The wife and I had an awsome time this weekend. We got to go on a doe hunt on a friends property. I have been the last several years, but this year the wife got to come. Since this property is enrolled in the states DMAP program, there is no daily limit on does (just the # of tags issued). We started out traveling at 2:30 AM saturday morning 11-3-12. Well we were ready for some Boom Boom Pow.
Saturday morning (11-3) was very foggy. Couldn't see more than 100 yds. Right after sun up, I caught a glimpse of 2 deer through the fog. Try as I might I could not ID the sex of the deer though I was positive it was a doe and fawn. Since the first shot was the wifes, I chose not to let her shoot. They left the food plot and disappeared. A little while later they appeared on the other side of us. It was still foggy and we couldn't get a shot. After the fog lifted, we saw 3 does enter the west side of the food plot. The wife got ready as they inched closer. About the time she was going to shoot if here her saw "what tha...", and looked to see a nice 8 point step out about 30 yards from her. Since we were only after does, we turned our attention back to the does. Finally she got a shot. As she shot and the deer ran off I was nervous about the shot. I thought I saw gut spilling out the sides, but was not sure. I got down and went to look for blood. As I suspected it was a gut shot. (used a tracking dog later in the AM to try to find it) As I was tracking her deer I jumped 2 other deer in the thicket (not hers) and decided to back out. As I emerged in the food plot I looked to my right and there stood 2 does at the far end.
After I saw the doe at the far end of the food plot, I started sneaking along the edge of the plot. I got closer to her and laid prone on a small rise in the dirt. I over estimated the distance on the first shot. Boom, right over her. Racked another shell, lowered the cross hairs and boom. Again right over her. At that point I guessed she was at 200 instead of 250 and put the cross hairs on the shoulder. BOOM, Whack, Spin, Boddy SLAM! I headed back to the stand to let the wife know about hers and go get mine. My wife said that she got up. She didn't go 5 yards from where I shot her. Deer #1 in the freezer.
Saturday afternoon the wife and I switched stands. About 5:00 2 little bucks came by the stand and went down the long food plot. After they left the plot a single doe came out at the very end. She was about 275 yds away. She slowly came closer to us. The wife was ready and waiting. Unfortunately the doe sensed something was not right about the time she got to 200 and turned around and began walking away again. I told the wife that the freezer needed filling and I was going to take her. She was facing away but turned her head to look at us one more time. I put the cross hairs at the base of the neck and squeezed off a round. It sounded like you hit an old hollow beech tree with a baseball bat. WHOMP, she was DRT.
After I popped deer #2, we sat a little while. One of the bucks we saw earlier came back out and walked up to the doe. He began licking her and then attempted to hump the dead doe. The wife and I were rolling at the sight of him trying to breed my doe. I just happened to look down and see a doe standing at 50 yards in front of us. She got ready and then another doe stepped out at 70 yds. I told her to take the closer one. She said she was going to take the farther one. I said OK. Boom, and they scattered. Her doe was hit hard. I watched the closer one run off and stop after about 50 yards of running. She was broad side and staring at the stand. I couldn't resist. BOOM, she stumbled and ran down the hill. I got down and began looking for my wifes deer. No blood anywhere. I then looked for my deer. Blood everywhere. Easily found her. Then continued looking for hers. As luck would have it, I just happened to find a few drops of blood about 5 feet from where my deer was laying. I knew it was not my deer's blood. I followed it about 30 yards and there here deer lay. She put a great shot on it, just not much blood
With 3 does down Saturday afternoon we were at the skinning shed until midnight skinning deer. It was at that point we realized we needed a bigger cooler. Although it was midnight, we still ate fresh backstrap for dinner.
Sunday AM (11-4) we were set. Since we already needed an extra cooler, we decided to try to fill it when we got it. We went to another different stand that morning. The deer started moving late. We saw a spike and 4 point step out about 200 yds away. They worked down toward the food plot at the stand. The 4 pt left but the spike stayed. Just then a doe stepped out where they came out. The wife got ready. The doe walked all the way to the food plot. I told the wife to let the thunder roar. BOOM. I marked where the deer went. I got down to locate blood. I tracked her into the thicket. It took a while to locate her. Once I found her I drug her out to the food plot. It was an L shaped food plot. The wife was signaling to me that there were deer in the other side of the plot. I snuck back into the stand right after a small buck ran here off. We sat for another 20 minutes and a doe stepped out where the one the buck scared off was. I told her to do a "bang flop" because I was not tracking an other deer. SHe obliged. Bang Flop. We caught a ride back to the skinnin shed. I gutted the deer and put them in the cooler. We left to go buy another cooler. We filled up the 2 we brought and the new 70 qt we just bought.
I began processing the deer today. So far I have processed 40 pounds of meat. ANd I am only 1/3 done with it. Still have 2 coolers left
I am worn out! But I would not have it any other way. 3 hunts, 16 deer seen, 6 in the cooler and one lost. I call that one heck of a weekend.
