Larry A. Smail's Blog

  I have been a “slacker” with my blog in recent days. Last week on January 5, my cousin Donnie Smail and I spent some quality time afield in pursuit of white-tail chasing. Donnie and I were out of deer tags so we were “dogging” for my step-father Bob. (Donnie and I are as close as being brothers as one can be without actually being bros. Our fathers were brothers and our mothers were sisters.)  That is important information to know, but, I don’t know why. Don’t let this information out, but, I kind of like him.  Bob, on the other hand, finds much difficulty dealing with the two of us as we harass him throughout our time together.

  The second deer drive moved deer towards Bob. The deer raced past him and he couldn’t get a shot. The third drive produced some deer movement past him. These deer , also, were in high gear. Needless to say, Bob urged us to slow the deer down in the future. We stopped hunting around noon.

***************************************************************************

Cochise... the Mighty Hunter!

The morning was witnessed by  windless time. The softly falling snow created a peaceful solitude I crave to be part of. The problems of life seem small with the natural world enveloped in such a scenario…. Beautiful time afield!

  The first drive, produced some deer past Bob. He saw two deer sneaking along out of range. We walked around together with more deer sightings. I peered over the edge of the hill watching three deer feeding along. I saw a couple of fox squirrels too.

The remainder of the morning saw a few deer, however, none of which went past Bob. As noon approached, Bob and I began a trek towards his truck. We met and old friend and classmate, Ed Orr. We talked awhile before separating and heading towards home. Later from the pick up, I noticed 5 deer feeding. We watched them for a bit before heading home.  

A scene from home.

A shed

 The weather stations were all stating freezing rain.  Bob and I eventually entered the woods around noon to pursue the white-tail. I was walking along preparing to walk through a pine grove when I glanced down and was surprised to see a “shed” antler. Hunters seem to admire these trophies and instinctively horde them.

I chased deer around for a time, but failed to move any past Bob.  We edged along a field discussing that deer should be moving and feeding when I touched Bob, whispering…deer!

The body of a deer was feeding over a swell in the field. The deer was approximately 40 yards.  Bob squatted and gazed through 2 feet high crabgrass. The shot missed! I heard a crack in the tree line. I trailed the deer over  several hundred yards just to positive the miss call was accurate. It was!

 Later, I walked around an old foundation site. I must be getting old. I have faint memories of being in the old house in my youth. The house, even then,  had long ago been abandoned . Today, all that is present is the stone foundation and some old rusted  farm machinery. 

Old foundation stones

Bob became tired and we called the hunt off after two and a half hours. Bob does great for being 76 years old.

Snow on the ground and deer in the woods makes for some grand opportunities to observe and /or hunt deer. I do not have any deer tags left so my primary reasons to be in the woods this day was to take photos and move some deer around for my step-father Bob and my cousin Donnie Smail.

  Early in the morning we could hear some turkeys across the road yelping and cutting. I pranced around the woods in various thick areas and saw several squirrels and grouse. I saw some deer also.

I came down over one area and could hear turkeys calling out their alarm putts. I immediately assumed the birds had spotted me. I continued to watch and eventually spotted a flock of about 15 turkeys. Suddenly the birds began to run and take to the air. They flew towards me! Some landed in nearby trees for a few seconds before continuing on around the hillside. Throughout the morning I would see remnants of this flock.

I worked around the hill when I saw  the back of a deer for a few seconds. A minute later a shot rang out where Donnie was to be. I hastened my steps towards him. We found hair and twenty yards later some blood. I was walking slightly above Donnie. He said lots of blood. I told him we will find the deer. A minute later I exclaimed, “There it is!”

Donnie with a doe

 The sixty yard shot hit true. The doe went about 60 more yards.  Bob and I hunted until about 1:00 P.M. before going home for some deer burgers.

Woodland Snow Scene.

   Bob (my step-father) and I went to the woods today to see if he could harvest a deer. Bob remained stationary to watch as  I walked about armed heavily with a camera. I had 22 deer sightings by 10:00 A.M.! I saw one decent-sized buck. Few of these moved deer went towards Bob. Two doe did come up a hollow. One deer stopped behind a tree and while Bob leveled the scope on it waiting to see the front shoulders a lifeflight helicopter flew over low. (We later learned of an accident near Elderton, Pennsylvania.)

Later on in the morning we crept along a right-of-way peering for another doe we had seen going in that direction. Suddenly, I tapped Bob pointing over the embankment. I could see feeding deer, in fact, there were five deer feeding along.

Bob, excitedly, prepared for a possible shot. Finally, one deer exposed it’s body from among the brush and Bob fired. From my position, slightly behind, I thought I noticed a flinch. I could only see the back of the deer.  Of course, chaos erupted with deer movement all about! Two deer came up to our right and Bob fired again. I hurried along the right-of-way to see a single deer cross. I surmised the other deer was down.

We surveyed the lower woods and saw nothing. I went over the embankment and shortly saw blood.  I came back up over and looked down and within feet of us lay the doe along the ditch-line.

Bob and his doe.

  Bob tagged and field-dressed the deer. I took photos. He stated that he wasn’t entirely sure if this deer was the same one he initially shot at. A “red-flag” immediately blew in the wind. I said I better walk back and check around.  I found sign of a hit and later saw the deer about 100 yards downslope watching me.

I went back and told Bob what was transpiring. I knew I had  to use my unused antlerless tag. I wasn’t hunting with a firearm. (I was waiting for flintlock season to use the tag.) I grabbed his 30:06 and placed one shell in the chamber and crept back to where I saw the deer. I placed the rifle against a tree and took careful aim and shot the wounded deer.

One needs to always do what is right when hunting. The hunt was unfortunate, but in those minutes after the initial shot much confusion happened. Bob, was troubled with the experience and I worked to comfort him. It all worked out. I will be canning more deer and stocking up for the bad times ahead.