| DEER HUNTING REPORTS 2005 page 6 of 6 |
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| Muzzleloader Season 2005
Dec. 27, 2005 Piff and I went down to Adams Co. for the opening of the four-day Blackpowder Season. He hunted with his .54 cal. Hawken muzzleloader while I toted my camera since I didn’t have any deer tags left for the year. The plan was for him to sit along the hillside where I took my buck during the shotgun season while I pushed the wooded draws and woodlots to try to drive deer towards him. While walking I would be able to scout out all the nooks and crannies on the adjacent property that we now have permission to hunt. After sitting in Piff’s ladder stand for a few hours I headed out to walk the numerous wooded draws and ravines to try to move deer towards Piff. As I walked through the small ravine where I shot the doe a few weeks ago two turkeys flew up out of thick cover about twenty yards from me. I then proceeded to head over to the area where I shot the coyote and when I crested the hill in the pasture seven deer ran up the wooded hillside and headed towards another property. I then took a few more steps and about a dozen turkeys ran in a different direction up the hill. I slowly made my way up the hill to see where the deer went. When I got to the edge of the woods there were no deer in sight so I decided to walk through all the little brush-and-tree-lined draws to see if I could jump up some deer. In one of the draws a lone turkey ran out and slipped through the fence into the neighbor’s woods. In another a single deer jumped out and ran across a field on another property and headed towards the creek. A minute or two later I heard someone shoot. I wondered, whoever it was, if they got it. I eventually made my way along the top of the hill that runs along the creek. I found numerous places that had signs of deer such as trails, droppings, rubs, scrapes, etc. I worked my way towards Piff without kicking up any deer that I was aware of. I did jump a few more turkeys. When I got to Piff he told me that I had not moved any deer towards him. He did tell me that he saw a group of three deer and another group of eight while walking to his spot in the morning. He also said that when he got to his spot seven deer winded him and took off along the creek. After a break for lunch Piff headed to his treestand while I walked trough a couple of woodlots to try to move deer to him. With no luck I then moved to the fenceline that separates the two properties while Piff moved to the hillside along the creek where he was in the morning. Soon I spotted movement in one of the pastures on the adjoining property. I could barely make out 4 or 5 deer through some brush and trees. Eventually they ran towards me into the ravine where I jumped the first two turkeys in the morning. It was the same ravine where I shot my doe a few weeks ago. I could see them easing along on the opposite hillside. When I looked through the binoculars I saw, much to my surprise, the big buck that we had seen twice on earlier trips. He has a long, wide, dark main beam like a Texas Longhorn. He seems not to have many tines but he is a big bodied deer. He’s the one that we’ve been after. I waited a while and circled around to the head of the ravine to try to move the deer towards Piff. As I was making my way along the top of the ravine I jumped some deer and they ran through the wooded hillside and towards the creek. Although I didn’t see the big buck I could hear other deer running up ahead of me. Hoping that the buck was among the group that I heard I continued making my way through the thick stuff, zigzagging back in forth. I was trying to keep the deer from going away from Piff. As I worked my way down the hillside along the creek I got busted by a different buck that snorted at me and then ran along the hillside away from Piff. I figured that all the deer went that way and that the jig was up. I then walked down the hill towards the creek and saw about 4 or 5 more deer that were down by the creek. When they saw me they ran in the same direction that the buck had run. I proceeded to walk the hillside towards Piff’s position to meet up with him. While walking through the tangled mess of cedars and vines suddenly two deer ran up from behind me and down the fenceline to my right towards Piff. I continued along the hillside and kicked up two more turkeys. When I met up with Piff he said that he had not seen any deer. I knew that there must be two deer on the hillside below him so I eased towards the top of the hill and scanned through the timber for any signs of movement. Just as I peered through the fence and down the hill I saw a doe and a yearling slowly walking about halfway down the hill. I motioned to Piff that there were deer down there and eventually he saw them. I could see him aim his smokepole down the hill. I looked down the hill and saw a nice- size doe standing broadside, suddenly the doe turned and trotted down the hill and crossed a little drainage and ran up another hillside. Piff said that he didn’t have a clear shot and that the doe only had to move a little bit and he would have taken the shot. That was it for the day. We saw a lot of deer and turkeys. Maybe we’ll get down Friday for the last day of the muzzleloader season… |
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| Dec. 30, 2005
Piff and I made the trip back down to Adams Co. for the last day of the Muzzleloader Season. This time I took along Piff’s .22 cal. rifle and did a little squirrel hunting while he hunted deer. As we walked down in the early-morning mist through the rolling hay field a doe spotted us. She wanted to come to the woodlot to our right. She crept towards us a few feet at a time until she finally turned and went down into a little dip in the field. Suddenly three or four more deer appeared on the next hill. Upon further observation we could make out that one of them was a big buck. He had a wide rack that went well past his ears and it sported high tines with white tips. We watched them disappear into the fenceline that borders the property. Piff went to the east fenceline that separates the two properties that we hunt while I went to his treestand in the pasture. After a few uneventful hours with no deer or squirrel sightings I headed to the small woodlot on the west side of the property. I slowly moved through the woodlot hoping to kick some deer out towards Piff while at the same time I was looking for squirrels. I managed to shoot three gray bushytails while missing two. While in the woods I spotted a group of four deer trotting across the hay field towards the woods where the deer this morning where heading. A few minutes later another group of three followed the first group into the woods. None of the deer carried antlers. I waited a while hoping that the big buck that we saw this morning would be following them. I then went into the woods to try to bump the group towards Piff. They must have slipped out because when I joined up with Piff he said that he didn’t see any deer come out his way. He did report that earlier he had seen four deer moving through the little ravine about 100 yards from him and that one of them was a buck. Piff then went to the hillside above the creek and I walked through a couple of little ravines and draws that led to the creek to try to move some deer to him. I did manage to shoot another fox squirrel along the way. When I got to Piff he again said that no deer came his way. After lunch I walked a few more woodlots and draws. I missed a few more squirrels with the .22 and saw a group of about a dozen turkeys. It was around 4:30 when I saw a deer get up out of its bed and ease towards the creek. When I met Piff at the end of the day he said that he had spotted movement in front of him in the little ravine where he had seen deer in the morning. He told me that when he raised his binoculars and looked through them that a buck was looking right at him. He kept his binoculars up and when the buck turned its head he looked to the right and saw a doe looking at him. The doe then hurried off and the buck followed her. Evidently they must have spotted him raise his binoculars and they busted him. That is it for the blackpowder season. We again saw a few bucks and one of them was a real monster. It looks promising for next year. |