Vacation in Wisconsin

 We have been on vacation three weeks and two days and I'm finally getting to a blog post. It has been a blast so far and I haven't had much free time to post anything so I'm setting here in a swamp waiting for a whitetail to walk by swatting Mosquitos and listening to all the new sounds of the Wisconsin wildlife. No better time to start blogging again. 

We spent one night at the Grand Tetons, three nights in Yellowstone, one at Devils Tower, two days at Mt. Rushmore and Custer State Park.  Then on to Appleton WI to spend a week with my siblings. We had all kinds of fun seeing the sights and getting fat on Franks good 30 minute cooking. Jackie and Mike helped us locate a few cemeteries where our relatives were buried an we will search them out when we head south next week. 

Starting Monday Frank and I started chasing the elusive Whitetail Deer. I say elusive because it's like looking for a needle in a haystack this time of year.  We started hunting on State wildlife areas in the central farm zone near Clintonville. The wildlife areas are basically swampland (like a jungle) with the surrounding fields planted in corn that hasn't been harvested yet. The weather has been about ten degrees above normal and a little humid which isn't the best conditions for whitetails. Excuses excuses but I need to blame something on the fact that I've only seen three deer in four days of hunting. I know they are here because they come out of the woodwork after dark. The foliage is so dense you can't see past 30 yards in most cases. Here is where I am setup tonight. 

I'll post more photos in the next post.   The sun just went down so it's time to drop the iPhone and pickup the bow and get ready. 

Back on Track

Ok, everyone is asking what happened to my Antelope Hunt.  I know I just disappeared all of a sudden and left everyone hanging.  I'm sorry.  The darn Antelope just beat me to death and I just gave up and headed back to Lake Almanor.  I needed to get back to the cabin on Friday before everyone showed up for deer season. My season was six days long and everyday it was a cat and mouse game with the one and only good buck on the ranch.  In the end, he won. I head home with my tail tucked between my legs. 

Deer camp started out slow but having two new hunters in camp this year made it a blast. I resisted the comment "You should have been here last year" for almost a week.  The area that was holding a lot of bucks last year was logged last fall and moved most the the bucks to greener pastures.  We found the bucks on Swain Mountain but the hunting pressure made the bucks very skittish and very hard to get close enough for an arrow. Hunting pressure usually falls off dramatically the second week and the bucks peek there noggins out of the brush and stretch their legs a little.  We spotted four bucks on Monday, four on Tuesday and two today.  That makes a total of twenty one for twelve days hunting.  I would like to expand and tell a great story but my legs are cramping and writing is very painful. Here is the results of today's hunt. 

I promise to post more adventures soon. 

Day 5.1

I just realized I haven't posted any photos of Antelope yet. I think I'll email Apple and request iPhone 6 have a 20 power zoom so you can actually see what I'm hunting. 

 

Day 5

Here's the plan. I've notice three of the last four days that the twins spend the night out on the flat and mom and Tagalong bed somewhere below the dam or in the triangle just north of the back pivot. At sunrise mom has slipped under the fence about 200 yards to the west of my blind and trotted out looking for her kids. They generally reunite about 300 yards north of my blind, nurse for a minute and then bed down for a short time. Tagalong on the other hand lags behind until after the reunion and then makes a Bee Line to join up for the trek up the hill. Depending on his location in the fields and the reunion spot, his path crosses the wing dam and close to my blind. On day 1 he came over the wing dam 125 yards to my east. On day 4, when I was in the ditch, he crossed very close and maybe within shooting range. 

This morning I parked at the upper dam and followed the fence line to my blind hoping  not to spook Tagalong that I assume would be bedded between my blind and the back pivot. At first light a was scanning the flat looking for the twins and sure enough after fifteen minutes I spotted them bedded by themselves about 300 yards north. Thirty minutes latter they get up and slowly start feeding to my left. When they both came to attention I knew my plan had started to roll. Mom shows up for the reunion on schedule, the twins nurse and browse out to the 200 yard mark. Mom comes to alert looking at the wing dam just to my right. I get my bow ready, quickly review my yardages down the bank and anticipate my next move. The hair starts to raise on the back of my neck when I and hear the soft crunching of the grass behind me on the levee. My hands started to tremble and I had to control my breathing in fear of Tagalong hearing my almost uncontrollable body functions. I took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, relaxed and readied myself when the sunflowers began to wiggle and out popped a damn coyote at 15 yards. Crap, all that adrenalin for nothing.  I quickly realized that if the coyote came by me Tagalong certainly wouldn't follow the same path. I was right because ten minutes Tagalong slipped under the fence 200 yards to my left and met up with girlfriend and twins. 

