A Sneak Attack (October 8, 2017)
In the last hunting post, "Doomed by Weather," I mentioned that I was excited about a forecasted cold front. Unfortunately, the front was a few days behind schedule, but I still would get to experience the front if I hunted the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 10.
Instead of cold weather, I was forced to deal with temperatures in the mid-70's to start my hunt on Sunday, Oct. 8. I arrived at the hunting property around 3:45 p.m. and immediately knew I had made a mistake. All week, I had talked about how I was going to be hunting during the Wisconsin youth gun hunt (Oct. 7-8). That didn't bother me at all, but the fact that I had to wear blaze orange was something that totally slipped my mind until I got to the hunting land.
I drove back home and picked out a very thin blaze orange pullover, something that wouldn't be too warm in the already uncomfortable conditions.
At that point, I debated whether or not being out in the woods would make a whole lot of sense. I'd be sitting on my trusty swivel bucket, in blaze orange and in warmer than usual temperatures. In the end, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to hunt, so I proceeded back to the hunting land to begin my evening hunt.
By the time I was seated where I wanted to be (the same place I sat during the Oct. 2 hunt), it was already nearing 4:30, giving me under three hours to hunt. To say my chances of seeing anything were slim was probably an understatement, but crazier things have happened.
About an hour and 45 minutes into my Sunday night hunt, I heard a branch snap to my right. I immediately readied myself as I was certain a deer was about to walk right in front of me.
I waited and waited, my heart beating quicker with each passing second. I had yet to see a deer on the property in-person, only on trail camera pictures, so to potentially see my first one while hunting would be more than ideal.
After what seemed like forever, I finally let myself relax. I unhooked my release from my bow's D loop and pulled my phone out to see how long I had been waiting on the snap in the woods to appear. My iPhone clock read 6:05 p.m., meaning I had sat motionless for the past 15 or so minutes.
Thinking a squirrel was the initiator of the noise, I slowly glanced to my far right and then far left, checking to be sure a deer hadn't snuck up on me while I was staring near where I expected deer to walk through.
Seeing nothing to either side, I turned my head back to what lied in front of me. As I did, I noticed something moving off towards my right. Immediately, I knew I was in trouble.
As my eyes focused on the doe that was walking towards my shooting lane, I quickly got my release rehooked into the D loop. As soon as I got it snapped on, I drew back. When I got to full draw, the doe was nearly in the one shooting lane I had with the trail she took.
I was about to softly make a mouth grunt to stop the deer when I caught another movement to my right. As I glanced to the right, I noticed a second, bigger doe on the same path the first one was taking.
By this time, the first doe had worked its way through my shooting lane, so I slowly readjusted myself to prepare for a shot at the second doe. As luck would have it, the second doe spotted me. I don't try to make excuses for mistakes I make while hunting (I like to think of them as learning opportunities), but sitting on the ground, in a solid blaze orange pullover with no significant cover behind me is not exactly your ideal hunting setup with deer within 20 yards.
As the second doe swung her head from side-to-side, trying to figure out what I was, I tried to glance to my left to see where the other deer had worked off to. Not seeing her, I refocused on the second doe, hoping she would still follow the same trail.
After about a minute, the doe began to blow and stomp her leg. At this time, I slowly let my bow down, praying she would calm down and proceed through my shooting lane. A few seconds later, the second doe decided I was too much of a threat and turned around and jogged towards the direction she came, blowing and stomping every few seconds.
I turned my attention to my left, thinking maybe the first doe would run back that direction too. My eyes searched the thick cover for the doe and finally I saw her about 15 yards in front of me. She then started to blow and began to bounce away towards the left. As she turned her back, I stood up, took a step to my left and drew back the bow for a second time. If she stopped, I had a clear shot.
To my amazement, the doe actually did stop, but in a hard quartering away position. I wasn't about to worsen an already ruined hunt with a terrible shot, so instead of firing my first ever arrow at the doe, I watched her jog off.
I sat back down on my swivel bucket, finally taking a moment to breathe. For the first time, I noticed I was shaking considerably.
Every few seconds I heard one of the two does blow, so after about five minutes, I decided to pack my things up and head home thinking my spot was busted for the night.
Fast forward a couple days and I checked all three of our trail cameras like I did after the first few days I hunted. I had left the trail camera on the entire night, as I hoped to maybe capture a photo of a deer before harvesting it. But instead of seeing a picture of the does walking by, I instead saw a photo with a timestamp of 6:28 p.m.
Reluctantly, I clicked the photo, something I now wish I hadn't done. Not even 20 minutes after I left the woods, a pair of does walked right past the trail camera and into my ideal shooting lane. Before the end of legal shooting time, a total of four does were huddled just 10 yards from where I sat.
I really was surprised to see deer in the same area that two other does were just blowing in, but at least I learned something on this hunt... Always stay in the woods until you have either harvested a deer or cannot see you sight pins anymore.
Unfortunately, it's a lesson I didn't learn until Tuesday, meaning I still had a Monday hunt to embark upon before I fully understood the importance of sticking out a hunt.
While Sunday night's hunt was one I will never forget, Monday's was even more unforgettablle.
Check back frequently this fall as I will continue to keep an archive of every hunt I embark upon.
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