Mason and I had an enjoyable muzzle loader season. We saw a good number of deer, one decent buck which Mason ran out to me. We were not able to hunt Saturday. We saw that buck go into a thicket while running cams Sunday afternoon. We ran home, shot the guns a couple times and then went after him. It almost worked but no shot was offered. Mason wore himself out in the process and decided to stay home while I went hunting Sunday evening. I wanted to hunt Fayette County, but we had fooled around too long for me to make the drive. I went close to home and saw seven doe and fawns. A total of 11 for the afternoon. They were all close enough to shake hands as I hunkered next to a tiny tree watching a field crossing. Fun.
Monday, I waited on Mason to get home from school. Then he had to feed his animals and other chores, so we were too late again to hunt Fayette. So, we went to a neighbors farm again. I saw five, all antlerless, and Mason saw one doe.
Today, I handled the feeding chores so we could make it to Fayette. Of course it is windy as heck, and sadly warm again. We saw a pile of squirrels, but that was all. Not surprising. I went ahead and pulled the camera I have set over a corn pile up there as the batteries were dead. Sure enough, the deer Mason would like to shoot was there each day of muzzy season in daylight with the exception of today! He's a nice deer, not great, but would be a nice one for Mason to end his season on. He's one I could have shot at the end of October or first part of November. He is a 3 year old, the landowner has a lot of pics of him from last year. I'd like to see him next year, but honestly at this point if we get to hunt up there again and he gives either of us a shot, his days are numbered. He's pretty.
I'm running two corn pile and camera set ups at the neighbors place where Tines and Beans lived. Usually we will find a few nice ones there in January. I'll be checking those cams in a few days and go from there. Maybe something will get interesting there, maybe not. It's been a fun year regardless.
Here is the "Free Pass" that now looks like a "Big 9".