2016 Deer Hunt Part 3 (Thanksgiving Surprise)

And every good buck needs a story behind it...

For the last few Thanksgivings, I've hunted in the afternoon.  I don't watch football, I can only read so much at one time and there really isn't anything on broadcast TV in the afternoon.  Hunting alleviates cabin fever.
Thanksgiving hunting started in 2013, when a doe ended my two year dry spell.  That hunt for "only" a doe ranks very high in my memorable deer hunts.

I wasn't sure if I was going to go out this year, but the weather was about right, and hunting seemed like a quiet way to spend a couple hours.  I packed up my gear and got changed into my hunting clothes.  SO is very understanding of this, so we planned to have the turkey and fixins' done about an hour after legal shooting light ended.

I got out to my stand and set up.  It was cool but not cold.  Surprisingly, I think I heard Mike's neighbor's ATV as he must have been hunting too.  Usually I have the woods to myself on Thanksgiving.

The time past slowly which was fine.  I was comfortable and the squirrels were running around enough to keep me on my toes.  Darkness was approaching and with the heavy cloud cover, I knew daylight was going to be short.  

My sixth sense told me to turn around and as I did, I saw a doe deep in the thick brush in the small ravine behind me to my right.  I initially wasn't sure I would be able to get her at the very awkward angle, so just watched, hoping she would make her way to a better shooting lane.

I heard a deer grunt loudly to my left.  Interesting - probably a buck.  Part 2 had told me there were at least a few small bucks in the area, so I concentrated on the doe.  At some point he grunted again, but wouldn't show himself.

Figuring I didn't have much to lose, I slowly got up and turned around, watching the doe.  Movement far off behind her caught my eye and I saw a buck following her.  He was in the thick brush where I originally saw the doe; I could see antler, but not very  much and was still planning on trying to take the doe.  My safety harness strap was slightly annoyingly in my way, but I won't use a climber without one.

The buck turned around and ran back the way he came.  He was chasing away at least one, probably two other bucks.  The doe must be hot!

After the chase, he ran back into the thick brush, classic buck behavior with his nose down smelling.  Now I got a look at his antlers - this was not another garden variety small buck.  My attention focused on the buck.  The doe by this point was starting to notice me.

I have taken "backwards" shots from the stand before, trying to use the back of my climber as a rest.  It usually works, but never works well.  I made the decision that an offhand shot was probably the better option should things progress.  The two deer were probably approaching, but still under 100 yards away.

I watched the doe start working away from me.  Having a few minutes to watch the deer, I was more calm now - not calm, but more calm than I was...

The buck trailed the doe out of the thick brush in the ravine.  Fading light.  Crosshairs behind shoulder.  Is it a clean picture?  Yes.  My .243 barked for the second time this season.

Mr. big took off.  I saw a couple of other deer run as well - I wasn't sure which was the one I shot at by the time I lost sight of them.  I figured either a solid hit, or a clean miss.  I wasn't sure which since all the deer running muffled any sound of a deer balling up.

I waited a few minutes, but with dark approaching, noted where he was when I shot, where he ran, and climbed down.  Before looking for blood, I decided to head to where I was pretty sure he ran.  It only took a couple minutes to find him.  And he was big.  Not just his antlers, but his body was really big too.  My shot had broken his front shoulder - I'm not quite sure how he even ran.

I noted where he was and quickly packed out my stand.  On the way out, I decided that if Mike was home, I'd ask to use his four wheeler.  Mr. Antlers had expired within 20 yards from the end of the property.  I was not looking forward to dragging him all the way out.  I wasn't even sure I could.

I texted SO that I would be late, and went to Mike's house.  Mike and I talked the ATV for a few minutes - apparently it needed a battery - but should start.  Bless his heart, Mike said he would get the ATV running and meet me in the back; I would field dress the buck.

I met Mike in the deep ravine.  His quad was a bit of a mess, he had an external battery pack, and he was sitting on some pieces of Styrofoam.  It was very slow going.  We made a Plan B.  Mike had his SO (bless her heart too) call the neighbors to see if they would let me drive back to close to where the buck was.

