The antlered buck stepped out into the open, broad daylight, at 4:30 in the afternoon … The annual legal gun season in this end of the state recently ended, and here are my findings.
Some of them often requested by the State of North Carolina’s official wildlife division before the season starts. They sent me a survey form to fill out, logging all animals I saw during actual hunting hours.
They do it about every year, and it shows where and how many hunters see deer. Or bears, squirrels, turkeys, foxes, coyotes, armadillos, etc. Wildlife employees will then have a picture of wildlife densities across the whole state, based on what N.C. hunters see and report in the state’s 100 counties.
Trail cameras educational
Their instructions said NOT to report what you might see on your trail camera this time, but indicated they might use camera data sometime in the future.
My old camera died so began the season with a new one from Walmart, new batteries, new chip, worked great. Checked the results on my laptop every two days for the entire season. Amazing.
Some years ago baiting for deer with natural materials like shelled corn was legalized and has become very popular. In years when acorns are scarce, wild game especially loves corn. All wild game.
So my cam shots included deer, coyotes, squirrels, rabbits, coons, one bobcat, turkey, no bear. Free corn makes for strange dining groups. Would get a photo sometime with a deer, a coon and a rabbit all close together. I learned that coons bluff the doe deer off the corn but male deer bully coons away from the meal.
Close range, budget set-up
My “blind” was simply a long rectangle of camo cloth, hanging on a bungee-cord line between two trees, about four feet above the ground. Along an old fire trail on my own land I had cleared an alley about 10 yards wide and 40 yards long, all in thick cover.
Only one jump away from safety, deer will visit the corn at random any time in the day. Corn and camera at the upper end, blind at the lower end where I sit on a stool behind the camo “wall.”
Buck with horns suddenly appears in the alley.
Many gun and outdoors magazines now recommend rifles and scopes for shooting at ranges of 500 yards or more. Certainly not needed for normal woods hunting where 40 yards is often the usual distance from gun to deer.
My lever-action .44 Mag rifle and 4-power scope are hard to beat, reloaded ammo with extra-heavy flat-point slug, three bucks in last four seasons. A home-made bullet of 320 grain weight has more authority than the factory 240 gr. load.
Olympic high jump
At the crack of the gun the deer jumps high in the air, recorded on the trail camera as a blur.
Then it exits quickly, into a thicket on a steep rocky face.
Once with a companion, most times alone, I make four climbs down on the cliff-like terrain, my steep wooded bluff overlooking Martins Creek.
On a Thursday afternoon I find it, about a week or more later.
Animals have started to feed on it, ruining the meat, but I’ll have the horns to remember. With a razor-sharp Bowie-style hunting knife, I carefully remove the head. Visiting the scene a week or so later, I find that coyotes have dragged the body away, nowhere in sight.
It’s a modest 7-point, good little mountain deer, might be my last.
But got a new .223 and good scope, mind on coyotes. Friends are now openly hunting deer with the high-velocity .223, once seen as too light for big game and at that time illegal. No more.
Since then, I’ve only shot two groundhogs with it and that’s all. And then just had to buy another .223, this time a Turkish-made single-shot that’s got walnut wood stock and is only about 3 feet long total.
Could almost carry the short thing in a holster. But it may be the one to bring down the legendary Big One this fall. Stay tuned.
Wally Avett first wrote for the Cherokee Scout as editor in 1969. His books are available as signed copies at the Scout office in downtown Murphy. Call him at 828-837-5531 or email wallyavett@gmail.com.