8-10-14-72-0

  

Play these numbers. Eight degrees. Ten hours in stand. Fourteen deer seen. Seventy-two years on planet. No shots. That was yesterday. Here’s a recap of the season so far:

 

One medium sized eight point shot 8:00 am opening day. The buck was on a doe down at Gilkey’s. I watched them for over an hour at about 200 yards. Then the doe ran right at my tree. An easy shot dropped him.

 

One medium sized doe. I hunted the extension Rd. from the ground one snowy morning. I dropped her at 100 yards. A larger doe was behind her. The shot was a little high – cutting into the back strap. Noted.

 

I like hunting the elements. Even with lousy rain gear I go out in it. Blowing snow is my favorite. The Oct. and Nov. drought has turned into the whiplash of rain, snow and brutal cold. Now that it’s muzzleloader season, I can shoot a decent buck or big doe. I need meat. As per usual I’ve been seeing nothing.

Then, on Friday I decided to hunt a stand I hadn’t visited all season: Majestic Mountain.

 

I’m very lucky to have a variety of beautiful spots within a short drive of my house. Majestic is open to me for bow and muzzle. During gun season a father/son team of knuckleheads have permission. Fearing a bullet from either of these idiots, I stay out. But now it’s my turn. I've shot some of my biggest bucks there.

 

With the rain, then deep freeze, entering the woods is like walking on potato chip bags. Forget being stealthy. One has to grit one’s teeth and try to get in the stand as quickly as possible. The good side of this is you can also hear a deer coming from behind a mile away.

 

This was the case on Friday. I heard “crunch-crunch” coming from behind on my right, close. I didn’t move. The sound stopped. My breath quickened in anticipation. Then again “crunch-crunch." I looked down and saw it was a buck. Four-pointer. Damn. No shot.

 

He moved on and about an hour later I heard another deer coming from my left. This spot is better – pines to cover my movement as I shifted and got the gun up. I saw it was a doe. A BIG doe. She was as dark as a buck, probably four or five years old, 150 pounds. Plenty of meat. As she stepped behind a tree at about 20 yards I raised the gun. When she stepped out I bleated her stopped, settled the crosshairs and fired. She barely reacted, standing there looking around for where that strange noise came from. What the fuck? Then she bounded off, tail in the air.

 

I am totally at a loss as to what happened. The gun didn’t sound right; not loud enough. This was supposed to be the year I didn’t miss or wound a deer. My eyes are good. Both guns are zeroed in at 100 yards. I called Savage. Even though I had checked my powder after hunting in the rain for three days, it looked fine. Savage’s theory was that it may have looked OK but been damp, causing the shot to go wild. I’m not buying it. I could’ve hit that deer by throwing the gun at it.

 

So that was why, after a sleepless night, I was back in the same tree at dawn the next day, in 8-degree weather. And I saw plenty of deer, just not that big doe or any bucks. Last night Shewho came over to make it all better. So, I didn’t hunt this morning. I’m going in after I post this. I need meat. One of those medium “mommies” may go down this afternoon….if I can hit anything with this fucking gun. So much for my confidence as the season winds down. Last day is for drives on Tues. Then venison feast on the Solstice on Sat., and the second half of muzzle after Xmas. Gotta keep at it.