Finding and Dragging a Doe!

Bob shot this doe in the late evening at Homewood Hunting Club in Claiborne County back in 2005 in Mike's Patch.  It was so dark and we could not find any blood so we had to get up early the next morning and go back to the camp to look for it.  Bob showed me approximately where it went in at the far right and I headed towards the left. I walked in about 100 or so yards and thought I saw something that looked like a deer laying by a log across a ravine.  I was able to walk around to it and when I got closer, it looked real small and started dragging this deer out of the woods...the more I dragged the heavier it got and the bigger it got.  Trying to get around a ravine and back, going around trees, brush, etc.  I yelled to Bob that I had found it and got it almost to the edge of the field where part of a tree had fallen down blocking the way but was able to get over it with his help.  (Bob had a stroke back in 1995 and he tends to drag his right leg and gets tangled up in the brush and may fall)  That is why I had to go in and help him find the deer.  We were so lucky that a coyote had not gotten to it overnight.  We got the 4-wheeler as close as we could to the deer and it took us three tries but we finally got it up on the wheeler.  Got back to the camp, weighed and was almost 120 lbs.  Yikes!  You should have seen us trying to load it into our 2005 Ford Focus car trunk...it was crazy but lots of fun!

Bob harvested two more deer and got another one that got eaten up by a coyote.  My hunting was not good that season.  Two deer (on separate hunts) showed up as I was peeing and another one I shot at the Ceder Tree Stand.  Got down and found blood and tagged where it went into the woods.  Had to pick up Bob at another stand on the 4-wheeler and was getting late so we decided to wait till the next morning.  On the way back to the camp we picked up my grandson, Carl, to help track and find my deer.  As luck would have it  - we did find it but had been eaten on possibly by the same coyote.  The two stands are close together even though you had to go back towards the camp and then head in another direction to get to Mike's Patch where Bob had hunted.   Most of the time the other hunters would help us since they knew his condition but we also hunted during the weekdays.  

Bob in 2005 with his 120lb. doe.

My Shadow On Deerstand

This is a picture I took a few years ago while I was still in a hunting camp in Claiborne County called, Jasper Bottom.  Unfortunately, after 25 years of hunting there, I had to get out of my camp because the fees went up so high.  I now hunt where ever I get invited.  This weekend is opening weekend for rifle season and I plan to hunt on my granddaughter's family land south of town.  The stand I am in above will be the one I will hunt out of.  We had it moved a couple of years ago to its new site.  I hunted out of it last season but did not see anything.  Hopefully, this weekend I will see and possibly get a deer.  I want to wish everyone that's already hunting or will soon be hunting to be safe and obey the laws of hunting in our great outdoors!

Showing Dad My First Deer

Here I am at my sister's home showing off my first deer to my Dad.  He was so proud of me that "opening day" of rifle season back in 1986.  He even thanked Bob, my future husband, for taking the time to teach me how to hunt.  The following November he died.

    

Admiring my very first deer a 6 point buck!