It's been an hour and a half and I've been watching the foursome feed across the hill and finally bed down in their normal spot. It's time to plan a new strategy. 

Day 4

Day 4 was nothing to write about. I sat in the main ditch at my ambush site until Carl arrived to change the water. It was a lot hotter and I wasn't going to bake for three hours waiting for the antelope to enter the fields. After three and a half days I was tired and ready for an afternoon break.  We had lunch at the frosty and did a couple of loads of laundry. We watched a couple of movies and topped of the day with a chocolate Sunday. I've got a plan for Wednesday. 

Day 3

I don't know where to start. Day 3 was a pretty exciting day. I forgot my phone in the trailer and had to make a mad dash back and still made it to my new ambush site before daybreak. After watching the two bucks for a couple of days they seem to stick to a somewhat predictable pattern.  I realized this pattern yesterday afternoon and finished off the day with a two hour 600 yard stalk down a wet and muddy ditch that splits the middle of the three pivot fields.  I was in position and getting ready to range the smaller buck when Tagalong (the larger buck that follows his girlfriend and kids everywhere) came out of nowhere and chased the little guy all the way to the end of the ranch. On the way back to camp I devised a plan to ambush the bucks when they crossed the ditch from the alphalfa field to the grass field. 

At daybreak I was in position, laying in a grassy ditch behind a big clump of grass that gave me cover. The only problem was Tagalong was already in the field and girlfriend was up on the flat behind my blind. It was like they had a date for breakfast in the back pivot which was not part of my plan. 

Carl arrived to change the water and swoosh, Girlfriend and kids headed to the top of the hill with Tagalong close behind. They bedded down for the rest of the morning and I knew they wouldn't start their pattern until Carl finished his work. Now it's starting to get hot laying in a ditch that has come alive with ants and spiders. Tagalong is bedded probably a mile up the mountain but is looking down on his little kingdom with eight power eye balls. I know that the pattern will start when Carl leaves the field but its close to lunch time before he is finished. 

Thank God the clouds blew in a cooled things off but for some reason my antelope were lazy today. Here I am tucked up under some overhanging grass talking to Tadd on the phone when they get up and start the trek down the hill. A half hour later they are on the pattern to the tee. They entered the field  on the far side of the pivot which put a wall of water spray between us. I guess antelope don't like showers because when they decided move to the grass field they made a big loop around the end of the pivot and crossed my ditch out of range. 

Now they are 200 yards in the grass and I'm pondering a backup move when Tagalong comes to attention looking over my right shoulder and up the hill. To my surprise little buck is right on the same pattern. I was practicing mental telepathy  saying " enter on this side of the pivot" and it worked. Antelope with an arrow is not easy so I made the decision to take little guy if the opportunity arose. It was like he was on a string. My first range was 130 yards, then 112, then he is walking in a straight line right at me. I slipped down the edge of the bank readied my bow and peaked my head up and he's looking right at me. Damn why could he have been 25 yards to the left. 

Busted. My first reaction was to dip back down in the ditch and give him a minute to hopefully forget he was looking in the eyes of death. Yea right. I slowly raised back up and nothing. Where did he go?  I peaked a little higher and he is now down wind to my right at 80 yards.  The next ten minutes was a stare down that I won because he broke first and walked south towards the main road. 

I was hoping that he would exit the field and head up the hill so i could head back to camp but the crazy little guy marched down the field about 300 yards and bedded down. He is now bedded within shooting range of the ditch I'm laying in. What the heck it's only 300 yards. After 200 yards Carl decided to work on the back pump, drove his tractor down the edge of the field and ended another fruitless stalk. I needed a beer anyway. 

Three beers later and I've got a plan for Tagalong. Be back tomorrow. 

Day 2

Today is a waiting game. At first light I spotted the buck I had the somewhat close encounter with yesterday. He was bedded with his girlfriend about 300 yards north east of my blind on a big flat. The doe got up, gathered her children and fed in a big loop around me and entered the alphalfa field on the opposite side of the lake.  Something spooked the buck out of the field about 10am and he has been bedded at the top of the hill. It's just a waiting game now and hopefully he will get thirsty and come down the fence line. See if you can spot him on top of the grassy hill in front of Fox mountain. 

Oh, did I mention its getting hot in this blind?  I came prepared. 

Report back later.