Thought some of ya'll might get a kick out of this, interesting morning.
Went out again this am, beautiful day, eased canoe into back waters at 0530, stunning sunrise, a 10" fish jumped into my boat, hard to catch him in the dark, beavers kept slapping their tails at me, creek was thankfully high enough for me to get into the backwaters, I unloaded, set up on an island with back to creek and front to mud flat, 25' up in tree, about 9:00 a doe with spotted fawn came down creek bed to my back and passed, fifteen minutes later two large does crossed directly in front of me, clear shot, I hit the first one dead in the shoulder, she spun 360' then both crashed back into the underbrush. I heard thrashing, ect. I eased down tree carefuly, unhooked safety strap, pulled off a couple of layers of clothes, reloaded crossbow and went after them. No blood, brush was over head high and thick, I kept looking, going round in circles, couldn't see six feet, got on a deer trail that was tunneling under the growth, hit a curve and when I stepped around I was nose to nose with a large 6 point buck. He blew his lungs and jumped toward me, I fell back to the side as he went by, caught my balance, stepped up to see where he went and another one nearly ran over me, didn't have enough time to count his rack cause another deer was following him. They looped around through the undergrowth and jumped into the main channel, swam to another island. Crossbow was useless in that thick stuff, all I had was a hunting knife in my boot. I went back to canoe, smoked a cigar, had some coffee, got my nerve up and went back looking for the wounded deer. Kicked up one more in the underbrush but was about fifteen yards away. Never found the deer. First one I ever lost. Damn I hate that. Going to wait a week or so before I go back. In all I saw seven large deer on an island the size of four football fields. This is wildlife management area, bow only, it gets exciting. Is twenty minutes from home.
rk
Went out again this am, beautiful day, eased canoe into back waters at 0530, stunning sunrise, a 10" fish jumped into my boat, hard to catch him in the dark, beavers kept slapping their tails at me, creek was thankfully high enough for me to get into the backwaters, I unloaded, set up on an island with back to creek and front to mud flat, 25' up in tree, about 9:00 a doe with spotted fawn came down creek bed to my back and passed, fifteen minutes later two large does crossed directly in front of me, clear shot, I hit the first one dead in the shoulder, she spun 360' then both crashed back into the underbrush. I heard thrashing, ect. I eased down tree carefuly, unhooked safety strap, pulled off a couple of layers of clothes, reloaded crossbow and went after them. No blood, brush was over head high and thick, I kept looking, going round in circles, couldn't see six feet, got on a deer trail that was tunneling under the growth, hit a curve and when I stepped around I was nose to nose with a large 6 point buck. He blew his lungs and jumped toward me, I fell back to the side as he went by, caught my balance, stepped up to see where he went and another one nearly ran over me, didn't have enough time to count his rack cause another deer was following him. They looped around through the undergrowth and jumped into the main channel, swam to another island. Crossbow was useless in that thick stuff, all I had was a hunting knife in my boot. I went back to canoe, smoked a cigar, had some coffee, got my nerve up and went back looking for the wounded deer. Kicked up one more in the underbrush but was about fifteen yards away. Never found the deer. First one I ever lost. Damn I hate that. Going to wait a week or so before I go back. In all I saw seven large deer on an island the size of four football fields. This is wildlife management area, bow only, it gets exciting. Is twenty minutes from home.
rk
