Opening day started earlier than I had planned when I failed to make it to my 4 am alarm. I was up, dressed, dogs fed and out the door by 4:15 am which gave me plenty of time to hike in and set up. With 1 hour to go until first light, I was settled in and ready for the season to begin. My chosen spot was a wooded draw that jutted out into some surrounding CRP. I had scouted this area prior to the season and knew the black cherry tree would give me a good vantage point. This was my first hunt from the saddle and I was impressed with the maneuverability of things. I had no problem stepping around the tree for various shot angles.
A major trail runs through the tip of this little draw and I was set up with that to my left. Any deer walking the trail would pass by at 20 yards and allow for a shot with very little movement. It was an awesome morning and always great to be back in the woods after a long offseason. I hunted until about 10 am without seeing anything and had to climb down and head home. I had a list of things to do on Saturday and needed to make sure they were done before hunting again in the evening. As I was walking out I came upon another hunter on the trail. He was contemplating his next move, but wasn't sure where I was and didn't want to blow me out. He was the only other car in the lot that morning, so after chatting with him for a bit I decided to speed-scout a spot between a bean field and a creek for the evening hunt. After checking things out I headed for home.
My hope for the evening was to catch the deer on their summer feeding pattern by hunting this soybean field edge. This is the field that I intended to scout but passed as there were already deer in there at 5:30 pm that particular day. Knowing this, I was set up by 4 pm with high hopes. Around 5:30 pm I picked up movement straight out in the treeline well beyond the field. A lone doe popped out and was slowly meandering her way in my direction. I was just getting that "cool, this might work out" feeling when she veered west (left) and out of sight. It's real thick over there and I was hoping she'd enter the field right next to me, but no dice.
About an hour later I caught more movement to my center-right, and two does popped out into the field about 60 yards away. They made a beeline to my side and were feeding along, slowly working toward me. The lead doe was suspicious of something in the woods off to my right, and soon enough two squirrels started after each other which caused the deer to blow out of the area. Fortunately they didn't go far, but they continued to blow as they hovered near the other end of the field. Eventually things settled down and they started heading my way again. The lead doe was moving with purpose toward my corner and I was positioning myself for a shot. I had no sooner wrapped my hand around my grip, watching her walk broadside at 20 yards when another squirrel fight erupted. Both deer blew out again and this time disappeared for good.
Last light came at 7:50 pm with no additional deer sightings, and I climbed down for the night. All in I had spent about 6 hours on stand and had 3 deer sightings, and 2 close encounters to show for it. I could not be more excited to get into a tree and enjoyed the heck out of being in the woods.
