DEERHUNTINGREPORTS2008-6

DEER HUNTING REPORTS 2008
page 6 of 6

BLACKPOWDER SEASON

Dec. 27, 2008

We were at it again today down in Adams Co. but this time we hunted with our muzzleloaders. I went back to the front stand while Piff headed down around the gate. Around mid-morning I spotted four deer trotting across the grass field behind me. There were two does and two yearlings. They were headed to the woods below the stand. The two little ones would playfully chase each other while the does kept a cautious eye out for danger.

Eventually they all came closer to my stand. When one of the does crossed a brushy ditch I prepared for a shot. I had a good bead on her but I had a small treetop right by the stand in the way. I quickly stepped up on the seat of the ladder stand and rested the barrel of my Hawkens against the tree trunk. I then aimed and pulled the set trigger and waited for my opportunity to take the shot. The doe was about 60 yards away but she was facing me. All she had to do was to take a step or two towards the woods and she would offer me a broadside shot, but suddenly, one of the other three deer winded me and snorted, then they all took off down the field and jumped the fence near “turkey corner”.

About an hour later three more deer came across the field behind me. This time they were too far away for me to take a shot. They seemed awful nervous as they ran towards the woods. They disappeared from view and I thought they went into the woods but about 10 seconds later they reappeared and high-tailed it back across the field and crossed the fence near the same place where the other four did earlier.

Around 11:00 I decided maybe I should move down by the fence crossing so I got down out of the stand and eased my way along the edge of the woods. As I was slipping along I would stop occasionally to see if I could spot any deer bedded down in the taller weeds in the field in front of me. About half way down the field I stopped to look and lo-and-behold much to my surprise, I spotted the big white-tined buck across the fence in front of me. He was about 20 yards away standing right behind one of our ground blinds in the pasture. As I watched him slowly walk off I noted that he was headed in the direction where I thought Piff was hunting.

I waited there for about 10 minutes anticipating a shot from Piff. I found out later from him that he had moved to another location about 10 minutes before I spotted the big buck. If he had stayed where he was he would probably have had a chance to take a shot at him.

After not hearing a shot I slowly made my way to the fence line at “turkey corner” and hunted there until noon. I then slowly made my way towards the gate along the north side of the woodlot. As I came up out of the dip in the pasture I caught a glimpse of 3 or 4 deer slipping into the corner of the woods in front of me. They didn’t see me so I quietly eased my way into the woods and took a position at the bottom of the grassy strip that runs through the woods. I readied my smokepole on my shooting sticks and anticipated getting a shot as the deer moved across the opening. Every now and then I could see legs moving in the cover up in front of me and to my right. I thought it was just a matter of time that they would cross the opening.

Suddenly I spotted one of the deer crossing way up at the top of the grass strip. Oh no, I thought, they were crossing too far away. A short time later I again saw more movement in the brush. This time it seemed that maybe one of the deer was going to cross about 40 yards in front of me. Well one of them did, but they crossed so fast that I didn’t get a shot. I waited about 5 more minutes and, sure enough, another one crossed, but again, it was moving too quickly to get a shot.

I waited for about 10 more minutes before slipping out of the woods to head back up to the gate to meet Piff. As I came up to the top of a knoll in the pasture I saw Piff easing his way up the hill to my right. As I was looking at him I heard a deer snort and then saw three deer along the fence below the gate. Two of them quickly jumped the fence while the third stood there broadside for a few seconds. By the time I got my rifle on the shooting sticks it also took off over the fence and headed to the neighbors. If I had not been distracted by Piff I might have seen the deer before they saw me.

That was about it for the day. I had seen a total of 15 deer and almost had a shot at a couple of them. Piff didn’t see a deer all day!

Dec. 29, 2008

Today was our last attempt of the season to take a deer down in Adams Co. with our blackpowder rifles. My morning plan was to hunt over in the adjacent property to the east where we have permission to hunt. But as I was making my way from the house in the pre-dawn light I noticed the outline of a couple of deer that where out in the grass field near my stand in the front of the woods behind the house. Eventually they spotted me and trotted off in the darkness. I then figured that since they wanted to get into the woods that maybe they would later on try to come back so I climbed up into the front stand and hunted there the rest of the morning.

Around 8 o’clock I saw 4 or 5 deer slowly making their way through the tall weeds in the frost-covered pasture over on the neighbor’s property. It looked like they were headed into a small ravine across from “turkey corner”. That was all the deer activity for the morning until I heard the familiar sound of a cap going off on a muzzleloader down on the other side of the woods below me. A few seconds later I saw a couple of deer run up the grass field from that direction and then run along the property line fence and finally disappear into the neighbor’s woods.

Talking to Piff later I found out that he was stationed along a small gulley in the pasture below me. He told me that at least a dozen deer came up the gulley and that one of them was the dark-tined buck that we have been seeing on previous hunts. He stated that the buck came up to the top of the gulley and stopped broadside about 40 yards away. It was a perfect setup and Piff propped up his in-line muzzleloader, took aim, and pulled the trigger. Snap! The 209 primer cap went off but the powder didn’t ignite! At the sound of the cap going off Piff said that the deer scattered everywhere, two of them were the ones that I had seen.

Around noon Piff made his way back up to the house and on the way he walked through the woods below me. He pushed three deer out of the woods and they ran in front of me but they were on a dead run. No chance for a shot. One of them was a small buck.

After a brief lunch break we both headed down to the bottom pasture. As we went through the gate and headed to the east we spotted movement across the pasture near “turkey corner”. Looking through the binoculars I noticed that there were a couple of turkeys walking in and out of the cedars that are scattered throughout the field. Suddenly we spotted a deer among the turkeys. As we eyed the deer we noticed that it was moving down towards the bottom of one of the draws near where Piff had taken a shot at the buck in the morning. We quickly made our way over to a spot where we could see down in the bottom where several draws came together.

We both took up a position with our guns readied on our shooting sticks anticipating the deer to show up at the bottom. Suddenly we caught a glimpse of a big-bodied deer slipping down through one of the brush-covered draws, then a few seconds later we saw a couple of more deer in the same area. We were waiting only a few more moments longer when apparently the deer saw us and turned and ran out of the draw and over to the next property. Oh so close, again!

Piff stayed there for the afternoon and I moved over to “turkey corner”. Around 4 0’clock I heard the sound of hoof beats running close by me but I couldn’t determine where the sounds were coming from. Then, out of the corner of my right eye I saw a few deer streaking across the grass field and then jump the fence down about 150 yards from me. Shortly, another couple of deer followed the others.

I found out later from Piff that the deer came up one of the draws that he was watching and they apparently saw or winded him and then took off in my direction. They might have spotted me or saw me reach for my muzzleloader before they jumped the fence behind me and ran through the grass field.

That was it for blackpowder season. I still haven’t taken a deer so far this year. Maybe I’ll get out in January for a few more bow hunts before the season ends.