Birddog916
Well-known member
I've been hunting California's A-zone for the last few weeks with archery and have been seeing some really nice bucks in a little spot not far from the house we secured permission on a few years ago. We call it the dads’ spot, because it’s so close to town dads can slip away for a quick 2-3 hour hunt and be back at home to make dinner, coach, make it to soccer games, or be home quickly to pick-up the sick kid from school. Dads’ spot has been a savior for my hunting season, as the wife gave birth to our first child in February….the wife and I were so grateful to have a happy and heathy baby boy we named J.J. Being a first time 48 year old dad is keeping me on my toes and it seems like every day J.J. is doing something new. Anyway, Dads’ spot has allowed me to still deer hunt with a 6-month-old reserving longer trips for a Colorado elk tag next month.
Throughout the archery season I had been seeing the buck I call Limpy a huge 2x2 the was noticeably very old compared to the other bucks he has been running with a big 3x4 (we have been calling Trash because of all the stickers) about the same width as Limpy but not near as tall, and a narrow but tall 3x3 we call Stacks. We call him Limpy because of the noticeable limp he has on his starboard side front leg. The A-zone archery season started July 13th this year and I was able to sneak away and get in 5-6 hunts after work and on the weekends seeing Limpy and his buddies twice before the archery season ended on August 4th. After a few days break the rifle season opened on August 10th, and I contemplated picking up rifle but the morning of the 10th the rifle stayed at home and the bow rode with me in the truck to the Dads’ spot.
The evening of the 9th the wife had scheduled a girl’s night out with her friends to celebrate the 40th birthday of her bestie so it was single dad night for me and JJ. The evening was okay without mama until about 7pm, generally about the time he starts to go to sleep. By about 7:30 it was wide open cry fest because I wasn’t mama and don’t have milk making boobs… He finally went to sleep about 9:30 with a stressed-out dad thankful for the crying to stop. JJ then woke up again about 11:30, this time he took the bottle and was quickly back to sleep by about 12:15. Mama came home about 1:30 mildly tipp-sey from who knows how many glasses of Rose and promptly declared Daddy Day care a resounding success… I just shook my head and when to bed knowing the 4 am alarm was coming quickly.
I made it into the tree stand by 5:30 with plenty of time before shoot light. That’s right, we hunt this area from trees due to the small size of the property only about 200 acres, kind of rarity here in California. The property is a gorgeous piece of valley oak woodlands, willow dominated wetlands, and riparian cottonwood and alder and some state fair winning stands of poison oak. The deer and turkey love this spot. As the sun comes up, I start seeing deer, first a spike then a couple of does. Then a bachelor group of small forkys and a small 3x3 5 in total. One of the small forks comes to 20 yards and presents a perfectly broadside shot, with an arrow knocked I thought about it, drew my bow aimed and then let down without firing telling myself you know Limpy and his crew are around here somewhere. The group of 5 forkies and the small 3x3 move off and I just watch them- a beautiful sight to see as the sun was coming up and the cool delta breeze was a welcome relief to the hot Sacramento Valley summer we have been experiencing lately. The temperatures have been in the high 90’s and low 100’s so the 61-degree morning felt downright chilly and for me the deer perfect. As I sit enjoying the cool breeze it’s a steady stream of does and fawns and lots of deer moving around my stand never a dull minute.
I’m still watching the forkies getting farther and farther away, now over 200 yards from me, I hear something to my left and its Stacks the tall 3x3 about 60 yards to my left. I don’t have a clear shot from my stand, due to the tall grass and cockle bur he’s standing in. I’m watching Stacks here comes Limpy on the same path Stacks took, except at about 60 yards Limpy turns towards me…He is at 60 then 50, 40, then all the way to 33 yards and turns broadside right on the edge of small clearing. I draw and hold, waiting for him to take one more step to clear the cottonwood branch hanging down 10 yards in front of me. It seems like I’m at full draw for 5 minutes, but it was probably only one minute. He takes the step clears and I send it. Wack, spine-ed him. I quickly nock another arrow and send the second arrow right behind the front shoulder. He didn’t make in 10 yards. Its 8:15 and my A-zone tag is filled with my bow on one of our target bucks. He ended up being a very old blacktail huge bases, nearly 28 inches wide and very tall.
