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Opening Day of Archery Season 2021!

 

Oh, opening morning I have longed for your start.   My favorite time of year!

I am not really a morning hunter.  Some say there are special deer in the morning…..I don’t even much care if there are special deer at 6 in the morning, I just don’t like to get up so early.  Ahh, some girls do some girls don’t!

I went opening morning because I could because if  I couldn’t(like I had to work) I would have wanted to be out there and couldn’t.  So I got up and went out to prove to the lesser of two evils.

So….I sucked it up.  Marcus had to work so, I got up with him at 5 am and he saw me off, with good wishes, a kiss and friendly shot straight.

I had all my stuff packed and ready to go the night before, so all I got to do is dress my tired self, in the morning.

It was a cool morning and the grass was wet.  I walked in from the front of the property to my stand.  This is something I don’t normally do, but I am a tad bit unprepared this opening day, and I am unsure of my route from the back end of the property, as I wasn’t even sure I was going out this morning.  Preparation is everything, but winging works too.

I park the UTV at the front-drive. Rocks/stones have been placed on the drive-in to deter the flooding and make the back fields accessible to vehicles and farm equipment.  I find I don’t like this new stone as it is loud to walk on in the dark as I am trying to be quiet as hell.  I try to find some grass on the side of the drive but have little luck.

My dad always said you are in their house!  If you were at home and heard footsteps in your house, what would you do!  So, I try to remind myself of this when I walk into the field early morning.  I mean…I know what I would do if I heard footsteps in my house in the dark!

Of course, walking in the front way is avoided in the morning, as I think the line of trees I walk by are bedding areas occasionally, and of course this morning they are….I scare up deer.  They are close as I can feel their presence as they get up and run away. The alert call makes my heart jump and I grabbed at my chest to make sure my heart is still there.  Thanks for the heart check!

All, I think as I keep walking is, blew any chance of seeing any more deer the rest of the morning!  Go figure!  Par for the course I guess!

I am questioning myself why my boots are getting wet and slowly my socks and feet, the grass is soaked from the cool night and I ponder getting new boots, but I love the ones I have.

As I round the corner to my blind, I see a shadow in front of me and can feel the ground speak so to say as a big deer run away into the darkness.  Lord, I am sucking at this scaring deer thing this morning.  Yes, it is still dark out!

I get into the blind and settle in.  So, quiet.  The sun is coming up and I am enjoying my view as the fog lifts from the cattails into the heavens.  It been a long time.  There is something quite special about spending those 1st minutes of light with mother nature.

Around 630am  I have at least 3 deer to my right,  I can barely see them, they are left behind my line of sight, past the open window, so I have to lean forward in order to see them.  So, I just decide to mind my business and let them be, they left.

I hear many rustles around me, the woods are alive this morning. The birds are active and fill the air with movement and color.

At some point in the morning, I  had a little bird fly up from under my blind and into the blind as if he has done this before a million times.  A small wren if I had to guess.  He sat and looked at me for a few minutes, I bet wondering what the heck I was doing there. He then flew up to the window and visited for a little while more and flew away.  I am pretty sure this bird had built a nest in the blind, as the last time the guys took supplies to the blind, they said they pulled out a nest of some type.  As the morning got lighter, I did notice his little marking here and there around the blind. Sorry, little birdy!

At 808 am I had a small doe walk the tree line to the right of my blind, way past the food plot. Way out of bow range for me. I watched as she cut through the woods.  I know what she is up to, she is trying to avoid me and walk through the woods to get to the other side of me. Mama taught her well.

Yes, a short time later there she was on my left side, in the big food plot to my left, munching on some beans. She stayed for some time before wandering off. The morning is lingering on and I have the feels I will not see much for activity the rest of the morning.

I had a wasp visit inside the blind, he was trying to be shady, it snuck in quickly and climbed under the window to stay warm, had I not seen it go there I would have grabbed the window shade when I packed up to leave to close the window. I for sure would have gotten stung as he didn’t move from where he first went in and I would have grabbed him, I hate wasps,  I had a bad encounter with one last year.

The rest of the morning was pleasantly quiet, I tried to soak up the beauty and quiet all around me as it has been way too long since I have spent some time with my best friend, the outdoors!

Life has been chaotic and stressful lately……I will be back….I very much look forward to my next hunt!

