Monday Success!

I had today off from work and after hunting both Sat. and Sunday, I was down to my last chance for awhile and time to pull out all the stops. Today I was bring my buck decoy out to play! Boy was it a interesting day!

After getting the deke set up I crawled into my stand and was settled by 5:50. Just at daylight I heard something moving up the hill a bit. All of a sudden I catch movement headed my way. I was pretty upset when it turned out to be a fellow hunter. As he got closer he spotted my decoy, and wouldn't you know it he pulled up his crossbow and shot at my decoy! I couldn't believe this. Lucky for him he missed and missed me! In the Duluth city hunt you are not allowed to do any hunting from the ground. Plus this guy tried to punch a shot threw thick cover, and all he had to aim at was the butt end of my decoy. He didn't even apologize!

After he left I figured it would be a slow morning since he headed off the way most of the deer come from in the morning. About 9:30 I had only seen one deer in my area and was getting ready to pull the pin, when I noticed a deer about 250 yards down the hill. I grabbed my binos and it looked like the 8 that gave me the slip on Sat. When I saw him he looked to be making a scrape, so I grabbed the grunt call and let him have it. I thought I noticed him look my way so I thought there was hope. A friend and I had watched a Roger Raglin show just the night before where he said if that deer is out there, keep calling until you know he hears you, that just what I did. I even threw in a snort/wheeze or two for good measure!

He started working his way to my right through a thick area of cover, so I called so more until I could see him again. When he showed up again he was about 200 yards straight down hill of me. He started heading my way! When he reached the hill to start making his way up to me a doe appeared behind him. Thinking I was going to lose him I started grunting again. Lucky for me he left her and headed towards me. Now he quickly headed up the hill, and when he reached about 60 yards I thought maybe he could see my decoy. I don't think he did since he headed into some brush and started beating it up. Now he was heading towards the apple tree on the down hill side of my stand. I was waiting for him to hit that same 2 foot gap that I had on Sat. to try to shoot threw. He ended up cutting inside, closer to me, about 20 yards. I had some brush in my way, but I thought maybe I could make the shot. Well, I was wrong, I hit brush, clean miss. He jumped out about 20 yards. I thought what the heck and started to grunt a few times. I couldn't believe it when he turned back towards me. I quickly nocked another arrow. the problem was that I was facing my tree, but on the left side, and he was coming towards my right. Now he was 15 feet away from the base of my tree and totally locked into the decoy.

I turned my neck to barely see him standing there looking towards the decoy. When he started walking again I quickly turned around. He was at 10 yards when I drew again. I wanted him to take another step since I worried about another twig. When I drew he must have heard something and looked over his shoulder up at me. That was all the time I was going to give him. I aimed just behind his far shoulder and let it fly! I knew instantly that I had a good hit on him. As he lit out over the hill I could hear him crash, so i knew the buck was mine!

I called my friend Lorin who came down to help me drag. When we got on the blood trail Lorin happened to find the crossbow bolt, but no where near where the guy was aiming. It was 20 yards to the left. It had hit brush and deflected. I was really happy it didn't go to the right, and towards me. After a short blood trail Lorin spotted my buck. He had only gone about 80 yrds.
He is a 8 pointer 5X3, we figured him at 2 1/2 and about 170 lbs. Sure it is nice to get one for the wall, but I am very happy to have this buck in the freezer! Thanks for your help Lorin!

Nov.15 &16th

It's that time of year again that bow hunters dream of...the rut. In northern Mn it is really starting to heat up, so I had high hopes climbing into my stand. Within 10 mins of settling into my stand I could make out a silhouette in the darkness moving towards me. It stopped about 30 yds under the now bare apple tree. To bad there was still a 45 min wait until it got light enough to shoot! I could hear some antlers hit the tree branches but couldn't make out what he was. He stayed around for a few mins and headed out.

