New Year's hunt

kansasbrittany

kansasbrittany

Banned
Not pheasants.....sat with the shotgun and rifle for deer this morning. Our blind is about 200 yards from a great turkey roost, so amidst the sunrise, we watched and listened as a big group of turkeys came down out of their roost.

The boy was content watching the turkeys for an hour or so as they worked toward us. The plan was to watch the turkeys and wait-out a deer. The wind picked up and we started getting COLD. A coyote came within about 60 yards of our blind, headed toward the turkeys in front of us. My son asked to shoot the coyote first, but I reminded him that the family doesn't eat coyote. He shouldered the shotgun and took his first turkey:thumbsup: He said he wanted a Tom, but chose the closest bird, which happened to be a hen. I'm not sure if I saw tears of joy or tears of cold as we sat and took it all in before retrieving his bounty.

Tonight we'll go back for a deer. I'm sure we didn't do ourselves any favors by taking a turkey in there this morning, but then, there is a storm coming in and the deer are gonna hafta eat.

Would you set up on the opposite side (N side) of the corn field tonight? The wind will be blowing out of the N, so I figure it best to still hunt the S side of the property.....save for the shot fired this morning:confused:
 
Congrats on the turkey I'm sure he was excited!

Probably didn't hurt a thing shooting that turkey this morning. I think your plan sounds like a good one.
 
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Great you got your son a turkey! Play the wind on the deer. Their nose will blow you up if you don't.
 
Prairie Drifter said:
Great you got your son a turkey! Play the wind on the deer. Their nose will blow you up if you don't.
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I agree. The kids and I shot a buck the first day of rifle season at 4:00, deer fell right by the feeder. Went back two weeks later to fill the feeder and check the camera and I had deer come in that very night I shot that buck a little over an hour after taking him. I plan on getting out with the kids to doe hunt Friday evening. Had some marinated Pheasant today in Italian dressing cooked on the grill, kids loved them! Hoping this storm gives us a inch or two of fresh snow.
 
Good luck, buddy! A doe is darn good eating, I try to shoot one every year!

Does are funny. I wouldn't worry about shooting the turkey there either. I've had deer walk past my trailcams less than an hour after I change the batteries before. I think people selling the camo and scent-free products lead you to believe that deer are impossibly wary. Some of them may be, but many are not...

Heck, the first deer I ever shot in my life was a really silly doe. I went out well before legal shooting hours and sat against a hay bale. She came up within 5 feet of me just sniffing me while I sat still as a statue. I'm not kidding, I could have grabbed her! Legal time was still 15 minutes away so I made kind of a wheeze sound with my mouth to get her to back off. She backed off about 20' and started feeding in the alfalfa, apparently content that I was an orange deer.:confused: When it was finally legal time, I popped her at probably 10-15 yards.

Anyway, good luck to you and your boy. With the new snow, you should have a really good idea of where they are feeding in the field. My first priority would be setting up in range of where you expect them to be. Then my second priority would be being as well hidden as possible, with your profile definitely hidden by a tree trunk or something. Third on my list would be trying to set up downwind. That's just my .02... You're just after a doe, any doe, not the oldest, wisest, wariest buck in the woods.
:cheers:
 
Great hunting experience for your son. Don't know a thing about hunting deer, but good luck!
 
My son shot one from the field we were hunting yesterday evening. Both kids were in the blind with me, so it was a little snug in there. I hoped more would come out and we could take a second, but it was not to be.

It's very true that some does are just downright stupid. Others, though, seem to be uncannily wary. In the youth season our blind was not well enough concealed and a doe hung up right on the edge of the field staring, stomping and "blowing" (as they say) until she finally decided it was dangerous and left. The next weekend a small buck was working across the field on path that would produce a very easy shot for my son--except that he had to cross our scent cone before coming into the kill zone. He blew out of there the instant he got into our scent cone. The distance was probably 40 yards.

If you can set the blind at least 4-5 days in advance, I don't think concealment matters much. It just becomes a normal part of the landscape to them. Generally I'll give up a little concealment in order to keep my scent cone away from them, especially if I get get enough distance. Obviously the closer you are to the "trailhead", the more important concealment becomes.

Hope you got one/get one.
 
Good deal for your boy KB:thumbsup:
I went out yesterday to Paola and set up our ground blind / brushed it in for this weekend. The kid was not too thrilled about the temps yesterday so he opted for the weekend hunt. I did see 3 Doe's but took no shots.

Good advise on where to set up by others.

Good luck!

Kick'em Up!
 
Matto,

That's awesome! Is that his first one or is he a "veteran"?

The blind we're using was put up by the landowner 5 years ago, so I think we're good there. We could see where the deer had come through after the snow last night, but they weren't moving this morning. Back at it tonight, then again tomorrow morning.

