Bow Hunting (Jason)

Temperature:  42 degrees at 5:30 / 52 degrees at 9:30
Wind:  Light W w/scattered showers

I was greeted in the quarry this morning to Doc working on the cabin.  He said he couldn't sleep so he went out there at 3:30 am!  When I first saw the lights on, I thought I was going to have to deal with trespassers, but then I saw Doc's tahoe parked towards the side.  I had a quick conversation with Doc and then drove to the field road as I planned on hunting the far north side of the property.  I decided to sit in the Sand Box stand that borders the pond and overlooks a sandy area.  Danny has sat in this stand earlier in the season, however this was my first time using it.  I sat still while I got used to my surroundings and my eyes adjusted to the darkness.  There was a full moon, however with almost total cloud color the sky was a really cool color of gray.  Just before sunrise, I saw what I thought was a silhouette of a deer stand in the sand about 30 yards to my right.  It appeared to be mulling around while passing through.  I watched it for a few minutes and it disappeared.  I figured that I was "seeing things" as I often do early in the morning.  It is surprising how anything can look like a deer early in the morning!  After sunrise, I was able to get a better idea of my shooting lanes and potential travel corridors for the deer.  This is one of those stands where deer get on top of you very quickly, so I stayed  alert and focused on the hunt.  The sounds of game birds splashing in the pond (I figured it was the cranes, but I found out I was wrong) and squirrels gathering nuts kept me occupied until around 9:00.  I decided to get down and walk down to the pond to take a look at the cranes.  Because of the recent rain, I was very eager to see any fresh prints in the sand box, so I cut through on my way to the pond.  I saw a set of very fresh deer tracks come out of the pines and right to where I thought I saw a deer earlier in the morning.  It was proof that my mind wasn't playing tricks on me and it was indeed a deer that I saw.  I worked my way down towards the pond and busted a nice flock of wood ducks off of the pond.  Overall, it was a pretty good hunt this morning.  I had my second deer sighting of the year and was excited to see the ducks on the pond. 

Total deer sightings: 2
Total hunting hours: 24