Deer Season 2013

This was the best deer season I've ever had. The season began in MD for the opening day of gun season last Saturday, November 30. It was a very cold morning. Temperature was around 16 degrees. I made good time in the morning and arrived at the property about 6:15. I was in my stand and set up by 6:45 and it was just starting to get light. As the sun began creeping up over the Contoctin Mountain range, I just had a feeling it was going to be a morning. At 8:00 am, I caught some movement above me. It was a spike buck sneaking through the thicket. For some reason, he didn't feel something was right and he ran back the direction he came from. Thinking that might be my last chance of the day, I settled back into my comfy tree stand seat. About 15 minutes later I heard a lot of noise behind me. As I turned around, I saw a large group of deer moving into the thicket. Immediately I saw two nice-racked deer...then another. At first I thought I was seeing things. Then two large doe move in. Because I had seen the bucks, I passed on shooting one of the does. I'm glad I did. The deer kept moving in and out of the openings in the thicket. Finally, a nice buck moved into my view and I squeezed the trigger of my .50 caliber in-line. I saw him drop as the other deer all scattered. A nice wide 6 point ran down below me and just stood there. I looked at my watch...it was 8:20 am. I hadn't even had a chance to get cold, and I had my buck....a nice 7-pointer. I was in my truck and on the way to the butcher shop by 10:30 am. On Sunday, I left early in the morning to head up to Tioga County. I was the lucky one who got to go up to camp early to warm up the place. I stopped at Denny's on the way up for my traditional breakfast stop. We had about 3 inches of snow on the ground and the roads were solid ice. I had to put the chains on my F-150 in order to go any farther. It reminded me of deer seasons past. I arrived at camp around 12:30 pm and got the stove lit. It took me a while as it was so cold in the camp, the kerosene had actually frozen inside the line from the tank to the stove. We've never had that happen before. I had to use one of our kerosene lamps to thaw out the line. I had a nice dinner and waited for my Dad, Brother, and Niece to arrive. They arrived just before 9:00 pm and we decided where we would hunt on Monday. Monday morning came early, It was a beautiful morning and we were excited to have the snow to hunt in. We hunted hard all day and we were impressed with the amount of deer sign we saw. However, we didn't see a single deer between the four of us. Monday night, the other three left for home leaving me at camp by myself. I had planned to hunt one more day before coming home. It was a quiet night in the mountains,but I went to bed early. Tuesday morning I awoke to warmer temperatures and fog. It was around 32 degrees. We had a bit of drizzle over night, so the snow was now slippery and slushy. After breakfast, I decided to close up the camp for the winter so that I could hunt my way out of the woods. I packed up the truck and headed to one of my favorite spots to hunt. Just in case I got lucky, I hunted in an area that would provide a downhill drag. I hiked up the hollow and used my summit climber to go up a tree about 15 feet or so. Around 7:45 I had a lone hen turkey pass by just below me. The fog was rolling in and out as it often does when there is snow on the ground with warmer temperatures. Not long after 8 am, I heard something behind me. As I turned around, I saw a deer sneaking up through the thick stuff. Immediately I noticed antlers and could clearly see three points up on the right side. As I took the safety off my .270, the deer stopped. As he started walking again, I squeezed the trigger. As the deer ran off, I looked down at my watch....I almost laughed out loud....it was 8:20 am....the exact time I shot the 7-point in MD just three days earlier. It took me a while to get down out of the tree, and a few minutes later I was standing over a beautiful nice-bodied 8-pointer. I almost couldn't believe it. The only deer I saw in two days, but the only one I needed to see. The drag back to the truck was a little tricky since I had my climber, backpack, rifle, and the deer. However, the snow made it much easier, and by 9:30 I was back at my truck. I was on my way home by 10:30. What a season!! We will be feasting on a lot of venison this year! We probably won't make it up to camp now until Spring.