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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Big field food plot #2 looking very good |
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| 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.
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| Ready change into some dry clothes and head to my evening tree stand |
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| 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.
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| Sitting the big field tree stand on Saturday evening |
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| 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.
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