Well, my first morning of 2013 deer season was pretty exciting. I walked quietly to my new ladder stand below the orchard along the drainage for the pond on the Pepper Field side in hopes of not spooking any deer that might be in the Orchard field. It was just barely light enough for me not to need a flashlight only because I had mowed that path pretty well. I found my trail through the thicket and crossed the drainage. It was a bit windy, but so far so good. I hadn't heard a deer bolt or snort. Just as I was about to step out of the drainage thicket right at my stand I heard a noise. I froze, panning the shadowy darkness for movement. A coon was climbing down the little walnut sapling that held my corn feeder attached. The little guy headed right at me, well four feet to my right on the other side of my stand.
He's gone. Time to climb the ladder. Another noise. The coon was climbing up the tree that the stand was leaning against. Dilemma. I nock an arrow, then realize the likelihood of me hitting a coon in a tree, in the darkness, shoot straight up in the air was little to none. And I really don't want to lose a razor sharp point somewhere on the farm where my Brittany's are likely to step on it. But, I AM HUNTING IN THIS TREE THIS MORNING! So, up the tree I go with my bow loaded. Not the safest of practices, but at least I would have a sharp pointy object in my hand to fight off a raccoon it came to that. I figured the coon would climb to the top of the tree and I would climb to the platform. At some point in the morning, hopefully when there was more light we would have an up front and personal contact. In the meanwhile I was there to deer hunt.
As I climbed the stand, coon climbed the tree. When he was setting on my seat he panicked at my approach and jumped to 15 feet to the ground. Problem solved, well not yet. About as soon as I settled in, the coon came back to the base of my ladder. OK, I will shoot you straight down. I stood up and flipped on my head lamp. He ran off before I could get aim. Apparently, that is the coon's favorite tree and this story is far from over. I see a coon skin quiver in my future.
Ok, back to deer hunting. The wind was from the north, but as it floated down the little valleys to my stand it was hitting me square in the face or at an angle between my nose and right shoulder. I was directly facing the feeder 12 yards away. A pretty good setup unless the deer come in from Pepper's Field directly behind me. At 7:45 I heard the unmistakable sound of a deer startled deer jump about 20 yards behind then the sound of a deer hoof thumping the ground. Busted. The problem with clearing a path to your stand is the deer will also use this path. That's exactly what happened. Well, it didn't snort so it's not as bad as it could have been.
Since I have pictures of 5 to 7 deer coming to this feeder, I sat there hoping the next deer wouldn't come in behind me.
At 8:15 I heard a sound over my left shoulder. Turning slowly I see deer then a second one. It's the young does I have on my trail cam. They are 25 yards out crossing the large trail that leads from Pepper's Field to the Orchard Field. They are spooked. The wind in swirling directly at them. The lead one starts to cross the drainage ditch but stops and walks back the way she came, then stops and turns back. The second spooks and jumps into the thick stuff on my boarder of my property and the neighbor's farm. The lead doe turns again slowly walking away. A little wren flies up right in her face light a quail flushing. That was enough to unravel her. She bounded into the other farm.
I sat there until 9:30 to make sure the deer had left the area then I slipped back to the house.
Lessons learned: This is not a stand to hunt in a northern wind condition. I'll wait for a west wind day. Second, I need to get rid of coon. I could set a trap, but that would require me to visit the stand more often than I'd like to do. Or, I could load the Henry with some .22 short hollow points and carry that to the stand with me. OR, I now have an excuse to buy a high powdered .22 cal. pellet rifle.
Here are a few pictures from my trail cam last weekend and topo map of my hunting area.
