With so many things going on I have found little time to post actual hunting updates. I had some time off over the holidays, so I spent some time hunting in Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey. Here’s a quick recap.
12/18 New Jersey Snipe Hunt – I tried for some New Jersey snipe 12/18, although we were in the midst of a deep freeze on the east coast. During my two-hour hunt with my vizsla Gus, we got up two snipe. One was on the edge of an unfrozen stream, and one was hunkered down in the underbrush of a hedgerow. I manage to get some shots off at the second bird, but they were clean misses.
12/24 Delaware Woodcock Hunt – My friend Curt, my 11-year old daughter, and I hunted Delaware woodcocks on Christmas Eve morning. The ground was frozen solid, but we still found woodcocks. Curt and I each shot one, and my daughter got a shot off at one with her single-shot .410. At one point, Gus pointed three woodcocks sitting together. Two flushed at once, but only my daughter shot. As we commented on the double flush, the third one flushed, and none of us was ready to shoot!
12/27 Delaware Deer Hunt – We had a nice snow storm the day after Christmas, which left about 5 inches of snow at one of my suburban hunting spots. I braved 40 mph winds and 25-degree temperatures to get in a late afternoon bow hunt on 12/27. I saw a ton of tracks, but no deer.
12/28 Maryland Deer Hunt – I hunted in Maryland with my muzzleloader for about 3.5 hours on the afternoon of 12/28. I saw a ton of tracks, and even tried to follow some fresh ones. Unfortunately, the tracks all crossed onto the neighboring property, where don’t have permission to hunt. I heard some deer blow, but I saw none.
12/31 Delaware Deer Hunt – I went back to my suburban deer hunting spot on New Year’s Eve. Legal shooting time ended around 5:16 PM. Around 5:05, a fox walked passed me. I made a few calls to him, and he stopped. As I watched him, I noticed a lone deer coming toward me. As the light faded, I lost sight of the deer, but I could hear it moving. After shooting time ended, I began climbing down from my stand. The deer was about 10 yards behind me, hidden by a pine tree. It bolted away.
1/1 Delaware Deer Hunt – Well, if I wanted to shoot geese with my bow, I could have done so easily. I went to a suburban spot for some bow hunting, and there were about 150 Canada geese all over. I was able to creep into shooting range of a few, but I opted not to shoot since I didn’t want to spook any deer that could be around. As I walked toward my stand, I saw a deer jump up about 80 yards away and bolt. Again, I waited until the last minutes of shooting time. As I turned to grab my bow off the tree hook, I saw a buck standing 50 yards behind me. 9 times out of 10, the deer approach from the exact opposite angle. This one caught me off guard. I waited to see what he would do. He continued walking another 10 yards, until he got got right into the wind that was apparently blowing my scent right to him. He stopped, turned, and silently trotted away. The was the second close call in as many days.