Keep in mind, this IS still Thanksgiving.  It is also pitch black by this point.

Neighbors were very gracious, so I left Mike to work his way back home and drove around the block.  The neighbor was a good guy and I talked to him for a few minutes before he gave me directions.  Surprisingly, I ended up driving to within 30 yards of deer, and the drag was mostly down hill.  Getting him into the bed of the truck was still a major effort.

I drove back around to Mike's to see if he needed help with the ATV.  His SO said that he wasn't back yet.  I headed down to where I had left Mike.  Not only did I not see him anywhere, I didn't hear the ATV anymore.  I yelled his name a few times.  Nothing.

Oh SH*T.  I ran back and checked Mike's barn.  Nothing.

I ran back to talk to Mike's SO again - I am terrified that he has flipped the quad somewhere on the very steep terrain.  Back at the house, Mike answers his phone when SO calls.  Good, but not good.  He got turned around in the dark, abandoned the quad and is now "a little lost."

This set off a chain of events of shining car headlights into the woods.  Me running around with a flashlight (hoping not to get lost too).  Phone calls back and forth about where Mike thinks he is.  Me feeling absolutely terrible about getting him into this situation.  More phone calls.  Yelling.  More flashlights...

And this goes on for hours.  Keep in mind, this IS still Thanksgiving.  It is beyond pitch black by this point.

Eventually Mike sees a house light and works his way towards it.  Mike's kindly neighbor gives him a ride back to his house, but not before family, 911 and the volunteer firemen are in the mix.

We all meet up back at Mike's.  SO calls off the cavalry, but a couple volunteers do show up a few minutes later.

We talk for a few minutes.  Mike apologizes for getting lost, I apologize for getting everyone into this mess.  I ask if I can come back to hunt next year if I promise to NOT ask for the ATV.  Everyone laughs and SO tells me to please come back.

Thanksgiving.  Much to be thankful for.  Very good people.  Great people.  Good endings.  Good stories.

Back at home past my bedtime, I reheat Thanksgiving dinner.  My SO is very understanding about this.  She had eaten hours previous.  Since all ended well, the situation is more humorous than anything else by this point.

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Between the late dinner (ugh), my Thanksgiving Day naps, the deer, the "excitement" in the land of the lost, I wasn't really able to sleep.  Up early, I had another deer take care of and decisions to make about taxidermy.

Processing a moose of a deer was a whole different animal (pun intended) from the small one back on opening day.  Skinning the deer was relatively straight forward, but I had to take extra time on the front half of the animal since I was almost certainly sure to have him mounted.

A post mortem on the bullet told an incomplete story.  The bullet entered his shoulder and after absolutely shattering the bone, it and/or fragments of bone proceeded into the neck and chest.  It would appear that the injuries in the neck were the most devastating.  Not perfect shot placement or bullet performance, but given the offhand shot I was satisfied.  Even without a clearly identified exit hole, I was not able to recover the slug, or any part of it.
The deer also had an older grazing shot across one leg.  Someone had missed a nice 'un.  It happens.
People get all negatively excited looking at bullet performance.  A bullet has a very difficult job to do - and the fact that any post mortem can be done says that the bullet did its job - end of story.  I'll probably continue to hunt deer with my .243, but given the size of this deer, I probably would have been better off with my 30.06.

Much of the rest of the day was spent cutting out meat and subsequently grinding most of it up.  Mr. Big had almost no fat on him, and the loins looked like tree logs of deep dark red meat.  They will be good, but care will have to be taken in the cooking of them.

I had three options for taxidermist.  Guy 1 was the guy who I've gone with for many animals.  He does good work, but takes forever.  Actually a little longer than forever.  He's a fun guy, but after my bear rug took over 2 1/2 years - and he said that he lost money on it since he switched tanners in the middle, I just couldn't go back to him.
Guy 2 did my 2014 bear.  Did a fantastic job in a short amount of time.  Not too personable - but I guess that doesn't matter.  His website suggests he is going part time soon and the location is really far away (closer to my old job).
I decided to go with Guy 3.  Younger dude I had talked to a few times.  His work looks really good and he has lots of good reviews online.
I arranged to drop off the deer in the evening.  He has a real nice shop far off the road not too far away.  We BS'd for quite a while, talking hunting.  I "helped" him skin out the skull which was fun.  He made it look so easy, but I'm very well aware the taxidermy is both a skill and an art.  I believe my future 13-point mount is in good hands.

