Not an average morning in the woods.

I know I started this blog to talk and share about my whitetail hunting but, when its not whitetail season I still have a natural feeling need to be in the woods. So I decided since I have two turkey tags to fill I would try my hand at hunting them. I am a bow hunter at heart but, still enjoy shooting a rifle or shot gun every now and then. After all, I did harvest both deer with a powder fueled lead projectile. One with a 30-30 and the other with a 12 gage slug without a scope. Hit him twice. One at seventy five yards and the second shot running at 125 yards. Yes it was with a ball sight only. I do have pictures of both holes on the deer. Anyways, enough of the bragging. This morning was my third time out hunting the ever elusive gobbler. We have not had the best of weather for them. From what my research has touch me, they love warm sunny weather. We had that opening day but, its been awful Saturday mornings since then.

       This morning was not much different then last Saturday. Rain all night then stopped just in time to get out before day break. Last week it started raining again about an hour into the hunt and the tornado force winds started in. So that was the end of that magical hunt. Yes there was a touch of sarcasm in that last statement. I had a bad feeling about how the hunt was going to turn out before I even made it to the hunting spot. For starters I felt like crap when I woke up at 5:15am. since I didn't feel like walking the 3/4 mile hike down to the hunting area, I decided to take the old 3 wheeler instead of walking. The starter has been acting up so I didn't even hit the button. I grabbed the rope and pulled. Normally this thing starts first pull no problem. Not this wet miserable and out of the ordinarily cold morning. It was 48 degrees normal for this time of year here is around 60 in the morning. I pulled three times and on the third it kicked back and liked to have ripped my arm off. This wasn't a good start. determined I was not walking I choked it with half of my finger tip numb and pulled three more times. Nothing. Finally I tried the starter. It turned over but was dragging. I turned the light off and it finally hit. It started and then shut right off. Dang it!!! I tried again and it finally started.  I got down to the first pasture fence witch is a barbed wire gate opened it, drove the three wheeler through it and realized my contacts were still in there case on my bathroom counter. Oh well, just going with out them. At this point I was almost ready to head back to my worm bed with my fiancée. I made my way down to the next gate and it went fine. I was finally there. I turned off the three wheeler, turned on my head lamp and made my way to my chosen tree. Luckily this morning the rain did not start back. It just did not clear out when the sun came up. I was positioned against a tree on the edge of the opening where we had seen them and had them calling back opening day. When I refer to we it was my brother and me. This was my first hunt without him. I sat and called for about an hour with nothing answering back except a few crows that were out of range of the 20 gage. I finally gave up and headed out on the ATV trail back through the woods. 

        I went about a 1/4 mile when twenty five yards and out of the woods came my hunting passion!!! A huge whitetail. It and I use that term due to the bucks not having there antlers right now I couldn't tell if it was a buck or doe not to mention the lack of vision from me forgetting to put in my contacts. down the trail he jogged right around the next bend in the trail and out of sight. That sighting right there more than made up for not seeing the old Tom this morning. My hunt was a bust but my morning wasn't. I have a stand set up so I can start trying to catch some of these beautiful creatures on camera. I don't use trail cams at this pint in time. Partially due to my unemployment and full time schooling I don't have the funds. I do have a camera and I intend on getting some shots on digital format during this off season.  

        I decided to give it a try. I haven't set in this stand since I hung it and I could tell I hung it before the trees started getting green on the. My view was awful. I sat there for a good fourty five minutes o so and remembered I still have not started a mineral plot for the deer to find and use throughout this year. I thought why not now. This is the perfect opportunity to go grab the bag of Deer Co cane and set out in search of a good deer trail to apply it near. After retrieving it from the storage building I headed out to where I have my spring food plot. Once there something, maybe instincts, told me not here. I headed over to an area that I had considered hanging a stand later this year. I hadn't hunted this spot or even been there since middle of bow season last year. I had saw signs of deer travel at that time but, just never took the chance and hunted it. 

        A brief description of this area is in order. It is  on the outside edge of the property. There is a barbed wire fence that runs along the edge of the property. Our neighbors have a huge corn field that the deer are constantly dragging ears of corn from and eating it along the edge of the thicket area that is full of pines and cedars. There is a grown up ATV path that they travel to and from the cornfield between the fence and edge of the thicket. as I made my way down this path I started finding old rubs from last year here and there. I crossed the creek and as I did I saw a nice whitetail trail that was way more used than I remembered it being. I found three more old rubs in about a twenty yard span. This was it. there are plenty of trees to hang a stand also. I moved about twenty feet off the trail cleared the leaves to expose the dirt and spread out the Deer Co cane. I know you are supposed to mix it with water but with the rain we have gotten the ground is super moist and we are supposed to get more next week. I then sprinkled a light trail from the new mineral plot on out to the mane trail. I hope this works. 

       This morning was not a normal morning in the woods and at first it was not that great of a time but with a little thought and effort it turned into one of the most enjoyable times in the woods to date this year. I guess it goes to show when it all seems to be going wrong, something small could trigger your mind to rethink and take action to make the situation  into something  more enjoyable. I think as humans we should try to do this more often. Not just in a hunt gone bad but in any situation that does not turn out as we would like it too. 

        Until next time, get out and enjoy some time in nature and remember, Just because it doesn't turn out as planned doesn't mean it wasn't a good thing.