Post by sculver7 on Oct 25, 2021 10:21:06 GMT -5
My buddy and I left midday on Thursday for a 3 day hunting trip to a section of Hoosier National near Bloomington. Plan was to boat in, set up camp, and hunt all Friday, All Saturday, and Sunday morning before heading home. We got to the boat launch with about an hour before sunset, put the boat in, and started down the canal. When we were about 200 yards from the end of the canal, the water went from about 4 feet deep to about 4 inches deep. 
After trying to fight our way around, we finally came to the realization, that the boat was not going to work. We took the boat back and spent the next 2 hours luggin all our camping equipment (we packed way too much by the way) 3/4 of a mile in to the spot.
We got camp set up and went to sleep excited to get up in the tree in the morning. About an hour after falling asleep, we were awoken to a buck stomping and running around within 3 feet of our tent. It was very strange, but after that and seeing two does bedded not 40 yards from us on the way in, we had high hopes for the hunting ahead.
Since we got in after dark, we didn't have a chance to scout. Because of this, we just set up in a random spot fairly close to our campsite for the first morning hunt. I saw one deer right before legal light, but the morning was uneventful. I got down early and decided to scout an area that I had been looking at on the map for the last month. As I approach the spot (a dry river bed about 80 yards wide with thick bedding in the bottom), I hear very loud brush being walked through. Not 80 yards from me is a 125ish 8 point headed my way. He got to within 50 yards of me, but never gave me a clear shot, before I snuck back out of there with plans to get back in that spot for the evening sit.
That afternoon, we got into that river bed quietly and with good wind. I got my sticks set on a perfect tree right on the edge of the bedding with good wind and got my saddle situated. At different points in that hunt, I could hear a deer coughing in the bedding probably no more than 80 yards from me. About an hour and a half before end of legal, I doe and yearling make their way toward the bedding across the river bed from me. I watch them for about 20 minutes before they disappear in the bedding. I could hear deer moving everywhere. Not ten minutes later, the doe and yearling are walking right toward my tree, 10 yards from me. They cross from me right to my left and start heading away from me. I tried to stop them 3 different times before they finally stopped at a tree I had ranged at 30 yards. I let the arrow fly on the doe, she mule kicked, ran 50 yards, fell and flopped around on the ground. To my surprise, she then got up and hobbled behind some bruch out of sight. I sat or another 20 minutes hoping that whatever deer was coughing off to my right would come out. I finally decided I better get down and locate my deer before dark. I get over there and find her only 5 yards from where I last saw her. She was one of the biggest does I've ever seen in person. She had fallen right on top of a scrape. Still having 35ish minutes of legal light, I drug her off the scrape and got set up on the ground about 25 yeards from the scrape hoping for more deer. In the next 20 minutes, I could have killed 2 other does and a small buck. They all came within 15 yards of me. However, being that I was a mile and a half from the truck with one deer that I already had to pack out, I decided to let them all walk.
The sun goes down and I go tell me buddy that I shot one. The best option I could figure to get this deer to the cooler in the truck was to quarter her out and pack all the quarters in my pack and just huck it to the truck. Surprisingly the packout went very well and 35 minutes later, after carrying roughly 60 lbs of bone-in meat on my back over hills and valleys, we were back at the truck and drenched in sweat. We got her situated in the cooler with ice. Around 11:30, we crawled back into our sleeping bags and went to sleep for the morning hunt.
The two hunts we had the next day were pretty uneventful. We saw a handful of deer but nothing that we had shot opportunities at other than a really small yearling that my buddy passed at 10 yards. We hadn't seen a single other person back there until mid Saturday. By that time, there were about 10 other hunters that were piling for the evening hunt so we didn't have too high of hopes. We saw a few more deer and the most beautiful coyote I've ever seen but didn't end up killing anything. We decided to pack up camp and leave saturday night as Sunday was forecasted to pour rain all day.
We got home Saturday night, tired but with a cooler full of meat. It was an awesome, short trip that I'm sure will be an annual thing if the good Lord allows.
After trying to fight our way around, we finally came to the realization, that the boat was not going to work. We took the boat back and spent the next 2 hours luggin all our camping equipment (we packed way too much by the way) 3/4 of a mile in to the spot.We got camp set up and went to sleep excited to get up in the tree in the morning. About an hour after falling asleep, we were awoken to a buck stomping and running around within 3 feet of our tent. It was very strange, but after that and seeing two does bedded not 40 yards from us on the way in, we had high hopes for the hunting ahead.
Since we got in after dark, we didn't have a chance to scout. Because of this, we just set up in a random spot fairly close to our campsite for the first morning hunt. I saw one deer right before legal light, but the morning was uneventful. I got down early and decided to scout an area that I had been looking at on the map for the last month. As I approach the spot (a dry river bed about 80 yards wide with thick bedding in the bottom), I hear very loud brush being walked through. Not 80 yards from me is a 125ish 8 point headed my way. He got to within 50 yards of me, but never gave me a clear shot, before I snuck back out of there with plans to get back in that spot for the evening sit.
That afternoon, we got into that river bed quietly and with good wind. I got my sticks set on a perfect tree right on the edge of the bedding with good wind and got my saddle situated. At different points in that hunt, I could hear a deer coughing in the bedding probably no more than 80 yards from me. About an hour and a half before end of legal, I doe and yearling make their way toward the bedding across the river bed from me. I watch them for about 20 minutes before they disappear in the bedding. I could hear deer moving everywhere. Not ten minutes later, the doe and yearling are walking right toward my tree, 10 yards from me. They cross from me right to my left and start heading away from me. I tried to stop them 3 different times before they finally stopped at a tree I had ranged at 30 yards. I let the arrow fly on the doe, she mule kicked, ran 50 yards, fell and flopped around on the ground. To my surprise, she then got up and hobbled behind some bruch out of sight. I sat or another 20 minutes hoping that whatever deer was coughing off to my right would come out. I finally decided I better get down and locate my deer before dark. I get over there and find her only 5 yards from where I last saw her. She was one of the biggest does I've ever seen in person. She had fallen right on top of a scrape. Still having 35ish minutes of legal light, I drug her off the scrape and got set up on the ground about 25 yeards from the scrape hoping for more deer. In the next 20 minutes, I could have killed 2 other does and a small buck. They all came within 15 yards of me. However, being that I was a mile and a half from the truck with one deer that I already had to pack out, I decided to let them all walk.
The sun goes down and I go tell me buddy that I shot one. The best option I could figure to get this deer to the cooler in the truck was to quarter her out and pack all the quarters in my pack and just huck it to the truck. Surprisingly the packout went very well and 35 minutes later, after carrying roughly 60 lbs of bone-in meat on my back over hills and valleys, we were back at the truck and drenched in sweat. We got her situated in the cooler with ice. Around 11:30, we crawled back into our sleeping bags and went to sleep for the morning hunt.
The two hunts we had the next day were pretty uneventful. We saw a handful of deer but nothing that we had shot opportunities at other than a really small yearling that my buddy passed at 10 yards. We hadn't seen a single other person back there until mid Saturday. By that time, there were about 10 other hunters that were piling for the evening hunt so we didn't have too high of hopes. We saw a few more deer and the most beautiful coyote I've ever seen but didn't end up killing anything. We decided to pack up camp and leave saturday night as Sunday was forecasted to pour rain all day.
We got home Saturday night, tired but with a cooler full of meat. It was an awesome, short trip that I'm sure will be an annual thing if the good Lord allows.
