Ramblin's Hunting Lodge: November 2010

Friday morning:
Deer Season 2010 started out slow and it seemed that with all the shooting in the area everyone was having some luck but us. The first deer I saw was approximately 250 yards away and heading away from me. A few hours later I saw a small doe come from the south and head into the woods to my east about 60 yards away and move through the woods. About an hour later I think that same doe tried to slip down the west side of the woods and winded me and moved back into the woods just out of range for a comfortable shot. The rest of the day was uneventful and windy with gusts up to 2omph. I did see a couple of deer run out of the southwest corner of the woods and run across the field but well out of range. The first day I spent almost 11 hours in the deer stand.

Saturday morning:

I started out into the freezing fog heading south toward my deer stand. After I came to the second drainage ditch I made right heading west imagine my surprise when the first thing my headlamp lite up was a telephone pole on the northwest corner of the property. I had almost walk in a circle in the fog. The fog was so thick you couldn't see much more than 10 feet in front of you. By the time I took a not so scenic route to my stand I had walked about 3 time farther than I usually do. I slipped into the stand and waited for the think fog to lift. The fog condensed on the trees and leaves and every time a breeze would blow the water would come dripping down like rainfall. I figured the fog would lift once the sun came up but again I was wrong. It stayed foggy until almost 9:30am when I could first see across the field.. A little after 7:30am I happen to turn and see a young doe slipping up on my north east from the woods. Since the damp fog had soaked the leaves I didn't hear her until see was almost to me. I turned a picked a opening in the limbs to make my shot. She continued south and into the opening for a shot and I dropped her in her tracks at 35 yards. Upon inspection I double lunged her. I waited until 10am before heading back to the house for food and hot coffee. That evening I slipped down to the big woods and didn't see a thing.

Sunday morning:

I got to the stand without the difficulty of the morning before. I settled in for what I thought would be a long day of seating. I planned to stay until noon and then head back to the house and call it good for first season. I set for what seemed like about an hour without anything going on. At 6:30am I heard a noise behind my left shoulder and turned to see 2 does about 10 yards form my stand. I thought where in the world did they come from. I knew I didn't want to shoot one as I had only my buck tag. I positioned to watch them a little better when I looked to the south out into the field. I saw a young buck heading toward the does. He moved to my east and looked like he might start to move into the woods out of range so when he moved to within 40 yards I made my shot and it was a pretty good one, taking out both lung and the top of his heart. He went about 40 yards and that was it. With that that was all of my tags and Deer Season 2010 was over.

The gut pile for the doe and the buck was within 15 to 20 feet of each other.