Time: 6:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Sunrise/Sunset: 7:18 AM/6:33 PM
Moon Phase: Waning Gibbous
Temperature: 50*F
Wind: 6 MPH, Southwest
Weather: Sunny
My first deer hunt of the year started out at 6:00 AM as I rolled out of bed and into the clothes I had laid out the night before. My game plan was sound in my head as I headed into the woods in the dark, headlamp strapped to my head, bow in hand.
After reaching the blind, which I had positioned on a southern facing hillside, watching an exit/entrance to a bedding area on the corner of the property, I used a red fox urine cover scent and sprayed it on the ground in the lane I would be shooting in. My hope was that this would put the deer at ease, because of the allusiveness of the fox, and at the same time give them something to distract them from the blind, which was just put up the night before.
Almost as soon as it was light enough to see in the woods, a small four-pointer came into view, entering the bedding area--but I had no shot. I called aggressively with an early season, doe communication bleat call, but to no avail. Half an hour later, the same four-pointer exited the bedding area, out of range in the creekbottom at the bottom of the hill. Some more aggressive calling brought the small buck forty yards up the hill, but I still had no shot. He circled around me, where I couldn't see him, and hung up.
Apart from deer, there were several squirrels present to entertain me, they climbed down from their high night time dwellings around 8:00.
An hour later, around 9:00, three does came across the ridge, behind the blind, entering the bedding area. I attempted to call them down the hill, but they were wary of the new blind in their woods, and would not. Eventually, the three deer swung around the blind and made their way into the bedding area.
Overall, the hunt went well, no animals were spooked(squirrels included), and the only flaw was that the blind was so new to the environment. Next time should be better.
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