Double Down....

9/29/12 - Seth Trinklein, Greg Cole and I headed up to my Macon Co. property for a weekend archery hunt. Saturday morning I put Greg in the Booner set, Seth in the Beach set, and I settled into the North Ridge stand. It was a beautiful morning with temperatures in low 40s and a northwest wind, but the deer movement was pretty slow. Greg had seen a couple of does and minis work through east of his set and Seth and I had an encounter with the same yote, but neither of us could shank him.

Just before 8:30am I heard deer walking down the ridge from the north. I stood up, grabbed my bow and started scanning the ridge behind me for the source of the noise. I spotted three does walking down the middle of the ridge right on the trail I cut in August. The first nanny was the biggest and she worked past my cover tree on the right of my stand at 10yrds. The other two does stopped about even with my tree on the ridge and began eating acorns while the lead nanny continued down the ridge. When she was 22yrds out I gave her a soft grunt and she stopped and looked back at the other deer. My arrow was on it's way instantly and it hit home perfectly. She exploded down the ridge towards the road and Seth's stand, but the lights went out about 30yrds from the road.

The other two does just stood there and watched the first doe tear off down the ridge. They were a little nervous, but they had no idea what was going down. Almost immediately the next biggest doe started down the ridge towards where I shot the first doe. About half way there she did and about-face and started back up the ridge. I slowly nocked another arrow and  came to full draw. I let her get into 11yrds before softly grunting at her and when she stopped, I touched off arrow #2 in under 30 seconds. The arrow hit home and blood instantly starting pumping out of both sides. She took off headed north up ridge, but after 40yrds she couldn't hold it any longer and tipped over in a small ditch west of the main ridge top. The blood trail was beyond impressive and I could visibly follow it from my stand all the way up the ridge to where she fell. 

Saturday evening I sent Seth to the North Field stand, Greg was perched in the Washout stand, and I headed over to the South Meadow stand. Around 6:10pm the land owner came down and started cutting corn about 250yrds out from Greg's position. We all saw deer right before dark, but I'm sure the combine limited the amount of deer activity on the field, but a farmer is going to farm!

Sunday morning Seth sat in the Retarded Genius stand, Greg hunted Poachers Pond, and I sat down at the Beach. I had 3 long beards work in from the north ridge around 8:30am, but I could hear them gobbling the entire morning as they moved closer and closer to me. They never got inside of 40yrds, so they got walking papers. Greg got shutout at Poachers Pond and Seth had a great encounter with a doe and mini, but they didn't appreciate his shadow puppet show. With the deer at 10yrds Seth started to draw back and noticed his shadow was about 18" in front of the doe; who had her head down feeding. About the time Seth noticed it the doe came unglued and bolted north into the cover. It was a great weekend with great friends, I just wish I could have gotten them on deer instead of me.

We just got back from a Minnesota duck/goose hunt last night and we'll get that story posted this week; before I roll out to Nebraska for a mulie/whitetail DIY archery hunt with the Cole County Crew!