It was 50°F and raining lightly when I got to my stand around 4pm. The rain stopped shortly after I got situated in my seat. Around 5:30pm a mature roe deer doe crossed my path. She had both a yearling doe and a yearling buck with her. Both of the young deer are open right now. But, I’d rather wait till the buck has scraped the velvet from his antlers… the young doe would have been ok to harvest. But they were too high on the horizon. There’s a hiking path back there, and I wasn’t sure if the shot was a safe one, so they all got to continue on their way. It was definitely the right call. A few minutes later I could see the white of a horse that was further back on the hiking path.. but reassured my assumption that there was not backstop at the level that the deer were standing.
Not Shooting is still hunting. In a hunting it is always important to be aware of your surroundings and make sure you make good choices. You can’t recall a bullet when it leaves the barrel. So choose your shot wisely before you pull the trigger.
One response to “April 1 – Hunting Journal”
That’s crazy smart of you! That’s also a little scary to have hiking paths near hunting stands but like you said, you have to make smart choices.