Yesterday concluded archery season. I am not an archer, but Sadie, my latest SD Youth Hunting Adventures mentee is. She hadn't fulled her tag yet, so even though we had B-R-U-T-A-L cold temps, she still wanted to go. OK. I'm game if you are.
This hunt started out by securing permission to a different ranch than we had been hunting....one that had a permanent blind I knew I could gain permission to use. One problem....that's not where the deer were frequenting anymore. I went and met with the rancher Monday afternoon who was willing to build us a blind with hay bales as the stack yard is where the deer were now hanging out. After taking a look, we decided that wasn't going to work out very well as his bales are all the big round ones. Instead, we grabbed an old bent up gate, laid that across the end of the hay stack where we could get out of the wind and wha-la! Instant blind! Just gotta through a piece of camo burlap over it that Bill and I just happen to have.
Tuesday morning Sadie and I got up bright and early to find the temperature having a wind chill value of -37* and frost bite warnings had been issued. Dang. This sucks.....but a kids wants to go huntin'. A huntin' I shall go. We bundled up - had so many clothes on it was difficult to move! - and headed out. Thankfully the stack yard was literally about 50 yards from where we left the truck so getting back to warm up was not going to be an issue. As soon as we got into the stack yard, a yearling came around the corner....5 yards from us. "Knock an arrow!" To late. He left. And that is pretty much how the last two days of the season went.
Tuesday morning as we were leaving to get some hot chocolate/coffee and get warm, Mr. Oliver (landowner) had a big ol' laugh at us as apparently a buck had come in that we didn't see. ON TOP OF THE HAYSTACK ABOVE OUR HEADS! Had I not wanted to made some changes to the burlap, we would have had a broadside shot. Bummer! We never saw him.
Tuesday afternoon, when we got back to our blind there was a doe with two fawns IN our blind. Yes, I said IN the blind. No shot at them either...even though they left and came back three different times. Wednesday morning we had POSITIVE temps but the wind was blowing 9-0; the stack yard was full of deer when we got there - and we were on time this time. Dang it. Regroup on the plan and lets go. Small buck 'sauntered' around the end of the stack, but only gave us a 'Texas heart shot'. I didn't poke my head around as I didn't want to bugger him; Sadie thought we should sneak down the alley of the hay and be on top of him. He left. But we never heard him snort. Had some more does and fawns come in, but nothing in range. Wednesday afternoon a doe and fawn was on the stack when we got back after a lunch break. Again, they left, but came right back. I couldn't get a range on them where I was sitting, and they were nervous about coming in. After about a 15 minute cat and mouse game with them, the wind swirled and we were made. And that concluded the 2014 deer season.
No archery harvest was made this year, but what a season of experiences! How many people can say they had a deer - on top of them? Sadie did fill her youth tag one weekend her Dad was able to come home and take her - with a .22-250. I am impressed! That caliber is a little light, but if your a crack shot, you can make that shot ethically - which she did. I think I was more disappointed than Sadie that she didn't fill her archery tag but that's OK. Hunting is far more about the experiences than the harvest. Sadie's tag was filled with experiences and stories to tell. A successful season.
 |
| All bundled up keeping the frostbite away. |
No comments:
Post a Comment