Stories

Thanksgiving 2004 Hunt
Steve M. Moore

So after a full year of planning, clearing, plowing, planting, fertilizing, etc., we finally get a chance to hunt the weekend before Thanksgiving. The green fields are looking a lot better than last year, so we've learned a good bit. So Headcoot and I meet up on Saturday morning to get ready for a few days of some hopefully good hunting. Saturday afternoon I decide to try my luck at Black Widow and Headcoot heads for the Cotton Patch. As I'm sitting there getting settled in, I can't help but think about ways to expand the field at Black Widow. There is a lot of wispy stuff to my right that really can play tricks on your mind, especially when the light starts to wane. It was almost dark and I see a couple of deer way off to my right. Or did I? I'm not sure, but then I see "horns"...it's a long shot and it's very low light, but I've waited so long that I just can't stand it. I had planned to take ANY deer so that I've have meat and then, I planned on looking for the "big buck". I finally decide to pull the trigger and "boom"...all I can see is smoke. Have no idea if I hit anything or not. (That wispy stuff has to go). I go look around and can't find any blood...however I did hear a couple of snorts from both sides of the field, so there must have been more than two deer and obviously in my excitement, I missed. Dull!

The next morning, I go back to black widow and didn't really see much. That wispy stuff in that field and I are having a serious problem...so I've decided to pick a fight and get rid of it. Lowry and I lay it all to waste with a machete and weed eater. We really need as much green field as possible as the deer are just much easier to see in a green field, especially in low light. I finally get out of the stand to go see if I could spot any blood from the day before, but don't find any. However, there are deer tracks everywhere, so the deer are moving and they were definitely in the field at "black widow".

Obviously, you can't predict anything with deer hunting, but you can increase your odds by planting summer/winter crops for the deer to "mack" on. Headcoot was telling me how awesome "cotton patch" was to hunt since we moved the stand and I was anxious to check it out. He was right. The view is incredible and the amount of space to hunt is awesome. So I'm in the stand, just getting into the view and that's when the rain starts. I'm thinking, this is going to suck! I don't have much rain gear and it's not that cold, but when you are wet, it still gets cold. My butt is hurting and I need to cough...thank goodness for my new "deer grunt". I tested it in the field and it works--it covers a small cough or you can clear your throat without worrying about scaring away the deer like I did last year at Mr. Andersons, when there was at least 10 deer within 100 yards, but I HAD to cough!

So anyways, it's really not even that late in the day...I'd say about 3:30 p.m. I start to hear a good bit of movement across the fields in the woods over by the old "corn feeder", but can't make anything out. But it's big and not squirrels. But it's really hard to hear much because there are so many song birds throughout that thicket that are just making an incredible din. With the rain coming and going, I'm wondering if it's going to just pour down any minute, so I put my head down and don't move for quite a while and then just slowly look up. Here comes a deer, seemingly out of nowhere (isn't that always the case?). It's a doe and not a huge one, but a shooter if you want to take meat. But I decide to wait a little longer just to see what else may walk into the field. All of the sudden, the first doe looks back and then another deer comes into the field. I can see them both in my scope and then they look back together and yet another deer comes into the field. Needless to say the adrenaline is kicking in.

I put the scope on deer number two and it's a button buck...I can tell by it's head...then I check out deer number 3 and it's an even smaller doe--probably a yearling. So I decide to follow all three across the field in my scope and all the while hoping that a large buck would come out into the field, but that never happened. But there was meat in the field and I was going to take it. Before the deer got into a position where they could get out of sight, I finally decided...I'll take her. Put the scope right on her and clicked the safety, they all 3 looked right at me. (Lowry's got a loud safety on that gun!) I'm glad they didn't bolt! So I put the scope right on her as she's moving through trees and brush and wait for the best shot...deep breath, hold it...squeeze...REPORT! Adrenaline rush!!!!!!!

All three deer run almost straight at me and bed down immediately. I guess they've been bedding down in that thicket every night. I wait for a little bit but my heart is racing and I am starting to pour sweat! Finally, one of the deer gets up and just kind of bounds across right in front of me...stopping every so often and looking around. I had my scope on it and could have taken several shots...but I wasn't sure which deer was which and I didn't need to kill two. Then the other deer got up and did the same thing...but neither deer looked hit and I was pretty sure that my shot was dead on. I waited a little longer as the two deer went out of sight and decide to go see if I can find the 3rd deer. After climbing through some of the thickest brush and stickers, sweating my butt off and thinking damn these deer sure do have some good camo, I find her.
She's a good size and will yields lots of tasty meat!

I decide to go back to my stand, but by then I was soaking wet with sweat and decided just to get out of there so that I wouldn't ruin someone else's hunt by giving away the location of the stand. It's not even 4:00, but there's not much else to do but to head back and get all of the cleaning tools ready to go.

We are able to get her cleaned in just about no time and use the hook on my truck to haul her up in the tree. No more using our own strength, between my truck or the winch on the tank, we can get a deer up in a tree in minutes, with very little effort. A redneck and his tools! Watch out! .

So after harvesting some meat, I can now settle in and just casually hunt and look for a "big buck" should one present itself. It's a satisfying experience and knowing that you already have killed a deer, there's no more pressure and the rest of the trip was just an awesome relaxing good time. The next evening I return to the "cotton patch" and the very same two deer come out and stand in the "exact" spot where I shot the doe the day before. I guess they were looking for their companion. Sorry, she's in the cooler. I didn't shoot, but checked out my grunt to no effect. In fact, the deer never even looked at me. Lesson: the grunt probably will work a lot better when the deer are in the rut.

But I had meat and that was the goal...so I decide to hunt the "red clay hill the next hunt. Well, it's going to be a great spot, but the "mosquito-dons" are ridiculous. I'm talking HUGE mosquitoes that literally are everywhere and can suck enough blood out of you to smear a good deal of blood on you if you kill one. I decide that I've had enough and Lowry and I set out to do some more clearing. We cut down lots of trees both at Red Clay Hill and at the pole stand. We are getting closer to having some really good spots...and the only thing we need to do is clear some more, plow and plant and we'll be even better prepared for next year! Deer tracks are everywhere so all of the hard work has definitely paid off!!!

BACK

[email protected]