Saturday morning we were in position by 6:45 a.m., but the morning hunt produced nothing. Cameron saw a small 4 pt. buck within 10 minutes getting settled into the box on the top 40. Andrew was in the tree stand just 20'ish yards away where Cam had shot his buck the week before. I went all the way around to the tree stand in the far south-west corner of the top 40.
After a couple of hours I moved a 100 yards to the east to an old stand that had been placed in a rock & brush pile in the middle of the south field. The view from this stand was much better, but no deer came to be seen. Around 10:30 a.m. I went for a walk around the top-40 perimeter to check the fence line and scout out other sites for raising stands.
On my way back towards the boys I apparently flushed a pair of doe which bounded through the tall grass in Cameron's view. However he never had a shot so he saved his ammo vs. shooting in their general direction as he had the week before. I never saw or heard these doe, I saw no deer that morning. Neither did Andrew.
Pete & Monica were in a tree stand in the lower-bowl and reported seeing three deer in the west tree line but they never presented themselves for a shot. Don & Shorty did not see anything that morning.
In the afternoon nobody saw anything except Pete & I. Earlier that day Pete & Monica had scouted that field and discovered a self-raising tree stand and an prime place to sit on the ground that faces the western field of our property. They chose that spot for their afternoon hunt while I chose to go up into the semi-safe tower-stand which had been built by Thurmon.
A lone doe fawn is all anyone we saw that afternoon and we harvested it. It came north about 100 yards in front of Pete. Monica was off on a nature walk and missed the opportunity. But the fawn never gave Pete a clear shot as the trees and brush it was feeding along side of provided sufficient cover. It steadily made its way towards me and I kept en eye on her. About 5 minutes later she popped her head & shoulder out far enough for a good broadside shot from just 40-50 years.
Unfortunately I aimed high and hit her inthe upper chest. This put her down, a good thing, but it did not kill her. I made a rookie mistake by not taking a 2nd shot for the kill from the stand. Instead I chose to take the 5 minutes necessary to get down from the tower and walk up to her. By then she had shook off the trauma enough to jump up and bolt back to the south.
Instantly upset at my mistake I took a few steps in pursuit but then stopped as I saw Pete with rifle at aim. Fifteen seconds later he fired. Seeing that he set his rifle down I called him and he directed me towards where he had last seen the fawn. Uncertain if he had hit her we were hopeful either he had or that my shot finally took the wind out of her. After a few minutes I came up on here down and dead behind a large bush. Pete finished her with a running shot, to the gut.
Monica walked down to me and helped me field dress the fawn and Pete showed up with the 4-wheeler about the time we were ready to move her out. Here she is, small indeed, and believe me everyone let me know how small she was...
Sunday morning we went back out, hunted until appx. 10 a.m. and saw nothing. Pete & I herded up the kids and headed home before noon, Don left for home as well. Shorty stayed and hunted the final afternoon of this antlerless season. He was rewarded with a large buck fawn which he harvested.
