Hunting in Tioga county

Monday 2 December 2019

Oh what a nice day.  We woke up at 4:00am to about 8+ inches of snow.  We were on our way to Tony's place by 5:30.  Glenn and Andy were there and we all hunted until noon. The fresh snow was

Diane's view on her

way to the Hut!!

beautiful but with the tree limbs hanging down loaded with snow visibility was limited in the woods.  We came in at 11:00 talked to the guys no one had seen a thing.   We said our goodbyes and headed out or so we thought as I turned the truck around, put it in drive, I felt it slide to the left and poof we were stuck.  Thanks to Glenn and Andy and a bit of shoveling we finally made it out.  Then back for lunch, a rest and a walk for Rudy. We were back at the farm by 2:00 for the evening hunt.  Glenn and Andy had already left so we parked at the top of the hill and walked down.  We were not taking a chance on getting stuck again.  Diane headed to Kate's hut and I went to the far back corner of the property.  At 4;00 several deer came out in the field below me about 250 yds away.  I scoped them out no buck,  They fed along tree line walking in and out of the brush making it hard to keep track of which ones you had already seen.  Finally a saw a buck but couldn't tell if he was big enough eventually he turned his head to give me a good look...a nice six pointer.  One carefully placed shot from the mighty 30-06 and he fell to the ground.  He was 150 yds away in a over grown grass field covered with 8 inches of snow. I radioed Diane and she kept hunting while I gutted and tug the buck.  It was still daylight when I got back to her stand but walking through that tall grass just wore me out. I knew we would not be able to drag the deer out.  I'll cut the next several hours to the short version.  Took Diane home to Rudy and to get Tony's 4 wheeler key,  went back to Tony's with four wheeler key but had no key to barn to get the four wheeler,  up to Druck's house to ask for 4 wheeler no answer, went to Kulpy's cabin for help and he was home.  We took his side by side down and brought the buck up to the barn, by now it is 8:30 and I just couldn't go any more.  Left him lay and went home for dinner.  That is the short version!

Tuesday 3 December 2019

We were up again at oh dark thirty and in the field by 6:45.  Overnight and in yesterdays commotion

Finally a picture

of my deer!!

it seems I lost Tony's keys,  so Diane hunted while I walked through the deep snow (not so pretty any more) down to the gut pile and back looking for keys on the ground in the snow.  No luck. I can't believe I did that.  Sounds dumber now as I type it out loud.  Anyway, back to Diane gathered my rifle and back pack that I left there last night and went in to clean up my deer.  So here I am at the barn door and on the other side of that door are all the things I need,  rope and pulleys, ladder, gamble, and most important the four wheeler. But nooooo I'm on this side with a knife.  I try to split the pelvic bone and the deer slid down the hill, I try again and I slide down the hill.  Eventually I tied the deer to a tree(sounds like a old saying) got the pelvic bone split and finished cleaning him out.  He was about half froze so in order to drain him out I stood him up.  When I finished I turned around  to radio Diane, when I looked back here is this buck standing up (legs are Frozen) tied to a tree. Really, you had to see it.   Diane came in and We ate HER lunch.  Now all we have to do is drag the deer 300yds up hill to the truck which was never going to happen.  I backed the truck down to the deer after several attempts which failed as we slide in the snow(I now hate snow)we tied a limb under his head so we could both lift together and we drug him onto the tail gate.  We have a pick up truck but with all our camping stuff, satellite dish and other stuff, we couldn't fit him. We really should have had a camera crew, it was hilarious(now that it is over)but we got him in.

Now the rest of the day.  Took the deer to butcher, had lunch, dropped Diane off for evening hunt, back to Moho, picked up Diane(saw lots of deer no buck), dinner, and off to bed.

Wednesday 4 December 2019 (snow flurries)

We were both up and oh dark thirty, went back to bed.  We had a nice cooked breakfast, did some

Diane said she hunts,

but then she has a lot of pictures!!

laundry, dumped tanks, paid bills, and went for groceries.  Temps were above freezing so I cleaned off the truck, chipped ice off the entrance steps, and cleaned the place up a little.  We took Diane over for the evening hunt and back again to pick her up at dark.  She had seen only 2 doe.  After dinner it wasn't long before we headed into bed.  (this is another short version).