Last day of Hunting :(

View from our tree stand

Jeff got us a two-person tree stand so that we could both be up there at the same time.  He installed it at the top of the mountain, so we took the 4-wheeler up most of the way. Both mornings that we made it up this week it was chilly and a little windy.  We were up in the stand by 6:00 or 6:30 and it was still pretty dark.  

My camo pants, thanks love ! 

The first day that we went we saw 6 does around 9:15 am.  It was my first day out and first opportunity to shoot something so between my nerves, the shadows and then the deer seeing us, I didn't get a shot off.   However, I saw a coyote for the first time and lots of woodpeckers.

Jeff keeping an eye out

The second day that we went hunting we didn't see any deer, but we did see a family of raccoons running around.  There were 6 of them!   It was a like a raccoon gang coming through the woods, noisy little suckers.  I was making up voices for them in my head and could just imagine them talking to each other with northern accents like they were part of the mob.  Doesn't everyone do that?  I tried to take some pictures, but they were moving all over the place and I didn't have a good camera.

View from my side of the stand

Shortly after the raccoons left the scene, I saw a bobcat cross the path in the same place that I saw the coyote. We were able to watch it with binoculars for quite a while as it moseyed through the woods.  It looked to be 20-25 lbs, a big fellow.  It was really cool to see one since most people don't get the opportunity.

Our cozy space

Besides freezing toes, it wasn't unbearably cold either day.  I'm lucky that Jeff made sure I was outfitted in the all my gear before we ever got out there.  The jacket my dad got me for Christmas worked great under my camo.  It would have been even better if I hadn't forgotten it the second day!

You can see three of the six raccoons walking down the hill in a line.