With our good luck yesterday, of course I was eager to go hunting again. Last evening, the Windy app and NOAA forecast a blow to start this afternoon, so I would make a game time decision this morning based on how the seas looked. I hooked the skiff trailer up to the truck so I’d be ready to go.
At daylight, there were one foot waves out the window, with no whitecaps yet. That will work. Might be my last chance before Thanksgiving.
I headed out to a spot down the beach a few miles from where we got the deer yesterday. I got a buck in there last November, and saw another buck I didn’t get. The muskegs are not too far from the beach, so I figured if I got lucky, I could get back to the boat and back to town before it started to blow in the afternoon. The blow looked like it was going to crank up about 3 pm, so I wanted to be back to the boat and on my way home not long after noon.
I drove to the boat ramp about sunrise. There was only one other truck and boat trailer in the parking lot. The privilege of retirement and hunting on a weekday. I launched the boat, started the outboard, then re-remembered how to run the little air pump for the air shock seats. These type seats are kind of old technology I think. But boy howdy, do they work. My 62 eyes couldn’t see in the just after sunrise light, and I finally got out the headlamp from my hunting pack and found where the wire needed to go to run the pump. I pumped up my seat, got the navigation chart up on the Garmin, and idled out past the fuel dock. I don’t run my skiff very often anymore, as I use the tug most days, but I do love this skiff. It’s a perfect size at 19 feet for me to handle getting it on the trailer, with plenty of room in the aft wheel house for people and gear. Everything seemed in order after reacquainting myself with the boat, and I got on step and headed for my spot. It’s about a 50 minute run, and I enjoy the coffee from the thermos on the new morning and the 1 foot chop.
I get to the anchorage, launch the portabote punt, and get the skiff anchored. I row to shore and unload my pack, ditch pack, cork boots and cased gun. I pull out the shore line to the punt, and put a wrap around a rock on the way up to the treeline, where I tie the line to a branch. The rock will anchor the punt out in the water, and when I pull it in, the line will slip off the rock. This makes life easier than pulling the punt all the way up the beach to the treeline.
I hunted this spot twice last year, and saw bucks both times. It’s a pretty easy walk up to the first muskeg, where I did not see deer last year – the deer last year were further up the hill. I find a stunted snag spruce that also has a snag behind it with a crook that is just right for sitting. I can use the snag in front of me for cover and a gun rest, and the crook made a comfortable chair.
I look at the time and it 937 am. I decide to wait til 945 or later before I call, just to let things settle and see if any deer appear like they have seemed to do this year. About 945, I think I hear some brush snapping or something. That’s weird, I think. Deer are usually silent, and not sure what else would make this noise since rarely are there bears or wolves (that I know of) on this island. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen wolf scat, and I maybe saw bear scat once.
Then I see the source of the noise. About 30 yards out in front of me, I see some brush shaking. Something is raking it. Then I see a deer moving across in front of me. It’s a fork horn buck. I put the ear muffs down and get forward with my gun and rest it on the snag. The wind has been switching from directly behind me to coming in from my right. When the deer is directly downwind of me, it suddenly bounds a few jumps away down the muskeg. But then, he comes right back smelling and continuing his rut behavior. When he’s broadside, I crank up the scope a bit, get the crosshairs on his neck, and when he stops for a second, down he goes.
I don’t move. After getting to the beach with my deer a little after noon yesterday, I didn’t plan to stay here calling for as long as I did yesterday, as I wanted to get back to town before the winds picked up. I waited 10 minutes, and called. I waited another 15 minutes, and called again. If nothing came after this, I thought, I’m going to get moving dressing the deer and dragging it to the beach.
Something did come. About 10 minutes later. Another fork horn buck surprises me 20 yards to my left. I rush a shot and whiff. The deer sprints off. I call softly. A minute later, here he comes again. He’s a bit wary, and I see him in the muskeg brush to my left about 30 yards away. I continue with soft, whiny calls. I get a solid rest on the snag, increase the magnification on the scope a tad, and wait. He stops, and I can see his head and neck and the top of this back. Down he goes.
Since the buck was in some thicker muskeg brush than the first deer, I didn’t see him go down, and didn’t see him run from a miss or wound, either. I gather up my pack and head over. When I get there, he is just expiring. Another perfect neck shot. Time to get to work.
