Here's the teaser shot - I did have some success. But, as always, I had drama and misadventures.
We had a new addition in deer camp this year. This is Tommy (T3) - my grandson.
Eric, Jeni and Tommy stayed over after Thanksgiving to participate in a couple days of gun season. Tommy can be rather adventurous.
I guess he was interested in the Christmas tree.
He got the hang of deer camp - eating, drinking and frolicking.
Working on some new teeth so he has a bit of the slobber going on.
Anyway, on opening morning Eric went to the barn stand with both a camera and a gun. He just took pictures because there were no deer.
I went to the main hi-rise because there was finally evidence of deer using the turnips. They've been munching the bulbs.
I had 3 does come in but I was waiting for a buck. Dave hunted the pond stand and didn't see much.
For the evening hunt, I went to the driveway stand. We had some rain/sleet going on during power hour. That's us right under the intersection of the green, blue and pink.
Eric went to the pond stand and took the camera. This is zoomed out.
This is zoomed in.
Dave went to the valley due to high winds but he didn't see anything.
Eric had several groups of does come thru the field.
Eventually they started to accumulate.
He had 6 does out there at one point and his phone battery died. He started to lose light. That's when the large buck stepped out - but it only had one antler. He wasn't sure what to do and couldn't get any advice due to the dead phone - so he passed. It was the frequent visitor - the mutant buck.
Tuesday morning was uneventful other than frozen steps to the stands. Eric and I bumped a doe on the walk in. Eric and family left Tuesday mid day for the drive to Chicago. This photo is the walk to the stand on Tuesday afternoon. The fog came in.
At 4:43, I decided to take a few pictures to show how bad the fog was. This is toward the orchard and the barn from the main field hi-rise.
Then I turned the other way toward the driveway and took this shot. That's when I noticed the buck in the turnips.
He was there in the photo. This is it blown up with him circled. At first I could only see one rack and thought that it was the mutant. They I saw the second antler and decided to take the shot. I got the scope up and had trouble finding him in all the gray fog.
This is the same view taken the next morning. There's a patch of green oats in the turnips and he was standing just past that patch. Turned out to be 115 yards. I thought I made a good shot. He turned and ran but looked hurt. He disappeared into the fog. I reloaded, got down and used the last 30 minutes of light to look for blood - none. Dave and I went out after dark with the Ranger and lights - nothing. We decided to wait till morning (39 degrees).
I went out to that stand Wednesday morning and when it got light, I went looking for sign. I didn't find any in the field. I walked bigger and bigger circles in the field. Nothing. I crossed the driveway and went into the tree line by the driveway stand. I walked the edge all the way up to the front gate. I walked back a little deeper in the woods. I found this directly behind the driveway stand. I tracked the blood deeper in the woods and found where he bedded. I followed the trail to the edge of the hill and looked over. 100 yards downhill thru the trees I saw a whitetail stand up and move 30 yards. I couldn't see it clearly and it stopped behind trees. Only the hind end showed behind the trees and I was sure it had to be the buck even though I couldn't see the head. I was afraid of it taking off running so I took a shot at it to break it down. It went about 10 yards and went down. I reloaded and then went down the slope to find him in a creek bed unable to get up. I finished him from 30 yards.
This was him where he dropped in the creek bottom. Dave got a Ranger and came out to meet me.
We field dressed him, took a few photos and then started the long uphill drag to the Ranger.
Whew, finally made it. So glad to have Dave to help.
We got him hung up, cleaned out and did the inspection. It's all still a bit of a mystery. If you're squeamish, you might want to skip the rest of this paragraph. He had bullet holes thru both hind legs in meat above the knees. He had a broken leg and glancing shot in the front of one of the same legs. And he had the finishing shot entering chest cavity high near spine. The best theory is that the shot the night before went thru the back of both legs. That's an incredibly bad shot but it is consistent with him leaving on 4 legs. The meat wounds also wouldn't leave blood initially. The broken bone and front of leg damage is probably the shot I took offhand, downhill, thru the woods at his back half. It did break him down so he couldn't flee. The only good shot was the finishing shot. I am not proud of the marksmanship or the overnight distress that he experienced.
He is a very nice buck with a 22" spread and a typical 8 point rack. He weighed in at 149 pounds field dressed.
Dave is a good hunting buddy and he refrained from ridiculing me for the poor shot. Maybe it was the fog? Or maybe I just yanked it somehow.
He has nice tine length and main beam mass. A couple of small stickers near the bases.
Photo op.
A few shots to get a really good look at him.
Here I am going to a mid-day hunt in the ladder stand. No luck.
On Wednesday evening, I took the camera to the barn stand while hunting for a doe. I caught this owl landing on a pine branch about 100 yards from my stand. I had no luck on the doe and Dave didn't have any success in the main field. The black lab chasing deer didn't help.
Thursday morning was a heavy frost. I went to the pond stand looking for a doe. Only wanted to make one trip to the processor.
As the sun came up, the frost became fog. Not much moving.
I did end up with 18 turkeys in the field - none of them had beards. I will continue in another post with the rest of the week activities.
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