MITCHMO
Well-known member
Every year I go to visit a friend in Kentucky during late muzzleloader season and this year was no different. It’s one of those hunts where you forget you are there to deer hunt because the company is so much fun. The main purpose of the hunt is to harvest does, but we do get a buck once in a while. The first day I saw a couple bucks, but could not see a doe anywhere. A couple buddies each got a nice fat doe at last light though.
The second day brought more action and we managed to get a few does on the ground. In fact, we filled almost every doe tag and had them stacked up in the pickup like firewood. Legs everywhere. It got a lot of attention when we stopped for gas haha.
Now the work started. We spent the afternoon gutting and hanging deer before heading back out. That evening I got a glimpse of an 8 point and had a spike hang around for a while before disappearing. At this point, I still hadn’t seen a doe! After a long night of cutting up a pile of deer, a couple buddies had to head home in the morning. We spent the remaining hours of that evening and even a little of the next day mastering the game of Indian poker and a few others that maxed out our mental abilities. Of course no one wanted to get up in the morning but I couldn’t take it. The cabin is on a little chunk of private land and I knew there was an old blind a few hundred yards up the hill. I grabbed my gear and ran out the door as it was just getting light. It was brisk and extremely frosty which made sneaking through the oak leaves extremely loud. I finally found the old blind and sneaked inside. I had pretty limited shooting.
About an hour later I noticed a deer in the center of the picture where I could see through a little hole in the brush. I got the glass on it and saw it was a big heavy 7. I know “big” and 7 don’t go together but I’m from Michigan. He started to disappear and I got out my hunt call and gave him a series of calls and he disappeared in the brush. A minute or two later I could hear a deer crunching towards me. I hit the call one more time and he kept coming. I couldn’t see much because it was so thick and I finally caught a glimpse of some bone. As he turned to walk away I thought “what the heck?” Did he have 5 on one side? So I called a few more times and he came right at me with his ears back and hair standing on end. When he popped out I immediately went into panic mode. I could see it was not the 7 point I had been watching. He was right downwind and finally showed me a little shoulder at about 35 yards. I touched off the smoke pole and he vanished for a second in a cloud of smoke then came out the other side and stopped. I freaked cause I thought I missed. Then he started to wobble and went down. Took me a few minutes to collect myself and go put my hands on him.
The best part was waking my buddies up with the gunshot! I went out that afternoon ready to finally fill my doe tag. Only about 1/2 hr after I sat down that evening I saw a big doe and got her on the ground. After that I had one of the best sits in a stand I have ever had. I saw a pile of beautiful deer and it was really cool to just watch.
Lesson learned during this hunt....always get your sorry but out of bed!
The second day brought more action and we managed to get a few does on the ground. In fact, we filled almost every doe tag and had them stacked up in the pickup like firewood. Legs everywhere. It got a lot of attention when we stopped for gas haha.
Now the work started. We spent the afternoon gutting and hanging deer before heading back out. That evening I got a glimpse of an 8 point and had a spike hang around for a while before disappearing. At this point, I still hadn’t seen a doe! After a long night of cutting up a pile of deer, a couple buddies had to head home in the morning. We spent the remaining hours of that evening and even a little of the next day mastering the game of Indian poker and a few others that maxed out our mental abilities. Of course no one wanted to get up in the morning but I couldn’t take it. The cabin is on a little chunk of private land and I knew there was an old blind a few hundred yards up the hill. I grabbed my gear and ran out the door as it was just getting light. It was brisk and extremely frosty which made sneaking through the oak leaves extremely loud. I finally found the old blind and sneaked inside. I had pretty limited shooting.
About an hour later I noticed a deer in the center of the picture where I could see through a little hole in the brush. I got the glass on it and saw it was a big heavy 7. I know “big” and 7 don’t go together but I’m from Michigan. He started to disappear and I got out my hunt call and gave him a series of calls and he disappeared in the brush. A minute or two later I could hear a deer crunching towards me. I hit the call one more time and he kept coming. I couldn’t see much because it was so thick and I finally caught a glimpse of some bone. As he turned to walk away I thought “what the heck?” Did he have 5 on one side? So I called a few more times and he came right at me with his ears back and hair standing on end. When he popped out I immediately went into panic mode. I could see it was not the 7 point I had been watching. He was right downwind and finally showed me a little shoulder at about 35 yards. I touched off the smoke pole and he vanished for a second in a cloud of smoke then came out the other side and stopped. I freaked cause I thought I missed. Then he started to wobble and went down. Took me a few minutes to collect myself and go put my hands on him.
The best part was waking my buddies up with the gunshot! I went out that afternoon ready to finally fill my doe tag. Only about 1/2 hr after I sat down that evening I saw a big doe and got her on the ground. After that I had one of the best sits in a stand I have ever had. I saw a pile of beautiful deer and it was really cool to just watch.
Lesson learned during this hunt....always get your sorry but out of bed!
