Make sure phone is off when hunting

It quickly grew evident that moving my stand was the right choice. In fact, I saw more deer while hunting from this new location on the first morning than I had seen during the entire first week of season. And to top it all off, not a single deer managed to detect my scent in the wind.

I was confident that one of the four bucks that had previously meandered in front of my game cam would eventually slip up and unsuspectingly walk into one of my shooting lanes within the days to come. I was confident that I would have fresh meat in the freezer by the week’s end.

However, nothing is chiseled in stone in the deer hunter’s world. In fact, I suspect most avid deer hunters would be quick to agree that hunting and Murphy’s law go together like peanut butter and jelly.

Of course, there are times when all works as planned and success follows. But it is equally as common to leave the woods empty handed, and questioning the decisions we made.

Well, this is a story of the latter of the two scenarios. It all began on the third day after I had moved my stand. I took every precaution to avoid spooking any nearby deer upon my arrival to the location where I always park.

I pulled my keys from the ignition switch to avoid any nearby whitetails hearing that obnoxious dinging sound that happens when one opens the door. I donned my blaze orange, secured and loaded my rifle and manually locked my doors to avoid the horn honking if I had used my key fob. I then slowly pushed the door shut and was on my way.

I slowly walked along a dim road, careful to place every footstep. I made the ascent to the ridge-line slowly. The afternoon temperature had increased to a point that a steep climb might lead to perspiration. I certainly did not want to reek of sweat.

I had arrived at my stand without a hitch. I was confident that I had gone undetected by any nearby whitetails. I had also purposely arrived an hour or so earlier than the deer had been stirring. Now it was simply a matter of kicking back and waiting.

Sure enough, a doe and two yearlings browsed within sight of my stand within minutes of when I suspected they might begin stirring. And yet another doe eased through just minutes later.

I seriously considered taking the large doe that was traveling alone, as I was confident that she was older and suspected that she was no longer producing young. But I chose to wait, with hopes that a buck would soon come wandering within range.

I waited for another 20 minutes or so, watching the four deer as they browsed the forest floor. Although the ole doe was still within range, I stuck to my guns. Yep, I was determined to wait for a legal buck.

Well, it finally appeared as the wait would be worthwhile when I heard a faint grunt on the hillside behind me. I grew even more excited as the occasional tell-tale of a buck became louder as he grew closer.

Careful not to spook the does, in the large flat below, I slowly repositioned myself in the direction from where the buck was coming. The anticipation grew more extreme as the grunts consistently became more clear. That in mind, I raised my rifle from my lap and positioned it where I could easily get it to my shoulder.

It was just a matter of seconds before he stepped from the thicket and into the dim road, and then it happened. I had taken, what I thought, were all of the precautions to go un

detected. However, I had failed to do one thing. I forgot to turn off my phone.

And what might have happened? You got it. At the most inopportune time, my phone began to ring. Of course, I reached in my pocket and fumbled around, trying to hit the button to shut off my ringer. However, the damage was done. Not only did I spook the buck, but the does I had been watching made a run for it as well.

Needless to say, that hunt was over. And although I suspect that particular buck will be on high alert during the remainder of the season, I’m confident that success will follow by the season’s end.