From One River ti the Other

         From One River to the Other

    Well after 12 months of anticipation its finally here, 2011 gun deer season. I myself don’t get excited about gun deer hunting as I once did but two of my boys Josh 13 and Jamison 11 rate it higher on the list than Christmas.

    Not really liking to hunt public land that is over crowded with half drunk, two weekend a year, hunters from the suburbs and beyond, I like to find us private land to hunt. A friend from work helped out this year. His mother-in-law owns a fair amount of land in Hardin county, near the town of Rosiclare .

    With the truck packed up with hunting clothes, guns, and snacks we went to bed early anticipating the next days hunt. The next morning the alarm seemed to go of way to early at 0230 but we needed the extra time to make the two plus hour drive . In the darkness the boys slept while I sipped coffee and driving ,wondering why in the world we were not hunting closer to home. See I can drive 15 minutes from my drive way and be looking at the Mississippi River ,this morning I was driving to the far east side of the state to hunt on the banks of the Ohio River.

    We arrive at out hunting area right on time. I have high hopes for the day because I was here just a few days ago and there was a lot of deer sign and several deer sightings on the trip. My hopes were soon greatly diminished when we heard several deer blow and run AWAY from out hunting area. I did have reservations about parking here but it was really the only place on the one lane road we could pull off.

    The hunting area consisted of a hardwood ridge and a thick valley, the Ohio River on one end and the edge of town on the other. As we made our way along the ridge I knew exactly where we wanted to be. I did not set up stands, it is rare that we use them during gun season; we would just sit with our backs against a big tree to break up our outline.

     This way of hunting has both advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage, in my opinion, is mobility. With ladder stands that are easy for younger hunters to use they are much harder to move, if a move is in order. How many times have you been sitting in a stand and either the wind changes, or the deer activity is 200 yards from where your stand is? Now disadvantages. You cannot see as far and you have to sit still, and you have to be ready for a close encounter if needs be.

    Both James and Josh have both learned this art of hunting. The two things to keep in mind is , sit as still as you can , and when you have to move, move as slow as you can. I know Josh has killed at least one deer out of a tree stand, but Jamison never has big, bulky, two man stands are hard to put up, and hanging two stands is twice the work especially by yourself.

    This year Josh will be sitting by himself. So equipped with our H&R 20 ga Ultra Slug Hunter and a Motorola 2 way radio Jamison and I leave him in the darkness beside a huge oak with the instructions, DON’T SHOOT THIS WAY.

   Jamison and I slowly make our way down the ridge 200 yards or more from Josh and begin our morning vigil. We have a commanding view of the holler below. We sit quietly and watch the new day come alive. We are only 200 yards from the river and can hear ducks and geese flying south, various birds  ,and a few squirrels entertain us as we wait for a deer.

    Josh has reported a deer sighting but it was in the brush before he could get a shot off. Jamison and I had seen nothing. I was content with just being in the woods with my boys. Jamison had nodded off for a bit while I kept watch over the holler we were watching. My mind drifting here and there, while I was scanning the woods, when a shot rang out 200 yards to our right.  I gave him a good minute before I called him, on the radio, but I didn’t have to. I hear a very excited voice saying,” DAD! it was a BUCK ! I’m not sure if I got him or not. HE WAS CLOSE!”  With it being close to eleven we headed toward where we left Josh this morning. He did move up the ridge just a little, to give him a better view.

    We stood there and listened to a very excited story of how when he saw the deer it was only yards away from where he was sitting. He told us how he was looking the woods over and all the sudden out of nowhere there it was right beside him. Josh said he brought the gun to his shoulder very slow, and when he got the deer in the scope all he could see was brown. He backed the variable power scope from 4x to 1.5x and the second that he pulled the trigger the deer ran up the hill.

    Josh pointed out where the deer was standing when he shot and it was confirmed by the deep running tracks on the ground, but there was no sign of a hit. We followed the tracks up the hill until they were not obvious anymore without a speck of blood being seen.

    Since we had made some noise looking for our possibly dead deer we decided to head to the truck for some lunch. We ran down the road to Elizabethtown or E Town as it is called for a few greasy burgers and a bag of chips from the grocery, bait, gas, and all night video rental store. We went back out to the river front to eat out lunch and grab a nap before we made it back to the woods.

    After our lunch we discussed hunting closer to home the rest of the season. After a quick look at the IDNR web site to find out they did in fact have some Jackson county either sex tags left we ran up the road to Golconda. A small Southern Illinois river town made famous in the 1998 movie U.S. Marshalls. When we got there I bought the last two either sex tags for Jackson county or rushed back to Rosiclare to hunt the evening here.

    Josh elected to hunt the spot where he sat that morning so me and James headed back to our river outlook spot for the last 4 hours of the day.

    Josh spotted deer all evening while James and I weren’t even getting a sniff. The ones Josh was seeing were coming from our direction but must have been coming off the opposite ridge cause they were not walking past us.

    Late in the evening the 10-15 mph wind died down to dead calm,just like it always does at that time of day. As we were scanning the area I thought I heard something behind us. I turned around and looked ,but saw nothing. A few minutes later , I heard it again. I peeked around the tree again ,and this time saw what was making the noise , a deer eating acorns and moving in our direction.

    I looked again and saw that the deer was a buck. He did not have huge head gear ,but would make a fine first buck for Jamison. I didn’t want James to look around the tree too and spook the deer so I was doing all the looking. It was hard to tell which side of the tree he was gonna come out on. The one thing I was sure of was he was gonna be CLOSE when he offered the shot.

    When the deer was at 30 yards he turned broad side and seemed to have noticed that I stuck my head out and looked at him. He didn’t seem nervous at all , he really seemed curious . I told Jamison to turn around , get up on his knees ,  ease around the tree slowly , and shoot the deer.

    Even though he was under a little pressure he pulled it off great . Jamison got moved around and we both eased around the tree at the same time. I ask him if he had a good shot , he said yes. I told him to shoot whenever he was ready. A few seconds later he pulled the trigger of his 20 ga Mossburg 500 and the deer dropped in its tracks . We immediately hear over the radio  “ Was that one of you guys?”

    We get up and make it over to his deer a fine 6 pointer. I snapped a few pictures with my phone and sent them to a few family and friends. Jamison tagged and field dressed his with a little help from dad. It was now dark enough that we needed our head lamps.

    We drug the deer 200 or so yards before Josh began to help us. As soon as Josh saw the deer he said it was the one that he had shot at earlier that day . He could tell by one of the points being a little crooked.

    Once we hit the road I walked back to get the truck. We snapped a few more pictures ,loaded him up , and headed toward home.

    It was another great day in the woods with my boys. I don’t know who was more proud Jamison because he had his first antlered buck , because it was the first time he had killed a deer the first day , or me because they are both shaping up to be great hunters and woodsmen.