So we headed up on Friday, Nov. 2nd. That let us get settled in at the Perry, KOA, and be ready in the morning for the first day of our hunting season. Everything went pretty smoothly, and once nighttime arrived we were in bed at the time we planned.
Chapter 1: Saturday, Nov. 3rd: Day 1.
Aside from one squirrel I didn't see anything exciting. However someone had a much better day than Dad or I had....
Chapter 2: Sunday, Nov. 4th: Day 2.
I was in my tree stand at 7:10. Nothing much was moving, and I was daydreaming. That's when a doe walked up 15 yards from me. Luckily I was holding perfectly still while daydreaming. She took a few steps forward and managed to walk within 10 yards of me. Needless to say I took a good look at her, and knew she was definitely a doe.
She grazed around me from 7:33 AM to 7:50 AM. I have to admit, I was really excited. I hadn't had a doe come that close to me in years. What happened was that she came down a tree line, and was blocked from my view. But on the other hand, I was blocked from her view. Later on I thought, "Man this would have been a great archery shot."
For the next hour I noticed the temperature dropping. A front was coming in, and it was slowly becoming darker. About 9 O'clock I had the first raindrops fall on me. I said, "That's it. Show's over." With the front coming in, it was only going to start raining more. I packed up my gear, and made it to the main trail.
I had been on my handheld CB radio, and calling my Dad ever since the first few drops hit me. Once I made it to the main trail he finally tuned in. He asked if I was on the radio, and if I wanted to get down. I told him, "Yes, I was on the radio, and I was already on the main trail. In fact, I could see his blaze orange through the woods."
He got down, and we called it a day. Besides, it was Sunday and the Bucs were playing. Of course, we knew they would lose, but we're fans so we have to watch. They ended up losing to the Panthers 42-28, and it wasn't that close.
Here's a photo of me dealing with the rain.
Chapter 3: Monday, Nov. 5th: Day 3.
So that front that came through? Yeah, it was still raining Monday. So we took Monday off. There was nothing we could really do. Besides, most animals lay down in cover when it's raining so there's no point in trying to hunt when it's cold (okay, cool) and wet out.
Chapter 4: Tuesday, Nov 6th: Day 4.
To make up for the lost hunt on Monday we decided to hunt all day Tuesday. That was a mistake. It was hot and humid all day. The official high was 83 degrees, but the thermometer on Dad's truck read 85 degrees. Did you ever have a day that was so hot and humid you couldn't drink enough water? Well, that was this day.
The forecast kept changing. First, it was forecast that it was going to rain the next three days. Next, it was going to insanely hot the next three days, but no rain. We couldn't get a straight answer about the weather. But in all fairness, we were getting the first winter fronts of the season. That kept playing havoc with the weather predictions. Since we thought it might rain the next few days we decided to hunt pretty hard.
One thing Dad wanted me to do was take a photo of him next to his favorite tree out there. This tree marks where we split up on the main path. This oak tree it huge. It must be around 400 years old. Here's one of the photos I took with Dad by his tree.
Chapter 5: Wednesday, Nov 7th: Day 5.
Dad and I decided to take the day off. Frankly, we were a bit dehydrated from the previous day. Also, Wednesday's temperatures were going to be about the same as the day before (83-85 degrees,) but without the wind or cloud cover.
As I had time to write this day, I thought of something that had previously happened to us.
As Dad and I were walking down the path we took into the woods, I held up my left arm and made a fist. It's the sign the armed forces uses to mean, "Stop." Now I didn't learn it in the armed forces, (Dad did.) I learned it from the movie, "Predator."
When someone does this it means they've seen something, and everyone in the party should stop and pay attention. So what did I see that was so important/exciting?
It was a spider. Not just a spider. A spider's web. A big one. It was spun across the entire trail. I was about one foot from it when I saw it. I have to say it was magnificent.
I hated taking it down, but there was no other way to cross the path without removing it. The spider was right at the top of the web waiting for something to fly, (or walk) into it. The spider was only about two inches long. It wasn't a giant banana spider or anything in that family.
This little spider built that trail-crossing web all by itself. Since it had just rained, it had recently built it. So I have to give credit to this little spider. Again I hated to tear down its web.
I also used the inappropriate way to take down the web, as in, I used the end of my gun. But the web stretched all the way as far as I could hold my gun up. I still didn't manage to cut the web at the very top, where the spider was. That part was too tall even for the tip of my gun.
When we came back down the trail there was no new web. I hope the spider found a nice, new place to spin its web.
