My friend can have his dry side.
Monday I put a climber on my back but my back pack on my front and took his old 30-30 and walked back into the swamp from a new angle. I followed what looked like a trail till found a tree that looked climbable and used the tree climber (for the first time) to get as high as I could. I could see 3 trails and got my self comfortable and settled in for the afternoon. After about an hour I could hear some rustling behind me and my heart started pounding then about 15 minutes later a raccoon swam by. About an hour after I calmed down I heard some more rustling then what I can only describe as a cow mooing through a trumpet. I did not see anything else that afternoon.
http://24.27.226.54:85/hunting/treestand1.jpg Monday's Tree Stand View
Tuesday did not take a gun because we were expecting rain in the afternoon but I did end up getting a chance to kind of explore deeper. I did my best to look around where I assumed the mooing from the day before was coming from. I found a dry ridge and followed it to a nice opening with tall grass it was about 25' X 40' I scanned the horizon and found a tree that had a good shot to the opening. I made the decision to sit here Wednesday morning and made my way out looking for land marks to get me back in the morning.
Wednesday morning the rain had stopped. I suited up with the climber and gear and made my way back in the dark. I was up the tree and settled in about 5:45 am and waited to the sun rise. Just about the time the sun was coming up a big mosquito landed on my forehead. I slowly leaned my head down and brushed it off and as I looked back up there was a deer. All I saw was it's shoulders and hind end as it wiggled it's tail and disappeared into the brush. I sat there until 11:00 am and made my way back to the truck. All my friend saw a few gobblers strutting around field. I figured since he took some picture he must not have been very still or quite.
http://24.27.226.54:85/hunting/turkey_001.jpg Three hens and four gobblers
http://24.27.226.54:85/hunting/turkey_003.jpg Little jake
I was so amped up after seeing my first deer we decided to get some lunch and come back till dark. I made my way back to where I saw the deer duck in to the bushes and followed the trail till it lead me to a spot where 5 trails came together and standing in the intersection I counted 12 scrapes. I spent about 5 minutes decided if I want to try this spot or go to the tree I sat in during the morning . I figured the spot I was standing in just looked too good so I used the climber to go up the nearest tree, by now I've gotten good at with the climber. I never saw anything the rest of the day but I enjoyed every peacful minure of sitting up in that tree. I'm sure I be in that tree next chance I get.
This week was my first real attempt at hunting and I fell in love with hunting and the swamp.
Edited by - SeaHunter on 01/02/2003 20:01:01