The farm here and sawmill over the road to the left own about 2000 acres between them that we have permission to hunt. On the otherside of the road there is a cut corn field that has a sugar maple stand behind it and some real thick evergreens along a brook, we've had a few turkey run-ins down there and found a monster set of tracks along the brook. Farther down the road to the left is a 50 acre patch of cut corn with a 25 acre clover patch next to it. The deer cross out of a 15 acre swamp that has a shooting range on the otherside of it and hunting isn't allowed in there. But that cut corn and clover patch has turkeys geese and deer in it all day long just different animals at different times. I may have to break down and buy a pop-up blind for down there because there is no cover except for a group of about 5 trees that are just off the road about 15 yards. If things don't work out here, we have another 900 acres we can hunt up the mountains in the top picture. Buck only there, but turkeys and bear are always a possibility up there also.

Hope went for a little walk with me this morning while my boy was at preschool. There is a cold front moving in, the temp was 66 this morning and is supposed to drop to 30 tonight with possible snow. The game was moving. We saw a few dozen turkey on our ride to the spot we were going to hunt today. We didn't have but and hour, hour and a half so we were going to need to be sharp.

As I got her unloaded and ready to rock a few turkey sounded off in the hemlocks we were headed for, a good sign indeed! As we worked our way through the thick stuff to get to a small blind at the edge of the hemlocks and sugar maple stand we saw some movement in the hardwoods. 3 good does were browsing towards us, we eased into the stand and they were only 40 yards away and still coming to us with the wind blowing across and down away from them. Things were looking real good.

At 30 yards they were behind one of the biggest and oldest sugar maples you'll ever see, they just need to come around on the trail there and they would be in perfect range at 25 yards or so. This was getting good!

Come on David, I gotta go and get in the woods....I guess I'll have to wait till tonight for the rest of the story....


David

I could just make out the lead doe coming through the rasberry bushes at the edge of where I needed her to be and eased back on Hopes string. A simple mantra of pick a spot echoing through my head.


Snnnorrrrrrrrrrrrttttttttttt  You'd be surprised how high a guy my size can get up a tree in a single bound!

Three does I never saw had come up the left of me and caught my scent(it rained all night so the woods are whisper quiet for walking right now, not that an old doe needs any help!)

BUSTED!!!

There's more to come David, but I'll save that for tonight, so you can concentrate at work.

So it's pretty close to the time I need to leave to pick-up my boy at preschool so I figure I might as well head out. I work my way back through the hemlocks and then get into the real thick stuff. I get into where shooting just isn't an option when I see a pair of ears just flicking over the top of the raspberry vines. I am being watched. The old girl is waiting for me to walk by, so I make like I don't see her and keep easing along, there's a little break not ten steps ahead where I may be able to get a shot off on her.

So the ground is starting to dip down and I can't see her ears anymore and I am getting real close to the break where I may have a decent shot at a shot. It will only be maybe 8 yards so this will be a quick shot to have any chance of scoring. Ever notice how time can slow down and speed-up all at once at moments like this? How connected you feel to everything around you? These are the moments that got me addicted to hunting in the beginning and I find joy in the fact that it still feels just as good now. You know, truly alive.

Good stuff vermonster!!! I'm right there next to ya through this adventure! What happens next?!!!!!

Todd

I know exactly what you mean, when all of that stuff stops, I'll stop hunting.  I don't see that happening anytime soon, now about that shot....

David

The "calm" came over me. I never get buck fever, until the animal is down for good. I get serious tunnel vision as the time for the shot approaches, it seems like every sense is sharper. I can count the rain drops on the brush, ever detail shines out in the tunnel (one of the reasons I got busted by the second group of does earlier, every blessing has a price it seems). Smells, sounds, sights and a sense I believe our ancestors had, a preminition of game comes about. I knew before I came to draw what was going to be waiting for me.

And........


David

Nothing, she was gone the way only an old wise whitetail can be. It was worth every second though and I'm not back to the truck yet.....

....and your boy is waiting on you too....


David

I give myself an hour to get out and get to him. Plenty of time in case I should run into something interesting on my way out.

Dang you've got me all tensed up reading this. COOL!!! You'd be great at writing suspense stories.

Well guys, I have to apologize, I got called out of town on work and just got back last night. Just in time to wrap up the bow and send it to Curt monday. I did get to shoot it around the house a couple days and loved it. Sorry I could'nt add to the story much. Maybe next time. I'm sure Curt will have a good time with her.

Stan

Hope and Feathers in the Air, update tomorrow.

Time to make the pre-school run then off to find the turkeys, hopefully where they roosted or very nearby.

I promise to catch up on the rest of this thread in time. But I wanted to post a picture of Hope's most important date IMO. She attended a Bowhunters Safety Class I instructed tonight and got to stoking the trad fire in some new archers and older ones too.

 

Cool David....great pic.