Everything has a season

[JustStunned]

Val, Thank you for your kind words. When this began I never thought I would ever be happy and live again. What a strange and emotional journey this is.

TM, Some day, I’ll buy you that beer too.

Journaling: On Thursday, 10 November I logged onto to FB and here wishing a few brothers a Happy 236th birthday, and then departed for an extended GAL weekend.

I drove past JB’s biking territory, and I was in the vicinity of IS for the weekend. My cousin lives near Louisville. I met my cousin at his farm about 2:00 PM and we placed stands for use the next morning. I used a climbing stand for this hunt. I hunt high to mitigate scent and movement, so the next morning found me about 25 feet up a tree in a transit area where the terrain features cause deer to funnel through.

The pre dawn of Friday morning found me in my stand, bow in hand listening to the woods waking for the day. It was a little chilly early, but as the day wore on the weather was perfect for bow hunting with a light breeze out of the SSE. I had four deer pass by me in the morning.

Two of the deer waked through my shooting lanes presenting opportunities I chose not to take as they were both very young. A button buck (a young male born that spring) occupied the area at the base of my tree for about 10 minutes until his mother coughed and stomped calling him back into thicker cover. She may have seen me watching him, but they moved off slowly, so maybe not.

Late Friday afternoon a doe in estrus was chased by four bucks. She was either not ready to stand or did not like any of her suitors, as she ran from thick cover to thick cover, while her suitors debated among themselves for breeding rights. That kept me entertained for about 15-20 minutes.

Saturday was the beginning of rifle season and the tactics are slightly different. I hunted a little higher out of the same tree. I like to creep into stand and settle down a little earlier than other hunters as the hunters in the surrounding area will cause the deer to move around as they move into their locations.

Just as the sun peeked over the hill behind me I heard a deer approaching slowly through the leaf litter. He was moving slowly pausing often to survey the terrain before him. I think he had been startled earlier by another hunter moving into his area on an ATV on the other side of the hill to my front. I eventually picked out his shadowy form facing toward me between two trees about 55 yards out. As the sun illuminated him I eventually was able to make out small antlers on one side of his head.

My cousin and I generally pass up on a deer like this in the hope he will survive the current season and mature more. As the sun was finally fully raised and he had not moved I settled the rifle scope on him to get a closer look. With the added light and magnification of the rifle scope I was able to discern his antler growth was misshapen. Neither side contained a discernible brow tine, and the left antler was mostly a knobby protrudence that had fail to bifurcate. This then was a deer we would wish to cull. There are actually several deer in the area with similar appearance. Removal of their genetics from the herd is desirable.

After about 45 minutes he had slowly moved to where I could take a clean shot. This is the deer I have brought home to finish preparing for the freezer.

Sunday morning found me in the same stand again. The wind was blowing stronger and gusting enough to move leaves around. The wind combined with the volume of other hunters in the area caused my cousin and I to switch locations and still hunt a friends property that afternoon. We each saw deer that afternoon and evening, but did not attempt to take any.

I drove home Monday, the puppy had greatly missed me. He did not let me out of his sight until I left the house to check in with mom. She fared well and was happy I was home safe.
During the weekend I foolishly opened an email from STBX that caused an hour or so of consternation. Nothing eventful and in the overall scheme of things just WAS static.