Monday, November 19, 2007

Meat in the freezer

Harvested a 4-point at dusk tonight. He came to the bait pile the first two mornings and evenings, but my son and I let him off in hopes of something a little bigger. Made up my mind to take him yesterday and of course he didn't show. Yesterday and today I hunted alone and was visited by various button bucks, does and fawns, but nothing legal. A 10-point made a short appearance about 150 yards off the pile but remained in the trees. He also passed behind me as I sat on a rise in the middle of a swamp adjacent to my blind, on day two, but I didn't get a shot.

Finally, while some little button buck sat mooching off my corn and apples, the 4-point walked in tonight and I dropped him before he had a chance to get a mouthful. The old Marlin .35 packs a punch and I blew out his heart right through the shoulder bone. Since he dropped right there, I stepped out of the blind and walked right up. To my surprise, the button buck was still standing off to one side, obviously confused. I told him, "This is the part where you're supposed to run away", and he did.

PW and LP drove out into the bush after dark (I LOVE my girls!) to help me toss him into the back of the pickup after I field-dressed him and we drove out to a small market about 15 miles out of town where he'll get processed into steaks, roasts, hamburger and sausage. Yummy.

Now that I've got meat in the freezer, I'm going to stalk that 10-point from dusk till dawn. No more apple-poppin for me.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

congrats, dude.
and i guess thanks..( for those who oppose... 980,000 deer in the UP alone (1.6 mil in mich), only 8000 hit by cars (in UP), hunter/gatherers get 59,000 at best, the ecosystem up here is a bit bent, and the boreal forest suffers) every reduction helps.

besides all that..
venison... oh yeah!
hope pirate son bags the (other..) 10 point.
(also hoping the season goes on and on, loving no people in town, and all the guilt of employees and suppliers leaving their post,..is bringing home the bacon. my freezer's almost full :)

Anonymous said...

'dja get 'im yet?

Hope the Pirate family has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The Pirate said...

Queen, I drop em where they stand, or I don't take the shot. The ethical thing to do is to track them down as fast as possible if you only wound an animal and that can be a tall order. Even a wounded deer can cover a lot of miles, fast and when wounded tend to look for the thick and nasty terrain.

Mr. Bu, I totally agree. I say open up the hunt for does to all-not just private landowners.

Freddie-I am still tracking that 10-point. He's a wily fucker. Jumped him twice, yesterday, but couldn't get a clean shot. He's holing up in some nasty brush with the advantage of high ground, and unless I get a day where the wind changes and I can get above him without being scented, I may not be able to get him.