Flintlock story

Well, I guess if you hunt long enough you'll luck into one of those perfect situations.  Happened to me on Friday, the only day I had to get out and mess with the flintlock.  Truthfully I only set out to do some exploring of a new cut at the head of hollow adjacent to our property.  By foot it's a good walk back there from our side.  In knee deep snow it's an all day event.  Having already filled 2 tags, I was not looking to take another doe from the local herd.  I had it in my mind that the only deer I would shoot would have to be wounded.  Even with those remote odds, I carried my gun none-the-less.
 
Slept in and got a good breakfast before the adventure as I did not know when my next meal would be.  Headed up the hill a little after 8:00.  Cut a few fresh tracks on my way uphill, headed in the same general direction as me.  I didn't pay them too much attention as they went straight up instead of my cross-hill route.
 
To shorten the story I reached my destination a few hours later and those tracks came back across where I ended my walk at the cut.  Looking at their path my instinct told me there would be a good chance those deer stopped at the cut and bedded on the edge.  It was all tops and some full trees that had been felled but not yet removed.  Not exactly what many unpressured deer would willingly walk through.  Took it real slow.  Searching with the binocs about every half step down the hollow.  I probably covered 20 yards when I caught some movement.  Turned out to be 3 bucks, one of which was a nice 15-16" 8 pt.  I ended up watching them for about an hour and a half before sneaking back out the way I came in.  I got to about 80-90 yards away and they never knew I was there.  Wind was near perfect for the most part.  The biggest buck was bedded watching the backtrail.  My saviour was a large forked maple that I could peak around.  Felt good to know I could have smoked that nice buck if I had a tag.  I know there's a lot that could go wrong between hammer fall and gut pile.  But I am content in knowing I was in the right place at the right time to harvest a nice buck in the late season.

Often the best memories afield  dont require pulling the trigger.

The one thing I learned from this is that deer don't always do what they're supposed to do.  In my experience the deer in this area head up the hollows well before daylight in the late season so it is difficult to get ahead of them in the morning on foot.  If you cut a track at first light you can catch up to them but they have the high ground on you and watching back trail.  These 3 bucks messed up.  They bedded downhill from their route and the wind was blowing back across their tracks.  True they had one side completely locked up with the logging area.  But they also bedded too far down over the edge.  Had they been closer to the top I would have had to get within 30 yards before seeing.  As it was the older deer was watching the backtrail diligently while the younger ones faced down the hollow.  I would expect that.
 
If I had to guess I'd bet it was the heavy snow and lack hunting pressure for the past few weeks that led them to drop their guard a bit.  File that one away in your memory for the next time.

Went out weds took the bow instead of the smoke pole. Was putting on a drive for my buddy which has proved very successful in the past. Bout half way through I caught movement below me. I dropped down to one knee and drew back. Unfortunately as the deer came out of the brush pow in front of me at 10 yards he had a rack. Ended up being a 7 pt with no tag to use on him I just enjoyed watching him continue up the hill. I just love hunting this time of the year.