Since the end of Oct, I had picked up a ground blind and a new sight for my bow. So, over the last few days I had been getting the bow set-up again, which I found much easier with the new sight. The next thing I wanted to do was get the blind set up in a good spot for rifle season which was to open in just nine days.
At around half-past three in the afternoon, I headed out with my blind and folding chair to look for a good spot. I didn’t want it to be near the tree stand, so I entered the woods about two hundred yards north where my friend Karen and I had entered the woods on that initial exploration a couple years ago. I wasn’t too concerned about seeing game, I just wanted to get in, find a good spot along East Creek, set up, and get out of the woods.
As I approached the creek and crested the top of a small knoll in the woods, I heard movement to my left along the creek. Peering through the dense under growth ahead of me I spot the movement of two deer walking along the creek. I knelt down trying to see them again and then they appear passing through a small opening in the pines roughly thirty to thirty-five yards away. I never saw their heads but one was obviously much larger and much darker than the other.
I was a little troubled with the size of the larger deer and was actually questioning whether it was a deer at all. I had seen giant whitetails in North Dakota, but not here in the northeast. “Perhaps a moose?” I thought. But, the other was definitely a whitetail as I had seen it’s tail flicker as I watched it passed.
After I figured that the deer were gone, I stood back up and walked down to the creek where they had passed. I didn’t see any distinct trail, so I backed out away from the creek. I felt it would have been a decent area to put the blind but the location wouldn’t have allowed me to see the point where the two creeks met. A small ridge separated the creeks. I just had to find a good spot on the ridge.
As I worked my way along the creek I was unable to see much of the ridge through the thick pines. Shooting lanes would certainly be an issue no matter where I put the blind. Eventually I came upon the point where I normally cross the creek when exploring the wood lot, so I crossed it and started walking back down the creek along the ridge. However, as I reached the end of the ridge I realized that it was getting darker and the trees were getting denser. No way was I going to get the blind set up before dark, so I decided to hang my blind and chair on a tree and leave it there for the night. I’d be back out tomorrow to continue the search for a good spot.
Right I was too, to call it quits. Without a flashlight, I reached the car in the dark. Thankfully, the last couple hundred yards was through the field and not the dark woods.
At around half-past three in the afternoon, I headed out with my blind and folding chair to look for a good spot. I didn’t want it to be near the tree stand, so I entered the woods about two hundred yards north where my friend Karen and I had entered the woods on that initial exploration a couple years ago. I wasn’t too concerned about seeing game, I just wanted to get in, find a good spot along East Creek, set up, and get out of the woods.
As I approached the creek and crested the top of a small knoll in the woods, I heard movement to my left along the creek. Peering through the dense under growth ahead of me I spot the movement of two deer walking along the creek. I knelt down trying to see them again and then they appear passing through a small opening in the pines roughly thirty to thirty-five yards away. I never saw their heads but one was obviously much larger and much darker than the other.
I was a little troubled with the size of the larger deer and was actually questioning whether it was a deer at all. I had seen giant whitetails in North Dakota, but not here in the northeast. “Perhaps a moose?” I thought. But, the other was definitely a whitetail as I had seen it’s tail flicker as I watched it passed.
After I figured that the deer were gone, I stood back up and walked down to the creek where they had passed. I didn’t see any distinct trail, so I backed out away from the creek. I felt it would have been a decent area to put the blind but the location wouldn’t have allowed me to see the point where the two creeks met. A small ridge separated the creeks. I just had to find a good spot on the ridge.
As I worked my way along the creek I was unable to see much of the ridge through the thick pines. Shooting lanes would certainly be an issue no matter where I put the blind. Eventually I came upon the point where I normally cross the creek when exploring the wood lot, so I crossed it and started walking back down the creek along the ridge. However, as I reached the end of the ridge I realized that it was getting darker and the trees were getting denser. No way was I going to get the blind set up before dark, so I decided to hang my blind and chair on a tree and leave it there for the night. I’d be back out tomorrow to continue the search for a good spot.
Right I was too, to call it quits. Without a flashlight, I reached the car in the dark. Thankfully, the last couple hundred yards was through the field and not the dark woods.
