Doc's 2013 Deer season

[docwarren]

Well..... this deer season didn't go exactly as I had hoped, but it is always a good time to be on the family farm hunting with "the crew".

 

 

A little background on the events of the week. Arrived in Ohio on Friday the 29th. That night I went to a local bar and ended up being a mini- class of '89 reunion. There were 10 of us and a few I had not seen since graduation. So that was pretty cool. Saturday was spent prepping my gun, getting license & tags and picking up cousin from Florida and an old neighborhood friend at the airport. Sunday was prepping gear and annual pre-hunt beerfest at the American Legion to plot our positions we each were going to take on the farm.

 

Monday was a day where no one saw a single deer. Temperatures were in the 50's all week, so felt it wouldn't be good for us.

 

Tuesday, I shot at an 8 point from about 60 yards. He ran while I reloaded. Ended up 20 yards right in front of me. Took aim...... CLICK. Figured that when I pumped, the shell didn't load from the tube. Pumped again and he snorted & ran over the hill. Tracked him for a while through the wood, but having run along a road, I had to empty my shells then re-load once I got on the other side. No blood trail. Never saw him again. Later that afternoon, had a nice size doe about 50 yards away. Popped up from the tall grass I was camped in and....... CLICK. I was like WTF?!?!?!?!?!. I know I was loaded!!!! Doe ran off. Pulled the shell. First time..... EVER........ I have had a shell that was a dud!. Had 2 marks from the firing pin striking it. Just totally pissed by this point & called it a day after chucking the shell over the hill. One brother shot & missed at a buck on the other side of the farm.

 

Wednesday brought the biggest buck I have seen in my life. Thought it was a horse at first as it was still pretty dark out, but then I saw antlers through my scope. I took a shot from about 80 yards. Ran down to where I saw him go into the brush. Heard him snorting as he ran away (which I have never heard them do that while trying to evade). Didn't find a blood trail, but with his snorts sounding gurgling, I walked the deer trails & thicket for 2.5 hours thinking I may have gotten him. Camped out my favorite spot for the rest of the day. While I was sitting...... these 2 squirrels spent 2 hours chasing each other. I SWEAR it is amazing how a squirrel can sound like the biggest deer running through the thicket.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qGTwK3z5r8

 

 

Right after this video, below me, I had something snort at me twice. Didn't sound like a deer, so I backed up and went around to see if I could see what it was. Never could spot it. My brother who was on the other side of the ravine had walked my way because he heard it too. We both walked the edge of the ravine and still have no idea what it was and never saw a thing. Ten minutes before time was up on the hunting day, my cousin got this 10 point at about 20 yards.

 

 

My cousin has shot deer, but never gutted one, but puked every time he was around one being field dressed. He had severed it's spine (somehow) and were making him gut it. While he was gutting it, we saw the chest muscles still twitching and told him that it was the heart still beating. Had him believing that the deer was still alive and just paralyzed. Pretty funny. The yelling .... Todd, Todd, Todd.... was my  cousin trying to call his friend to come help him gut it.

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK7Pl6K8zbI

 

The weather for Thursday called for thunderstorms. I took position in my favorite spot and vowed I would get a deer. At 7:10, I spotted a smaller doe walking up from the ravine. By the time it got 100 yards out of the ravine (50 yards away from me) I saw that she didn't have a buck or bigger doe trailing her. Would normally let her go, but I came here to get a deer and enjoy the meat of an animal I took myself. Shot at her and instead of running back down to the ravine, she ran across the road. Across the road there is a 20 foot old logging road and then an 80 degree hillside that goes to the bottom of the hollow about 200 yards down. I'm running towards the road yelling "DON'T GO THAT WAY!!!!!" Made my way across the road and picked up the blood trail. Tracked her and found her with a perfect lung shot 2 feet from the edge of the hillside. Since my cousin had taken his deer, he was the one who came to hold while I gutted her. He puked twice. As we dragged her out, the storm hit. Season over.

 

 

Skinned and cut up the same day. Got about 70 lbs. of meat off of her and cooked up the most tender butterfly straps I have ever had that night. The buck and the rest of my doe went into the freezer and my brothers that live there will process over the next few months.

 

I was grateful to get a deer this year. Not just for the meat it provides. In 2 years, I will start bringing my son to carry on this deer hunt tradition on our family farm. To show him in 2 years that I was able to hunt for 3 deer and keep his interest in it.

