Zem's tall tales

[Zem18]

It was pretty warm out and I waited until the drive was over. In the pic where I was holding her up, one hand had the back legs and the other had the tail so dead center was the hersheys dispenser so thats why it stunk so bad. Other than that mishap, there was no distinct odor. And I told my buddy to photoshop out the collar and tags, lol!!!

Golden retreiver huh. Thats a little creepy indeed but to each his own.

[Zem18]

Hunted last Sunday morning with my neighbor. Just him and I doing small pushes. Ended up seeing 5 doe and took a shot at one decent sized doe but missed. These deer are pressured constantly due to all the drives so getting them to stop is nearly impossible. If I could hunt there with my rifle, I would feel more comfy as that is my baby.

Anyways, headed to camp tomorrow night with a friend of mine, my Dad, and his neighbor. We have a little snow on the ground and the temps are staying low so the deer should be moving and not hiding on the ridgetops. I have Saturday to fill my doe tag, and not sure if I can get out on Sunday yet. Looking forward to the cooler temps and seeing some action. Need a little break from the holiday work grind already. Good luck to you guys out there this last weekend. Make it count!!

[Fletch]

Good luck Zem!

I am looking for one more, a good doe or a big buck. Or maybe both!

[Zem18]

Well last weekend was a bust, sort of. Got down to camp and less than 100 yards from the entrance stood a HUGE doe. I stopped the Exploder right next to her and hit the down button on the window. If she was a foot closer I could've pet her. My buddy was like damn, I hope to see her tomorrow. We drank a few beers that night and hit the sack at about 12:30am. Got up at 6 and got ready to head out. There was four of us so we stayed towards the front of the property. There were tracks all over in the valley so they had been moving through the area. My Dad and his neighbor headed up behind the cabin and I placed my buddy in my usual spot. I then dropped down to the creek and headed towards the back of the property. I stopped at a few hot spots and saw zippo. I then decided to play bird dog as the wind was quite chilly. I pushed low towards the back and then cut up the mountain. By 9am I was starving so I ate my pizza from dinner last night. As I bit into my 3rd piece I heard a shot. I smiled and about 10 seconds later my radio went off. It was my Dad. Here is what I heard

"That was me who shot" "I had a doe come walking up by me and she was on top of a little knoll. I took aim and clicked the safety off and when I squeezed the trigger, she stepped off the knoll and it went right over the top of her. I missed"

I chuckled and asked if he tried to stop here and he said no. I reminded him that next time he should have whistled of bleated at her to stop, then fire. He said he didn't think of it at the time.

My Dad is 74. He hunts 2 to 3 days a year with me for the past 10 years. He has taken 5 bucks in his lifetime and no does. The last deer he saw at my camp was in 2002. I shot a doe while I was eating lunch with him. She turned as I shot and I hit her high. She ran off and we tracked her. We lost the trail and then decided to check the overgrown field and the creek bed. He took the field. Within ten minutes, I hear a BOOM. and then some yelling. I was by the water so I could not hear. I came up out of the creek and here is a doe running directly at me. She turned quick into the thick stuff and we never saw her again. The last pine tree in the field was where my Dad thought she was. He was looking under there when he should've been looking in front of him. He almost stepped on her and she reared up at him and he shot from the hip with his trusty old shotgun (Which I now own - LeFever 12ga Nitro Special - double barrel side by side) In the process he tore his cartlidge in his knee and had to have surgery that year. I still catch crap for shooting her and having Dad have to go through all of that.

That was the last deer my Dad had taken a shot at as well in 2002. It has been over 9 years for him. I tried not to pick on him too bad but cmon, he is my Dad and I have to. The other 3 of us didn't see anything. If anyone deserved an opportunity it was Dad and I happy he saw one and took a shot. Maybe next year we can seal the deal but he isn't too sure. He said that he is finally admitting that he is getting old. He had a heart attack in June this year. Since then he has lost 44 lbs, walks 6 days a week, and stopped taking meds for his knee pain and feels great. His eye Dr. said he macular (sp?) degeneration in his left eye and he is slowly going blind. I actually picked on him and asked if he was looking at that doe through the scope with his good eye, lol.

Even though I walked about 4 to 5 miles and didnt even see a flag, it was a good hunt. Sometimes we have take a step back and say, its not about what we kill, but about how the hunt turned out in the end.

I missed 2 soccer games last weekend and can't miss them this weekend. I plan to get out for front stuffer Saturday afternoon and hopefully Sunday with my neighbor. The boys are headed to the cabin this weekend so I will sign over my unused DMP for one of them to fill if they can. Good Luck to all of you this weekend if you head out. I'll post up again after the weekend.

Edited December 15, 2011 by Zemmer18

[Fletch]

I enjoyed reading that Zem! My dad is 74 and it has been quite a lot of years since he has taken a deer. He only gets out with us maybe a half dozen times in the season. He missed one about a week and a half ago behind my place. It was a long shot, 100 yards, so we cut him some slack but my younger brother and I finally convinced him to let us get him a scope instead of the red dot he uses. I would love for him to be able to get one more deer, maybe next year.

Good luck out there!

Edited December 15, 2011 by Fletch

[First-light]

Amen brother! Last year was Gus's last year in the woods. Treasure every moment of it. Good luck this weekend, I'll be driving by around 11:30 and will give the usual shout out to ya!

[Zem18]

Well the weekend didn't turn out as planned due to work but it could of been worse, ok not really.

I had a ton of things to catch up on at work so I ended up getting home at 8:30pm Friday night after going in at 6:30am. I went to bed, only to get up at 4:30am and head back to work by 5:30am. I worked until 8:45am and then stopped to get a coffee before coaching two soccer games from 9:30 to 11:30am. Drove home and had a snadwich and then went Santa shopping with the wife at 1:00pm. Was home by 5:30pm and headed back to work. Got there at 6:15 pm and stayed until 10:30pm. Man what a crappy day and I was not able to get out hunting.

I was excited for the morning and set the alarm for 7am. My buddy texted me at 7:30 and bagged on me as he was not feeling well. It was 13 degrees and I said what the heck and got dressed and headed to the inlaws. I went by the bow stands and headed up the hill on the 20 acres I have permission to go on. No one was out but man it was noisy and crunchy. I had a spot in mind and on the way there, I could deer running away from me as it was like walking on corn flakes. I hunted from 8:00am until 11:00am and did not see a thing except a few squirrels and my BIL who came to hunt at 10:45am. He did a small push to me but I had to be home by 11:30am. I ended up unloading my ML as I did not do it last year. Can't believe I forgot but man what a cannon that thing is and the puff of smoke is awesome. The thing I hate the most is the rotten egg smell in the garage afterwards before I cleaned it. My son, who is 5, came out and was like "Whew daddy, what did you eat?" I was laughing my ass off and explained to him what the real smell was.

I ended up hunting more this year than last and enjoyed every minute of it. I look forward to more time next year and maybe even some small game if the winter months stay as mild as they have been thus far. Even though I donated my buck that I took during bow, I am not disappointed. I took my first coyote too and that was exciting.

Happy Hoilidays to everyone and their families and I look forward to coming back and reading more entries sooner than later.

Z

[Fletch]

Great read Zem!

Have a great Holiday Season!

[First-light]

Merry Christmas!