Nov 6, one
more opportunity to crab. Well, maybe
more but you never know how many 70 degree days you’ll get the rest of the
year. Used my electric motor to putt-putt the big jon boat out into the Dames
Quarter marsh. I really dislike this
electric motor regulation. However, I
can see how progressed the silting-in of the place has become, as the water
level seemed normal and the DNR came out with gas outboard and almost was
swamped in the mud. Anyway, gorgeous day
and I caught 3 dozen nice sized male crabs, although it took me about 3 ½ hours. No worries, I had all day. Crabs were tasty,
although some a bit light, and lost about 6 by the next day.
Nov 23, deer
season arrives. My buddy Pat, whom I met
many moons ago freshman year at WVU invited me up to his very nice spread in
south-central West Virginia. He had been
trying to get me to come up there for years, sorry now I had waited so
long. Actually got up there the
afternoon prior, in time to get a tour of the property and an opportunity to
choose my stand for the next day. Are
you kidding me?? Well, Pat had acquired a total of 160 acres adjoining his
house, and what he had done with the property was nothing short of
amazing. 4-wheeler trails were developed
to allow access to all of it, but in a very non-intrusive way. There were food plots planted at various
places, in addition to automatic corn feeders placed along with them. And to complete the picture, each one of
these tailored deer attracting areas had multiple stands overlooking them, in
well-designed drop positions.
So, I chose
a stand and was escorted back there by 4-wheeler next morning at 0630. After just enough daylight to see for
shooting at 0645, I had three deer down on the ground by 0745. By 0815, I had all three field dressed and
was back in my stand. And at 0830 I
capped it off by shooting a coyote. Magic,
pure magic. Did I mention that Pat had
also developed a shooting range, which I used to true up the scope on my 30-06
at 100 yards. Back to the deer,… I saw
the first doe on the food plot below at about 0640. She was small and I watched as the 2nd
followed her within 5 minutes. This
second one was a good size doe, and I chose to take the 100 yard shot. After the rifle crack, both deer scurried off
out of view. I would have to wait until
later to check this out. Since I saw
both actually running, I assumed that I had missed. When the small deer came back around closer to
me about 20 minutes later, I shot her in my desperation to at least take home
some meat. This was a quick kill, one
shot and down, the 180-grain core-lock doing its job. Well, another 30 minutes pass and a really
nice buck comes across and down the gentle hill above me. I could see that this one was sporting 8
points and had a nice size body, so I put this deer in my cross-hairs and ended
his life. Now here is when things
started to get interesting. I left my
stand with my field knife and went to skin the small doe which had circled
back. I was met with two surprises: 1) The small doe was actually a young button-buck
(darn), and 2) looking down the hill, I
could the downed body of the first deer I had shot at, the one I thought I had
missed. So, here we have it, 1 + 1 + 1 = 3.
No going back now. I proceeded to
field dress all 3, then returned to my stand (to call my wife, etc) and wait
for Pat to finish his hunt. About 20
minutes into this wait, I spotted a coyote, hot on the trail of the entrails of
the deer I had just taken. Pat had given
my clear instructions to shoot any coyote I saw (they are at nuisance levels
there, and season is open 365). I took a
100-yrd shot at the coyote down at the first kill site, and it took off after
firing. Well, dang if it didn’t circle
around back to me, taking the same path as that small button buck. This time, a 40-yard shot was effective.
Nov 27- a 75
degree day and I am taking the boat out onto Tangier Sound on slick calm seas. Unfortunately, completely unable to coax a
rockfish out of the water, either by trolling (swim-shads) or jigging in
various depth waters. The boat would get winterized and covered days later.
Nov 30 and I’m
down to Deal Island for Maryland deer rifle season. The weather is not optimal, warm in the
mid-50s, light rain and fog. But, I suck
it up and at least do evening hunts.
With the passing years, I am less and less a fan of being wet and cold. Wednesday is all of the above, plus
windy. Finally, Thursday rolls around,
it is clear, sunny and windy and I can at least get the boat wintered. Since I finish up at 3PM, I decided to finish
the day hunting, and I drive right the street to the public hunting area on the
island. At 4:30, A decent doe emerges
into the field, but guessing it is about a 250-yard shot, I pause and
consider. Glad I paused, another nice
doe emerges right in front of me, about a 60-70 yard shot. Fortunate to have the wind covering me (and
blowing in my face and away from the deer), I manage to get my shooting stick
into position and put deer #4 down with one shot. Before I get up, I look back to where deer# 1
had emerged, and see that it has been joined by a friend. Deciding to pass, I go and begin field
dressing the one I had shot. Again, two
surprises await me: 1) the doe I shot is
actually a spike buck, with one antler broken off and the other about 8 inches
long; 2) Another doe pops out of the woods
at about 75 yards away, which I also passed on.
Four deer was more than enough, as I gave the final one away to someone
who could use it more than me.
And that’s
the final story for 2015. I’m not sure
where 2016 is going, but I can say that 2015 was overall an awesome year. I am thankful that my wife gives me ample
opportunity to pursue some of the things that I love to do and which had very
little time for while we were busy raising kids. This is a season of life I have been forward
to for a while. I’m also thankful for my
good health, for allowing me to be physically able to do the things I
love. I’m thankful to have a job that
provides me enough time off to pursue these interests. Can’t wait to do something else
blog-worthy. It might be springtime,…
although 2-day winter deer season is just around the corner hahahahaha.
