icequeen
10-10-2005, 11:06 PM
Monday we went out and setup our stands in locations that looked good. Mine had trails criss-crossing back and forth in front of it, on the ridge above the valley that was visited on a regular basis last year. My hubby put his down in the valley on the other side of the ridge from mine. We sat Monday night and Tuesday and not a single deer showed. There were tweety birds, grouse, coons, everything but deer. This was really odd cause the valley I was watching over is usually THE spot for the deer on that land, guess not this year.
Tuesday night I was on my way out and my hubby radioed me to see where I was. Told him I was almost out to the truck and he said that the bodies he could see on the edge of the field had to be deer then. I couldn't see them cause I was on low land by then. That meant that the deer were hanging on the other side of the field to where we were set up. :rolleyes:
So Wednesday afternoon we went and checked out that area a little better than we had and found where they were coming up into the field. Decided we'd leave the stands where they were and try sitting on the ground for Wednesday night.
Hubby sat at the corner of the field, just above where he shot a deer last fall. He had a good view of one area where they were bedding down occassionally, and could see over to just shy of where I was sitting. I sat at the edge of the field above another spot where they seemed to be hanging out. That was THE spot where they were comin out I tell ya.
Just after 5pm I heard those tell-tale footsteps in the leaves, just below me. They milled around and moved off towards hubby, then nothing for about 15minutes. They were back again and this time one started up the ridge toward me, and went back down. For the next hour they were pacing back and forth from just below me to over where hubby was sitting, back and forth, back and forth. Around 6:30 another started up the ridge toward me, and stopped. Then it started to stomp. Now I knew it was part way up the ridge but I couldn't tell exactly where, behind me was all I could tell. So I started to slowly turn, to try and see where it was. The darn thing was standing under an apple tree about 15yards behind me. I just got turned enough to get a glimpse of it and it screamed at me, like holy crap! :eek: it scared the liven bejeepers outa me. All this time they knew I was there, just couldn't figure out what I was.
Well I shoulda moved. I thought about it, but didn't wanna spook them. I was really hoping that since they knew I was there they'd go further down the ridge and come out for hubby. I shoulda moved. That dang deer came up again about fifteen minutes later , to the same tree, but just where I couldn't see it in the trees. It stood there for a long time, just outa site, and snorted and stomped and carried on. It knew I was there, and it intended to scare me off before it came out where I could see it. Shoot I even had a smoke after a while, and it still stood there and stomped and snorted. Finally, when it was too dark to see, I gathered up my gear and stood up to leave. It went to the bottom of the ridge and just milled around down there. Dang things came out just after we headed off into the field. :rolleyes:
Thursday we decided that instead of sittin in the bottom and spookin them outa their beds we'd make better sitting spots on the edge of the field. I was basically in the same spot, but on the other side of their path into the field, and I was well hidden. Low and behold the dang things came in again, milled around at the bottom of the ridge and waited for us to leave.
Friday we figured, that's it, we've puttin our stands in the bottom whether we chase them outa their beds or not. Hubby set them up about 40 yards or so from the bottom of the ridge, with all their paths snaking around in front of us. I was directly below where I'd been sitting at the edge of the field and he was over more towards bottom corner of the field. It was cold and the wind was blowin like mad, you couldn't hear a thing for the wind in the trees but we hoped we'd at least see them in time to get a bead on them.
Well it wasn't to be. I guess with the wind being like it was the deer waited til just before dark to move in. I just caught a glimpse of two moving through the bush part way up the ridge, just before dark. But, we knew that we hadn't spooked them, and we had one more night out.
Friday we went in early. It was a little warmer and the wind had calmed down a little, at least you could hear a bit anyway. Just after six I figured we'd done scared them off cause they hadn't showed yet, and they were normally milling around shortly after 5. So, I sparked up a smoke, I was in dire need after all the frustrations and it being our last night out. Go figure I'd just put it out and along came two does. Woohoooo!!!! Now I gotta tell ya. Hubby said earlier that if they came through to be nice and let one go through to him before I took a shot, he was kiddin but heck there were four of them in the group. So..when the first two started through and didn't hesitate at all going through my shooting lane I hoped at least the first one would get over far enough for my hubby to get a shot. The second one stopped under a tree to my left 15 yards away, and presented me with a perfect broadside shot. But, even leaning way out I couldn't get a shot around the branches. But, there were two more moving in, and the first one was, I hoped, far enough over for hubby to get a crack at her.
The third one moved into my shooting lane and stopped at 30 yards, slightly quartering away. I took a good steady aim, waited a sec to see if she'd turn a bit, and twang! I fired, she took a step....and....it went into the dirt at her feet. :eek: :(
I couldn't believe it! There's no way it shoulda hit that low, no way! But it did. That meant that it was over two feet low! Might sights had to have gotten bumped somewhere along the line.
My hubby came over and we checked around, it was a clean miss for sure. And he'd never gotten a glimpse of the first two I let go through. :(
Unbelievably, even after all the activity, they didn't bugger off. So hubby climbed up in my stand while I hid below, hoping they'd come back out again. But they skirted around us and went off into the bush, at a leasurley pase to boot.:rolleyes:
Sunday when we retrieved our stands I noticed a dead sapling, with just one branch hangin into my shooting lane. I'm thinkin it clipped that branch on the way through. After we got home I took a test shot and it hit over 7inches low. I guess between that and the branch the does walked away.
I shoulda moved on Wednesday, but I didn't. Then I go and completely blow a shot on our last night out. Talk about screwups.