I'm staying positive for the boy, but I've never been so bored as I am out there.....I'm reminded why I hunt birds each time we go out!
 
He's a veteran. He's killed one every year since he was 10, I think. At 15 he is capable of hunting by himself. His first deer was an 8 pointer that many grown meen would have been extremely happy to shoot. Had it not been so cold yesterday, he would have been by himself. I gave him the choice of sitting a stand by himself or joining his younger brother and I in the blind and he chose the warmer option.

His younger brother likes the idea of deer hunting more than the actual reality of it. The younger one won the "first shot" coin flip and willingly ceded to his brother. There was no opportunity for a second shot. We may try again this weekend.

I've always found evening hunts more productive than mornings this time of year. It still does get a little boring.
 
matto said:
He's a veteran. He's killed one every year since he was 10, I think. At 15 he is capable of hunting by himself. His first deer was an 8 pointer that many grown meen would have been extremely happy to shoot. Had it not been so cold yesterday, he would have been by himself. I gave him the choice of sitting a stand by himself or joining his younger brother and I in the blind and he chose the warmer option.

His younger brother likes the idea of deer hunting more than the actual reality of it. The younger one won the "first shot" coin flip and willingly ceded to his brother. There was no opportunity for a second shot. We may try again this weekend.

I've always found evening hunts more productive than mornings this time of year. It still does get a little boring.
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I agree about the morning hunts too cold and unproductive. I usually scout in the morning to set up for the evening when possible. Kinda like putting Turkeys to bed the night before the hunt. Same deal.. watch where they exit the field in the morning and then set up on that same trail for the evening hunt. They are pretty predictable this time of year.
 
HA! I now agree that evenings are more productive than mornings.....yes, they're warmer too.

We got one this evening at 5:22pm. There were 4 behind us, including a nice buck. They were about 200 yards out and shooting them from our blind would've been difficult. While we were busy trying to figure out if we were going to try and sneak out the door and take a shot at one of his does, I turned around to grab the rifle for the boy and there are 3 right in front of us, maybe 40 yards away. 2 presented a broad-side shot and 1 went down:cheers:

You still don't have to worry about me going to the "dark side" though....it's boring, you can't take your dogs, and gutting one in the dark is a damn site harder than cleaning pheasants:D
 
Congrats on the deer.
But I got to agree, deer hunting involves too much work after you kill something.
 
kansasbrittany said:
HA! I now agree that evenings are more productive than mornings.....yes, they're warmer too.

We got one this evening at 5:22pm. There were 4 behind us, including a nice buck. They were about 200 yards out and shooting them from our blind would've been difficult. While we were busy trying to figure out if we were going to try and sneak out the door and take a shot at one of his does, I turned around to grab the rifle for the boy and there are 3 right in front of us, maybe 40 yards away. 2 presented a broad-side shot and 1 went down:cheers:

You still don't have to worry about me going to the "dark side" though....it's boring, you can't take your dogs, and gutting one in the dark is a damn site harder than cleaning pheasants:D
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Nice Job Dad.
 
kansasbrittany said:
HA! I now agree that evenings are more productive than mornings.....yes, they're warmer too.

We got one this evening at 5:22pm. There were 4 behind us, including a nice buck. They were about 200 yards out and shooting them from our blind would've been difficult. While we were busy trying to figure out if we were going to try and sneak out the door and take a shot at one of his does, I turned around to grab the rifle for the boy and there are 3 right in front of us, maybe 40 yards away. 2 presented a broad-side shot and 1 went down:cheers:

You still don't have to worry about me going to the "dark side" though....it's boring, you can't take your dogs, and gutting one in the dark is a damn site harder than cleaning pheasants:D
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SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!!!
:10sign:

Very Cool Chad!
 
SetterNut said:
Congrats on the deer.
But I got to agree, deer hunting involves too much work after you kill something.
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Not really, field dressing takes 5 minutes. 5 minutes for a lot of meals! Then if you enjoy processing your own like I do, it's like a extension of the hunt and almost as rewarding as the actual hunt.

Nice job KB! You're kid will remember that the rest of his life. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Lots of good venison recipes on the internet.
 
KansasGsp said:
Not really, field dressing takes 5 minutes. 5 minutes for a lot of meals! Then if you enjoy processing your own like I do, it's like a extension of the hunt and almost as rewarding as the actual hunt.

Nice job KB! You're kid will remember that the rest of his life. Enjoy the fruits of your labor. Lots of good venison recipes on the internet.
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I'd buy you case of beer or a can of coffee to show me how to field dress one in 5 minutes. I wish I'd paid more attention when I was a kid and my family salvaged deer from the highways....those guys had it down.

I also agree that processing is fun. That's something I am fairly proficient with, having done it many times and having spent over a decade in the meat processing industry.

Finally, thanks for the kind words. We WILL enjoy the memories and the fruits:cheers:
 
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