A Hunt Across Boundaries

Jerald McLeod, of Jackson, with his Henry County buck taken on Nov. 18, 2014.

By Jerald McLeod

I’ve been hunting this property for about 18 years. At one time there was around 380 acres of mature woods and cow pastures. The Towaliga River was the east side property line, and Thompson Creek was more or less the west side property line. There is a powerline on the north property line that is about 30 acres. 

About 10 years ago, Henry County dammed the Towaliga River, flooding it and Thompson Creek to create a reservoir. We lost about 300 acres for the reservoir. Our hunting property now sits in a peninsula and consists of about 65 acres or so, but it still includes the 30 acres of powerline.

Most all of the big trees were cut for the reservoir, and much of the area is now mostly growing up in dog fennel, broomsedge, briars, sumac and an assortment of tree species. Even the powerline is not clean like you normally see a powerline.  

About four years ago, the 60 acres adjacent to us was fenced and became a beagle club to train rabbit dogs and to hold field trials. It’s off limits to hunting of any sort. 

The beagle fence is 4 feet high with one foot buried. The area is monitored regularly to keep unwanted predators out. Regular trapping for these unwanted critters ensures the dogs have a healthy rabbit population to chase. 

With the beagle club comes a lot of activity. Plus, we’ve got a subdivision on the north side of the powerline, so the deer in the area are very accustomed to seeing people and hearing dogs bark. 

I hunt the 30 acres at the powerline. I have a 16-foot-high tower stand overlooking a woods edge and a mowed strip that is along the beagle club fence. It was built before the beagle club fence and beagle club started. It looks out over an old pasture that I can no longer hunt, which makes for some interesting hunts. 

To watch a deer for a long period of time and not be allowed to shoot it takes real good ethics to pull off sometimes. But what good is it to hunt illegally? There’s no pride in that. No respect, either. 

I have on several occasions watched does and fawns and young bucks walk the fence line on both sides of the fence. It it’s on my side, it’s fair game. I don’t shoot young bucks, does or fawns. Does are the life blood of the herd, and young bucks should be left to grow up. 

One time I was in the tower stand while someone was working his dogs on the beagle club. I was hoping they would maybe push a deer off the club and past me, which would have been legal because the dogs were running a rabbit and not deer. If a deer gets up and leaves the beagle club property to escape the commotion, it’s to my advantage. It’s fair game after it crosses the fence. But they don’t always get up and leave.

I heard the man call his dogs in. From my tower stand, I can see the gate that leads in and out of the beagle club. I saw the man drive up to the gate, stop, get out and open the gate. He got back in his truck, drove out of the gate, stopped and closed the gate. He got back in his truck and drove away. All the while a doe had come out of the thicket and walked across the field to the fence. She watched this man as I did the entire time. Never once did she seem to worry about him or the dogs. I watched her for a while until she walked past that gate and out of sight.

I was in the tower on Nov. 18, 2014 on an evening hunt. It was sunny with a slight breeze blowing from the gate toward me. I only had about an hour and a half to hunt before it got dark. I was in the stand about 15 minutes when a doe came out of the thicket and walked across the field toward the fence. She was in no hurry, and I watched her for about 10 minutes as she got closer to the fence. I noticed she kept looking toward the woodline between the beagle club and the powerline. Then, I noticed a large dark form laying in the mowed strip on my side of the fenceline about 5 feet from the woodline. I scoped it out, and it was a buck. He was laying in the mowed strip watching the gate with his back to me. He would have known if someone came up to the gate and would have been able to scoot into the woods in a hurry. I determined he was a shooter by most standards, so I shot him. At the shot, the doe turned and ran back into the thicket. He wasn’t a really big deer, but he sure tasted good, and his antlers looked nice enough.

Thank you God for a blessed hunt and the great outdoors.