Long Time No Blog

Wow... It has been 20 days since I last blogged about anything. It is an understatement to say that I have been busy. I have been working a lot so I haven't had a lot of time to blog or go hunting. That is all going to change this weekend when muzzleloader season opens here in Virginia. My Dad and I are planning on heading out to our buddy' s farm on Saturday and our hopes are high. No one has hunted the property at all this year, so hopefully there are some nice bucks hiding!

I also bought a muzzleloader so that I don't have to use my bow while everyone else is using a gun. It is a Remington Genesis .50 caliber. Black synthetic stock and stainless barrel. The gun belonged to my girlfriend's Dad, but he never hunted with it, so he sold it to me. I killed a deer with it two years ago the one time I hunted with it, so hopefully my luck continues! I put a Tasco scope on the gun today and I hope I have no issues sighting it in in the next few days.

I also managed to score another hunting property and a place to live all at once. I am going to be moving to an apartment on a 150 acre farm that has a big pond and a nice patch of woods and some fields. The current tenant says he has no problems killing deer and turkey every year and that the ducks and geese are almost tame. I can't wait to move in out there and start hunting! I think it is a pretty good deal, 600 bucks a month for a house and primo hunting property!

I may try and squeeze in one more archery hunt this week, but my top priority is getting my gun sighted in and getting ready for my move. I hope I don't go 20 days without blogging again but I can't promise anything. Best of luck to all of you out there hunting!

Deer Number Two Down!!!

Well, I finally managed to get a real deer hunt in this evening. Since I started working 12 hour long night shifts, I haven't had a lot of time or energy to hunt. I did hunt a few mornings after work, but I never stayed in the stand for more than an hour or two for fear of falling asleep and falling out! I had yesterday and today off and I had planned on hunting both, but exhaustion and high wind kept me from hunting yesterday.

I decided that I wanted to hunt this evening, so I headed out to a small Christmas tree farm that I have permission to hunt. The property is only about 15 acres, but it is covered in trees and also has a few acres of nothing but woods and vines. The deer love to hide there during the day and feed out at night. The landowner wants all the deer killed so that they don't eat his seedlings, and I am happy to oblige!

I got into the stand at about 2:30. It is on a sycamore tree and overlooks a small swampy area that holds water. Since it was a warm day, I figured this was probably the best place to get a crack at a deer. I finally heard footsteps at 6, and the doe I ended up shooting walked up to the watering hole.

She walked up on me so fast that I barely had time to stand before she was in the water and within range. She got jumpy for a few seconds and actually stared at me, but I managed to stay still long enough to keep her from busting. The doe grabbed one more sip of water and started to turn away. I drew my bow back and released almost in one motion.

I made a good shot, albeit high, and the deer ran off with arrow sticking out of both sides of her. I knew I had hit her well so I climbed out of the stand after a few minutes and started to track. She only ran about 60 yards, so I found her after only a few minutes of tracking. I continue to be amazed at the Rage 3-Blade broadheads I am using. Due to the high shot I only got the far side lung, but the holes the Rage made allowed the doe to bleed out very fast. After field dressing the deer I drug her out and made the short drive home to hang her up! This was my first hunt of the year in my home county, so I was glad that I managed to knock one down.

I have to work the next three nights, but I am going to try to sneak a hunt in Saturday morning when my shift ends. Luckily I only work two days next week, so I'll get lots of hunting in! I think I am going to buck hunt the rest of archery season, so hopefully my next deer post has some horns in it. Best of luck to everyone as your deer seasons get underway!