DV1
12-22-2009, 02:25 PM
I went to Ohio over the weekend for a quick hunt. We got hit with a little snow out there, but nothing like the blizzard here. We had about 3-4 inches fall on Saturday.
In the morning I went to a stand on the hills above our food plots planted along the creek in the bottom. My stand was overlooking a land bridge crossing a ravine that separates two pine thickets that serve as bedding areas. The deer also like to feed in the pines on the briars and sumac that grow along the edges, and between the rows of trees.
I was in a section of hardwoods along that ravine trying to catch deer movement from the food plots in the bottom, up the hills towards the pines, and crossing from one pine thicket to the next. The ravine cuts up the hill from the bottom and has vertical sides about 6 or 7 feet high, so the only place to cross is the little finger of land that spans the ravine, and my stand is 30 yards from it.
It started snowing about 5am and we had about an inch by sunrise. The snow hanging on the branches made it difficult to see very far in the woods, and from a stand, it was worse. The snow came down steadily all morning though and it was a nice to be out.
I didn’t see any deer from the stand, and didn’t see any tracks on the way out until I got closer to the pines. The closer I got, the more tracks I saw. As I walked down the 4-wheeler trail through the pines, I jumped 3 or 4 deer just off the side of the road, and they bounded into the pines and out of sight.
For the afternoon, I planned on going to a stand overlooking one of the food plots. At about 1:30pm, I crossed this creek, breaking through the partly frozen surface as quietly as I could, and paused to take a picture.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0015.jpg
Once on the other side, I came to a long narrow field that was situated between another pine thicket, and the creek.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0018.jpg
The creek runs north to south through the bottom, with steep hills on the east and west sides. In much of the bottoms along the creek, we have food plots planted, some bordered by pines, some right up to the base of the hills.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0021.jpg
We saw deer moving while driving to my drop-off point, so I still-hunted my way to the stand. On the way, I stopped to take these pictures, and looked up to see two small deer about 100 yards ahead of me. They had come down off the hill, crossed the creek and were coming into the field. I kneeled down, resting the gun in the ready postion on my knee and took this picture down the barrel. The deer are the small brown spots in the distance in front of the barrel.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0019.jpg
They were small, so I let them go. I made my way to the stand overlooking this food plot. It's 110 yards to the far end of the plot.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0023.jpg
About 4:30pm, I had a big doe and button buck come down the hill to my left and towards the field. The button blasted right out into the open, however the doe stayed back along the edge, keeping snow covered brush between her and me so I could not shoot. I wondered if this was the same big old doe that I tried to arrow in November from a stand on a bench above the food plot, just up the hill from where they came down. On that hunt, she was 10 yards away as I drew and my weight shifted slightly, and the stand squeaked just a little but enough to send her fleeing from certain death. Those old girls are tough to fool. They moved off and my afternoon hunted faded into the darkness.
Sunday morning I set up on that trail through the pines where I had jumped the deer Saturday morning. I cleared some powdery snow from under some pines and sat where I could see down the road for a little over 100 yards. I see deer crossing here all the time in bow season, and saw them yesterday, so it’s as good a spot as any.
It was cold...so cold, the bolt on my shotgun was frozen in the open position and took some convincing to chamber a round.
Shooting light came at about 7:25am. At 7:50am, I spotted a doe emerge from the hollow to my left, and work through the low brush towards the trail. I had a shot but it was a little iffy, so I waited.
When she went behind a pine tree, I moved into position, bringing my elbows up to my knees, and preparing for a shot. I lowered my cheek to the stock and instantly the heat from my face fogged the scope. I wiped the fog away with my fleece glove, but if you have ever tried to wipe any moisture from glass with fleece, you know what my result was...just a moisture smeared scope lens.
The rising sun was still obscured by the few remaining clouds, so it was still very cold. 15 degrees, with no wind, and dead calm. The silence was beautiful and cursed at the same time. Beautiful because it was just one of those dead calm, icy cold, snowy, quiet mornings. You know the kind...the air stings the lungs, you can hear the snow falling from the branches, and the birds flitting about from far away... and the deer can hear the faint rustling of your cold clothing as you slowly move into position to shoot. And that deer heard me which is why I cursed the silence.
She held up about 100 yards out, watching me, or at least watching for me under the snow laden pine bows. I didn’t move. We had a standoff for about 10 minutes before she turned and went back into the hardwoods. Those old girls are tough to fool.
As she left my sight, another doe walked out behind her, glanced back in her direction, then proceeded to casually walk across the trail. I lowered my cheek again, and clicked off the safety. She was walking at a steady pace and did not slow enough for me to take a shot at that distance. Across the trail she went and into the pines on the other side, and my safety went back into the “safe” position. With a cramp in my neck, and my lower leg and foot now falling alseep from my awkward sitting position, I wanted to moved but dared not do so...deer were moving.
Less than a minute later, I saw another doe following her path and readied myself again. My cheek to the stock, safety clicked off, and sight picture acquired just on the other side of a small pine tree 105 yards from my makeshift blind, I waited. As the doe stepped into the trail from behind that tree, she stopped and I squeezed the trigger.
I saw her instantly drop straight to the ground while still looking through my scope. As I lifted my head from the stock of the Remmington 1187, the first doe jumped from the brush on the left, into the middle of the trail 50 yards away, gave one loud snort as if to say ‘ah ha, caught you’, and then bounded into the pines.
