The morning hunt was interrupted by three coyotes patrolling the hay fields.  They ran back and forth all over the fields starting at first light.  At 8:05 AM, the three of them took residence on top of three separate round bales still in the fields.  They lay on top of these bales for 40 minutes and then mercifully moved off.  Needless to say, the deer did not show in the morning.

The PM sit started at 1 and lasted until the light faded at 5:30,  In all, four doe and two fawns made an appearance.

The first mature doe moved in downwind early on and looked to ruin what I thought was a promising hunt.  She stood directly downwind and smelled the air.  She never blew and decided to move across the field to feed.  In field ozone and my scent control regime worked again.  She smelled something, but not enough for her to blow and ruin the hunt.

I grunted two times after the first doe moved out of sight.  Immediately, another large doe headed across the field into the timber to my north.  Four additional deer came crashing through the timber towards the sound of the call – all doe and fawns.  The group milled around looking for the source of the sound for 45 minutes before backtracking into the woods.

Daylight soon faded and I slipped out of the woods and headed home.

Lessons:

1. I trust my scent control
   1. Scent control  is 100% the reason the doe did not ruin my hunt
   2.  I still play the wind but inevitably deer will get downwind
2. One pressure that we tend to overlook is that of the predator
   1. Today the morning had high pressure, cold temperatures, and a solid North East wind yet the deer did not move
   2. The presence of the coyotes suppressed the movement adding another variable to account for in future hunts