I had one of the most up and down seasons of my life. I'll start with all the excuses. Everything was going good early October. I was on deer. I felt good and my season was moving along at my expected pace. That all changed quickly. Our weather became erratic. It seemed like every day it was raining or 35 mph winds. All of the sudden I couldn't get on deer. I got the flu shortly after. For almost 2 weeks at the end of October I couldn't hunt.
My cousin who has never really hunted decided he wanted to hunt. So I started hunting with him and putting him in some of my better spots in hopes he would tag one. Being a lone wolf for so many years it was good to be hunting with someone again but it was also changing alot of my plans.
I shot a doe in November and pulled her out myself. Shortly there after I had a nagging pain in my groin. Trip to the Dr. reveals a hernia...joy. Another surgery coming up in March.
Then gun season... Ugggg. More people than I have ever dealt with. The guy that helped me pull my buck out last year had moved his whole family into one of my go-to areas. The place was dead. Seemed like everywhere I went , people, people, people. I prayed for it to be over.
Ok back to October.
We finally got a decent day as the early stages of the pre rut started kicking in. I made my move on one of my favorite spots. I was set up on a high ridge beween 2 bedding areas. The deer move back and forth between the 2 areas over the ridge. Shortly after setting up I caught movement to the north. A buck was coming my way. He moved up the ridge and started swinging behind me. He was going right into my wind. I struggled to find an opening in the leaves. I had one little spot about 2 ft in diameter to shoot. He moved right into it and I shot.
Something wasn't right. I didn't hear the thump. The buck ran off. Just as he crested the ridge and disappeared from sight he gave a little waggle. I suspected I hit him.
I got down... No blood, no arrow, no hair. I backed out. The next morning I went back and after an hour of looking I found hair then blood. I tracked the blood a hundred yards or so, very spotty...then nothing. Suspecting I may have one lunged him I called a tracking dog in.
The dog made quick work of the trail and 26 hours after the shot we jumped him from his bed. We continued on the trail for a bit longer but I knew it wasn't going to be and told the guy that I didn't need to waste any more of his time or mine. I had seen what I needed to see.
That started chapter 2. What the dog had done was shown me where this bucks core area was. Also it showed me this buck had no intentions of leaving it. All he did was make a circle n almost come right back to where I shot him. Major tip my way.
As season went on I occasionally hit the area here n there hoping to cross paths again. 2 other hunters were also hunting the same area within 150 yards of my stand site. I started watching their cars and wind direction to see how they were hunting it. It didn't seem to me they were paying attention to details. Another Hunter moved in an built a ground blind right next to the tree I was using. I again started watching him. Same thing, no ryme or reason to how he was hunting it. I only hit it on a south west wind.
So, yesterday comes. The day before ground blind guy was in the lot when I pulled in so I hunted another area. Yesterday, no cars, raining and a south wind. I moved in. I could see ground blind guys tracks going in and see where he kicked leaves out his blind. Not a good sign. I floated milkweed n my wind was almost straight south. Not great. I could see how if a deer came down the edge a certain way I was going to get busted. I decided to shift trees to the north and try to wash my wind just a bit more north.
It went right to plan. 20 minutes later I see him come out of the southern bedding area and start moving my way. I put my scope on him and saw 3 points. I suspected it was the buck I wounded. He moved right to the spot along the edge where he could wind the ridge, just as I had prepped for. My scent was just missing him. He moved up to cross the ridge and stopped. Cautiously looking and smelling. I clicked off my safety and waited for an opening. He made his move and I made mine. Just as he stepped into my wind I pulled the trigger. The smoke rolled and as it cleared I seen him running back to the swamp. Just as the thought of missing or making another bad shot started spinning in my head he dropped. At the bottom of the hill, in a swamp and I have a hernia. Haha.
Here are some pictures. I'll go over the wound shot n drag n stuff in part 2.
