Hit the river at 5 am yesterday to a thick thick fog. No problem, the Lowrance unit will get me to my site without a problem. Time to put put down the narrow river in a ducking boat that's a tad big for the operation. The tide was out and due to swing just after shooting time. As i push away from the dock I hit the nav lights switch and get nothing. Shit....oh wait....Mike, use my head lamp as a the green and Dad your light has a red on it. John gimmie your flashlight...Viola....nav lights.
There's a beautiful quarter moon in the eastern sky, and orion in looking down on us. The river starts to bend and we should be close...we're about 15 min into our 20-25 min ride when flashing on the unit begins. Damn it...this stupid thing was doing this when fishing in the spring, but all summer it was fine....what's different now?
I knew about where we were, but the fog made it impossible to see anything along the banks. It was almost 6 when I started to get mad. The damn unit was about to take a swim.
I reached in my bag and grabbed a pair of wool gloves and put one on the antenna and warmed it up.....POSITION AQUIRED!!!...shit POSITION LOST......well I saw enough to tell me where I was....about 1/4 mile too far down stream.
We made it to the site and set the decoys with 15 min to spare till shooting time. The blind was set and we finally made it.
A little whistling of wings started the morning and a few shots rung out up and down stream. BOOM!!!!!....wow that was close....did some fool set up right behind us. That's private land and there's no blind registered...idiots, not following the rules....imagine that. BOOM BOOM....another one. Damn that was close....nothing like the whiz of shot coming by you in fog so thick you can barely see 20 yds.
Enough birds flew to make everyone happy, and other than a few missed shots the morning was starting to be successful. No feathers yet....the little suckers were using the fog to their advantage.
A nice flock of geese sang a song as they came over top. Man they are close....CAN'T SEE THEM.
The tide allowed us to finally get into a better spot as the sun was shining and the fog was gone.
Ah....a little shade.
I did a little messing around with the new gun cam, and when I finally had it put away, a nice drake woodie came in from the main river stem and lit into the decoys....well they work!!
A pair of shots from my dad and I and he was on the water.
Sandie hit the drink to do her job, and was back to the boat in a jiffy with the first feathers of the season.
We stuck it out until about 10 and decided to head to the ramp to finish the day at the deer lease about 50 miles away.
We pointed west and headed to the deer lease for a nap and afternoon bow hunt. Muzzleloader season starts next thursday and I wanted to get a feel for what's in the woods before the blamming begins.
After a much needed nap, we got suited up and headed in around 3:30. The geese were making all sorts of racket and flying high, low, and in between. Mike went deeper into the woods to a stand that's in a new spot for this season. It's on the edge of a clear cut that is on it's second year, and surrounded by pin and white oaks.
My stand is just in from a fallow field with a barrell feeder 50 yds away. It's up on a hill that was made when a drainage ditch was dug many many moons ago. The woods were selectively logged last year and the trails had some nice grass grow on them this summer. There's a nice little pond that I saw woodies and woodcock on in last year. It's in a quadruple maple tree with a ton of little tiny leafy branches. TONS of cover.
At about 4:45 I saw my first deer about 100 yds out and feeding towards Mike. Just then my phone vibrated and it was Mike telling me he's seeing stuff heading my way. She fed towards Mike and I never saw anything come from his way. The turkeys started clucking and making their way through the woods about 100 yds way. They were a little too far to be too entertaining, but it helped pass the time. The wind and cool night must have been keeping the skeeters away, wasn't bit once. Around 5:30 I saw tails way off in the distance, and dogs barking behind me to the right. More deer came running into the woods from the neighboring property. They weren't going too fast, but sure didn't like the noise coming from the houses they were running from. As it started to get dark a foursome of deer worked their way towards the field about 60yds to my right. A light colored doe alertly walked her way towards me, and the mother with twins stayed put. The "blonde" crossed at 40 yds and I almost drew on her. If I knew she was at 40 I would have tried, thought it was 50.
A single doe passed on my left at about 60 yards and worked her way into the clear cut.
The wind was gusty and strong and the nervous Blonde passed again, this time at a jog trying to catch up with momma and the twins as they fed their way into the field.
Night came and I headed down the ladder and to the truck. It's good to see the deer are still using the same traveling routes as last year. The smoke poles should have plenty to point at next week, and there should be a little more buck action as the rut gets closer.
Mike was at the truck when I got there, and I noticed 3 arrows in his quiver and two of them with mud. When he got in his stand and situated a young doe started feeding in front of him at about 50 yds. Another group came in behind him and he missed two shots at about 25 yds.
Mike doesn't have a range finder, and is having trouble hitting deer this year.
A little while later a group of turkeys fed by him at about 20 yds and headed to the roost. He heard two bucks going at it, but couldn't make out their size, I'd assume little guys.
He missed one more shot well before dark, and patiently waited for the day to end.
He had a blast and renamed the stand "The Zoo". I think I know where I'll be on the opener.
We stopped for chicken and ribs, dropped off the boat, and I finally got home to bed. Left the house at 2:45am and got home at 10:00.
59 more duckin days in MD, and 3 until the ML opener.
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