My deer hunt after Superstorm Sandy

It was a beautiful day for working outside the house in the morning of Nov. 3 to get ready before winter set in.

We got done around noon and Jerome encouraged me to go out in the afternoon to hunt after I had almost given up for this year. I had not really seen any deer like I had in the past, but Jerome said he had a good feeling that I had a chance where the weather was changing. Superstorm Sandy had passed through and the weather was going to turn cold, so the deer would be moving.

I went out around 1:30 pm and got settled into my treestand with the temperature being about 50 degrees with a light breeze. My stand was located close to a well-worn deer trail at a pinch point between a bog and a roadway with a thin ribbon of mixed hardwoods and softwoods.

I took in the views around me and saw squirrels, birds and heard a beaver in a bog not too far away from my treestand. Around 4:30, I started doing some light calls on my doe bleat call followed by a couple of buck grunt calls. I waited patiently for a deer to show up and at 5, I saw a small buck come in to investigate. He was kind of slow at coming in, but I sat still as a mouse. At 5:15, he got to about 15 yards and presented me a perfect broadside shot. I drew back on my Mathews Passion and placed my pin on the cress before releasing my arrow. He took off running straight into a bog where I could hear the deer splashing away at a good clip.

I waited at least 30 minutes and finally got out of my treestand to look for the deer. My arrow made a complete pass thru with a 40-pound draw weight. I was hoping the deer would be on the edge of the bog, but he was in quite a distance that I had to call Jerome to come help me get him out. Jerome finally came with some knee high rubber boots and got the deer out, but got soak and wet doing it. What a great husband he is! We both help each other out dragging our game animals.

After getting the big bad boy out, I helped Jerome drag my deer to the truck. By the time Jerome found the deer in the thick swell grass in the bog, drug it out, field dressed the deer, and got it to the truck, our local tagging station was closed! It was a long night and poor Jerome was so cold from getting wet that he was ready for bed.

I did not get much sleep and I woke Jerome up at 7 a.m. so we could get the deer tagged and bring it to the butchers. The buck weighed 120 pounds and my Mathews Passion did it again. Thank you Jerome for encouraging me to go out. Your gut feeling was right that I would get my deer!