I'm probably done deer hunting for the year.  In the short term, I'm ready for a couple boring days.  Longer term, I guess I'll have to find some other way to alleviate cabin fever.

Every deer season is different, and all are great in their own way.

2016 Deer Hunt Part 2

After letting things settle down in the woods, I was back out in my 2-tree again Monday evening.  I typically have much more luck seeing deer in the morning, but I don't like wasting time and setting up in the evening makes it MUCH easier to get going quickly and quietly for a morning hunt.
Alas, Monday was very quiet.  No deer were seen and little to no shooting was heard.  So it goes.
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Tuesday morning came dark and early.  With the stand set up, I was able to lollygag a little before heading out to Mike's.  I always try to pull in to his property quietly, even knowing that he has a driveway alarm...

Temperatures were near freezing, but with no wind it felt extremely comfortable.  As daylight brightened, it turned out Tuesday morning was go-time!
Right around sunrise, a crunching noise told me that an animal - not a squirrel - was nearby.  Looking around, the first thing I saw were two dogs.  They were both quite large, with a reddish brown one and a very pale dog that looked almost like a Lab.  The dogs were quite obviously where I had gutted my deer on opening day, and seemed quite content to sample the awful offal there.

What I had actually heard though, was a buck coming from the southwest.  He was almost a respectable deer.  He had one nice antler, but his other side was broken or misshapen somehow - it was also much smaller.  I had shot one like this several years previous so I almost wonder if there is some genetic cause for this.  More likely, his growing antler was damaged early in the year.  I had previously decided that Tuesday was the day to hold out for anything interesting.  He was not interesting enough to take, so I enjoyed watching him as he worked his way out of my area.
A short time later, a crashing, crunching noise foretold more deer coming.  Five deer of various sizes came walking right in front of me from the east.  They were all very calm and didn't seem worried, despite being very near me.  I like it when this happens as it gives evidence that my scent control is working at least reasonably well.  The five deer milled around in front of me as a noise behind told of more deer.  Slowly turning around, I saw two more deer come from the far south.  They were farther than the five in front of me, but still relatively close.
Another deer came toward me from the northwest.  This was a buck that at first I thought was the same buck I had seen at sunrise, but I'm quite sure it was a different one since his rack looked much more uniform and smaller.
At this moment, I had eight deer - all scattered within 50 yards of me.  That is a lot of eyes and noses!
I was quite curious how this situation was going to play out.  The deer all seemed to be sizing each other up.  The buck was sniffing, maybe hoping for a hint of estrous.
What finally broke up the situation was the two dogs, still on the gut pile, barking.  The five deer in front of me ran off, with the two behind me retreating slowly as well.  I was quite surprised that both the dogs and the deer had remained in the area so close to each other for so long.
The buck remained in front of me for several more minutes, before slowly working his way off to the west.
It has been several years since I've seen that many deer at one time and place while hunting in Indiana.

A bit more time past before a small button buck came on me from the west.  He could have been the twin to the deer I had already shot.  He walked right past me, unconcerned about anything other than the small amount of browse in the woods.

Another half hour or so past before more crunching brought a very large doe toward me from the east.  She was nervous, saw me and stopped.  She didn't seem to happy, but continued on her way; she was close enough that I could see her mouth open and tongue out as she walked past.  I suspect she had been trying to escape from some threat - real or imagined.

Another 15 minutes or so past when I heard and saw four more deer working their way from the east to the southwest.  Jeepers there has been a lot of deer activity this Tuesday morning.

But, I held off on the trigger to see if anything interesting showed up.  I wasn't disappointed in the least about not shooting, since seeing that many deer in one morning made for one of the most activity-filled hunting days in a long time.

