Sunday, September 30, 2007

Hunting--- Two Weekends Pasted

Okay everyone an update on my hunting adventures so far. The young adults I took with me had a great time in the woods together and as I figured would happen none of us saw any deer on opening day (Sept. 22 ). I had another buddy come by late Friday evening and was supposed to go along but to date I haven't seen anything of him. I hunted morning and evening on Saturday then went Sunday morning by myself and got lucky enough to catch a glimpse of two deer moving through the brush just above me on the side of the ridge. This weekend I hunted from the ground by a very large oak tree and still saw nothing, however as I was walking out I took a different route following a ATV trail which crossed a creek bottom twice where I found some great tracks crossing the creek bottom. I decided to hunt these crossings Sunday morning (Sept. 30 ) which is where I headed this morning. After setting in the woods for 5 hours I was just about ready to give up for the morning when I heard leaves russeling and figures that the moon was full so it could be the deer were moving in the middle of the day. I grabbed my bow just in time to have three wild dogs walk right upon me to within 5 feet of myself. These dogs and ATVs riding the trails where I'm hunting has been my problem since the season opened. The access road to the property where I hunt has also been blocked off with a cable and lock so nobody can enter the front of the property where another group of hunters are hunting. I left them a note explaining it was an access road to the property and that I was hunting behind them to please remove the cable. With all these problems the passed two weeks I decided to pull my stands and either move locations or give up hunting altogether (more on this decision later). Sorry no photos yet.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Give up hunting altogether. You crazy???? There has to be another way man!!!!

Othmar Vohringer said...

Hunting on crowded places can be very hard and disheartening. Please don’t let this negative experiences influence to give up all hope. This seems to be a crazy year, in the spring the turkeys barely moved and now in the fall I hear from hunters that they hardly see any deer moving too. I don’t have the answer for this strange occurrence but I’ll deal with it when I finally get in the woods.

Keep it up and stick with it.

-Othmar Vohringer-

deerslayer said...

Arthur; good to hear from you again, actually I think I may have a way to cotinue hunting and do something worth my time. Organizations are leaseing the land and farmers are posting their property not allowing hunters to hunt for whatever reason so I am going to be looking into the possibility of becoming a "Hunter Education Certification Instructor".

deerslayer said...

Othmar; I normally try to hunt places nobody else hunts due to the folks we call beginners or non-hunters.I've not given up all hope but I am looking into a way of making the hunting experience more pleasurable for all. Yes with the drought we've had here the deer are staying close to water sources on the larger lands that are leased or are posted. In either case my hunting has come to a point where I feel it's not worth the time or expense any more. I'll be checking into a new path to help our heritage and with any luck will make a big difference here in the future. "Hunter Safety Certification Instructor" a field I've given alot of thought about is possibly my new path to hunting but that won't be till the first of the year.

Unknown said...

Don't give up! It's very early in the season still. So far I've only seen about 6 deer (there were all does and it was on opening day) since then I have yet to see a deer, but it doesn't discourage me. You never know when they will show themselves. It might not be a bad idea to get into the thickest cover you can find and see if a buck walks by. My father had luck with this the other day and got a 7 pointer and then a huge 8 pointer, talk about quick end to the season...and he was just about to give up and go home too!

deerslayer said...

Hi Marc; Glad you stopped by for a visit.Don't worry I'm not totally ready to give up on hunting yet but at this time I just don't feel like even going hunting. I got up this morning and was going to go but now I think I'm just going to sit here at the computer and check some sites and e-mails.

Anonymous said...

I can't imagine ever getting so frustrated that I give up hunting, and trust me, I've had some pretty frustrating experiences out here in CA.

Fortunately, big country lets me get away from the majority of the yahoos, although it means much longer hikes. So much for the relaxing evening hunts out of mom's back 40.

Becoming a hunter's ed instructor is a great way to keep your hand in, and to pass along the heritage to the next generations. Good luck with that, and hopefully some of that good karma will translate into special permission and opportunities on some of those farmers' land, once they see your commitment to doing it right.