It wasn't as productive as previous years , but that is what made it a real nice hunt challenge .... We had some trespasser issues with guys trying to push into private properties that we had secured permission ...
Heck Monday morning first light , showed a guy in one of our stands ! ( A stand on Skip's property ) ... We didn't let that spoil our hunt and we moved on ...
Whitetails seemed scarse , but by Monday / Tuesday we were able to land three deer ... Weather was awesome up till Wednesday !
Monday > RJ = Running shot on a small buck , Randy pushed to me at the river flat hardwood cedar run .
( A stand location in the cedars we put in place at a funnel point where I ironed out a heavy bruiser a few years back ) ( Below > picture of Randy at that stand location for illustration and past picture of that memorable bruiser )
Monday > Skip = Doe on a push , at his farm > next concession lot over from us .
Tuesday > Hayward = Running shot on a small buck , during a push ( one concession to the East ) .
Unfortunately I had a " river / island recovery adventure " on Monday , that led to a damaged pocket camera . ( posted previously ) I referenced suggestions from forum members re : Camera > Methyl Hydrate Soak and for an hour then , heat register dry out > Memory card in baggie full of rice , but further investigation found that I must have smacked the camera against side of boat before I submerged it , because the body frame / battery and card door were askew = water / river silt / and card delamination when I tried to remove it .
Wednesday = Morning stand / pushes thru the day / evening stand ... The deer were , as someone famous once said " dug in tighter than an Alabama tick ! "
Also flat tire on my truck , so I stopped by North Wellington tire and had the truck fitted with some new rubber . !
Thursday ... Thinking outside the box , we tried some heavy cedar swap / hardwood transition hunting ...where no other hunters had been ... trying to bust out hunkered down deer like cottontail rabbits . ( We had Randy's son Joe along as well ) .
Plan worked great and Randy knocked down a doe with a sniper shot that his son Joe described as similar to that scene in the original 1977 Star wars movie >" Luke Skywalker , taking a single shot using the " Force " to direct his pt's to their target ( a small vulnerable spot ) that destroyed the death star ! "
Yep that about sum's it up ... Here are two pictures showing where Randy was standing and the small opening he shot thru to score !
A Happy Father / Son hunt memory moment ! 
And the best thing about bringing your 6 ' 4 " son along , is you don't need a game cart ! ( dragged and tagged ) .
Earlier that day , I picked up a beauty grouse for dinner ...
11-11 , Lest We Forget .... approx 110,000 Canadian Service Men and Women ( and many more Allied Forces Brothers / Sisters ) to date , that paid the ultimate price and gave their lives in past > present World Wars / Conflicts , so that we may enjoy the incredible freedom's that we do , every day !
The last few days of the hunt brought some wild weather swings .... and as we entered into full moon phase , the rut sign started to increase ... We went from wet snow and wind in some areas to sunshine and snow melt off in other areas ...
A road block due to Wind Turbine parts delivery convoy , delayed us on stand one night ...
Chris H. scored a beauty buck and I was lucky enough to use up both of my Controlled Hunt tags , this week .
One picture of my buck ... a " down to the wire " , rut drunk 8 point that was chasing a doe , fell to a Challenger slug launched out of my Hatsun Escort .
Another Father / Son hunt memory moment ! .... As some of you might remember , Chris H. has been bringing his son Blaine out since he was real young !
That buck went for a river swim on the way out ... that's why he looks so wet in the pic's ...
Overall , it was a great week out ... With some hard work , we scored 4 bucks and 2 does ... Also , another of Randy's sons " Rob " showed up for the last day ( Both Joe and Rob had whitetail " close encounters " , but never scored ... reinforcing the point that " not every hunt has to end in a kill to be successful "
PS : We also met up with a couple of MNR CO's doing routine checks ( Jen C. and Joel P. ) Swapped hunt stories , and confirming deer harvest numbers were up and down from group to group .... Good to see the CO's out and about > Hat's off to them ...They have a lot of ground to cover !
Now back into the bow season ... Good luck to all that will be out with their archery tackle , trying to catch the tail end of this rut ! 
RJ's Outdoor Gallery 
