Well....first time out was Wed. Season opened Saturday....but someone was teaching hunter ed. Then wife was sick, then, wife tested positive for Covid. What odds that i won't also get it...enen though both of us were double vaccinated and boosted. Anyway, leaving my sick wife at home for an afternoon seemed the only reasonable thing to do, especially if i catch it and can't hunt.
Went to my favorite first inning spot, a funnel in the marsh. Was early, so i stopped to collect hickory nuts first. Settled in, i fell asleep and woke up in process of falling off my stool. The chipmunks were giggling.
About 30 minutes before the end i heard some rustling. The marshgrass is taller, in most spots, than the deer. Out walked a single small doe...guessing a late fawn from last year. She staged in reasable distance, between 15 and 20 yards, and.....like Bob said elswehere....i talked myself out of it...
Then....with maybe ten minutes left.....more rustling. Out walks a big doe....and twin fawns. I have a problem with that so initially let them feed....right....in....front of me. No more than 15 and maybe 12 yards.
Then a fourth deer, i am guessing big sister to the fawns. Now SHE was maybe in trouble. But...alas....she saw something she didn't like and kept a watch. Everybody filed thru the funnel, then she hopped out herself. I drew, but it was not to be. I did draw, anchor, then not release, which was an issue in the past, so training is working....a great start....
I loved the image of you thinking so loudly the sheep scarpered😁
Ha....same hole in the marsh grass, last night. 36 degrees and windy. 15+ mph wind with gusts. Chilly, yet beautiful. Leaves are the prettiest iv'e seen in years. Its almost pre-rut. Regarding deer...well....it was quiet till maybe 15 minutes to go and all of a sudden a pretty young spike hops out, right to me...turns broadside onto the trail right in front of me, stops, then puts his head down to feed. About.... 8 yards. I had to grin and look up asking if i am being tested.... Then he continued on his way. Still smiling.
Here's to a speedy recovery for you and your wife! And here's to finding that deer with your name on it 😁
Congrats Steve....hoping to get out again tomorrow afternoon. Still coughing at times and need to heal. I wasn't hit near as hard as my wife....heck...i didn't test, so maybe i just happened to catch a flu instead....what are the odds.
You did better than me. Didn't see anything last Saturday for the opener even though we have 3 bucks and 3 does showing up on the trail cameras at the farm. This morning I had 2 does coming straight in and managed to move just enough to spook them at about 35 yards. Have a tendency to get fidgety too early in the process. Didn't help that they came straight at me across an open field rather than from the left on the trail like they were supposed to. Had great cover on the left and they never would have seen me draw.
It is amazing how quickly animals pick up on evil intent. I don't know what it is that alerts them to our plans...
When it comes time to harvest a sheep, I will pick one out of the flock in my mind and focus on it. As soon as I do, that sheep runs for the (proverbial) hills while the rest just keep eating.
When I hunt I try to practice mind control in that I try to keep evil intent out of my mind. I think it helps.
It must help some because I managed to shoot a little buck last week and he is cooling his heals in the meat cooler, along with a spent ewe. He had no idea what was gonna happen to him because I had my "mental camo" on. I think mental camo is more important than clothing camo.
This coming Friday will see them turned into tasty cuts of fine meat.