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.