My Saturday morning was a bust, other than validating my inability to stay warm after 2 1/2 hours of sitting still in 33° weather. This is my first year hunting on our new property. I selected a long standing hunters hut which had commanding views over the field below. Nothing to see other than Canada Goose flying overhead.
I switched to a tree stand overlooking another field for the evening hunt. Mercifully, the weather had warmed up to low 40s. With 10 minutes before sunset, I spotted two deer on the other side of the field, approximately 175 yards away. My view of them from the stand was blocked by a the branches of a tree directly in front of their position. I had to do a rice patty squat to get an unobstructed view. This was my first time rifle hunting from a stand(it was more awkward than I knew)and to be honest, I wasn’t very well prepared. I have only shot my rifle in supported positions, but found my only option was doing a rice patties quiet on the small platform. I took the shot, missed and was lucky enough to have the spike buck get spooked and run closer to my position and stop. He presented a near perfect shot which I took at about 75 yards. I thought I had missed initially, as he was running directly at my stand. He dropped About 15 yards from my position.
I was pleased with how much the Leupold firedot made low light shooting easier. But overall, I think I got lucky. I am going to start incorporating unconventional rifle positions to my preseason training. I focused so much on getting better and more accurate with my bow, and I took the rifle for granted. Won’t happen again. I’d be glad to hear others’ thoughts on rifle hunting from a tree stand. I wonder if I would be better off hunting from a ground blind. The inability to shoot from a tree stand in a supported fashion really made it harder.