Fast forward to about 8 a.m. I looked out past my apple tree to see antlers low to the ground and moving my way. I quickly grabbed my bow. As he got closer I could tell he was a 8 pointer. A very nice 8 I will add. I would have guessed him in the 130 range. As he moved closer to my position I expected him to follow the route every other deer I have seen in that stand take. Wrong! He went behind the apple tree leaving me no shot, the he cut out in front of me where there is a bunch of scrub brush. Still no shot. I could see where he was headed and knew I had only one hope left. I had about a 2 foot wide opening to try to stop him in. As he made his way threw the brush I drew my bow. Wouldn't you know he stopped. I held my bow for over a minute when he finally started walking again. I tried to stop him as soon as his front shoulder hit the opening, but as luck would have it when he stopped briefly all that was in the opening was a gut shot. After that he spun quickly to try to figure out the noise, but he didn't offer any other shot, so I had to watch him walk away. I tried grunting, but he was gone. Thinking about the events later I probably could have tried the shot when his front shoulder hit the opening, but I just wasn't comfortable taking that walking shot with such a narrow opening. In my opinion it was better to let him walk than take the chance of a bad hit. He was a very nice deer though!.

Around 1pm I had a small basket 8 walk by my stand about 40 yards out. He wasn't close enough or big enough to consider shooting, but what happened next was what you hear the rut is like. As he moved away from me, he stopped on this little noll that overlooked some scrub brush below. I saw him look down below him. Next thing you know he takes off. Down in the bottom I hear brush breaking and 3 deer go busting out of the cover, the doe in the lead! They must have pick up a 4th someplace but I got to watch as these smaller bucks took off in hot pursuit! The 4th buck must have been a bit slow on the uptake, as he didn't see which way they headed and just ran a few circles around a patch of brush. I lost sight of them for awhile, and I figured things were going to settle down again. Next thing I know they had somehow made it back to the original patch of woods they started from. I heard some loud grunts, almost the growl you hear about and brush breaking. Then 3 small bucks got chased out of the brush patch the were in. By this time they must have got the hint to keep out, as they finally disbanded. I never did get a look at the buck who was controlling the roost, but he must have meant business. I tried grunting, but he never came to my side of the cover.

The rest of the day went by with several sightings of does and smaller bucks, but none of it was close to my stand. Of course that 8 didn't return either.

This morning when the alarm went off at 4 a.m. I was excited to wake up and get to the woods. It was a beautiful morning, 21 degrees and very little wind. I figured it would be hoppin'! I didn't see my first deer until 8, a really small 6. On this morning I forgot to reset my stand a bit before climbing in. What I mean by that is that I just lift the front of the platform. It seems to take all the "pops" out of it. Well when I saw that buck coming I shifted my weight and pop! This instantly put this deer on alert. He turned and headed the other way. About 10 mins later I heard something pawing at the ground behind me, so I turned to look. There was another deer. I saw that it was a buck so I turned to grab my bow. When I went to turn my head back to see the deer he happened to catch my head movement....busted again. When walked back the other way. It looked to be a small but decent 8. I figured things were starting to pick up, as far as deer movement, but how wrong I was. I sat until 1 pm when my feet could no longer stand it and only saw 1 doe way off in the distance. It was like the whole herd had left the area. I really don't know why they weren't roaming heavily like the day before. I guess that's why they call it hunting instead of killing! Fortunately for me, I have a extra day to hunt this week, so I will be after them again tomorrow!

Pinned

Last weekend it was sunny and warm. I headed to a new stand site. I figured the deer may move late because of the nice weather. I was right! The 1st movement I saw didn't happen til right at dark. I heard something behind me, and at first I thought it was another red squirrel. I looked back anyway only to see a doe at 20 yards and closing. As I turned to grab my bow, my hunting vest snagged on some of the bark on the tree. I thought that doe was going to lose her mind! She took off snorting like crazy. I really don't think she knew what happened just that it freaked her out. It wasn't until I snort/wheezed that she shut up and went on her way.

As I was waiting for her to leave so I could get down I could hear a deer moving my way in the crunchy leaves. As I waited in the near darkness, this deer walk within 4 inches of my stand. As hard as I looked I could make out any antlers. When the deer reached the trail I walked in on he sniffed and started grunting. As I waited for him to clear the area I heard another deer headed my way. I could follow the sound and see a form heading towards my location. This deer didn't come as close to my stand but within 8 yards. She hit my trail a bit farther back than the buck. When she did she started bleating. As I waited for her to depart I heard something strange. She was coming back! As she got closer I could make out a body below my stand. She ended up making a "U" around the base of my tree. She never stopped, never made an alarm or seemed nervous. She just kept walking on the path she had started on. I finally got down at 6pm when it was dark at 5:15. That was the longest I have ever been "pinned" in a tree. It was fun but I wish it could have happened during daylight hours!