10/20/2005 -- It promised to be a good evening to hunt deer.  On the drive to the
woods I saw a deer in the field.

Loaded down with muzzleloader, reloads, backpack of
accoutrements and all, I made a pretty bulky figure as I walked down the
corn rows to my hunting spot.  I had a hunch that an open fence row between
the woods and the corn field just might be a good place to sit.

After settling down, it wasn't long and a doe came out of the woods.
She milled around, browsing among the corn stalks before blending back into
the woods.  She was a long ways away and presented no possible shot.

Then a BIG BUCK came out of the woods.  He looked like he might have
been the buck I've been calling EL9.  He was a long ways away and even with
the binoculars, it wasn't possible to identify him for sure.

A few minutes later a doe came out of the woods in the opposite
direction and then I was between two deer.  Perfect I thought, maybe she
will attract him and he'll come right by me.

This was the fourth night I've deer hunted. and it's a very interesting
year because with the game camera I've had out all summer and fall, I've
been able to identify many of the deer to the point I've given them names.

The doe are a little hard to differentiate, but several stand out of
the crowd, there is the holy doe (she had what appears to be a perfect
bullet hole through her ear), Big Mamma (three fawns and she is big), and
skinny make up the list of doe that I can positively identify.  The rest are
just too alike.

But the bucks are another story.  A few of them have grown up in front
of the camera and I can positively state what they looked like through
summer life.  A few are completely distinctive of antler, though one has an
ear notch.

And so when EL9 stepped out of the woods, it was really kind of neat to
watch him and know that he was probably the 2nd biggest deer that lives in
the local woods.

Now the doe that was behind me soon started walking directly at me and
ended up just a few yards away.  Well, I didn't want to shoot her right then
and there and so just let her walk.  At this point she figured out that there
was SOMETHING DIFFERENT about the fence row and she snorted and stomped her
feet.  That wouldn't do, if the buck saw that he would surely never come any
closer so I tried to delicately shoo her away.

At first this only made her snort louder.  Then she ran a little ways away
and started snorting again.  Looking towards the buck, it appeared that he
wasn't even looking this way to see what was going on, so I waved my hat at
the doe and that sent her on her way.

EL9 soon headed back into the woods again and was seen no more.  A few
other doe appeared a long ways off a bit later and that rounded out the
evening.

I went back again a night or two later and this time sat in a tree in
the woods.  I was treated to a couple of unidentified doe walking around the
picked cornfield followed (and chased at times) by a little buck I've named
Big Fork.

Big Fork is distinctive in that he has a plain set of forked antlers
with just a nub of a brow tine on the right, and the main beam of his antler
is bent up at an unusual angle.

He did work his way into range of my muzzleloader before it was dark,
but I passed him up.

Having an idea of the type of bucks I might see in an evening has given
me a goal of sorts as to what I'll actually shoot at.

My first choice would be to not actually shoot the biggest deer.  He
is not as big as my biggest buck (as far as I can tell from the game camera
photos) and I'd love for him to have another year or even two to grow up a
little more.  It’s unlikely for him to be more than two or three years old as
the hunting pressure typically kills anything before it can live that long.

On the other had there are two spike bucks that need to be culled from
the population lest they breed more of their inferior genetics.  If one of
them comes by, he's going to catch some lead or a sharp pointy arrow in the
following weeks.

One of the bigger doe would make a welcome addition to my freezer, too.

There is a nice buck with a drop tine walking the woods, though I've
only captured his picture once.    He would be worth adding to the wall.

So, all in all, I know what I'm not going to shoot.  That's about all I
have positively decided from the collection of photos that I've poured over
this fall.  The medium sized bucks are all safe as far as I'm concerned.  I'd like to show the big boys photos around among the other local deer hunters
and see if we can't all agree to let them pass by this fall.  With three
licenses in my wallet, I'm sure one big doe will fill the freezer, beyond
that it may be the luck of the moment.