So it begins

We were washed out opening day but Joe & I decided to meet up at the property at 5:30 am yesterday. That would give us enough time to get to our stands and be set up just before light. I arrived at 5:17 and Joe was already there. We wasted no time. We walked in together. Joe's stand was right off the trail adjacent to the overgrown fields. My stand was another 250 yards up the side of the ridge. My tree is at the top of the ravine that's a thick tangle of brush and cedar. I sat among a group of white oak above a trail that leads from the fields.

I setteled into my stand and was there but six minutes or so when a doe came in very fast. It was just about shooting light but she came so fast that I couldn't even reach for my bow. At about 10 feet from the tree she winded me and jumped behind a small cedar tree to my left. I grabbed the bow and was about to draw when she trotted off. I had taken great precautions with scent killer and scent blocker clothing but she still winded me. I couldn't figure out why. I setteled back in and waited. I saw movement in the distance on the far side of the ravine but I couldn't tell what it was. I pulled out a call and gave a few soft bleats. One minute later a coyote was standing directly below my stand. It was then that I realized that I had dropped the hat I had worn walking in and it was the reason I had been winded by the doe , the sweaty hat had given me away. The yote walked off. I contemplated climbing down to recover the hat but I was concerned that I may spook off any other deer in the area. It was prime time for the deer to be moving from the fiedls to the bedding area in the cedar ravine. I stuck it out and sure enough not 15 minutes later two doe came walking up the trail approaching my stand. They would walk directly below me. I came to full draw as the lead doe walked behind that same small cedar. She froze, caught my wind and they both took off into the ravine.

I stayed until 10:00 am, and then climbed down. I selected another tree a bit further from my first stand where I will have a better view of approaching deer. We'll be going back in on Thursday when the weater will be much cooler. It was too hot for hunting. Joe had seem a doe and a fawn early on but they were far from his stand.

The freshest tracks still have feet in them.

I'm not so sure that I can wait till Thursday. I have again washed everything that I bring to the woods. It's all, includeing my pack and boots in plastic bags with wood & cedar branches. I just may jump the gun and hit it again tomorrow. The weather keeps changing all the time. We went from total rain on Wedsesday with clear but cool conditions on Thursday to two days of semi cool weather with a chance of rain. The deer are a calling!

The freshest tracks still have feet in them.

Whenever you go....Good Luck John!!!  For those lost hat moments, get the biggest treble hook you can find and mash down the barbs and attach it to your lift rope.  I have retrieved everything from my hat to a dropped glove to my whole pack when my knot came loose.  Works like a champ!  If you cannot find a large treble hook then fabricate a large one from a coat hanger, small wire and glue.

Love playing that string music and sending a Muzzy flying!

  Cool story, SNY.  Hopefully, since it's Thurs, you're dragging a deer out by now!!  Good luck!!

Jeff

I scrubbed both Wednesday & today. The weather was nice & cool but the wind was just not in my favor for either stand. Tomorrow however promises a WSW wind which is ideal for the stand closest to the fields. Will try again.

The freshest tracks still have feet in them.

  Keeping my fingers crossed!!

Jeff

We went back in way before dawn Friday. Set up in my relocated stand. The fog was so thick that you couldn't see but 10 yards. The woods were dripping wet. I figured the deer would stay longer in the fields under the fog cover and stay out of the drippy wet woods where you could hardly hear from all that dripping noise. The fog finally began lifting around 9:00 am. I caught movement to my right and a huge Black Bear came stolling up the ridge. He was a big boy I would guess was a 600 pound animal. There have only been two bear hunts in NJ in the last 35 years and the bear are huge and pleantiful. He passsed me at about 35 yards and cut in somewhere behind me. Joe called me on my cell. He saw two deer cross the trail and were heading in my direction. I don't know where they went but I never saw them. Joe's son Todd came up to hunt the afternoon. He had two deer come by but didn't have a clear shot.

My brother in law, Doc Mills hunted a small piece of property that a friend owns. Took him a whole hour to take a doe. He claims he was surrounded my deer. Meat on the table.

The freshest tracks still have feet in them.

I was a little under the weather so I slept in but Joe went up and set up in his usual stand. Very little action in this warm weather. He did see a few deer moing up the ridge toward my stand but that was it.

The freshest tracks still have feet in them.