Early Morning Hunt

     There is something that goes through every hunter's mind when he or she wakes up at o'dark thirty, stumbles out of bed, and gets ready for a brisk, cold morning hunt. Usually, the rest of the family is tucked away underneath their warm blankets asleep and you are the crazy one leaving that warm cozy bed, and running out into the dark, cold (make that frigid) morning.


This morning was no different. After hitting the snooze one too many times, make that three or four, I finally rolled out of bed and walked straight to the front door. Two nights ago, the wind about blew my daughter and I out of the tree stand, and I decided that if it is blowing like crazy, I was going back to bed. Did I mention the warm, cozy blankets? Okay, so I was looking for a good excuse to stay in bed, but it was calm outside with a touch of frost.

I decided that it must've been planned for me to go out this morning and headed to my favorite hunting spot. Bundled in my cold gear and sending clouds of warm breath into the cold morning air, I softly crunched my way to the stand. I noticed that there were several scrapes and rubs along the trail on the way in and, silently, I prayed that I would see the creator of all those fresh buck signs.

Once I was settled into my climbing stand, perched as high as I could go, I listened to the sounds of the early morning. The squirrels were not even awake, but I kept hearing movement in the trees and on the ground. As the morning light broke through the cold air, I realized that the noise was due to the natural process of trees turning loose of their leaves. It was raining leaves all over.

I received a Buck Growl grunt call for Christmas last year from my lovely wife and never had a chance to use till now. I pulled it out, gave a few short grunts and a couple “growls” and waited. After about 30 minutes, I repeated this again and listened some more. Soon after, I heard the familiar sounds of leaves crunching to the distinct pattern of footsteps on a nearby trail. At first I saw just the body of a deer and the head was obscured by branches and leaves, but soon I caught a glimpse of antlers! I immediately grabbed my Switchback in case this was the big one.

The buck came within 40 yards and started ripping the bark off a small tree. This was the first time I saw a mature buck working his rub line. Over the next 10 minutes, the buck tore tree after tree and freshened a scrape down the trail. After getting a decent look at his rack, I decided to pass on this buck for now. I estimated him to be a 125 class mainframe 8 point. His G3 on the right side was very tall and had a very distinct fork towards the top of his tine. He had good character, and his spread was out to the end of his ears if not a little inside.

After my close encounter with this buck, I was glad that I awoke and “braved” the elements to go hunting. Really, it was not all that cold with my warm hunting gear, and the trip out was worth the effort. On the way home, I thanked God for His protection and the blessing of a close encounter with one of His creatures. With hunting, it is not always about tagging that big bruiser, but it is a lot of enjoying Creation and being a part of it. For a while, the world stands still, you take a time-out from the fast pace of life, and you slow down to “enjoy the roses.” In the next few weeks, I hope to enjoy a few more hunts, and the best part, sharing those moments with my family.

Happy Hunting,

Ryan