Post-Christmas Hunting Trip

Dad and I met at the cabin the day after Christmas to try and punch a couple more tags. Dad still had both his bow and muzzleloader tag while I had an antlerless muzzleloader tag and 2 bow tags remaining. The forecast did not look good and the weather matched exactly. Our trip was full of rain, mud, and wind for the first 2 days and then frigid temperatures with high winds on the final day. I was most disappointed that dad went all 3 days without seeing a deer. I did see a lone yearling buck on the first evening sit and bumped 2 deer walking to the tree stand on the following morning but that was it. The one highlight of the trip was that on the 2nd morning I used my portable set for the first time. It took me less than 30 minutes to get it up and be hunting, all in the dark. I learned some lessons for next time but this is going to play into my strategy a lot next season.

My visitor on the first evening sit

The clouds started to break up a little on the 2nd day

Trying to stay warm on a cold and windy evening in the blind

Even through the disappointment, I wasn't too surprised. This late in the season, the deer tend to be very nocturnal due to all of the hunting pressure. Pairing that with the horrible weather and it was a recipe for bad hunting all around. I came home in a pretty sour mood but am trying my best to not let one bad trip define what has been an altogether amazing hunting season. I have 1 last trip planned to the cabin with my neighbor, Brent, next weekend. I'm really hoping that we can get into some deer then. 

2 eagles, 1 trail camera picture

Out for a mid-day run

Late Season Hunting

3 weeks of no hunting really built up my excitement for the start of Late Muzzleloader season. With 15 days off work, I headed for the cabin on the evening of December 18th for 4 straight days of hunting. My dad met me at the cabin and we were both excited to see what the trail cameras had to show. We were not disappointed as the cameras showed a lot of deer activity throughout the entire property during the month of December.

The forecast called for unseasonably warm weather and with no snow on the ground, we knew that the deer would be spread out. With that in mind, dad and I headed out to 2 separate bedding ridges the first morning. I bumped into a couple of deer on my walk out, but after sitting for a little while, I decided to do some still hunting. I got within about 40 yards of 2 does and 2 fawns that were bedded down but the trees and brush were too thick for me to get a shot.

Beautiful sunrise on the first morning

That afternoon, I headed for the small field blind while dad headed to the big field. It didn't take long for the action to start as I had 2 small bucks in the field at 3:30. It was exciting to watch the bucks feed in the turnips before the smaller buck (a yearling) picked a fight with the bigger buck (2 year old with only 1 3pt antler). The spared for awhile until the bigger buck pushed the younger one back into the woods. They emerged about 10 minutes later and continued feeding. 

2 little bucks about 60 yards away

I decided that if nothing else showed up with about 15 minutes left that I should shoot the half rack 2 year old. As it turned out, about 25 minutes before shooting time ended, both bucks looked up to the right of the blind. I peaked out a small hole that was open to see another yearling buck about 10 yards away from the blind. Right behind that buck was a half rack 3+ year old buck that I had been getting on trail camera. I had to wait a few minutes for the 2 bucks to make their way into the front of the blind but was able to make a great shot with the buck about 25 yards away. He ran into the woods East of the blind before expiring. I slowly packed up and headed back to the cabin to meet dad and Justin, who had just arrived. 

All ready to recover my buck

Very happy with taking such a great buck with my muzzleloader

Same buck behind the cabin on the morning of December 7th

Same buck in the small field on the evening of December 7th

I was very excited to get a deer on the first day of the hunt and thrilled with taking a 3+ year old buck off the property for the 4th year in a row. 

The next morning was a slow one as Justin and dad didn't see any deer. I did see a doe and 2 fawns from the fence gap stand but they did not offer me a shot. The evening remained slow for Justin and dad as they sat in the blinds. I decided to take my bow to the ridge stand and ended up having another great hunt. I had 2 different yearling bucks and the same half rack 2 year old from the previous night come through. I had him at 20 yards for over 20 minutes but decided to let him pass as he was heading towards the big field where Justin was sitting. During this time, one of the yearling bucks got down wind of me and spooked. The 2 year old wasn't sure what happened, but he got nervous enough to turn around and head back from the direction that he came. I drew my bow back but it was too dark to see the deer through my peep site so I had to let him walk off. 

