The weather forecast for opening day was unfriendly. Lows this time of year are typically around freezing with highs in the 50s. A cold front has pushed unseasonably cold weather into the area with temperatures around 15-20 degrees below normal. When I lived in Michigan, I hunted in very cold temperatures a lot more; a look back at historic records did show a few days that were exceptionally cold. The difference here is that the cold spell is supposed to last for quite some time, possibly through the season.
Opening morning came clear and cold. A look at my Davis Weather Station was harsher than I anticipated, showing 12 degrees. Luckily there was little wind as was to be the case for most of the day.
I bundled up in thermal underclothes, wool pants with BDU camo over that. I wore a heavy sweatshirt, fleece and wool coat with a 10x camo coat over that. For my extremities, I wore wicking socks, very heavy warm socks and thermal boots. I had my cold weather gloves and a back-up fleece pair. Add in climbing harness vest and my blaze vest, heavy knit hat and I was decked out as good as I could be.
I was out the door and at the hunting ground about an hour before shooting light. This gave me time to walk all the way back to my tree, get my climber set up and scoot up the tree. Once comfortably sitting, I noticed my stand wasn't quite pointed where I liked it, but left it where it was. I settled in, shut my eyes to wait for light. From the walk to my stand and climb up the tree, I was actually quite warm.
As it started to get light, I heard a few very early shots far in the distance. A short time later, I heard the very heavy steps of a deer far behind me. I carefully peered in that direction to see a buck walking cross-ways behind me. With not much to loose, I grunted loudly on my grunt tube and he shortly changed course, but was really traveling. He went by me at a good clip and made his way into the ravine. Since it wasn't too light yet and he was speeding past, all I can say was he was a respectable deer for the area, but I'm not a fan at shooting at animals that are moving at more than a saunter so no shot. I'm pretty sure the neighbors shot at him as I heard shooting a short time later. Subsequent sounds suggest they missed - unlike a couple years ago when they shot a whopper that I let pass for the same reason.
There was quite a bit of shooting at first light, but it was probably earlier than usual and stopped earlier than usual. Perhaps lots of people were not enjoying the insanely cold temperatures as much as I was. My assumption was that I'd be near frostbitten very early, but was able to stay very comfortable due to the low wind, low humidity and nearly cloudless skies. It did warm quickly, although it never got much above the typical low for mid-November. I was surprised I was able to stay comfortable while sitting all day.
The neighbor to the East shot around 9:00. I suspect he was trailing his deer and kicked out two more I saw scurrying away in the South ravine. They were far to far away to shoot, but their white butts were unmistakable. The neighbor waited quite some time before crashing down through the woods in his 4-wheeler, retrieving his deer. Thankfully, he usually just grabs it with a chain and drags it out quickly.
Around 11:00, I heard scrunching to my right. Looking slightly behind me to my right, I saw one doe, then a second. They were a bit wary, but not in a panic; the first one knew something wasn't right, but she never looked directly at me. They were pretty close, and I was trying to figure out how to get my gun pointed in that direction. Being right handed, that is a tough shot to take without much movement while nestled in my Summit treestand. After several minutes, the first deer decided it was too risky and retreated to the East, taking her companion with her shortly after. I was glad they left in a lackadaisical manner, as I know it is likely they'll be back by later.
A few hours later, I saw two more deer on the ravine to the south. This may have been the same two or it may not. If nothing else, I was really enjoying the day. With the cold, there was very little other shooting. I was seeing enough deer to be entertained as well. Not that this was one of those quiet rural days of deer hunting. With lots of hammering and wood being thrown around, it was obvious that some kind of construction was going on to the west. The combine to the Southeast was also noisy, but corn coming down can sometimes send the deer that hide in it back into the woods and into the crosshairs.
With as still as the day was, anything that moved nearby could be heard through the noisy dry leaves. This contributed to the amount of deer I saw, I'm sure.
Another half an hour later, I heard more noise behind me. This wasn't a crazy noisy squirrel, but really didn't sound like a deer. Craning around, I finally saw a coyote walking by a good ways to the south. No doubt the coyote is either full on offal from deer already shot, or looking to fill up shortly. I've hunted coyotes on this property before, but have only seen them while deer hunting and haven't ever shot one. Maybe I'll stop back in January and try again.
Around 3:00 I had three more deer come out of the ravine to my right (East) and head west. It appeared to be two does and a yearling. They were too far south to shoot, but I was very tempted. For a brief instance, I did have a clear shooting lane on one of the does, but it just didn't feel like the right shot to take. They casually walked to the west. I didn't hear any commotion to the west, so the people who sometimes hunt there must have gone inside to be warm and waste time in front of the TV. I was enjoying myself too much to think about that.
Around 5:00, I had two more deer come out of the ravine to the East. I've always thought that ravine should be a travel route for deer, but this is the first year that I've seen deer use it as such, and lots of them. They headed South out of my life, casually again - they'll be back by and the season has lots of time yet. I'd seen 12 deer on opening day so far, which makes it a pretty good day for the area I'm hunting - even with most of them being does!
As it started to get dark, three more deer came behind me to the east. They were too far to shoot in the dimming light, but the first doe that came out was a horse. It may have been the biggest doe I've ever seen. Behind her was a smaller deer and an average-sized doe. I watched them head west, knowing my opening day was about over due to the dark when suddenly, one of the deer ran like crazy straight down toward me and started jumping up and down. It was odd... Even in the dim light, I had a clear shot. I checked my watch and put the crosshairs on her. I tried to tell myself it was the middle-sized doe, but I knew it was the smaller deer (there was no chance it was the monster-doe).
After asking myself if this was a good shot in the fading light, I said yes and pulled the trigger. The muzzle flash from my shotgun was unbelievably bright. I've shot in low light, but never remember seeing so much blast. Maybe it was from the Hornady slugs or maybe it was just really dark from the clouds rolling in; probably some of both. I heard the deer run and ball up, but not exactly where. After waiting for a few minutes, I started to climb out of the tree, hearing one of the other deer wheeze and run away.
I was able to quickly find my deer. He was a button buck. Definitely not the biggest deer in the woods, but a lot bigger than a few deer I've seen shot before (the smallest being this deer a guy named Tony shot - which could almost have been put inside the average-sized deer I shot that year).
I packed my stand and gun out to my truck and returned with my knives. Using my headlight for light, I field dressed him. I completely removed the breast bone this time, a technique I haven't used before, but it sure makes short work of cleanly removing the heart and lungs.
Then the real work begins. Even with the smaller-than-average deer, it is a lot of work to drag it all the way back to my truck and the last hill is very high and painful. Eventually I made it up and was able to check in my deer from right there using Indiana's online deer checking tool. Thank you Indiana, online check-in is awesome!
Back at home, I hung up my deer and cleaned out the rest of my stuff form my truck. Last year I shot my deer on Thanksgiving evening, and the previous two years I did not get a deer. It has been a few years at least since I got one on opening day.
The next day I woke up a bit sore from sitting all opening day, dragging the deer and because my feet were in a somewhat frigid state all day. I processed my deer, skinning it and butchering it in my pole barn. I actually have a bit of last year's deer left, so I packed the backstraps and tenderloins as steaks and ground up the rest for burger. I may still go out and try for another. But, with the freezer quite full from a very large bear, plus a bit of wild boar and 2013 deer, I'm probably better off being happy with what I have.
And, I am.
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