Had a great day...thought it was going to start out bad.
Woke up late, 0400. That is when I was planning on leaving. Get to my area in 21, pull out the safety harness and it smells like cat piss. Sprayed it down the other day with Scent Away, that dont work, so this morning stunk...literally. After that it gets better.
Saw my first deer at 60 yds around 0700 crossing on my right, going to my right, behind the stand. It kept its head down most of the time so couldnt tell if it was a buck or doe...if it was a buck, it was a small one. Didnt have much of a shooting lane either.
0800, heard something moving fast through the brush on my left. Pick out a spot and a doe trailing. Spotstopped about 30 yards out and the doe stopped about 50 yards out, both looking back the way they had come. Solid neck shot dropped the doe in her tracks. Spot just kept on a looking. A minute later, neck shot that passed into the opposite shoulder. He moved just as I pulled the trigger...Now for the fun to begin...
Used a Remington 870, 20ga with Hornady SSTs.
Bring down my stand, check the deer...dead. Pack up the tree stand and try to figure out how I am going to get them out there. Spot will go out first with the tree stand and shotgun. Started out to be an easy drag, until I hit the thick stuff. Then Im thinking, one half mile should not take that long. Turns out I added about 3/4 of a mile to the drag as I inadvertantly started moving north west instead of north by north east...back to the truck and I am winded and drenched in sweat...time for the doe.
Have a great idea, Ill pack her out on the bottom portion of my tree stand. Ive attached a molly ruck sack frame that is pretty comfortable and the footrest attached to the stand. Should be pretty easy.
Load the doe and strap her to the tree stand, this is gonna be easy. Stand the stand/doe up so that I can sit, roll to my side and stand up. First attempt, I roll all the way to the right, aint gonna be so easy. So I check things out, the doe as now slipped so that half of her body is below the foot rest. Readjust and tighten thinks up. Move the package around a bit and she slips again. 3 straps and 30" of rope later, she aint moving...No all I have to do is get up and start walking.
Second attempt, I roll over and go onto my belly. Push up to my elbows, leg underneath and I am up. Ready to roll and in the RIGHT direction this time. Make it about 100yds and getting pretty winded and legs turning rubbery. I knew better than to sit down where I did, but I did it anyway. 6" log was about 15" off the ground, so I take a seat, roll over backwards and immediately assume the turtle on its back position. If someone were there with a video, I would be a $10,000 winner for sure. It was pretty comforatable there, so just laid there for about 3 minutes. Get up and get moving. Every brake after that was either bent over, hands on knees, or straddling a 24" log with the doe well balanced...there aint to many big downed logs out there, or at least along my route cause I know they are everywhere before sunup.
4 hours after shooting the doe and the spot, I finally have both of them at the truck for gutting. Done checked in and home.
During this "adventure", I had been texting Relocatedduckhunter (Chris). Im sure he got a good laugh out of some of it. He was very gracious when he showed up at the house to help/teach with deboning. ...I thought he was coming up for tenderloins (and to help). Backstrap will be ready for duck season. Deer are now on ice, ready to be turned into dinner.
Deer strapped to the stand (1st attempt, you can see where she is already sliding out):
Kill shots. Doe dressed at 74lbs and spot dressed at 45lbs
