Well I finally connected.
I've been hunting hard for the last 4 weekends now, as that's all I can do with my present job, I'm the weekend hunter.
The weekend before and after Halloween was when the full rut was happening. Needless to say, I saw NOTHING.
I had tried a my regular stand, but it wasn't producing and a few other spots at the hunt club didn't seem to produce anything either. I was noticing that those who were connecting with deer were in the thick stuff and using a tree climber. With this in mind I got with a good friend who helped me pick out a spot he thought would be good. This new spot would have to wait until next weekend...
So the next weekend arrived and I had visualized and memorized where and what tree I wanted to be in when the sun came up Sat am.
This new spot was, across the creek and over a ways.
The creek was, well, let me describe. It's about 20 yds across, you have to go down 15 feet to get to the bottom, pick a nice slope if you can.. then wade across 6-8 inches of water for about 4 ft, sandbar in the middle then another 3 feet then other side. Then you have to go UP the same 15 ft tall to get to the other side.
I had found a place that wasn't vertical, and eased down eyeing the other side with it's gentle slope up.. yea right... Had my "old man" treeclimber on my back and my backpack on that and carried my rifle. I was encumbered a bit.
The rifle is my Marlin XL7 with the Sheelin 35 whelen barrel on it, sporting my homemade 35-200 CB's at 2600fps from Noe's copy of the RCBS mould of the same name. This was my 200 yd elk gun that has only managed to kill a hog a few years ago. I chose it because of the plastic stock.
After managing the creek in the dark, and finding the thicket patch, that was over top of the blow downs from the logging of some time ago... I scratched my way through, well to say it better, I was scratched as I made my way through.
In the dark with my spot light I managed to get my bearings and found the location I wanted. Up the tree I went.
Probably about 20 ft or so up, had a good 60 yd view to my left and right. Hardwoods on a hill in front of me about 60 yds or so and brush pines and scrappy trees behind me.
Watched an owl land on a tree 20 yds from me about 8am and he was hunting for breakfast, or late dinner, not sure. It was very interesting and this is the other part of hunting I really like. Being able to watch nature.
He flew off eventually, and I decided to have a bar and some choco/coffee. My choco/coffee is hot chocolate packets put in the thermos and coffee poured in on it. Usually one packet of hot chocolate to one cup of coffee is about right.
So after my snack, and coffee, I proceed to rearrange my thermos hanging on the climber with me, fluff my hat and hold my gun in the ready ready for deer. Actually the ready position is my rifle draped over my lap somehow that it won't fall out of the climber with me and I can at least get my hands on it.
I say to myself, "Ok I'm ready" and dang if those weren't the magic words.
This pine tree that is 12 yds in front of me with a scraggly hardwood tree of sorts creating a sort of "bush" at the base of it, suddenly procures a deer!
I mean THE only way that deer could have gotten there was to be teleported! I mean, really! The direct path to that shrub tree combo that I could not see was through the thickest most overgrown, thorn pricker, tangle vine section ever! No, he didn't use any of the easy walking trails that went around it. I would have seen him!
I saw horns and his nose on the ground, then he took one step forward, raising up to lick a branch and stepping forward exposing his shoulder. This happened in a matter of one second! In that same second I grabbed my gun, sighted up through the scope, followed from his nose to ear, to neck to shoulder and BOOM! I didn't even think! Just reacted!
I saw him sprint to my right, holding up his right front leg and running on three. I saw an unmistakable red spot in the perfect location on the shoulder. I instantly knew I got both lungs! I watched him dash out of sight and then quiet.
Now I got the shakes!
If my choco/coffee wasn't shaken properly earlier it was now, after I tried to get it off the climber and back into my pack!
It took me 10 min to calm down so I didn't fall out of the tree. I always have my safety straps on, but dangling from them and then escaping was not what I wanted to do at the moment.
Finally got down, got my gun, shucked a new one in and went to look for 'Fluffy'.
Being disoriented after climbing down I decided to try to track him. Found where I shot and hit him and saw lung with lots of blood. Then the tracking started. It was easy. Stevey Wonder could have done it. Followed it about 50 yds to a gulch. This gulch was about 6-8 ft across and was about 8-10ft down. The bottom was a narrow creek/stream. After determining he didn't parallel the gulch, I wondered if he went down into it and followed it. I carefully observed the bottom and determined NOTHING was disturbed, not tracks nothing, so he must have made the leap.
In my day I could have maybe made that leap with a running start. HA! that day was a long long time ago. Now to find a way across. 30 yds to my right provided the answer,it wasn't pretty, but it was doable and would be the way I'd have to bring fluffy back with me.
Oh, yea, the reason I call him Fluffy, was because when my son got his first deer, he ran up and patted it and said "wow the fur is so fluffy!" And he named his dead deer Fluffy. We dragged fluffy to the car, and as he was dragging him he said "come on Fluffy, your invited to dinner!"
So after making it across the gulch and back to my marked spot I continued the tracking, another 20 yds and there he lay!
https://imgur.com/Ly18sub
and now the fun begins...
get rope and make a stick, drag Fluffy back to gulch, down to gulch crossing point. Then up the other side, remember I had to pull him UP the 8 foot bank, even if it was less than 90 degree angle it was a pain.
Now back to the stand. So about 110 yds total.
Now drag Fluffy back to the creek, not the windy lost cow path I took to get to my tree, but a direct route, cause shortest distance is a straight line and all...that was another 100 yd drag.
well, it was shorter, but rougher, heck I don't know which would have been worse.
now down the side into the creek, that was easy... drag across creek, Fluffy was getting a bath, in preperation for playing in the mud to go up the other side.
Well a few pulled muscles later and he was up the other side.
then another 50 yds so I could get him on the 4 wheeler.
Now I was fooling myself if I thought I was just going to pick up Fluffy and put him on the 4wheeler.
The drag rope and a branch made for a nice hoist. Raised him up a bit tied it off then drove the 4 wheeler under it and finished muscling him on and tied him down.
2 full hours later I had him back at camp. Oh yea baby!
I got to remember to bring block and tackle next time...
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Originally Posted by Blammer
