Deer hunting is going to take a little longer this year. Another difference is that last year there were no fawns with spots when October got here, they were big enough to have lost their spots. This year there are still many fawns with spots today. For whatever reason, last year most of the does had only one fawn but this year almost all of them have two and one of them has three.
We never shoot a doe on our property unless there is a special exception for some reason. Last year there was one little doe by itself and Dad said I could take that one. We did get 4 bucks last year.
Yesterday Dad's friend came over and asked him if he could shoot a doe for him. He said he could use the meat as their money is still low from paying for hurricane damages from last year. Dad showed me trail camera pictures of the deer. One doe has about 500 black spots on her face and neck on one side. We think they might be ticks. There is another one that has a white spot on the side of the neck. That one we know is 3 years old and has never had a fawn. Dad gave me the Matrix 380 and told me to get a mature buck or one of those does. It was kinda cold at 50 degrees since it was 86 the day before so I figured hunting would be good.
I sat for over two hours and didn't see anything. Usually we see something within 20 minutes or so. At last light I saw two deer come in from a different direction than I have ever seen. Our spot is set up so that the deer come in from left or right corners of a "square" so that when they turn from the corner there is a wall of heavy bushes behind them and they are just 20 yards away. This is the first time I saw a deer climb over brush and downed trees coming into the spot.
I looked through the scope and I recognized the deer from last year. We called her "D" because she doesn't have one ear. Get it, D-no ear. Blame my brother for that name.
Anyways, "D" didn't have any baby's last year and she didn't have any this year either. She's at least 3 years that we've seen her. She was with another doe that was about the same size and she didn't have any little ones either. They are the biggest does I've seen on our place.
I put the scope crosshairs on her chest and took the safety off. I watched "D" through the scope for about a minute. I kept thinking Dad didn't say to shoot her, only the two does he showed pictures of or a buck. I looked at her for a longer time. I started to wonder if the bucks aren't attracted to her because she has one ear. Maybe that's why she has no babies again. I put the safety back on.
There is plenty of time to get a buck and if we're going to shoot a doe I guess we are going to stick to the two we know are old and dry. It was good to see "D" again. I know her for 3 years on pictures and in person. Football doesn't end until Oct. 29th so I won't get out much more this month but we can hunt until the middle of January.
Here is the view from my little shooting house I made out of hurricane debris.
