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My weekend was interrupted in a good way in that I was again invited to attend a Packer football game with a friend from work. Nice to know someone with season tickets that is willing to share once in a while. What a great game to see in that the Packers beat the Cowboys 45-7.
Running:
Running wise for last week it was déjà-vu from the previous week. I ran five days at work 5 miles each day over the same course again. The only difference from last week is that all my runs were less than 40 minutes. I took Saturday off. Sunday morning I ran 8.5 miles in 1:06:19. This gave me again 33.5 miles for the week just like the previous one. So totals through 11/7.
WTD 33.5
MTD 33.5
YTD 1907
ODO 27073
Hunting:
Only got out hunting a little on Saturday. In the morning I hunted the stand where I got the 2 bucks already this year. I could see the scrape I hunt over was still being worked by another buck so I knew there was at least one around still. I didn’t see anything though. I didn't see anything and only hunted until 9:00 and then decided to go on a short scouting trip. I found a few hunting spots on the conservancy land that I can easily get to from the land I have permission to bow hunt on. I’ll need to approach the landowner to see if she has any issue with my using this route to gun hunt this spot later this month and in December. I can get to it from the parking spot on the conservancy, but it is a real long walk coming from that way. Saturday evening I decided real late to just go hunt out in the back yard. I wasn’t there more than 20 minutes when two does came in to feed on my food plot. I could have shot either one of them at some point, but chose to just watch. They were kind of nervous and only hung around for about 15 minutes before walking back in the direction they came from. I haven’t seen the buck yet that has been scraping up trees in my yard. This next weekend I will be heading up north to get my gun stands ready and also do a little bow hunting up in Bayfield.
Gardening:
Amazing how warm it turned again. We’ve had 4 or 5 days in a row over 60 degrees which is crazy for this time of year. I cleaned the pond real good over the weekend so hopefully other than cleaning an occasional filter and fishing out a few leaves there won’t be much to do until spring. I got all the gutters cleaned once more too. However with the way the leaves are falling so slowly this year I will likely have to perform this task one more time before winter. I got the lawn mowed one more time, so I think now this will be the last other than maybe to bag some more leaves using the mower. Only a few things remain in the garden to harvest. We’ve had a few real good freezes so the only things to make it are the root crops like beets and carrots, the Brussel sprouts, and some lettuce that I had covered with a tarp.
Running:
It is so hard to believe that November is here already. October was such a busy month. A marathon at the beginning of the month, beginning of some serious hunting, and lots of yard/garden work really filled up the time. As mentioned in previous posts my running kind of takes a back seat for a few months after my fall marathon is over. This last week was again fairly normal as far as running. I ran each work day again. Four of the runs were on my usual route and one of the really windy days I ran inside on the treadmill. Again all of these runs were 5 miles in length and within a minute +/- of 40 minutes. On Sunday the last day of the month I was able to fit in a morning run of 8.5 miles in 1:05:11. With a couple more months to go there should be no problem making 2000 miles for the year. Totals through October.
WTD 33.5
MTD 117
YTD 1874
ODO 27040
Hunting:
I can’t even believe the year I’m having. This past weekend I was able to bag another nice 9 pointer. That makes three nice deer in 3 weeks time and two of my largest 4 bow kills ever. I think I’ve only been out bow hunting on 5 occasions. I remember a few times going a whole season without even getting a chance for a shot during bow season.
