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. 

A Very Wet Start To The Season

The temperatures were right for early season hunting, but with non-stop rain in the forecast for the first 2 weeks of the season, I wasn't sure what to expect when I took off early from work last Friday to head down to the cabin.

My season actually started on opening day when I sat in a new stand location about 30 minutes from home. During the off season I had gained permission to hunt on 2 separate properties, 1 down by St. Mary's and the other along the Raccoon River near Earlham. The wind was perfect that evening for the property by St. Mary's so I braved the light rain showers and was nearly rewarded. With about 30 minutes remaining the rain finally tapered off and I had 2 does come through at about 50 yards.

First sit of the season at a new property

Now back to this past weekend. When I arrived at the cabin it wasn't raining, so I quickly unloaded the truck and got 2 tree stands loaded on my deer cart. On top of hunting, I had the goal of putting up 4 tree stands on the neighboring public hunting properties to hunt later in the season. I pulled the stands to a ridge that starts about a half mile from the cabin then headed further down the ridge to a fence gap with one of the stands. I ended up spooking a large buck and having 2 does come through as I was setting up the tree stand, which I thought was a great sign. As I finished putting the lock on the tree stand, I heard some rumbling in the distance and realized that a storm was moving in. With no chance at making it back to the cabin, I waited out the down pour before putting up the 2nd tree stand about 200 yards away from the first at the head of the same ridge. 

Now soaking wet, I headed back to the cabin with hopes of getting a 3rd stand up before heading out to hunt for the evening. Back at the cabin I threw another stand on my shoulder and headed south of the property to another location that dad and I had decided on while scouting during the off season. This location is only about 100 yards south of my property line, out on the end of a travel ridge that leads up to my food plots. The idea is to catch the deer headed to my food plots in the evening on their way out for a bite to eat.

On the way back to change into my hunting clothes, I snapped some pictures of the big field food plots. The deer are really hammering the remaining soybeans and have started to dig into the brassicas as well.

Glad I broadcast the brassicas into the remaining soybeans

Winds had popped in a couple sides of my pop up blind that I put on the middle of the big field so I snapped a couple of pictures when I went over to straighten that out as well. I was amazed at how much browsing pressure the brassica leaves had received because normally the deer leave them alone until late season.

Big field food plot #2 looking very good

We grow big turnips for big deer

I was happy that the rain had stopped and was even more happy to have 3 of my 4 tree stands up and ready to hunt later in the season. I was soaked head to toe as I got back to the cabin to change and head out to a tree stand on the small field food plot. On Labor Day weekend we put up a tree stand on the East side of the food plot near where I almost killed a doe late last November with my bow. We can only hunt it on S/SE winds and Friday evening the wind was coming from the SE. I ended up being chased out of the stand early by some thunder and lightening and didn't see any deer. I did, however, have 5 turkeys within 20 yards but sadly no turkey tag in my pocket. 

Ready change into some dry clothes and head to my evening tree stand

Turkeys at close range

The next morning I woke up to pouring rain and decided to just fall back asleep. After eating some breakfast the rain had slowed but not stopped so I put on my rain coat and headed out to pull the last 2 trail camera cards. I was originally planning to move the cameras around but decided not to mess with it because of the rain. I tried to wait the rain out more as I searched through the thousands of pictures from the last month but finally gave in and decided to head out in the rain to get the last tree stand set up. 

I had about a mile walk and my shoulders were already sore from hauling stands the day before. I finally made it to another spot that dad and I had picked out while scouting last winter only to find a large tree fallen across the main travel path that the deer had been using. I decided to split the distance between this location and where I shot a buck last season (that I never recovered). After getting the stand in place I headed back to the cabin to dry off and wait out the rain. By 2 pm it was done raining and I was in the tree stand on the big field food plot just after 3:00. The NE wind was perfect for the stand and I ended up having a fantastic sit. I saw 4 does total and should have gotten a shot at one of them. She caught me off guard while I was watching 2 other does across the field and by the time I got my bow drawn back she was walking through my final shooting lane before heading out of the field. 

Sitting the big field tree stand on Saturday evening

Doe feeding across the food plot

I always seem to have some good luck seeing deer on opening weekend each year and this year was no different. Even with the rainy weather, I got a couple of good sits in. Perhaps more importantly, I got 4 new tree stand locations all set up and ready to go for later in the season. Dad and I worked hard scouting this off season and I have a lot of confidence in these locations. 

Next weekend is a big one for me as I hope to get out hunting a couple of times close to home, but more importantly I am taking my youngest daughter, Bridget, hunting with me for the 1st time. She is 4 years old and has been begging to come along for a couple of years now. We plan to head down to the cabin for an evening sit on Saturday in one of the box blinds and to spend the night at the cabin. It doesn't really matter to me if we see anything, I just love the opportunity to spend time in the outdoors with my girls. I hope and pray that they will have the same love and appreciation of nature that I do.