Here I am on the way out to the stand. It got up to almost 60F and the snow was melting off the fields. The wind was from the south so I decided to hunt the barn stand.
Poop of the week - a buck bomb in the field I was hunting. After two months of snow and frigid temps, this was the first real nice night in weeks. It was the second to last night of the season and I made my mind up not to worry about a buck. Normally, I spend my time surrounded by does waiting for the buck to show up. I planned to watch the Super Bowl rather than hunt the last night of the season.
There was still some snow in the field but it was mostly clear.
Six does came out well before sunset and gradually worked there way closer to me. I picked the largest one and took a shot when she was about 25 yards out.
I got a nice pass-thru shot. She was quartering a little toward me and the shot went in near the shoulder. There was good blood on the arrow and a decent blood trail in the field. It stopped after about 30 yards. I just followed the prints into the tree-line but still didn't have any blood.
It didn't take long. I found her about 20 yards into the woods almost directly behind one of my trailcams on the field edge. That's the exit wound.
You can see the barn stand in the background to get an idea where she ended up.
The trailcam caught me dragging her out to the field.
It was nice to do the field-dressing while there was still some light left.
I used my new knife that I got for Christmas - sharpest edge that I've ever used.
By the time that I was done, it was getting dark. The camera clock is an hour off.
On the way back to the barn.
Since it was so warm, I put some ice on her. A cold front was coming thru over night with snow expected late in the day.
Field dressed at 84 pounds - wonder how much she's lost since November. Usually healthy adult does go about 100 to 120 field dressed on this property (in the Fall). Van is going to run the deer to the Amish processor for me on Monday.
This is my fancy new knife. It must be good since it came with a hat.
First visitor was a crow.
Over night, the power went off from 3:30 to 8:00am. I got up and fired the wood stove up again.
My TC Encore is back from the factory and I reassembled the scope. I had planned to sight it back in but it was pouring rain and 40F.
The lifetime warranty worked perfectly. TC (Smith and Wesson) covered freight both ways and replaced these parts free of charge.
We lost a branch on this maple sometime in the last week.
There is still ice in the pond and the snow depends on how much shade.
At a break in the rain, I went for a walk and checked cameras. Another example of the tree damage from the bucks. There is about a 3" trunk on this tree and every year an new sprout gets rubbed to death.
Some photos on the trailcams from last week. This high camera isn't working out very well. I relocated it.
This was the only shot on it.
Poor quality photo but a field full of deer.
No bucks on camera this week.
At first I thought this was an owl pouncing. On closer examination, it is an airborne deer fleeing the field.
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