Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Greetings from the Tree Stand

After years of hunting deer with my trusty 30-30 Marlin, I finally decided that I had progressed enough as a deer hunter to begin trying out the whole "archery" thing. It took me most of last year to build my confidence to a point where I felt as though I could effectively take a shot should an opportunity present itself. Armed with this preparation and knowledge, this past Friday afternoon I decided that it was time to "stick" a wily whitetail. I had chosen a strip of open woods that intersected three different deer trails. Scat and prints indicated that several deer were working through the area. Of note were a large doe and 1 or 2 small yearling tracks . . . even more exciting of course was a buck track, scat pile and several rubs. Although not a LARGE buck any buck with a bow would be a trophy as far as I am concerned.

Friday afternoon I climbed up into my 15 foot deer stand that I had placed a few weeks ago. It was raining cats and dogs and the wind made the precipitation come down sideways. After sitting for about 3 hours I was rewarded with a quick flash of brown and three deer (a doe and two yearlings) trotting by my stand at about 20 yards. It was extremely exciting! After waiting another hour and 4 more additional hours on Saturday I am still "buckless" but I know that bruiser is hiding someplace nearby and it is a LONG, LONG time before the end of deer season! Here's to me keeping my fingers crossed!

Below is a video I shot from the tree stand using my cell phone. I was curious about what the quality would look like. Hope it provides you with a glimpse of what it is like hunting the woods of Maine.

7 comments:

  1. The cell phone camera is okay buddy and gets the job done, but I wouldn't use it full time...

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  2. Video quality from the cell phone isn't up to your usual standard... but you were the one who raised the bar. When am I going to get to read about a climbing story : )

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  3. yeah it's still the woods though and what was that hanging from a limb?It looks like a bird of some sort.

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  4. I agree on the quality of the cell phone camera. Better than nothing BUT just barely.

    DP - I am actually working on a climbing video that highlights some of my favorite climbs from 2000-01 but it is taking more time than I had anticipated. A combination of lack of sufficient hard drive space and to many hours of video to sort are making things more difficult than they should be!

    TBD - Hanging from that limb is a vial that is suppose to slowly drip buck urine urine daylight hours. It will be used later in the season to make a mock scrape. Right now I am just airing it out to get it scent free.

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  5. Your hunting tales make me feel bad for my husband. He doesn't have time anymore (thanks to our lack of a sitter and our whacked out work schedules).

    He did go scout behind the house last night. He may get in a morning or 2 to try for his elusive buck....

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  6. Jodi - Nice, scouting is the key to getting your deer. I expect to see pictures on your blog if he shoots the "big" one.

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  7. We'll be lucky if he gets one, yet alone the "big" one. He got an 800 lb moose on the first morning of his moose hunt yet has never managed to bag a deer.

    He has his doe permit, too. I think after one unsuccessful outing, he'll just be going for anything to fill the freezer with. lol It's unfortunate I don't enjoy deer meat, no?

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