Muzzle loader season.
I shoot my muzzle loader fairly often, but the last time I hunted with it was probably about 10 years ago. With unseasonably warm temperatures and more vacation to burn, I got all my hunting stuff out and headed back out to Indiana.
I drove to Mike's and set up my climber in my favorite tree about half way up the back ridge. It was warm but cloudy. The wind was just enough for the air to feel cooler than it actually was when sitting still on the stand. The wind was light enough for me to think I could hear well, but in reality it was just enough to make hearing anything but the closest squirrels difficult.
The afternoon past quite quickly even without any napping. I kept an eye out for any deer, even those that would be too far away to shoot. As it started to get dark, there were hints of a nice sunset, but the clouds quickly took over for a very long drawn out dusk.
About ten minutes before the end of shooting light, I heard something in front of me, to the left. Looking down from my treestand, I saw a deer working its way toward me. As it did so, I also noticed the very impressive antlers on his head. As it got closer, I could see it had good mass too, maybe not real tall, but one of the best deer I've seen in several years. The body on the deer was also very large; his back and neck looked almost like a horse. I thought about shooting it for a few seconds, but no longer than that. Indiana only allows hunters one antlered deer per year and I shot a 7-point on opening morning.
He was only a little wary of me, and at about 15 yards away, he stared at me for a couple minutes. He must have decided I wasn't a threat, and continued walking behind the tree right next to me (when it would have been very easy to get my gun up) and behind me to my left.
He continued to walk to the south, and I waited until he was well past where we could see each other before climbing down and walking back to my truck.
While I almost would have rather have seen a big doe, seeing a big buck like that, so close was very exciting. He probably has a decent chance of making it through the season at this point, and if he does, he'll be a brute next year.
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Friday came with me waking before my alarm. Since sunrise is getting later and later, and my treestand was already set up, I didn't need to leave until almost 6:00.
Once back at Mike's, I was able to quickly get comfortable about 45 minutes before shooting light. Temperatures hadn't decreased much at all overnight. The wind had died down considerably, and continued to do so through the morning.
Right at sunrise, I heard a ruckus behind me and peered around to see two turkeys. I'm seeing turkeys more and more which I'm really glad about. I love seeing them, and maybe in a few more years I'll be able to rationalize hunting them at Mike's too.
The rest of the morning past slowly. Squirrels were running around like crazy, but no deer were. By 10:00, I was ready to call it a morning. It was the first sit on a stand this season when I didn't see any deer. Such is the late season.
With more time off coming up, I still have the rest of muzzle loader and the late doe only season - if I choose to. So far, this has been one of the more enjoyable deer seasons in recent years.