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With all the activity Tuesday morning, I probably would have stayed out all day if I wasn't so hungry.  After a rest at home, I went back out Tuesday evening.

A combine was harvesting corn somewhere to the west.  It is sometimes surprising how loud something like that can be even when it is hundreds of yards away.  Rural life is not always quiet and peaceful.
Tuesday evening was quite slow.  I only saw one deer, and it was very far to the southeast.  Far to far away and through too much brush to shoot, at least I wasn't skunked for the evening.

The neatest thing that I saw that afternoon was a raccoon coming out of a hollow knot in the tree right next to me.  The knot isn't all that big, and the raccoon was quite rotund.  He struggled and grunted to actually get out of the hole that appeared about half of the diameter of his body.  I couldn't help but wonder how (or why) he got in there - or possibly he got in through the broken off top of the tree.  Watching him was quite humorous and goes a long way to explain how wonderful hunting can be even with little game in the area.  I can see no other way to observe magical moments like this.
The raccoon carefully surveyed the area before climbing down the tree.  Once on the ground, I was surprised how quietly he moved away through the crunchy leaves.  Compared to the horrendously noisy squirrels, the raccoon seemed to float above the dry leaves.

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Wednesday woke up cool and foggy.  After slowly getting ready, I drove out to Mike's.  Patchy dense fog made driving quite slow in spots.  As Tuesday had unfolded with much activity, but no big antlers, I was not planning on being very picky.

Up in the tree well before daylight, it felt colder than it actually was due to the heavy damp air.  With a very bright moon the ethereal fog could be seen meandering around.  As daylight started to brighten the sky, it looked almost eerie.

Road noise seemed much more pronounced than previous days.  Mike's house is more remote than mine, but I think his actually has more ambient noise, especially on days when noise seems to carry so efficiently.

I was hopeful that Tuesday morning's activity was a premonition that the deer would be really moving for a few days.  It was not to be.  I only saw one deer very var off to the south.
Despite the surreal foggy scenery early in the morning, it was quite a long few hours sitting on the stand.

Temperatures were rising quickly, with near record highs forecast along with strengthening wind - I can hunt in cold weather all day, but wind is not my friend - I was thinking about how to spend the next day.
With some unfinished chores at home, this was to be my last hunt for at least a few days.  I climbed down out of my stand and as I started gathering stuff up, a deer which must have watched me climb down snort-wheezed and ran off to the west.  I always look around before climbing down, but must have missed it.  I wasn't upset about not seeing much in the morning, but that deer running off made me inexplicably frustrated.  After a short walk to the far south edge of the property, noting several rubs and an untended scrape, I packed my stand out.

I'll probably kick myself on Thursday morning for not going out, but other stuff should get done before Brother North-Wind starts blowing.  And while I love hunting, coffee and waffles in the morning will also be welcome.

2016 Deer Hunt (Part 1?)

On the weekend before deer hunting, I normally clean up my motorcycle and get it on the trickle charger.  Typically this makes sense as morning temperatures are more reliably cold, even with some warm afternoons remaining.  2016 has not been normal though, as temperatures remained consistently warm.  Opening day of Indiana's gun season was also relatively early in the month.  We've only had one hard frost.

The warm temperatures made me somewhat ambivalent about deer hunting.  It is a little hard to get excited about it when I'm still wearing shorts nearly every day.

So it was either a blessing or a curse that opening morning came on November 12 as the coldest day of the year so far - not that a few degrees below freezing is really all that cold.  I was up early, and out the door.  The air pressure in my truck tire had held OK after plugging a nail hole the previous evening, and I was at Mike's with plenty of time for the arduous walk to the back of his property and up my tree.

As I was setting up my treestand, a heard at least one deer in the area, not too happy with the intrusion.  I got set up as quickly and quietly as I could, and sat waiting for light; the warm fall meant I was not yet cold-hardy and various parts of me seemed to take turns being uncomfortable.

