We have done this for at least the last 6 years and it is something I look forward to all year. Just the two of us at camp, good food , some venison chops cooked in wine sauce, the last of the fall colors , frosty mornings , old stories and the pursuit of a new harvest.
Well this year due to my brother having to have Knee surgery and a difficult recovery I was on my own.
I get up north to the trailer and start hunting on Nov 2nd. Our trailer is not on the land we hunt but about a 15 min 4 wheeler ride from it.
The first day the weather was frosty and perfect for getting you excited to hunt ,I saw a huge mature Doe a 4 point and a lopsided spike but nothing I wanted to harvest.
Day two I am making the pre dawn ride back on the 4 wheeler after a breakfast of sausage and eggs with my lunch and thermos in my pack ,with high hopes of a good hunt.
I sit all day in my ladder tree stand since I am on my own , no going in for a lunch break.
The weather is great below freezing mornings never hitting above 40 for the high .
Things start out slow and after sitting about 3 hours I reach for my thermos and I have a deer blow behind me and crash into the tag alders behind my
stand never giving me a look
The rest off the day passes with seeing what I believe are the same two small bucks from the day before but farther out, and getting a snort from my down wind side at one point but no sighting that one.
Then around 6:30 as the last light is setting in all of a sudden I have a deer coming in from Right to left at a good clip I pick an opening and see it is a shooter! I pick a second shooting lane , guess the yardage and when he steps into it I bleat with my mouth to stop him , It works like a charm he stops looks at me and I let fly a 2219 XX75, with a 4 blade Slick Trick X Bow Trick , Thwak behind the shoulder !
The buck takes off and only runs 27 yards and nose plants , makes one attempt to regain its front feet but only gets part way up and is down for good in sight of the tree stand !
Normally I wait an hour to follow up on a bow shot but I saw the deer go down and Knew it was done and It was getting dark out.
I made a quick call to my brother took a few pictures on my phone and it was dark after getting it gutted.
Well I am a good walk away from the 4 wheeler and the terrain buy my stand is all wind falls , root balls, tags and I did not think I could get the 4 wheeler to the deer I needed to drag it 150 yards to more open woods to try and get it on the 4 wheeler buy my self , did I mention that we have a bear problem and coyotes up the ying yang . no leaving it out until morning.
I always carry the green chemical lite sticks in my pack so I would carry my coat, bow and pack ect up a ways hang a chem lite then drag the deer to that. Then scout the path ,drop off the gear hang another lite stick and leap frogged in this manner to the more open woods that i could drive the 4 wheeler up to.
The lite sticks made finding the deer in the black woods after getting the 4 wheeler very easy to find I have used them often in the past marking blood ,deer what ever.
Well a long story short I had a near death experience trying to get the buck on the 4 wheeler rack buy my self but after several failed attempts it was accomplished.
I did not get back to the trailer and the deer hung until after 10:00
I have a few pictures on my phone if some one wanted to post them , it never works for me.
