By Rich Miller
We are halfway through October and – as the guys in other sports say – we are getting into the meat of our schedule. I am getting pictures from a lot at buddies from across the country showing off what is showing up in front of their cameras. This week there is a front coming through, and with the high temperatures we have been having, I think this is going to get the deer up on their feet and moving; and, more importantly, get the bucks acting silly.
I have had a great season so far; most of my hunting has been done with my little boy hunting with me. To have had a four-year-old sitting in the stand with me, we have seen a lot of deer and have had a lot of opportunities at does and small bucks. All we have taken advantage of is one doe, though.
Before the season I put us up a couple of Summit Hawks on the edge of a food plot at our farm and it has been in a perfect place. There have been a lot of deer coming by us, but not the deer we were after. There were two bucks that were on our “Hit List” but they never showed while we were in the stand. When the muzzleloader season opened up, one of the bucks made a mistake and came out in front of my dad. He ended up killing the buck that we call the “Tall Guy.”
When the acorns started falling, there was a lot less deer activity in our food plot where the stands were. So this past year I got a new Summit 180 Max SD and it’s got a lot more room in it than my Viper has so that Tye and I both could fit in it. That way we could be a little more versatile and get down in the hardwoods without making a lot of noise hanging two stands. We put the 180 on a tree in the yard and practiced climbing together for a while and then we were ready to hit the woods.
Tye did great in the climber, although we didn’t see any deer that evening. He sat still when he was awake; I guess the surround seat in that stand was a little to comfortable for him! At first we were handicapped a little, but now that we can use the climber together they better watch out! The good thing is he loves it and can’t wait every week to hit the woods with me.
