I'm starting to feel the excitement, so that's a good thing. Took a walk in the woods at my parent's place the other night to check out the oak flat. I've had my all time best encounters on that flat. Too many to name and all, my most classic hunting stories. Sadly, development in the neighborhood as congested the area and added far too many people for this spot to ever be what it once was. Had I known what I know now 18 years ago, I'd have killed a few more good deer off this flat. But the past is the past and there's still potential for memories. I'm going to brush in a Big Mike blind next to a 200 year old white oak at a fence crossing. Now that we don't run cattle back there, deer are starting to bed in two acre cattle pen. I can take advantage of simple entry/exit, nature funnels, cover and a strategic pile of golden acres to bring them in to 25 yards. The goal: Put deer in front of me and K as routinely as possible this year so we can watch. The only way I shoot something from this spot is if it's a new #1 on the wall. I just want to create a spot where we can observe deer behavior in a hunting setting, long before I put her in a hunting situation. Assuming we buy my parent's place as planned next year, this will become the spot where her first deer will come from. It is the same spot almost within feet of where I killed my first buck, and Tracie killed hers. The mission: Kill K's first buck on this same flat in 3-4 years. Or sooner...