 

BUT.......... my saga does not end there. Friday, I spent a total of 6 hours on hold with American Airlines trying to get a flight back on Saturday instead of my scheduled Sunday. With the ice storm hitting DFW, my wife was starting to go stir crazy in our apartment after only 2 days with the kids stuck there too. I finally managed Saturday night to get changed to the 1st flight out Sunday morning. At midnight, I got a call saying that flight was cancelled. I spent from midnight until 6:30 am Sunday on hold to be told that I couldn't get back on my original flight unless I paid an extra $1,500 and that they had booked me on a flight arriving in Dallas at 1 am on Tuesday. YIKES!!!!!!! On Sunday morning, on no sleep, I convinced one brother to drive me to Pittsburgh airport. No ticket in hand I approached the counter. My brother thought I was nuts, btw. There was hope for a minute, but then the last seat on a US Airways flight was taken 2 minutes before I got to the counter. I killed the agent with my charming personality and managed to get on a noon flight out to Chicago with a connection getting in DFW at 7:30. We were delayed landing at Chicago by an hour. Then, with the storm hitting Chicago, we sat on the tarmac for 30 minutes waiting for a spot to park at the terminal. Checking the boards, I found a flight to DFW that was delayed, but they had closed the door 5 minutes before I got to the gate and were de-icing. It was 1:30 pm and my flight didn't go until 5. I hung around a gait that had a 4:00 flight to DFW and after everyone boarded, I approached the agent to see if there were any seats. I told her my name and she said "I have been calling you for 15 minutes". When I told her I was not the "Warren" she had been calling, she said "You'll do then" and got me on that flight. My wife braved some treacherous roads to pick me up, only to find that my suitcase & guns were not on my flight. We waited until my original flight arrived and it had my suitcase. BUT....... it did not have my guns. The baggage agent said that my guns were still in Chicago. (Anyone else see the irony in my guns being stuck in a city that has anti-gun laws ). My guns finally arrived Monday afternoon and delivered intact to my apartment at 1 a.m. today.

 

Now that that is over....... time to get back to some ET!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Midnight]

Nice.  Good narrative. Any rodent sounds loud when you don't want it to be. So which one is you in the first pic?

[Octane]

Your cousin got a nice buck!

[docwarren]

I'm in the black under armor shirt & camo pants.

 

From L-R.......  Todd (grew up down the street, but lived at our house for a while), Brad (brother), Me, Bruce (brother), Danny (cousin that moved in at 13 when his dad died, so he is like my brother), Brent (brother).

 

Missing from this pic is Josh, who lived with my brother Brad for 3 years when Josh's family had trouble.

 

 

I don't know why some youtube vids load to play in thread & others don't.

[Scream]

I'm too tired right now to read everything, I just wanted to say that now I know why Santa didn't visit me this year.

 

Nice one though.

[docwarren]

Well..... I guess I can pin down who hit the dislike on the video.

[RENEGADE*]

I'm not into hunting for sport, but if you hunt for food, I can appreciate it. I believe hunting is defiantly more sporting than ordering a burger at mcdonlands for food... Also venison is possibly the tastiest things ever. This is a nice post doc

[docwarren]

This is where I was on the first afternoon. About 30 feet from where my cousin got his 10 point on Wednesday. While it's nice to get a deer, just sitting on this part of our farm and watching the clouds go by is when I feel most at peace.

 

 

[Ol Smoke]

When I saw your picture, I first thought it was Kansas, but then I saw a hill in the background, and knew it wasn't Kansas.

 

Good story Doc.  I love stories on here.

 

People who hate seeing Deer being harvested have never seen a starving deer.  Being shot or arrowed by a true hunter is a good way to die.

Eating your own feet is not.  That's what deer do when they are at the starvation point...they eat their hoofs off.  Then they cant walk so they die.

My people have our own rituals about taking an animal for meat.  We believe they return in the next breed cycle bringing forward all that they have

learned in the last ones.  We knew this thousands of years ago, now biologists believe in something called "genetic knowledge".  How about that.

 

I am teaching my son and grandson how to stalk and take Elk and Deer. My grandson is a very fast learner.  My son cant stay off the cell phone long enough.

 

Keep up the teaching my man.  We need hunters.

[docwarren]

Just to add to Smoke's comment about deer starving. The 10 point my cousin got was estimated at about 7 years based on the fur and the notch older deer develop on their skull. Also, he had only 2 front teeth left. This means he could not crack acorns & nuts and could only feed on grass. After the rut, he most likely would have starved to death or been taken by coyote. So being taken was really the best outcome in that he didn't suffer starvation or being eaten by the coyotes.