Here's a photo of our trucks and trailer at the KOA trailer park. They've always been good to us.
Chapter 6: Thursday, Nov 8th: Day 6.
After taking the previous day off we were well rested, relaxed, and ready to go. Everything went smoothly, and we pulled into our favorite parking place on time.
I was walked to my usual spot in the woods. When I reached the tree I put my tree stand on, I looked out, and saw movement. I actually walked up on a deer! The funny thing was I saw it at my usual time of seeing things in the woods at 7:04 AM.
I couldn't tell if it was a buck or doe, but I raised my gun and quietly headed in that direction. Since it was so far from me I knew I couldn't walk up closer to it. Besides, it was going in the opposite direction.
So, as quietly as I could, I set up my tree stand on a different tree. This tree faced where the deer had been. At this point I am facing due North. At about 7:30 I heard all sorts of noise behind me (South.) I actually stood up in my tree stand, and turned around to face South. I was looking back and forth to see what was out there.
And that's when a doe walked right up behind me. As in, from the North. The way I'm supposed to be facing, except that I turned around backwards to see what the noise was behind me.
This doe walks up to within 10 yards of me. That's when I turned and looked back, right into her eyes. And that was the time she jumped back, and ran about 20 yards from me. I felt like such an idiot. She didn't completely run off. She ran toward the East and then made a gigantic circle around me to eventually head West.
Never in my life have I had two times during hunting season where deer were within archery range. I mean, I wasn't hunting with a bow and arrow, but if it was archery season and I was, then I would have had two great shots this season. And remember kids, does are legal to take during archery season.
So that leads us to Dad. Right around the same time as all my fun (7:30) Dad had an adventure of his own. He had a doe run behind him at 90 MPH. Why was she running that fast? Well, because she had a buck with his nose in her "you-know-what" running behind her, also at 90 MPH. I think, "The Rut" had started.
The rules have changed when it comes to harvesting bucks. They must have one antler at least five inches long, and that antler must have a split on it. In other words, you can't shoot spike bucks.
Dad said this buck's antlers were a bit on the small side. He wasn't sure if it would have been legal to take. The buck would have had to stop for Dad to get a better look.
A little bit later on Dad saw a spotted fawn walking down the path that the other two deer had taken. It was most likely the fawn of the chased doe.
Once 9 O'clock passed the woods died down. But those woods were the most active and alive I had ever seen in years for those first two hours. The weather wasn't bad this morning either. I think that's one reason everything was moving around.
Dad and I were hunters number 3 and 4 today. There was only one truck that came in before us. Also, the scoreboard hadn't changed. No one has taken a deer since the 5th, and no hogs have been shot period.
This was completely unlike what it was like just two years previously. When we hunted Snipe Island in 2015 there was close to 60 hogs taken out. I think they had also taken around 30 deer that year. This year was nothing like that.
There had been no hogs taken out. One deer was taken during bow season, and two where taken during muzzleloading season. That meant that only two deer had been taken all quota hunt.
I believe that Hurricane Michael did a lot of damage to the wildlife in the area. It passed only 40 miles to the west of Snipe Island. The area ended up being flooded. Now hogs and deer can swim, however, that means they can swim and then walk out of the area. I think they ended up going to higher ground North of Snipe Island.
Dad and I decided to change our hunting method. Since it seemed that the animals were moving from 7 AM to 9 AM, we decided that we would go in earlier. We weren't going to bother with hunting during the evening. It seemed that from 10 AM to 7 PM the animals were just lying down. It was too hot for them to think about moving.
So we were going to concentrate on getting up at 4:30 AM. We would leave the KOA at 5:30 AM. That would put us at the check station at 6:20 AM. We would then head down the road to our usual spot, pack up, and head in the woods. I would arrive at my tree stand at around 6:50 AM.
Chapter 7: Friday Nov. 9th: Day 7.
I was in my tree stand at 6:55 AM. At 7:20 I saw a deer through the brush. It was about 40 yards off through extremely dense brush. I couldn't make out if it was a doe or buck.
It was headed in the direction of a open break in the woods. So I set up getting ready for a shot in that direction. However, the deer never headed that way. I saw it when it was about 20 yards from the break, but it never crossed it.
That leaves one day of hunting left. I know I better get something tomorrow if I want to leave here with any deer or hog. Of course, I could throw in the towel, and knock out a few squirrels. Those uppity, loud-mouthed bastards have gotten more annoying every year.
Chapter 8 will be continued in the next blog post.
… To be continued.
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