I have two major fears when Nov. 15 is approaching: being too sick or injured to go deer hunting, or having jury duty during the season. I had to serve on a jury for the first time a couple of years ago, but it was fortunately during January, which didn’t crimp my outdoor lifestyle any. I enjoyed doing my duty and was very impressed with the whole legal process.
As far as being sick or injured, there was the time I had major leg surgery and was on crutches for an entire deer season. I even helped my youngest son, Joe, track down the first buck he had shot, and it is amazing how well you can maneuver around in the brush on a pair of crutches. I did, however, wear out two sets of crutch tips!
This year’s firearm deer season turned out to be an eye-opener for me when I came down with a bug of some sort just a couple days before everything was going to start up. A home COVID test proved negative, but I had a lot of congestion and coughing.
As is usually the case, I had spent a sleepless night anticipating opening morning, and I was in a ground blind an hour before daybreak. I thought I had a handle on the coughing, but the night sky was just starting to lighten up when the brisk morning air got the better of me. Nothing is louder than a cough that you try to muffle in your arm.
Jake lives in Saginaw and has a job that frequently takes him away from home, often to other parts of the country and even overseas. I remember one year when he was in Kuwait the entire deer season. This year, however, he had set time aside to hunt local whitetails with me. He had even taken time during the summer to place a ladder-stand on a black walnut tree beside my back horse pasture, which is quite secluded and surrounded by dense cover of evergreens and brush.
The horse pasture, which Jake calls “the meadow,” is also crisscrossed with multiple deer trails leading to the nearby prairie grass fields and is an obvious deer travel corridor. Jake was also serious about catching up on his deer hunting because he had purchased the combo buck tags as well as 10 doe tags! He also had folks lined up who were requesting venison.
Jake’s favorite deer rifle is a Ruger American bolt-action in .450 Bushmaster which is topped with a 3-9X Leupold scope. He seldom misses with it. Opening morning found him in the ladder-stand overlooking the meadow, and the first thing to happen at first light was that a feisty red squirrel came down the tree trunk and stopped just above Jake’s head to check things out. The squirrel then scampered back up the tree and Jake soon began getting pelted with walnuts from above. The little red squirrel obviously didn’t appreciate any unwanted “squatters” in its tree.
That is when a large buck came walking by in the meadow, and Jake removed his glove for better access to the trigger and set the glove on his seat. His shot dropped the buck on the spot, and Jake racked in another round and stayed locked on in case another shot was required. That is when the squirrel came back down, grabbed the glove and literally thew it to the ground before scampering back up the tree. It was obvious this bold squirrel was serious about the eviction process!
Jake eventually climbed down, approached the buck and discovered it was a decent 10-point with a split brow tine. After tagging the buck, Jake returned to his ladder-stand, and yep, folks, that squirrel was ready and waiting for him! It was only after Jake nearly swatted the squirrel with his hat that it decided to back off. Another buck soon appeared in the brush behind Jake, but a clear shot never materialized.
As for me, I stubbornly held tight for a couple of hours, but after another coughing spell, I decided to give up my vigil. I was also certain Jake might need some assistance getting a deer out – there is usually something quite final about those single gunshots. Upon my arrival back at the house, my wife, Ginny, informed me that Jake had texted her he had a nice buck down and was requesting my assistance with the ATV and plastic sled. The first deer of the firearm season was soon hanging in the family deer tree.
That afternoon, Jake headed back out to the meadow, but I refrained as I was feeling none too good. I eventually thought I heard a single gunshot, and Ginny soon got a text from Jake that he had a doe down and needed my assistance again with the ATV and sled. As it turns out, Jake would continually request my assistance, and due to my condition, I was on ready standby at the house.
The following morning Jake shot a plump fork horn buck, and that evening he shot another doe. The following day, he would shoot yet another doe, and all tallied up, he would shoot five deer in the meadow with five shots in four days, and from the same ladder-stand, too. I must admit I was a bit impressed. During all my years of deer hunting, I’ve been known to shoot a couple of deer on the same day, but I’ve never achieved Jake’s production level in such a short timeframe.
On our farm, we typically don’t field-dress the deer at the kill site because doing so leaves the smell of blood and draws in predators, such as coyotes. We typically do that chore right next to the family deer tree, and we have a specific location on the farm where we dump the guts (I call it my “coyote bait pile”) away from our preferred hunting sites. That’s a good thing, too, because the meadow would have been a tad messy due to Jake’s success.
Meanwhile, that “attack squirrel” is still hanging around Jake’s ladder-stand but has been more respectful lately. This is probably due to the frequent loud blast from a .450 Bushmaster which ruins its otherwise peaceful and quiet day!
As I write this, I’m finally feeling much better and plan on getting back into the game. Thanks to plenty of time left, I’m optimistic about fine times ahead in the deer woods.
Email freelance outdoors writer Tom Lounsbury at tlounsburyoutdoors@gmail.com