yoderjac
Well-Known Member
I've been struggling with a buggered up knee. It has put a real damper on my hunting this year. Lately, I've pretty much been relegated to sitting in the barn at our retirement property with my smokeless muzzleloader hoping for some deer to step into our field during shooting hours. They are building our retirement home on this lot and they just put in the Superior walls for the basement. (Pretty cool how they pour them at the factory with higher PSI concrete than can be achieved with a direct pour, and then use a crane to set them in place and bolt the sections together). But this means there is a lot of activity on the lot. On top of that, and probably even more important is that we have a bountiful mast crop this year. Deer are still using our food plot but only in the middle of the night.
On occasion this season, I've caught a glimpse of a deer for a few seconds at a distance in cover that vanishes quickly. It has been unseasonably warm as well lately.
I had low expectations when I went out for my sit this evening. It was 74 degrees at 4pm. Right around sunset, I got a quick glimpse of something with a large body about 250 yards to my northwest in the cover strip on my neighbors property. It vanished quickly back into the cover heading north. About 15 minutes after sunset, I saw something moving about 300 yards to my southwest. It had entered my neighbors hay field (cut) and was headed in my direction. I glassed it and it was one of the largest bucks I've seen in Virginia. I could see something behind it with a smaller body. I could not completely make it out but I presume it was a doe he was tending. I think he only stepped out to keep in contact with her.
He was on a steady slow walk in my direction. He stopped at about 180 yards, well in range of my 300 yard Encore SML. But, he only lingered for a second. I had a small strip of sunn hemp that I left standing. He stepped behind that and his body was occluded. I could only see antlers and only for a few seconds. I waited till the end of shooting hours for him to cross that sunn hemp but he never did.
In hindsight, I think he knew he could hide along that strop and still watch the doe he was tending in the hayfield. I probably should have been ready faster and taken the 180 yard shot, but light was not great and I was counting on him crossing that strip of sunn hemp where I would have a slam dunk shot.
The good news is that I now know I have at least 2 mature bucks using our retirement property one of which is a very big buck for our state. His rack was so tall that at first, I thought it might be an elk
I headed in for PT in the morning. If that doesn't get me functional, I think I'm going to go ahead and schedule the replacement surgery for spring. I had hoped to wait until next January so I did not miss next season, but the way the knee is going, it looks like I won't be able to hunt much anyway. But, another year of sitting in the barn might work out based on what I saw tonight!
On occasion this season, I've caught a glimpse of a deer for a few seconds at a distance in cover that vanishes quickly. It has been unseasonably warm as well lately.
I had low expectations when I went out for my sit this evening. It was 74 degrees at 4pm. Right around sunset, I got a quick glimpse of something with a large body about 250 yards to my northwest in the cover strip on my neighbors property. It vanished quickly back into the cover heading north. About 15 minutes after sunset, I saw something moving about 300 yards to my southwest. It had entered my neighbors hay field (cut) and was headed in my direction. I glassed it and it was one of the largest bucks I've seen in Virginia. I could see something behind it with a smaller body. I could not completely make it out but I presume it was a doe he was tending. I think he only stepped out to keep in contact with her.
He was on a steady slow walk in my direction. He stopped at about 180 yards, well in range of my 300 yard Encore SML. But, he only lingered for a second. I had a small strip of sunn hemp that I left standing. He stepped behind that and his body was occluded. I could only see antlers and only for a few seconds. I waited till the end of shooting hours for him to cross that sunn hemp but he never did.
In hindsight, I think he knew he could hide along that strop and still watch the doe he was tending in the hayfield. I probably should have been ready faster and taken the 180 yard shot, but light was not great and I was counting on him crossing that strip of sunn hemp where I would have a slam dunk shot.
The good news is that I now know I have at least 2 mature bucks using our retirement property one of which is a very big buck for our state. His rack was so tall that at first, I thought it might be an elk
I headed in for PT in the morning. If that doesn't get me functional, I think I'm going to go ahead and schedule the replacement surgery for spring. I had hoped to wait until next January so I did not miss next season, but the way the knee is going, it looks like I won't be able to hunt much anyway. But, another year of sitting in the barn might work out based on what I saw tonight!
