Beautiful Snow

It doesn't take you long to see that we are once again Beginning to look a lot like Christmas. We along with many others will see a white holiday in a little over a week due to the weather systems passing our way this week. Today is the fourth day of the Second Shotgun season. Sunday,day two, was the last time I was out to attempt to hunt. Around 7:00 A.M. I positioned myself at the northeast corner of the house. Deer were feeding under the far Oak trees, closest to the fence, seen in the picture. They had started to move to the east. My target was a dominant doe...She had started to move, paused between two small saplings, I took a shot with my little Remington 20 gauge. She hopped as if she had been stung, took off over the fence leading her group without stopping in my line of sight. The clan went wild, joined another bunch munching on exposed pasture grasses and took of for the safety of my mentor/neighbor's timber. Checking for a bloodtrail - coming up with nothing this time around...with the temperatures taking a real nose dive Sunday morning, around 10:00 A.M., it has become very uncomfortable to be out since then. The season continues until next Sunday. Only time will tell if I will brave the elements after the wily Whitetail...

Iowa Second Deer Shotgun Season Opener

Iowa saw another shotgun deer season open on December 13th. My day started off with a short walk at 5:45 A.M. into the North pasture to sit beside a pile of wood to await the legal shooting hours to arrive. The weather wasn't too bad with temperatures in the 30's and low breezes to start with. On my initial trip out, I came across an adult deer by the sound of the snort as it left it's feeding on acorns, before I entered the pasture. Then I woke up a doe with two fawns on the east side of a draw, a path frequented by deer often. The only light at the time was the brilliant moon. The time seemed to pass slowly...I kept writing mentally a research paper for my computer literacy class...then some blogposts. Too bad I didn't have my notebook and a penlight. Hmmm, maybe the pen wouldn't have worked from the cold? It wasn't to long before I heard the crunching of snow behind me. The sound of one deer hopping the fence, coming my direction, then another after a time. I knew that I shouldn't be doing to many fast movements ,even with the light still not bright enough to legally shoot. The first deer, a fawn , came around to the west end of the wood pile and got a visualization of me. Still I didn't move . I could see by the body language, ears pulled back, meaning it wouldn't be long before it would be taking flight. Both deer took off on a different path back to the neighbor's timber they had exited not long before. Sunrise brought sightings of deer everywhere...out of range. My day ended with sitting inside the fallen hickory,in the funnel I have spoken of before.Temperatures had warmed up into the upper 40's melting the snow off somewhat.The deer remained just across the ravine, south of where I was stationed. The wind had been coming out of the south all day. Deciding as the daylight was waning to go back into the house, gunshots moved a couple of groups of deer across the soybean field to the west of my location. The first group consisted of does and fawns. It looked like a doe had been injured, so I began my approach to see if I could take advantage of the situation before the sun totally set for this opening day. As, I walked toward the group they seemed to be curious,they stood for the longest time. Getting closer I alarmed them little by little. The one I thought was injured was the last to take off but she headed over the field, fence, pasture into the cornfield to the north with the rest of her group. So, ended my first day, of the Iowa Second Deer Shotgun season that runs from December 13th - 21st. ;)