Reports were that the ducks were down in good numbers so upon my urging, Pop-Pop, both boys and myself awoke early to make the two hour drive up in time to be in the blind for legal shooting hours. When we pulled in the gate, the truck thermometer read 19 degrees. The duck hole was frozen solid so I did my best to break a small landing zone in front of the blind. That lasted about 15 minutes before it froze right back. The only 5 ducks that were within calling range obviously didn't like what they saw. After a good ribbing about getting a 63 year old out of bed for this "wonderful duck hunt" that I had promised, we all retreated back to the camp by 7:30 to warm up. The boys did great despite the cold.
We all had some breakfast and played around the camp for a few hours. We lit the fire pit up and the boys drove their gator around collecting scrap wood and doing their best to see that the fire bordered on taking out all of Sharkey County. Dad and I checked the zero on our rifles and fired off 8 shots down towards Ni-Ni's food plot at the target. As soon as I had fired the last shot I told dad we probably ran every deer within 100 acres off. No sooner had I gotten that out of my mouth and a nice sized doe runs (yes, she actually ran) out into the very plot we had been blitzing with rounds only seconds before and began feeding. Craziest thing I've ever seen. Just goes to show, the sound of gunfire might not have the detrimental effect we often believe.
We did a few stand repairs during the day, seeing quite a few deer on their feet during the middle of the day. We even drove up on a pretty nice 3 year old making a scrape that paid us little attention. Some of the bucks seem to be getting ready for the upcoming rut, while some are still running in bachelor groups. We made it back to the camp in time to watch the first half of LSU/ARK and have the obligatory day after Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches.
We loaded back up around 3 and headed to the stands. The boys and I dropped dad off at the Owl Field and we headed to the Tractor Shed field where the game cam had shown quite a few bucks. (No pics, left the cards at the camp) About 4:00 Grayson laid down on the floor to take a nap and I promised him I'd wake him up when the deer decided to show. About 2 minutes later I looked up and a fair buck had walked out at 150 yards. It was followed by another racked buck. I quietly told Grayson to come sit with me, very calmly as to not get him overly excited right off the bat. As he was climbing into my lap the 3rd, 4th and 5th bucks walked out. We had 5 bucks feeding at 150 yards and an hour and half of daylight left. I glassed the bachelor group and found a really good looking 6 point that was obviously mature. He was one of the biggest bodied deer I have seen since we've had the farm, about 16"s wide and had 20"+ beams and I estimated him at 225 lbs. He was a very solid buck and one that I would have shot had Grayson not been with me. I didn't want Grayson to shoot that far and we had a while before sunset so we watched them and I tried to settle his nerves. Little brother did PERFECT the entire time the deer were in the field and soaked it all in as well. I was beating myself up for having forgot the video camera as it was a beautiful sight to have 5 bucks, sun beating down on white horns, engulfed in the green sea of forage. The lead buck began working away from us after about 20 minutes and I knew the others were going to follow. This is when I began trying to prep him for a shot at this distance. He finally had subsided the giggles and had gotten pretty steady. I actually clicked the safety off and was ready for the shot as the target buck turned directly away from us, now at 175 yards. He never stopped, despite my whistles and a loud "HEY" in his direction. He quartered away from us and entered the woods around 200 yards from the stand. It was only 4:25 and I had hoped for a return visit but they never showed again. Several more does/yearlings worked into the field as the sun set on a wonderful time spent with my boys.
We had planned to return on Saturday afternoon to try them again, but as I mentioned previously, my body just can't keep up any longer. Hopefully the camp with be livable the next time we're able to come over and we won't have to worry with the 4 hour drive. Everything is coming along nicely, albeit slowly. Dad, Terry and Bryant have worked tirelessly to get it where it is today and a load of gratitude is due them. We do have power/water, and of course TV right now. We lack getting the fixtures set, boarding up the rooms and laying the carpet. All in all, it was a great weekend spent with family and remembering just how much we have to be thankful for.