Opening Day

Well opening day of (gun) deer season came here in Alabama. As I stated in an earlier post, I was going to try hunting in area that no one ever hunted on our property . I started my morning hunting right in a corner of our land next to the property line. About a hour into the hunt the I started hearing movement from the other side of the line. Next 3 does came by me like their tails were on fire. Then I heard someone talking from the other property. Well that is part of hunting sometimes. But my strategy worked the deer were moving where we never hunted.After another hour and not seeing anything else. I decided to check the other areas we don't hunt. As I moved into this area, I spot a deer watching me. It looked like a doe and since it is doe season I shot and killed it. When I walked up on it I realized I had killed a spike with antlers that grew down following the ears. The antlers were completely hidden. Well I was thankful for fresh meat for the table, but I had also told my father in law I was going to try and harvest only older bucks. When he saw it he thought it was a nanny until he saw the antler. We were both fooled. Neither of us had ever seen any bucks that had antlers growing this way. Maybe next time it will be his big brother. But 2 out of 5 spots we never hunt had deer in them. It goes to show that while we pattern deer they also pattern us. Next time you can't seem to catch up with the deer, don't be afraid to try change.