Well my preseason archery hunt has come and gone and all I got was wet. LOL!!! I got off of work at noon on Friday, the 18th and headed to Prentice Cooper WMA for a preseaon draw hunt. II got there a litte after 2 pm and set up camp. I got a great spot with the same neighbors we had last year. I was really glad to see many of the friends that I have made over the last few years there. It seems to be a lot of the same people there every year so It's always like a reunion. Mike, the new guy, arrived around 4:30 pm and unloaded his gear. Afterwards, I took him on a little tour of the place to help him find a few places to hunt Saturday morning that he could find easily in the dark. We came back to camp, kicked back and visited with friends until about 8:30 and hit the sack.
The alarm went off at 3:30 am Sat. morning. Time to get up, get ready and head out. My plan was to hunt along the Tennessee River, on the side of the mountain so that when the gate opened at 4:30, I would be set up and ready when other hunters drove in and pushed the deer off of the top. I had a hard time finding a place to park because, apparently, about 20-30 other people had the same idea. I parked and headed to the woods.
I found a pretty good spot and climbed up in the tree. Daylight broke and I could see other hunters coming through the woods. Turns out we decided to set up next to a bluff and didn't know it until daylight. They were walking trying to find the end and go on up but weren't having any luck. There wasn't much since in me sitting there either so I came out and went back up top.
I went to a field that was back in the woods and set up about 30 yds from the edge in the woods. I had a draw to my left and a well used trail to my right with the field in front. It sprinkled off and on but I had a great canopy of leaves above me so I wasn't getting wet. Then, about 10 am, the bottom fell out and it started pouring; a good ole frog strangler. I was getting very wet and it was raining too hard for anything to be moving, so I decided to come on out, have lunch and wait for the rain to stop.When I got back to camp, Jason had showed up so all of us ate and checked the totals so far. Three doe had been checked in. Not good for day one so far.
The rain stopped about 1 pm and I headed back to the woods. I went back to the same spot and sat until dark with no luck. I came out, headed back to camp for some dry clothes and supper. We visited some more, ate supper, BS'd and I crashed out early in anticipation of Sunday. The total was now five doe.
Got up Sunday morning and Mike headed home. He had to work Monday and was discouraged. Jason headed out and headed to a spot way back towards the side of the mountain along the edge of a pine thicket. I sat there until noon with no sightings so I had lunch, helped Jason pack up, and moved to the very end of an oil pipeline that runs through the area. I found where deer had bedded down recently and set up back in the woods along the trail. I stayed until dark and nothing came in. Oh well, back to camp for supper. I'll try this spot first thing Monday morning. Total now is seven doe.
I had supper with the guys across from me. One of them got a doe so I helped him get it on ice and in a game bag. He fried me two 1/2 pound hamburgers from a cow he had just butchered. Man, there is nothing like fresh meat. LOL!!! When his buddy got back, he cooked some steaks from the same cow and gave me some of it too. I may not be killing anything but man am I eating good. Then the guy next to them came over and brought a chocolate chocolate chip pound cake his wife fixed for dessert. He had two people with him but they had to leave because one of them got sick so he had too much food and was trying to give it away because everything wouldn't keep for as long as he was staying.
We sat and talked around the fire until it started thundering and lightening and raining sideways around 8:30 pm. We all said goodnight and headed on to bed hopeing it would be done by morning. If you have never tried to sleep in a tent during a severe thunderstorm, you haven't camped. LOL!!! The tent was leaning and a little rain blow up under the rain fly. I checked the radar on my phone and finally fell asleep.
I awoke Monday morning to more of the same that I went to sleep with. I decided that my trip was done. It slacked up a little and I loaded the truck. The radar showed that it would be clearing for a little while soon so I thought I would wait and take down the tent and canopy. In the meantime, the guy with the pound cake came over and we started talking and ended up at Cracker Barrel for breakfast waiting on the rain to stop. We got back, I finished loading up and headed home. I got home around 1:00 pm, unloaded the truck, kissed the wife and got a wonderful, hot, shower.
The take when I left was at ten doe. So, apparently there were some who were lucky Monday morning in the rain. These numbers are pretty much in line with years past. I think I am going to pass on this hunt next year and start building points for a once in a lifetime hunt at President's Island in Memphis. There are only about 130 tags drawn for it each year with an antler restriction of 9 points or better and you can only get drawn for it once.
Now I am looking forward to this weekend and opening day of archery. Hopefully there will be a more successful story then.
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