On Saturday morning I made it out to my stand well before light. I snuck out as quietly as I could and was sitting quietly by around 6:15. This was the same stand I shot the deer the previous Saturday evening. I wasn’t quite sure what impact all our walking around the previous weekend would have on this location, but I know it is a good spot and thought I would try anyway. Until shortly after 8:00 there was no action at all. I had lots of things to do so I was thinking I would only stay until 8:30 or so. All of a sudden I caught some movement in the tall grass directly in front of me. It didn’t take long to notice the good size rack on the top of this deer. At first I thought it might head directly across the ditch out of range. Then it made an immediate right turn and headed straight for the scrape I’m hunting over. When it was behind a bunch of trees about 20 yards out I drew back and waited. The deer walked right into the scrape and scratched it with his hoof as I released the arrow. The arrow didn’t pass through, but I knew it was a good hit. I watched it run 40 yards out and stop for a few seconds. It then started walking back towards me stumbling a bit. When it got back within about 20 yards it just fell over. No drama like with the previous week’s tracking adventure. When bow hunting it is always a bonus to be able to see your deer go down. From my experience it doesn’t happen often. While watching this deer another small buck (4 point) made its way on the same path as the other and stood right below me. It walked it's way over to it's buddy and couldn't figure out what was going on. It ended up just walking away. I climbed down and went to tag the deer when I realized I had left both of my buck stickers in with my gun back tag. I had to run home to retrieve it and then head back out. Because this deer was so close to the owners house (at their request) I have to either carry the guts out with me or gut it elsewhere so the dogs don’t get into them. I chose to take it away from there and brought the deer out to the conservancy to take care of that. While there I ran into a guy named Charlie who told me he thought he had a trail cam picture of my deer. In fact he told me he had pictures of two 9 pointers one with 5 points on the right and one with 5 points on the left. He sent me both of the pictures and I think these are the same deer I got the last two weeks. Kind of neat to have the trail cam pictures to go with the harvest shots.
I’m happy the year is unfolding as it is, but sad only that it will keep me out of the woods some during this exciting time to be out there. Maybe I’ll just go out with the camera or at least not shoot anything else unless it is a true giant. With gun season(s) coming up there is lots more hunting to do, but this sure changes the complexion of the rest of the season. The freezer is full, so there is not much need for me to take another unless I can find someone else to take it.
Gardening:
Because I got the deer on Saturday I was able to spend Saturday afternoon mowing the lawn for the last time this year (probably) and all of Sunday on lawn/garden cleanup chores. It is amazing how much you can get done in a day and a half. I was able to put all the planters, hanging baskets, and lawn furniture away. I was able to clean up the last of any remaining leaves and spread them on the garden. I turned my whole compost pile one last time before winter, and harvested lots more vegetables like carrots, Brussel sprouts, beets and lettuce that are still growing out there. I noticed I had a buck rubbing up some of my evergreens in the back again. This just started in the last couple days. I sprayed some stuff on them that is supposed to keep deer away. Kind of funny that I plant stuff to attract them and then have to keep them off other things. Now what will I do with myself these next couple weeks if I don’t go hunting and have all my chores done. I guess that is a good problem to have at this time of year and certainly a rarity for me.
Running:
My running last week was just normal for this time of year I guess. I ran on all 5 work days and took the weekend off to hunt. My runs were all on the same 5 mile route. Each run was less than 30 seconds one side or the other of 40 minutes . I see on my Odometer I surpassed the 27,000 mile mark. Totals through last week.
WTD 25
MTD 84
YTD 1840
ODO 27006
Hunting:
I wasn’t sure how the weekend hunting was going to go. The horse farm I have permission to hunt on had an adult camp going on last weekend. I only have restrictions when riders may be out there riding some of the trails along the woods. I totally understand that as the last thing they would want is for a horse to be spooked by my walking out of the woods and throwing a rider. I had a backup plan for places to go, but was really looking forward to getting out on this property.
Saturday in the early afternoon I ran a bunch of squash out to the owner and checked how things were going. Because it had rained there were no riders outside. They were all in the inside area in their riding barn. She told me I could go ahead and hunt if I wanted to. I got out there sometime after 4:30 and settled in. Looking around from my stand I could see two scrapes in the same place they have been the last few years and could tell by no leaves in them they had been recently worked over. The woods was fairly quiet. There wasn’t even a lot of squirrel activity compared to usual. The evening passed fairly quietly until about 5:45. A couple of raccoons came in and started chattering away and eating acorns. I had never seen a raccoon eat an acorn before. They were quite noisy cracking them open and chewing them down.
