I had two encounters with deer on my latest hunt, neither of which yielded a heavy pack full of meat. Hunting Saturday morning, I didn’t have a whole lot going for me. The weather was balmy, the field I expected the deer to be feeding in had been cut (unbeknownst to me), and the wind was inconsistent and swirly. I had chosen my particular location because I knew there were deer in the area, but I just wasn’t able to connect.
The deer here in the South tend to have a slightly different pattern than most white-tailed deer around the country. In general, everything happens slightly later. So while rutting activity is increasing further north, the deer here are still moving mostly in the evenings.
I was hoping this pattern would have changed, but it hadn’t yet. In the 30 minutes before shooting light, I heard a lot of movement in the woods. I imagine it was deer, but I couldn’t tell for sure. The noises could have easily come from squirrels and armadillos. As shooting light began, the rustling stopped. I expect that was the deer movement I was hoping for, just a little too early to take advantage of.
I did see one doe making her way along a timber edge maybe 60 yards away in the gray light. It was still dark enough that I couldn’t make out her features. I lost sight of her within a minute. If I had chosen to set up 20 yards to my right, I might have made it happen. She was poking along in a slightly different direction than I was expecting. It was encouraging to see deer, but that turned out to be my only viable encounter of the hunt.
My next encounter was so brief I hardly saw the deer. I was sitting in front of a tree, trying to scan and glass diligently, when I hear a snort. Busted. I saw the horizontal back of a deer bounding away, and then, nothing. It was so quick I wondered if my mind was playing tricks on me. I had become too relaxed, and the wind wasn’t in my favor. I was bummed about that one because it may have been in range.
I was glad to get out and hunt, but it was frustrating to hear the deer moving before daylight. I didn’t have an opportunity to hunt the evenings that weekend, and I’d really like to kill something in the morning. Despite my lack of success, the forest is beautiful this time of year, and the best days of hunting season are yet to come. With the right attitude, there are really no bad hunts, as long as you’re safe.
Persistence Outdoors 