flathead willie
11-18-2007, 08:41 PM
So far it hasn't been a very good season for me....until yesterday! I got married a couple years ago and moved to the city. This has made it hard to hunt like I have for years. It's a hour drive each way to my old stomping grounds, so I've spent the last couple seasons roaming around new pieces of the National Forest looking for good hunting, without much success. A lot of the unsuccessful part is my fault; I missed three with the bow and the one I hit, I couldn't find.
Yesterday was opening day of gun season and I was desperate to get my freezer full. ( I have a blood disorder and shouldn't eat red meat but the doctors let me eat all the venison I want.) I decided to go back to a friends farm that I hunted years ago. I couldn't sleep all night trying to figure out the best place to put up my stand. I settled on a steep mountain side where 5 logging roads meet. At 8:00am I heard a noise behind me and turned to see a deer that had just stepped out of the thicket 50 yards away on to a logging road. When my 30-06 went off, the deer just dropped. I thought, HOT DAMN, a nice fat Doe. As it turned out, when I went to gut it later, it was actually a hermorphadite!! (sp) It had no gonads, but it had a penis about a foot further forward than usual, teats, and a vagina. It had a fork horn on one side and a spike on the other that grew down along it's face, almost blocking one eye.
Anyway, twenty minutes after shooting that deer, I saw 5 Turkeys coming down the ridge the deer had come from. They were behind a big Oak, that had blown in a storm. I cranked my scope up to 6 power, picked out a neck and shot. One bird hit the ground flapping while the others flew off. Great, a deer AND a Turkey!( It had an 11 1/2 inch beard and 1 1/4 inch spurs.) I was temped to get down but decided to stay in the stand and see what happens. Thirty minutes later I heard another commotion and turned to see a Bobcat sneaking up on a squirrel. BOOM!!! Bobcat down! I waited in the tree for another couple hours with no more action. I thought I'd gut the deer and go hang it in the barn. That's when I realized what a weird deer it was. I retrieved the Turkey, shot right through the head at 75 yards, no meat loss! Cool!!! I went down the mountain to get my friends ATV and went back to load the game. Just as I threw the deer on the back rack, I heard a noise. 25 feet behind me was a big Doe...and my gun was on the front rack of the ATV. By the time I got to it, she was gone.
After hanging the deer and Turkey, I took a look on the far side of the property and saw a lot of tracks coming down the mountain along the fence line and crossing the fence from the neighbors property. There were also a lot of rubs. I took the tarsal glands from the deer I just hung and put them on a couple stumps, one up hill from a tree I picked out, and one downhill. An hour after settling in the stand, I looked down and saw a nice 8 pointer sneaking up to the gland 60 yards below me. I put the cross hairs on his shoulder and down he went! Well I still had two hours of daylight left so I figured I'd stay put and see what happens. The land owner has a damage permit so I knew I could shoot more deer if I got a chance. Sure enough, at 4:00pm a doe crossed the fence right behind me and gave me a great 20 yards shot. Three down! Thirty minutes later another doe came out at the same place, and met the same fate as the last one. By the time I got all three deer gutted and dragged off the mountain it was 8:00pm. What a day!!! The freezer is full, and since the land owner checked in the two antlered deer on his landowner permit, I still have my buck tags in case I run into the BIG BOY in the next couple weeks. Here are some pictures!
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00000.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00002.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00004.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00005.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00004.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00001.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00007.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00006.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00008.jpg
Yesterday was opening day of gun season and I was desperate to get my freezer full. ( I have a blood disorder and shouldn't eat red meat but the doctors let me eat all the venison I want.) I decided to go back to a friends farm that I hunted years ago. I couldn't sleep all night trying to figure out the best place to put up my stand. I settled on a steep mountain side where 5 logging roads meet. At 8:00am I heard a noise behind me and turned to see a deer that had just stepped out of the thicket 50 yards away on to a logging road. When my 30-06 went off, the deer just dropped. I thought, HOT DAMN, a nice fat Doe. As it turned out, when I went to gut it later, it was actually a hermorphadite!! (sp) It had no gonads, but it had a penis about a foot further forward than usual, teats, and a vagina. It had a fork horn on one side and a spike on the other that grew down along it's face, almost blocking one eye.
Anyway, twenty minutes after shooting that deer, I saw 5 Turkeys coming down the ridge the deer had come from. They were behind a big Oak, that had blown in a storm. I cranked my scope up to 6 power, picked out a neck and shot. One bird hit the ground flapping while the others flew off. Great, a deer AND a Turkey!( It had an 11 1/2 inch beard and 1 1/4 inch spurs.) I was temped to get down but decided to stay in the stand and see what happens. Thirty minutes later I heard another commotion and turned to see a Bobcat sneaking up on a squirrel. BOOM!!! Bobcat down! I waited in the tree for another couple hours with no more action. I thought I'd gut the deer and go hang it in the barn. That's when I realized what a weird deer it was. I retrieved the Turkey, shot right through the head at 75 yards, no meat loss! Cool!!! I went down the mountain to get my friends ATV and went back to load the game. Just as I threw the deer on the back rack, I heard a noise. 25 feet behind me was a big Doe...and my gun was on the front rack of the ATV. By the time I got to it, she was gone.
After hanging the deer and Turkey, I took a look on the far side of the property and saw a lot of tracks coming down the mountain along the fence line and crossing the fence from the neighbors property. There were also a lot of rubs. I took the tarsal glands from the deer I just hung and put them on a couple stumps, one up hill from a tree I picked out, and one downhill. An hour after settling in the stand, I looked down and saw a nice 8 pointer sneaking up to the gland 60 yards below me. I put the cross hairs on his shoulder and down he went! Well I still had two hours of daylight left so I figured I'd stay put and see what happens. The land owner has a damage permit so I knew I could shoot more deer if I got a chance. Sure enough, at 4:00pm a doe crossed the fence right behind me and gave me a great 20 yards shot. Three down! Thirty minutes later another doe came out at the same place, and met the same fate as the last one. By the time I got all three deer gutted and dragged off the mountain it was 8:00pm. What a day!!! The freezer is full, and since the land owner checked in the two antlered deer on his landowner permit, I still have my buck tags in case I run into the BIG BOY in the next couple weeks. Here are some pictures!
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00000.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00002.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00004.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00005.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00004.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00001.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00007.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00006.jpg
http://i68.photobucket.com/albums/i16/Flatheadwillie/openingdaygunseason00008.jpg