As we were getting ready, Evan said something about rain, "Well, it's just wet." Looking at the radar, rain was coming in from the east. It didn't look terrible but didn't look good either. I grabbed my rain suit before heading out on the porch. Soon enough we piled into Rick's truck. I guess a 10% chance of rain really doesn't mean 0% chance.
I was the last to be dropped off on the 48 acre Powell farm. I found my blind easily enough and got set up. I was glad for the covered blind since it was raining pretty hard at times. The rain on the metal roof was quite noisy, but that was a small price to pay. The chair was also quite comfortable.
The clouds and rain make daylight slow to make its appearance. About an hour after daylight I saw movement as a group of four deer came in, two does and two spikes. They milled around, in and out of the area. They were a bit nervous, but only a bit.
Two more deer came in through the morning - another doe and another spike. It was still a nice enough morning to start the week.
Aaron had seen one legal buck, but didn't shoot since it was too thin. Evan and Don had seen deer, but no shooters. Aaron had also seen hogs, but didn't shoot since they were in a direction where he wasn't sure where it was relative to the house.
Back at the lodge we had breakfast. Still not feeling great, I tried to nap. A walk down to the river also helped a bit. I don't think I've ever seen the river this low.
Soon enough it was time to roll out for afternoon deer.
I was dropped off on the same stand Aaron was on in the morning. The weather was hot and humid and the chair wasn't too comfortable - so it took a few minutes to get situated. As I was sitting down, I saw a yearling right outside the blind. It stayed in the area and came within a few feet of me. It was so small that I could still faintly see spots.
The yearling left and came back a few times, but it never went near the corn which seemed a little odd.
It was a hot and breezy afternoon which did not help deer movement. In the confines of the blind, it was almost uncomfortable with the humidity.
The afternoon progressed slowly. Late afternoon a tall spike (maybe a 4-point) came out. It rubbed antlers on a tree to my left, then milled around for a while. A doe also made an appearance, but again, most of the deer showed little interest in the corn.
At one point I could hear pigs way off in the distance. They were fighting and carrying on. I hoped they would come in, but they didn't seem to be moving anywhere.
With time to kill, I asked Google Gemini to add a big dear to a picture from the blind. I was surprised it did a reasonably good job - even making the deer a bit blurry fitting in with the lower light image. I didn't dare send it to Rick, but did show him later. I could see the steam rising for a few seconds before he realized it wasn't real.
As it got dark a group of 4-5 does came out to my left. At last light, I saw them working toward the corn (finally).
It had been a slow night all around. I had seen more deer than anyone, but not the right deer.
Dinner was rice and field peas, which I really like before calling it a day.
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