I decided to make a separate post and public video project highlighting the hunting trips during the fall of 2024. It was a successful hunt during both times I was able to get out into the woods. I harvested a doe with my Excalibur Bulldog 440 Crossbow and an 8-point buck with my .30 Remington rifle.
Archery Season
I spent parts of four days in the Pennsylvania woods during the Archery Season to hunt White Tail Deer. It was considerably warmer than I am used to during a couple of the days but the hunt was successful!
When I drove to Pennsylvania for this hunt, I loaded up the target so I could get in some practice before going out on the hunt. The day before I went out to hunt, I set up my target and took a few practice shots with my Excalibur Bulldog 440 Crossbow. I hadn't shot it since last fall. It took a few shots to get it aligned again but felt pretty good about my chances if I had an opportunity to pull the trigger. I also spent some time sharpening my knives ahead of time.
Last year, I took the target into a section of abandoned Route 66 to get some practice shots in before leaving Chicago. I don't know of taking the practice shots in Pennsylvania was more helpful than taking the shots in Chicago but circumstances worked out in such a way that this is what I did.
I parked my car on the property of some relatives who remain on the old family land that we'd hunted for probably 100 years or more. I walked into the woods from their property and continued toward where I had been setting up the last couple of years. Since really investing time into hunting again the last few years, I have seen a lot of deer and last year, 2023 brought me some success so I hoped it might continue.
As I walked slowly through the woods, I eyed a few other locations to consider setting up just in case it would be necessary. As I crossed an open area that used to be used to dump compost, I saw a new set of Posted signs around the area where I usually enter the wooded land. I decided to continue walking up the dirt road and try to determine what might be off limits to me now. The signs seemed to stop shortly after beginning to walk uphill into the wooded area so I entered in at that point and walked to where I had set up last year. I found that the area had been logged to some extent and the spot I had set up had been destroyed with that activity. I had another spot not too far from there that was still good though...but it might not be much longer. There were markings on the trees all around it and even within the spot with orange spray paint so many of those trees may be taken in the near future, I suppose.
I got into my spot, a makeshift ground stand using downed limbs and logs I had gathered a few years ago and set up on a base of a previous similar structure. The purpose was to give me something sturdy to lean on and rest for a steady shot when using both my crossbow and rifle. It also could hide some of my movement. I cleared out the leaves as much as I could so as to try to not be too noisy when moving a bit. I also got a bearing for my shooting range by using my range finder to determine a few distances in each direction by measuring using specific trees. By this time, it had been probably an hour since I left the car. I decided to have a some of my coffee.
It was shortly after finishing that cup of coffee I saw movement of deer downhill to the north east...this would have been near where I had been set up last year. The time was around 9:30am. I grabbed my crossbow and leaned in to set up for a shot in the first clearing where the deer would hopefully reach that I estimated to be about 40 yards out. I saw that there were at least three deer. The first two deer were doe and I could see there was a buck following so I prepared to take a shot at the buck. When the buck appeared to reach the clear spot, I pulled the trigger and I heard the bolt hit something solid as the deer continued on their path but ran a bit quicker. They continued to move around the gully directly east of me but obscured by the brush and terrain. They kept on moving which didn't give me much of a chance to take another shot. I used this time to reload with as little movement and noise as I could. To my south I noticed movement as well as to my east. I saw the sunlight shining of something that may have been antlers so I was hoping that perhaps I had hit the buck and it was lying down over there and expiring. Meanwhile, to the east I still was seeing movement then saw two white tails up as the deer ran off further to the east turning north and back up into the hillside which has been posted land for many years.
