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The most uneventful 72 hours in a stand I have ever spent. Saturday through Thursday was nothing but dinks and does. The does were still paired up with their fawns and sometimes in groups. The dinks weren't even acting rutty. Just normal deer behavior. Walking around, browsing, etc. Thursday (day 6) I saw my first rutting behavior about 5 miles from my hunting spot. A buck with his nose to the ground cruising a field edge. Still no rutting behavior from the stand. All told I saw minimal movement and dinks. Not a single deer over 100 inches seen from the stand. On Tuesday I had gotten a good picture of a 10pt in a small woodblock. Him and about 4 does and 3 dinks on a 2 day cam soak. The next morning I saw every deer except the 10. That night JD called and told me he saw tank about 3 miles north with a doe. By Saturday I had thrown up the fugg it flag and elected to sleep in one morning of my uneventful vacation. Saturday evening I took my GF nephew out to hunt a blind. About 9:30 the GF calls and says the sheriffs department was there saying they found my truck abandoned in Champaign county. She assures them I'm hunting. They want me to call anyway. I call the officer and he's nice. My truck was parked in the field the night before and again that morning prompting them to think it was abandoned. So I get that straightened out and he want's to play 20 questions about why I have pumpkins stacked to the roof in the back of my truck. Then he want's to know what the propane torch was for. I almost told him i was making pumpkin spice meth but thought better of it. and not wanting to explain what a "Smoker" was to an officer already obviously clueless about hunting I told him it fell out of the truck.
That evening I take the GF nephew to another spot I have been baiting for months in hopes to pull the does in and entice tank. No tank so lets take him there to shoot a doe. We get settled in the blind and about 20 min I'm hearing gunshots. Just figured it was the neighbors. Then I hear rounds coming though the trees.. I told the GFs nephew to stay low in the blind and I'll go find out what's up... I walked out waiving my arms and yelling at these people.. The quit shooting and I go back to get her nephew. We get in the truck and I drive to where they are on the top of a high wall. The gravel pit area is literally 10 acres. Half owned by one person, half by another.. I had permission on one and was parked at the entrance to the other. My truck was in plain sight from where these guys were shooting.. I told her nephew to stay in the truck as I walked over to talk to them. I started off nice as I could see they were young 20 year olds. I asked "Did you guys see my truck down there" Yeah he said in a smartassed tone.. Then what made you think it was safe to be shooting that direction". I called the landowner and nobody has permission to be here except us he said again smartassed. Actually I do have permission on the neighbors place and it's only 10 acres in here.. really It doesn't matter who owns what, you saw my truck and started shooting anyway, it' a safety issue not permission. "Yeah, well you aren't wearing orange while hunting and you should be." A switch flipped inside me. I lost it.. I spit my dip out, walked to within about 3 feet and said "Boy, you tell me what I'm supposed to be doing one more time and you're going to be swallowing your fucking teeth" Then i just stared at him for about 10 seconds.. His buddies instantly quit laughing and saying things together under their breath, and he went in to instant oh shit mode. Once he stopped being a smartass and I could literally see him shaking i calmed back down and told him. Excuses don't bring people back if you kill someone.. The bottom line is you saw my truck and you decided to shoot anyway. That's not safe. Landowner permission, orange, all that doesn't matter to a bullet.. I dint come up here to yell at you guys but you need to understand you could have easily shot someone today. I understand you guys want to have fun and shoot guns but you ned to use your damn head. Those aren't toys and people get killed everyday doing stupid shit like this.. What's the landowners number? I'm not calling to get you guys in trouble as I think you've figured it out, I want to let him know i have permission on the neighbor so he doesn't think I was trespassing. The kid was shaking so bad I could barely make out the number he wrote down. I called the landowner and let him know. Mentioned the guys shooting but I didn't mention how unsafe they were being. The last thing a landowner wants to hear is people being unsafe with guns on his property as that's how everybody loses permission. He ended up giving me permission on about 100 acres across the road which connects another place i have permission.
Oh and earlier in the week I picked up permission on another property I've wanted to get in for a while. It's where all my big ones come from and want to go. However a couple sits in there proved uneventful until i learn what the deer do in there.
Ah the joys of hunting.
