Today I decided to follow the offhand advice from the guy we bought the land from. He mentioned that I didn't need to go up the hill to find deer. They would come to me and it didn't matter that my camp was right here.
The spring I mentioned on day 1 is about 60 yards north of the conex box. I am camped about 25 more yards on the other side of the conex box. I set up my tree stand about half way between the spring and the conex.
The wind is blowing pretty good and the tree I climbed into is small enough that it sways on occasion. After about 45 minutes of looking around, I look to the center of what we will call spring hollow. There's a fork buck (4 point) standing right in the middle of it. I don't know how it got there. I just know it's there. I watch it for a couple of minutes and it walks over to a small doe I had not noticed before and grunts at it as if it's chasing her off. He must be angry she's eating all the acorns. The fork buck is kinda small. I decide that even if presented with a shot, I'll pass on this one. He'll be bigger next year if he survives gun season. He walks behind a large tree that was blown down by the spring storms that came through the area and out of my sight.
I watch the doe eat acrons for another 10 minutes before I decide to see if I can rattle the fork buck out from behind the tree. Out comes the rattle bag for a little fun I hope. He never emerges. I presume he went on up the hill behind the tree.
I watch the doe eat acorns for another half hour. Finally I see her walk close enough to me to tell she can't put any weight on her front left leg. Her name is now Gimpy as I decide that I'll harvest her is presented a shot as she probably won't survive the winter anyway.
As I'm watching Gimpy, I sense something behind me. I turn my head and about 15 yards behind me is Forks (the fork buck). He is stopped. He must have heard my rattling earlier and circled around the hollow out of my sight and came in behind me trying to find the fighting bucks. He must have felt something wasn't quite right as he seems kind of on alert, but be proceded to walk right under my stand on the way back to the doe.
Forks chased Gimpy around for a few minutes. She came to within 20 yards of me at one point but wouldn't stop long enough for me to get a shot. She finally headed over to the spring to take a drink. I placed my stand where it was because I thought that might happen, but as fate would have itshe stopped to drink right where a tree was blocking my aiming point on her. Forks came in right behind her and I had a perfect shot at him at 30 yards as he stood there as she drank. I pulled back, then remembered I made the decision not to take him. I don't want to waste a buck tag on such a young buck. Had this been later in the season I might have taken him.
Forks chases Gimpy out of the hollow in the next 10 minutes and they go right under a tree I had considered putting my stand in earlier. In hindsight I should have placed it there anyway because the wind would have been more favorable o me in that position anyway. Had I done that, there might be meat in the freezer.
3 days. 16 different deer sighted. 13 deer within range. 3 deer presented shots. 1 shot taken. 1 arrow missing. 0 meat in the freezer. Maybe next weekend. At least I learned a lot, or I think I did.
Before going home I move the ground blind from the top of the easement to the top of the hill, close to where the tree stand was yesterday. I also reposition the feeder to about 30 yards northeast of the blind and fill it with corn.
Next weekend is opening day of Gun Season and I'll be out here with my daughter.