Deer Watching 1/30/2014

I think this was on my list of 2013 New Years Resolutions, but I really wanted to spend more time hunting in the future. It hasn't been a priority over fishing, however. But it is for my dad and my uncle, whom I like to spend time around. So, this year I spent more time in the woods. I don't think it was MUCH more, but I am making an attempt. I guess when I see a monster buck, I will really devote more effort. They are quick to remind me that you have to put in the time, which ironically, I tell beginning anglers all the time. You can't catch fish if you aren't in the water and you have to put in the time. Ironic because I put in the time and I still don't catch anything.

It's true though. You have to be out there. And, truth be told, I DO have a good time, if nothing more than for relaxation. I admit that I spend too much time drinking my Mapco peach mango tea, reading a book and sleeping than I do looking. But, every once in awhile I look up and there are deer. Maybe it isn't that the bucks aren't coming out as much as it is that I just miss them. I digress.

I DO have to say that this is the first year I have killed more than 1 deer in a season. I even managed to get 1 of those on video, which you can read about and watch in my Deer Hunting Post. That isn't because I didn't have opportunities, though. We just didn't eat enough to justify it. But, my wife has gotten incredible at preparing meals of venison and we really go through it. Additionally, I have been making a lot of deer jerky with my special EOTWAWKI Marinade, which people love. When you go through 1 pound of jerky per friend, you can go through some meat. I'm getting off topic again. I apologize.

Anyway, with this being the last week of the season, I am trying to get out as much as possible. I have been lucky to see a lot of does and fauns. Even got a lot of them on video.

Sometimes I think it's just as fun and challenging, minus the gutting and what not.

Additionally, because I have hunted more, I don't put so much pressure on every single trip, which has allowed me to take my kids out, which I wrote about in Best5Kids 1st Deer Hunt.


Yesterday, however, I was sitting in the stand as it was closing in on dark. I heard something crashing through the brush at a rapid gate. I was REALLY hoping it was a massive buck trailing all the does from the above video. Alas, it was a wiley coyote who pounced into the field, stuck to the brush lines heading away from me.

Well, killing coyotes is always a priority. But, he was covering a lot of ground and I didn't even have the rifle on hand, much less the window open or the video camera primed. So, I threw down the window, got the gun up and found him with the scope as he was ducking into the far tree line, maybe 125 yards away. All I had to hit was his hind quarters and that was rapidly disappearing .I snapped off a shot and the 30-06 round rolled him....err...flipped him. He flopped around for a second, but amazingly flipped himself into the brush.

I waited for deer to come out, which they never did. At dark, I climbed out of the hotel room that my uncle and dad build and headed across the field. Finding his trail was easy as there was blood everywhere. But he wasn't to be found. I followed the trail, but always thought about a little encounter I had a few years ago when I walked up on another coyote I had shot, who wasn't QUITE dead. Dad videoed me picking him up for a picture only to have him snap at me, to which I screamed like a girl.

Anyway, after following a massive blood trail through the thick stuff, I decided that hunting down a potentially injured coyote, at night, in the brush wasn't a good idea. Not much shrugs off that powerful of a round and I wasn't worried about him getting away. I just didn't want to step on him and find myself with rabies. My wife thinks I am crazy enough already. HEYOHHHH!!!!

Anyway, enjoy that not-so-good video of the deer. They really are majestic, when you aren't shooting at them. It's too bad they are better to eat than watch.