Well, sometime between yesterday and this morning a tropical storm named Julia popped up, and it put a serious damper on my Wednesday plans. I planted 2.5 acres of Bahia grass Sunday because there was a good chance of rain all week, but I would not have planted had I known a tropical storm was in the works.
The storm arrived around 11 AM, which just happened to be when I was opening the farm gate. Before long I realized that the day was a washout...no point in sticking around. After killing a wasp nest and greasing up the drill, I hopped back in the car and headed to a different property.
Arrived at the different property early afternoon and hunkered down to watch the storm. Throughout the day we got about 3.5" of rain, and it's still coming down. I ventured out a few times to make sure the pond overflow drain was flowing good and to push some duckweed down the drain.
The rain let up around 6 PM...perfect timing. I got in the stand shortly thereafter and promptly enjoyed watching a bunch of wood ducks in the back of our pond. I was in a stand in a hardwood block and acorns are dropping. The wind was swirly because of the storm, so I just kept looking upwind where I figured I'd catch deer slipping through the woods.
Before long a nice doe appeared, and she was quickly joined by another doe and young buck who was clearly feeling frisky. The rut usually occurs very early on this property - peak is mid-September to October 1. I caught glimpses of the deer periodically as they moved through the woods, but they seemed to be easing off away from me.
As the light faded I saw a small 8 pointer upwind, then a doe came running full speed right at me. I waited for a buck to appear but didn't see one. The doe had stopped in a thicket 20 yards away, and a couple of minutes later she ran out and headed off in the direction she had come from. Two minutes later I heard a grunt, then another and another. He was headed my way but I still couldn't see him. Grunt. Grunt. Grunt. I must have heard him grunt 20 times before I saw him. I saw 8 points outside the ears and a very big body - shooter. He stepped out 20 yards away and started slowly following the does trail. He was still grunting while I scrambled to get my ear protection on. Grunt. Grunt. Boom. I knew I had hit him hard, but I wanted my lab to find him so I headed to the house to get him.
My dog did a great job and immediately got on the bucks trail. I never even looked for blood...I figured Sam would find him. After a minute or two, I found Sam biting the buck and acting very proud of himself. I was proud of him too.
The bucks rack is nothing impressive, but the body is huge for this area. He was exactly 200 lb at the processor. Sorry for the crappy pictures. I was by myself and it had started raining again. This is the first deer I've ever killed on the property, and my freezer will finally have venison in it again, so all is well.
The storm arrived around 11 AM, which just happened to be when I was opening the farm gate. Before long I realized that the day was a washout...no point in sticking around. After killing a wasp nest and greasing up the drill, I hopped back in the car and headed to a different property.
Arrived at the different property early afternoon and hunkered down to watch the storm. Throughout the day we got about 3.5" of rain, and it's still coming down. I ventured out a few times to make sure the pond overflow drain was flowing good and to push some duckweed down the drain.
The rain let up around 6 PM...perfect timing. I got in the stand shortly thereafter and promptly enjoyed watching a bunch of wood ducks in the back of our pond. I was in a stand in a hardwood block and acorns are dropping. The wind was swirly because of the storm, so I just kept looking upwind where I figured I'd catch deer slipping through the woods.
Before long a nice doe appeared, and she was quickly joined by another doe and young buck who was clearly feeling frisky. The rut usually occurs very early on this property - peak is mid-September to October 1. I caught glimpses of the deer periodically as they moved through the woods, but they seemed to be easing off away from me.
As the light faded I saw a small 8 pointer upwind, then a doe came running full speed right at me. I waited for a buck to appear but didn't see one. The doe had stopped in a thicket 20 yards away, and a couple of minutes later she ran out and headed off in the direction she had come from. Two minutes later I heard a grunt, then another and another. He was headed my way but I still couldn't see him. Grunt. Grunt. Grunt. I must have heard him grunt 20 times before I saw him. I saw 8 points outside the ears and a very big body - shooter. He stepped out 20 yards away and started slowly following the does trail. He was still grunting while I scrambled to get my ear protection on. Grunt. Grunt. Boom. I knew I had hit him hard, but I wanted my lab to find him so I headed to the house to get him.
My dog did a great job and immediately got on the bucks trail. I never even looked for blood...I figured Sam would find him. After a minute or two, I found Sam biting the buck and acting very proud of himself. I was proud of him too.
The bucks rack is nothing impressive, but the body is huge for this area. He was exactly 200 lb at the processor. Sorry for the crappy pictures. I was by myself and it had started raining again. This is the first deer I've ever killed on the property, and my freezer will finally have venison in it again, so all is well.