View from the ridge tree stand

 For some reason, I was having no problems seeing deer, but Justin and dad just weren't seeing anything. With that in mind, we decided to try something new the next morning. With a northwest wind, dad and Justin headed out at first light and still hunted their way straight west, setting up on the east end of the big CRP field on the county land. I circled far south of that field and still hunted my way all the way around to the NW corner of the field. The hope was that any deer that we bumped on our way out would end up in that field then I would wind bump the field by zigzagging back and forth across the field. I did see 6 deer while I walked and dad saw 8 (most of which had been pushed by me) but neither of us got a shot off. 

Dad wondering where all the deer are

Dad had to head home without a deer and Justin had to head home for an appointment, but would be back to hunt on Saturday. That evening, I headed to the small field blind again with both my bow and muzzleloader along. I ended up having a yearling buck come into 30 yards but he was smaller than I wanted to shoot. 

This young buck kept me company

Justin got back to the cabin in time for bed and we were greeted with clear skies and a bright moon in the morning. I headed for the same ridge that we saw a lot of deer the morning before while Justin headed for the big field blind. Less than a minute after finding a tree to set up by, I had 5 deer walk past me at about 30 yards. I could see them clearly but shooting time didn't start for another 20 minutes so I could not shoot. It didn't take long after shooting time began for me to hear Justin shoot and got a text immediately. He had shot a buck that came out into the food plot before shooting time as well but stuck around until the sun got up. 

Bright moon on my walk out Saturday morning

Justin with his first ever deer with a muzzleloader

With 2 deer down, I opted to head for home to begin processing instead of sticking around for the evening hunt. I have 2 trips to the cabin remaining this season. I will be more than happy to fill either of my antlerless tags (one for bow and one for muzzleloader) but with a freezer full of meat, will be holding out for a mature buck with my any sex bow tag.

Rut-cation Week 2

After a LOOOONG week back to work, I had Thanksgiving week off to do some more hunting (among other things). I kicked things off with an early morning trip down to the property by St. Marys and had an excellent hunt. I saw 3 small bucks and even grunted one of them right to my tree. Around 7:30 I had a doe and fawn work through but the doe ended up getting down wind of me and they both ran off before I could get a shot. With only 3 sits on this property, it is clear that even though it is only 3 acres, it is still a great place as I've had deer within 50 yards every time.

On Saturday evening I headed out to Earlham for an evening sit. Things were pretty slow for the first hour but then heated up quickly. I ended up having 5 does and a big 8 point buck come through. All but 1 of the deer crossed below my stand about 75 yards away so I decided to get down from my stand and hunt from the ground within 20 yards of where they walked. This is the same area that the 2 does came through on my previous hunt in October as well. Even though I didn't have anything else walk through that night, I identified a different tree that I'm going to move my tree stand through that should be great for any north wind and will be easier to get to.

My plan was to head for the cabin after church on Sunday morning, so I got everything loaded in my truck on Saturday evening. I ended up noticing that one of my tires was going flat and had gotten a hole in it. Luckily, the truck was in my garage and I was able to get the spare put on quickly but I ended up missing out on hunting Tuesday with my truck in the shop for new tires.

I arrived at the cabin before lunch on Sunday. My dad had come down Saturday night during a snow storm that dumped 6 inches of snow throughout the night. He surprisingly had a slow hunt that morning but the deer started to move after that. I actually saw a deer in the big field as I checked trail cameras before heading out for an evening hunt. I had a very eventful hunt over the county fence gap stand as I had a 2 year old buck come in and bed about 20 yards from me for over an hour. He came back through later with another young buck but I wasn't able to get a shot. Although it was cold, it was a beautiful evening in the tree stand.

