Public land Kills

[Gerald]

10-27-12

I scouted a new area and decided to hunt there for the Gun opener either sex hunt. I was over looking a creek bottom with some 50 to 70 yard openings to shoot. The temperature that morning was in the low 40's, foggy and very light wind. I got to my tree after a 45 minute walk going up and down a couple of hills.

I was settled into my climber 20' up a big pine tree about an hour before daylight. Another hunter had told me that there are usually a few people hunting along this creek, but this day I did not see anyone while in the woods.

As I cooled down from the long walk, I added layers of clothing to keep warm. Daylight finally came and I could start seeing the ground through some fog. I heard the first shot off in the distance a couple minutes later. About 30 minutes later there was a shot back towards where I had parked my truck.

About 8 AM, I decided it was time to put on the jacket that I had. While trying to put my second arm into the sleeve....... I spotted a Deer in an opening looking at me. I froze. I was standing up with my gun resting on the shooting rail at knee level. No time to put arm into the sleeve, so when the Deer finally put it's head down and started walking, I let the jacket slip off that arm and slowly picked up the gun.

By now the Deer had taken several steps and there was no shot due to the brush/trees. If the Deer kept going straight I would have another opening. This would be my first kill for this year so I was not going to be choosey. I got positioned and dropped the little Button Buck 65 yards away with my .243 cal rifle and 100 gr Cor-loke bullet.


11-25-12

After an unsuccessful morning hunt on the Friday after Thanksgiving, I decided to sleep in Sunday morning and hunt the afternoon. This hunt I decided to go to a different spot about a 1/2 mile from where I had killed 4 weeks earlier.

I climbed a tree a little after noon. It was sunny and the temperature was a warm 65 F with a light east wind that was swirling some. This creek bottom was a little thicker with not much chance of a shot over 50 yards.

The first couple of hours passed with me only seeing one squirrel and a couple of buzzards. From 2:40 to 3:40 PM was a "minor" activity period and a few squirrels came out to feed. Then about 3 PM, I heard a Deer blow 300+ yards upwind of my location. I watched that direction carefully be never saw any movement.

Then just before 4 PM, I looked off to my left and spotted movement 70 yards away. 3 Deer......maybe a Doe and 2 yearlying? If I had my gun up......there might have been a hole to take a shot right away. I quickly scanned the brush/trees where they were headed. It was fairly thick but maybe a couple of small opening.

As I knelt down to rest the gun on the shooting rail, the first deer quickly passed. As I looked through the scope, I saw another small deer run passed. This left one more possible chance. As luck would have it, the 3 rd deer stopped for a second where I could see it fairly well in the scope 60 yards away. The rifle barked once more......and I had another kill....DRT. This Deer was a doe that weighted about 70 lbs. The bigger Deer probably weighed 100+ lbs and the I think the 2 nd one was a yearling.

My home made cart helped get the deer back to the truck after dragging the doe 40 yards back across a small creek. I was headed home before it got dark.

I may hunt this spot again with the Bow in the next couple of weeks.