Blaze Orange

The 2011 Wisconsin Rifle Deer Season was one that will be remembered! My brother-in-law, Drew, and I kicked off the season by opening the cabin up Thursday night with a great meal and some beverages after commemorating the loss of his father, John, who absolutely loved rifle hunting in Wisconsin. We talked about life, about traditions, and about deer after looking at our newest batch of trailcam photos. –We had been getting a host of nice bucks this year on camera, but there were two main-frame ten points with kickers off of their G2s that we both decided we had to hunt hard for. One of these bucks I got to know pretty well back in October as I bow hunted him, but he gave me the slip and turned a bit nocturnal at the particular location that I was hunting him at.

On the Saturday morning of opener there was an early shot fired at a little after 7:30 am from Drew’s direction. –I had a feeling that he had an encounter with one of the two bucks. After a few minutes a text came in from Drew that he was pretty positive that he had hit one of the bucks, but didn’t know exactly as he had took off hard after the shot was fired. Soon thereafter, another text came through that he had got him and in fact had put a perfect heart shot on him as he was piled up on thirty or forty yards from where he was shot. –Now it was my turn!

Saturday and Sunday I sat with no sightings of the other buck. I had a great opportunity at a very nice nine point three times, but had told myself that I was passing on him waiting for an opportunity at the other ten with the kicker eleventh point. I began to wonder if I had made the right choice.

Monday afternoon I found myself in a stand once again and fairly early on in the afternoon I knew I had made the right choice holding off on pulling the trigger as the buck I was hunting appeared. Unfortunately it was about 360 yards off and he did not present himself with a broadside shot. I had a good idea as to the travel path he was on and waited for him simply hoping that he wouldn’t stall up or bed down. Well, he showed up again and this time he was broadside at 260 yards and I eased a shot off from the 280 Ackley Improved and the buck crumpled to the ground right where I had shot him! Unbelievable! –It is so great when a plan actually comes together.

I know my father-in-law was smiling down on us this deer season. We look forward to continuing the tradition and will think about him every time the blaze orange comes out in November here in Wisconsin.

Doing It Our Way...

The fall of 2011 hunting season certainly has been a new adventure for me here. –I have been working on figuring out the 90 acres that I am now hunting on for the second full year. Although I think I am starting to get it all “figured out” there are still things that I am learning every time out either sitting in a stand or scouting.
Additionally, now I have two little scouting companions with a third one on the way later on this year. The times that the three of us have been able to spend on the property together have been priceless. Additionally, I try to teach them a little woodsmanship and respect for the outdoors each time we are out together. I just hope that one day they will be able to enjoy everything Mother Nature provides us with as much as I do.
Over the past weekend we enjoyed an extra long weekend with Uncle Nick and Grandma Weiland. This is a weekend that I thoroughly look forward to weeks, if not months in advance as it provides me with an opportunity to do some bow hunting with my brother during the very best time of the year and is reminiscent on the days when we were younger and enjoyed nearly every fall weekend doing the exact same stuff together on our parent’s farm back in Brainerd, Minnesota. I just hope that some day my boys will walk this path together as Nick and I have had the opportunity to do.