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.