Snow snow everywhere

Beautiful sunset on Sunday evening

There was almost no wind on Monday morning as we headed out through the crunchy snow and leaves. I opted to hunt the opposite end of the ridge from the fence gap stand with the intention of taking the tree stand down after the hunt. It was a very cold morning and took awhile for the deer to start moving, but once they did, they were everywhere. I had a 3 year old buck come by just out of range and then noticed a doe working up the ridge directly towards me. I watched her for 45 minutes as she slowly closed the distance but right before she was about to step out into an opening at 30 yards, I noticed another deer coming from the same direction. It was a 2 year old buck with a 4 point side and the other antler broken off at the base. He headed straight for my stand and as he crossed 5 yards behind me, I opted for the closer shot and decided to try and turn to my right. He ended up spotting me and running off, I quickly looked back to notice that the doe hadn't spooked too bad but did run about 20 yards and was now heading the other way. As I was taking the tree stand down I had another couple of deer come by as well. With that, I was headed back to Des Moines to get new tires on my truck.

Another beautiful sunrise from the tree stand

We arrived home from the Quad Cities on Thanksgiving night and I quickly packed the truck to head for the cabin. A snow storm was forecast for Saturday night and Sunday so I wanted to get in as much time in the stand as possible before the storm. All 4 hunts produced good action but the only deer that I had in range were small 1 year old bucks that I didn't want to shoot. I did see 2 older bucks (a 3 year old and 4+ year old) but they weren't interested in my grunt call and were both well out of range. I reluctantly loaded up my truck after finishing up with my Saturday evening hunt and headed for home, sad that I would not be returning for more than 3 weeks. 

Beautiful sunrise ahead of a day filled with rain

Staying out of the rain in the big field blind

Morning hunt in my favorite stand on the ridge

1 year old buck on the small field

I was very lucky to get a text from my neighbor, Brent, inviting me to hunt with him on Sunday morning. We were expecting a snow storm that never came, but it sure was windy and cold as we climbed up into the tree stands. Lucky for us, the deer were moving like crazy and it didn't take long for a group of 5 does and fawns to make their way to within 30 yards of my stand. I did my best to stabilize myself in the swaying tree and managed to put one of the does on the ground. I was thankful that it was only a short drag up the hill to the truck and even more thankful to spend the rest of the day processing the meat to fill our freezer. 

Hard earned doe to fill my Dallas County antlerless tag

Even though the season hasn't gone perfectly, I sure have had a great year and a lot of fun along the way. I look forward to late season, which starts on December 17th. I have a lot of time off work over the last 2 weeks of December and should be able to spend a lot of time hunting. I'm planning to spend time with the muzzleloader down at my property, but will also be spending a bit of time with my bow around home as well. My strategy for the late season is going to be staying mobile with my new mobile stand set as well as hunting on the ground.

Rut-cation Week 1

On November 2nd, I left work shortly after lunch to begin a full week of vacation dedicated to deer hunting. With how good October was, I was really looking forward to spending a lot of time in a tree and seeing lots of deer. My neighbor, Brent, graciously invited me to hunt with him on Friday and Saturday. He hunts a small property just West of Grimes so I would be close to home for the first couple of days. Things started off well as I saw 7 does and fawns from the stand on Friday evening. I have an doe tag for Dallas County so I would have loved to shoot one of the does but they all managed to stay out of range while 2 of the fawns wandered right by my tree stand.

The next morning was a wet one as we sat for only a couple of hours before deciding to call it a day and dry off. I actually had a shooter buck come within 20 yards of the tree stand...20 minutes before shooting time. I also had 2 fawns walk by the stand and discovered 2 does bedded across a creek on the opposing hill side. That was enough to keep me entertained for the morning, but I was disappointed to once again leave with a quiver full of clean arrows.

After taking Abigail to her first basketball practice of the season, I headed for the cabin to meet my friend, Justin for another few days of hunting. The plan was to hunt Saturday evening and then head home on Monday night to regroup for a day. When I arrived, I quickly changed into my hunting clothes. With a SE wind, I knew that I needed to hunt the DNR/County line stand where I shot a buck on November 4, 2017. The nearly 1 mile walk from the cabin put me in the tree stand around 4:00 pm and just a little while later, I had a yearling buck walk by at about 30 yards.

