We had our rifle opener yesterday, Saturday Oct 23. Friday we had a sleet/ice storm come through and really make a mess in some places. It was a balmy 29* with 20 gusting 30 MPH winds. I almost stayed home because of the weather and my wife trying to talk me out of going. I decided to go and hunt a spot where I had placed a ground blind the weekend before overlooking a wheat field. I knew I would be limited in shots, but the bonus was I would be out of the wind which seemed like a fair trade to me.
When I arrived at my hunting area I was pleasantly surprised to see there wasn't as much ice here as at my house only 35 miles away. At least the deer wouldn't hear crunch crunch of the ice with every footstep of my 1/4 mile hike. When I got to my blind it was a mess getting in to my blind with the zipper frozen shut. Once I finally got in I opened my east facing window with little problem. Opening my main north facing window wasn't so easy, everything was froze and a real pain. Once I got the inside window open I was bummed out at what I saw, the screen window was covered in ice. It was a 1/4" thick in places and you couldn't knock it off since the mesh was inside the ice. I thought about turning around and going home but decided to stay and make something work. Here is what I was looking at, not through.
I cut a slit in the bottom of the window in the "V" to stick my barrel through and then I had to use my fingers to melt the ice up where the scope would be. This took some time but I got it done eventually. Apparently there isn't a lot of heat in your finger tips!
I didn't see a lot of deer out eating like I expected since it was so cold and nasty the afternoon and evening before. I saw a young 4 or 6 pointer out about 335 yards that never came closer for a better look. There was also a doe out about the same distance. They traded off coming out on the field, rarely being there at the same time. The doe made it to around 275 yards which I am comfortable with under better conditions. I let her go and continued to watch out both windows for a shooter. Way off caddy corner from me there was a nice fat doe that was grazing but had something making her jumpy. I was watching trying to see what and where it was but never did find it.
My side window overlooked a narrow area of field between some woods to the northeast and the shelter belt between two fields. My blind was placed on the north edge of the shelter belt. I only had maybe a 45* area of usable shooting lane due to trees to my right. I seen some tracks tracks exiting from the south side of the shelter belt when I walked in. I figure maybe they are crossing through there and the south wheat field and heading south to water, another food or bedding source?
Since I was bored because not much had been happening, I was setting up my shooting sticks and running through different shooting scenarios with my limited sight through my ice hole. I was shooting different areas with my range finder to get a refresher on the distances, texting the wife and son about all the deer I hadn't seen, and other things to end the boredom and keep my mind off of being cold.
I did a quick scan out my side window and something caught my eye. Holy cow, there is a nice buck on the move and I am not in position or have anything set up to shoot out this window! I quickly moved my chair which was in the way and grabbed my gun from the opposite wall. I got the gun though the slit I had cut earlier and found the deer. He was on a mission to get across the 75 yards of wheat and into the shelter belt. A tree blocked my view for a moment and he reappeared. A couple of steps and he was about to be out of view again. I moved my gun to the final narrow shooting lane and waited for him to step into my scope. He appeared and I made a quick correction and sent the bullet. He put his head down and ran off into the shelter belt. This all happened so fast and when he ran off I was really worried I hadn't made a good hit. I checked the time, 16:45. Okay, I'm leaving him be for 30-45 minutes to bleed out because I don't want to push him and have him cross onto another person's property. This was the longest 30 minutes of my life! After 30 minutes of fidgeting and second guessing myself I got out of the blind and walked south on my entrance trail to check the south field. A quick scan showed there was no deer down out there. I called the wife and told her I would be late for supper and I had a deer to find. My son was dying to see the deer so he headed up to help my find it.
I went back to the blind and gathered up my needed items and made a slow walk over to where I thought I shot him. I guessed about 100 yards from the blind but with all the tracks I knew it would be hard to find. I was happy to be wrong, at 78 paces out I saw the tracks of a deer on the run and knew this had to be my deer. A little searching and I found some blood. Yes, this has to be my deer! I found where he went into the woods and found my first drop of blood. Back to the blind to get the toilet paper roll I forgot to bring with me to mark the blood trail. It didn't take many squares of toilet paper and I found my deer.
