Having killed a young buck with a broken leg earlier today and taken it to the processor, I headed back to the lease and got back in stand 35, figuring to hunt the whole afternoon from there.  It was about 12:45 when I climbed back in.  I tried to read a bit, but sleep overtook me.  I cleared off the bench in the stand, then made myself as comfortable as I could.  Some hours later, I heard the mad bark of a squirrel near me.  I jolted instantly awake, knowing that squirrels can occasionally bark at deer.  This wasn't the case today though; I watched a pair of males fight it out on a limb in a tree near me.  Squirrel mating season must be getting near.

The clock showed me that it was almost 4:00pm, so I stretched, laid all of my gear back out beside me on the bench, and got back to hunting.  The nap had felt good, but I slept a lot longer than I had intended.  I sat for awhile watching the woods around me.  Suddenly I became aware of movement to my right.  I saw a doe crossing the logging road.  "That's a good one," I whispered to myself. 

The deer wasn't in a hurry, but it was also obvious that she wasn't going to stop.  As she started to step back into the woods and out of view I said "wahhhhh" in a loud voice, imitating the bleat of a deer.  She stopped and looked my way.  I moved my rifle into position, found the deer, and squeezed the trigger.  I watched the deer fall backwards into the logging road, dead. 

I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 4:45pm.  I decided that two deer in one day was plenty.  Gathering my gear, I headed back to my truck, then drove up to the doe.  She was a nice one, and after taking pictures I decided to try out a new method that I had devised for loading deer onto my truck basket when I'm hunting alone.

It can be a real struggle getting a deer into a basket by yourself.  I had noticed, however, that there are hooks in the roof in the back of my Jeep.  I'm not quite sure what they are for, but I knew of a way to put them to good use.  I grabbed a couple of pieces of rope and tied the back legs of the deer together, then did the same with the front legs.  Using a pair of ATV tie down straps, I attached one end to the hooks in the Jeep and the other to the ropes. 

I was then able to lift the deer into the basket with almost no effort.  Here's a picture of the process halfway through, with the deer suspended about a foot off of the ground.