my 30-06 with a 168 grain Barnes TTSX all-copper bullet. It smashed through his left shoulder bone right near the blade, took out part of the right side of the heart, then exited the bottom right of his chest and went through his right "elbow". It was the fastest kill I've ever made, but at that distance, I guess almost anything would have got the job done.
Here's the view and a picture of the 6 (+1) point. Not a huge deer, but I am very satisfied.
https://i.imgur.com/iA7myd9.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/uXl3TmE.jpg
I decided to leave my ATV in the parking area, drive my truck into the woods as close as I could get it, then drag the deer out to the truck. All of this was to avoid loading him up in plain view of the property owner's girlfriend, who is a vegetarian, and naturally, not fond of hunting. The owner appreciated this, but informed me after all this that she wasn't even there that morning!
I got the deer hung in my garage and skinned by Sat night. I decided to process the deer asap as it had A LOT of ticks on it and I didn't want them in my garage any longer than necessary.
https://i.imgur.com/Ueqnjru.jpg
Sunday I broke it down into quarters, stuffed them into a spare fridge in the basement, then started the trimming and cutting Monday. The rest of the butchering was completed in the evenings after work. By Wednesday night it was all in my freezer. It is quite a lot of work to do all this by yourself, but it's worth it. Actually, I did have some "help" skinning, breaking it into quarters and grinding from my 5 year old! 65 lbs of boneless meat.
https://i.imgur.com/2aZc5GC.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LSozYMS.jpg
This year I decided to try a European mount. Here's where it's at so far. I still have to bleach it.
https://i.imgur.com/lp6Qf0D.jpg
After butchering the deer, I also hunted a couple of times at the end of the week with a back-up tag during an archery-only season that coincides with the second week of the general rifle season. That was interesting, as it was my first time hunting during this season. I saw a very nice buck, but didn't have a shot opportunity, and with an entire deer already in the freezer, I didn't even care. It's nice to hunt when the pressure is off. It has been many years since I have been able to do that, since there are no extra tags available in the areas that I hunt, other than for this short archery-only season.
I know that I will miss getting out for deer hunts during the rest of the archery and muzzleloader seasons = that's one of the problems with having basically only one tag and hunting solo. Oh well, I guess I will fill that void by scouting for the next season and hunting small game.
