Thanks to a strong cold front late last week, our 2010 season got a good jump start this past weekend.  We had put in A LOT of stand time and just were not seeing any deer movement the past couple of weeks.  The deer that we were seeing, were moving late and no mature bucks were seen.  Not sure if this was due to the full moon, the current crop harvest situation, the warmer temps, etc., but we (mainly me) were getting pretty frustrated with the lack of movement.

On Saturday evening, Michelle (my wife) and I climbed into a new stand on a farm we had never hunted before.  Bo and I had spent maybe an hour or two walking this property a few weeks earlier and found a couple of old tree stands that were still in decent condition.  The deer sign was also some of the best we had seen yet this year.  The trails were numerous, wide, and VERY heavily used.  As Michelle and I were making our way to the stand, three does stood up from directly below the stand and ran off.  That right there was the most deer I had seen while hunting all year!  As we got the second stand hung and the camera positioned, another doe started making her way towards us, only to disappear in a patch of CRP.  But we finally got situated in the stand and not 20 minutes after getting set up, I noticed three does feeding through the timber below us.  The stand we were sitting in was on a steep ridge overlooking a bottom area that abuts up to a couple of CRP fields (aka bedding areas!).  The three does were joined by another, larger doe that came in from the opposite direction.  As they met, they decided to walk directly towards us.  I let the three younger does pass my only shooting lane on that trail, but once the last and biggest doe entered the lane, the Maxxis got it's first taste of venion! 

I still had a buck tag and another doe tag in my pocket so I hoped that we could double up since the first doe was shot at 5:30.  As we sat there, we could hear deer all around us, but had a hard time seeing them due to the heavy vegetation.  But at about 6:00, another yearling doe made her way up from the CRP and came to within 5 yards of us.  This doe didn't have a care in the world, other than eating all of the acorns around us.  She sat there for easily 20 minutes and just wouldn't leave us alone.  I really wanted to put a tag on her, but you just can't shoot the babies when your wife is behind the camera!