Sunday, October 26, 2008

1st Day of Young Sportsman Hunt.

The dawn was cool at 47 degrees and cloudy with a south/southeast wind. It had rained the day before and the leaves on the ground were wet, making travel through the brush alittle easier. As we traveled across the horse pin and down the fence line, I disclosed to O'Ryan the direction of travel I thought the deer should be coming from when approaching my blind. Upon reaching my blind I had O'Ryan get into the best possible shooting position as possible and be prepared for the deer to come in very quite due to the wet leaves. Just as the woods began to lighten up enough to begin seeing to the bottom of the hollow, A large bodied deer appeared from out of nowhere and was heading down the trail toward our shooting lanes. O'Ryan being anxious for his first deer was moving about and couldn't sit still. I on the other hand was waiting and trying to watch the deer and get O'Ryan to sit still long enough for the deer to reach the shooting lanes. The deer was now within 50 yards and had just stepped behind a big oak tree which blocked our view of it and O'Ryan just had to look for the deer. Back and forth he rocked, from one side of the tree to the other playing peek-a-boo with a deer. Now I'm still not sure what exactly when wrong but for whatever reason the deer sensed something, it winded us or it saw movement it didn't like and alerted it and the deer flew ever so quietly up the opposite hillside without a sound. I knew the deer wasn't spooked due to no sound as it left the area and was hoping it had only traveled a short distance up the hill with the possibility that it might return to the trail. O'Ryan on the other hand thought the deer had left the country and began moving around again. I assured him the deer could still be back for him to sit still and watch for it to return as I began using my deer call to try to lure it back. We sat there hunting for another 3 hours before moving to another stand site in which we only hunted for about an hour before O'Ryan was ready to give up on his first morning of hunting and go home for something to eat and hot coffee. On the way to the truck I explained to O'Ryan that deer hunting was not always about harvesting a deer everytime your out but was a learning experience and about making memories that will last a lifetime. I only hope that O'Ryan will learn to love the outdoors as much as I do, learn how to carry on our great heritage of hunting for a lifetime to come and learn everything I can teach him and more about hunting the great outdoors.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Young Sportsman Season Opens.

Here in Tennessee, the first young sportsman season will be opening on October 25, 2008 and I have things set up with my son-in-law to take two of his sons hunting for their first time to try to take a whitetail. My son-in-law thinks its so cool that his two oldest boys want to get into hunting but he doesn't know much about hunting whitetail and so has ask me to guide them though the whole hunting process and teach them the proper ways to hunt safely. Both the young sportsman seasons are only two day hunts with one at the beginning and one at the end of our Whitetail hunting seasons and a bag limit of two deer per hunt. With any luck I'm hoping that both boys will take a deer their first day out. Anyway I'll be posting more on this big event after the first season closes and I get the boys back home with their dad and I regain my composer from the trip. Best of luck to each and every young sportsman hunting this year---- hope you get a big one.

Mid-Day At Brushy Ridge.

Well as I stated in my last post I was thinking that the deer are moving during the mid-day hours and was going to try hunting Brushy Ridge. I made it to Brushy Ridge and began my long slow journey into the vast thick brush around 12:30- 1:00 p.m.. As I traveled through the woods, the leaves were crunching under my footsteps and rustling which made my travels even slower than I wanted. I looked for any signs that the deer were still in the area and found a scrape underneath a fair sized maple tree which had also been used to leave the bucks scent on the limb overhanging the scrape. The scrape seemed to be relatively fresh so I made a ground blind just beyond it in an area just off to the side of the trail. I sat there all evening long and saw two deer ( one doe, one buck ) but could only count part of the points on the buck due to the thick cover the deer were in. The deer never came out into an open and clear shooting lane for the fifteen minutes I watched them before they left my sight. As darkness began to fall upon me it was getting to dark to see my sight pins so I headed for the truck. Just my luck the deer were still in the area and were spooked as I moved out to go home for the evening. Though I spooked the deer, I don't think they were spooked to badly cause neither of them blowed as they left the area. Best I could tell the buck had 6-7 points on his right side and if he is a typical buck should have the same on the left. I figure this buck is worth my time to hunt all season if possible and will do my best to take the buck before the close of deer hunting season this year.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

The Moon and Brushy Ridge.

