First Bowhunt of 2010

Made it out this morning for this years first bowhunt.  The property owner is logging out all the ash trees in the bush so I may only be hunting there for a few more days.  This fall I purchased a Kifaru Molle Express backpack for hunting and gave it a try this morning.  The pack has what is called "Palls Webbing" which enables you to attach various other bags or straps to customize your carry options.  I attached the crossbow to the pack as well as a small pouch to carry a thermos of noodles to warm myself up after the hunt.  The weight of the gear rides on the hips as opposed to the shoulders making the walk in much more enjoyable.

I packed up all the gear the night before and woke up at 05:15.  After making my noodle lunch in the thermos and a cup of tea I was out the door at 05:30.  I made it to the farm at 06:00 and enjoyed the walk into to bush as there were a multitude of stars out.  I found the stand with little problem as the reflective tape I put up last year guided my way to the stand.  I was set up and waiting for the hunt to start by 06:45 and started the hunt at 07:08 which was a half hour prior to sunrise.  I gave a single call with my grunt call and sat waiting for the woods to awake.  The squirrels started to climb down from their nests and move about on the forest floor.  My presence didn't seem to bother them at all as they carried out their business of burying nuts and scavenging for the same.  Then at around 7:30 I caught a glimps of a doe in front and to the right of me.  Then there was another and finally one more.  All does but no bucks.  I can only shoot bucks this year as I drew a doe license for the gun hunt up on the peninsula later this fall.  I continued to watch as all three does sniffed the air and looked up at me.  I'm sure they could see me but they didn't startle or seem alarmed.  It looked like one of them that was larger may have been the mother and the other two may have been her fawns.  They all walked within ten yards of my stand, one of them actually bumped my ladder stand with her snout as she looked up at me.  They  eventually walked off to my left out of sight.  Before they were completely gone, I made a grunt call to see if it would startle them, but they were unphased.  There was no more action after that other than the squirrels and birds so I called it quits just after 10 and enjoyed my thermos of noodles.