View from the DNR/County line stand

Even with the slow evening, my spirits were still high as we headed into Sunday. The winds were forecast to be out of the NW which was perfect to hunt the Ridge tree stand (my favorite stand on the property) as well as the Fence Gap stand where I had so much luck the previous weekend. Sadly, we woke up to pouring rain and decided to wait it out in the cabin. The rain slowed a bit around 8:00 am so I quickly went out to gather the trial camera cards. While heading to the camera on the big field, I actually came across a big buck that was out cruising through the food plot. He was facing the other way and did not see or hear me so I quickly made my way back to the cabin. We got ready to go and headed out in the sprinkles with the intention of sitting for the remainder of the day. 

Rain rain go away

After the previous weekend, I had decided to move the tree stand about 30 yards to the north where most of the activity was. I actually had deer moving passed me as I was putting the stand back up and then had a doe, fawn, and 2 young bucks come through as I was pulling my bow up into the tree. I had only been out for about 45 minutes and it was obvious that it was going to be a great day. 

Small buck 5 yards behind the stand less than 5 minutes after
I got up in the tree stand

At about 2:15, a fawn came directly up the fence line from the north and crossed directly in front of my at 15 yards. About 15 minutes later, while I'm munching on the remainder of my lunch, I see more movement from the north and instantly reach for my bow. A large 10 point buck crossed the fence in the same spot as the fawn and headed straight for my tree stand. He finally turned broadside and walked into my first shooting lane at about 10 yards. I drew back my bow and released far too soon. I was instantly overtaken with disgust as I watched the arrow hit the buck too far back. I had rushed my shot and for whatever reason, didn't wait for the buck to stop moving. The buck ran about 20 yards back the direction that he came from and then started walking North. He turned broadside about 75 yards away and I could see that not only did I shoot him about mid-body, but the shot was also very low, just above where the white of his belly meets the brown hair. Thinking it was most likely a gut or liver hit, I decided that I would not pursue him for quite awhile. 

At about 3:45, I got a text from Justin saying that he had just shot a deer from the Ridge tree stand. I told him to stay where he was and that I would come to him. As I got down, I checked my arrow and noticed that it was covered completely in red, with no signs of stomach matter. This was a very good sign. The buck had actually left the way that I come and go from the stand, so one my way out, I decided to check for a blood trail and found that it was very easy to follow. I still didn't want to go after the buck right away, but did manage to locate where he left the woods about 150 - 200 yards from the stand and marked it to come back to later. 

When I arrived on the ridge, Justin was still really excited. After he filled me in on the details, we unsuccessfully searched for blood near where the buck was standing. We ended up walking out of the ridge food plot to the South and found the arrow and started finding blood just before he crossed the ravine onto the public land. The arrow smelled really bad and was covered in stomach matter which meant that the deer was not shot well, but would certainly die so we decided to give him some time. We headed back to the cabin to eat supper, change, and wait. After a few hours passed, we headed after my deer as it was shot first. We quickly found the spot that I had marked in the dark and using a leap frog technique and my new spot light, we followed a blood trail about 75 yards into a 15-20 acre, shoulder high, CRP field. We circled out from last blood a couple of times but were unable to locate anymore. Doing a body search in the dark is not easy, so we opted to return at first light. 

Next, we headed back after Justin's deer. We were able to follow a blood trail for about 50 yards onto the DNR land but then lost it. I had a pretty good idea where the deer was headed as we have shot many deer from this spot over the years, but with no blood, I didn't want to risk bumping the deer in the dark so we decided to save this track job until morning as well. 

I'm pretty sure that neither of us slept well that night, and we got back out at first light the next morning. We were able to get back on a blood trail from Justin's deer for a little ways but then ended up losing it and doing a body search. It turned out that my guess from the night before was completely correct. I walked the bottom of the big ravine, while Justin walked the top of the ridge line and it only took me a couple of minutes to spot his deer laying dead just on the other side of the ravine. 

