First week in December and I decided to go deer hunting and see what would happen. Didn't get out to the deer lease until about 10PM on Friday, so I was only going to be able to hunt Saturday and Sunday morning. Saturday morning had some promise - even though there was a full moon - so I was hopeful that I would be able to bag my buck. Get out to the stand around 5:45AM and get setup. At 7:28AM two hogs decide they want to mooch some corn from the deer feeder. I decide to nip their bad behaviour in the bud. I drop one hog where he stood with this nicely placed shot.
His buddy ran off, and seconds later the deer feeder starts spitting some more corn - what timing! I let the pig lay, hoping that something else would show itself - pig or deer. Unluckily, nothing did.
As the day went on Saturday, the wind started to pick up just as the weather forecast had predicted. We decided to head to the stands early, in hopes that the deer would be moving... They weren't. After about 4.5 hours in the stand seeing nothing but the leaves blowing, I decided to go exploring, thus ending Saturday's hunt.
Sunday morning I didn't get to the stand until about 6:30AM - and I was much happier with the extra hour in bed. The days hunt started similar to all the others - not seeing much. The deer feeder went off at 7:30AM as it is programmed, and nothing was happening. At 8AM a doe magically appeared about 40 yards staring at me. Not sure where she came from, but I made sure I didn't make any sudden moves until she decided to start eating. She hung around for a few minutes, and then went back into the woods. About 5 minutes later, I see the same doe staring at me, but this time from only about 20 yards away directly to my left. The picture I took is a little blurry, but at least you can tell the size.
As the day went on Saturday, the wind started to pick up just as the weather forecast had predicted. We decided to head to the stands early, in hopes that the deer would be moving... They weren't. After about 4.5 hours in the stand seeing nothing but the leaves blowing, I decided to go exploring, thus ending Saturday's hunt.
Sunday morning I didn't get to the stand until about 6:30AM - and I was much happier with the extra hour in bed. The days hunt started similar to all the others - not seeing much. The deer feeder went off at 7:30AM as it is programmed, and nothing was happening. At 8AM a doe magically appeared about 40 yards staring at me. Not sure where she came from, but I made sure I didn't make any sudden moves until she decided to start eating. She hung around for a few minutes, and then went back into the woods. About 5 minutes later, I see the same doe staring at me, but this time from only about 20 yards away directly to my left. The picture I took is a little blurry, but at least you can tell the size.
She was pretty small so I didn't feel the need to beg permission from my brother-in-law to shoot her (only one doe permit for the lease this year and he won the draw). I was also hoping that she would have a buck following her, but unluckily she didn't.
What happened next was definitely a first for me, and rather odd... It was around 8:45AM, and I start hearing a bunch of black birds behind me. The noise gets louder and louder, and as I look out my stand I see this to my left:
What happened next was definitely a first for me, and rather odd... It was around 8:45AM, and I start hearing a bunch of black birds behind me. The noise gets louder and louder, and as I look out my stand I see this to my left:
and this to my right:
Here they are coming in for their landing:
This is where they ended up:
And this is all that was left after my feeder had spun for 10 seconds. The squirrels did come by afterward to finish it off...
So... As this all was happening, I wasn't sure the best way to handle the situation. Should I shoot at the birds to scatter them - thus scaring off anything that is in the vicinity? Is it good that I don't have to wonder about when during the day the deer are eating the corn? If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.
