Youth Hunting Weekend - Vermont

Friday, November 2, as soon as Kevin got home from school we headed for Vermont. 

We arrived around 4:30PM and Kevin wanted to go 4 wheeling so we headed down some of the logging roads before going to Mike’s.  Some mud, some rocks, and Hurricane Sandy dropped a tree across one of the trails so we had to turn around. 

The hunting plan was to get up early head to our spot from last year.  I had my pack and would lump the extra gear around (40 lbs … water, Gatorade, snacks, camera, extra gloves, hats, socks, flashlights, etc.) to free Kevin up with the rifle.    

I was up at 4AM.  Woke Kevin up at 5AM and had breakfast.  We were walking through the woods to our spot with our flashlights by 6AM.  We sat until 8AM.  NOTHING…

At 8AM Mike left us and did a loop through one of the fields to hopefully push something toward us like last year.  NOTHING...

Next spot...  Kevin and I headed to a ridge where Rick saw several deer during Bow season and Steven took a doe in the same area.  Mike had some things to take care of so he planned on pushing the ridge to us a bit later.  It was very windy at the top of the ridge so not the ideal conditions.   Mike got on the radio to let us know he was coming up the ridge.  Kevin was ready.  NOTHING...

We headed back to the house for lunch.  Next Spot...  We walked down Cream Street and headed past Stephen’s stump into the hard woods down the hill near the stream.  Mike was going to push behind his house heading toward us. 

Typically the deer go down the hill, cross the stream, and head up the other side.  We found a nice deer run coming from the stream and settled in.  Mike jumped several deer.  They crossed the stream in a different spot and headed up the hill on our side but we were a couple hundred yards further down.  NOTHING... 

We connected with Mike there and decided to go over the ridge the direction the deer went and set up near the ponds.  Often times the deer will bed down near those ponds so we thought they may have headed in that direction.  We saw several scrapes on our way which was a good sign. 

Next spot…  Kevin and I took a stand on a rock wall so we could see on both sides above the ponds.  If the deer came up from the ponds Kevin had shooting lanes on both sides of the wall.  Mike walked over the old stone bridge and started a big loop around the ponds.  He said it was very thick.  NOTHING...  Mike looked tired!!

Next spot ... From the walking we had done we decided to go back over the ridge to Stephen’s stump and sit along a run we saw with several scrapes.  Kevin sat on Stephen’s stump watching and waiting, I sat nearby on a downed tree watching and waiting.  Mike leaned up against a tree and fell asleep from all of his extra walking.  I do believe I have a picture of Mike from last year doing the same thing.  With the wind in our face Kevin started to get cold. He said he had enough for the day so we slowly hunted back to the truck.  NOTHING...

We headed to the check in station and Kevin got some snacks.

 Next spot … On the way back to Mike’s we still had some daylight so decided to head in to one of the areas where Kevin and I go 4 wheeling. 

In the woods we spotted a doe above us on a hill.  The first deer we had seen all day.  Kevin had a shot … took it … and that was it.  The deer went down and rolled probably 30 feet down the hill.  “Great shot by Kevin.”   We dragged the deer to the road.  We talked about walking Kevin slowly through steps of field dressing the deer but the checking station would be closed before we finished.  Kevin wanted to get back to the checking station before they closed so Mike dressed the deer with Kevin’s help (Mike said time me!!  Record time, 5 minutes).  Mature doe … dressed at 115lbs.  SUCCESS …

Kevin and I walked 4 ½ miles.  Mike walked several miles more to push for us.  We were all pretty excited about sleeping in the next morning.  Kevin wanted get home to hang the deer in our tree for all to see.  Some of his friends stopped by to see it.  Doug, Rick, and Stephen also stopped by to congratulate Kevin.

Somehow people could tell Kevin was successful on the ride home.