We arrived Friday night and got the trailer open and the generator going. While the trailer heated up, we headed for Hessel for supper and some gambling. We had a nice time and actually won some money.
Saturday, we were up early and spent the day getting our hunting spots set up for the next day. About 2:00 we came in for a break and Arlene had parked her 4-wheeler right in front of the trailer.
Suddenly, she sat up and looked and then pointed out the window. As I looked out, I could see a 4-point buck meandering toward the bait pile at the end of our camp clearing. When Arlene had looked out the window, she could see her 4-wheeler handlebars and the tops of a set of horns. The buck was sniffing her handlebars!
Apparently, the little guy was wondering what this new thing in his territory was. We had a good laugh about that one.
This is a photo of him leaving that my new trail camera captured.
Saturday was Arlene's birthday, and Mom and Dad came up for a visit and to bring R her birthday present. Dad is doing a little better after a bad fall last week that left him with a broken shoulder blade. They only stayed an hour so we decided to go to the casino for a little while.
Arlene was extremely lucky with her birthday money from Mom and Dad and came home with almost $400 and I came home with $80.
Opening morning was clear and mild and we saw deer right at daybreak. However, by 10:00 am it was blowing a gale and the deer were hunkered down. The wind died a little at dusk and a few deer did come in but they were pretty jumpy.
Mary and Tiny came up about 3:00 pm and sat in the car so they wouldn't scare the deer. They snuck into the trailer and watched the deer at the end of the clearing and waited for us to come in. We had a nice dinner of Janet's lasagna and played Phase 10 all evening.
Monday morning was cold and clear and the deer came in about 7:30 am. Mary and Tiny were "deer spotters" for me while I hunted in my little pop-up blind. We saw deer that day both morning and evening.
We decided to go to the casino for supper and had hamburgers and then played for a little while. It was fun.
This morning was really cold and frosty. Arlene was feeling a little tired so I went to her shack to hunt but didn't see a thing but two bluejays.
She saw two does, one is a fawn but the other doe isn't her mother. They are just hanging around together. Arlene took this beautiful picture of the big doe from our trailer window.
Mary and Tiny left about 9:30 am and I stayed out until about 12:30 pm. I came in and helped Arlene load the car and we came in early.
We didn't see many deer but the weather was sunny and mild both Monday and Tuesday so it was still a nice weekend.
The big bucks that were hanging around during the first week of November have apparently vanished into thin air. We saw the little 4-point, a spike horn and Mary saw a small buck with half of his rack missing. Other than that we only saw a few does. The deer are pretty scarce. I think the wolves have alot to do with that.
We are home relaxing and getting chores done so that we can go hunting next weekend.
