Well, our season came to a close yesterday and I have to say it was a hell of a good one for me. Lots of firsts and some long overdue repeats. I didn't get to hunt as much as I wanted the last couple of years so I resolved to make the most of the season despite a very busy work load.

Things started out...not great... as this was the first thing that greeted me opening morning.



so I said eff sitting in a blind, went for a walk, and first met the fork horn who would be my near constant companion for the season. He's behind me somewhere in this picture.



I spent most of the early season moving and sitting and watching and rattling up young bucks. (not me grunting in the video)



This was my first season to reload. I worked up an 80gr ttsx load for my .243 that I was excited to try. But I didn't see anything that made me want to tackle the task of getting a deer out of the places I'd walked into.



I spent a little more time in the blind but decided not to pull the trigger yet.




After a couple weeks at home, I hit the first highlight of the season. My dad came over and we got to spend the 4 days before thanksgiving hunting together. I had not deer hunted with my dad in probably 10 years and we had not shared a deer blind since I was a kid, usually hunting separately since I was old enough to do so. Damn that was a good time. He chose to hunt with the model 7 .260 that he bought decades ago for me to shoot my first deer with. I had worked up a low recoil load for it courtesy of seafire's posts that I intend for my oldest to use next year. This would be the first opportunity to try it out. My dad's goal was just to take home a couple of does. During our first sit, a group of nice Tom's wandered by. Turkeys are very uncommon where he hunts and I new he had never hunted them. I told him he was welcome to shoot one if he wanted. He took the biggest Tom and was very excited.



The next morning, he took a doe and I got to see that load perform exactly as I had hoped.

That afternoon we decided to split up. I headed to a blind that another lease member had asked me to hunt as he hadn't hunted it in a while. I had hunted it before but probably 10+ years ago. I was still getting settled in and my dad was texting like crazy about all the bucks he was seeing when a good deer came out at about 160 yards. He was moving quickly and purposefully. I took a quick look at him and decided he needing shooting. He wasn't presenting a shot and I wasn't sure if he would. I has a small gap in the brush and decided if he paused or slowed enough in that gap I would shoot. He did his part. Perfect sight picture, steady, breath.....click. [bleep]!!!!!!! Never chambered a round. I put one in but he quickly cleared the small gap and was gone. Oh well.

A couple hours later my dad was still seeing nothing but bucks so I shot a doe for him. This was my first with the ttsx load I had worked up and it performed exactly as advertised.

With 2 does down we decided to duck hunt the last morning. The ducks had other plans, but we did manage to hit all two of them that came within range.






We wrapped things up and headed back for Thanksgiving with the rest of the Family. After thanksgiving I went back, this time taking my boys. We came up empty on deer and ducks but they always have a good time. This was the first time either of them had joined me on a duck hunt and the first time in the deer blind for the 4-year old.







Did not get to hunt much in December, but closed with a great time. I had the week off after Christmas so I took the boys to the lease. They declared that they wanted me to shoot a buck. After a couple of unsuccessful sits, with lots of does but no decent bucks that would ignore the cacophony going on inside the blind long enough to get shot, the 4-year old was getting antsy. On our next hunt, I told them we would take the first doe or decent buck that presented an opportunity. just before sunrise the does begin to pour in. I got ready to take a shot, but just before I broke it the doe I was holding on moved abruptly. I glanced over to see this buck sneaking in. I quickly decided he would make two boys very happy and connected with the .243. I was not prepared for the level of excitement from those boys. That was the little one's first time to be present when I shot something bigger than a dove and he kept telling everyone we saw "we killed a GIANT deer"



cont...

It was way too hot so we decided not to shoot the does we still needed to kill to fill the freezer for the year. We tried duck hunting again and were a little more successful this time



My wife joined us for the new years weekend and we closed out the week with some hiking and rock climbing nearby.

With the season winding to a close last week, I still wanted a couple more does. I managed to slip away from work and get things closed out. Left work at 1 on wednesday, had a turkey and a doe down by last light. Woke up and killed another doe just after sunrise. Mission accomplished, I headed back to the office for the afternoon. The last doe had an interesting hoof.



Apologies for the rambling post...not sure I'll ever have another season like this one but here's hoping.

Hell ya looks like ya had a good time. 👍

Great write up. I bet you are the coolest kid on your block with that fantastic rifle.

That was excellent.

Very nice...Dad and your boys and you making memories...priceless!

I enjoyed the recap immensely - thanks for sharing.

Great write up thanks

Great season, spent with great company & a freezer full, to boot !!

What's not to like ?

Excellent!

That's awesome Ccard257! Thanks for posting.

Good times by all. Nice going…three generations of Dads and kids. 😁

Congrats on your season!

Good year !

Congrats 🎈

🦫

Congratulations on a great/ quality season with family.

Good stuff!! 👍👍

Thanks for sharing your adventures and family.