My mum and I decided to head to a small public area for a few hours of gun hunting. She is almost 60 and not in the best of shape anymore.
She likes to set up not to far from the parking area and sit. She hasn't killed a deer since 2001. So I get her out as much as she wants. As long as she has the motivation to get out there I will take her out.
It feels like Im giving back in alot of ways since she once was a big bad hunter that started to take me out in the woods when I was 5 years old. Not alot of guys can say their mums got them into the outdoors.
So, mum decided to sit in a spot where I had many good encounters during bow season. Might not be so great now since the orange army has raped and pillaged the parcel in the last 8-9 days.
She was happier than a frog on a lilly pad to sit there in that spot.
Considering my mum's physical condition I didn't want to force her to the far edges of the property since there is a steep ridge to climb to get there. That would be a difficult obstacle for her to cross.
So I decided to get on the other side of the ridge where there is a small open alfalfa field. I sat at the bottom of a draw where I can see one hill side facing west and another hillside facing north, and the field in front of me.
I was nestled in a tipped over tree top near the corner of the field. I wasn't expecting much out of this sit knowing the area has been pressured hard. I did have some confidence that one of us would see something though, but had doubts it would be me.
About 20 minutes in my sit, I see a a deer on the ridge I just came down from. It came down the same path I walked in on. Weird. It stopped and meandered for a few minutes then bedded down behind a large tree just under a 100 yards away.
Great! Its about an hour and half to dark and a deer wants to stop short of a clear shot to bed down.
About 15 minutes later the deer gets up and decides not to walk toward me, but walks straight to the alfalfa field.
Once it enters the field I noticed it was a buck. It stayed tight to the field edge as it began to browse.
I was waiting for him to skirt the edge straight to the corner where I was but he was rather vigilant during this time and he wanted to take his sweet time browsing.
I think he knew he was vulnerable out there but he was hungry and wanted to eat.
He finally stepped into a shot window about 40 yards out. He moved broadside, I put a bead on him with my 12 gauge pump shotgun and lit off a shot. He fell right away and expired quickly.
I Walked back to the car grabbed the sled, dressed him out, and packed him up.
On the way home I told mum since she didn't get one this season I will give her the carcass and pay for the processing. She agreed and said this will be my Christmas present to them this year.
I already have 2 deer in the freezer from bow season and I know my parents could really use some quality meat. It felt good to able to help and give back to the individuals that have raised me to enjoy hunting and fishing. They are very thankful, and so am I.
