Last Saturday I went out to the feed-lot to try my luck at an afternoon hunt. I immediately went to my stand at the south end of the field and sat for about an hour. After this point, I realize that, aside from the first day of the season, I have yet to see a deer at that particular stand while in October, about 100 yards east I had seen a nice 10 pointer near a duck pond. I decide to try my luck at a natural blind that overlooks the pond and an east-trail that goes from one side of the property to the other.

I wait about another hour and I get impatient again and move 400 yards north of the pond to another natural blind that sits next to 40 yard-wide funnel. This is an area that I have seen several bucks at, but only in the early season. I sit there again and wait about a half hour. By this time it is about 4:30 and I am, again, getting impatient. I decide to move through a 4 acre patch of woods (that I had yet to explore before the season started.

Immediately upon entering the woods I notice fresh tracks and scrapes and I head west through the woods. At the west end of the woods, I see a small pond with a 6 foot levee and when I reach the top of the levee, I notice two does feeding just outside of the woods (about 60 yards out). I immediately squat down behind the levee and try to call them in with a fawn bleat but they didn't seem to notice that I was there. I wait for a half hour before I decide that daylight is running out and I need to get closer. I begin to climb over the levee again but as soon as I am down to the bottom, a coyote howls and all of a sudden no fewer than 10 does bum-rush into the woods right in front of me. I couldn't move. One of the does I had been watching was now staring right at me and the others still seemed a bit shook up from the coyote. I tried not to make a move but after 45 seconds my boot slipped a bit in the mud and the deer started stampeding out of the woods before I could draw back, let alone aim and shoot.

This is my first year bowhunting, so I am still learning. So what did I learn? First, because I didn't see any bucks in that group of does, it doesn't look look like the rut is in full swing, so it's possible--if I haven't scared those does away permanently--that I could see a big buck on the property next week. Second, I think that if I'm not seeing any animals it's okay to move, but once I have an animal in sight it may be best to let them make the first move. Third, I think I have really underestimated the importance of scouting. Had I known that pond was there, tucked back in the forest, I would have had a stand there much earlier in the season and I would have been waiting for them, being immobile I would probably have been much less likely to make a dumb move like that one. Anyone else have any suggestions?

~~Brasky