and a strong cup of coffee

I threw the car into park and ran inside, peeling off layers as I went.  I traded my heels for wool pants, boots and blaze orange.  I grabbed the gun and left.  There was less than two hours of daylight remaining and a snow squall predicted for the next hour as a cold front moved in. It was 3pm when I walked into the woods and climbed into the Sky Condo.  The big buck's tracks ran along the ridge to my right, so I turned my body to face in that direction.  I was hoping that I would catch him as he did his loop.  It seemed like a perfect night to have deer move. I looked to my left, scanning in front of the Sky Condo.  I was startled to see three deer walking at me.  The snow on the ground made them pop out.  Two does and a buck! I could see antlers rise out and above his ears.  My heart was beating faster.  I had to get my gun up and see if this was THE buck.  The larger doe was cautious.  She looked in my direction bu...

This is how hunting is supposed to be! Cold in the morning with a solid front on the ground.  Noisy but not enough to give your cover away. And sun. I love the sun. I sat in the Sky Condo, Hubby was in T3 and Dad decided that since time is ticking, he would walk.  The plan was for him to walk the piece by T3 in hopes of jumping something towards Hubby.  Then, the guys would head my way and split up.  Dad would head east and loop around to my treeseat.  Hubby would make a loop west then swing east and come out at my treeseat.  When I saw Hubby at the foot plot, I was supposed to head immediately to my treeseat.  I was excited about this plan because I had not sat in my treeseat all season and I missed being more outside and exposed than in the bigger stands. There was a little windy but nothing that would keep the sound of steps hidden.  I bleated the minute I could see color.  I waited a few minutes and bleated again.  I hear...

I had called Dad mid-week to check in and he told me that we had a big buck by the Sky Condo One of the 8's? I eagerly asked No. Bigger If I could have driven up that night, I would have.  But I had to wait until Friday to put the memory cards into the computer and look at what Dad was talking about.  This is, BY FAR, the thickest deer we have ever seen on the camera.  He is clearly all rutted up because he has no neck!  It also looks like his E2 is broken on his right side.  He was on the camera a handful of times over the past week. I am ready to put in some time Wed, Thursday, Friday and Saturday in hopes that one of us will get a crack at this big guy. 

We kicked off the new season on Saturday and it could not have been a better morning.  The moon was out, the stars were bright and there was just a slight chill in the air.  It was 24 degrees. After last year's last minute switch in sitting spots and my success , I let Hubby pick where he wanted to sit.  He wanted the Sky Condo and I took T3.  As the three of us walked along the path into the woods, the silence was broken by a single howl. It was loud and close. Sound travels Dad said but we all knew that the coyote was close.  He was probably in the woods between us and T3. Luckily, it was just one coyote (only one was howling.)  We split from Hubby and headed directly towards T3 as another howl came.  We were walking directly towards the coyote. I kept thinking about the deer and how they were probably moving away from the coyote and further away from us and T3.  As we came to a field, the coyote howled again but he was further away at the o...

If you have been a dedicated reader, you know that we have built a new treehouse for the 2015 season.  If you are a new reader, do a quick search for T3 and you can see what we have done so far (and why.) When the weather is cool with lots of sun, it's hard to be anywhere but outside.  Since rifle season opens in a couple of weeks, Dad, Hubby and I took to the woods to get things set up and ready for the Oct 31 start. We hauled carpet, plywood, tar paper, canvas and a chair down to T3 to add the finishing touches.  We also brought a limber to get those little branches out of the way of the shooting lanes.  On the floor, we put two layers of the tar paper then the plywood.  The canvas was turned into a gun rent out the front and the carpet was put on the wall behind me to keep out the cold and help to keep me hidden. The shooting lane that you can see behind me is where I shot my deer last year.  With the sun shining in on the stand and the lanes b...

With these deer around, I may want to get my sleeping bag and heater ready for deer season! What do you guys think? Is it too early for these big guys to be going around to their scrapes? This guy is back in the pattern of stopping by twice a night to check things out.