As legal shooting light approached, I could see a deer walk slowly behind me.  It was just light enough to see it, but not light enough to see if it had antlers or much else.  Even though there wasn't enough light to see it clearly, I was glad that it didn't seem spooked so close to me.

Daylight slowly built with little wind.  Shooting started, although it seemed there was less shooting than many years.  Indiana is trying to reduce the deer population due to the threat of some communicative diseases that can affect both deer and cows.  Over the last few years it has really started to show in deer numbers.

At some point, Mike's neighbor shot a few times.  I saw a deer across the ravine.  I heard him shoot a couple more times which I thought was quite odd.  After quite some time, several deer ran down into the ravine.  They were probably at the limits of my shooting distance given my gun and the brush, but they were moving quickly and I just watched them work their way off to the west.

This is the first year Indiana is allowing centerfire bottle-necked rifles for deer hunting.  I'm not terribly happy that the law allowing this was made in the legislature.  When it comes to wildlife policy, I've always believed wildlife officers and professionals are better equipped to make sound policy.  Still, there is ample evidence that rifles can be as safe, if not safer than shotgun slugs (see search for the Pennsylvania study that look at the two - the original study keeps getting moved).  Indiana has been close to allowing this for years, but pressure from non-wildlife sources have pressured the conversation away from policy based on science, safety and wildlife management.

I'm using my .243, which is a firearm I've hunted with a few times but never taken anything with.  Compared to my bazooka 12 gauge fully rifled slug gun, my reach in the brushy, hilly area I hunt is probably about the same.  But it is an easier gun to shoot well.

A short time later, I heard Mike's neighbor working his way around on his 4-wheeler.  I suspect this made the deer I had just seen a bit nervous, and they worked their way back east, coming up the ravine behind me.  The two does and two smaller yearlings were nervous, but not in a panic.  Coming behind me from my awkward right, I had no shot.  As they worked to my left, they were moving too fast.  I tried to get the scope on one of them, but wisely let them run on their way.

I was figuring at this point that I'd be in for the long wait.  I usually spend all opening day in the tree stand as with lots of hunters in the woods, deer movement can happen all day.  But movement in the afternoon is almost always slow.

Temperatures were warming and just as I was thinking about eating a snack, I looked over to my left and a deer had approached me.  I could see it was a smaller deer, and had the telltale smudges on his head which suggested a button buck.  I momentarily thought about holding off, but with memories of years where I hunted hard all season unsuccessfully and of years where deer seem to absolutely vanish after opening day, I quickly changed my mind.

The deer saw the movement of getting my gun up - it was slow and subtle enough to not make him panic.  He turned broadside to the south and his body language said he was assessing what he saw.

My .243 barked.  He ran - did I miss?  He ran to the west, and at the limits of my vision, just before going over into a ravine that would have taken him onto the neighbors property, I saw him drop.

I waited several minutes before climbing down out of my tree.  Slowly walking over to him, my initial assessment was correct:  a button buck on the smaller side.  My shot had been a bit low, but deer shot through both lungs go down quickly.  

I packed out my stand and came back to field dress him.  The good part of a smaller deer is dragging him through the ravines is much easier than some of the large deer I've shot through the years.  

Mike came to talk for a short while as I was getting ready to check him in through Indiana's online check system. 

Back at home, Mr. Button Buck was hung in the pole barn.  I cleaned up a bit and ended up feeling like I was wasting hunting season for much of the afternoon.  History has taught me that after shooting, gutting, and dragging, plus with all the other mayhem of opening day, it is often best to let things settle down for a couple days before going back out.

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Much of Sunday was spent processing the deer.  I let things warm up a little before skinning him and carving out the meat.  Very little meat was damaged from the bullet, but it did look like a bullet fragment had separated and gone toward the neck and far front shoulder.  Spending time getting all the meat available is one of the reasons I butcher them myself.  Doing it this way takes quite a bit of time.  The kitchen gets a good scrub down after.  I should probably clean the deer blood off of the floor of the pole barn some day too.

With vacation that must be used before the end of the year, I don't think I'm done hunting yet.  And with one in the pot, I can enjoy the time and take time to see if anything interesting comes by.