#2094387 - 10/02/10 10:24 AM
Friday report: Frustrating Winds
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Poser
14 Point
Registered: 07/28/10
Posts: 8391
Loc: Tennessee
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I went down and camped out in Mississippi Thursday night for the opening of their bow season. I had the big woods area scouted thoroughly, but, same as TN opener, had not anticipated the North Winds. I only had two early season stands that would support a NNE wind. I hunted the first one on Friday. That stand was pretty much a afterthought: a secondary stand along a well used deer trail in a deep ravine just in case I ever needed the option. Normally, the creek would be flowing, but it was dry as a bone, which worried me, since I had never seen it dry. -The wind was complicated. It was dead still for long periods of time, and then 30 mph wind gusts would come barreling down through the ravine in unpredictable and swirling directions. -I stuck it out until 11 and, as you guessed, I didn't see a single deer.
I took the long hike back to camp and checked the weather again which still called for a NNE wind. I packed up and drove a few miles away to get in a swamp bottom thicket protected by the hills thinking this would get me out of the wind. On the way out, I encountered a tree that had fallen across the service road. It was too big to move and just small enough that I thought I could drive over it. I went for it and managed to get over it, but decided that was the limits of my two wheeled drive vehicle.
I decided to "freelance" the afternoon hunt. I have 4 setup locations in this area, but none of them supported a NE wind so I headed out for a grove of oaks that I had marked on my GPS but never cleared out a setup for. I arrived at the gate of the Forest service road to find it open and unlocked. Strange, I had never seen that gate open before. I drove down the newly unlocked road to save a quarter mile of the approach and headed in the woods at 1:30. I arrived at my stand of oaks 45 minutes later and found decent deer sign and mast. I set up in a tree on the NE corner and was settled in by 2:45, panning to catch a nap. I woke up at 3:15 hearing some movement in the dry leaves and looked to my right to see two does and a fawn standing directly down wind easing in for some (surprisingly) early afternoon feeding. Why are they down wind? Because the wind was suddenly gusting from the West.
I watched them stand there at full alert for sometime -probably 5-10 minutes. They didn't blow, but decided to turn and leave. I sat there for another 4 hours and observed the wind gust out of every combination of the North, West and East. Despite acorns dropping consistently (and making plenty of noise hitting the dry leaves) I saw no deer.
I hiked out in the dark and returned my truck. As I was packing up, a truck comes up the road, stops and turns the engine off. I step over and speak with a friendly sounding voice from a dark vehicle. We discuss seeing little and nothing and the strange winds. He then asked me who I was there with and when I said I was alone, he politely informed me that I was on a private road for a hunting club. Granted, the road cuts through the WMA, so I wasn't trespassing per say (at least on property). I knew there was a small hunting club back there (basically a cabin and food plots in the middle of a WMA), but I didn't realize this was their road. I apologized profusely, which he graciously accepted, but told me that if we had not encountered each other at that moment, I would have been locked in as he was planning to lock the gate on the way out. whew... go lucky on that one as he told me that he is the only regular bowhunter in this club. There is also no cell service out there, so I would have been screwed. I thanked him again, apologized one more time, gave him my contact info as a sign of my sincerity.
My plan had been to camp out again, hunt Saturday morning and head back home to rest up for a management hunt I have on Sunday and Monday. But, after the frustrating winds, 12 hours in the stand with only 3 deer sightings, feeling guilty and uninformed for parking on a private road, not to mention the noticeable body oder I was permeating from hiking several miles, I decided to pack it in. Not the best way to start the season (again), but, on the bright side, these two season openers have both whipped me hard mentally and physically. If they toughen me up for things to come (long approaches, long sits, rough weather and no sleep) then they have served their purpose.
_________________________
It doesn't have to be fun to be fun. Wild & crazy, can't be stopped. Only the strong will survive. Keep your knife sharp and your skillet greasy. http://www.GoCarnivore.com
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#2094392 - 10/02/10 10:27 AM
Re: Friday report: Frustrating Winds
[Re: Poser]
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jw0312
10 Point
Registered: 08/16/10
Posts: 2784
Loc: Memphis
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Dang. Sounds like it's time for them to put a sign up somewhere on their road...
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