My 2013 deer season (as with every year in the past) does not start in September. It starts when the snow melts in April/May. There are prairie’s to work on, food plots, tree stand maintenance, tree’s to cut and split, camera’s to place, mineral sites to maintain etc. etc. So for as long as I can remember, I’ve always held out for a big boy to make his way through and give me a favorable shot. I figured with all the work that I put into the herd, it was only right to hold out and shoot a mature buck. With that being said, I have eaten way more “Tag Soup” than I have put my hands on a rack for quite a while. 2013 has been particularly eventful year down at the farm. So bare with me as I recap this season.
One of the first things we do every year is burn off the 12 acres of CRP. We’ve been burning it every year (missed it a couple of years due to weather) but the County guys gave us an A+ this year!!!
Next up this year was a hard one, I had to put down Bear our 12 year old lab. It was indeed time, but it still sucked to do. He does have a beautiful resting place that I see every time I pull into the driveway.
Next up this year was a first, for me anyway. Season A Turkey with a gun. In the past, I’ve always hunted the last couple of weeks of the season with my bow around Rochester. The turkeys were not ready for me this year, but I did manage to put some turkey load in the face of a Yote!!! So it was a successful season.
By this time of year things are greening up and Morels are popping. It’s also time for our spring food plot maintenance/plantings and also time to get our gardens planted. This year we found a bonus!!! Young fawn, not more than 2′ away from where the tractor and tiller had just drove by. Lucky for her and for us.
Rest of the summer is reserved for cutting dead and fallen tree’s, repairing/rework tree stands and just in general enjoying the land. Camp fires, little bit of beer and booze, 4 wheeler riding and hanging out with friends and family.
This is about as early as I have been done deer hunting for quite some time. Like I stated above, I have been eating tag soup a lot. Especially when it comes to filling buck tags. I have not harvested a buck for 15 years in this state. Had it not been for some out of state adventures, I wouldn’t have any antlers to show off. WY 2006 was my last buck harvested) I can say it is a bitter sweet feeling to be done deer hunting. On one hand, the freezer will be full and I made two great and humane shots with my bow and my gun. But on the other hand, deer camp has been a 4 month long undertaking for so long, I kind of regret my decision to shoot. BUT, it is a fleeting emotion that is gone just as fast as I think it.
The first weekend in Oct every year, since Isaac was a baby, we’ve headed down to the farm with my lovely wife and dog(s) in tow. It’s my birthday weekend and instead of doing anything else, I prefer to have a long weekend of family time and hunting. My first deer this year was taken while my son Isaac was sitting with me in one of our tower stands. I always get out on opener and maybe a weekend or two before the family comes down. But, I will never shoot a doe until the weekend the family weekend, I just want to keep my options open for when Isaac can sit with me. Isaac & Carrie have been my little lucky charms as I’ve harvested a nice doe every year with him with. It’s always fun up in the stand. Rock/Paper/Scissors, Thumb Wrestling, talking about things and just enjoying nature. He does really great about sitting quietly and sitting still, but boy, does the cap come off when we get back inside!! He’s wound tight for a couple of hours 
. We sat for just a short while and started seeing some deer movement, but they were way on the other end of the field and he wanted to put a stalk on them. I tried to explain that that does not work so well with bows and he went back to playing with his Lego’s. With just about 30 minutes left in our day, a nice doe came out and stood eating in one of our food plots. I had forgotten my range finder but was pretty sure she standing about 20 yards. So, I drew back and let the arrow fly. Wouldn’t you know it, it flew right underneath her. Isn’t it funny how when you let that arrow go and you first see it flying through the air, and your like…perfect…just to see it drop right underneath the deer. 
Well, Isaac wasn’t going to let this go unnoticed and said, “Way to go dad, you blew it. We might as well pack up and go in!!” Huh, smartazz must take after his mother. I told him to be patient as we still had 20 more minutes of shooting light. Lego time again. Well just like I had planned it out, that doe came right back out and stood right over the top of my lighted nock and stood perfectly broadside again. 30 yard pin, center mass, THWACK. The boy and I high 5’d each other and then we decided to back out, go eat some supper and come back in an hour or so. I know I heard her crash, but I wanted to wait for a while. So, after we ate we grabbed some head lamps and flashlights and headed back out to my arrow. Once I got on the blood trail, I handed the flashlight to Isaac and he took over until we recovered our trophy. Once again High 5’s and hugs were had, pictures were taken and we (I) drug her out.
This brings everyone up to this past weekend. I had sat another 3 weekends of not seeing much for deer movement and also 3 weekends away from Carrie & Isaac. He’s 9 now and although I’d like to bring him with more often, he’d much rather stay home and play with the neighbor boys and such, than being down on the farm, with so little to do. So, he’s been kind of giving me the business about being gone so much. Not just with hunting, but the 60-70 hour work weeks have been pretty much constant this year. Mom and Isaac had to go out to South Dakota to see her dad (grandpa for Isaac) and I told her I was staying back. Again, Isaac was a little disappointed but he forgave me and told me to shoot a buck and quit hunting so much. Kind of a little stab in the heart if you know what I mean. So, I was pretty motivated to fill my tag this weekend. I even went as far to think that I might put another doe in the freezer and forget the horns this season. Friday night was a big zero, I didn’t even see a squirrel with my bow that night. Saturday morning was more of the same, windy as all get out and the critters were laying low. I decided to get down and do a little push towards where Rick was sitting, so I sent him a text and slowly still hunted my way up to him. About 30 minutes into this I heard a crash up ahead and saw a doe and a fawn bust out 100 yards or so up ahead. They ran from South to North and ended up passing by me a mere 30 yards. I thought, what the heck, maybe Rick didn’t get my message and he actually got down and he bumped them out of their bed. Well about 10 seconds later, I saw what did bump them. A decent buck was heading my way at a pretty good trot through the woods. I shouldered my 12 gauge and got him in my scope. He ended up stopping and staring right at me a little less than 20 feet away from me. I knew right away that he wasn’t a stud, a beast or even a wall mounter. But, at that point I kind of told myself, he’s legal and he’ll fill my tag. BOOM, punched a hole in his chest and he fell just 30 yards away from where he was standing. He did shrink on me even more, when I walked up to him, but, like I said before. My season was going to end this weekend one way or another. It had been a long, long time since I put my hands on some antlers. Way too long and maybe I just needed this little guy to get me off the schneid and back in the game. I’ll be home more weekends, I’ll have the deer season off my mind, I can take the boy and the dog, duck, pheasant and goose hunting. And I have another deer in the freezer.
I know that he’s not big, I know he’s not old. But he’s a buck that has been a long time in the making and I have no regrets as to harvesting him.
