Prentice Cooper WMA runs on eastern time. The gate opens at 5:30am. All times listed by me are central time. I could see light in the sky by 6:15am, 7:15am eastern.
Friday:
I arrived at camp that afternoon. Brian and I helped each other finish setting up camp and waited on Joe and Jason to arrive. We talked to a few of our camp neighbors and had a few laughs. I should have went and put my stand in the woods, but chose just to stay at camp. Joe and Jason arrived around 10pm. We helped them unload and stayed up and chatted about the next days hunt. We finally went to bed at 1am for an early 3am wake up call.
Saturday:
3am came to early and it was hard to get up. I managed to get motivated, get dressed and eat a bite. Joe and I loaded up and got in line at the gate. It wasn't long before it opened and the race was on. The only problem that we had was that the TWRA or U.S. Forest Service had grated the road and it was like driving through a heavy fog behind all the other vehicles.
Joe broke off to head to his spot and I was headed to the end to my spot. If I had left camp Friday to hang my stand, I would have found out that someone had marked the area I wanted and had set up in it. I had to go in blind and pick a new spot.... in the dark. It was pretty hard to decide where to go, but I stayed in the original area I chose. I walked into the woods and found what appeared to be a deer trail or water drainage. It was hard to tell in the dark. I turned the flashlight on and began looking, it looked like water drainage, but I found a few deer tracks in it.
I walked about 300yds and found a good tree to climb. Once I was up in the tree and the sky was starting to fill with light, I noticed that I was in an area where 2-3 trails came together. I didn't feel like I would have if I would have gotten in my first spot, but I felt better. I stayed in the stand until 10 and got down to go grab a bite to eat and a nap. I met up with Jason on the way out and we headed out. We got back to camp and ate and I ended up not taking a nap, but trying to help the neighbor get his crossbow sighted in. He had missed a doe twice or two does(I don't remember).
I left camp around 1ish to head back out. I had spotted a water hole off of Tower Dr and decided to check it out. It was covered with deer tracks, so I found a good tree to get in. I stayed there until 6:30, when all of the other hunters decided to start heading back. I would have stayed longer, but there was to much atv and truck traffic for any deer to come out. Once back at camp, I changed and waited on the others to arrive so we could go get something to eat. We ate and was back around 10pm. We all were in bed by 10:45pm.
Sunday:
I had spoken to the TWRA Officer Sat. evening and he told me about a spot that he had been seeing deer. It was a good area as there wasn't a lot of hunter traffic in the area. I waited a little longer to leave to avoid the dust storm this morning. I found the field that he told me to go to(I thought) and set up. It was a field that they had planted and it didn't grow as well as expected because of the soil pH level. There was some corn and millet mixed in with weeds. I climbed into a pine tree above an apple tree with small apples on it. I also had a crab apple tree behind me, it was a good spot.
I sat there and around 7:45am 4 yearling doe came out into the field and started eating corn. They were walking out across the field in front of me, to far to shoot. I thought I wouldn't get a shot and then they turned and started making there way around the field towards me. My heart started to race and I prepared for a shot. They made it to the corner to my left and I was getting excited, 15yds and they would be in range. They stopped and I saw ears perk up. I looked to my right thinking another deer was coming out. Nothing. The bigger doe flagged and the other 3 ran into the woods. She put her tail down and they started coming back out. She flagged again and all 3 ran off. Then I heard it, an atv coming. DANG!!! I sat there the rest of the day and didn't see anything else. I got back to camp and we loaded up to go eat and the store was closed, so we had to go down the mountain to eat. We ended up having some good laughs at camp that evening and didn't get in bed until 1am again. I was up and out of camp by 5:30(central) Here are some pics of the field and the trail to get to and from it.
Left to Right
This is where the doe stopped and heard the atv.
The doe came out in this corner and went to the right.
Behind the stand:
The apple tree beside me:
Monday:
I went to the same field to try and get one of the doe I had saw the day before. There were a lot less hunters and hoped that an atv would ruin this mornings hunt. Well, I didn't see a deer or an atv. I was out of the stand by 8:30am. I was going to scout another area to see about an afternoon hunt. After scouting, I headed back to camp to see what the boys were doing. They were loading trucks to head out. I decided to not hunt that evening and go home. We were all looking forward to a shower, a porcelain seat and some good sleep. I was glad to be at home, even though I loved being in the woods hunting.
These are pics of the trail that I took to my last hunting spot...
This is the creek and the trail past it
This is the pipeline on the top of the mountain
This is some of the food sources that the deer have to eat. This is along the road in and out of the WMA, but the same foods are in various fields throughout the WMA.
Clover
Corn and Millet
Soybeans
The scenery on the way home
