Larry A. Smail's Blog

I crossed Cherry Run in the dark hours heading for a flat where I had planned to hunt. The morning was just great with nice temperatures. In the early minutes after dawn, I could hear something moving about across the hollow from my position. As I listened, I was surprised when five turkeys suddenly appeared well within shotgun range had I been hunting turkeys. The birds went around behind me and climbed high over the top. I managed several photos but nothing very exciting.

The first deer I saw was a buck. the little six-point came right to me as I snapped a host of photos. The buck circled around me and dropped down over right where I saw him at first. Range finder showed the buck at twenty-six yards. This buck made a circle completely around me.

A short time later another buck appeared. I began taking photos of him as well. He saw me and would snort and move off and I would call him back. I called this buck back five times before he had had enough of my stench. The deer was as close as twenty-two yards.

I heard something behind me and turned to see a doe at sixty-two yards away. I limited my shots to forty yards or under due to my sighting issues. Another bigger buck appeared and chased her up the hollow. i use my range finder when I can to get the yardages.

My next excitement happened towards noon. I saw a Black Bear coming my way. For a brief moment I debated what was legal. I thought the season came in muzzleloading bear during the last three days of week. I am glad I remembered for that was indeed accurate, The Blackie came close to me. I couldn’t get a focus on him due to brush and his movements. The bear stopped behind me a sniff before moving down over the hill I guess the weight was somewhere between 130 and 150 pounds. I used my range finder, and the bear was 24.9 yards away at one spot. Needless to say, my hunt was over I couldn’t concentrate on deer, and I didn’t care as I headed out at one o’clock.