About 6:10 I started hearing footsteps across the drainage ditch moving from west to east towards me. I watched as a deer passed through the ditch and right up to one of the scrapes I’m hunting over. I quickly identified it as a shooter buck, what I thought was a 10 point. I listened as he sniffed at the scrape and scuffed the ground a bit. I couldn’t pull back my bow right at that moment and risk the deer detecting a sound or movement. It walked east behind a large buckthorn clump and as it did that, I drew back. I got my anchor point and sights all lined up and when the deer stopped 15 yards out quartering away from me I released the arrow. I looked at my watch, it was 6:15. After analyzing the deer’s reaction I knew I had hit him good but maybe a little far back. I left the woods after 30 minutes sitting quiet and went home to wait and have some supper. I returned to the woods at about 8:30 to search. I found my arrow right away and a good blood trail. The blood was dark though so I suspected a liver hit. Still with all the blood I expected to see it laying there just ahead in the light given by my flashlight. I followed the trail across a drainage ditch where the blood suddenly stopped. After a frustrating and bewildering search for most of an hour on my hands and knees, I marked last blood and left the woods.
After a sleepless night listening to the rain pour down, I rounded up a friend (Pat) to help me track on Sunday. We went out around noon after the heavy rain quit. There was no sign of any blood, even the heavy blood trail I had followed the night before was completely gone. We decided to start grid searching. Back and forth we went with nothing at all found for two hours. Pat’s son Patrick came out with a friend just about when we were going to call it quits to help us look one more time. We went to where last blood had been. Patrick looked where the last blood had been and said "if I were a deer I would go this way" and he took off. Within 15 minutes he yelled "found it". We had been within 50 feet of it at one point. It was down near one of the neighbors ladder stands in a meadow north of the ditch he crossed. Absolutely incredible tracking skills on that boy. To me there is no question it was more than luck. I am still amazed when I think about how he pulled this off, it was almost magical.
As suspected the liver was shredded. The exit hole looked good though on a quartering away shot. I’m shocked it went that far. I gutted the deer and the boys dragged it out for me even though I wouldn’t have minded doing it. Took the deer in to be registered and then took it home to wash it out good and get some ice on it. I loaded up the chest cavity with ice and hung the deer up in my tree along the side of the house over night. In the morning I brought it in to the processor. I would have had to take the day off from work if I was to do it myself and felt it worth it to have someone else do it for me this time.
Not that this is a bad deer at all, but my initial thoughts when I first saw it was that this deer was bigger. That maybe it was the 8 point that gave me fits last year from this stand, but a year older. Afterward, I don't think this is the same deer as last year. There is no question the buck I saw last year was bigger than this deer. Still overall I am pleased with this one. It’s incredible when everything comes together as this hunt did. It could have ended so differently. To go from excitement of seeing such an animal and thinking I had a good hit, to dismay when the trail was lost, to the sick feeling as rain fell all night and into the morning, to frustration over not finding anything with all the searching, to elation when the deer was found was quite a hunt to remember.
Now I’m looking forward to hunting for the true trophy and can be as patient as at any time in my hunting career. I’m also going to focus my efforts during upcoming gun seasons to be able to make sure my daughter Kylli gets a crack at a good one.
Gardening:
It sure had been warm and dry this October. It is still warm around here, but at least we finally got a fair amount of rain. Just in time to save me a lot of work. I noticed Sunday that some of the day lilies and Russian sage are blooming again after the rains. A sure sign of how warm it has been. The leaves have been falling at a leisurely pace this year. This has allowed me to keep up with the cleanup fairly well. Although there is something to be said about taking care of them all at once too. All the leaves have been going on the garden so far. Today we are getting a massive wind storm expected to last at least 24 hours along with a little rain that will likely take care of whatever leaves are left. This coming weekend will likely be the time to finish up any remaining lawn chores including putting away furniture.
