A Prince of the Forest, Part 2

Recently, I've had a father and his two sons start hunting on the property along with me, they had heard about Prince and they agreed not to shoot him because I had been watching him. 

The evening of November 15th was calm.  Very little wind, maybe a slight breeze.  The two sons had come out that night to hunt and after coming up with a game plan for hunting spots and exit times, we started out towards our spots.  I went to a blind at the edge of a field, they went to a stand around 150 yards from my spot (give or take distance).

In my blind, I prayed we would have a successful hunt, that the guys could get a deer, and that I could get Prince, well any good deer really, but especially him.  After a while, about the time the deer start moving around this area, I hear movement.  At first I thought it was a squirrel, given how rapid the footsteps seemed to crunch the fall leaves.  But, it sounded, bigger.  I looked to my right, and I see a deer walking just inside the woods bordering the field.  Ugh, it's just a doe.  She walks parallel to the field through the woods and into the clearcut and disappears.  Guess I just have to sit and wait some more.

At this point, I was hoping to have seen more deer enter the field, but it was 5:20 pm and light was about to start fading fast.  I sent a text to the guys and said I would get out of my blind at 5:30 if nothing showed up in the field.  Put down my phone, and hear crunch, crunch, crunch.  It's coming from behind me now, the one place I can't see while in my blind.  I knew it was a deer, no mistaking that.  It had come down a path behind my blind that deer have come down in the past, an old logging road through the clearcut leading to the top of a hill.  I leaned over to see through the window on my left.  I saw a big deer, with antlers shooting skyward.  It was Prince.  A stroke of luck to see a buck come out so early when all I had were night pictures and the fact that there were no does in the field to "attract him".  My guess is he was hungry.  Quickly, I put on my ear muffs and cocked the hammer on my Winchester and aimed.  He was now about 45 yards away, and walking down the edge of the field.  The gun was pulled up, I made a "MEH" sound, at he stopped broadside.  Perfect.  Crosshairs landed on his shoulder, the hammer came down, BAM!  He hunched his shoulders and ran up into the woods.  Thank you Lord, I got him!

The easy part was over.  The guys came and helped me blood trail, but we only found little splotches of blood on the ground.  Sometimes we'd lose the trail, but we'd pick it back up again.  In the end, after two hours of searching, we couldn't find him.  Where was this buck?  How could he run this far?  Didn't I get him with a heart shot?  Just, how?!? 

A Prince of the Forest, Part 1

There are bucks that have pep and are fun to watch, but are too small to shoot.  There are good bucks that you see, but not shoot.  There are bucks that love a certain area, a certain time of day, have unique antlers, all sorts of things can set a buck apart.  This buck, he liked a certain time of day and had unique antlers.  A nice bodied 8 point with a curved main beam, long G2s and 3s, and loved the night.  His name is Prince, named after Bambi's father, the Great Prince of the Forest.  I thought it fit, whether or not it was an original name.  Here are some pics of him:

Sorry for the blurry pic!

Pic from my new Wildgame Innovations Mirage 14

I had a problem.  As you can see, all these pics were taken at night, and not just that, but well before (or after) shooting light.  The earliest he ever came out is 6:50 pm, just 20 minutes after I had left my stand that evening.  The latest in the morning?  5:55 am, too early to shoot.  He wasn't coming out when and where I want him to.  So I had to figure out where he was in the daytime, which can be a challenge if you don't exactly know where to start.  So, I set another camera out in the woods to hopefully catch him in the day time, meanwhile, my other camera kept getting pics of him at night.  

With the whitetail rut coming up I knew and heard the best time to get him would be the next three weeks or so (about mid to late November).  I knew a doe group was in the area, not to mention all the other does that liked to hang out by themselves, so I would have plenty of chances to see rut action.  All I could do at this point was be where does were and patiently wait for him to show.  

SCO Update with Pictures!

It's November y'all!  Time for the whitetail rut to start, not to mention all the other small game seasons kicking in!  I thought I'd give you guys an update on what I've been up to recently.

My deer hunting is business as usual.  I haven't gotten anything yet, but believe me I will post when I do!  The last 3 times I've been out in the stand, I've seen 13 deer and haven't gotten a shot.  I take that back, I could have shot.  However the deer was much to small, must have been a yearling at most.

Secondly, I bought a Wildgame Innovations Mirage 14 game camera.  14 MP, shoots video, adjustable light exposure and picture/video quality, stylish little camera.  I have it out in the woods at the moment so I'll try to do a product review once I see what the camera can do.

And, here are a couple pictures!

This group regularly visits the area

And a squirrel for you

Until next time!

Predator

No, this is not a movie review of Predator starring Arnold Schwhatshisname.   This is a short story about a recent hunt of mine that ended, well, unexpectedly.

I was in the stand about 4:30ish.  Maybe some people will get on to me and be like "be in the stand earlier!" Don't care.  I've got it down to where I know deer appear around 6 in the early season and 5:15 in the late season.  So I'm there a while before the deer are.  After about an hour and a half, right at 6, I look right and there is a 6 point buck, he just kind of appeared, I never heard him walk up, but ok then.  Not big enough to shoot (maybe half the size of the 8 point I got last year) , I decided to let him pass, a doe came out.  I stood up slowly when the deer weren't looking, but I never got a shot on the doe.  They simply walked off into the woods at my 2 o'clock.  Still standing after about 5 or so minutes, I look to my left into the woods at my 9 o'clock.  I see 4 legs walking through the brush, but I notice it's not a deer...this is a coyote.  Now I beg for him to turn right, towards my stand, so that I could have a shot.  Sure enough, he does.  I wait till his head goes behind a tree to draw, and hold on my anchor point and aim.  The coyote, after coming from behind the tree, is still hidden by briars grown up next to the tree.  I hold the bow back for another 10 or 15 seconds (forgive me for inaccurate time, it seemed like I held the bow forever when it was probably just a few moments), and finally I get a shot.  20 yards, WHAP!  The sound of an arrow hitting its mark.  The coyote did not make it a few feet before it fell, the Muzzy Mx-4 having done it's work.  After giving it a few minutes to expire, I got down from the stand to see my first coyote kill.

Sorry for the blurry selfie

Now to attempt at a deer!  Keep hunting and stay safe! 

Summer Pictures

Been a while since I've done one of these!  I honestly haven't had my camera out very much this year, so I don't have a ton of pictures, but heres a few I have gotten recently:

Most of the coyotes in my area have been trapped by neighbors, but looks like at least one got away...

I saw these bucks hanging out with each other, or another deer, a lot.  During the summer, it is interesting to note that while bucks are normally solitary animals (with the exception of the rut), during the summer they will group up together in "bachelor groups".  Sometimes these groups will contain up to 4 or 5 animals (possibly more!)

Ooh, nice little 8 point

And I believe this is him again

I know it's a very short post, but I hope you enjoy the pictures!