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How to hunt with three people

For the past 10 1/2 seasons, we have been a two hunter show.  I sit, Dad walks and we either find deer or move to a new spot. This time Hubby came along and it added new challenges for us.

Dad and I have three seats up and decided that we would each get a spot to sit during the first few hours of Saturday morning.  We put Hubby in the Sky Condo because he has not hunted/shot from a tree seat and we have some tiny/slanted seats that Dad and I are used to.  It seemed a little awkward to try and get everyone in place early enough so that the last person was sitting at an early enough time to beat the deer moving.

At 5 am, we were out the door and heading into the woods.  The wind was flipping COLD!!! I was my normal, bundled up self and I was comfortable as we walked in.   Dad dropped me off in my tree seat, dropped Hubby off at the Condo and headed up to our third spot.  Dad said I could head out of the woods around 10, get Hubby and meet him at the truck around 11.  I was settled in and bundled up.  The wind was so bad that you could not hear anything. 

The weekend before, I had made an unwlecomed friend in the neighborhood red squirrel.  He was chirping on the tree next to me and when I made an attempt to scare him off, it only made him more curious and he climbed my tree, chirped and made weird guttural noises at me.  When he was eye level on the side of the tree, I stood and rattled my tree seat's bar.  It made me blow any and all hope of having a deer come in, but at that point, I wanted him gone.  On Saturday, the little 'friend' was back but he apparently knew it was me and didn't bother me.

I knew Hubby was not really dressed to sit for hours so at 9 am, I walked up to the Sky Condo to share my hand warmers.  Hubby was frozen!  At 9:45, Dad was at the Sky Condo.  Two hunters had walked right past him and never saw him.  Knowing that if there were deer in the area, they would have jumped them on to him, Dad got down and headed towards my seat.  He found a hunter standing in the trail, just below the furthest point I can see down a shooting lane.  Too many hunters, too close to where we were... so we headed to a new, old spot that let Hubby and Dad walk while I sat.

The afternoon past quickly and Hubby and I sat in the Sky Condo while Dad went back to where he started.  No deer.

We are seeing SO many scrapes and rubs - some of which are new or being worked on a regular basis.  From the pictures on our cameras, the deer are still moving around at night and not in the early morning or early afternoons.  I really hope that something snaps and the rut starts soon so that we can get some meat in the freezer.

Hubby, Dad and I are going out again this weekend - and maybe Thursday afternoon.  Dad has a doe permit so as much as he didnt want to shoot a doe by the Sky Condo (to keep the bucks coming), I think we have reached the point where if its a deer, it's going to be shot.

Wish us luck!!! 

And HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL!!!  I am so thankful that you stop by to read my blog, comment and share your hunting experiences with me.

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