Pointing to the white belly laying on the other side of the ditch

Justin with his first bow kill

Both of us were happy to get Justin's buck back to the cabin

Justin was extremely proud of his first deer with a bow, and I was very glad that we were able to find it so easily. After the tough drag out of the woods it was off to go after the buck that I had shot. We were not able to find any more blood from my buck and ended up grid searching the entire CRP field as well as walking just inside all of the woods surrounding the field checking all ravines and hill sides for the rest of the morning and afternoon. We never ended up finding another drop of blood or the buck itself and I was devastated. This was the 2nd year in a row that I had arrowed a buck on November 4th and was unable to recover it. In hind sight, I'm guessing that with the shot being so low and the buck being so close to the tree, the angle of the shot essentially made it miss everything vital and skim the underside of his belly enough to make him bleed but not kill him. 

I opted to skip the evening hunt as we were both exhausted and I knew that I still had a lot of hunting ahead of me. I gave myself the drive home to feel sorry for myself but then worked on getting my mind back to hunting. 

I took Tuesday off from hunting, but headed back to the cabin with my neighbor, Brent, on Tuesday night to hunt all of Wednesday. I ended up sitting the entire day on the fence gap while Brent sat in the ridge stand. We both saw deer, but nothing that we were interested in shooting. I actually had a yearling buck walk directly passed my tree stand at 5 yards just a few minutes before shooting time ended. After dark, we headed for home discussing deer hunting the whole way. 

With snow and a cold front moving in, I decided to head for the cabin on Thursday night instead of waiting for Friday. Dad called me and said that he was going to do the same and we both actually ended up driving through some snow to get there. It sure was cold for the weekend with some additional snow on Friday along with some extremely high winds. For the first time this season, deer movement was extremely slow. Dad actually had a couple of sits without seeing a single deer, and after grunting in a small buck on Saturday morning, I got blanked on Saturday evening myself. The one shinning moment of those 2 days came on Friday morning, while sitting in the fence gap stand, I saw the buck that I had shot the previous Sunday alive and well! He passed by at about 50 yards but I got a really good look at him and was 100% sure that it was him.

So much snow and wind

Snow covered food plots

After sitting in the snow and wind on Friday, then the extreme cold on Saturday, Sunday was forecast to warm up a little bit and have calm winds. Wind was out of the SW as dad and I headed out for our morning sit. I walked dad to a tree stand on the county ground and then proceeded on to the DNR/County line stand. A SW wind is a bit marginal for the stand, but this is probably the best morning stand location that we have due to the amount of bedding cover located across the primary ridge as well as the 2 secondary ridges that extend to the South. It also sits on a great pinch point to catch deer headed back to bed in the morning and to catch a buck cruising between doe bedding areas during the rut. 

Shortly after sunrise a doe approached my stand from the back and ended up leaving the same direction before crossing into one of my shooting lanes. A couple hours later, I looked to my west to see a buck walking in from exactly where I expected. I quickly grabbed my bow but he ended up working further out to about 40 yards. 40 yards is my absolute maximum range for a shot, but I've practiced a lot at that distance this year so I decided to give it a try. My first attempt at trying to stop the deer resulted in his vitals being covered by a tree but I was able to stop him again after he began walking again. This buck was a 2 1/2 year old 8 point buck but at this point in my season I would have been happy to put my tag on him. Unlike the week prior, this time I took my time and calmed myself. As I released the arrow everything looked and felt great, in fact, I am able to say that my arrow went exactly where I was aiming. The only problem this time is that at the sound of my shot, the buck ducked and wheeled away to begin running. The result was a high hit in the back portion of the neck, just in front of the shoulder. 

I assumed pretty quickly that the shot wasn't lethal but I held out hope while I sat in the stand for the next hour that maybe I caught an artery or it didn't hit as high as it appeared and I actually caught the top of his lungs. The blood trail was a good one for the first 75 - 100 yards but then dried up pretty quickly after that. Dad came over and helped me spend a couple of hours searching the primary ridge in the direction that the blood trail was headed, but as expected, we didn't find any more blood or the buck. Unless this buck ends up with some sort of infection from the wound, I'm 100% sure that he will be fine and recover from the shot. 

