Tomorrow is the last day of late archery whitetail season in Eastern Washington. I have been at a training camp for my new job and have been unable to make use of the weeks to go hunting. It all falls on the weekends and even then I don’t have the full weekends to hunt. But this last weekend, I did my very best to get out there and finish out the season with a successful deer hunt.I went back up to my friend Nikki’s place. (Domenique if you didn’t catch that in a previous post) She’s always had plenty of deer up there at her place and last weekend was not really different.
I’ve been keeping my spirits high as it is the end of mating season for whitetails as well. There are bound to be some horny bucks around right!? Well, there are. But according to Nikki, they come out after dark around 8pm. I have a pretty good suspicion that they hang out across the road on the neighbor’s property in his forest area. It’s actually quite nice up there and I can understand why. It’s not nearly as overgrown as Nikki’s property either. Don’t get me wrong, it’s beautiful, but it’s overgrown.
So last weekend I went to her place to hopefully bag a buck or even a doe. At this point I’m only concerned about the meat. Let me just say, last weekend was FREAKIN COLD! If I remember correctly it was around 11 degrees Fahrenheit. I was bundled up warm enough if I were walking around. However, I got there before light and spent a little time in the cold fiddling with a tree stand I hadn’t used before. I decided it wasn’t worth it to try and put it up and spook everything in the area. That’s right about the time I started hearing things moving near the creek she has on her property, which runs right by the house.
So I decided to go up to the barn and hang out. They like to hang out in that area and it was a good chance to see something cross the property. I waited nearly two hours before I decided it was just too damn cold to be sitting still. I think my fingers and toes were getting near frostbite anyway so I had to move or risk losing them. I’m not really joking. I was really damn cold and it wasn’t getting any better. With that decision I started moving up the driveway, hoping to spook something out or catch something coming across. I should mention, I also decided to move because I had done some calling (doe grunts/bleats) and heard some stuff walking near the creek about 30 yds from me…but nothing came out. I knew something was around because at one point the dogs came out and were barking. they always do that when the deer come out. Where the deer started or where they came from I have no idea, but I knew they were there somewhere. I just couldn’t see them.
I got about 30 yards up the driveway near a clearing and a prime crossing for the deer and heard something. I stopped and listened. I heard more cracking. Something was coming up from the creek to cross the property. I was in a good spot, or so I thought. I could see enough to see everything walking around on the other side of a small stand of fir trees, but there were a lot of those overgrown bushes I had mentioned all over. They were leafless and I could see through them. I could not shoot through them though. It was about then I heard the deer coming really close. I must have been behind a thicker bush right where they came up because I could not see them. Oh, did I say that. Yes, about a minute later I noticed a deer butt flick through the bushes off to my left. I thought they would be coming across to my left. How perfect would that be! It would have been a good shot and they would have been perfectly broadside and at a good angle for me.
At that point I think they saw me, because they started to be really cautious. I think they saw me, but they couldn’t make me out. I wasn’t wearing my best gear for hiding amongst fir trees because the weather was too cold, so I was in Cabela’s Outfitter Wooltimate stuff. I must have looked a little odd. Then I saw them. One by one they started sneaking up along the clearing across the bushes from me. One, two, three…then four and five does. I never did see a sixth, but I think she was there too. They played tag-team with watching me as they crept along munching a little bit of grass here and there and quietly sneaking along. I was ever so slowly moving along with them, making sure not to make any sudden moves. Finally the lead two went behind what I thought was a thicker bush and the rest put their heads down so they couldn’t see me. I thought to myself, now this is an opportunity. So I turned quite a bit to get ahead of them and be ready to shoot as soon as they came across the driveway.
Little did I know that the lead doe was still watching me. She spooked, jerked her head up and then bugged out…taking all other five does with her. Within seconds they were at least 50 yards away and going. I was totally distraught at that point. Another super close encounter and it was botched and I was unable to do anything with it. It was like that the weekend before when I had a doe and her fawn within 10 yards. Only problem was she was staring at me the whole time, not sure what I was. In any case, I was pissed off. I was probably not going to get another chance, it was my last weekend to get a deer and I was still damn cold. I think it was only 19 or 20 degrees Fahrenheit at that point. I decided that maybe there was a chance in hell that I could get up to the clearing near the main road and get ahead of the deer since that was sort of the direction they were headed. Now, I don’t say that to mean I could outrun them. They don’t go into the clearing unless it’s dark out…they stick to the woods. Which gave me a chance to get to the clearing and work my way around. When they spook that way, they invariably head for the other side of the property to hide and chill out for a while. No pun intended! Wow, that was bad.
Anywho, I got up to the clearing and saw nothing. I worked my way around to the other side of the property and stood there a little bit. I wasn’t hearing anything. I wasn’t seeing anything. And I was getting cold again. So I decided to risk it and move farther in along the property line to a spot I was sure they would be. Unfortunately, they weren’t. They were closer than that. I walked about 30 yards along a game trail headed to that spot I thought they’d be. Right after I passed a bush overhanging the trail, they spooked off to my left and all six of them ran off to another property. At that point, I was done. I knew the rest of the day was worthless and it was much to cold to sit and wait them out.
I went back and got my gear together and headed out. Had I been able to put the stand in place prior to my getting out there, I might have had a different bit of luck. I have a sneaking suspicion that I would have been in the perfect place at the perfect time and at a vantage point where I could shoot without fear of being seen or spooking the deer. I can’t guarantee that I would have stayed warm, but I should have been able to make it long enough to get one. I headed out, head held low. I was not coming back again to hunt deer this season. I was done and my freezer was devoid of venison. I hope that I have better luck next year. Some archery practice and some tai chi is in order…that and a stand of my own. Now is the time to concentrate on coyotes. If only they were worth eating.
Tags: deer, Eastern Washington, Hunting, late archery, whitetail
