I hunted for nine hours today and I didn’t see anything. I’m getting the deer hunter’s blues.
I hunted Thanksgiving morning, but didn’t see anything. I didn’t hunt yesterday because my brother, my nephew and me were helping my dad put up a storage shed. We didn’t finish yesterday, so I wasn’t planning to hunt today either. I didn’t take my hunting gear over to Mom and Dad’s today.
We called it a day on the shed at around 2 PM. I went out to my hunting ground to put down some carrots and swap the trail camera’s memory card. That was all I was going to do today.
I got back to the house. We had the Michigan-Ohio State game on., which I had planned to watch today. The Buckeyes are Michigan’s most hated foe. I rarely miss the Michigan-Ohio State games. I get very emotional during these games and often lose my temper.
Michigan fans see the Buckeyes the same way the Red Sox see the Yankees. The rivalry isn’t just for fun, we have very dark feelings for each other. Each wishes the other would fall off the edge of the Earth.
I put the camera’s memory card in the computer. I was looking through the pictures that the camera took over the last couple days and I saw this.
The clock says 6:14 AM, but the clock is wrong. The camera got a picture of me when I was swapping the memory card, so I was able to figure out that this picture was actually taken around 4:30 PM yesterday.
The picture is a little blurry, but I think the buck is at least ten-points. He’s big, too. When I zoom in, I can see how fat he is. My guess is, he weighs more than 200 pounds, maybe close to 300 pounds. This might be that massive deer I saw a couple years ago.
If I had been out there yesterday and assuming the buck didn’t detect me, he would have been right in my line of fire. He posed for this picture in the exact spot that I want the deer to be when I shoot it.
So, when the Buckeyes scored again and things weren’t looking good for Michigan, I decided I’d rather be hunting. I had my kill tags in my wallet and I borrowed an old orange hunting vest that my dad has. I didn’t want to use buckshot and we only had 20 gauge slugs. So, I used my brother’s old break-action 20 gauge. He left it behind when he moved out of my mom and dad’s house.
The barrel on my brother’s 20 gauge is about a foot longer than the barrel on my 20 gauge, and I reckon it gets better distance. But I didn’t see any deer today. I’m going to try getting out there tomorrow morning. The trail camera has gotten several pictures of bucks, mostly six and eight-points. I’d be happy with either of those. But that fat, ten-point buck, that’s the one I really want.
It was cold and snow covered everything. This morning my dad cut down the tree, or cluster of trees that were blocking my shot. Now I can set the bait by the Bat Shack across the way. See the Before picture to understand how those trees were blocking my shot.
The woods along the outside of this clearing, that’s where the deer usually came from. So, facing this way, I might see them before they enter the clearing.
I didn’t see anything yesterday or today, but I’m sure some deer will come along before the season ends.
My cousin Anthony suggested I leave a note for the trespasser. Here it is.
It says:
Dear Goldilocks,
I would rather you didn’t use my tower, but I know some guys are desperate for a place to hunt. If you can’t resist trespassing onto my territory to use my tower when I’m not here, please close the windows and the door when you’re done hunting. I don’t want to climb up here one day and have a bird fly in my face.
Sincerely,
Three Bears
P.S.
If you could leave beer by the feed can under the tower, I would be very grateful.
Guess I’m not getting in any writing tonight. I’m tired and I want to be up early tomorrow. I’m thinking about using my old break-action 20-gauge tomorrow morning instead of the 12-gauge pump-action. Because until I get that tree cut down, the farthest I can place the bait in that direction is 20 yards out, and that might too close for the powerful scope on my 12-gauge.
I didn’t hunt today, but I went out to my hunting ground with 100ft tape measure, because I wanted a better idea of how far from my tower I could place my bait and expect to get a clean kill. I want to place my bait between 50 and 75 yards from the tower. 50 and 75 yards is pretty far for me. The deer I killed before were no farther than 50 yards.
During the bow season, I mostly faced the field. For the firearm season, I’d like to face the other way. I’d be looking toward the Bat Shack and the edge of the woods. Unfortunately, there’s a tree that would block my shot. It’s not a big tree, but it has branches that would be in the way. I’ll probably cut the tree down tomorrow.
I haven’t gotten out that much during the bow season, and I haven’t made it out at all in the morning. My hunting times have been from around noon to sundown. I always close the windows and the door when I’m done hunting for the day.
A couple times when I went out, I found the front window wide open, the door wide open and the side window opened a little. Such was the case today. Also, I had a big piece of cardboard on the floor, so that when I sat something down, it wouldn’t make noise on the steel grate. The cardboard was gone today.
So, yeah, I think someone’s been using my tower, probably in the mornings.
Look, I’m sorry you don’t have a place of your own to hunt, but this ground is mine. No one is allowed to hunt on this ground without my permission. Now, I can invite anyone I want to hunt on my ground, but I did not invite you.
If I’m right about Goldilocks invading my hunting ground in the morning, he’ll get a surprise tomorrow. I plan to be out there very early. Tomorrow is opening day for firearms.
Firearm season starts Thursday. My dad’s letting me use his powerful rifle scope again. Got it sighted today.
When I shot my deer last year, the scope hit me in the head and I had to get seven stitches above my right eye. But I figured out that happened because when I was trying to get a clear view through the scope, I pulled my head back and that caused my shoulder to move back from the stock.
This year, we moved the scope mount forward an inch and that really makes a difference. Now in order to get a clear view through the scope, I have to really tuck the stock into my shoulder, very tightly and almost painfully, and the gun doesn’t recoil at all when fired.
This will be my first season with the new slug barrel on my Mossberg 500. I reckon it’ll make a difference in accuracy and I’m going to take long shots.
I made it out to my tower today. The weather was good for hunting. It even rained. A couple years ago, the biggest deer I’d ever seen came out immediately after it stopped raining. So, I’ve been holding to the belief that it’s best to hunt when it rains.
But I didn’t have the pulley for cocking my crossbow. I thought it was in my jacket pocket, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t in my backpack either. It’s in the pocket of my camo pants, but I didn’t wear those pants today.
Yeah, I could’ve cocked it with my hands. But that spells hernia real fast and I done had me enough of those in this lifetime. The crossbow has a draw weight of about 200 pounds. It easier and safer to use the pulley.
I’m going to start leaving the pulley in the tower. It seems like every deer season there’s at least a couple times when I forget to bring the pulley for my crossbow.
The Dodgers and the Brewers are now tied in the NLCS. Whichever team wins the next game will the be the league champions and face the Red Sox in the World Series. I’m rooting for the Dodgers.
My sister took the picture before I headed out today. I got in a few hours of hunting. It was pretty windy, and a bit cold. But it’s better when it’s cold. If you shoot a deer on a warm day, it might rot before you can get it butchered.
I really wanted to use my regular compound bow this year. I didn’t use it much in the past because the ceiling in my shack was low and the top of the bow would hit the ceiling. The ceiling of my tower’s blind is plenty high enough for a regular bow, and I might have used it. But I did something to my left elbow a couple months ago. It hurts when I draw back the string on the regular bow and I can’t hold it for long.
So, it’s the crossbow again.
I’m starting to think I’m going to need surgery to fix whatever’s wrong with my elbow. Think I tore something.
The Pistons beat the Cavs. They played on the Michigan State court today, not sure why. I have Game 1 of the Dodger-Brewer NLCS on. Top of the 6th, LAD 1- MIL 5.
I’d kill for some tacos right now.
