The deer hunting season has not been kind to me as the first week has left me empty-handed.

It’s not like I had a chance and muffed it, it’s more like I haven’t even had a chance so far. My relatives from out of town had pretty good hunting success and went home with venison, but I can’t guarantee that the Hewitt household will be serving venison Swiss steak anytime soon.

The hunting has been slow for many of my neighbors as well and the crazy weather has guys off track, especially the sudden warm spell that made everyone nervous about keeping their deer cooled down and safe.

This week I was really going to give it a serious effort at a late season push. I cleared my schedule for the last 4 days of the season and would hunt my favorite spots exclusively. No one told me that I would be the only hunter during the week and no one was moving any deer about. That left me with evening hunts when deer would be out feeding and moving about on their own accord.

I decided to hunt a friend’s stand that was open for a few days. It was near an open field that the deer liked to cross and feed through in their travels.

My nephew saw both does and a buck while hunting there, but other hunters messed up his chance there.

I packed my gear in my backpack and got ready for an evening hunt on the very same stand. In the pack I placed binoculars, a range finder, water, fruit snacks and field dressing gear. The blind had windows and a heater. Needless to say, I was not roughing it.

However, I had to pick my vantage point to watch all four areas around me, but couldn’t do them all. It was easy enough to pick my main area to observe as it was on a clear trail that led to my vantage point. The reason for windows in a blind is to cut down on the wind chilling you down. The problem with windows is that they need to be open to take your shots. Imagine a square hut with a view on each side to check with for hours.

I did my best to do so, but to be honest, I focused on the areas that I surmised would bring me the most opportunities.

Any hunter who’s hunted late day will tell you that the best time to hunt deer is in the last hour of shooting times. A check of the PA Game Commission legal hunting hours table showed that I could hunt until 5:25 p.m. for the rest of the rifle season this week. That time is important as the deer like to push the time limit and a hunter needs to know that he is in the law when he shoots.

Finally, my decision to hunt the same blind gave me an opportunity of sorts. A quick check of my watch showed that I was in the last 45 minutes of the hunting day and I studied the terrain in front of me intently. Several years back, another tough hunting year gave me a reprieve and I was able to locate a nice buck in the waning minutes of an evening hunt. No, I didn’t get the buck, but I had a chance and that’s all I ever ask for.

Looking with the binoculars along the tree line, I thought I saw something moving toward me. I put the glasses on the object and confirmed that it was a deer and slowly walking toward me. My buddy had placed yardage markers at intervals of 100 yards and he was still out past 300 yards, but still coming.

For some reason, I turned my head and took a look behind me and there, standing less than 50 yards away, was a mature doe.

Now I had deer in front and behind me, a long shot that seemed to be a buck and a close shot that was a decent deer, but a doe. The window was closed and opening it now would be futile … ignore the doe and hope on the buck was my choice now.

Looking out again I could see that he was closing the distance to 300 yards and coming closer. I could see a broad white set of antlers, but could not verify the three-up rule for legal points. That’s a problem for old guys with not-so-sharp eyes. Back to the field glasses, studying the antlers for any sign of being a legal buck.

I confirmed that he was plenty wide enough and had crab claws at the end of his antlers. All I needed was another point along the main beam to be legal. All of a sudden, he started to study me as close as I was studying him. Did he sense some hunter activity or other clue that made him cautious all of a sudden?

He was about 250-275 yards away and in my range if I wanted a shot, but I still didn’t see that extra point I needed. We all know how important an extra point is!

Finally, he decided to high-tail it out of there as I heard a vehicle off in the not too far distance. I went from two chances to zero chances just like that.

Later on, I was chatting with my buddy, Kevin, who made me feel much better about not taking a guess shot. The buck was one he was familiar with and it was just a really wide 4-point and had no other points to show.

Back to the drawing board to come up with a new plan. This time, I am taking my spotting scope.

Until we meet again, take care and be a safe hunter!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.