Failure and Frustation

My weekend was exactly the oppisit of what i expected to be. I lerned a copple things this weekend that really would've saved me alot of walking and a ton of frustration. Not because I was not successful but because in the area where i was hunting the goats were not rutting yet. This makes for a whole lot of goats looking at you from 2-3 miles away and running away. This will defiantly make anyone feel like a complete fool all day long. The simple fact that you came out in the pasture with a life-sized plastic goat makes you feel odd then when they run from a ridiculous away from you to double that you just plain feel ridiculous.

Even when every group of goats has run away tho don't give up hope. That feeling of retardedness can be changed in a matter of seconds. The line between hero and bum is just over the hill as i would discover. I did get one loan buck to come "buddy" up with me and my decoy. He was tacking a nap when the rest of his heard ran off without him. I had been fallowing this heard all day and i knew there was three bucks in this group but i only saw 2 run out. I figured I just couldn't spot the horns from that far away and he was in there somewhere amongst the 25 others. I had gone all the way around this heard to get the wind and the sun in my favor so the truck was right past where they were. This would be an excellent time for a buck to see my decoy just over the hill except i was replaying the whole day in my head trying to find something i did wrong. This buck decides he wants to come join up with me to wherever i might be going. Long story short he ran up on me on a trot and got to about 20 yards before i noticed him walking right behind me. I stop and turn the decoy side ways to him and he knows somethings up. This ends up with a ten minute stalemate at 20 yards and I can't move, that sucks.

Now how could i have done this differently? First off I could've watched the weather a bit more and noticed that the low for the week has been 65 and it needs to be cooler than that to kick off the rut. The rut is never the same date or anything it's strictly a season, and where i hunt the season had not changed from summer to fall yet. Witch is deceiving because where i live the bucks are rutting already. Secondly when i saw that the bucks are running away from the decoy instead of towards the decoy i probably should have just walked back to the truck and put it away and hunted without it. the decoy draws attention to you and depending on the season that attention is ether in your favor or not. Third never assume the hunt is over just because you can't see anything. The hunt isn't over until you leave and you drive away, until then keep sharp and expect that anything can happen.

I would like to remind you that riffle season is only a few weeks away and you can hunt with a bow during riffle season, but DO NOT use a decoy during riffle season! This will most likely result in a blown to bits decoy and a hole in you that will kill you instantly or shortly there after!

Good luck and good hunting.