Another early morning and I wanted to be in my tree stand before even a trace of first light crosses the horizon. Because my stand was so close to the parking lot I decided to wait until everyone else walked by and then go to my stand.


This morning was a touch cooler then the previous morning so I decided to put my boots and suit on in the parking lot and walk the 200 yards to my tree. The short walk was kind of refreshing and woke me up a little. I was all settled into my stand for about a half an hour before I saw first light.

Sitting in my stand I was getting excited for the hunting morning. I had wanted to sit in this area for the last three years, but could never locate a tree large enough to place my tree stand in. Soon after getting comfortable the excitement started to ware off. As I waited for the legal shooting time this all too familiar drowsy sensation started to set in. Fighting off sleep I heard a couple of late arrivers in the parking lot. One I knew was Pat, but the other I wasn’t sure who it was.

I looked at my phone and it was finally shooting time. I forced my self to wake up and be alert which wasn’t too hard considering every sound I heard made me turn my head and look for a deer. I soon found out the other person I heard in the parking lot this morning was sitting in a tree not too far from me. This was fine because we wouldn’t be able to shoot at the same deer any way.

About 30 minutes had passed and I hadn’t seen any deer. I did hear two coyotes barking at each other. About 15 to 20 minutes after that I decided to give my doe bleat a try. What a big mistake that was.(This is where my hunt gets frustrating) Shortly after hearing me bleat the guy sitting close to me starts using his bleat which would normally be fine, but he is blowing on it super loud. On top of that it seem as though he is blowing on it every three to five minutes for around 30 seconds. To put it in my brother’s words “he is pretty good at playing the trumpet”.

I knew now any deer with in a mile radius was aware of hunters in the woods, and would stay put. Me being stubborn I stayed in my tree for roughly another hour before I had enough (I can’t get too mad because I am hunting on public land). I took my stand down and went back to the truck. I entered the parking lot just in time to see an unfamiliar van leave the lot (must have been my trumpet playing buddy). I put all of my stuff in the truck bed, and went for a walk because I had about two and a half hours until lunch time.

I hiked around for a short while and eventually discovered a great little place to sit and take a brief nap. After sitting for some time I realized even though I was so tired I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I heard a few gun shots but nothing in the direction of my hunting party. It wasn’t too long before my stomach started growling and I decided it was time to go and get some lunch.

I was the last back to the parking lot for lunch today. No one had seen any deer this morning. Hearing this was a little depressing, but very typical for the second day of the deer season. The deer were pressured very hard and bedding down in the thickest of the thick stuff.

After lunch today I decided to set my stand up in the swamp I was walking in earlier that morning. I set everything up and plopped down in my stand for what would be a very uneventful evening hunt. I tried a little rattling, and calling, but nothing was going to move the deer after all of pressure the day before. I soon realized my only chance at seeing a deer would be in the last 20 minutes of shooting light as they were going to the fields to eat.

As the light faded that evening I was getting anxious just knowing I might see a deer at any moment. I wasn’t even lucky enough to see a deer that evening. In fact I only remember hearing one shot that evening, and it was quite a long distance away. I took my sand and steps down packed up my gear and headed back to the truck to go home.

Check out my next installment of a Not so Productive Deer Season to see if I had any luck on my next hunt.



~ Ben G.

Links to the other parts to the series
Not so productive Deer hunting Season (Part 1)
Not so productive Deer hunting Season (Part 2)
Not so Productive Deer hunting Season (Part 3)