Since the middle of July I had waited for season to open. As many of you know from the blog posts and pictures I have a number of quality bucks coming everyday. That is, right up until season opened on September 12th.  On that day I was in the stand ready for anything. Well almost anything. I was not prepared for the total lack of any game coming to feed to my generous gift of daily corn.

 For two and a half weeks I saw nothing, not even a hog. The deer had disappeared and the hogs went nocturnal. Apparently the Deer gods shared the memo with the Hog gods that archery season was open. They do that ya know.

So like any dedicated hunter I changed the game plan. I studied the pictures from my cameras and found that the hogs were coming right at dusk. So I packed my gear on week three and headed for the property for an evening hunt. I decided that if the deer would not cooperate then I would rid the world of a hog or two. This would serve a dual purpose. First, meat in the freezer and second less competition for the precious corn.

Since the cameras show hogs at dusk I showed up about 6:30pm. I had a muzzle-loader in one hand (for the hogs) and my bow in the other (for the deer). Hey, ya never know what might happen. It didn't take long before I heard the pigs coming from the swamp. The water is still deep so they sound like a herd of hippos charging. Which is not far from the truth if you look at my trail cam pics I posted. They were milling around about sixty yards behind my stand in the water. I turned around to watch them come if I could. I couldn't see them but I could see the waves on the water.

For fifteen minutes I watched the swamp and listened to these pesky pigs wander back and forth before I figured out they were waiting for the damn feeder to go off! I was starting to get stiff from being all twisted trying to look behind me so I turned around and sat back down to face the feeder and wait for them. It was at that very second that I saw the doe standing under the feeder chowing away at her supper. She had no ideaI was there and was not paying any attention to anything except the corn.

Now here is my dilemma, I have a deer at the feeder, a muzzle-loader in my hands and a bow hanging on a branch. How in the hell am I supposed to set the gun down pick up the bow, stand up and take a shot? There is no way I am going to be able to pull this off without spooking this deer. Well people, God was smiling at me this day. Without any warning the feeder went off, the deer spooked and ran about fifty yards up the hill and stopped. I set the gun down, stood up and grabbed the bow. She waited a few seconds and trotted right back to the feeder. Without so much as a wary look she went right back to dinner and gave me an 18 yard broadside shot. Which I promptly took and let loose the Rage 3-point. The shot wasn't the best, she heard the arrow and launched forward but it was still a clean pass through albeit high and pretty far back. She  ran about fifty yards straight up the hill. I lost sight but could still hear her running and a second later I heard the crash of deer and barbed wire fence. I knew she didn't clear it so up the hill I went.

I was rewarded for all my efforts with a mature doe laying just the other side of the fence. Its been a very long summer, I have waited patently for  my chance and it finally came. Last night we ate backstrap and everthing is right with the world.

Now I can focus on that elusive buck!

Yes here in Southwest Florida Deer Season opened on the 12th of September. As those of you who have been following my pictures you know I have alot of game coming to the feeder. I was looking forward to the Archery opener for months. I have a huge buck coming on a regular basis. I even have his picture as the wallpaper on my cell phone. I couldn't wait.

Mother nature has a perverted sense of humor. For weeks we have been getting our usual garden variety summer thunderstorms. We're used to them, get stuff done in the morning because its going to rain in the afternoon. It always does. But on the morning Deer season opens she throws us a curve. A remnant of some tropical  storm wannabe decides this is the perfect time to begin its slow trek across State of Florida. A crossing that will take two full days. Two days of hard and persistent storms. Nothing dangerous mind you, just relentless pounding rain.

So I did what any self respecting hunter would do. I went anyway! I got up, grabbed my hunting buddy(who lives next Door) and drove the hour to the property and climbed into my stand. Miraculously it was not raining. The radar showed rain all over but at that moment it was not raining on us. Granted the water was three inches deep at the base of my stand but hey, deer live in this stuff. So for almost two hours we sat there string at the water on the ground and the clouds in the air. I'm watching radar on my phone and I see it coming. Its gonna be a little while before it gets bad so I decide to wait for the last minute.

In retrospect I should have stayed in bed. With all that weather the deer were not moving. They were curled up under some palmetto bush trying to keep dry.  I should have been doing the same. About 8:30 the rain started and it got bad in a hurry. We made a beeline for the truck and headed for the house.

So the first weekend came and went with noone getting a shot. I talked to quite a few people that had about the same luck. I'm  hoping it dries out  some, you need a canoe to get to the stands right now.

Maybe next weekend will be better!