Hunting Mountain Whitetail Part II

Friday, our first day of hunting dawned wet and miserable. When it rains in this area it really knows how to make everything wet! But in spite of the weather we managed to get our blind set up.  The sun broke out soon after we were settled in. The rays glistened on the wet grass and trees boughs. Dad used the rattle bag and grunt tube, mixed some doe bleats in every once in a while… nothing… this was the way it went the whole day. We were anxious to find out if  Gary had better luck in his tree stand. It was dark when we got to camp, but we could see a lantern shining, and smoke curling from the stovepipe… what a welcoming sight!  Gary’s story was much the same as ours…sat all day and saw nothing. I cooked up Moose hamburger in gravy and onions, poured over mashed spuds with green beans for supper… sure tasted good… but we all agreed that we were looking forward to fresh deer liver and onions for supper tomorrow night!

 

 Dad did a great job of brushing in the blind! 

 

 

 

 

 

 Dad looking like “Chief Whitebird”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday we woke up with great expectations! The air was crisp and a light snow had covered the ground during the night… it just felt perfect for the deer to be moving! As we were hiking into our blind we saw bobcat tracks over the top of the boot tracks we’d made coming out the night before. A good sign that animals were on the move! Around 9:00 we heard two gunshots several ridges over… that was the vicinity where Gary was … so we were pumped up with the possibility Gary had a deer down!  It was cold this morning, and I felt for dad, as the cold really causes misery for him these days. I remember when I was a  kid seeing him work out in cold weather without even wearing gloves… but since the heart attack in 2007,  he’s on blood thinner and the cold just penetrates right through. We had brought a little propane burning heater and dad fired it up…I was glad for the warmth too! For lunch, Dad toasted his ham sandwich over the heater, then toasted mine… to top it off  he fixed hot cocoa… I’ve never had a better lunch! This is where I learned some great cooking advice from Dad…  ”When it’s smokin’, it’s cookin’…when it’s black it’s done!”… it was a special day… even though the deer never showed up. When we got to camp we were looking for a deer hanging … but alas all that greeted us, was Gary with a sad tale to tell! He had an opportunity at a nice buck at 15 yards…and missed…then again at 20 yards… and missed!  He did have an awesome experience later in the afternoon, as a bobcat wandered by his stand and he was able to get a little video of it. Gary said in all the years he’s been in the outdoors he’s never seen a bobcat…  Dad and I were encouraged by the deer movement Gary had seen… so far we’d not even seen  a white flag waving goodbye!… so we felt hopeful that our turn would come!

 

Sunday we spent a quiet day. We had our turkey dinner complete with stuffing and sweet potatoes. In the afternoon we took Dad up on a high ridge where the wolves seem to like to hang out, hoping Dad would get a glimpse of one… or even hear them howl… but they were not out and about. We did see their tracks all over and a few were  pretty good size.

 

 Cooking the Turkey 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 The feast is spread!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday I woke feeling a little tense… I was so anxious for Dad to at least see a nice buck … the weather was very unsettled,and windy…  and we spent another day not seeing a thing… Gary reported that his day had been the same… no deer.  The mood must have effected me… I just opened a can of Dinty Moore stew for supper…

Tuesday I have to admit I was getting very anxious…and perhaps a little cranky! Poor Dad! He is very hard of hearing, so I had resorted to writing little notes on a folded paper towel if I needed to tell him something. It was late afternoon and Dad had just finished a rattle sequence, when I was sure I heard a buck grunt coming from the one blind spot where we couldn’t see! I couldn’t get Dad’s attention, as he was looking the other way, and I couldn’t get him to hear me without shouting! I wrote in bold letters on the paper towel, “I heard a buck grunt!” … my heart was pounding! Dad gave a few soft grunts… we waited, holding our breath, straining to hear and trying to make out the shape of a buck in the thick growth of trees… nothing…  Dad rattled softly, sounding like two bucks just tickling their horns together.We continued to stay in high alert mode for some time , but finally realized the buck must have silently slipped away. I’m ashamed to admit I felt very frustrated… but Dad remained optimistic and cheerful… another lesson learned…  We returned to camp with another day of no deer sightings… but the things I had seen were through the eyes of the heart…

Wednesday we woke to a thick blanket of snow covering all in it’s splendid purity… it always amazes me what a great equalizer snow is… brown dirt looks just as splendid as the green trees with a covering of white! With the fresh snow came renewed hope! Gary decided to cover some ground today instead of sitting in a tree stand. He had seen a lot of fresh tracks not far from  our blind… so he thought he’d hunt our way and perhaps push some deer toward our set up. Late in the afternoon I thought I heard something in the brush, again on our blind side. Dad wasn’t aware of it for he couldn’t hear… it made me realize how precious our hearing is, and how much one misses if the sense of hearing is gone… I didn’t try and alert Dad this time because I really wasn’t sure it was a deer. After 10 minutes had passed there was a loud wheeze and snort… followed by the thumping sound of a deer bounding away… Dad still hadn’t heard anything… so I never bothered him… I think we perhaps had more deer come in than we realized… they were just slipping in where we couldn’t see, and getting wind of us. The wind was very unpredictable… a frustrating aspect of hunting in a blind… sometimes it was in our favor, and then it would swirl every which way! When we returned to camp after dark, Gary had the lanterns burning and a warm fire going … those simple things are such a pleasure after spending 9 hours in the cold! Gary had seen deer and had an opportunity at a doe… but it was late in the day and he was far from the road, so decided to pass on her. He came across a huge scrape… how he’d have loved to see the buck that made it! That evening we enjoyed exchanging the stories of the last 5 days…

 

 Sure would have liked to see the deer that made this scrape!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday morning Dad served us coffee in bed at 5:00 am! I don’t think even 5 star hotels offer that kind of service!  Gary and I broke camp while dad headed out to our blind for just one more try… never give up! I think Dad was looking forward to being out there by himself for a little while… just the quiet solitude and a chance to reflect… when he drove into camp several hours later with no deer to show for all his efforts… he had a big grin and was so happy… it really touched a chord in my heart… another lesson learned… 

 

  Served coffee in bed at 5:00 am!

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I reflect on our hunt there are the intangibles that can’t  be put in words… Dad never made one remark about being disappointed. He told Mom that he had the best hunt he’s ever had… I know for myself, there are precious things that will remain burned in my heart from this hunt…  Dad turned 80 on November 28th… I was privleged to spend 40 plus hours with him in a blind… Priceless!

 

 … Thanks Dad!