Opening weekend, 2010.
Time, planning and hard work all year to wake up on opening day to find the wind is wrong for the blind…………..nightmare! Unfortunately this was the situation I found myself in this year. So after looking at the weather for the 50th time hoping that it was going to miraculously change, we discussed options. Wait until we have the right wind hoping the deer wouldn’t be taken by the neighboring ranch or get in there late on Friday night and setup a secondary blind and try to get on this deer. Glad to tell everyone that we decided on the latter. The problem with the second blind is that it’s about 40 yards, based on the closet brush we could put the blind in, away from the feeder so the chances of the deer coming close enough for a good shot are slim. Saturday morning we got up and got ready, like I always do I check the wind to make sure the last weather report is still correct. To our surprise, the wind was actually completely different and perfect for our original stand. It was on now! Emotions, expectations and confidence where high knowing I’d be hunting out of the perfect setup. As I sat in the blind, deer starting trickling in right before light. After 45 minutes or so, he showed himself and headed right for the feeder. I was ready, unfortunately he didn’t want to play my bow hunting game. He walked straight in, turned to his left and followed a doe into the woods. That was it, buck was gone and the hunt was over.
For the evening hunt, the wind had switched back to the NE so I was forced to hunt in the pop up we put in Friday night. The hunt was a good one, I had about 11 deer at the feeder from the time it went off until dark. My 9 pt was there for a few hours but never came close enough for a good shot. New plan, for Sunday morning we talked about turning the feeder time down. Moved it down to a few seconds in hopes a couple skin heads would clear out the feeder corn and the bucks would make their way to my hand corn. I think the plan might of worked, but he decided to sleep in Sunday morning.
Ok, now I’m down to the last hunt of the weekend and need to get it done. New plan, decided to turn the feeder off completely and just tail gate and throw hand corn out in the area I needed it. This way the deer still hear a feeder noise but the corn is all in my shooting area. Just like Saturday evening, I had a ton of animals in front of me and it looked like my plan was going to work. Now I just needed my buck to show. After about an hour or so, my buck still hadn’t showed. Was starting to think someone else might of shot him since he didn’t show in the morning either. Not two seconds after the self pity set in, there he was and headed my way. I was pumped and ready. He definitely took his sweet time getting into range, chasing off bucks as he walked in. About 20 minutes before dark, he finally gave me a slightly quartering away shot. The arrow flew and the deer was mine.
Already looking forward to the next hunt!!!
As always, thanks Shrek (krivoman) for the opportunity!!!
Time, planning and hard work all year to wake up on opening day to find the wind is wrong for the blind…………..nightmare! Unfortunately this was the situation I found myself in this year. So after looking at the weather for the 50th time hoping that it was going to miraculously change, we discussed options. Wait until we have the right wind hoping the deer wouldn’t be taken by the neighboring ranch or get in there late on Friday night and setup a secondary blind and try to get on this deer. Glad to tell everyone that we decided on the latter. The problem with the second blind is that it’s about 40 yards, based on the closet brush we could put the blind in, away from the feeder so the chances of the deer coming close enough for a good shot are slim. Saturday morning we got up and got ready, like I always do I check the wind to make sure the last weather report is still correct. To our surprise, the wind was actually completely different and perfect for our original stand. It was on now! Emotions, expectations and confidence where high knowing I’d be hunting out of the perfect setup. As I sat in the blind, deer starting trickling in right before light. After 45 minutes or so, he showed himself and headed right for the feeder. I was ready, unfortunately he didn’t want to play my bow hunting game. He walked straight in, turned to his left and followed a doe into the woods. That was it, buck was gone and the hunt was over.
For the evening hunt, the wind had switched back to the NE so I was forced to hunt in the pop up we put in Friday night. The hunt was a good one, I had about 11 deer at the feeder from the time it went off until dark. My 9 pt was there for a few hours but never came close enough for a good shot. New plan, for Sunday morning we talked about turning the feeder time down. Moved it down to a few seconds in hopes a couple skin heads would clear out the feeder corn and the bucks would make their way to my hand corn. I think the plan might of worked, but he decided to sleep in Sunday morning.
Ok, now I’m down to the last hunt of the weekend and need to get it done. New plan, decided to turn the feeder off completely and just tail gate and throw hand corn out in the area I needed it. This way the deer still hear a feeder noise but the corn is all in my shooting area. Just like Saturday evening, I had a ton of animals in front of me and it looked like my plan was going to work. Now I just needed my buck to show. After about an hour or so, my buck still hadn’t showed. Was starting to think someone else might of shot him since he didn’t show in the morning either. Not two seconds after the self pity set in, there he was and headed my way. I was pumped and ready. He definitely took his sweet time getting into range, chasing off bucks as he walked in. About 20 minutes before dark, he finally gave me a slightly quartering away shot. The arrow flew and the deer was mine.
Already looking forward to the next hunt!!!
As always, thanks Shrek (krivoman) for the opportunity!!!
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