Of course I was, and still am, very disappointed. This was my 2nd good opportunity to kill a buck during my week of hunting and both times ended without a deer on the ground. I obviously never go into a hunt intending to wound a deer, but I've been having a string of bad luck the past 2 years that I need to put an end to. The positive that I took away from the 2nd chance this year was that I did not repeat the same mistakes that were made a week prior. I learned from my mistakes and made a really good shot, I just had no way of knowing that the buck would react that quickly and that drastically to the sound of the shot. I think that going forward I am going to keep my shots to 30 yards and under when conditions are that calm. With essentially no wind, it was extremely quiet in the woods that morning and I'm thinking that the sound of my bow probably broke that silence like a freight train. 

After returning to the cabin, I changed out of my sweaty clothes, had some lunch, and said good bye to dad before heading back out for one last hunt to finish off my first rut-cation. As I headed to a tree stand on the East side of the small field food plot I noticed that nearly all of the snow had melted. It ended up being a gorgeous evening to hunt. The sun was shining and it wasn't uncomfortably cold like the previous 2 days had been. Even though I wasn't feeling the best about my missed opportunities, I reflected on the week, and entire season so far and can say that it has been a great one. We have seen more deer and we have seen them more consistently then any of the first 6 years hunting down there. 

As the evening came to a close, I had a group of turkeys work up the hill behind me and fly up into a large oak tree to roost. Then, with just a few minutes left, a small buck entered the plot from the south and gradually fed his way towards me working a scrape along the way. Right as he was about to step into a shooting lane I felt my phone start buzzing in my pocket to signify the end of shooting time. I very quietly started to pack up my stuff and sat in the tree stand for about 15 minutes while he worked his way further to the north. During that time, I heard at least 2 deer cross the ravine to my east and head up the hill towards me. They ended up running back the way they came when the heard me climbing down. With that, my first week of vacation was over. It was a pretty intense week with a lot of tree stand time, so to be honest, I was ready for a few days off to regroup before heading back out for more tree stand time. 

My view for the last evening of my hunt
This spot is going to be awesome come late season for sure

Hunting Halloween Weekend

Okay, so Halloween fell on a Wednesday this year so I'm not sure that it is fair to call the previous weekend "Halloween Weekend" or not, but I did it anyways. The weather was decent for hunting but even better for spending time outside.

I arrived down at the cabin early in the afternoon on Friday and headed for a new tree stand set up over a fence gap on the bordering county land. It didn't take long for the action to heat up in that new stand and over the course of the evening I ended up seeing several deer including 3 shooter bucks. The issue was that none of the deer were actually crossing the fence through the open gate but instead were jumping the fence a little ways to the north of the opening. Since I hadn't planned for that, I had no shooting lanes in that direction and couldn't get an open shot.

View of the open gate from the tree stand

While I was having one of the best nights of hunting ever, my friend, Justin, made his way down for an evening sit on the big field and had a couple of deer come by as well. It was a good start to a great weekend of hunting. Winds were out of the south on Saturday so we had to switch up locations. Justin hunted a tree stand on the opposite end of the same ridge from where I sat on Friday and I headed for a stand just south of my property on the DNR land. I had a good buck walk by before shooting time started and Justin had a few deer come by as well, but opted not to shoot because they were too small. 

My view on Saturday morning

We fired up the grill for lunch before heading back out for an evening sit. We both had some does come by that evening but all of them were out of range and didn't offer a shot. It was starting to feel like it was just a matter of time before one of us would get an opportunity. 

Grilling for lunch

Chicken and rice for lunch

After getting back to the cabin for the evening I lit a fire and we enjoyed sitting outside for awhile on a beautiful fall evening. Sunday was a little bit slower as I sat both times over the fence gap stand and had another shooter buck come in to my north and cross the fence just out of range. I decided after that sit that it was time to move the stand about 30 - 40 yards north to a new tree when we returned the following weekend. 

Enjoying sitting by the fire on a cool fall evening

Grilled steak and potatoes for lunch on Sunday

Beautiful fall colors

Even though we didn't put a deer on the ground it was a fantastic weekend of hunting with some beautiful fall weather. As we left, both Justin and I were counting down the days to the following weekend when we would both start a week long vacation and return for more hunting.