To the south though, the movement continued and I saw a doe begin to move toward me. It seemed that it saw me. It would stop and stare then occasionally take a few more steps toward me. I kept watching it and it kept watching me. I tried to get a feel for if I could take a shot a few different times but it seemed to be a bit too far out and the area wasn't entirely clear either. At one point when I looked through the scope of my crossbow, all I could see clearly was the rump. Obviously, that was not a shot I intended to take. The doe continued to hang around though...it managed to move from about 80 yards away to less than 60 yards. I adjusted myself during a brief moment when the deer had taken its eyes off of me and was able to set myself up for a shot. It was quartering toward me. By this point I was estimating the shot to be just over 40 yards (which was incorrect) and I took aim just behind the shoulder, adjusting for the distance I was estimating. I saw the deer stomp a few times and figured I was running out of time for this opportunity that was being presented to me. With my aim and adjustment set and a steady rest on the stand, I pulled the trigger. It seemed just as I was pulling the trigger, the deer stepped back. It seemed to react as through it had been hit but at that distance I couldn't see any evidence yet. I estimated that shot occurred at around 10:00am.
I waited around probably a good 15-30 minutes before taking a walk to see if there was any evidence from either shot that I hit either the buck or the doe. I went to the area where the deer had crossed into the clearing and I took the shot at the buck. I found the spot where he was when I shot and where he lurked forward likely startled by the sound of the bolt's release or perhaps impact on whatever it hit that was solid. I did not find any blood at all. I looked around that area for a while, going further away. I also could not find the bolt but I began to assume I may have struck a limb. In hindsight, the deer were still moving when I took the shot and that likely accounted for a miss. I should have exercised patience and waited for them to stop or perhaps even made a noise to see if that made them stop. I continued searching around for a while then decided to try to follow the tracks for a bit to see if there was any blood. I still found nothing. I figured I could go back to that area if needed in a bit but decided I'd go look at the spot where I shot at the doe and see if there might be any evidence. At first when I got to the spot where I thought the doe was standing, I found nothing at all which was frustrating. I stood there for a few moments, trying to replay the shot and see if I might have been off a bit on my estimate when I looked a bit further out and saw what appeared to be significant blood as well as hair. I was very confident that I had a kill shot at this point.
I decided to head back to my stand area and give the deer a bit more time before pursuing it. I hoped to not have to chase it too far if possible. I poured myself another cup of coffee and also ate a sandwich while texting out to my parents and Elphie that it seemed I had a successful day. While doing all that, a nice sized 8-point buck had wandered into the area, standing probably no more than 25 yards from me. I was not prepared for shooting at this point but since it was standing there, I tried to quickly grab my crossbow and set up to take a shot. Of course my movement was noticed by the buck and it snorted then ran to my north into brush and terrain that would make for a difficult shot. I wasn't sure it was in my best interest to take that shot as I definitely already had one deer down and there was the chance I had hit that other buck too but just wasn't finding the evidence of it yet. As I was sitting there, a vehicle had made it way up the road where I entered into the woods. I hoped that the deer I shot hadn't ended up on the road as I didn't want to have to deal with other people at that time...especially being unsure of the new posted restrictions and where the signs actually covered and not wanting a confrontation with regards to that.
I think it was probably around 11:00 or maybe as late as 11:30am when I decided to start tracking the doe. I walked to the spot where the bolt hit her and first blood. Using my range finder measuring back to my stand (or the tree that sits in the middle of my stand). I found the distance to be right around 55 yards. I followed the blood and tracks as it ran mostly south through occasionally veering a bit to the west and uphill. There were just a couple places where I worried I had lost the blood trail but was able to fairly quickly find the trail again. The amount of blood was pretty significant most of the way so I figured it had to be a kill shot but last year I thought I had one but eventually lost the trail. As I kept going, this trail seemed remain with a consistently significant amount of blood. While the trail veered a bit west and uphill again, I looked ahead toward the south and saw a deer laying next to a rock. I was pretty certain it was this doe I had shot and it was likely dead. I walked along the blood trail anyway and it seems the doe may have fallen down and rolled then settled next to this rock. I poked at it a couple of times to ensure it had expired. I then went back to gather my stool and backpack and returned to field dress the doe. While walking back, I took a couple of measurements to get an estimate of how far she had run before expiring. It took a couple measurements because it wasn't a straight line that she ran. I estimate she ran about 70 yards.
