Cold Moon Hunts

The Indians called the first full moon in December the “Cold Moon” and it seems to be pretty accurate for this year. We have had some exciting hunts around this full moon but we had to make a few adjustments to full take advantage of it. Our week started off with two hunters from the Great White North. Taran had never taken a deer and was looking for a doe with his crossbow. After sitting all day on Monday we decided that we were going to have to make changes. The solunar tables showed that the major movement period would happen between 12:00 and 3:00 PM. We decided to sit until 9:00 AM and then returned to the lodge for a mid- morning brunch and then back to the stand at 11:00 AM. Just before noon we started seeing deer moving on the adjacent ridge and at 12:30 PM Taran made a perfect shot and had his first deer! We decided to stick it out in the stand for a while and Paul was up next. It wasn’t long until we started seeing deer again and at 2:00 PM he also made a great shot and we had added a great typical eight point to our mid-day hunt. I know it might not always work out this good but it is never a bad idea to change things up if you are not seeing deer.

Our next hunter Jim joined us on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning found us sitting at the Ramp Patch Stand. We had a fairly active morning but the winds were really strong making all of the deer were very nervous and the right ones never showed up. We decided to move into the Trophy Trailer and as evening approached we were able to see bucks tending a younger doe on the opposite ridge. We could catch glimpses of four different bucks chasing and had watched them for twenty minutes when one of the smaller bucks decide to rapidly push the doe in our direction. In a flash we were forced to identify the correct buck and try to stop him. Once he had hesitated Jim made a perfect quick shot and his trophy buck only went about fifty yards. The “Perfect Ten” turned out to be a five and a half year old 5x6 with one small point broken from fighting.

I am glad that we are finally moving past the “Cold Moon” and I am looking forward to a strong finish to an already great season.

#coldmoonhunts #perfectten #perfectbuck #crossbow