A Doe in the Scope

We are heading home today from deer camp, marking the end of week #1. It is time to go home, do some wash, eat a big turkey dinner, and watch some football before heading down after dinner on Thursday.

No, I have not gotten the big buck. Nor have I seen him. However, I am pleased that SuperCore and Angus got theirs. I picked up Angus’ from the processor in Lenoxburg on Friday– lots of meat. SuperCore had to borrow a cooler off me to get all of his home. I won’t say I was jinxed this year, but I always seemed to be in the wrong blind at the wrong time. That is okay for the most part, and I still have next weekend, and I still have a vivid memory of being up a tree on the last morning, getting a head start on winterizing the stands and seeing The Big One eyeing me from behind a tree in easy chip-shot range.

I will not be eating tag soup this year either. Friday night, I had a bit of a victory. I had been hunting at Midway on and off all week. I had seen plenty of deer– 10-12 doe in one instance. However, they were mostly small or had fawns in tow. As the week wore on, the big herds dispersed back to the neighboring properties. Friday AM, only one doe showed up. I had the crosshairs on her, when she popped her head into bright sunlight and I saw the buttons. That in and of itself was a victory. I would have been quite distraught if I had burned a button buck. I was quite pleased, because it really vindicated all the money I had spent on the Bushnell Elite 3-9X40 for the Hawkeye. I had made that mistake before with a button buck about 10 seasons ago with a cheap scope. I don’t mean to sound like I am in the bag to Bushnell, but I have purchased a bunch of Bushnell scopes in recent years and this is another reason to be glad I did.

The story did not stop there. Lil Buttons down the western edge of the field and then cut over to the opposite side where I was. He came close to sticking his head in the blind. I managed to snap a picture of him. I heard him disappear off to the east side of the blind. It was about time to go in. I knew KYHillChick might be busy later in the day, so I decided to call from the blind to let her know I’d survived. We talked for a bit. I got caught up on the doings at home and finalized plans for Angus’ return to camp later that day.

When I was done, I closed up the blind, kicked the duffel bag out the door and backed out. Who should be bedded just to the side of the door but Lil Buttons. He’d gotten a perfect view of my my backside as I came out the door before deciding to vacate the premises. I’m just glad I he did not decide to kick me or worse.

Friday night, Angus and SuperCore were due in before 7. I was back out at Midway. I had given up on looking out the north side of the blind. The wind was strong enough that if I had both windows open, it was just going to raise havoc. I had not seen anything out in the field below Honey Hole anyway all season. All the action had been to the south.

I spent all of Friday afternoon in the blind. I had Admiral Lockwood’s WWII submarine memoir “Sink ’em All” for company. Ripping stuff if you like submarines and a sub-$2 Nook Book from BN.com. The sun set a little after 1720 hours.The last minute of legal hunting was 1750. At 1742 I sited multiple targets coming out into the Garden of Stone. At exactly 1750, in the last minute of legal hunting, I found the large form of a doe in the scope and pulled the trigger. The muzzle blast from the Hawkeye blinded me for a bit. However, walking off the 150 yards out, my eyesight readjusted and I found a white patch in the dark, a large 150 lb doe with both lungs gone and the top of her heart missing. Oh, and as I backed out of the blind to go find the doe, what should I see but half a dozen bouncing white tails from the northern field. So much for the idea that there were no deer feeding in that field. They all ran into the woods just behind Angus’ blind at Lazy Boy.

Angus and SuperCore were close when I called. They brought out the Hirschwagen and we got her loaded. I had her cleaned out by 1930 and I called Lenoxburg Country Store for an assurance that they would not close early. We pulled up in front at exactly 2000, not exactly with a broom on our mast, but a nice bit of venison nonetheless.

The front room at deer camp is currently filled with garbage bags, one for hunting duds, one for the poly underwear we wash separately. Another for socks and another for street clothes. I have yet to salt down all the stuff that will remain with baking soda. Over the week that will kill any stink. We have a bunch of venison to load in the coolers, and then I’ll pop the cork on the water and blow tanks and be gone. I still have well over half of Lockwood’s book to read when I get back next weekend.

This post has already been read 552 times!