Of Missy and Fawns- Part 2

Well, now let's see the other part of Missy's story.  I told you guys I'd pickup the story starting in November of last year.  I left off in September, so why November, when October is in the middle? Well, I was on vacation half of that month and I didn't have my camera's out.  So here we go:

I read in a book called "Whitetails: From Ground to Gun" by Craig and Neil Dougherty where they were talking about shooting does, and the subject of sweet momma does came up.  After reading about how they've seen does come as regular visitor to the backyard and bringing up their fawns well, and how they have never been able to pull the trigger on one.  After reading that, I pretty much told myself that I might never be able to pull the trigger on Missy.  I did once, and luckily missed, because I would have regretted it if I got her.  I'm not doing that again.

About midway through November, hunting season in full swing, I was heading out to an area on another side of the property I hunt.  It was about 4:30 pm, and I pretty much knew what time deer would appear where I was going. I had to pass my feeder and didn't think much about it, as I didn't have any pictures of deer coming around that time. Sure enough; Missy, her two fawns, and another doe were already there:

Here are deer at my feeder, at a time I never recorded before.

And I pass near them and I see tail's flashing, are you kidding me?!?

A week and a half later I didn't get up to hunt the stand in front of that feeder because I was to tired.  AKA, I just wanted to sleep in.  I hardly ever want to wake up at 5:30 AM or earlier, no matter the season.  I woke up an hour later and looked outside, and guess what...

You can't see it in the picture, but the other doe is there as well

I could see them from my bedroom window.  I thought to myself "AHHH!!  Four deer are out there and you could've possibly got one!!"  After that, I told myself I WAS going to go out there the next morning.  Though I had warm hunting clothes on and multiple layers, I froze that morning (cold breeze on a 29 degree morning in a treestand with no wind break, fun right?).  20 minutes into it, my hands were ice.  15 minutes after that, I'm getting pretty cold myself.  But, around 7 o'clock, an hour into my sit, I found out that my hunt would not disappoint.  No, it was not Missy, but I had prayed a few minutes before for a deer, and lo and behold, a few minutes later, I get my first buck!

Adrenaline rush is the explanation for how I was able to spend the rest of the day in a t-shirt outside while getting the meat off the deer. Not to mention the fire dad had going on outside, I did the work near the fire, it felt great!

But back to Missy, she came back that night, possibly knowing that the annoying teenage buck Joe wasn't coming back or wasn't at their evening meeting.  I'll never know.

I told you she was a sweet momma!  Believe me now?  :)

That's November for you, and that's all for now!

Of Missy and Fawns- Part 1

I was looking over some of my past posts and I saw a couple with a doe I call "Missy."  I only mentioned her a little bit in each, and I called her "by-now-famous."  Well, she's not if you don't know her!  Many of you will think I'm crazy that I'm writing about a post about one particular deer, but hear me out.

So, last year around this time, I had gotten some pictures of this one doe, the biggest on the property as I'd seen.  After getting tired of calling her "the big doe" I just called her "Missy", a name that I had no particular reason for choosing, it just came to mind.

After I had gotten multiple pictures of her, I realized that she had two fawns with her as well.  Like their momma, nice and healthy.  So now, I was even more interested in watching Missy and her fawns.  And that's what I did, I watched them grow.

I was able to track her because of the dark spot on her shoulder

Sometimes Missy and her fawns would come multiple times a night. Anyway, not long after this 8/30 picture, I had a personal encounter with the fawns.  I was going down to put more corn in the feeder, and I got a surprise, the fawns were there.  I was able to get within 20 feet of them. They ran away, but I knew they wouldn't go far and that they'd be back, and sure enough:

Fawns eating

I "scare" the fawns away

Ta'da!  They're back!

As the time went on, I kept getting more pictures of them.  I even got one of her nursing a fawn.

Apparently Missy doesn't mind sharing with a raccoon.

I think this is the best trail cam picture I've ever gotten.

I think that's it for now, next I'll share about November 2014 till now!

Why do I hunt?

I've been asked before about why I hunt and I give them the short answer "for meat." But, there's more to it than that. The definition for hunting is: "the activity of hunting wild animals or game, especially for meat or sport (Oxford Dictionaries)."  That is true, but only in part, I see it as much more.  It's being out in God's country and reconnecting with nature and our past.  It's the joy and excitement of seeing that giant elk or the smallest of fawns.  It's the fact that you get to know and respect the animals better than many that you know.
It's the camaraderie of family and friends.  The sharing of stories and the passing on of knowledge.  It's a part of you, it's in you. You cannot wait for the next fall to arrive so you can get back out there.
It's the indescribable feeling as you walk up to an animal, and you realize that God let you take this animal to nourish your own.  And the feeling of what a blessing it is to be able to hunt.  You realize that after all the disappointments, all the missed shots, all the times it just didn't work, don't matter anymore.
That is what hunting is.  It's the whole experience.  That's why I hunt.

Summer Fun

During the summer, it's useful to put out some camera's along with some time in the woods looking for sign and all.  If your lucky, you might even see a fawn.  By now though, most fawns are able to go with their mother wherever she goes.  But here are some things to do during the summer:

• Swimming: Swimming is a great way to have fun and exercise as well!
• Fish: Everyone knows how great fishing is, need I say more?
• Scouting: It's a cliche, but it's always useful.  The cool thing about this time of year is you get to see what time and where those fawns are out with their mom and how big those bucks antlers are getting! I've been lazy so far and I want more pictures of Missy and her new fawns!
• Management: Predator management anyone?  Not to mention habitat and deer herd management (seeing what bucks are there, which to target/take, how many does to take, if any.  And so on).  But not just deer.  Out west, it's elk (or pronghorn!) management!  If your up north, that could include moose as well!

There are many more things I could mention, such as: treestand placement/maintenance, target shooting, bow tuning, sighting in a scope, setting up mineral sites, trail cameras, and more!

With all this mentioned, have fun!

Hunting Website

Hi guys!  I just wanted to quickly let everyone know of a website I've known of for a while and honestly haven't thought to share it.  Anyway, the site is Hungry for Hunting and his new website is devinbrewer.com (they both have good content in them). I've been on his newsletter list for a while now and he's got great content.  I'm in a video series where he's going over how he learned to deer hunt and how he eventually learned to succeed year after year.  It's more than walking up on a deer or "hiking with a gun" as he calls it, but you should scout, plan wisely, and hunt smart, being ready to adapt as things change.  Hope you guys will check it out, and I'll see you next time!