With the moon shining so brightly these past few nights the deer have most likely been moving during the mid-day hours so with that thought in mind I've decided to give it a try tomorrow at Brushy Ridge. I plan on starting around noon or so hunting from a ground blind on the top of Brushy Ridge then if nothing happens by about 5:00 p.m. I'll probably start heading back though the brush to a spot where turkey have been hanging out in hopes of find a flock of them to shoot at. I'm hoping to at least catch a glimps of a deer, any deer moving through the area or maybe a turkey or two, if not then I may give up on the hunting season till gun season gets here. We already have alot of poaching going on here with gun shoots going off all around the areas that I hunt. Even people at my work have commented about all the gun shoots they have been hearing while their out bowhunting. It's sad that people have to resort to these kind of ethics and most just want the antlers to brag about which is even worst but it happens. Hopefully there will be some mature bucks left by gun season to hunt but I'll just have to wait and see. Anyway I'll post about my hunt to Brushy Ridge within the next few days to let everyone know of the outcome.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Big Buck On The Brushy Ridge.

Tuesday morning I had gotten up at 4:00 a.m. and decided to go hunting over at a place I call Brushy Ridge. I had checked the weather forecast and it was to be sunny with winds out of the south/southeast at 5-10 miles per hour and the barometric pressure was rising with temperatures around 61 degrees. Sunrise was at 6:42 a.m. and I had arrived at the bottom of Brushy Ridge at 4:45 a.m.. I got my gear and headed out across a horse lot and into the woods taking my time so as not to spook any deer in the area. Slowly taking my time and working my way through the dark woods without a flashlight I had made my way to my stand by 6:30 a.m.. I had just gotten settled in when a huge buck appeared at 40 yards from me broadside but he stopped and began looking around as if he knew something was wrong. At first glance of the big buck I could see that he had dark chocolate horns and the right side was oddly formed and his face was almost completely gray with a large body. He stepped behind a tall stump which gave me the opportunity to draw my bow but as lady luck would have it the buck turned and began stepping away still not sure what was wrong with the area. The buck stopped again and I waited till he was standing there for a minute then released my arrow at the 40 yard pin. The buck flew out of the area running back the direction he had come in from and up across the ridge stopping only long enough to blow before leaving my sight. Still not sure if I had hit the buck, I remained in the stand and began hearing the squirrels barking just over the ridge where the buck had run of too. As the buck was by his self I was hoping there would be some does looking for him and come my way so I waited for about 2 1/2 hours before checking for my arrow. I searched the area where I had shot at the buck for my arrow and had to realign myself with the shot several times before finally finding the arrow in a pile of tree tops and leaves. The arrow was clean but I still looked around the area for any signs of a blood trail. As I looked back at my stand from where the buck stood I quickly realized that I had misjudged the distance and that he was really at 55 yards not the 40 I had thought he was at. I missed the shot completely but was happy to know the big buck was unharmed and still running in the area for a return visit next time. Wednesday morning brought heavy rainfalls which should remove alot of the leaves from the trees and bushes giving me a better view of the area but also giving the deer a better chance to see me better getting into bow range. Perhaps next time I'll judge my yardage better or end up buying one of those expensive range finders for bowhunters.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Trophy Buck Scouting

October 1, 2008, Today I wanted to go hunting after working 12 hours but decided I was to tired and the wife needed the truck for some shopping with our daughter. Plans changed quickly after reaching our daughters house and I ended up doing some scouting with my future son-in-law who had been telling me that he was finding big buck rubs in his neck of the woods. We headed out the door at 9:00 a.m. and upon getting into the area he told me had all rubs I couldn't believe my eyes there was big rubs everywhere and tracks and trials that looked like a herd of 50 or more deer where in the herd. The woods were under selective timber cutting by the owner and was all steep hills. I could tell the area hadn't been hunted for years and supported a large number of deer in the area. As we walked and climbed up and down the hillsides my hunting buddy told me he and my grandson had jumped two monster bucks just before bow season started with really wide and tall racks on them and that the best he could tell the smaller of the two bucks was either and 8 or a 10 pointer and wasn't sure about the other one but that it was even larger. After seeing the tracks, trials and the rubs for myself, I decided to put up some stands and see if I can help him take one of these trophy bucks. I 've never seen bucks in our hunting area here in Tennessee rubbing trees as these bucks are until late October or November so these bucks are for sure worth hunting. The brush on these hills are really thick but has some areas where the woods just kind of open up and will make for some great rifle hunting when time comes. I should be able to limit out on this farm with no problem and if I do I'll be sure to donate a couple of my deer to the " HUNTERS FOR THE HUNGRY " program as I challenge all hunters to do this year.