Good Day All,

The 2003 season produced far less buck sightings than previous years.  Was it due to the drought?  Or the fact that the rut was on the downside?  Or were there just fewer deer around?  We're not sure.  But that still didn't stop a couple nice bucks from making it to the meat pole!  Opening morning brought several deer seen, but none worth shooting.  Jay did see a cow elk cross the river and I called in our first fox that we have ever seen on our property.  I shot him at 65 yards out of Powerlines Middle House Stand.  Saturday evening, I sat in West Fenceline Stand and had another fox come hunting past me.  I gave him a pass.  Meanwhile, Koz shot his largest buck in 15 years of hunting over at Benny's land.  This 4x5 was in conjunction with a coyote that he shot earlier in the day.

On Sunday morning, Kyle again continued his wait in Northwest House Stand.  Just after sunup, he watched a doe move through an opening.  He was soon caught off-guard by a really nice buck following her and by the time he got his rifle up, the deer had stepped in the trees.  He just learned one of his lessons the hard way by not being ready for a buck following a doe.  At 8:15, Kyle spotted two nice bucks move into some thick trees.  Either escape route for them would bring them into the open.  Soon, they stepped out and moved south in front of his stand.  They both looked identical in size, so he picked the closer one.  Crack-Boooommm.  The high-pitched crack of the percussion split the below-freezing air, followed by the deep reverberating echo coursing through the trees.  The shot brought us all to attention.  Two more shots quickly followed.  We all waited for Kyle to break radio silence.  Shortly, an audible click was heard over the radio waves, followed by repeated, excited breathing.  The response clicked off, with no words being emitted.  Several seconds later, Kyle tried again.  This time, amidst excited breathing, Kyle let us know that he had shot at a nice buck (no kidding).  He had hit it with the first shot and it jumped into some thick brush, where his 2nd and 3rd shots hit branches on the way towards the deer.  He told us the deer was down, but looking at us, and he was out of shells.  I was sitting near him and hustled over to provide assistance.  Using my knife, I ended the struggle and Kyle had harvested his first whitetail.  It was a dandy 4x5 that will place well in our Top 10 deer taken on our property.  Kyle's deer was joined on the meatpole by a forkie that Mark shot on Benny's ground.  By Sunday evening, all 3 deer were butchered and in the freezer and Kyle was on his way home with the antlers ready to take to school the next morning.

Con, Jay, and I continued to hunt during the week.  On Tuesday morning, Jay connected on a fine 5x5 out of Deep Middle Stand.  This deer will probably settle in as the #3 deer taken on our property.  It is Jay's largest that he has ever taken.  On Thursday morning, I called in another fox while sitting in Southwest House Stand.  With this many fox around, that tells me there must be no coyotes around.  As expected, none of us saw a coyote during the season.  Another first on our property this year was when Jay busted a covey of quail near our pond.  To help protect the gamebirds, we trapped 2 coon, 2 opossum, and 2 skunks during the week.  Con and I continued to see a few bucks, but nothing we wanted to take.

On Saturday morning, the antlerless hunters arrived to help with our deer management program.  Doug, along with his two sons Dane and Cale, started the morning by taking a nice doe out of Powerlines Middle House Stand.  On Saturday afternoon, Ross sat in the same stand and harvested another doe.  Minutes after his shot, Luke followed suit by taking a yearling buttonbuck.  We drove in and picked up their deer and dropped off Kyle J. at the Powerlines Middle House Stand.  Right before dark, two shots were heard from his stand.  Once again we hopped in the truck and helped him load a yearling doe.  Four antlerless were harvested on Saturday with three of them out of Powerlines Middle House Stand.

Sunday brought snow, cold, and very windy conditions.  It also brought the end of the season -- another enjoyable season.

Update -- The late-season hunters harvested five more does off of our property.  Jerry harvested a doe out of Powerlines Middle House Stand, Con harvested a doe out of Soutwest House Stand, Darold harvested two does out of Southwest House Stand, and Gary finished it with a doe out of Powerlines Middle House Stand.

Click here for the pictures.