Oh well. It was a great week, and we know for sure where they are for the rifle season. We might even head down a couple days early to try with the bows again before rifle opens.
Memo to us...take a target butt so we can test our sights periodically during the week.
Oh yeah..and I came home with a spiffy new pair of Rocky boots. :D
Tuesday night I was on my way out and my hubby radioed me to see where I was. Told him I was almost out to the truck and he said that the bodies he could see on the edge of the field had to be deer then. I couldn't see them cause I was on low land by then. That meant that the deer were hanging on the other side of the field to where we were set up. :rolleyes:
So Wednesday afternoon we went and checked out that area a little better than we had and found where they were coming up into the field. Decided we'd leave the stands where they were and try sitting on the ground for Wednesday night.
Hubby sat at the corner of the field, just above where he shot a deer last fall. He had a good view of one area where they were bedding down occassionally, and could see over to just shy of where I was sitting. I sat at the edge of the field above another spot where they seemed to be hanging out. That was THE spot where they were comin out I tell ya.
Just after 5pm I heard those tell-tale footsteps in the leaves, just below me. They milled around and moved off towards hubby, then nothing for about 15minutes. They were back again and this time one started up the ridge toward me, and went back down. For the next hour they were pacing back and forth from just below me to over where hubby was sitting, back and forth, back and forth. Around 6:30 another started up the ridge toward me, and stopped. Then it started to stomp. Now I knew it was part way up the ridge but I couldn't tell exactly where, behind me was all I could tell. So I started to slowly turn, to try and see where it was. The darn thing was standing under an apple tree about 15yards behind me. I just got turned enough to get a glimpse of it and it screamed at me, like holy crap! :eek: it scared the liven bejeepers outa me. All this time they knew I was there, just couldn't figure out what I was.
Well I shoulda moved. I thought about it, but didn't wanna spook them. I was really hoping that since they knew I was there they'd go further down the ridge and come out for hubby. I shoulda moved. That dang deer came up again about fifteen minutes later , to the same tree, but just where I couldn't see it in the trees. It stood there for a long time, just outa site, and snorted and stomped and carried on. It knew I was there, and it intended to scare me off before it came out where I could see it. Shoot I even had a smoke after a while, and it still stood there and stomped and snorted. Finally, when it was too dark to see, I gathered up my gear and stood up to leave. It went to the bottom of the ridge and just milled around down there. Dang things came out just after we headed off into the field. :rolleyes:
Thursday we decided that instead of sittin in the bottom and spookin them outa their beds we'd make better sitting spots on the edge of the field. I was basically in the same spot, but on the other side of their path into the field, and I was well hidden. Low and behold the dang things came in again, milled around at the bottom of the ridge and waited for us to leave.
Friday we figured, that's it, we've puttin our stands in the bottom whether we chase them outa their beds or not. Hubby set them up about 40 yards or so from the bottom of the ridge, with all their paths snaking around in front of us. I was directly below where I'd been sitting at the edge of the field and he was over more towards bottom corner of the field. It was cold and the wind was blowin like mad, you couldn't hear a thing for the wind in the trees but we hoped we'd at least see them in time to get a bead on them.
Well it wasn't to be. I guess with the wind being like it was the deer waited til just before dark to move in. I just caught a glimpse of two moving through the bush part way up the ridge, just before dark. But, we knew that we hadn't spooked them, and we had one more night out.
Friday we went in early. It was a little warmer and the wind had calmed down a little, at least you could hear a bit anyway. Just after six I figured we'd done scared them off cause they hadn't showed yet, and they were normally milling around shortly after 5. So, I sparked up a smoke, I was in dire need after all the frustrations and it being our last night out. Go figure I'd just put it out and along came two does. Woohoooo!!!! Now I gotta tell ya. Hubby said earlier that if they came through to be nice and let one go through to him before I took a shot, he was kiddin but heck there were four of them in the group. So..when the first two started through and didn't hesitate at all going through my shooting lane I hoped at least the first one would get over far enough for my hubby to get a shot. The second one stopped under a tree to my left 15 yards away, and presented me with a perfect broadside shot. But, even leaning way out I couldn't get a shot around the branches. But, there were two more moving in, and the first one was, I hoped, far enough over for hubby to get a crack at her.
The third one moved into my shooting lane and stopped at 30 yards, slightly quartering away. I took a good steady aim, waited a sec to see if she'd turn a bit, and twang! I fired, she took a step....and....it went into the dirt at her feet. :eek: :(
I couldn't believe it! There's no way it shoulda hit that low, no way! But it did. That meant that it was over two feet low! Might sights had to have gotten bumped somewhere along the line.
My hubby came over and we checked around, it was a clean miss for sure. And he'd never gotten a glimpse of the first two I let go through. :(
Unbelievably, even after all the activity, they didn't bugger off. So hubby climbed up in my stand while I hid below, hoping they'd come back out again. But they skirted around us and went off into the bush, at a leasurley pase to boot.:rolleyes:
Sunday when we retrieved our stands I noticed a dead sapling, with just one branch hangin into my shooting lane. I'm thinkin it clipped that branch on the way through. After we got home I took a test shot and it hit over 7inches low. I guess between that and the branch the does walked away.
I shoulda moved on Wednesday, but I didn't. Then I go and completely blow a shot on our last night out. Talk about screwups.
Oh well. It was a great week, and we know for sure where they are for the rifle season. We might even head down a couple days early to try with the bows again before rifle opens.
Memo to us...take a target butt so we can test our sights periodically during the week.
Oh yeah..and I came home with a spiffy new pair of Rocky boots. :D