The most uneventful 72 hours in a stand I have ever spent. Saturday through Thursday was nothing but dinks and does. The does were still paired up with their fawns and sometimes in groups. The dinks weren't even acting rutty. Just normal deer behavior. Walking around, browsing, etc. Thursday (day 6) I saw my first rutting behavior about 5 miles from my hunting spot. A buck with his nose to the ground cruising a field edge. Still no rutting behavior from the stand. All told I saw minimal movement and dinks. Not a single deer over 100 inches seen from the stand. On Tuesday I had gotten a good picture of a 10pt in a small woodblock. Him and about 4 does and 3 dinks on a 2 day cam soak. The next morning I saw every deer except the 10. That night JD called and told me he saw tank about 3 miles north with a doe. By Saturday I had thrown up the fugg it flag and elected to sleep in one morning of my uneventful vacation. Saturday evening I took my GF nephew out to hunt a blind. About 9:30 the GF calls and says the sheriffs department was there saying they found my truck abandoned in Champaign county. She assures them I'm hunting. They want me to call anyway. I call the officer and he's nice. My truck was parked in the field the night before and again that morning prompting them to think it was abandoned. So I get that straightened out and he want's to play 20 questions about why I have pumpkins stacked to the roof in the back of my truck. Then he want's to know what the propane torch was for. I almost told him i was making pumpkin spice meth but thought better of it. and not wanting to explain what a "Smoker" was to an officer already obviously clueless about hunting I told him it fell out of the truck.
That evening I take the GF nephew to another spot I have been baiting for months in hopes to pull the does in and entice tank. No tank so lets take him there to shoot a doe. We get settled in the blind and about 20 min I'm hearing gunshots. Just figured it was the neighbors. Then I hear rounds coming though the trees.. I told the GFs nephew to stay low in the blind and I'll go find out what's up... I walked out waiving my arms and yelling at these people.. The quit shooting and I go back to get her nephew. We get in the truck and I drive to where they are on the top of a high wall. The gravel pit area is literally 10 acres. Half owned by one person, half by another.. I had permission on one and was parked at the entrance to the other. My truck was in plain sight from where these guys were shooting.. I told her nephew to stay in the truck as I walked over to talk to them. I started off nice as I could see they were young 20 year olds. I asked "Did you guys see my truck down there" Yeah he said in a smartassed tone.. Then what made you think it was safe to be shooting that direction". I called the landowner and nobody has permission to be here except us he said again smartassed. Actually I do have permission on the neighbors place and it's only 10 acres in here.. really It doesn't matter who owns what, you saw my truck and started shooting anyway, it' a safety issue not permission. "Yeah, well you aren't wearing orange while hunting and you should be." A switch flipped inside me. I lost it.. I spit my dip out, walked to within about 3 feet and said "Boy, you tell me what I'm supposed to be doing one more time and you're going to be swallowing your fucking teeth" Then i just stared at him for about 10 seconds.. His buddies instantly quit laughing and saying things together under their breath, and he went in to instant oh shit mode. Once he stopped being a smartass and I could literally see him shaking i calmed back down and told him. Excuses don't bring people back if you kill someone.. The bottom line is you saw my truck and you decided to shoot anyway. That's not safe. Landowner permission, orange, all that doesn't matter to a bullet.. I dint come up here to yell at you guys but you need to understand you could have easily shot someone today. I understand you guys want to have fun and shoot guns but you ned to use your damn head. Those aren't toys and people get killed everyday doing stupid shit like this.. What's the landowners number? I'm not calling to get you guys in trouble as I think you've figured it out, I want to let him know i have permission on the neighbor so he doesn't think I was trespassing. The kid was shaking so bad I could barely make out the number he wrote down. I called the landowner and let him know. Mentioned the guys shooting but I didn't mention how unsafe they were being. The last thing a landowner wants to hear is people being unsafe with guns on his property as that's how everybody loses permission. He ended up giving me permission on about 100 acres across the road which connects another place i have permission.
Oh and earlier in the week I picked up permission on another property I've wanted to get in for a while. It's where all my big ones come from and want to go. However a couple sits in there proved uneventful until i learn what the deer do in there.
Ah the joys of hunting.
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