Finally - The Deer Woods - Day 1 - 11/5/2019

Finally we have run out of excuses to hit the deer woods.  First it was too warm, then too wet.  When it cooled down, then it was too windy.  Put it all aside...

RePhil and I went out on Tuesday evening.  I headed to Marshall's bottom ground while RePhil sat up in the wind on Neal.

It was 3:45 pm when we got out there because we had to put new batteries in the crossbow scope, shoot it in, all of course after finding it in the back corner of the basement - talk about being unprepared.  It was 45F with brisk winds from the SW.  And I still don't know where I hid all my face paint...

After an hour of walking, I was not yet at the N-side of Bailey's house.  However, one squirrel and two doe busted me.  So I decided instead of going N - through the VERY NOISY leaves - that I would head E and sit along the creek.

The Path N that I should have taken to the opening up there...

And the Path I chose to take, E, and later to regret...

I made my way to the opening and sat.  I saw an owl land and then what I thought was a young buck rubbing a tree.  Young because it was 4:30 pm and I did not figure big bucks would be out yet.  Wrong again.  It was a Monster!  Rack stuck out farther than the body.  Big, Big, Boy!  All I could do now was hope he came E because there were 5 doe and another 8-pt buck with him.

I watched them for an hour before they meandered off to the S.  I was NOT dressed for sitting and was frozen solid.  But I dared not move or I would blow any chance I had.  Turns out I didn't ever get a chance.  50 yards is all the closer they would come.  Some may believe that to be an ethical shot for them and more power to you.  I was not confident that I could make a clean kill through all the brush at that distance, so no arrows were loosed.  My call to make - and I owe it to the animals to make the best shot I can.  I believed 50 yards was too far tonight.  With a rifle or shotgun?  Buck on the wall!

I texted RePhil.  He had seen nothing all night.  We agreed to meet back at the truck for beers and bourbon.  

It was fortunate for Sandy that I did not pick the right path.  That big ole boy would have cost her at least $500 to mount!  Success none-the-less.

A beautiful Fall evening in Clinton County

Looking back to the NE over the bean field.
There are at least 2 Shooter bucks and several doe in them there woods, somewhere...

The sun going down over the corn field

Yep, the corn is still in, but sure makes a purty picture

The celebration at the truck on another successful night in the woods!
Leinkuegel's Octoberfest and Hotel Tango's Bravo Bourbon. Cheers!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cleaning Winchester SX3 / SX4 Shotguns

Image
The Winchester SX4 is my Go To shotgun for everything - clays, doves, ducks, geese, pheasants, whatever.  It is an awesome firearm.  The drawback?  There are multiple moving parts and a few of them like to collect carbon.  And this carbon sticks as if it were put on those parts with super glue! Specifically, the magazine tube and the gas piston are the main carbon collectors.  Those parts come out more black than silver & gold. The inner components of an SX3 / SX4 with highlights where carbon will form So what is my trick for cleaning those bits?  I drop the gas piston into my Hornady sonic cleaner.  Inside the cleaner I put in about a cup of Hornady's One Shot Sonic Clean Solution for gun parts, add some DI water, a couple squirts of Dawn liquid dish soap, and then top it off with a dash or two of the citrus version of Dr. Bronner's pure castile liquid soap.  I have found that the citrus Dr. Bronner's is awesome at removing grease and oil....
Read more

Winchester SX4 Trigger Assembly Update

Image
First, you need to read the post immediately before this one to understand why I had to take my Winchester SX4 shotgun apart - all the way apart - specifically the trigger assembly. Second, my bad.  I had neglected to clean the gun after returning from last October's pheasant trip.  I had about one bale of grass seed inside that gun, which in the end, may have kept the #8 pellet from getting out on its own.  Shame. Finally, I did not give up.  I watched four different YouTube videos on how to disassemble and reassemble the trigger group.  Sadly, no one did the SX4, only the previous version, the SX3.  Close enough.  Why did it take 4 videos?  Because no one explained HOW the damn sear goes back in.  Everyone either ASSUMED we all know how OR in two cases, the reassembly process was out of the camera frame.  Aggravating! The key, and this is more for me to remember, was on the fourth video, the author said, "The sear kinda slides down int...
Read more

Determine Sex of Deer from Tracks

Image
It IS possible to determine from a set of tracks whether the deer you are tracking is a doe (female) or a buck (male).  And, it's actually pretty simple if you know a few facts about deer. First, you have to know what a deer track looks like.  Deer leave a track that looks like the outline of a heart. Next, you have to know the direction of travel.  Deer are moving toward the "pointy" end of the heart.  So in the above example, the deer is traveling toward the top of this post, or up. Here is an actual photo of deer tracks in the wild so you can get a better idea.  Again, this deer is traveling up, or towards the top of this page.  (It is also clear that this deer was STANDING, not walking - well clear enough to me.  Read on to find out why I know that). Sometimes if the ground is soft or if the deer is traveling really fast (jumping), the track left will show the deer's dew claws at the rear of the direction traveling, like so: The ...
Read more