Long Ridge Muzzle Loader Season Underway

Things are happening with our hunters! Three have already scored! The 1st hunter to get a deer took it with a bow on Duggers Field which turned out to be a dandy 8 point buck. Shot through the heart, he ran 20 yards. Then, as muzzle season opened, a LRDC hunter headed up Cass Mountain, while I, foolishly, headed for the East stand. Below you see my view early in the afternoon. Just to the upper left of the brush pile you can see a scrape. Next picture is a zoom in of it...

The picture below I took an hour later, when it had really begun to snow. It snowed so hard visibility was about 30 yards on my rangefinder.

While I was on stand and at a height of the storm, our veteran Vermont hunter spotted a deer on the Cass. She was 100 yards out, and suspiciously entering a field, when the round took both lungs. By the time she could be reached (she only ran twenty yards), she was almost completely covered with snow. There she is, below..

Later, when we all met back in camp, I was told that I had been called on radio for assistance in getting her off the mountain with my ATV. Alas, I did not have a radio with me, and a long hard drag was in store for this lucky hunter! You can see this handsome doe, back at camp below.

In all, we got over twenty inches of snow, and the next afternoon I took the Mid Stand, and you can see the fine view I had. I didn't really expect to see anything appear this soon after the storm, and in that light I was not disappointed!

After sitting in the Mid Stand the next day and seeing nothing I decided two days after the storm to go scouting. I found that all the deer were on the east side of the property, down low, and back on food plots and Oak stands in that area. I followed the tracks of a hunter from the day before, who was on the track of a deer. Interestingly enough, after about a quarter of a mile, the deer doubled back on this hunter and followed him for about 300 yards.  I got this picture of the deer's track on his boot print! Funny!

During this scouting outing, it got warm, nearly to forty degrees, and I had over dressed. Below I am in my snow camo on my return, quite overheated...

The next hunter to score is a veteran police sniper, who  took his doe on a quartering shot, straight through the heart. No pictures yet, but they will be coming...So far here is the board of 2011 lucky hunters in camp...

Let us know how YOU are doing out there, hunters! Jack

jackzeller@myfairpoint.net