A nice 9-pointer that I am very happy to have taken, especially since I almost didn't go!
When I arrived at my hunting area I was pleasantly surprised to see there wasn't as much ice here as at my house only 35 miles away. At least the deer wouldn't hear crunch crunch of the ice with every footstep of my 1/4 mile hike. When I got to my blind it was a mess getting in to my blind with the zipper frozen shut. Once I finally got in I opened my east facing window with little problem. Opening my main north facing window wasn't so easy, everything was froze and a real pain. Once I got the inside window open I was bummed out at what I saw, the screen window was covered in ice. It was a 1/4" thick in places and you couldn't knock it off since the mesh was inside the ice. I thought about turning around and going home but decided to stay and make something work. Here is what I was looking at, not through.
I cut a slit in the bottom of the window in the "V" to stick my barrel through and then I had to use my fingers to melt the ice up where the scope would be. This took some time but I got it done eventually. Apparently there isn't a lot of heat in your finger tips!
I didn't see a lot of deer out eating like I expected since it was so cold and nasty the afternoon and evening before. I saw a young 4 or 6 pointer out about 335 yards that never came closer for a better look. There was also a doe out about the same distance. They traded off coming out on the field, rarely being there at the same time. The doe made it to around 275 yards which I am comfortable with under better conditions. I let her go and continued to watch out both windows for a shooter. Way off caddy corner from me there was a nice fat doe that was grazing but had something making her jumpy. I was watching trying to see what and where it was but never did find it.
My side window overlooked a narrow area of field between some woods to the northeast and the shelter belt between two fields. My blind was placed on the north edge of the shelter belt. I only had maybe a 45* area of usable shooting lane due to trees to my right. I seen some tracks tracks exiting from the south side of the shelter belt when I walked in. I figure maybe they are crossing through there and the south wheat field and heading south to water, another food or bedding source?
Since I was bored because not much had been happening, I was setting up my shooting sticks and running through different shooting scenarios with my limited sight through my ice hole. I was shooting different areas with my range finder to get a refresher on the distances, texting the wife and son about all the deer I hadn't seen, and other things to end the boredom and keep my mind off of being cold.
I did a quick scan out my side window and something caught my eye. Holy cow, there is a nice buck on the move and I am not in position or have anything set up to shoot out this window! I quickly moved my chair which was in the way and grabbed my gun from the opposite wall. I got the gun though the slit I had cut earlier and found the deer. He was on a mission to get across the 75 yards of wheat and into the shelter belt. A tree blocked my view for a moment and he reappeared. A couple of steps and he was about to be out of view again. I moved my gun to the final narrow shooting lane and waited for him to step into my scope. He appeared and I made a quick correction and sent the bullet. He put his head down and ran off into the shelter belt. This all happened so fast and when he ran off I was really worried I hadn't made a good hit. I checked the time, 16:45. Okay, I'm leaving him be for 30-45 minutes to bleed out because I don't want to push him and have him cross onto another person's property. This was the longest 30 minutes of my life! After 30 minutes of fidgeting and second guessing myself I got out of the blind and walked south on my entrance trail to check the south field. A quick scan showed there was no deer down out there. I called the wife and told her I would be late for supper and I had a deer to find. My son was dying to see the deer so he headed up to help my find it.
I went back to the blind and gathered up my needed items and made a slow walk over to where I thought I shot him. I guessed about 100 yards from the blind but with all the tracks I knew it would be hard to find. I was happy to be wrong, at 78 paces out I saw the tracks of a deer on the run and knew this had to be my deer. A little searching and I found some blood. Yes, this has to be my deer! I found where he went into the woods and found my first drop of blood. Back to the blind to get the toilet paper roll I forgot to bring with me to mark the blood trail. It didn't take many squares of toilet paper and I found my deer.
A nice 9-pointer that I am very happy to have taken, especially since I almost didn't go!
