Week Seven

@EmilySFLG

@bowhunter388 sent this of a friend's daughter with her first deer.


Here we are at week 7 and things seemed to have been a bit on the slow side. Folks from all over are talking about the slow down in sightings, deer activity during hunting hours is not what it was. The full moon along with weather changes would seem to be the blame in most cases. During 4 afternoon hunts I only saw 2 deer but the weather took a turn for the better here at least for one day so I made plans to head to the mountain to try and fill a doe tag or two.

With the time change my hour and a quarter drive started too early for my tastes. Give me a break, I’m old. I got on the road at 4:10 to get there in time to take a short walk to my stand. It was 39 degrees and almost no wind Saturday morning which is about as good as it gets for deer moving here in Tennessee. I got in the stand ready to put my Knight .45 to work, by 6:00 I heard the first shot of the morning, by 6:30 I had heard several and had deer in the field less than 100 yards away. Two mature does fed in the corner along with a yearling, one doe went uphill to bed down and the other two slipped along the treeline out of sight. Later I saw the rear of one of our local bucks as he cruised the field edge. That was it for the morning so I headed to the house for some food and to visit with friends.

I hung out until 2 then headed back in for the evening hunt. I knew I had to change where I was set up because the trees were just thick enough I couldn’t shoot from my stand. I found a spot to sit on the ground where I could see up the treeline they were using and had a convenient log to use as a rest. I was almost completely hidden from their view and couldn’t have had a steadier rest to shoot from if one came out. I got settled in and started hearing shots at 2:48, the deer were definitely moving. I sat and watched, tweeting to friends that I was down to an hour and 40 minutes to fill one of my tags in that unit but was beginning to wonder if I would. Around 3:45 I saw a doe right in front of my scope. I watched as she fed downhill getting closer to the spot I had picked to take my shot. As she got to about 100 yards she made a left turn and followed a trail into a field and out of sight. I was not happy, I had her in the scope perfectly broadside when she walked away but thought she was coming closer.

Not a minute later I saw another one coming downhill toward me. She followed the same path as the first one and sure enough got to the same trail and turned to take it. I had the scope on her the whole time so when she turned broadside I flipped the safety off and settled the crosshairs on her heart. I knew it would hit a bit high but still get a good double lung (my usual shot) and was surprised when the shot went off. The wind was blowing enough to clear the smoke instantly so I could see her head down the trail tail down, a couple of seconds and I heard her fall. By now it was 4:00 so I headed uphill to see if I could find a blood trail. I had no idea exactly where she was standing or which trail she took, there was no blood to follow so I took a trail headed in her direction and found her 40 yards away.

She was what you can see 20 of on a decent day on the mountain, a nice healthy doe that will be great on the table. The shot was a perfect double lung and I found the bullet just under the skin on the far side. My first muzzle loader deer in two years.

As for everyone else, even with what many considered a slow week there was a lot of critters taken. Here is what I have and it has some nice ones and some special ones.

@xtreme95Cummins got a doe. @Ryan5Bass took a buck, still waiting on a pic. @turkeythompson got a yote and a hog. @EmilySFLG got a nice buck @myarr sent a pic of a big Florida buck a cousin got. @Jake_Manning took a great buck. @huntingNY took a piebald buck. @huntscience sent in pics of his Dad and Father in law with their bucks. @LockeStokNBarel took a nice buck @whiskeybent took a nice buck. @thewild001 sentt a pic with 3 does. My friend Kari Murray has taken two with her bow but I will talk about that in another post. My friend Lee's brother in law took a nice 7 pt in Warren County TN last weekend. The duck and goose hunters are doing good right now but the warm weather might slow them down the next few days.

@HuntingNY

@Jake_Manning

@LockeStokNbarel

Yes this is a Florida deer.Wow.

@whiskeybent

@turkeythompson

@thewild001

This is her first deer. Congrats. Sorry I don't have her name.

@huntscience Dad

@huntscience Father in Law

I know I missed a few and if it was you send me a note so I can get you added. Good luck this week everyone and send a pic or note so I can tell folks about it. Be safe, wear your harness and shoot straight.