Day 16 - Evening Hunt

Re-Phil and I went out to Jenkins tonight.  RePhil took the large stand in the middle and I took the stand to the N.  On our drive in, we saw 4 does being chased by two bucks, and one of the bucks was a monster.  For sure he was a wall hanger.  A solid 10 if not 12-pointer.

RePhil says I bumped a large 6-pointer out of the willows on my way into the stand.  He said it ran right past his stand.  The only problem was, he wasn't in the stand yet.  He was still walking to it.

The weather was not too cold, but the wind was ferocious.  It was hitting 40 mph tonight, blowing to the NE.  I only lasted about 30 minutes in the stand.  I lowered my crossbow and climbed down.  I put on a bolt and started walking toward the golf course - out of the wind.  I had not gone 20 yards when I turned around and saw the 4 doe from earlier right under my stand.  Crap.

I turned around and walked through the woods toward the deer.  I hid behind a raspberry bush and waited.  One yearling crossed, then another.  Finally, mother doe came into my shooting lane.  I marked the distance at 30 yards and centered my second pin on her chest.  I let the bolt fly.

The deer turned and ran N, crossing the property line to the "crazy" man's place.  I paced off the distance and it was 35 yards.  I should not have missed.  I tracked the deer as far as I could and then returned to look for the bolt.  Not a single drop of blood nor the bolt could be found.  I told myself that it was a miss and that we did not just send a wounded deer off to die again.

While I was tracking, monster buck came out of the pine trees on the N property line.  He spooked when he saw me standing in the field and ran W towards the golf course.  As I was heading back to the stand, the younger, smaller buck came out.  He stepped into the field at about 30 yards, but turned and headed back along the same path as big brother.  I couldn't shoot him anyway as Indiana has a one buck per season limit.

I texted RePhil and told him to meet me at the truck.  As I was walking out, several (like about 100) turkey vultures came overhead.  They easily coasted in the wind.  I took a photo.

Look at all the turkey vultures in the sky - and this isn't even all of them!

I also saw some ducks fly over as I hit the truck.  That about sums up our deer hunting for archery season as this coming Saturday, the 17th, shotgun season opens in Indiana.

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