I have had the entire week between Christmas and New Years off but due to family in from out of town I did not get out as much as I would have liked. I made it out for a few hours on the 30th and saw several deer but non were close enough to get a shot at.
I made it back out on the the 1st, the last day of our deer season here in MI. I was hunting with my new CVA Optima trying to fill my doe tag. Our late antlerless season ran until Jan 1 and allows gun or bow. I had bought the Optima during a New Years sale last year and this is the first season I have hunted with it and the first deer I have shot with it.
Rather than walk the edge of the field to get to my blind as I normally do, I elected to walk the woods, the property I traverse to get to my blind does not allow hunting in Sunday (property owners rule) so I knew no one else would be out there. He does not care if I use his property to get to my blind as long as I do not "hunt" on his land. I am grateful to be able to access my blind from the backside without having to cross the entire field so I happily comply.
It was a beautiful day, sun shining and close to 40 degrees.
I had not been in the blind for 30 minutes when I notices some specs on the other side of the field.
Took this shot through my Vortex binoc's. They were out about 360 yards. I watched them for quite a while and even give them a couple bleats from the can call I carry with me. They either did not hear it or just were too occupied with eating to care. It had no effect on them.
About a half hour later I thought I heard some crunching behind me. I looked out the corner of my window but could not see anything so I thought it may have been a squirrel. About 10 minutes later I see two does come from my left and work their way out in front of me. I watched them for a while and even snapped a picture.
Neither were a huge deer but the deer on the right stood several inches taller than the one on the left. I watched them for a long time. I kept hoping more deer would come out. I checked my watch, realized that I only had about an hour left in the season so decided to take the larger of the two. In the excitement I failed to get the muzzle fully outside the window....those muzzleloaders are quite loud.
She ran a big arc across the field and went down on the other side. I texted my buddie who said he would meet me at my truck and then I packed up and worked my way back out. She fell about 100 yards from the access drive the farmer uses to access the field so we were able to drive right out to her and pick her up. She was not a big deer, even a little smaller than I thought, but she will be good eating.
I hung her in the garage last night and already have her skinned and quartered this morning.
It has been a great season. I might not have made it out as much as I would have liked but I have seen a lot of deer including some of the biggest bucks I have ever seen in the woods. I was lucky enough to be able to tag two deer in one season, a personal first for me if you do not include the one I hit with my truck, and I made some great memories. My 2016 seasons are done, bring on 2017!!