I took a few pictures to document my harvest and filled out my tag as well then attached it to the ear. This was the first deer I had to field dress entirely on my own. As a teenager, I always had my grandpa with me. The first deer I got as an adult, I had forgotten the process and my father helped out. The same with the last couple, not because I had forgotten how but because he was impatient waiting on me to get it done. Also, the last time, my knife was too dull. Thankfully, that was not the case this time.
It probably took me a bit longer than maybe some others to get the field dressing done but I did it, leaving the gut pile for the scavengers to enjoy. I was pretty covered in blood by the time I got done and with the heat of the day, I was definitely feeling a bit too warm. Where the deer fell, there wasn't any active mountain streams to try to wash off any of the blood or my knives.
I tied a rope around the neck of the doe and tried to tuck her front legs in as well to help ease the drag a bit. I started carrying everything along with the doe but it was a bit too much. I ended up carrying my crossbow, stool, backpack, and heavier jacket ahead some amount of distance then coming back to drag the deer. I kept doing this through the rest of the day until I was able to get it to the car eventually. The drag used up almost all the remaining daylight...several hours. At a point trying to catch my breath in a clearing from a pipeline, the folks driving on the road in the ATV had come back off the hill. I am certain that they saw me but didn't approach me. There is a parking lot and access closer than where I park and at times I wondered if I shouldn't try walking through there and get permission to move my car to the lot and lessen the distance for dragging.
Once I finally got the deer dragged to my car, I was pretty exhausted. Thankfully my father was able to come and help me lift her into the car on the tarp I bought to keep the car clean. He also brought some water so I could re-hydrate as I was certainly dehydrated. I had to deal with some cramping the rest of the night after that.
We got the deer back to my parents house and got her hung up in the shed, then began to work on skinning her. We had to bring her back down once due to not getting one of the legs skinned right. We took a break about half way through the skinning for dinner then I went back out on my own and finished the job. I had it skinned and decapitated before going to bed. I didn't sleep real well due to the cramping of being dehydrated. I made a point to carry water with me going forward.
I went back out the next morning but didn't necessarily plan to stay out for more than a few hours. I mainly wanted to search some more to see if I could find any evidence of hitting the buck, and if so, any chance of finding it. As I walked in, I entered near where I dragged out the doe. I was a bit south of the spot. I walked toward my stand and as I walked I happened to find the bot that killed the doe! It was south of the hit spot as well and seemed it might have taken a right turn (facing the deer) once it exited the body. One of the blades of the broadhead was missing and the broadhead itself was slightly bent but the shaft of the bolt and everything else seemed to be ok and re-usable. I stashed it with my other bolts and continued to my stand where I unloaded my backpack and stool. I then walked back to the spot where I had shot at the buck to again search for any evidence I may have hit the deer. Again, I found nothing. I more thoroughly searched all around the area trying to decipher which tracks likely belonged to the buck. I assumed the deeper and more dug out ones were likely belonging to the buck as it would indicate it had been startled. But there was no blood anywhere near those tracks. I also could find no sign of the bolt that I had shot at the buck. I walked along what seemed to be the tracks looking for any evidence of blood but I found nothing. I followed along as far as the edge of the wooded area and along a stream bed before giving up on the idea of finding any blood or this buck.
I went and sat in my stand for a little bit, drinking a bit of coffee and water and eating a sandwich. A small buck came from behind me in the direction I was facing. I had come from the northeast. It was not a "legal" buck. He hung around for a little bit looking at me before getting more suspicious than curious of me and ran off. As I left my stand, I went back toward the blood trail from the doe to see how it looked a day later. It had dried up quite a bit and was a lot harder to decipher on the leaves whether it was blood or just reddish leaves.
I also found as I left by way of one of the old roads, that the area I had been sitting was indeed now posted. I took a picture of the sign so that I could have the information of those who posted it and I moved along. I crossed over the main road that is still in use on that side of the hill and headed south up the hill. I was able to see where the signs cross over the road and continue toward the old compost dump. It would see that where my father would like to set up and hunt was outside the posted zone but not where I had been setting up.
