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5 years of tag soup... not this time!
5 years of tag soup finally paid off for me this morning. Day 1 was a bust as I saw 40 turkeys but deer were not moving. I decided to go for a walk and stalk as the wind was high but a nice doe caught me before i could catch her. As I put my shotgun bead on her white flag i knew it would be an ugly mess to clean up and decided to pass her up. She took off into the thick stuff and I knew that if i hadn't shot at her she would be back. I then regretted passing and thought a texas heart shot wouldn't be the end of the world :P
Day 2 I sat at home with a sick kid. FML. Why didn't I just send a slug through that doe's white flag?
Day 3 The wind was blowing from the SW. I sat on a treeline and watched the geese fly overhead. I wondered why I was deer hunting and not goose hunting. I then moved back to by blind and by the time I walked to my van there were tracks all over. they had been watching me and likely caught my scent and were hanging out behind me. I packed it in and went home to nurse a horrible fever that my sick kid gave me. FML.
Day 4 I decided that the deer gods could go F@#K themselves. Still nursing aches and pains from this horrible sickness, I lugged my sorry butt over to a patch of evergreens. The wind was not my friend today so i knew it would not be worth venturing past the beginning of the cut corn field. Knowing this I brought my muzzleloader in the case that I can take a 75-100 yrd shot of a deer cruising the edges. I sat at the edge of the trees and lit up an old bear scent stick for kicks and giggles. I promised myself I wouldn't call or rattle and then pulled out my doe bleat and rattle bag. After about 1 hour of softly rattling, I hear this guy slowly walk from behind the tree I am hiding behind. I put my scope on the other side of the small tree and within seconds he offers a broadside shot. I squeeze the trigger and smoke fills my eyesight. As the cloud dissipates this guy saunters about 15 yards and crashes at the edge of the bedding area. From pulling the trigger to him hitting the ground, it's maybe 30 seconds so I know it was a quick kill and he barely knew what happened.
As I'm solo hunting this year, it's not only up to me to seal the deal but gut and drag this guy on my own. I've never gutted big game but managed to do it in about half an hour. Then comes the long drag as I pull this guy 75 yards uphill through corn stubble. After pulling him beside the van, I then realize he is way too heavy to throw on my roof so go next door to my neighbour who goes out of his way to rearrange his day to help a brother out. After throwing the buck in the bucket of the tractor, we throw him on my lawn and another hunter who hunts the property I'm on does me a huge favour by taking him to the butcher while I grab my kids from school.
All in all it's a great hunt and I often recognize how much of a privilege it is to live in community and to be able to live the way we do. Now to get this guy butchered up to divy up between family, neighbours and friends. Also excited to be able to take er easy, chase after birds and small game as well as try to help the other hunters fill their tags.
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