Thursday, December 26, 2019

Holiday Week Hunts

I'm a bit behind on my blog posts as I've had a looooong last month recovering from an injured back and 2 other unrelated illnesses.

After a successful week of hunting to kick off the month of November, I headed back to the cabin the Friday before Thanksgiving to meet Justin for a few more days of hunting. Originally my dad was supposed to join us as well but a slip on ice led to an injured shoulder and he wasn't able to pull his bow back. That actually put a sour spin on the week for me but I was still hoping to get Justin on some deer.

After arriving at the cabin on Friday evening, I quickly walked around the property to pull trail camera cards. The cards revealed plenty of deer activity over the previous couple of weeks.

Returning to the cabin after pulling trail camera cards
It turned out to be a good few days of hunting even though we weren't able to put a deer on the ground. I only had an antlerless tag in my pocket, so naturally I had bucks parading by me on Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday morning I took a long walk to scout a location for late muzzleloader season. I was hunting from the ground and had the same big 8 pointer that I saw in early November walk into 25 yards giving me what would have been a perfect shot. 

Nice buck across the food plot from me on Saturday evening

Beautiful sunset on the Ridge Sunday evening
It was during that same hunt that I noticed my lower back starting to hurt and it got much worse over the next 2 days. I ended up not hunting on Monday and Tuesday at all as I was to the point that I could barely even walk because I was in so much pain. Justin ended the trip with some deer in range on Tuesday morning but he wasn't able to get a shot off. 

After being layed up with a back injury during Thanksgiving week, I came down with a case of bronchitis for 2 weeks followed by a bacterial sinus infection. After a month, I'm finally on the road to recovery with just a lingering cough. 

I did manage to sneak a trip down to the cabin on the opening day of Late Muzzleloader for a hunt with my youngest daughter, Bridget. The weather was unseasonably warm (in the mid 50s) and the deer just weren't moving but we had a good time anyways. 

Navigating the woods to check trail cameras

The cutest little hunter there ever was

Passing time while we wait in the box blind
Enjoyed a beautiful sunset

Filling out the hunting log