Lucas and I didn’t have any luck on Friday morning, second day of the second firearms season, but things changed in the afternoon. I went to a big cornfield in the creek bottom and Lucas chose to sit on a draw about 300 yards back toward the truck.
About an hour before dark I saw eight deer come out into the field to the north about 300 yards away. There were five doe and three bucks. One buck was a real nice ten point with a lot of mass, wide and tall, only he was on the other side of the fence from the others. He walked back and forth along the fence like he wanted to cross but never did. The other buck appeared to be an eight point and the third buck was a little six point.
The eight point was chasing a doe and the ten point started for the creek crossing headed in Lucas’s direction. I had been keeping him informed what was going on by way of our two-way radios. Lucas started heading west toward the fencerow the big buck was headed but never did see him. We think he crossed the creek and went north.
The eight point pushed the one doe hard enough she started running for the creek crossing. All the rest of the deer followed so I told Lucas to be ready. It wasn’t long and I heard Lucas shoot. He saw the deer coming over the top of the hill through the brush and saw the eight point, which was still pushing the doe, come down the hill almost toward him and shot the buck but was not able to get the doe. The eight point ended up being a nine point.
Muzzleloader season wasn’t real productive. Lucas did get a doe but we weren’t seeing the deer like we usually do and very few shots heard all weekend. A neighbor that hunts next to us to the north said the people he had talked to were saying the same thing about not seeing many deer. If Lucas and I get drawn for the Late Winter season in Jan., I will have three permits to fill and Lucas will have two. Maybe our luck will change by then.
