Laurel Ridge Farm: Bonus Weekend Bust

Sunday, December 16, 2018

Bonus Weekend Bust

We had a monsoon on Friday into Saturday. Everything was soaked but temperatures and wind weren't too bad.

Dave and Grant were in the main field stand on Saturday afternoon and I was in the pond stand.

The visibility came and went. Dave saw a doe and six point buck and then Junior showed up coming out of the tree line at 70 yards. He gave Dave a broadside shot and he took it. Dave saw him head back into the woods and jump the barbed wire. He took a look before losing light and found no sign.

I saw a spike and a button buck before the visibility diminished. There was 15 minutes of shooting light left when I took this shot. We took a better look in the dark with flashlights and still found no sign. Dave was starting to question whether his scope could be off.

This was our biggest kill. Marshmallows do seem to work best.

We hunted the morning and didn't see anything. Then we went to the range and checked Dave's gun. It was about 2" low and 3" to the right from 100 yards. Should have been plenty good to kill on a broadside shot at 70 yards.

So we went to the spot and tried to track him. In daylight, visibility was great in the woods. We tromped all around and never found a sign. We covered all of the woods below the main field stand.

I also decided to unload my muzzleloader. It misfired twice - glad that I hadn't seen a buck. I loaded it before gun week and never unloaded it. It had been in the rain etc. No surprise really. I also checked the 45-70. It was right on.

This is Junior that Dave had at 70 yards. He's a very nice deer. Really wide.

So Sunday evening I was on my own with the 45-70. Visibility sucked and we had pretty well mucked up the area around the main and pond stand. So I went to the driveway.

Other than the fog, it was a decent night. Light winds. Visibility came and went. At last light, I could see 4 deer bodies in silhouette up right under the main field stand. Figures.