Meat On The Table

It was a successful hunt. Les invited me (or I invited myself) to hunt with him this year on opening weekend. The place is just northwest of Truxton. Jeff and Les had their stands picked out so they gave me the remaining stand. This worked out in my favor. My stand was setup for a bow. It had the start of a power cut in front of me which turned into thick brush about 50 yards past my stand and there were woods on the other side of the power cut. To the left was a small grassy strip between the edge of the woods and some thick cedar trees. Behind me and to the right was thick woods that you could hardly see through, more less shoot through.
About 7:30 Saturday morning I had a deer come out of the woods across from me and step into the brush in the power lines. I knew it was a buck, but didn't know how big. I could have probably shot it, but didn't want to get into a situation where he was only a 6 pointer. (New conservation laws state that a buck has to have at least 4 points on one side to be legal to shoot). So I had my scope on him and started counting. There were only 3 on the right side that I could count. Then it turned back and I counted 4 on the left side, which means he was a shooter. When he turned back to move into the woods I saw two, nearly 3 inch long brow tines. This made this a 9 point deer. At this point I only saw the body of the deer when it moved into the brush. As it moved into the woods it kept stepping slightly away from me and I never got a clear shot. I did notice it was limping on it's left front leg a bit. Then, just like that, it was gone.
After going back to the truck to get a bit of coffee and a bite to eat, I went back to the stand. It was probably around 11:00 when I thought I heard a squirrel almost under my stand behind me. I turned my head to see a really small button buck. He walked right under my stand, smelled the air, looked at me but must not have seen me and then walked along my right side headed toward the power cut. He stood in the brush a bit and then moved away down the north side of the power cut.
After letting that one pass, I kept thinking to myself that it may have been a mistake to do that. Les and Gary had only gotten one deer off this property since they started hunting here 6 years ago. Now it's starting to get dark and there is only about an hour left in the hunt. I'm hoping that I stick it out longer than the neighboring hunters and they may kick something my way. The wait worked out. I spotted this doe walking up on me from behind me and to my left. She was in the grassy area between the cedars and the woods. About 75 yards behind me she started into the woods. That gave me the opportunity to flip my seat up and turn around in my stand. I had my sights on her, but there were so many trees that I didn't have a shot. I had one opportunity to shoot between the trees and above and below two branches if she kept walking in the same direction. She wasn't in a hurry. She finally reached my shooting lane, but was angled away from me. After letting 2 deer get passed me, I wasn't going to take a chance to let this on e get passed. She took one more step and I shot. It was dark enough that I remember seeing the muzzle flash in my scope. She ran 75 yards in a circle fell down and did the death thrash. It was dark by the time we got her field dressed. But it all worked out. We hung her at Linda's cousin's house over night and got her cut up on Sunday.
Sunday mooring I saw one more 5 point buck. He was coming from my left just on the other side of the power cut. He was carrying his left front leg next to his chest. It looked like someone had shot him in his leg but he seemed to be OK. My guess is that he will make it.
Sunday night Linda let me debone my deer at the kitchen counter. After I set the back straps and tenderloins aside, I ended up with 30 pounds of meat to be processed and I didn't have to cut on the front quarter that was mutilated by the gun shot. I'll be taking the meat in this week for processing.