I walked up to his stand, It was still intact even though he's not really been taking the time to go out to hunt anymore. I headed west along the ridge of the hill, passing over one of the oil roads into an area I had walked a bit some years ago while squirrel hunting and scouting for deer. I had also walked through here a couple different times during a few of the previous unsuccessful hunting seasons. I had always seen deer but not before they would see me. As usual, some distance ahead of me I saw a deer get up and begin to run. I mostly just saw the tail. It stopped and it looked likely to be a buck but was far enough away it was hard to see the antler situation. It ran off and I decided it was as good of a time as any to get a spot set up to hunt in there. I gathered some downed limbs and smaller logs and built up another little makeshift ground stand for myself to utilize at some point. Once I ensured it to be mostly stable enough for leaning on to take a steady shot, I made my way back down the hill and to my car. I ran into Denny who had his dog out on his property and spoke with him for a few moments. His memory is going but he was still friendly, even if he didn't recall who I was. I eventually told him I needed to go as I wanted to try to quarter the doe I had hanging with it being so warm out.
I went back to my parents and did exactly that. I quartered the doe. I removed the front legs and bagged them up in garbage bags then proceeded to find a way to fit them into my parents freezer. I removed the ribs and spine where it attached at the pelvic bone, also removing the backstraps. I then tried to saw through the pelvic bone while the legs were still hanging but eventually I pulled them down off the hooks and cut through the pelvic bone while the legs were on the floor where I had a bit more leverage to make the cut. This method worked out for me and after trying to spray off the legs of any dirt or other debris from the floor, I bagged them up as well and put them into the freezer. I removed as much meat as I could from the ribs and neck area before settling in for the night. We had a tenderloin dinner that evening.
The following day, I went back out but set up closer to where I parked on the land that Denny actually owns. It was a bit of a wet morning. I gathered up some downed limbs and logs and made another makeshift ground stand right on the edge of his land and waited to see if anything might move through. There are tracks around the area. I didn't see anything and decided to come in early due to the rain.
I worked my way through more of the meat I could harvest off the rib area and the neck. I left as little as I could of the meat and when I got to the point I didn't know if I could get much more off the neck in particular, I bagged up the meat I was able to harvest, leaving some cuts for stews for my mom, and set everything into the freezer.
I went back out to the woods one last time with my crossbow and set up again on the edge of Denny's property in my makeshift ground stand. I stayed through the whole day. It was dry and moderate temperature. The only deer I saw were to the east of where I set up and moving a fairly good distance away. They may have been moving along the pipeline or one of the oil roads. Between where I sat and the deer there was quite a bit of brush that obscured any chances for a shot or much decent visibility of them. They did not make their way any closer as far as I could tell. At some point in the mid afternoon, a man came to one of the oil rigs and started it up then proceeded to look into the wooded area where I was sitting. He noticed me, then apologized and went on his way in his truck. He returned a bit later to turn off the oil rig. I saw no more deer and came in at the end of daylight and finished my archery hunt.
Back at my parents house, I decided to hang my hunting clothes in the shed where I had processed the deer. I figure if any scent from the deer is lingering perhaps it will attach itself to the clothing...at the very least it should be closer to natural smell than storing them inside the house.
I drove back to Chicago the next day, loaded with the meat from this deer frozen after sitting in the freezer. Some of it I was able to fit into a cooler and the legs I kept in the garbage bags with frozen bottles of water surrounding them. I had tossed the rib cage, the hooves, and the hide over the hill behind my parents house where my grandpa would usually toss the waste from any of the deer he had processed as well as lawn clippings and other compostable items.
I processed through the legs and other meat over the next week in the kitchen back home in Chicago. The first couple of days were busy with prior commitments so I left the meat in the car, covered and in the bags with the frozen water bottles in hopes that they would remain cold.
In the end we came away with steaks, chops (backstrap), burgers, and jerky from the meat as well as the liver, the heart, and the tongue. We made the tongue and liver into taco meat which we shared with our friend Guy while he was in town and our landlord Moses. I tried to utilize the lung with the taco meat but it was pretty well bloodshot and I found some of the broadhead blade in it as well so I gave up on trying to salvage them for safety purposes. Moses also got some of the jerky (we hadn't finished that yet before Guy left).
