Parker650
Active member
Long time no chat fellas! Just got back from first weekend at camp... actually first time I've walked into the place since last season. I headed up Thursday night alone and stayed at camp alone for the first time in my life. I went to bed late and missed the morning alarm, ended up in the woods by 730.
Usually I spend these two days scouting, trying to figure out what the deer are up to this year. I made a swing down an old tote road that follows the contour of a large hemlock knoll with the intent of making a large loop and coming back to camp for lunch. Found a few average scrapes and had a doe sneak in behind me while trying to dump some of last year's Tinks in the fifth scrape I found. After she took off I made a small circle and realized that there was some deer traffic in the area and right off my boundary line. Adjacent lot was clear cut 3 years ago and the raspberries were coming in now, good spot with the thick hemlock cover on one side, cut on other and mature oaks with tons of acorns off the other side. With the weather, I opted to hunt this area instead of scouting all over in 70° weather. It was fairly thick, so a climber would be a disadvantage, little visibility when up 10-20' with all the hemlock branches. So after lunch I opted to take a hang-on stand that we have at camp and set it up down there 3' off the ground, sounds stupid but it was fairly comfortable and got me up just a little bit. I was on the top of a knoll that rolled downhill right in front of me, but still allowed some visibility behind me. I was facing downhill toward the cut (about 30 yards in front of me) just inside the wood line. I sat for the last hour of legal with nothing moving in 69° weather and headed back to camp to meet up with a couple of buddies who came up mid-afternoon.
Saturday woke up a bit late, grabbed a honey bun and headed out...was in stand by 6:15 (late again!) After an hour and a half I ate the honey bun and heard twigs snapping in the thick hemlock knoll behind me. Clear and distinctively different than the 96 red squirrels that loves this spot too, I stood up on the platform and turned around. Took a minute but saw a tail flicker and noticed two does were quartering away. I slowly brought up the gun just in case and they almost immediately blew and took off (have no idea how, wind was in my face, and woods were fairly thick). I immediately blew my Lohman snort call once, waited about a minute and tipped the can once. About 4 minutes later I hear footsteps as if the does were coming back (from same direction they ran)...I see a deer walking off the knoll toward me, then I make out part of an antler...not really too excited yet but glad it's a buck. He smells around a bit and I now see he has a decent rack but something is off, the body didn't really match the headgear, body seemed smaller...he turned and gave me a better view of the rack and I briefly questioned what I was gonna do. It was the first weekend and we would be back up this coming Friday for nine days...did I really want to end my season now? It would be a long week....he's 25 yards...BANG! He humps up and I immediately see his front shoulder is mangled. He runs 15 yards before going down right in front of me and expiring within 45 seconds. I knew I hit him good and didnt bother with a second shot, glad I didn't. After a half minute I jumped down the 3' to the ground
and walked over to him, still in awe of the headgear compared to body size, should be a 200lb+ all day long to carry that bone. Called a buddy and with his wheeler he hauled him (and me on the front rack) back to camp. Tagged and weighed him, came in at 174 lbs dressed.
Traditions continue at camp with a younger crew, hunting hard, eating like kings and busting balls like has always been done. Makes me pleased that I KNOW my Dad would be proud of it all...we have been doing well since he passed 7 years ago. Now back to camp on Friday to work on the camp, get things done that I haven't been able to, coyote hunt a bit, and be the camp beer drinking cheerleader for 9 days. Gonna be a long one!!
I hope you are all doing well!
Parker
Usually I spend these two days scouting, trying to figure out what the deer are up to this year. I made a swing down an old tote road that follows the contour of a large hemlock knoll with the intent of making a large loop and coming back to camp for lunch. Found a few average scrapes and had a doe sneak in behind me while trying to dump some of last year's Tinks in the fifth scrape I found. After she took off I made a small circle and realized that there was some deer traffic in the area and right off my boundary line. Adjacent lot was clear cut 3 years ago and the raspberries were coming in now, good spot with the thick hemlock cover on one side, cut on other and mature oaks with tons of acorns off the other side. With the weather, I opted to hunt this area instead of scouting all over in 70° weather. It was fairly thick, so a climber would be a disadvantage, little visibility when up 10-20' with all the hemlock branches. So after lunch I opted to take a hang-on stand that we have at camp and set it up down there 3' off the ground, sounds stupid but it was fairly comfortable and got me up just a little bit. I was on the top of a knoll that rolled downhill right in front of me, but still allowed some visibility behind me. I was facing downhill toward the cut (about 30 yards in front of me) just inside the wood line. I sat for the last hour of legal with nothing moving in 69° weather and headed back to camp to meet up with a couple of buddies who came up mid-afternoon.
Saturday woke up a bit late, grabbed a honey bun and headed out...was in stand by 6:15 (late again!) After an hour and a half I ate the honey bun and heard twigs snapping in the thick hemlock knoll behind me. Clear and distinctively different than the 96 red squirrels that loves this spot too, I stood up on the platform and turned around. Took a minute but saw a tail flicker and noticed two does were quartering away. I slowly brought up the gun just in case and they almost immediately blew and took off (have no idea how, wind was in my face, and woods were fairly thick). I immediately blew my Lohman snort call once, waited about a minute and tipped the can once. About 4 minutes later I hear footsteps as if the does were coming back (from same direction they ran)...I see a deer walking off the knoll toward me, then I make out part of an antler...not really too excited yet but glad it's a buck. He smells around a bit and I now see he has a decent rack but something is off, the body didn't really match the headgear, body seemed smaller...he turned and gave me a better view of the rack and I briefly questioned what I was gonna do. It was the first weekend and we would be back up this coming Friday for nine days...did I really want to end my season now? It would be a long week....he's 25 yards...BANG! He humps up and I immediately see his front shoulder is mangled. He runs 15 yards before going down right in front of me and expiring within 45 seconds. I knew I hit him good and didnt bother with a second shot, glad I didn't. After a half minute I jumped down the 3' to the ground
and walked over to him, still in awe of the headgear compared to body size, should be a 200lb+ all day long to carry that bone. Called a buddy and with his wheeler he hauled him (and me on the front rack) back to camp. Tagged and weighed him, came in at 174 lbs dressed.Traditions continue at camp with a younger crew, hunting hard, eating like kings and busting balls like has always been done. Makes me pleased that I KNOW my Dad would be proud of it all...we have been doing well since he passed 7 years ago. Now back to camp on Friday to work on the camp, get things done that I haven't been able to, coyote hunt a bit, and be the camp beer drinking cheerleader for 9 days. Gonna be a long one!!
I hope you are all doing well!
Parker
