2009 Deer Rifle Season

Where did all the deer go??
I didn't see one deer in 8 days of hunting. Sat on trails, walked for miles, helped in drives and still nothing.

Our "gang" of 6-7 hunters let a few small ones go, but basically we got skunked.

Son Chris managed to do something somewhat unusual, he got a doe without firing a shot. During a solo stealth drive to me in heavy cover, he heard a loud breathing noise and was able to dispatch a wounded deer by using a “Jake the Snake Roberts” sleeper hold and his knife.

My friend/shirt-tail cousin up the road from me took his 15 yr. old daughter out for her first hunting season.
Things were different for her! Congratulations to Tina! Nice 10 pointer. One shot.
Tina's story:
We had done 4-5 drives, without seeing anything, so my dad put me in a stand that was located on a bottleneck. There were 4 people driving between the swamp, and another guy posting to the south-east of me. My dad and one of our crew had gone past, and my dad was yelling to the other guy (Zac), "Did you see Tina in the stand?"
and I yelled back at him, back and forth a couple phrases, when another crew member yelled that the drive wasn't over, (I later found out that he had also yelled a buck was coming, but i missed that)
So I turned around, to see a pair of antlers moving in the brush. Where he was, i couldn't get a good shot, and there was a branch right infront of me, but he was walking in a fairly steady path, right towards an opening in the branch, so when he couldn't see me, i turned to get in position. He came into that whole in the branch, stopped...then looked away!
I got him with a clean shot right through the heart, and he barley went 30 feet.
i was pretty happy
Her dad, Tony, got an Elk earlier in the year out west, by bow. Looks like they have bragging rights for the area for hunting this year!

Another friend of mine got an average 8 pt. this season close to where we hunt. Ian on the right.
Ian also bagged an elk bow hunting out west as well. Nice job!
I've only elk hunted by rifle, years ago when I lived in OR and only for 2-3 seasons. Never bagged one, though.

Was involved in a moose hunt in MN in the mid-80's, might have to get those pics digitized and put that story in the blog.

and the big guy I caught in my camera this fall was supposed to have met his maker, as well, just up the road from me, the other direction from Tina's prize. Guess they're around!
Poachers have been active in the area, as well.

Let's see what late bow season offers.