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.