2011 was a tough year here, I have chased deer around here for almost 30 years and never seen anything like it.Deer numbers were quite low around here the deer werent spread out like normal and seemed to be only in little pockets.Problem was so were the hunters.Low deer numbers and high hunting pressure made it pretty challenging.I hunted hard and during early bow season basically just outlasted most of the other guys that either tagged out or gave up.After a month and a half this one showed up and I took him at 25 yrds.
Late muzzleloader rolled around and it became apparent that the shotgun seasons had taken thier toll and the nice weather kept deer movement to a minimum.Had several chances to take a doe but with the numbers being what they were I decided I would rather eat the tag than kill a doe this year.Family problems limited my hunting time but two days ago I located the first buck Ive seen since early December while driving around about dark.Last night I went in after him, he was in the middle of a large tract of overlooked public land.I walked in about a half mile and set up on a little hilltop in the weeds.He came out the other end of the slough with a smaller buck and after about 45 minutes he came in about 150 yrds downwind of me.I normally like a closer shot but he stopped and his head snapped up sniffing the air, I knew he wasnt gonna hang around and I was lying prone with a good rest so I touched it off, when the smoke cleared the deer was gone, he never took a step and dropped in his tracks.
Not the biggest deer Ive ever killed but given the circumstances this year Im happy to have taken them both, a lotta guys are still trying or havent even filled a tag yet.
Late muzzleloader rolled around and it became apparent that the shotgun seasons had taken thier toll and the nice weather kept deer movement to a minimum.Had several chances to take a doe but with the numbers being what they were I decided I would rather eat the tag than kill a doe this year.Family problems limited my hunting time but two days ago I located the first buck Ive seen since early December while driving around about dark.Last night I went in after him, he was in the middle of a large tract of overlooked public land.I walked in about a half mile and set up on a little hilltop in the weeds.He came out the other end of the slough with a smaller buck and after about 45 minutes he came in about 150 yrds downwind of me.I normally like a closer shot but he stopped and his head snapped up sniffing the air, I knew he wasnt gonna hang around and I was lying prone with a good rest so I touched it off, when the smoke cleared the deer was gone, he never took a step and dropped in his tracks.
Not the biggest deer Ive ever killed but given the circumstances this year Im happy to have taken them both, a lotta guys are still trying or havent even filled a tag yet.
