Yes, Deer Season is in for 2020 (No animals were harmed in this blog.)

It is 6 Nov. and I am on my third deer hunt. This is my first hunt on the Brown Farm down in Greene County. I had low expectations for the morning because the night before had been good feeding and I assumed all the deer had full bellies and were laying in their beds chewing their cuds and digesting the contents of their full bellies.

I m in a very pleasant location, though I had to kill a couple dozen red wasps to be relaxed in this shooting house.  Fortunately, the chill of fall ad them in s stupor. It isn’t cold- high 50’s and t 0815 the wind has just started to blow a bit in the last 20 mins. I am archery hunting, so I have to be within 35 yards of a deer to make a high-percentage shot.

To my surprise, just after 0700 I saw a big doe with two fawns. They were about 250 yards SSE of me in a big green-field. These were the first deer I have seen whilst hunting this year, so it was a thrill, especially when the 4^th deer, another good doe, joined the others. I watched them as they slowly fed my way. When they got within 100 yards, I got my bow up and ready.

My excitement mounted as they steadily came my way. The two fawns were prancing, and running and enjoying themselves, as was I as I silently watched. I had used my rangefinder and know where 22 yards was. When they crossed the 55-yard mark, I got ready to shoot. They only needed to come within 40 for me to try a shot, but suddenly 2 more does and a fawn came out at about 80 yards to the east. That’s bad because now I had even more eyes and ears listening for me to mess up.

The first group decided to exit the field and came at a trot crossing my east at 35 yards—which would have given me a shot, but I was pinned down by the watchful eyes and acute hearing of the 2^nd group.

The first group went out about 150 yards into a second green-field and started grazing, the 2^nd group crossed the field to my south pretty quickly, only feeding a bit.

I continued to watch the first group, though they were presently far out of range,  I hoped they would come back the way they had traveled earlier, and I set up for a shot. Alas, I discovered one more red wasp, and as I dispatched him apparently I scared the deer with my movement.

Just a couple minutes before 0900, a single deer appeared to my ENE at a bit over 275 yards. Since it was alone, it was most likely a spike buck. At 0913 another lone deer appears at the end of the south field, over 250 yards away. After  short feeding he flags and runs off the way he came.

Oh well, that’s the way hunting goes. It was a beautiful morning and it is always nice to see 9 deer in 4 different groups, and even nicer to come so close to getting a good shot. Well, there’s always the next hunt. I count my blessings that I had this one.