Nov. 24

Well I got a deer. I didn't get him with my bow. And I didn't get him with a gun. I got him with my bare hands as he attacked me. I was walking back from my tree stand and I had on me Doe-in-estrus-urine; and this is the rut. He smelled it, as I had feared one might do. I was scared the whole time though, looking over my shoulder, keeping an eye on my surroundings as I walked out of the timber with no flashlight and no knife. I forgot my knife, that's bad! Before I knew it, out of nowhere he came and the buck charged me, so I whipped out an arrow and like a raging injun started hollering and charging back. I pierced him through the heart, his blood stained my hands. The look in his eye was saying "you won, girl-of-tree."
Okay Okay, this didn't really happen. But I thought it up as I was walking back from my tree stand last night with no knife, no flashlight (I forgot them..) in the middle of the rut with doe piss on me. Tales like this are what consume our mind when we've had an uneventful season. Nice thought, though!

I went out last night and it was a perfect night. It was a north wind, about 55 degrees and clear. I headed out at about 3. I stayed until around 6. I came down just in time: right before I couldn't see my hand in front of my face...good thing, because I forgot my flashlight. I figured if I could make it to the deer blind up the hill, then I could see the silo, and make it to the silo free and clear. And I made it, without being attacked by a buck who smelled the doe urine on me. (Right before I left the house, I looked at Jason, and with all seriousness, pulled out the doe-in-estrus urine and said, "'ll just put it on ME." He looked at me with horror on his face and a very strong and serious "NO!" (tee hee hee, I'll just put it on myself later...) And I did. Then I learned my lesson. You don't do that when you forget your flashlight and your knife. I have to admit, in the dark, with strange noises, knowing there's bucks looking for that smell of a doe in heat, I was scared. I booked it hard back to the four-wheeler!

While in my stand that night, I did see a doe. A really big one. There was a bluff behind me and she came down over the top of it. At first I think she sensed me but didn't sense danger, yet. So she cautiously kept moving her own way...down the bluff, across the dry creek bed that would eventually take her right under my stand into my shooting lanes. Stupid me. As soon as she started down to the creek bed, I just had to get a look. As soon as I turned my head, she leaped straight up and took off back up the bluff and through a bunch of timber, her white-tail bouncing along in alertness. That was the most action I've seen in days. So, until next time....