Deer Hunt 11/6

Got to the hunting area at 4:30 pm and was on stand by 5:00 PM. Sunset was at 6:15 PM and the day had turned from cold and wet to sunny. The tempature was 52 degrees. Shooting hours are from sunrise to 1/2 hour after sunset.

Nothing was moving in the woods until the sun went below the tree line, except squirrels, and they were making a racket. Just after the sun disappeared, the first movement I saw through the trees was too dark to be a deer. It was six turkeys moving across the hill. Following those were ten more turkeys that came out of the marsh to my right that joined the others. They spent ten minutes at the corn feeder and moved back into the woods, presumably to roost, and a few minutes after disappearing into the woods, started flying up into the trees and making a hell of a racket. While this was going on, and all I could hear is the turkeys vocalizations, I saw a deer moving in the woods, following almost the same path as the first group of turkeys. I have sight lines cut in a radial pattern around the stand, and I could see antlers through the brush. The buck trotted through my first lane, and stopped in the second, seemingly distracted by all of the noise in front of him.

I took the shot and hit him behind the shoulder, a little higher than I wanted, but he went down and didn't move. I waited another twenty minutes to see if I would get another shooting opportunity, and was a little disappointed nothing else appeared, except a racoon just after dark to help himself to some corn. I had seen a squirrel nibbling on some corn earlier, so I'm going to bring the .22 next time and take some of them out.

After walking back for the ATV, I dragged the deer down the hill, and got him loaded for the ride. Checked the feeder, there was 2/3 of the 100# of corn I put out 4 weeks ago, and headed back to car. Spent the next hour or so field dressing and was home by 8:30 PM, very excited about having killed my first buck!

Called a taxidermist this morning who is located near where I drop off the deer for processing, but haven't made up my mind to get the head mounted. I can decide after I get the deer skinned and ready for processing.

Of course, what would a hunting report be without pictures?