A week or two before hunting season (this year it was pretty late) we got pounded with snow. It was sort of unusual to have a white hunting season, but I didn't mind. I sat in the crow's nest opening morning. Andrew had to work, Ben was in Pennsylvania and Dad sat in Krones. I saw 9 or 10 does and fawns, and got some pictures of them. Dad shot a small doe in the morning that he thought was a bit bigger. Grandpa was in his stand and didn't see much. With a smile he said he saw some Z's once in a while though.

At night I sat at the back of the south 80 fields. I read a bit of Game of Thrones book 4 that night, but also saw two does who got chased off when dad drove back to me to pick me up. Dad maybe sat in Irene Frei's woods that night.

The next day I could hunt was Friday after Thanksgiving. Dad had shot a very nice 8-point buck on Wednesday, if I recall correctly. They called him RG3 because his right G3 was about as long as his G2, and that made him easy to identify. We had many videos of him from dad's trailcam. He's the buck in the image above.

Friday morning, Kaytee and I slept in and then shopped online for a few deals. In the afternoon we sat in Krones. I was able to see 3 or 4 running through a woods in another field. But that was about it. Andrew was also working this day. Dad sat in Irene Frei's and we picked him up afterward.

Saturday was drive day. Andrew was finally off work, and we were able to assemble a pretty healthy driving party (maybe 12-15 of us). We drove the lower, grandpa's woods, the 80, a corn field on the south 80 and then corn fields near Gary Frei's. Rick Steen shot our only deer (a doe) at Gary's. However, 4 coyotes were shot and it. 2 coyote bodies were found. Andrew hit one and dad found it later. I hit one and it died on the spot. It was about 100 yards away - running full bore. I was in my box stand and Kaytee, the trooper, was with me. It ran out of the corn field toward the 80 woods. I aimed slightly ahead of it and shot. It died immediately in full sprint, and slid 16 feet in the snow. It was a large female coyote.

That night, Kaytee and I went to sit on the I-40. On our way from the van, we spotted 1 in the field which we though was a decent size doe. I sat down in the snow, propped up on the 5 gallon bucket which was going to be a seat in the stand and let fly. The impact of the bullet knocked it down, but it still got back up and ran into the woods. It was already sort of late, so I walked in there and sure enough she was dead. She turned out not being that big, but hey - should be good eating.

Andrew was skunked during rifle season but came up w/ a doe during muzzleloader season! I think Pastor Ron also got a doe on Irene's.

by Ethan