With the Wisconsin Deer season winding down and Christmas on our heels, I decided to head out to my favorite woodlot for a last minute hunt. The deer always seem to  "winter" in our cedars so with a much needed "break" in the xmas responsibilities  I headed over to them to see what good I can do. It has been a challenging winter so far to say the least. We have had ALOT of rain and no snow.
Much of the land is now flooded and resembles an ice rink. Usually this time of year, the snow is on the ground making the recently used deer trails give away some much needed clues.          
The wind was out of the South/Southwest so I headed around to the North to work my way to South/Southeast. So starts my search to fill my  freezer...

The walk in...
   

The first thing I realized is that I was going to have to change my method due to the challenges I faced. There were deep pockets of water that was frozen and cracked under the weight of me stepping on them and the places that the water was absent, it was crunching like I was walking on cornflakes. I went very, very slow and did my best to stay in the shadows. During the winter the deer seem to bed close to the root balls of the cedar trees that have fallen to stay out of the wind . I wanted to concentrate my effort in this area but wasn't sure if I could even sneak up on them due to the lack of snow to cover my noise as well as there seems to be a lot more trees that have fallen since the beginning of the hunting season making an approach seem to be next to impossible.
I'm not the most familiar with the northern end of the cedars so I took a GPS "just incase".

After another hour or so and no luck, I decided to hunker down in some fallen trees that I had found in hopes that I can intercept an unsuspecting deer that may be on its feet.
 

   


I waited for another couple hours with no deer sightings constantly scanning with my binos for a flicker of ear or a eye of a deer. I did have a chickadee that befriended my longbow string for some reason. It was a wonderful time spent. It was unfortunately time to head home... I pulled out the GPS  and when I turned it on to get my bearings , saw this.
      :eek:    
 
   

Good thing I had a backup

 

The walk out provided some natural Targets and some neat creations


It has been a very successful season for me. Although my freezer remains empty and I  was unable to connect on a shot earlier this year because of my inability to hold it together when the shot presented itself, There has been a lot of milestones achieved.
I was on a couple year absence due to personal reasons, and this year I decided to do what I love to do. The woods provided the joys and healings only the woods can provide, ones that I so desperately needed in my personal journey that I continue to be on. Merry Christmas to all, thanks for tagging along.      

     Glad you got out!!

Great pictures and great hunt!

I really enjoyed your hunt.  Great pictures and descriptions.  We certainly have had a lot of  S and SW winds this fall!  Merry Christmas!

Bernie

Wonderful day to be in the woods, wasn't it Rick? I actually over-dressed for these balmy temperatures and that doesn't happen very often in December.
My deer sightings were as plentiful as yours, but you have to stay in the game. And once the season's over, the game starts all over again.

The dang wind has been out of a south quadrant for nearly every day of this years deer season !  All my stand sites are for west to north winds.... darn it all
ChuckC

I learned the hard way that a GPS is useless when the batteries go dead. I always carry a compass anywhere I need the GPS now!

You got some cool looking woods to wander in!

Bisch

Looks like a great day to be in the woods !!! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

 Love that bow buddy.

time spent in the woods, can't beat it!  I experienced very similar bow hunting this year in the yooper.

that's a feeling money cannt buy nice day out in the timber another thing the snow is good for turn around follow your tracks out