It was a glorious 4 days in the woods. I sat in various blinds on two different properties for a total of 40 hours and saw some great stuff. I'll call them by their counties. I spent Saturday, Monday & Tuesday @ Buckingham and Sunday @ Patrick. No Sunday hunting in Buckingham (welcome to the South....) More doe than I can count and only one sniffed me out due to a brief wind change so I'm set up in all the right places. Saw 1 4pt and 1 small 6 pt in Buckingham, nothing worth taking this year. Hopefully other hunters pass on them and then they'll be nice next year.
I took a doe Sunday morning at 42 yds from Patrick, that makes it the longest bow shot I've taken. Staying true to form, she ninja'd in on me and wasn't looking at that lane until she was already quartered away. Once I ranged her, moved the bow into place, made one small noise to get her attention and shot was perfect. She still managed to run 50yds without a piece of her heat and both lungs. I can't say enough about the Rage mechanicals. This is my first year trying them and Holy blood trail Batman. The entry wound was MASSIVE.
The weather was pretty jacked all 4 days. One morning was 38degrees and by that afternoon it was 74. The last day I had a thunderstorm come through on me. Normally I sit through that but when the lightning started hitting, it was time to cut the day a bit short. Being 17ft in the air and sitting in a metal tree stand, probably smart. Opening day afternoon was blown by a darn dog. The neighboring property runs dogs (legal in that state) and all but destroyed my afternoon hunt, luckily some doe snuck in about 2 hours later but nothing followed.
One afternoon right at prime-time I heard a monster crashing through the woods. I thought oh man, this is it. You'll understand once you hear the audio but when my head finally did the slow swivel to the sound's location - a turtle was making his way across a bed of leaves.....Wanker.
I'm headed back out this Saturday & Sunday to Patrick. Rain is scheduled but hopefully it'll stay to just rain. This particular spot is overrun with doe. This will be the second year I plan on limiting out for that property. It's our hope that once we bring them down to a manageable level, the bucks will get some room. I don't have anything larger than a bad-for-the-gene-pool buck on camera so we're targeting him this weekend as well.
Here's a quick view of one of the stands in Buckingham on a ridgeline looking down into a 5 tree scrape line :)
That Pesky turtle making a racket:
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