How about this weather, huh? And how typical is it of good ol’ South Carolina? I had on shorts yesterday and just about need long underwear today. Speaking of chilly weather, a nice little front moved in over the weekend and we were able to do quite a bit of hunting in the newly crisp weather. I sat in the deer stand most of the weekend, and even squeezed in a quick dove hunt on Saturday afternoon for opening day of the second season. I was only in the field for about 45 minutes since I wanted to get in the deer stand a little early, but I shot a few times and managed to knock down 3 doves.

Then it was back to deer hunting. Although I did not manage to bag a deer (I didn’t even see one on Friday afternoon), it was an exciting weekend on the deer hunting front nonetheless. I put up a new stand last Sunday before we headed home, and was so excited to be able to get into it over the weekend. What kind of stand, you ask? My very own climber! There are all sorts of different types, but this is one with no ladder, and it faces the tree. It’s one of my dad’s that he has had for a while, but this one is basically the same. I have not hunted in a climber much, but it was so exciting to get a little deeper into the woods and have a change of view. Don’t worry, always-thinking-ahead Dad got me harness to wear. Let’s be honest – if someone is going to fall from a climber, or drop part of it and be left hanging in the tree, it’s going to be me.

With a climber set up a little deeper into the woods, I feel like you can see & hear so much more. Sometimes it can kind of be a sensory overload, but it is totally worth it. With the slightest bit of wind, everything is moving, and there is a constant rustling that could mean a.) a creature sneaking through the woods, or b.) you won’t hear that creature sneaking by even though it’s just a few yards away. But, you are so much less limited, and you can really put one anywhere you want and have a 360* view of the surrounding woods. This is my current climber view:

See what I mean? I didn’t get a photo of the view behind me, but you get the idea. With so much wind over the weekend, I honestly didn’t have high hopes for seeing much deer activity, and I actually sat in my usual stand Saturday afternoon just for the ease of getting in & out if the weather got too rough. I did see a deer right at the end, but it was really too dark to shoot without being 100% positive it was not a button buck. Meh. I was going to give it a shot Sunday morning in the climber either way. I walked into the woods right at daylight, when it was just light enough to see without using a flashlight, but still early enough to beat the action. I climbed up about 12 feet or so, loaded my rifle, and hunkered down to wait. Around 7:30, I heard a slight rustling over my left shoulder. Sure enough, a doe was creeping along the edge of the woods next to the field, following one of the heavily-used game trails in that area. Rather than go into the field to feed, she meandered back into the woods a little bit, walking right past me in the meantime. And by “right past me,” I mean that if I was standing on the ground, I could have held my rifle by the barrel, taken a swing, and smacked her. So. Close. The doe stopped about 15 yards in front of me, having found some delicious snack in the underbrush, and milled around there for about 10 minutes.

I was able to snap a photo or two with my iPhone, moving as slowly and quietly as I possibly could. I was afraid the deer would catch a whiff of my scent, particularly since she crossed over the exact path I used to get to the climber an hour prior, but she didn’t. At one point, having turned back around while eating to face me, she lifted her head and looked right smack at my face. I swear, I did not even move my eyeballs for fear of spooking this deer. Apparently my tactic worked – she seemed satisfied that I was just a weird looking tree branch, looked back down, and kept right on snacking. Whew. After another few minutes, she made her way across the woods towards the right, and eventually wandered into the swamp and off to who knows where.

It’s pretty obvious that I had more than a few opportunities for a clear shot – so why didn’t I take it? Honestly, I was convinced that buck was going to show up, dropping his guard to follow this doe. She kept looking up in one direction in particular, like there was something lurking in the thick brush just out of my field of view, but no buck ever showed up. Not even a fox squirrel. I hunted hard for the next 30 minutes or so to be sure I didn’t spot something, but it was a futile effort. Sigh. I was still glad I didn’t take the shot even when I had it, though – I’d thought back to a quote I found a few weeks ago about hunting & what it should mean to those who do hunt… It reminded me that this is why I love it – I was in the woods, 10 feet from a deer at one point, and managed to stay perfectly still & hidden despite the rush I still get when I see any deer when I am hunting. I may not get my nice buck this season, and that’s a-ok. I am lucky enough to be able to do what I do, as often as I do, and that’s good enough for me. I don’t think I will ever get tired of it.