Saturday, November 29, 2008

My Thanksgiving Morning Hunt.

Thanksgiving morning, 3:30 a.m.,I awoke wide awake and ready to go hunting. The first thing was to start a pot of coffee then check the Internets local weather report. Lets see cloudy, winds from the south southeast, barometric pressure falling at 29.86 and a temperature of 40.2 degrees. A perfect morning forecast to a beautiful day in the woods. 5:00 a.m. I'm dressed and heading out the back door for a half mile walk in the pitch dark woods without a flashlight to a stand site I've not hunted in two years. The walk was at a slow pace due to the crunching of the leaves even though a big part of the walk was on a four wheeler trail and an old logging road bed. I made it to my stand site just before dawn and get settled in for a long relaxing morning in the quite woods. Squirrels begin rustling the leaves and birds singing in the brush looking for their mornings breakfast. The woods lighten up and everything comes to life with the sounds of nature at it's best. I set watching a long hollow with three ridge lines joining at the bases and at 7:15 a.m. I began using my deer call ( Primos can call ). Within fifteen minutes I had three does coming across the ridge in my direction and then suddenly a big doe slipped up behind me and walked passed me heading toward the other three does. This single doe was close enough to me I could actually see the chin hairs as she passed me by. She walked about twenty yards passed me then stopped and looked back at me then quickly looked up the first hollow. I knew something was coming and just then a big bodied buck stepped out into view and was heading straight toward the single doe in front of me. I raised my rifle and waited for a clear shot. Just then the buck stopped in front of a large oak tree presenting a clear shot and the woods was filled with the sound of gun fire. The buck bowed up, jumped and ran up the second hollow out of sight. I continued using my deer call hoping to keep the buck in the area and just then caught a glimpse of something to my left traveling across the hollow. It was a second buck and even bigger then the first. The second buck was at 180 yards and traveling across in front of me and I tried to get a clear shot at it but just wasn't able to before it ran off into the next hollow with the rest of the deer herd. Then the trouble began, the next thing I heard was gunshots from the direction my buck had ran. This was bad, very bad, my buck had crossed over the property lines to the next farm and evidently another hunter was shooting at my buck. I looked for blood where I had shot the buck standing but only found hair on both sides . Hair was all over the side of the tree and my bullet hole was there in the tree in line with the placement of the bucks body but no blood. I looked for a blood trail but nothing was to be found. I searched all three hollows very carefully and still nothing anywhere. My only thought that came to mind was that I had somehow either shot through the buck at a non-vital point or that I had only grazed the bucks skin. In either case the buck was gone and I had nothing but a much needed relaxing morning in the woods. At Thanksgiving Dinner one of the family members told me of a big bodied buck in the back of a truck heading toward the checking station. Could this be my buck???? I'll never really know. I did recheck the rifle after getting home and it was shooting dead on at 150 yards.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

World Renowned Hunter Of All Times.

Years ago in a small town village, there were a group of hunters preparing for the first mornings hunt for deer. Now in this group of hunters were five men and two women, all of which were known well for their hunting abilities. These seven hunters were to meet the following morning at the edge of the north woods to decide where each would be positioned throughout the woods for safety precautions. Upon meeting and deciding locations the seven hunters each set off on their own separate ways to try to bring back to the village the best and largest amount of deer meat for the towns people they could. The first hunter to bring down his deer was the great hunter of the north, OTHMAR. OTHMAR brought down a nice 12 point buck with a weight of 242 lbs. using his 270 caliber rifle at a distance of 347 yards. Next came a report that REX had taken a 10 point buck weighting 185 lbs. with his bow at 52 yards and MARIAN came in with her buck,an amazing 14 pointer with a weight of 297 lbs. that she took with her crossbow at and astounding 91 yards. KRISTINE had taken herself a nice fat buck with her 243 caliber rifle also which was a 9 pointer weighting in at 215 lbs. taken at 247 yards. At 10:30 more reports came in that two more hunters had taken deer for the village and as the hunters came into the village their deer were weighted in and stories told as follows: MIKE took a nice 8 point double drop tine buck weighting in at 215 lbs which he took at 75 yards with his 260 caliber rifle and a young gun hunter known only as the NY HUNTER took a fine 11 pointer weighting 238 lbs. at 37 yards with his bow, As darkness began to fall upon the village the hunters began to worry about their hunting partner still out and so they started toward where the hunter was to be hunting and upon reaching said point found only a large pile of blood and nothing else. The said hunter had shoot his deer and was tracking it through the woods and was trying to bring it back when he realized it was to large and he would need help getting it back. the said hunter was the world renowned Christmas Place hunter, OLD SCRATCH. OLD SCRATCH, though was old was also very well experienced and knew the best location for the biggest and best bucks. OLD SCRATCH finally got his deer back to the village and weighted in as follows. OLD SCRATCH TOOK A 22 POINTER WEIGHTING 328 LBS WITH ONLY A KNIFE AND A STICK AT 2 YARDS. Though OLD SCRATCH had taken the biggest and best that year no other hunter has ever to this date taken anything better with so little which is why OLD SCRATCH IS THE WORLD RENOWNED HUNTER OF ALL TIMES.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Missed Long Shot.

Thursday October 30,2008, I had not gone hunting this particular morning but opted to instead stay at home with my wife and enjoy the morning with her. It was around 9:30 a.m. and we were getting ready to go into town to do some banking and pay bills when just as we where going out the door the phone rang. My dad called to tell me of three deer in the lake bed. I grabbed my bow as we went out the door and drove down to my parents house, as we passed by I could see the deer feeding along the left side of the field heading up toward the house. I turned the truck around and parked in front of the house so the deer couldn't see me and told my wife to go watch out the breakfast nook window. I got my bow and gear and went to the right side of the house and upon reaching the back corner then realized there was no more cover for me to get and closer. Checking the location of the deer, one was going back into the brush and the other two were still feeding toward the slope of the back yard. I knocked an arrow, drew back and realized the deer were about 80 yards from me and that I only had my bow sighted up to thirty yards. What I did next was a little outlandish but sometimes effective. I then began visualizing the sight pins that should have been set at forty-fifty-sixty-seventy and eighty yards then released the arrow. Though it was all just guess work the arrow flew just inches over the deers back and they ran off into the safety of the brush. I went to retrieve my arrow and the deer were standing in the brush, which as I approached my arrow spooked the deer running them further into the thick brush of cover. Lesson learned here was to next year set and practice with more yardage pins for those long shots.

2nd Day of Young Sportsman Hunt.

October 27, 2008, O'Ryan was joined by Kaleb and was taken out hunting by my soon to be son-in-law (Daniel) and a friend (Danny). They went to a farm Daniel was hunting and split up to different stand sites. As the sun rose the Young sportsman were still eager to shoot their first deer. Daylight fell across the open fields and the deer began moving around browsing on the grasses and berries around the edges of the tree lines. The young sportsman and the companions sat watching and waiting but with little results. O'Ryan had a buck come thru by his chosen stand but never presented a shot before disappearing back into the woods while Kaleb had a doe show up on a far off ridge line heading away from him and never giving an option of a shot before she disappeared back into the woods. Though both the young sportsman were disappointed they still enjoyed the weekend hunting trips and our great outdoors. There is another young sportsman hunt at the end of deer season in January which both young adults will be participating in I'm sure.