Rifle Season
The rifle season started out a bit rough in that during our trip to Pennsylvania, there was a blizzard hitting the Erie area. We left Chicago around noon on Black Friday and made it to South Bend for our first charging stop. I looked at the conditions and figured we'd go as far as we could. We had a couple more stops to make for charging at the Ohio state line, near Sandusky, Ohio, and near Cleveland, Ohio. I hoped to be able to book a hotel that had a charger on site so we could leave with a full charge in the morning and get to my parents house and I could proceed to go hunting. Unfortunately the hotel we chose did not have on site charging, even though it was indicated to be the case on the profile on booking.com. We stayed anyway. The next options we found that weren't terribly expensive were potentially in the midst of this blizzard and no telling if the chargers would be accessible in the snow or not. There was still availability of rooms but we opted for the closer hotel.
The next morning, the first day of rifle season, we left the hotel earlier than check out. My hope was to get to my parents' house and at least be able to get a few hours in the woods to hunt. We had to stop in Mentor, Ohio for a charge due to not having the charger at the hotel. As we approached Mentor, we began to get into the heavier snow cover from the edge of the blizzard. As we continued toward Erie, it was sunny and clear. We could see that it was a pretty significant snowstorm. For the most part the road had been cleared...at least one lane. A few spots got a bit dicey where snowpack and chunky ice remained on the road. There were a few vehicles that had been stranded in the snow. As we entered Pennsylvania, we came to find that I-90 was closed and we decided to get off a short time after seeing the notice on the road sign. We used State Route 98 and headed south to US-6N and then US-6 to get around the closure and hopefully the worst of the snow. We kept it slower than usual but steady and eventually got to my parents house at about 2:00pm. We had 10-15% of the battery remaining which was plenty to get out to hunt and back!
I unloaded the car then got prepared to go hunting, gathering my clothes, rifle, an ammunition. I got parked then began to walk into the woods and up the hill to the makeshift ground stand I prepared during archery season on the ridge. As I walked across the pipeline clearing I heard a noise and stopped. It turned out to be an ATV on one of the oil roads. It continued west and further uphill so I continued to walk toward my ground stand. I found the tracks of the ATV as well as some boot tracks that if the person was still in the woods, should be far enough away from where I was headed to not be an issue. I continued walking, noticing some turkey tracks, deer tracks, and coyote tracks along the way. I didn't see any movement or living thing as I walked though. I think it took me 40-45 minutes to make it to my stand. I had forgotten my stool but I figured I wasn't going to be out there long due to how late in the day it was. I got myself into the stand, accidentally kicking part of it lose and having to do a little repair work. I cleared away the snow and leaves as much as I could and waited to see if anything might come along. there was a deer trail right next to my makeshift stand as well as coyote tracks following the trail.
As I waited, I kept looking in each direction. To the south I had mostly the hillside to see as well as the edge of a higher ridge. It was less likely I figured to be where I'd get a shot but you never know. To the north was downhill and mostly a clear view of anything crossing that area. It was also where the oil road and an oil rig were so there was potential for human activity. To the east there was a short distance of a clear view that might allow for a good chance to shoot. Same situation pretty much to the west. Too far west the woods became thick enough it would be hard to see much.
As the sun began to set, I was watching to the east for a bit and turned back to look west and saw a deer standing there looking at me. It was definitely a buck but with the sunlight going it was hard to really see well enough what the antler situation was. I had my rifle and tried to slowly move into a shooting position with a learn on the stand but the deer ran at my movement back toward the west and there really was not shot to take at that point. I didn't stay out much longer after this as it was getting dark quickly. I came back in unsuccessful but I had the option to go the next day and planned to do so.
I woke early the next morning intent to get to my spot before it got too light. It didn't quite work out as it took my too long to climb the hill. I had no other human encounters. I saw more animal tracks though. I was looking at some deer tracks that crossed the oil road just north of my stand before I started up that hill and then heard a snort only to look up and see four white tails of fleeing deer headed southeast up the hill. They would likely have crossed by where my father hunts if he had been out there.
