A Minnesota Mini Goes Down In The Fog!

I decided to sneak out for a quick afternoon hunt on Sunday. The temp was 51, with a light southwest wind (2 mph), cloudy, with fog, and spitting rain off and on. Other than the warm temp the weather was perfect. I ran over to my metro area farm at half time of the Vikings whooping of Seattle in hopes of filling my management tag.

I climbed up in a permanent stand that sits in the middle of the hard woods on the farm. Most of the crops in the area seemed to be out but a nearby farmer was picking a cornfield that deer in the area most likely used for food and cover. My thought was any deer in the area would either funnel through the woods to get into the corn field or the farmer would bump some deer out of the field if he continued to combine until dark.

I was settled into my stand by 3 PM. The first hour was slow and I spent most of the time catching up on the book I had started reading while in Missouri. The fog in the area became really thick around 3:45 and I could only see about 65 yards into the woods. At 4 PM I put my book away and settled in for the last hour of the hunt. This was a good decision on my part because at 4:05 I caught movement to my right. I saw a nice mature doe work out of some thick cover and start working her way towards my stand location. She got to about 25 yards and I prepared for my shot. Just as I was about to draw I caught more movement to my right. I glanced over to see a younger doe working a trail towards my stand that would bring her to 15 yards. I decided to take the younger doe since she was going to present a chip shot and the bigger doe was back in some thicker cover. I let the young doe get to 15 yards and released my arrow after grunting her to a stop at a slightly quartering away angle.

My shot was on the money, it entered 5 ribs back and exited out the shoulder crease on the opposite side. I could see blood pouring out both sides of the deer 5 yards after she took off. She made it 50 to 60 yards and took a header into the dirt. Lights out! Below is a picture of the boys and I before hanging up the deer. This will most likely put an end to my 2009 deer season unless I can sneak away to Missouri one more time before they close up shop.