Haven't updated in a while since my buck down in Ohio. Work has been going bonkers the last couple of weeks since I've been back. Got new tires on the truck this last weekend and are planning to bring the trailer down to my dad's for a little extra room so we can bring the dogs too. Will be helpful this winter/spring for when we get down for shed hunts. Really looking forward to getting the kids out hunting Friday, Saturday and Sunday. That's the plan, get down for turkey day and then hunt the rest of the weekend. Have to split the time hunting with the kids since we only have one crossbow but it should be good. Picked up a pop-up blind this last week to use so all of us can get out and be out of the wind. Got it all smoked up and ready to go. Hope to have plenty of pics to share.
Made the trip down to the farm on Thanksgiving day and had a great dinner with my dad, his wife Sheryl and Sheryl's mom and brother. Brought the travel trailer down to leave through the winter so we have a place to stay comfortably and so we can bring the dogs down with us. Will come in handy once shed season gets here. Ended up hunting Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning.
Friday - did not hunt the AM, kids decided to sleep in. Afternoon hunt we set up on the edge of the sanctuary food plot/stand in a pop-up blind, was Jenna's turn to hunt. Had birds everywhere all evening with the sorghum and towards the end of the evening we saw a doe and yearling then just before dark two more, one of which we though might have been a young buck chasing a doe.
Saturday - again did not hunt again in the AM but Allen decided he wanted to hunt were I shot my buck. So late Friday evening I moved the pop-up blind over there and set up for the day. Allen and I made it to the blind around 1:00 pm and by 2:30 we had a doe and yearling come through. Seemed they were just moving to a different spot and didn't seem spooked any. Sat there the rest of the evening and didn't see any more deer. A little disappointing.
Sunday - We got out for the morning hunt. Jenna was to sit behind the crossbow until 8:30 and then Allen was to get it after til 10 am. Well at 8:20 here comes a real nice 4 point and he reads the script coming right in how I like to see them. However as he got close he got real spooky at the sight of the blind. He stomped his feet a few times as he moved around to get a better look. Jenna was right on him and at the shot he came unglued and the bolt hit him a bit high on the shoulder. Buried to the fletchings and he took off like a bat out of hell. Followed his tracks for a long while, probably over 100 yards before we found blood. Had decent blood for a while here and there but as he headed to the road it started getting less and less. We ended up with last blood about 20 yards from the road and a driveway but could find no more and there were no places to hide by that time. We circled and circled and could not pick up tracks or any more blood. Sure sucks that the weekend ended that way for Jenna but it happens. I was afraid by the hit that it was too high and may have missed most if not all vitals, but just not high enough to hit the spine. Damn it.
All in all though it was a great weekend. Got the dogs out walking around and really enjoyed ourselves. The most important thing was the kids hated to leave. Looks like we need to do some real soul searching soon on deciding if a move is in order one of these days.
Friday - did not hunt the AM, kids decided to sleep in. Afternoon hunt we set up on the edge of the sanctuary food plot/stand in a pop-up blind, was Jenna's turn to hunt. Had birds everywhere all evening with the sorghum and towards the end of the evening we saw a doe and yearling then just before dark two more, one of which we though might have been a young buck chasing a doe.
Saturday - again did not hunt again in the AM but Allen decided he wanted to hunt were I shot my buck. So late Friday evening I moved the pop-up blind over there and set up for the day. Allen and I made it to the blind around 1:00 pm and by 2:30 we had a doe and yearling come through. Seemed they were just moving to a different spot and didn't seem spooked any. Sat there the rest of the evening and didn't see any more deer. A little disappointing.
Sunday - We got out for the morning hunt. Jenna was to sit behind the crossbow until 8:30 and then Allen was to get it after til 10 am. Well at 8:20 here comes a real nice 4 point and he reads the script coming right in how I like to see them. However as he got close he got real spooky at the sight of the blind. He stomped his feet a few times as he moved around to get a better look. Jenna was right on him and at the shot he came unglued and the bolt hit him a bit high on the shoulder. Buried to the fletchings and he took off like a bat out of hell. Followed his tracks for a long while, probably over 100 yards before we found blood. Had decent blood for a while here and there but as he headed to the road it started getting less and less. We ended up with last blood about 20 yards from the road and a driveway but could find no more and there were no places to hide by that time. We circled and circled and could not pick up tracks or any more blood. Sure sucks that the weekend ended that way for Jenna but it happens. I was afraid by the hit that it was too high and may have missed most if not all vitals, but just not high enough to hit the spine. Damn it.
All in all though it was a great weekend. Got the dogs out walking around and really enjoyed ourselves. The most important thing was the kids hated to leave. Looks like we need to do some real soul searching soon on deciding if a move is in order one of these days.
Got the report from my dad that I wasn't looking forward to. He has a buddy that invited himself, his son and his son's buddy down to hunt yesterday. Dad enjoys having them down but I absolutely hate it because they have no respect for the land, how and where they shoot or what they shoot. Well after telling my dad I'd rather them shoot a buck, even a small one, only it didn't matter.....they shot one of the 4 does we knew resided on the property. Pretty silly since we have over 180 acres and only that few to be able to confirm. Of course they are back at it today and I dread the news tonight. To top it off my cousin and his wife are headed over to hunt today as well. Dad said they didn't see much over on the farm they were hunting.....still don't think he get's it when I said that's because there aren't many deer left down there!! They are good people and mean well but they have no idea what is going on with the deer herd down there and frankly probably don't care. Feeling very frustrated......