11-8-2011 Tue

11-8-2011 Tue
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Weather: N8, partly cloudy, 46˚, (1500)
Water: Clear, 42 ˚, 13.9 kcfs
Location: Mississippi River Islands Pool 7, Somners Chute
Bagged/Caught: Larysa - doe
Partners: Tom w, Larysa, Brad

Comments

After our hunt on Sunday night Tom called me and asked if I had any days off during the week. He said Brad and Larysa had a lot of fun hunting and wanted to do it another day if that was oaky with me; of course it was since I had a lot of fun hunting with them on Sunday. I really enjoy doing deer drives out on the islands and anytime anyone is interested in going I am in. I did have one condition though. I have wanted to get out to one of my favorite walleye spots all fall and have not made it out there yet. We were only a couple of days away from a full moon and moon rise was going to happen around 5:30PM. These two lunar occurrences were going to make for some fantastic fishing or so I thought. They all agreed, so we set a hunt date for Tuesday morning.
We started out on Rosebud Island. This island is a little bigger than what I would ordinarily drive with just two drivers and one stander, but this island has the potential to hold more deer and bigger bucks. There were no squeeze points to set Larysa on, but I did set her in an area where the deer will normally run through if pressured. The drive we did would be labeled as a suicide drive if it were gun season. You see, Tom and I were starting at opposite ends of the island and meeting at Larysa’s location. This first spot did not pay off, I did see two deer and scared up another lone deer, but we were unable to chase anything past our stander. There was plenty of deer sign, but the deer were just not cooperative. Larysa had assured us that today she was going to let arrows fly, so we definitely wanted to give her the opportunity. Tom supplied the shore lunch, and after eating our fill and doing a little duck watching it was time to head off to the next island for another deer drive.
We decided to hit the one island where we had seen deer on Sunday and the one which we figured would give Larysa the best chance of proving her marksmanship. The plan was slightly different today. I directed Brad and Larysa to move about one hundred yards up from where they had set up the previous day. Tom and I were going to make a small loop on the East side of the island and then head to the north end and swing the drive south and head back towards our shooter and cameraman.
Almost from the onset of the drive Tom and I both saw deer; things were looking good. Even though islands are small, deer can definitely slip past both drivers or pull a Houdini act. When I was approximately one hundred yards from larysa’s and brad’s position I spotted a doe headed directly towards me. I was thinking this is going to be my opportunity. As I watched the doe make her way toward my position something was amiss. She was oblivious to me and her surroundings. As she turned broadside the reason was obvious, she was bleeding profusely on her side. An arrow from my readied bow was not necessary. Larysa had done an absolute number on this doe and it was close to going down. Unfortunately for me I watched her fall to her side and saw her last breathe leave her now still body. I love to hunt but I do not like to see an animal, especially a big game animal die in such close proximity.
Tom and I had been in visual contact with one another while in the process of the drive and I texted him and said Larysa had gotten a deer. He texted back; “really” as his reply. If I would not have had confidence in her abilities I would not have been making all those drives to her. As I approached Larysa and Brad, her excitement was really spilling over. I congratulated her and we exchanged high fives. Tom soon showed up and we were giving a play by play on how it all went down. All I can say is she made a perfect lung shot and even caught part of the heart on a whitetail in flat out escape stride.
Blood trailing the doe to its final resting spot was very easy; the Muzzy broad head had done an excellent job on the doe. After more filming and reenacting it was time to field dress the deer. Tom was very insistent on Larysa doing it, she did not look overly enthusiastic, probably because she had never done it before, but she was willing. Tom was the teacher and she was the student. Tom started out with the knife and as he was cutting around what he thought was the anus Brad and I had to correct him and told him he had the wrong orifice. Tom took it in stride, put his glasses on and continued with the lesson. It was a very hilarious moment for all of us. Larysa finished the field dressing and the doe was soon in the boat and we were off to try a little walleye fishing.
We hit my favorite spot and I told the group we would know very quickly whether we were going to catch fish or not. Well we did not catch anything, although both Brad and Tom missed a couple of fish. Even though we had no walleye action it was a perfect evening for fishing and conversing. The bad part about deer hunting is there is not much time to talk and get to know one another; in fact it can be somewhat impersonal. However with fishing you might just as well gab and find out the other likes, dislikes and what make them tick.

Observations:

Rosebud Island had a fairly good amount of deer sign. I believe the walleye bite was off on account of the water temperature. Normally this spot is hot when the water temperature is in the lower fifties; tonight the water was in the lower forties, which was surprisingly lower than I figured it would be. The two days I hunted with Larysa and Brad were very enjoyable; I learned a lot, shared good moments, funny moments and met two very nice enthusiastic outdoor people.