I continued to my stand. I had my stool this time and I worked the ground to get it set up in such a way that it would be steady for me to sit when I wanted to. I surveyed the area and it wasn't long before I saw movement to the west along the deer trail. It was headed right for me in the same general area the buck I saw the night before had been. It had antlers! I was able to get myself situation and a good sturdy rest on my stand to take a shot and could confirm that this buck met and exceeded the regulations for the area I was hunting as I saw at least three points up! I steadied my aim and took the shot as the buck had lowered its head to graze whatever was on the ground in front of it. The shot dropped this buck where he stood and I shot the steam puff of his last breath. I waited a few moments and saw no other motion from where the deer had fallen. It turned out my shot had hit just behind the neck and between the shoulders near the spine, breaking it. This is why it could not run. It was a bit of an odd shot especially considering I was on the ground and knelt down but the deer had also stepped into a dip so I think all that factored into the shot. I was originally aiming lower toward the vitals before it stepped into the dip but I didn't miss and it was a fairly instant kill at 8:00am!
I believe the shot was somewhere in the 35-40 yard range at most. It actually felt a whole lot closer but when trying to gauge it with the range finder, it read 35-40 yards. I walked over, poked at it a few times to ensure it was expired. I documented with some pictures, sent them out to my parents and Elphie. Then I gathered my stuff from the stand so I could begin the field dressing again. My father planned on going to church in the morning but offered to come help get the deer out of the woods. I accepted the offer and tried to explain exactly where I was...not necessarily the easiest thing to do, ha!
I had my first couple cups of coffee then got to work on the field dressing. As I was getting started the ATV I saw the day before rolled up the oil road. The man sitting in it looked like it may have been the man I saw during archery who turned on the rig down the hill. He rode off after a moment without engaging with me. I waved and that was about it. This one was a bit messier than the doe. It seems the bullet and possibly spinal fragments had made it through into the guts, ripping open the stomach. I did my best to clear that all out and with the snow cover, I cleaned out the body cavity the best that I could. It seems to have possibly niched the liver as well but I saved it nonetheless as most of it should be edible. Once I reached the vital organs, one lung was pretty much obliterated. I didn't try to salvage the other one, leaving it with the rest of the gut pile for scavengers. I cleaned out the body cavity again with the snow as well as my hands and the knife I was using and then started to pack up to get out of the woods. I pinned my tag to the deers ear inside my license holder because I forgot another zip tie.
I tied the rope around the antlers and tried to get the front legs tied up there as well. After the initial drag down to the oil road, the legs had popped loose so I took a break and re-tied everything. I had to go back and forth with my father by text to better explain where I was. I took a picture of the area and sent it before retying the deer up. As I was finishing, he walked up the hill not too far away and from there we made out way back down the hill. This drag was a lot easier due to the snow, even though the deer was quite a bit larger. I tripped up once but otherwise got it down the hill with no issues. Climbing the short incline down at Denny's homestead prove to be a bit of a chore as I kept slipping on the snow but we got it up to to the car together. Denny and Dawn (his wife) had just returned from church and came to see the harvest and took a picture. I moved my car so that we didn't have to drag the deer around to load it. We got him loaded in and headed to my parents house.
At the house, after unloading the buck, we sprayed it out to clean out as much remaining residual stomach contents as possible. We got it hung up again and began to skin it. We took a lunch break and watched the Steelers beat the Bengals before getting back to work on skinning and quartering the deer.
I spent most of the next day processing the meat off of the legs and the day after that, after a morning trip to Erie for a quick car maintenance appointment in another blizzard, I worked my way through the meat on the body around the ribs, the neck, and the back. I had it mostly processed before we returned to Chicago. We celebrated Christmas with my family and shared a meal of tenderloin as well.
Back in Chicago, I finished processing the meat, grinding some of it for burger use or to turn to jerky. I saved the tongue again for tacos as well as the liver and the heart. We ended up running out of freezer space so I gave some of our meat away to friends.
I had to purchase a larger pot so I could boil the skull to clean it off as much as I could. I protected the antlers using tin foil. After I did the best that I could in cleaning it, I set it out near the compost box in the back yard in hopes that bugs will scavenge the rest of the non bone material and I will then clean it up and have it to display.
