My weekend, minute by minute.

I have decided that either I am A) The Luckiest Worst Hunter or B) The Unluckiest Best Hunter. Here's the breakdown of the weekend.

Saturday:

6:15 AM - Arrived at hunting location. Grabbed hat, gloves, gun and portable tree stand.

6:30 AM - Walked down trail, saw a hunter in the location I wanted to be in, so turned around, headed down a different trail.

6:45 AM - Found a suitable location, walked 75 yards into the woods and set up portable tree stand. View was decent, except for some heavy brush in one direction.

9:30 AM - The time we were supposed to meet at the cars, but I didn't have a watch on. I was waiting for my uncle and cousin to walk back down the trail, but they took a different way back.

9:40 AM - Heard some DRN (deer related noise) from behind the heavy brush.

9:50 AM - Was watching for the deer to appear from behind the brush. Finally saw a butt and a tail walked the other direction. Had about 1/2 second to aim and shoot, and even then it would have been a butt shot, so I didn't shoot.

10:15 AM - Haven't seen uncle and cousin yet, so I got down, took down stand because I didn't like the location that much (couldn't see behind the heavy brush) and headed back to the cars.

10:30 AM - Got back to the cars just as everyone else is heading back into the woods. Borrowed a watch. So far, only 1 other person has seen a deer and they weren't able to get a shot off either.

11:00 AM - Headed back into the woods.

11:20 AM - Went back to where I had the stand earlier. Since I didn't have any marking tape, I put an extra hat in the tree for a marker. Headed back deeper into the woods, about another 75 yards. Found a decent tree to put the stand in.

11:30 AM - Got the stand up in the tree and climbed up. The view was very good. This time, I got the stand up a couple feet higher, and the heavy brush that was giving me problems before was easier to see through, because I was a little higher above it.

1:20 PM - No deer seen, only mice and squirrels. Time to head back to the cars for lunch.

1:30 PM - Ate lunch at the cars, predicted that I would shoot a deer in the evening, because I had a perfect spot. Two people saw the same deer, and one took a shot at it, but missed it.

2:15 PM - Walked back out to the stand.

3:45 PM - Thought I heard some DRN; waited.

4:15 PM - Heard more DRN, while lookin around, saw a back leg of a deer go just of out site. Figured "What the hey" and try to do my best Burp Grunt (I don't have a deer call.) It worked! The deer turned around and started walking straight at my stand. It was a small doe, and I could have shot it easily, I decided to pass on it, because I figured a bigger one would come along. She walked to within 15 yards of my stand, and stopped to look around. She looked up and saw me, but didn't run. Instead, she just turned around and walked the other way.

4:30 PM - Head more DRN and saw another small doe. I decided I better take this one. I didn't want to get back to the other guys and tell them I passed on two deer. As I was watching it and waiting for an opportunity to pull the trigger, I heard some loud walking from behind me. So, I was watching both sides, the small doe I could see, and trying to find what was making so much noise behind me.

4:45 PM - The small doe wasn't moving anywhere fast, and I could still see her. I haven't been able to spot the other deer yet, but I'm sure there is one down there. Then, for some unknown reason, my throat gurgles a little bit. In the area I was watching to try to find the deer that I heard, I see two big deer, one with a nice rack on it jump back into the deeper woods and I never had a chance. The small doe on the other side of me was also gone.

5:10 PM - Getting dark fast. Had to get out on to the trail before I'd get lost.


Sunday:

6:15 AM - Arrived back at the hunting area. I left the stand in the tree overnight, so I wouldn't make any loud noises when I was getting there, but since I am such a nice guy, and my brother was complaining that he never sees anything, I told him he could use my spot in the morning. It was still kinda dark and a little foggy, so I walked him out there.

6:45 AM - I walked further down the trail and found a nice little log to sit on. Nothing happend for a long time, except dew was dripping from the tree tops.

8:30 AM - I was just sitting, being quite, then all of a sudden a deer took off running. It was about 40 yards away to start but it was gone a just a couple seconds. It snuck up on me, I didn't even hear it. It must have smelt me.

9:30 AM - Back at the cars. My brother told me how much my spot sucks, so I told him that it's just because he doesn't know how to use it. We had a broken thermos (it didn't keep stuff hot) so we shot it a bunch of times.

10:30 AM - The rest of the guys decided to move down the road about 1/2 mile. Since my stand was still in the tree, I stayed.

1:05 PM - Nothing happening, started the 20 minute 1 1/4 mile back for lunch.

2:00 PM - One of the vehicles wasn't working right, spent some time trying to get it running.

2:35 PM - Headed back to the stand. Took a shortcut, this time it was only 15 minutes.

2:50 PM - Just about to the spot where I turn in to go to my stand, two white tails popup and start running. But, instead of running deeper into the woods, they were running parallel to the path. So, what do you think I do. I started booking it down the path, loaded rifle in hand, hoping that either the run across the path or get to a spot where I can stop and get a shot off. But to no avail, they turned into the woods.

3:00 PM - Walking back to my stand very slowly, just hoping that the deer were still in the area. I did hear some DRN, I think, but it could have just been squirrels.

3:15 PM - Finally get to the stand. For the next 20 minutes, I heard a fawn calling on one side and two distinctly different deer grunting on the other side of me, but they must have walked around, because I never saw them.

4:45 PM - I thought I heard a squirrel making some noise behind me, so I didn't check it out at first. After I finally look, a medium doe is walking around just on the other side of the brush. Gun up, but I can't find her in the scope. It was getting dark and she blended right into the small trees and brushy stuff.

5:10 PM - Now it's getting really dark. Time to get out of the woods before I get lost; I gotta take down the stand still. In one last effort, I tried whistling really loud to try to get any deer in the area to run, so I could see them, but I didn't see or hear anything.

5:20 PM - It's a good thing I am on the path, because now it is completely dark. I wouldn't have been able to find my way out from where my stand was.

5:30 PM - Back to the cars. Nobody else saw anything...



9 deer sighted, 0 shot. That sucks.