I walk over to the first deer, and see it’s a nice, medium size fork horn. And when I say nice, I mean it’s got a substantial body size much larger than a doe, but not so big I can’t pack it or drag it. I decide since this spot is close to the beach, I’m going to dress the deer and drag them down, rather than butchering them in the field like I usually do. With the winds expected this afternoon, I wanted to get going before they picked up.
I dress the first deer, then walk over and put a piece of flagging tape on a snag near the other deer. I hang my rifle from another snag near the tape. I’ll take my pack down dragging the first deer, then come back empty except for my knife, buttout tool and drag rope for the second. I don’t dress the second deer right now, as I remember Nick’s story of ravens getting one of their deer up by Juneau when they left it for part of the day to continue hunting.
I have a piece of poly line I can make quick-splice loops with. When I worked on the North Slope, a friend there showed me how to make these splices, and they are really quick and handy. I put a slip knot with a splice below a fork on one side of the rack, then do the same on the other antler and test it. Perfect! I can grab on the rope between the antlers with both hands behind my back. The deer slides easily with its antlers up off the ground behind me. I get to the beach with the first deer about 30 yards from where I left my boots and gear this morning. I can easily float the punt over to this deer when I leave. I check the time. Fifteen minutes to get down. Nice.
I walk back up to the second deer in 10 minutes. When I get the knife and buttout tool out of my chest pocket, I realize MY PHONE IS GONE…AGAIN! That’s about the only thing that could tarnish a day like today. I wouldn’t say ruin, because it’s a 35 dollar phone on a million dollar day. But crap. I lost another phone! I realize that I thought I put it in the zippered pocket of the Carhartt bibs underneath my raingear bibs, and must not have put it in the pocket, but between the two bibs, and it slid down my pantleg and out on the ground. DOUGH!
I calm down and get to work. I get the deer dressed, tie up the antlers again, and head to the beach. Another 15 minute drag, and this time I come out right where I went in this morning.
I walk over to where I left the first deer at the beach, and look up the hill at the clear trail I remembered taking from there up the hill to the second deer, and head back up the hill. About 5 minutes up the hill, I see my footprint. Ok, looks like I’m on my trail. And then…there it is! Right on the trail. THAT just made a banner day even better. Although I would really just have settled for the banner day. Now I’m absolutely giddy as I return to the beach.
I pull in the punt, coil up the shore line, haul down the ditch pack and cased gun, and put them in the punt. Then I change out of my cork boots into regular boots, put those in the boat, and push the boat out so it’s mostly free-floating. Then I haul down the deer and put it in the bow. I tow the boat in the shallows over near the other deer, and haul down my pack and the other deer and put those in the punt. I float the boat and row to the skiff. It’s a little after noon. What…a…frickin’…day, I think.
I pull the deer from the punt up into the bow of the skiff, stow the hunting gear in the wheelhouse, then pull the portabote on deck. I haul the anchor gear and away we go. The wind is almost calm.
When I turn the corner towards town, the flat seas turn to about a one and a half foot chop, now with waves curling into white caps. The blow is on its way, but I’ll be in town well before it arrives.
At the ramp, I leave everything in the boat except the thermos of coffee for the ride home, and trailer the boat. I put the stays from the trailer to the skiff, pull the drain plug, and head for home. I drive down the driveway and park the boat right next to the shed. I off load the gear into the house. Then lower the deer to the ground and drag them into the shed. I hang them from the roof cross beam with a hoist I keep there just for that purpose. After I get one deer hoisted up to the beam, I run another line down from the beam, tie off the deer, and then loosen the hoist rigging and let the deer hang from the line. I hoist the second deer up, and now I relax a bit. However, I don’t want to get comfortable by changing my clothes or getting something to eat until I get the hides off the deer so they can cool faster. It’s now about 3pm.
I tune my phone to the Pitt-FSU football game on the Sirius app, and start skinning. The deer have gone through rigor, and it’s much more difficult to get the hides off than it is when you take them off right after the deer are down. I get done a bit before 4 pm. Now, I finally shed my hunting clothes and drink the rest of the coffee from the thermos and really relax.
That’s it for deer hunting for me for now. I’ve got 5 days to get these deer processed. With the storm coming tonight, I’ll watch the weather out the window and have hours and hours of football to listen to over the next few days while I butcher deer.
