Well, it has been a banner year.

I was on my way out again late yesterday afternoon when I intercepted a deer in an unexpected way. My farmer friend and I had been glassing deer across a few different sections of his property when we decided I would walk a west to east treeline to access a back section where we saw a large group of does and a buck with a broken rack.

The wind had become very strong as the afternoon progressed and these deer were sheltering in one of his alfalfa fields on the lee side of a long row of pines. My route in should take me out of their view and would set me up in the pine trees for an ambush. Definitly a great plan.

It never happened.

About 10 minutes after being dropped off for my walk in, I saw three deer way up ahead in the open field eating some pumpkins. They were right in line with my intended route to the pines. With these deer now here now a change of pIans occurs. If they see me they will run where the other deer are and alert them. Now I had to cross over to the opposite side of the tree and brush line I was walking on. It appeared the deer had not seen me.

Cover was sparse so I progressed slowly and very crouched down. The soil there is heavy clay and we have had rain it seems 80% of the days for
November. The side of the brush line I was now in was soy beans and the clay muck was pulling me down! There were puddles of water everywhere but I slowly made my way towards the group of deer.

As I progressed, I noticed they started walking towards my direction and I was in a thin section of the brush line so I hurried and put a distant ash tree in between me and the deer. There is a large drainage ditch in the middle of the field and it looked like they might head that way. I keep moving, varying from quickly to slowly, keeping brush and trees between me and them. They never see me take a position behind another large ash. The heavy wind prevents them from hearing me crackle branches underfoot as I go.

I finally get as far as I can go with available cover. I am out of breath here at this point from hurrying and fighting the clay mud in a crouched position. This was also an very long distance, these fields are very big. The deer keep coming my way and I am desperately trying to regain composure and air. The wind is right and they keep coming. Soon I can tell it is a doe with her fawns. There is only a single ash tree trunk preventing them from seeing me. The doe begins to cross the big ditch and disappears in the bottom and as she comes up on my side she turns west and is now broadside to me and is trotting on. I have my shotgun up on my shoulder, ready to go.

The Remington roared and the doe was hit hard. She ran a few steps and fell giving off a death bellow. This doe is much bigger than my Thanksgiving day deer. This doe was, live weight, in the 160 to 180 pound range, she is
enormous.

That makes three deer for me this season. This doe was my first successfully stalked deer. Not that I have not tried many times in the past!

Well done and nicely written! I really enjoyed the accounts of your last two deer. Congratulations. Mike.

Way to go Ann!!!!!!!!! Congratulations!
D. Nelson

Ann, what kind of slugs are you shooting in your Remington? Congrats on your great season and your first stalked deer. With in a slug guns limited range they are deadly on deer. And with the high velocity saboted slugs like the Winchester Supreme that range is being extended considerably from what it was 25 years ago before saboted slugs and rifled barrels. Your 120 yard shot on your Tanksgiving day deer would have been nearly impossible back then. Again, Congrats!

Shoot Safe, Shoot Straight........RiverRat

Congratulations Ann, nice doe!

I hunted Michigan for the first time this year and had a great time.

I didn't get a buck this year, but I arrowed a couple great big does and enjoyed my stay in the U.P.

Don Martin
www.EndlessSafari.com

very well done!! When is dinner ready?

Mike

Nice job, Ann. Are the 'staps marinating yet?

Well, I have four tenderloins in the sauce as of today. I think I'll let them soak for a couple days then grill one up and freeze the rest for a late winter treat.

I will have to dig a slug box out to see exactly what I am shooting but I think they were Federals. Gimme a day or two, I have hunting gear everywhere right now and my place is total chaos.

Don, glad you enjoyed the UP. I lived there during my college years. Lots of outdoor stuff to do all year round.

Hey Ann, what ever happened to your gals-only hunt for Blacktails on Kodiak? Seems I recall you were asking questions about hunting our Alaskan deer earlier in the year.

You say you shot the doe after you saw she was with 2 yearlings? I always have a soft spot for momma if I know she has little ones with her. Of course, I will admit to shooting does and finding out after she is dead she has little ones. Not exactly a warm fuzzy feeling inside for me.

Hi Lars, my Kodiak hunt got cancelled when I got sick before, during and after my trip to Africa this past summer. Being ill cut into my vacation time so something had to give. I plan to reschedule Kodiak for 2004. I am very looking forward to that too!

You'd be hard pressed to find a doe here with out fawns. And they are fawns still, an animal in my book (I'm a farm girl) becomes a yearling when it reaches it's first birthday. Most does here have twins and an awful lot of them have triplets. When the hunting season starts fawns are fully capable of taking full care of their nutritional needs.

This doe's udder was already dry. Not that it makes a difference, the fawns will do very well on their own. We have so many does here it is good they are killed. There are not enough bucks and the majority of bucks are yearlings here. I have never seen a true mature buck in my hunting years.

I was recently told something interesting. I am not sure if it is true, but none the less, very interesting. I was told that if you want to increase the number of bucks to kill the mature does. It was said that her female fawns will always give birth to males on their first breeding. The mature doe, on the other hand, if left to breed again, would have mostly female young as she gets older. I am not sure if this is based on research or not.

I certainly wish Michigan had a better system for managing bucks, there are a lot of hunters here and even a spike is a Monday morning brag trophy.

Anyway, keep an eye on those Kodiak bucks for me. I will be looking for one next year!

Thanks Brent, I did not know what to think on that issue. Anyway, I will always go for the mature doe when looking to fill a doe tag.