Abigail's Turn

My weekend of hunting started out Saturday morning with a morning hunt with my neighbor, Brent, just West of Grimes. It was a very windy morning but he put me in a great spot. Just before shooting time started, I had 2 does and a fawn come through just behind my stand and about 10 minutes later another fawn walked by at 5 yards. Things got really quiet after that and I ended the morning hanging onto the tree for dear life as it swayed in the high winds. Even though I didn't get a shot off, Brent always seems to get me into deer when I hunt with him and for that I am grateful.

On Sunday morning, my girls and I headed down to downtown Des Moines to cheer on my wife as she ran in the Des Moines Half Marathon. After the race, Abigail and I ate a quick lunch, packed the truck, and headed for the cabin. Abigail is 7 years old and in 2nd grade this year. She has been hunting with me since she was 3 years old and does a really good job sitting and being patient. This year I was worried that school and sports schedules would get in our way but she ended up having school off on Monday so I took the day of work to give us a chance to hunt.

We got to the cabin plenty early so I quickly walked around the property to pull all of the trail camera cards to help us decide where to sit for the evening. It ended up being a bit of a bust as 1 trail camera had dead batteries, I had forgotten to turn on a 2nd one after swapping out the card last weekend, and the 3rd had my ground blind pull up stakes and roll in front of it mid-week. I had a lot of confidence in the big field food plot after hunting with Bridget last weekend and I knew that the remaining soybeans would be nearly dried down and drawing in the deer as well. Although a bit windy, it was a beautiful fall day with plenty of sunshine as we headed for the big field blind.

Abigail leading the way into the blind

All settled in for an evening hunt

We sat patiently for over an hour, Abigail reading a book and me messing around on my phone, when I noticed a little buck coming out into the field from straight South of the blind. He worked a licking branch and scrape along the  edge of the woods before walking our direction and eventually heading down the ATV trail towards "The Ridge". Abigail was disappointed that I chose not to shoot him but enjoyed watching him through the binoculars. 

Abigail watching the buck very closely

I was actually surprised that no other deer showed up for the remainder of the evening. We were, however, entertained by all of the cardinals eating the Egyptian Wheat seed heads outside the blind. 

Cardinals outside the blind

Abigail stayed in the bed the next morning as I headed out to hunt for a couple of hours. With light winds out of the NW, it was a perfect morning to sit The Ridge tree stand (my favorite stand!). On my way to the stand, I scared several deer that were feeding out in the big field food plot and then another that was bedded not too far from the tree stand. Even with alerting deer on my way in, I ended up seeing 2 small bucks that come through 25 yards away on a trail to my East. One of them was a 2 1/2 year old (I only know this because I had pictures of him last year) that has a very narrow and funky looking rack. I briefly considered shooting him but quickly opted not to with how much season I have left in front of me. 

Buck in the middle of the picture with the funky antlers

Abigail and I spent the rest of the day watching movies and playing games (and maybe resting my eyes for a few moments) before heading out to the big field blind again. The winds were lighter and the day was even more beautiful. The sunlight was really making the fall colors show up and Abigail even said the trees in the woods looked like gold. 

Our 100th game of SkipBo

Beautiful fall colors

Right before sunset, another little buck came out from the ATV path and crossed the field directly in front of the blind within 20 yards. It was the closest that we have ever had a deer while hunting with Abigail and I could tell that she got really excited. Shortly after our evening came to an end and we headed for home. It was another fantastic weekend of hunting with 1 of my girls. I feel blessed that, at least for now, they are both showing interest in spending time with me at the cabin. I will take it as long as I can have it. Of course, now I have Erin bugging me to take her down hunting too, so we will have to figure out how to make that work one of these years :)

2 little bucks, 2 evenings in a row

Monday evening was my 6th hunt in a row where I had deer within bow range and 8 of 9 hunts this year that I have seen deer. Even without a deer on the ground, I think this has been my best year of hunting yet. Even better yet, it isn't even November yet! I have a lot of time off work over the next month to hunt and I am going to savor ever minute of it. 

