I was supposed to work today but decided to start my holiday time off a day early. I also decided to go for a quick sit in the tree this morning. It was a perfect morning, cold and crisp and there was a light dusting of snow on the ground. The snow allowed me to use my ice fishing sled to haul all my stuff back instead of carrying it all on my back. Even brought a full bag of corn back which was nice not to have to carry it the kilomitre back to the stand.
I put the corn down on my 2 bait piles, stashed the sled and up into the tree I went. There was deer tracks all over in the fresh snow from last night so that was a great sign. Once my bow was cocked and loaded I organized my gear and settled in for a nice morning in my tree. Once it was light enough I began to constantly scan the field and the neighbouring fields around me for any movement or signs of deer. No deer to be seen but the bluejays and woodpeckers where fun to watch as the sun came up.
It was getting to be almost 9 am and having not seen any movement I decided to call it a day because I still had lots to do today to get ready for Christmas. I took one last scan of the area thru the binos then unloaded my bow and lowered my gear to the ground. I then climbed down and walked a few yards over to my camera to swap out the card before heading back to the truck. Once the card was changed I turned to walk back to my gear and what do I see???
Standing there in the middle of the field about 80 yards away is a herd of about 20-25 deer standing there watching me fiddle with my camera.
I couldn't believe it!! Quickly I stepped sideways into some brushy cover hoping they where all blind or somehow didn't see me. No such luck. Up went their tails and they turned in unison and trotted off accross the field and over into the bush in the neighbours field. I couldn't believe it!! It's like they appeared out of nowhere as they often do.I'm hoping that I didn't scare them off as there's not alot of hunting time left. They didn't seem too paniced and they stopped a couple times to look back as they went. I remained hidden until they where out of sight in the woods.
Heart broken and dejected (very dramatic
) I loaded my gear into the sled and trudged back to the truck kicking myself in the butt every few steps or so as I went (more drama!).I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I stayed in the tree until 9:30 as I had origionally planned to do?? I guess I'll never know (weeping openly now)?? Oh well I'll be back out again to give it another go on boxing day morning. Still a bit of sand left in the hour glass.
Wish me luck!!
i dont know where it went so wrong? That's a first for me. she didn't even run after the shot, even after my brand new arrow and broadhead connected hard with the tree behind her with a thunderous CRACK