Early Season Hunts

Well, deer season began August 15, and even though it's still 90 or more degrees during the day, the deer are calling my name.

Last year, I began to bow hunt, which I have since come to love. It's just something about seeing the deer up real close and the extra challenge of taking one with a bow that gets me going!

So, it's September 15, opening day of doe season, and before I tell you about my hunt this evening, let me catch you up.

My first hunt was at the place I took the 3 last year with my bow. I climbed my tree and waited and just before dark, a doe and a yearling walked out. Since it was buck season, I didn't have a choice but to watch. Great fun though! I saw deer up close on my first hunt of the season.

My second hunt was in Springfield behind the cabin and I had 3 deer to my right at about 30 yards, followed by a possum to my left, followed by 2 more deer to my left who decided to taunt the possum. That was perfect because that brought in the 2 deer to my left. They came right under my tree. I think the deer confrontation with the possum also sparked the attention of the 3 other deer at 30 yards away...so much so all 3 decided to head straight for my tree, literally. So before it was too late to shoot, I could have taken any one of the three deer. However, it was too dark to tell if any of them had horns, even though earlier I thought I saw some on one. What a hunt!
On September 12, I hunted with Eric at his land in Springfield. I took my climber way back to the beaver pond and found a great place to set up. After a long walk back there, and running off about 2 dozen turkeys, I wasn't in my stand too long before a nice 8 point walked out. I waited until he came about 10 yards to my left but I didn't get up to shoot. When he snuck in the woods in front of me, I stood up. I pulled back 3 times, waiting for the perfect shot, while also trying to decide if I wanted to take him. Finally, after looking at his body size and horns for a while, I decided to take the shot. When he came to an opening, I made a doe bleat with my voice. As he came to a stop, I pulled the trigger. HIT! I watched him run away and I didn't think he went too far. Then, after I got down from my climber, I found the arrow which was bloody half way up and broken about 4 inches from the broadhead. When I saw that much blood, I knew I made a good hit, but I waited about 30 minutes to search for him. Eric joined me just before dark and the blood trail was faint. We found drops of blood every few feet or so for about 100 yards, but then the trail ended right about the time my flashlight batteries were going dead. Not good! We were about to be stuck in the dark woods not knowing how to find our way back to the truck. Here's where technology saved the day. I downloaded a compass app to my Droid and with it, we found our way out. How about that?!! The bad thing was leaving the deer, and not knowing if and where he went down. Brooke and I came back the next morning to look some more, but it was next to impossible to find the blood trail again. So, we left dissapointed. Maybe we'll find him in the future, or maybe he's still walking around, but one thing I do know is he was a nice 8 with horns to his ears and fairly thick. His body mass was good size as well. I know this happens to just about every hunter, but hopefully it will be the last time it happens to me for a while. Not a good feeling.
So, after working today, I headed out to Gilbert again in search of a healthy doe. I climbed a new tree, one much closer to where I thought the deer would be coming from. They surprised me and came from my right, not in front of me where I was expecting. I watched a nice doe come about 10-15 yards from me and then head right to the tree I normally hunt from. Soon after that, a spotted yearling came literally 5 yards from my tree, sniffing the tree I was thinking about climbing and had put my equipment nearby. I watched this little deer for about 15-20 minutes from a standing position in my climber. The yearling stood so close to my tree I could have spit on it. The deer definitely smelled something new, but was not spooked by my presence. I waited for more deer to come, but none showed up. It was fun to watch this one though. I love bow hunting!

Sighting in

Well, it's hard to have buck fever when the temp outside is in triple digits, yet, I've found it to be something that can come over you at a moment's notice. So, I'm off to Sportsmans Warehouse to have them look over my bow and make sure it's in good shape. Then, I might attempt to group a few field tips this evening into my target. Oh, and I'll take Emma along too. She's a pretty good shot! Still hard to believe the season opens Sunday!

YellowDog Lawn Care

I haven't had time to blog about my adventures lately, mainly because of my BIG ADVENTURE going on right now. I've started my own business called YellowDog Lawn Care. We serve residential and commercial clients in the Midlands of Columbia, SC (Irmo, Lexington, Chapin, and Columbia). Our website is http://www.yellowdoglawncare.com/.

Winter Stripers

I took a student to Lake Murray on 1/13/10 and he caught 4 while trolling at the towers. Then, on 1/18/10, I took a friend from church and he caught 3 while trolling at the towers. Did I catch any either time? NO. But, today, Gracie and I hit the water this evening when it was no more than 50 degrees. We were the only ones on the lake, other than the seagulls. We tried chasing the birds hoping we'd find stripers, but that didn't work. So, we went back to the towers and immediately caught this 18 incher. It wasn't a keeper, but she sure fought hard.