Just Another Rainy Day

Last night I went out hunting again, and of course it was raining. Mike had some work to do on the roof of our house since he goes back to work tomorrow, so he was at the house with the kids and I was finally able to get out in the woods again.

Driving down the road to the property I was going to hunt, I suddenly felt free. I was going hunting in the evening and was going to be able to stay until dark; I wouldn't have to worry about being home for the kids or to make supper or anything. It was like "the old days" when I hunted every day and it didn't really matter how late I stayed in my tree or if I would be home by suppertime. Really, it was nice. I didn't even mind the rain.

I brought two cameras with me, the one I use to film Mike and also my small handycam that I used for the past few years to film myself. If the rain continued I was just going to bring my small camera so the big one wouldn't get wet.

By the time I was walking to my stand it was pouring rain. I stopped by our trail cam and checked the memory card...some pictures of two different shooter bucks certainly made me all that more excited for my evening hunt.

I got situated in the tree and turned my phone on silent and settled in for the next few hours. I was sitting in what I always considered my "lucky stand". It's an old metal ladder stand that I've sat in and killed pretty much every deer I've shot in the past few years, including my big 8 point from 2009. Sitting in that stand pretty much makes me feel like I'm at home.

After about an hour in the stand the rain let up a little and some does came out to feed behind me, then walked along the edge of the field and over the hill. If I had stood up in my stand and knelt on the seat I probably could have shot one of them, but not having a place to hang them right now, Mike and I don't want to shoot any does this week. If it was a monster buck, it wouldn't have mattered. He would have had to die, whether we had a place to hang him or not.

The evening turned out to be pretty quiet. The sun came out right around dusk, which made for a beautiful sunset. It was cold enough that I could see my breathe, and it was so still I could hear the birds walking in the leaves. I wanted to hold my breath it was so quiet.

I was pretty sure I was going to see some more deer, and was really hoping to see a buck, but it didn't happen. It got dark and I climbed down and went home to make supper for Mike and the kids.

Tomorrow I'm headed back out to the woods in hopes of seeing a nice buck, and on Thursday and Friday Mike will be coming along with me. I'm going to start hunting every day since it's pre-rut and the deer are moving.  I don't have the time to hunt that I used to since I got an instant family over the summer, so I need to make the best of the time I do have, and try to put a big buck on the ground!!!