That same pot I used to boil the bones I had saved from both deer and make bone broth.
Footage filmed using a Canon Rebel T6s with an Audio-Technica AT-8024 microphone, iPhone 12 and 14 and Crosstour CR-900 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Project edited using Final Cut Pro X on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson.
The next morning, the first day of rifle season, we left the hotel earlier than check out. My hope was to get to my parents' house and at least be able to get a few hours in the woods to hunt. We had to stop in Mentor, Ohio for a charge due to not having the charger at the hotel. As we approached Mentor, we began to get into the heavier snow cover from the edge of the blizzard. As we continued toward Erie, it was sunny and clear. We could see that it was a pretty significant snowstorm. For the most part the road had been cleared...at least one lane. A few spots got a bit dicey where snowpack and chunky ice remained on the road. There were a few vehicles that had been stranded in the snow. As we entered Pennsylvania, we came to find that I-90 was closed and we decided to get off a short time after seeing the notice on the road sign. We used State Route 98 and headed south to US-6N and then US-6 to get around the closure and hopefully the worst of the snow. We kept it slower than usual but steady and eventually got to my parents house at about 2:00pm. We had 10-15% of the battery remaining which was plenty to get out to hunt and back!
I unloaded the car then got prepared to go hunting, gathering my clothes, rifle, an ammunition. I got parked then began to walk into the woods and up the hill to the makeshift ground stand I prepared during archery season on the ridge. As I walked across the pipeline clearing I heard a noise and stopped. It turned out to be an ATV on one of the oil roads. It continued west and further uphill so I continued to walk toward my ground stand. I found the tracks of the ATV as well as some boot tracks that if the person was still in the woods, should be far enough away from where I was headed to not be an issue. I continued walking, noticing some turkey tracks, deer tracks, and coyote tracks along the way. I didn't see any movement or living thing as I walked though. I think it took me 40-45 minutes to make it to my stand. I had forgotten my stool but I figured I wasn't going to be out there long due to how late in the day it was. I got myself into the stand, accidentally kicking part of it lose and having to do a little repair work. I cleared away the snow and leaves as much as I could and waited to see if anything might come along. there was a deer trail right next to my makeshift stand as well as coyote tracks following the trail.
As I waited, I kept looking in each direction. To the south I had mostly the hillside to see as well as the edge of a higher ridge. It was less likely I figured to be where I'd get a shot but you never know. To the north was downhill and mostly a clear view of anything crossing that area. It was also where the oil road and an oil rig were so there was potential for human activity. To the east there was a short distance of a clear view that might allow for a good chance to shoot. Same situation pretty much to the west. Too far west the woods became thick enough it would be hard to see much.
As the sun began to set, I was watching to the east for a bit and turned back to look west and saw a deer standing there looking at me. It was definitely a buck but with the sunlight going it was hard to really see well enough what the antler situation was. I had my rifle and tried to slowly move into a shooting position with a learn on the stand but the deer ran at my movement back toward the west and there really was not shot to take at that point. I didn't stay out much longer after this as it was getting dark quickly. I came back in unsuccessful but I had the option to go the next day and planned to do so.
I woke early the next morning intent to get to my spot before it got too light. It didn't quite work out as it took my too long to climb the hill. I had no other human encounters. I saw more animal tracks though. I was looking at some deer tracks that crossed the oil road just north of my stand before I started up that hill and then heard a snort only to look up and see four white tails of fleeing deer headed southeast up the hill. They would likely have crossed by where my father hunts if he had been out there.