This is where my doe fell, looking back down the trail towards my blind. That dark spot under the pine branches where the trail bends was my hiding place for that mornings hunt.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0026.jpg
This is the first deer I’ve killed with a gun in a while, and it was a fun hunt.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0025.jpg
In the morning I went to a stand on the hills above our food plots planted along the creek in the bottom. My stand was overlooking a land bridge crossing a ravine that separates two pine thickets that serve as bedding areas. The deer also like to feed in the pines on the briars and sumac that grow along the edges, and between the rows of trees.
I was in a section of hardwoods along that ravine trying to catch deer movement from the food plots in the bottom, up the hills towards the pines, and crossing from one pine thicket to the next. The ravine cuts up the hill from the bottom and has vertical sides about 6 or 7 feet high, so the only place to cross is the little finger of land that spans the ravine, and my stand is 30 yards from it.
It started snowing about 5am and we had about an inch by sunrise. The snow hanging on the branches made it difficult to see very far in the woods, and from a stand, it was worse. The snow came down steadily all morning though and it was a nice to be out.
I didn’t see any deer from the stand, and didn’t see any tracks on the way out until I got closer to the pines. The closer I got, the more tracks I saw. As I walked down the 4-wheeler trail through the pines, I jumped 3 or 4 deer just off the side of the road, and they bounded into the pines and out of sight.
For the afternoon, I planned on going to a stand overlooking one of the food plots. At about 1:30pm, I crossed this creek, breaking through the partly frozen surface as quietly as I could, and paused to take a picture.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0015.jpg
Once on the other side, I came to a long narrow field that was situated between another pine thicket, and the creek.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0018.jpg
The creek runs north to south through the bottom, with steep hills on the east and west sides. In much of the bottoms along the creek, we have food plots planted, some bordered by pines, some right up to the base of the hills.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0021.jpg
We saw deer moving while driving to my drop-off point, so I still-hunted my way to the stand. On the way, I stopped to take these pictures, and looked up to see two small deer about 100 yards ahead of me. They had come down off the hill, crossed the creek and were coming into the field. I kneeled down, resting the gun in the ready postion on my knee and took this picture down the barrel. The deer are the small brown spots in the distance in front of the barrel.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0019.jpg
They were small, so I let them go. I made my way to the stand overlooking this food plot. It's 110 yards to the far end of the plot.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0023.jpg
About 4:30pm, I had a big doe and button buck come down the hill to my left and towards the field. The button blasted right out into the open, however the doe stayed back along the edge, keeping snow covered brush between her and me so I could not shoot. I wondered if this was the same big old doe that I tried to arrow in November from a stand on a bench above the food plot, just up the hill from where they came down. On that hunt, she was 10 yards away as I drew and my weight shifted slightly, and the stand squeaked just a little but enough to send her fleeing from certain death. Those old girls are tough to fool. They moved off and my afternoon hunted faded into the darkness.
Sunday morning I set up on that trail through the pines where I had jumped the deer Saturday morning. I cleared some powdery snow from under some pines and sat where I could see down the road for a little over 100 yards. I see deer crossing here all the time in bow season, and saw them yesterday, so it’s as good a spot as any.
It was cold...so cold, the bolt on my shotgun was frozen in the open position and took some convincing to chamber a round.
Shooting light came at about 7:25am. At 7:50am, I spotted a doe emerge from the hollow to my left, and work through the low brush towards the trail. I had a shot but it was a little iffy, so I waited.
When she went behind a pine tree, I moved into position, bringing my elbows up to my knees, and preparing for a shot. I lowered my cheek to the stock and instantly the heat from my face fogged the scope. I wiped the fog away with my fleece glove, but if you have ever tried to wipe any moisture from glass with fleece, you know what my result was...just a moisture smeared scope lens.
The rising sun was still obscured by the few remaining clouds, so it was still very cold. 15 degrees, with no wind, and dead calm. The silence was beautiful and cursed at the same time. Beautiful because it was just one of those dead calm, icy cold, snowy, quiet mornings. You know the kind...the air stings the lungs, you can hear the snow falling from the branches, and the birds flitting about from far away... and the deer can hear the faint rustling of your cold clothing as you slowly move into position to shoot. And that deer heard me which is why I cursed the silence.
She held up about 100 yards out, watching me, or at least watching for me under the snow laden pine bows. I didn’t move. We had a standoff for about 10 minutes before she turned and went back into the hardwoods. Those old girls are tough to fool.
As she left my sight, another doe walked out behind her, glanced back in her direction, then proceeded to casually walk across the trail. I lowered my cheek again, and clicked off the safety. She was walking at a steady pace and did not slow enough for me to take a shot at that distance. Across the trail she went and into the pines on the other side, and my safety went back into the “safe” position. With a cramp in my neck, and my lower leg and foot now falling alseep from my awkward sitting position, I wanted to moved but dared not do so...deer were moving.
Less than a minute later, I saw another doe following her path and readied myself again. My cheek to the stock, safety clicked off, and sight picture acquired just on the other side of a small pine tree 105 yards from my makeshift blind, I waited. As the doe stepped into the trail from behind that tree, she stopped and I squeezed the trigger.
I saw her instantly drop straight to the ground while still looking through my scope. As I lifted my head from the stock of the Remmington 1187, the first doe jumped from the brush on the left, into the middle of the trail 50 yards away, gave one loud snort as if to say ‘ah ha, caught you’, and then bounded into the pines.
This is where my doe fell, looking back down the trail towards my blind. That dark spot under the pine branches where the trail bends was my hiding place for that mornings hunt.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0026.jpg
This is the first deer I’ve killed with a gun in a while, and it was a fun hunt.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c260/DVicari/DSCN0025.jpg