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DAY 2

Monday Morning Hunt

With all of the activity last evening, I went right back to the same stand this morning. The temperature was in the teens and it was sleeting. I've never seen sleet at 17 degrees before but it sure did make for a pretty morning. However there was a problem.

I had several deer move around behind me but they became concerned and headed upwind in a different direction. The source of their concern was a big coyote, that headed toward my stand. There was no time to flip on the video camera so I waited for the coyote to come within range and like a good little doggy he stopped at 10 yards. I drew my arrow back but it had frozen on my rest. The crunching sound spooked the coyote. I realized that I needed to de-ice my bow every hour given these conditions.

Several deer came in from 8:00 AM until 11:15 AM. The weather was cold, and icy, but I was quite comfortable (even my toes). I saw 20+ deer this morning. Two were bucks (too small to shoot) and the rest were does. I was unable to get any of them on video as there were just too many eyes and ears around and they were busting me.

Monday Afternoon Hunt

Kent and I drove around and checked stands during the mid-day. The recent snow was helpful in determining activity and all but one stand was hot. I had my pick so I chose a stand I had not hunted in two years. In fact, the last time I hunted it I shot two hogs. The stand is near a river, so it is called the "river stand." It's a nice spot. You can see deer coming from miles away. Or so I thought. At 4:00 PM a nice 8-point just 'showed up.' I have no idea where it come from, he just materialized. I had to think about this buck - he looked good, but his spread was just a little further than his ears and he was only an 8. I guessed him at 125 give or take 5 inches. He was a very pretty buck, with curled points and decent main beam length. After looking him over for a few minutes, he was not a shooter for me. Next year he'll be a nicer buck.

Two other bucks showed 30 minutes later. That was all I saw from this stand, but it was a fun evening hunt. It turned bitter cold. Tomorrow morning I may need to add my down vest to my clothing list.