Dad assured us that deer move in the wind. He was confident that if we were in the woods, we would see something. He could be as confident as he needed to; he had tagged out and could stay warm. The wind was howling and with the Sky Condo breaking apart, I didn't waste much time getting into my tree seat in the woods. It had taken me a handful of years to be comfortable enough swaying in a tree during a windy sit, but I was ready. It was so cold that I had on my snowmobile boots with toe warmers, my ski gloves with hand warmers and a blanket over my legs to help keep the wind from hitting the backs of my legs. I had on so many layers! It was too windy to hear anything move so I just kept scanning from one side...
This is how I started my second week of deer hunting. I have never been so quiet in the woods. I was painstakingly slow and keeping my eyes peeled for deer. The week before, I had jumped two deer under my stand and I was determined not to have that happen again. I walked out and around our normal route into my stand. I was at a snail's pace. I would walk, stop and look. I would look again and take a couple of steps before doing it all over again. I watched for any movement near my stand. The leaves had fallen off the trees from the wind storm the weekend prior so I had a better view of the area. I could not see any movement near my stand so I paused next to our trail camera to look around and...
All over social media, there were posts about the rut; has it started in your area? have you seen any chasing? how do you know? what's the moon phase? As much as I would have loved to have had some concrete answer to those questions, I had never seen proof that the rut was on. Until that second week in November. Hubs was out hunting on the 10th and I was in charge of the kids and making our way up to my parent's house to hunt on the 11th. It was windy and cold and I had opted to stay in and not hunt that evening, but wait until the next day. I was holding the baby and watching the leaves blow across the lawn when I saw a doe emerge from the bushes around the pond (see down pointing arrow.) She paused and...
As I climbed into the Sky Condo to start the 2017 hunting season, the top step broke off from the tree sending a chuck of wood to the ground and leaving the bulk of the rung hanging down to the next step. I lifted my gun off my shoulder and slid it onto the floor of the Sky Condo and them threw my backpack up. I got myself into the stand and looked down at the damage. We were going to have to replace a few rungs before the following week. And my silent entry into the woods was anything but. I sat there for a couple of hours and then headed for my stand in the woods to see if anything was walking through. I was cautious walking in and looked for any sign of brown. I made it around the corner when I...
If you do not follow me on Facebook, then you don't know that Dad totally schooled us in how to shoot a big buck. Did some scouting, brought his gun, right place, right time, incredible buck! (Mom's flip phone doesn't take great pictures) So, that leaves Hubs (who has a doe permit) and I (who does not) to attempt to get a shot at one of these big bucks! The competition is on!