It is like Christmas every time you check the cameras... will the same buck be around? are there new bucks? what about the coyote? how is the fawn? Then, you get a glimpse into the woodland word. I am surprised that this little ones still has its spots but it is healthy! Look at that belly. We have quite a few pictures of this fawn with its mom.  It is the only baby around and I would love to get a chance to watch them while I am hunting. Look how wide those spikes are! No brow tines on this guy.  When you zoom in on the second picture, this looks like a crotch horn. He has a decent body too, which would provide us with some excellent meat this winter. I usually end up squealing when I see these pictures.  I can't help it.  I have never shot a large deer like this.  Dad has not shot a large deer like this since I started hunting with him but we have seen them on the cameras. They are big for a reason and once the rut kicks in, we have found that they s...

I know that today marks the start of bear season, but nothing get me more excited than seeing bucks on the trail cameras, especially when they are the deer that you have been after for multiple seasons!  I can not wait til opening day of rifle season.  Meat is meat and I will be grateful to fill the freezer, but those two big bucks... they would be a feat! Littlest Little Little Big Biggest From the look at this picture, this is the 'smaller' of the two large bucks that we have around.  Fingers crossed that this season, we can give you a close up picture!

No matter what animal I hunt, I always come back to deer.  Hunting predators like bear and coyote are great and I'm eager to check off turkey and moose but I plan my vacations around deer season.  After getting yelled at last season, we decided to build a permanent structure a little further into woods and close to the same property line.  It was hard to visualize what it would look like and Dad had great plans for our third permanent deer stand.  He built it in the barn and we tested out sizes, wall height and visibility.  We were going to put it up in late January but time got away from us and February hit bringing about five feet of snow in four weeks.   So instead, Dad used the snowmobile to bring pieces of the stand over to our build spot. T3 before the roof Then, a couple of weeks ago, Dad started building. He needed help with the roof so Hubby, Dad and I took the snowmobiles over and lifting it into place.  The stand is a little ...

...having a deer bed down next to your tree stand.  This bed was about 15 feet from the bottom of my stand.  When I went out to see where the deer was that Hubby jumped, I noticed this.  The deer were everywhere the guys were, but they just couldn't make a connection. Maybe next year!

Well, I can still look at the photos right?  Since Dad and Hubby still need to fill their tags, we are still looking at the trail cameras to see which deer are around.  It is also fascinating to see how the deer change their behaviors as the season progresses and the rut starts. Case in point - those two big 8-pointers that I want the guys to shoot, are still around! These are from a couple week ago.  I forgot to get the newer pictures from Saturday am when they walked through. I have been chasing this second deer for two years now.  If the guys don't get him this year, I want to land him next year! Also, how funny that the two biggest deer around are within three minutes of one another in the woods.

As I walked into the woods with Dad, I noticed many more posted signs than in previous years.  And more than what had been there even two weeks before.  No one had signed them but they were clearly on the property next to ours.  We walked along the property line towards my treeseat.  It was raining hard enough so that I could see the drops flash in front of my headlight but I was in my wool pants and coat so I knew that I should be OK for the five hour sit that I had planned. Dad waited until I had climbed up, got situated and clicked off my headlamp (it was a new purchase that I had made when I decided to go bear hunting and it was very useful now as we walked into the dark woods.)  I settled in and waited for day light to break on opening day of deer season! I wasn't going to sit in this spot.  I had planned to be in the Sky Condo but after viewing the latest trail cam photos and seeing that 8-pointer make his first daylight appearance on Thursday mo...

This could be the best season ever when it comes to trail cam photos of the deer around the Sky Condo.  Hunter or not, how can you not love and respect these great animals?!  I can not wait until deer season starts.

I was so excited when I looked at the trail camera pictures from the past week.  I finally was able to figure out that the deer I had been studying was (and is) the same deer.  Here is my proof.  Note the time and position of the deer.  YEAH!  Mystery solved.  I am looking for one deer, who is probably 3.5 or 4.5 years old.  I have pictures of him from last year and this year. He is smart, stays nocturnal for most of the season but likes to come back to the same areas.  I know that no matter who sees him (us or the nearby neighbors) he will be shot at.  I just need to formulate my plan of attack and be smart about it.  Finally, some peace of mind... ... And then, there were two. The deer above is not this deer . I am not going to get a wink of sleep the night before opening day!