Faulkner
Member
Since my oldest son and his wife requested to host Thanksgiving dinner at their home for the first time, I had no plans for Thanksgiving morning. I've already taken a young 8 point buck earlier this deer season but there was still some room in the deep freezer for another, so I decided I had time to hunt for a few hours.
We have a number of spots around our place where my sons and I regularly spot deer and deer sign, and we have permission from surrounding neighbors to hunt on their property as well. Not all of my neighbors hunt but they seem to appreciate it when I bring them a few packages of venison from a deer one of us takes while hunting their property.
I have a favorite hunting spot on a remote section of my neighbor's property near a creek. Last year I brought in a box stand and set it up with his permission. I set it up next to a stand of hardwoods on one side and a small meadow on the other. In the dead of winter with the leaves all off the trees I can see nearly a hundred yards through parts of the hardwoods, but this time of year most of the shooting distances are under sixty yards or so. It's a very pretty setting, and sometimes I take my wife to this area to take wildlife pictures.
Since any shooting this morning would be short range, I decided to take a M1 carbine along. I load my own .30 carbine ammo and use Winchester 110 grain soft/hollow point bullets for my hunting ammo.
I rode my ATV to within about a quarter mile of the spot and hiked in the rest of the way, arriving about 15 minutes before daylight. I keep a folding hunting seat strapped to the bottom of the stand so it doesn't get wet, so I unstrapped it and laid it in the stand. I climbed up into the stand, unfolded the hunting seat and made myself comfortable. I laid my backpack on the floor and pulled out my binoculars, swapped out my heavy gloves for a lighter pair, and checked to make sure I had a round chambered in the rifle. It was just starting to get daylight to where I could see around me so I did a scan around me with the binoculars. Fortunately there was no discernible wind but it was a nippy 38 degrees.
After doing the scan I reached back into my backpack and pulled out my Primos "can" bleat call. For those who have never seen one, it's a small can that fits in the palm of your hand. You hold it upright and then quickly turn it bottom side up and it emits a 2-3 second bleat sound. I sent out a bleat, waited about 15 seconds, and sent out a second bleat them put the call in my jacket pocket. I don't really know if the bleat call had any impact or not, but I saw movement across the meadow in the edge of the hardwoods no more than a couple of minutes after I'd used the call.
I slowly eased up my binoculars and scanned in the direction of the movement and could pick out a deer just inside the woods. It was walking in my general direction, stopping now and again to pickup acorns from under the oak trees. After watching a few moments I could tell it had antlers, but I could not see enough detail to determine if it was a legal buck. In Arkansas, a deer has to have at least three points on one side (essentially a six point) to be a legal buck. I couldn't tell yet if it was legal or not.
While this buck was in front of me, I heard movement behind me. In a painfully slow movement I turned to see what it was and found two does grazing only about 25 yards away. I slowly turned back towards the buck and could see he was head up watching the does as well. The buck ventured further out in the open and I spied it once more with the binoculars and could tell it was a nice sized young buck, at least a six point. As the buck dropped it's head to pick up an acorn I slowly raised the carbine to my shoulder. I let it continue roughly in my direction but heading more towards the does which I could still hear milling around behind me.
Suddenly, the buck raised it's head up with a jerk, ears fully extended. He didn't quite run but he picked up the pace significantly and as he crossed about 40 yards in front of me I took a bead, clicked off the safety, and pulled the trigger. He dropped in his tracks.
I turned around to check on the does but they were no where in sight. I turned back and I could readily see the white underbelly of the buck so I took out my iPhone and snapped a picture of where it lay from the stand.
I waited about 15 minutes then hiked to the ATV, rode it back to the buck and loaded it up. It was indeed a nice young 6 point. I got back home and was able to dress it out and still get cleaned up and ready to make it to Thanksgiving dinner on time.
We have a number of spots around our place where my sons and I regularly spot deer and deer sign, and we have permission from surrounding neighbors to hunt on their property as well. Not all of my neighbors hunt but they seem to appreciate it when I bring them a few packages of venison from a deer one of us takes while hunting their property.
I have a favorite hunting spot on a remote section of my neighbor's property near a creek. Last year I brought in a box stand and set it up with his permission. I set it up next to a stand of hardwoods on one side and a small meadow on the other. In the dead of winter with the leaves all off the trees I can see nearly a hundred yards through parts of the hardwoods, but this time of year most of the shooting distances are under sixty yards or so. It's a very pretty setting, and sometimes I take my wife to this area to take wildlife pictures.
Since any shooting this morning would be short range, I decided to take a M1 carbine along. I load my own .30 carbine ammo and use Winchester 110 grain soft/hollow point bullets for my hunting ammo.
I rode my ATV to within about a quarter mile of the spot and hiked in the rest of the way, arriving about 15 minutes before daylight. I keep a folding hunting seat strapped to the bottom of the stand so it doesn't get wet, so I unstrapped it and laid it in the stand. I climbed up into the stand, unfolded the hunting seat and made myself comfortable. I laid my backpack on the floor and pulled out my binoculars, swapped out my heavy gloves for a lighter pair, and checked to make sure I had a round chambered in the rifle. It was just starting to get daylight to where I could see around me so I did a scan around me with the binoculars. Fortunately there was no discernible wind but it was a nippy 38 degrees.
After doing the scan I reached back into my backpack and pulled out my Primos "can" bleat call. For those who have never seen one, it's a small can that fits in the palm of your hand. You hold it upright and then quickly turn it bottom side up and it emits a 2-3 second bleat sound. I sent out a bleat, waited about 15 seconds, and sent out a second bleat them put the call in my jacket pocket. I don't really know if the bleat call had any impact or not, but I saw movement across the meadow in the edge of the hardwoods no more than a couple of minutes after I'd used the call.
I slowly eased up my binoculars and scanned in the direction of the movement and could pick out a deer just inside the woods. It was walking in my general direction, stopping now and again to pickup acorns from under the oak trees. After watching a few moments I could tell it had antlers, but I could not see enough detail to determine if it was a legal buck. In Arkansas, a deer has to have at least three points on one side (essentially a six point) to be a legal buck. I couldn't tell yet if it was legal or not.
While this buck was in front of me, I heard movement behind me. In a painfully slow movement I turned to see what it was and found two does grazing only about 25 yards away. I slowly turned back towards the buck and could see he was head up watching the does as well. The buck ventured further out in the open and I spied it once more with the binoculars and could tell it was a nice sized young buck, at least a six point. As the buck dropped it's head to pick up an acorn I slowly raised the carbine to my shoulder. I let it continue roughly in my direction but heading more towards the does which I could still hear milling around behind me.
Suddenly, the buck raised it's head up with a jerk, ears fully extended. He didn't quite run but he picked up the pace significantly and as he crossed about 40 yards in front of me I took a bead, clicked off the safety, and pulled the trigger. He dropped in his tracks.
I turned around to check on the does but they were no where in sight. I turned back and I could readily see the white underbelly of the buck so I took out my iPhone and snapped a picture of where it lay from the stand.
I waited about 15 minutes then hiked to the ATV, rode it back to the buck and loaded it up. It was indeed a nice young 6 point. I got back home and was able to dress it out and still get cleaned up and ready to make it to Thanksgiving dinner on time.
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