Bridget's First Hunting Trip

Last weekend turned out to be some fantastic hunting, especially for early season. On Friday evening I took my first trip out to a property near Earlham that I have permission to hunt. I really have no information about this property other than the 2 trips that I have made there last spring and to put a stand up at the end of summer. I had put my stand half way up a hill overlooking a river bottom that is no hunting ground. There are 2 trails that meet near the stand coming around either side of the hill. I ended up having 2 does walk through but they didn't get any closer than 60 yards.

With more cool weather forecast for the weekend, I was excited to head back to the cabin for a single sit as well. To be honest though, hunting was the last thing on my mind with this trip. It was the first time that I had taken my youngest daughter, Bridget, to the cabin solo and it would be her first time out hunting with me. I have been taking my older daughter since she was 3 years old, and with Bridget being 4 this year, it was finally her turn. On Saturday afternoon she couldn't hide her excitement as she asked me non-stop when we were leaving. When it was finally time to go, she had her shoes on and was climbing into the truck before I even finished loading the cooler.

On our way into the drive we met a young man walking in on the neighboring public land to hunt for the evening. We quickly got the boat unhooked and covered for the winter and fired up the heaters in the cabin before heading out to pull the card from the trail camera near the cabin. Disappointment set in when I found a camera with dead batteries (at least it was only a week worth of pictures that were missed this time!)

Bridget walking "quietly" to check the trail camera

Fall colors starting to show up

After getting changed into our hunting clothes, we headed to the box blind on the big field with a pile of gear in tow. A bucket full of books, food for supper and a Kindle was plenty to keep Bridget busy and quiet although we didn't have to wait long. 

Settled in and ready to hunt

Eating dinner and watching for deer

Watching baking videos on her Kindle

Less than a half hour into our sit, 3 does appeared from the ATV trail leading down to the ridge food plot and quickly closed the distance to about 25 yards. Bridget did a great job staying quiet and moving slowly, but her interest faded after several minutes of watching the deer eating out in the food plot so she quietly asked if she could go back to playing on her Kindle. For a kid her age, I'm pretty sure a hunt couldn't have gone any better. 

The 3 does fed in the food plot for more than 30 minutes

Although I can think of several logical reasons, I'm not quite sure why I never even thought of reaching for my bow to take a shot. For me, the moment and hunt were perfect and I think that I really just didn't want to do anything that could possibly change that. About 15 minutes before the end of shooting time, the does left the field and we packed up all of our stuff and headed back to the cabin. We watched the movie "Secret Life of Pets" before turning out the lights and both of us getting a good nights sleep. 

Funny faces while snuggling and watching a movie

The next morning we headed into mass at St. Patrick's, moved around a few trail cameras, then packed up and headed for home. 

I don't know what it is about going to the cabin, but both of my girls are just different little people down there. They both are usually on their best behavior and have a lot of fun. It doesn't always look the exact way that I pictured it when we bought this property, but these trips are my biggest "why" for owning a cabin in the first place. Erin and I may have been young and a little dumb when we dove in head first to buy the cabin, but I never regret it. 

After work on Monday I headed down to my buddy, David's, property near St. Mary's for an evening sit. It was a beautiful afternoon with cool temperatures and the sun shining. Shortly after arriving a combine pulled into the corn field across the creek and started to harvest the corn. With all of the noise I wasn't expecting to see much, but on the 3rd pass through the field, a doe and fawn busted out of the corn field headed my way. They were running at a frantic pace but the fawn led the doe within 30 yards of my tree. I drew back and shot quickly as the doe slowed to a walk but didn't really feel good about the shot. I'm not sure if the doe, being on high alert, ducked the arrow, my shot was that bad, or maybe a little of both but the arrow sailed directly over her back and she ran off unharmed. I'm not even proud of taking a shot in that moment as it was rushed and didn't feel right at all, but I am thankful that it was a clean miss and I didn't wound her. That ended up being all that I saw for the night before heading for home. 

This weekend I am planning to hunt with my neighbor, Brent, on Saturday and then head to the cabin with my oldest daughter, Abigail, on Sunday (she has Monday off of school and I have it off work). I am hoping for good weather and am certain that we will have a great time no matter how many deer we see.