This year has been one to remember...not that we got a big buck (we didn't) and not because we went to some exotic place to hunt (we didn't).  It's just that a lot happened, and some of it we'll never forget.  We tried some different tricks and had to do some different maneuvers to get where we wanted - we also learned several things along the way too.

Our family doesn't have a lease per se, but a very generous landowner allows us to hunt on his places.  One week, I take my oldest son and another week my youngest.  It provides some great one-on-one time and allows us to talk a lot.  Yes about hunting, but a lot about life and what they're thinking about it too.  With my oldest son now 16 that's becoming increasingly important.  The time is thoroughly enjoyable on that basis alone, plus the hunting is good too.  And I thank the Lord for it all daily.  

This season started by taking my youngest son out.  We didn't see too much with horns since it was early for rut-related activity, but we did take a couple of axis deer, which was a first for me.  John had never seen one up-close either, and we ended-up getting one of the hides tanned because it was so pretty.  Its also the first time I've had to dress, skin, and quarter 2 deer at one sitting, which had to be done in a hurry due to the temperature...a real thrill for dad.  But, it goes with the territory.  We also took a nice whitetail doe too.  Freezer full!

Due to some other commitments we could not make the latter hunt until the week of December 8th, a little late for the rut where we hunt.  The temperature was up when we first got there, and after rattling for a day we had only one buck show up for the effort.  Saw some great rubs and scrapes, and jumped a few deer, but little was responding.  But then the front came and things got interesting.  Rain had been falling most of the day, and we made some adjustments for hunting out in it - one of them was to not rattle.  A lot of folks avoid going out in this type of weather but over the years I've seen some huge bucks move in light rain.  Sure enough, after getting to within 40 yards of where we wanted to hunt, we saw several bucks in serious doe chasing mode.  We didn't get a real good look at them for aging, but they definitely looked like prospective shooters.  It took us an hour to make those last 40 yards, 45 minutes of that to make the last 40 feet.  We started getting into position by moving off the road we had been walking on by using cover to get around to where a ground blind was.  Things were going smoothly until we turned the last corner.  We had a tree shielding us from the deer in the pasture and thought we had it made.  As soon as we started making our move we saw a doe, with very nice buck trailing, about 40 or 50 feet from us.  We froze and she started stirring up the rest of the bunch by snorting and stomping.  Getting desperate, I grabbed a grunt call and a rock, then proceeded to stomp the ground and grunt while remaining as still as practical.  Somehow we spoke enough 'deerenese' to satisfy her, she stopped snorting, and moved by.  Then, it was the buck's turn to stare.  After freezing for what seemed an eternity he, having rut on his mind, moved through.  We got a good enough look at him to figure he was 3.5 years with really an impressive looking 8 or 9 point rack.  Though nice, we'd let him grow another year.  Well, after several more close calls we finally got in the ground blind only to have the ruckus over the doe about over and the field just about clear.  To top it all off the feeder never went off so we chalked the experience up to a 'triumph of the will' and called it a day.

The next day after seeing several good, though young, bucks in the morning at another stand we went over and fixed the feeder that didn't go off.  The plan was to set out some corn just in case the feeder problem was serious enough where we'd be down while getting parts.  Well, all it was was a dead battery but we decided to set the corn out anyway.  It was early, so we did a little scouting for about an hour then came back...boy, was that ever a mistake!  We walked to just about the same place as the day before and there were deer back in that same pasture.  It didn't quite take us an hour this time but we about crawled to the ground blind with a pasture full of up to 9 deer, several good bucks amongst them.  Interesting thing about this time of year is that the bucks weren't all the same as the day before.  No shooters, but at least the feeder went off.

The high point for me was the next morning.  The plan that day was to get into another place where there was a ground blind, watch what came to the feeder, then go and rattle.  well, we'd been seeing a younger buck at this place (Cull Buck? post in the pictures) that just about lived there.  It really is interesting to watch deer during the rut...none of them get along.  The bucks are fighting amongst themselves for dominance, the doe have their pecking orders between groups, and the bucks pester or intimidate the does so that they don't really want to be around the bucks.  Well, two of the younger bucks get into one of the most intense fights we've personally seen...thrust and parry, rolling over one another, dust flying, the whole deal.  Well, about 20 minutes later all of a sudden there was another deer at the feeder - we didn't have to rattle, the younger bucks did it for us.  This was the best deer we saw to date, a 9 pt likely 17"-18" inside, great body size too.  Problem was, another 3.5 year old deer.  So, gritting our teeth we let him walk.

Nothing else came up to the feeder so we slid out of the blind and started rattling the ridge to the west of this stand.  The day was great for it, calm and cold.  But, after our last go around I don't think William or I had much hope for success due to the time of the year more than anything else.  In fact, when we first started walking we were whispering amongst ourselves.  Well, so much for thinking.  Now when people use the term 'first rattle out of the box' I think I'll have a little bit more understanding.  We had jumped up, but not spooked, a doe and a larger deer while moving into position, maybe a buck, so we made a few more yards, sat down, and made our first rattling sequence.  Once, waited about 10 minutes, and then rattled again.  We didn't hear him coming, we didn't see him moving at all, we didn't have a clue.  He just appeared, like a shadow, out from behind a bush.  He was big, dark, way beyond the ears, and about 60 ft from us.  Maybe it was a mistake, but I let him walk too.  In the few seconds he stood there he just looked too young (I later looked at some of the deer we'd taken from that area and he probably was).  All my son could mutter was a barely coherent "that's cool" as the buck just sauntered back into the brush.  Interestingly, he never spooked even though he came in downwind and I know he saw us, or at least saw something he didn't understand.  Its as if he thought "I don't know what you are, but you're not what I expected, and I don't have time to mess with you - I got other things to do".  What a morning.

We did eventually take another doe at this place, which is another weird story because of the difficulty we had in tracking the deer after it had been shot (though a clear boiler room hit):  Hardly any blood trail with a 2-lung hit using a .308 at 80 yards.  It took us more than half an hour to find that deer and she only ran about 50 yards.

But it was a rare hunt and a rare season - one that neither William, John, or I will soon forget.