Day 5 - More Standing

Another dawn that was better than the picture.  Couldn't help but wonder if that jet heading north was full of Hillary lovers or Trump haters.  One in the same I suppose.

Well, I saw some real, live deer today.  Went back to my Slaughterhouse stand for another ten hours.  Had a doe and fawn run by at about 9:20; not sure what spooked them but they were moving fast with tails waving.  A doe with two fawns came walking by at 10:30 - thought I might have a chance at taking the doe but she stopped two steps short of a clear shot.  I've been bathing with scent free/scent killing soap for two weeks, use scent killing deodorant, wash all my clothing in scent free detergent, and spray myself with scent killing spray each morning when I leave the house.  That doe got downwind of me and threw her nose in the air - despite my de-scenting efforts she still smelled something.  She didn't smell a human or she'd have been gone, but she knew something wasn't quite right.  Instead of taking the two steps forward I needed her to take, she turned and took two steps away from me so she stood under and amid the branches of a spruce tree.  Smart deer.  Terrible mother, though - she left the two fawns standing out in the open.  They eventually all wandered away up the draw to the east.

I walked by this spot at 7:00 this morning.  Guess I should have stopped.  This guy came by at 10:40; hadn't changed the camera time since Daylight Savings kicked in.

I saw my timber wolf again today.  I was walking, it was walking.  I stopped, it stopped.  We locked eyes for a split second before it turned and loped away.  Hunt for most of my life without seeing a wolf, now see the same one twice in five days.  The wonders of spending time in the woods.

Yesterday I wrote about the stands we build....but only wrote about one of them before running out of energy.  We currently have 25 different stands.  I think we had 29 at one point but discontinued a couple and had trees fall on a couple others.  My dad and I love finding the next "great spot" for a stand - my mom wonders how the deer can even move through the woods without bumping into one of our stands.  With that many different stands/spots to choose from one of the most crucial elements in stand creation is the choice of the stand name.  Without a proper name it becomes almost impossible to describe a stand location.  My attempts at doing so usually go something like this:

Me:  Sign looks good around your stand this year.

Dad:  Oh yeah?  Which one?

Me:  That stand we put along the edge of the swamp. (we have 35 miles of swamp edge)

Dad:  Edge of the swaaaammmpp......

Me:  By the clump of spruces. (we have 35 different spruce clumps)

Dad:  Spruce clump?  To the north or west?

Me:  East.

Dad:  East?  There aren't any spruce to the east.  You mean balsam?

Me:  Probably.  Edge of the swamp, green trees, east.....you shot a buck fawn there. (he does that everywhere)

Dad:  Ohhhhh, you mean that stand.

Me:  Yes, that stand.

See?  At that point we still aren't thinking about the same stand and we both know we never will.  So a stand needs a name.  You've read about the Slaughterhouse and the Bald Knob stands; when you hunt with us (which, again, you probably never will) you can also choose from:

**The Bing Stand - The last stand my grandpa (who absolutely LOVED building "scaffolds" as he called them) ever helped build.  Never been a deer shot from it...in fact, it hardly ever gets used.  We maintain it and keep it usable in honor of him.  You can hunt here.

**Tree Rocker - I came upon three deer at this spot along Spring Crick.  As I was trying to get closer to the deer I could see, I noticed the top of a young popple tree swaying back and forth on a non-windy day.  When the deer I could see spooked and ran a fourth deer, a buck, joined them.  He had been rubbing the rocking tree....and the Tree Rocker stand was built in that spot a couple of years later.

**The Maples - We have very few areas of maple in our country.  This stand is built into a sugar maple.  Very pretty in mid-fall.  One of my favorite and most productive spots.  You won't hunt here.

**The Secret Stand - I built this without telling anyone else.  It's so secret the deer don't even know about it; haven't ever seen a deer from it.

**Dad's Metal Stand - This one is my dad's stand.  It's metal.

**The Crossroads - Nestled on the west edge of Vance's Swamp, this stand is at the end of a north/south walking trail that crosses the east/west trail a few hundred yards away.  Shot a decent buck here once that was chasing a less decent buck.  Exciting couple of minutes.

**The Hangman's Tree - The tree that gave the spot it's name is gone, but we still have a stand there.  In fact, it's a spot that's had a stand for close to 75 years.  My great-grandfather hunted the same woods I now hunt....I'm pretty sure he had a stand there.  I'll have to check on that.

**George's Swamp Stand - Hunting buddy George's favorite spot.  It's by the swamp.

**The Crap Stand - One of my dad's favorite spots.  He tries to call it "The Green Timber" stand, which would be a nice name for it if my Uncle David hadn't provided the alternate name.  He was hunting the area when he was struck by the urgent need to evacuate his bowels.  Which he did.  Right in front of Dad's stand.  He claims he had no idea Dad had a stand right there; he takes full responsibility for the "slight change in topography" (his words) he left behind.

Remember, I said we have 25 stands, so obviously we have a number of unnamed spots.  You can't imagine how many times my dad and I have the conversation I wrote out for you.

Switching tactics for tomorrow's hunt: I'm going to try to shoot a deer.  No more fooling around.  I'm heading north and east for the first time this season.  Probably start out at that stand Dad and I just put up a couple of weeks ago.  That one by the slash.  No, the other part of the slash.  By the grassy strip. No, no, no - not the grassy strip, the grassy strip.  With the taller grass.  Yeah, we really need more names.  If that's not productive I'm going to continue north to an historic spot we call Crockett's, and maybe even try the other "new" stand we put up recently that I actually have named.  Just in case this becomes my last post I want to thank you for following along with my adventures this week.  Why the last post?  I've named the "new" stand "The Death Trap."  Wish me luck.

These birch trees and I have gotten to know each other really well the last two days.  I liked the white on the blue.

Sunset.