This is going to be long, but it was a cool experience I'm sure some of you will enjoy...I decided to try my luck in a particular tree stand this morning. I haven't had a good morning hunt here but what the heck, there are trails everywhere and the landowner has been seeing deer.
I had herd of bucks come by me, twice
. I'm not sure how many, never had a chance to count them as everything happened so fast, but it's close to a dozen, possibly more! None of them were real big, but there were 2 that I would have shot (I'm holding out for a P&Y buck). They were everything from spikes and forks, to 4x4s and a 5x5. The first time they came by out of range. A couple of them worked within range but offered no shot and were nothing I wanted to shoot. They eventually worked out of sight behind me.
My back was starting to hurt so I sat down for a few minutes. Wouldn't you know it they must have seen me sit down and decided it was a good time to come by again
After hearing a bunch of commotion, I looked over my shoulder to see 6 of them within 35 yards. Somehow I managed to stand, turn, and grab my bow without them seeing me. By this time the rest of the deer are within sight, and a spike is working his way by me at 15yds. The biggest buck starts running at and chasing several of the other bucks, then turns down the trail that several had already taken, at 23 yards. Unfortunately he trotted through my opening, completely ignoring my attempts to stop him. I let down, then saw a decent 5x5 standing in an opening at 45 yds. I'm very comfortable with that shot, but for whatever reason never even thought about trying it this time. He stood there for a couple seconds before following the rest of his posse to the next property.
This year's late season has been incredible, I just haven't been able to seal the deal.[&:] I'm headed back in the morning to try it again. Temps finally are above 0, think I'll sit all day tomorrow
gotta love late season hunting
