Apthorpes Fishing & Hunting Adventures: Opening Weekend 2018 Girl's Clinic

Opening Day Success

Jessica with a beautiful 8 point buck

Opening day this year had Jessica and I hunting together in Bloomfield. The weekend before we had set up a new seat by the upper trail; cleaned up my stand as the roof was destroyed from a year of bad storms; and Jessica putting up a new seat in our old faithful stand. There was 18 inches of heavy wet snow from the night before. We got up at 4:45 and had a classic hunter's breakfast. Jake called us as he was going duck hunting with a friend in Oklahoma, where he is stationed with the USAF. He is an hour behind so it was 4 am where he was.

View from my stand opening day

The deep wet snow made for a long and slow walk to our stands. We were in our stands and then at the crack of dawn I heard Jessica shoot, then a second shot. I saw about 300 yards in front of me a large buck running along the creek bottom and heard it crashing through the icy stream heading south-east away from me. Jess texted me that she hit a big buck.

1.5 mile blood trail

Ten minutes later a large deer stepped into a shooting lane. I put the scope on it and watched it for a few minutes but could not tell if it had any antlers. Just as I concluded it was a big doe it moved and I could it had quite a nice rack. I put my scope back on him and has luck would have it he moved just as I shot.

We decided to sit in our respective stands for an hour than check out the results of our shots. At 8 I got out and walked to where I had shot at the buck. The was quite a blood trail that went as for west as I could see towards Jessica so I quickly deducted that it was Jessica's deer that I had shot at and she clearly hit it. The signs were so dramatic I thought the buck would be found dead on the stream bed I was standing on. Well, not so....

I followed the blood trail to the driveway, met Brud there, and waited for Jessica. The trail was by far the easiest blood trail I have ever tracked. We then tracked it for a mile in heavy snow, crossing streams, going up and down ravines. Dying in sweat as we had dressed for sitting in the cold snow, not going on a mile walk through hill and dale in deep snow!

We got to the south east corner of the property and the deer had walked out into the field heading off the property. Jessica and Brud decided to follow the trail into the field to see if they could see it. There definitely was a collective feel of defeat at this point. Halfway across the field Jessica waved to me indicating that the buck took a 180 degree turn and was heading west, directly into the wind, back onto Brud's property. The buck walked east passed the large shag bark hickory tree and into the thicket. I suggested we let it go as I would bed down in the thicket. The buck had tried to lay down three times while we were tracking so it clearly wanted to bed down. All agreed and we left the woods.

At 2:00 we returned, wearing a lot less clothing than earlier. At the barn Jessica, Tim Hedges, and I laid out the plan. The key idea was that if the buck was still alive, and startled, he would run into the wind as long as the wind smelled right. This required Jessica and Tim, who was in cross country skis, to approach the deer down wind and I would be up wind, but not so directly that the buck could smell me.

It went perfectly; Jessica kicked the deer up and called me to tell me he was on the move; I saw the buck 200 yards a way running into the wind; he caught a scent of a hunter on the neighboring property and turned towards me on the very south side of the horse pasture. I had my .50 muzzleloader resting on a fence post while I scoped the buck. He never stopped and I lead him while I pulled the trigger on a 100 yardish shop.

We all got together in the horse pasture and found the buck lying dead about 10 feet from where I hit it. A great plan with a great team. We brought the deer to the Hedges house where we met our friend the vet Dr. Meg . She hopped into the bed of the truck where the buck was and looked for ticks, finding one. She then asked if she could have the eyeballs so she could test some new eye equipment in her clinic. I agreed but quickly withdrew my permission when she wanted me to cut them out for her. I told her I do not do brains or eyes, if she wanted them she would hat to cut them out.

Jessica and took the deer to the DEC in Avon at their deer checkin site. The biologist, Jennie, told us the buck was 3 1/2 years old. She showed us the how to look at the infundibulum on the back molars to age the deer. Back at the garage Aunt Kay, who shot a 5 point that day also, sent Jessica a text that read, "Girl's rule, boy's drool".

McKenzie Covel on day #2 six point

Fun having Jessica tell Jake all about the day. Jake shared a was cooking the duck he shot earlier in the day using a recipe from our favorite Eddie Bauer cookbook.

The next day, day two, I decided to sleep in as I was very sore from all the activities of the day before. I made a crock pot of chili and put a fire in the garage wood stove. My friend Scott's son and his new wife McKenzie were hunting on the Krause property with Jim and John. At 8:30 I get a text that McKenzie had shot a beautiful 6 point. Sure enough they emerged out of the woods with the buck. It was believed to be the buck Scott had wounded bow hunting a week earlier. Unfortunately it had three different wounds that had been there for a very long time and I ended up cutting the deer in half. The entire front end was ruined. All enjoyed the hot fire, coffee, fresh chili and company celebrating her success. A lot of humor around deer camp having only two bucks and both from girls in their early 20's....luv it!!!!
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Below are pics from the weekend before getting everything all set for opening day. This includes a picture of Thor who spent two days kicking up a buck shot by Scott.