papa

The second day was beautiful, sunny and warmish (almost 40), and I went early in the morning on a beach-stalking hunt. Again, lots of small deer- the silly fawns would come crashing through the brush and stumble upon me- and I got really close to several deer because of a freak hail storm that lasted about an hour- probably could have shot five of them (but it would have taken all five to equal one big deer). I eventually went into the woods- the deer trails were so icy that I could walk quietly- and came upon a small mature deer. She looked at me and I froze. She froze, and watched me for about five minutes. I didn't move. She couldn't smell me, so started walking in a circle around me, coming closer, then backing off, almost coming right up to me. I just didn't move, probably for about twenty minutes, though I did tell her that I meant no harm. Finally, she went back to eating, and moved behind a tree. I snuck up to the tree, and peeked around, and there was a large deer farther up the hill. I began stalking it, but my little friend stayed between me and the big deer, and as I moved up the mountain, so did they, keeping just enough distance that I didn't have a shot at the big one. We all three slowly walked up the hill together at a leisurely pace, until I eventually was forced to bum-rush them, hoping the big one would trip, or slip on the ice or something- but they got away. Then I saw another deer bedded down in the snow. I started a stalk on him, and was able to get really close, though I couldn't see him well because the sun was directly behind him. He stood up and started walking parallel to me, and as a squinted at him, I suddenly saw the antler spots on his head, just before he disappeared behind a tree. Another no-think raise and fire, another nice lung shot and a dead deer. This deer I had to drag for a mile to the beach, but with so much snow and ice on the ground, it was easy. Then I hiked back to camp, got the skiff and Rose, and we went and retrieved him.