[/font]
[font=calibri]I got out both Saturday all day and Sunday morning.[/font]
[font=calibri]It was very warm in north-central Indiana. Both days started in the upper 50's with SE-S and S-SW winds respectively. It made it well into the mid 80's both days.[/font]
[font=calibri]Saturday 11th[/font]
[font=calibri]The southerly winds make hunting the long woods on the family farm the right place to be. Still have standing corn on all sides. I have a general idea of where I am going to set up with the wind the way it is and decide to go with my telescoping blind and chair.[/font]
[font=calibri]Since I am stumbling through an uncut corn field rightly or wrongly I decide to wait until first light to start my trek. I am going to be making enough noise getting to the woods so I am not gaining anything by the cover of darkness. As luck would have it I bumped a deer who was bedded right at the end of the row I picked in a 1/2 mile long stretch of woods. Well at least I predicted which end of the woods the wind would "push" the deer. I sat at the end of the corn waited about 10-15 minutes for the commotion to settle and then proceeded to my spot.[/font]
[font=calibri]I settled in after 15 minutes or so of last minute cutting briars and setting the blind in place with my back to a large red oak. The woods here funnel to a neck before opening up again to an adjoining neighboring woodlot. So with the type of wind I have I should see deer transitioning from either wood lots. About 20 minutes later I catch movement out of the corner of my eye on the trail I had set up on. Three deer, a large doe and two fawns (still with some faint spots). I have a personal rule of not shooting does with fawns still in tow. My personal preference. [/font][font=calibri]But since this is my fist live deer to actual be in range from my blind I decided to draw back my bow and "practice". Mama hesitated upon drawback, ears started to turn this way and that, but then after 30 or seconds she starts walking calmly. They never knew I was there. If I wanted I could have shot. I let her walk for as long as I could hold my draw and then let down nice and easy. Again at the sound of my draw down she hesitated, but then went back to walking. Pretty cool. [/font]
[font=calibri] [/font][font=calibri]Nothing else that morning. Got hungry and went for some grub as it was getting warm.[/font]
[font=calibri] [/font][font=calibri]Returned to the long woods about 2:30 pm with my climber this time and was sweating the whole trek in. got into position from a tree about 30 yards from where I had been earlier. Got hammered by every biting insect in the woods. Not a pleasant sit. Didn't see anything. By time I got home I was exhausted. This heat just takes it out of you.[/font]
[font=calibri] [/font][font=calibri]Sunday 12th[/font]
[font=calibri] [/font][font=calibri]I almost talked myself out of going, but finally rolled out of bed around 5 35 am and got moving. I decided I was not going to hunt in the afternoon. Just too hot. I did see deer in the morning so I will stick to the cooler part of the day. I decide to hunt my Dad's little 2 acre wood patch. It it easy to get to and believe it or not I see a lot of deer move trough here. I was not disappointed. Right at about sunrise I hear a twig snap behind me. Coming into the woods are 3 deer on large and two smaller ones. They are not coming down the trail into my area but are cutting across it and heading into the standing corn. I start to sit down after losing sight of them and see another darker colored deer following the same path and it is a small 4 maybe a 5 point buck! Cool. He also disappears into the corn field. I sit down and try to stop from shaking. (It always gets me going to see deer, any deer). About half an hour goes buy and a catch movement to my right and it is the same buck, coming back out of the corn field, but now he is on a trail I had cut back in August the will bring right into [/font][font=calibri]my killing zone. About half way in he turns into the brush pile I had created. Disappeared behind it and I hear him bed down! Cool again!. 20 or so minutes goes by and coming down the same trail I catch movement again! It is a doe, a nice big one. I decide if she is alone and she gives me the opportunity I am going to take it. However, two fawns come tearing up from behind her and stop right under my stand. The literally are right under my feet!. I could clearly see they still had faint spots running down their back and they were both young nubbies. (I actually got a trail cam picture of this doe and one of her fawns in August) They proceeded to mill around for 5 minutes or so. Then one of the fawns just pins his ears back and takes off running up the trail I had used to come in. The other fawn pins his ears back and gives chase to the first. Mama deer is eating away at some acorns left over on the ground and then must have realized the two fawns were gone because she starts walking in the direction they took off in and starts giving a low grunting noise, I mean several in a row I could hear "calling" her fawns all the way out of the woods![/font]
[font=calibri] [/font][font=calibri]That is the first vocalization from a doe (other than a warning snort) that I have ever heard.[/font]
[font=calibri] [/font][font=calibri]The buck never re-appeared and assume he was still bedded. That was it for the action. I got out of the stand as quietly as possible and left.[/font]
[font=calibri] [/font][font=calibri]No deer on the ground, but another cool thing most people never get to see.
[/font]
[font=calibri]How was your weekend?[/font]
[font=calibri][/font]