 

 

Early morning fog lifting from the cattails.
Sunrise….fog rise!
More morning beauty!
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Delightful Awesome Sit 5

This was the little doe that walked within 10 feet of me!
This is the buck I saw a minute before he stepped out into the field where I saw him. Picture off the Cuddelink, but boy that’s blurry!
Much better picture! Pretty sure this is the buck I seen last night coming back where he came from.

Friday October 3, 2020

The weather is getting cooler, so I wanted to hunt tonight

Plus, I had some bucks below the house the night before.

So, it was my hope one of these big guys would have bedded

down below the house and would pay me a visit tonight.

Mud Duck is in for an oil change and maintenance.

So, I had to take princess (Dodge truck) down to the hunting spot.

It was a nice walk in

A little longer than normal because I had to park further away.

The water is down as there is no flooding only one little puddle

I kick up one deer as I am walking in, a doe

She is in the large food plot

My new stand is looking beautiful than ever. 

Once I was settled in

I couldn’t help but notice the large amount of bird movement.

All I could see were yellows and blues

There were so many birds I was having a hard time watching them all.

Several of what I think were yellow rumped warblers

And……blue birds.  Lots of blue birds.

And then just like that they were gone.

Maybe migrating through maybe not, I have no idea

Another doe out in the big food plot

To far away to shoot

About 15 minutes later a small doe comes out from behind me and to the right of me

I happened to be looking through the binoculars into the woods to the right of me

And the doe walks into my line of sight in the binoculars

She came out from the willows from behind me

She cautiously walked thru the small food plot

And then pranced within 10 feet of my blind

My long bow shooting window is open and she walks past that

 Then she was out of site

I knew she had went into the woods

As she made the decision in her small tiny brain that it was safer to walk thru the

Woods to the big food plot

Than to walk down the path in front of me

Smart girl

For the next hour to the left of me 5 or 6 doe and fawn eat in the big food plot

They continue to eat in the field for the next 53 minutes, until closing time.

The last 5 minutes of my hunt, there is this doe in the big food plot and she is very curious

Always trying to look in in my direction.

I believe she want to come down the path in front of me to the small food plot.

She would creep closer and closer

And we would just sit and look at each other.

But the exciting news of the night was…….

I saw a buck

Roughly 630 he peeked his head out from the hidden path

I thought I had seen movement through the woods in the direction of the hidden path a while earlier.

Plus, we have a Cuddelink camera on this hidden path, as I was hoping to get him on camera.

Well we did it turned out to be blurry, go figures

Anyways he peeked his head out, he had a tall rack but it looked small

Not small small, but medium small.

I at the 1st sight made the decision he was not the guys I wanted to shoot

If he got within range.

And of course, he never did

He was probably 55 plus yards away(not very good at measurement)

He looked in my direction several time but wasn’t interested

He had other plans

He walked straight out from the path into the grassy area behind me

By the time I was able to get the binoculars on him, he was almost out of site

But then as I put the binos on him, he looked pretty enticing.

I was hoping for the next 23 minutes he might come back my way

Or circle around behind me in the willows

And come out on the other side of me to the big food plots but he didn’t

But I was already

The group of does and fawns munched the whole time in the big food plot

And the one curious little doe just would not give it up,

it’s well past closing she is 40 feet maybe form me

and she just stares in my direction

I slowly try to close the window as to not try to scare her

But she still does not leave

Even with me zippering the window closed. 

She is finally gone

Packed up and ready to go

It was quite dark already

And I could not see around me

The last few time I have hunted it was light enough to make out shadows

Not this walk out.

As I made my way around the last curve to my truck

There must have been a doe and fawn on the path

Who must not have seen me until last second

As they ran quite quick

It sounds like the doe ran into the cattails right next to be

Really made my heartbeat and I could hear little movement to my left in front of me

My guess the fawn

As I continue to walk the fawn must have just been in the woods to the left of me

As I walked past I could hear it rumbling. 

The boys made salmon, rice , and zucchini for supper

I realize I am a lucky girl

As I reflect back on the night

I have come to the realization that the stars must really have to align

In order for me to shoot a buck and I have seen bucks over the last 5 years.

Some shootable some not to my standards of course

Some close and some not,

But But But………

It must be a momentous minute when that right buck for me comes with in shooting distance,

How does that saying go right place right time?

Well until next time……..

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Ma and fawn in my backyard!

I got to take a picture of ma and baby in my backyard. we have at least 3 sets of fawns, with one being twins. Ma has been hanging out in the field for awhile know, usually coming out in the same place. I think if I had to guess baby was close by. Soooo glad I was in the right place at the right time!