I continued to my stand. I had my stool this time and I worked the ground to get it set up in such a way that it would be steady for me to sit when I wanted to. I surveyed the area and it wasn't long before I saw movement to the west along the deer trail. It was headed right for me in the same general area the buck I saw the night before had been. It had antlers! I was able to get myself situation and a good sturdy rest on my stand to take a shot and could confirm that this buck met and exceeded the regulations for the area I was hunting as I saw at least three points up! I steadied my aim and took the shot as the buck had lowered its head to graze whatever was on the ground in front of it. The shot dropped this buck where he stood and I shot the steam puff of his last breath. I waited a few moments and saw no other motion from where the deer had fallen. It turned out my shot had hit just behind the neck and between the shoulders near the spine, breaking it. This is why it could not run. It was a bit of an odd shot especially considering I was on the ground and knelt down but the deer had also stepped into a dip so I think all that factored into the shot. I was originally aiming lower toward the vitals before it stepped into the dip but I didn't miss and it was a fairly instant kill at 8:00am!
I believe the shot was somewhere in the 35-40 yard range at most. It actually felt a whole lot closer but when trying to gauge it with the range finder, it read 35-40 yards. I walked over, poked at it a few times to ensure it was expired. I documented with some pictures, sent them out to my parents and Elphie. Then I gathered my stuff from the stand so I could begin the field dressing again. My father planned on going to church in the morning but offered to come help get the deer out of the woods. I accepted the offer and tried to explain exactly where I was...not necessarily the easiest thing to do, ha!
I had my first couple cups of coffee then got to work on the field dressing. As I was getting started the ATV I saw the day before rolled up the oil road. The man sitting in it looked like it may have been the man I saw during archery who turned on the rig down the hill. He rode off after a moment without engaging with me. I waved and that was about it. This one was a bit messier than the doe. It seems the bullet and possibly spinal fragments had made it through into the guts, ripping open the stomach. I did my best to clear that all out and with the snow cover, I cleaned out the body cavity the best that I could. It seems to have possibly niched the liver as well but I saved it nonetheless as most of it should be edible. Once I reached the vital organs, one lung was pretty much obliterated. I didn't try to salvage the other one, leaving it with the rest of the gut pile for scavengers. I cleaned out the body cavity again with the snow as well as my hands and the knife I was using and then started to pack up to get out of the woods. I pinned my tag to the deers ear inside my license holder because I forgot another zip tie.
I tied the rope around the antlers and tried to get the front legs tied up there as well. After the initial drag down to the oil road, the legs had popped loose so I took a break and re-tied everything. I had to go back and forth with my father by text to better explain where I was. I took a picture of the area and sent it before retying the deer up. As I was finishing, he walked up the hill not too far away and from there we made out way back down the hill. This drag was a lot easier due to the snow, even though the deer was quite a bit larger. I tripped up once but otherwise got it down the hill with no issues. Climbing the short incline down at Denny's homestead prove to be a bit of a chore as I kept slipping on the snow but we got it up to to the car together. Denny and Dawn (his wife) had just returned from church and came to see the harvest and took a picture. I moved my car so that we didn't have to drag the deer around to load it. We got him loaded in and headed to my parents house.
At the house, after unloading the buck, we sprayed it out to clean out as much remaining residual stomach contents as possible. We got it hung up again and began to skin it. We took a lunch break and watched the Steelers beat the Bengals before getting back to work on skinning and quartering the deer.
I spent most of the next day processing the meat off of the legs and the day after that, after a morning trip to Erie for a quick car maintenance appointment in another blizzard, I worked my way through the meat on the body around the ribs, the neck, and the back. I had it mostly processed before we returned to Chicago. We celebrated Christmas with my family and shared a meal of tenderloin as well.
Back in Chicago, I finished processing the meat, grinding some of it for burger use or to turn to jerky. I saved the tongue again for tacos as well as the liver and the heart. We ended up running out of freezer space so I gave some of our meat away to friends.
I had to purchase a larger pot so I could boil the skull to clean it off as much as I could. I protected the antlers using tin foil. After I did the best that I could in cleaning it, I set it out near the compost box in the back yard in hopes that bugs will scavenge the rest of the non bone material and I will then clean it up and have it to display.
That same pot I used to boil the bones I had saved from both deer and make bone broth.
Footage filmed using a Canon Rebel T6s with an Audio-Technica AT-8024 microphone, iPhone 12 and 14 and Crosstour CR-900 by Elphie and Joel A. Swanson. Project edited using Final Cut Pro X on a Mac Mini by Joel A. Swanson.
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