I think we also figured out why he was limping, it seems like maybe he was hit by a rattlesnake. See the picture below, what do you guys think?
Joe
Throughout the archery season I had been seeing the buck I call Limpy a huge 2x2 the was noticeably very old compared to the other bucks he has been running with a big 3x4 (we have been calling Trash because of all the stickers) about the same width as Limpy but not near as tall, and a narrow but tall 3x3 we call Stacks. We call him Limpy because of the noticeable limp he has on his starboard side front leg. The A-zone archery season started July 13th this year and I was able to sneak away and get in 5-6 hunts after work and on the weekends seeing Limpy and his buddies twice before the archery season ended on August 4th. After a few days break the rifle season opened on August 10th, and I contemplated picking up rifle but the morning of the 10th the rifle stayed at home and the bow rode with me in the truck to the Dads’ spot.
The evening of the 9th the wife had scheduled a girl’s night out with her friends to celebrate the 40th birthday of her bestie so it was single dad night for me and JJ. The evening was okay without mama until about 7pm, generally about the time he starts to go to sleep. By about 7:30 it was wide open cry fest because I wasn’t mama and don’t have milk making boobs… He finally went to sleep about 9:30 with a stressed-out dad thankful for the crying to stop. JJ then woke up again about 11:30, this time he took the bottle and was quickly back to sleep by about 12:15. Mama came home about 1:30 mildly tipp-sey from who knows how many glasses of Rose and promptly declared Daddy Day care a resounding success… I just shook my head and when to bed knowing the 4 am alarm was coming quickly.
I made it into the tree stand by 5:30 with plenty of time before shoot light. That’s right, we hunt this area from trees due to the small size of the property only about 200 acres, kind of rarity here in California. The property is a gorgeous piece of valley oak woodlands, willow dominated wetlands, and riparian cottonwood and alder and some state fair winning stands of poison oak. The deer and turkey love this spot. As the sun comes up, I start seeing deer, first a spike then a couple of does. Then a bachelor group of small forkys and a small 3x3 5 in total. One of the small forks comes to 20 yards and presents a perfectly broadside shot, with an arrow knocked I thought about it, drew my bow aimed and then let down without firing telling myself you know Limpy and his crew are around here somewhere. The group of 5 forkies and the small 3x3 move off and I just watch them- a beautiful sight to see as the sun was coming up and the cool delta breeze was a welcome relief to the hot Sacramento Valley summer we have been experiencing lately. The temperatures have been in the high 90’s and low 100’s so the 61-degree morning felt downright chilly and for me the deer perfect. As I sit enjoying the cool breeze it’s a steady stream of does and fawns and lots of deer moving around my stand never a dull minute.
I’m still watching the forkies getting farther and farther away, now over 200 yards from me, I hear something to my left and its Stacks the tall 3x3 about 60 yards to my left. I don’t have a clear shot from my stand, due to the tall grass and cockle bur he’s standing in. I’m watching Stacks here comes Limpy on the same path Stacks took, except at about 60 yards Limpy turns towards me…He is at 60 then 50, 40, then all the way to 33 yards and turns broadside right on the edge of small clearing. I draw and hold, waiting for him to take one more step to clear the cottonwood branch hanging down 10 yards in front of me. It seems like I’m at full draw for 5 minutes, but it was probably only one minute. He takes the step clears and I send it. Wack, spine-ed him. I quickly nock another arrow and send the second arrow right behind the front shoulder. He didn’t make in 10 yards. Its 8:15 and my A-zone tag is filled with my bow on one of our target bucks. He ended up being a very old blacktail huge bases, nearly 28 inches wide and very tall.
I think we also figured out why he was limping, it seems like maybe he was hit by a rattlesnake. See the picture below, what do you guys think?
Joe
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