December 27, 2008

Location:  Top of Main Hollow
Entry/Exit Times: 2:00 p.m. / 5:15 p.m.
Weather: 68 degrees, mostly sunny, wind SSW 10 – 15 mph, barometer 30.05 – falling
Moon Phase: New Moon

We skipped the first day of the late season because of the rain, so by Saturday afternoon, we were excited to get back into the woods after a long layoff from archery hunting. My Dad hunted from his new stand location and my hunt was being filmed by Mike at Weekend Outdoor Warrior Productions.

We got settled in our location at about 2 p.m. and we knew it was going to be a tough hunt from the start. It was sunny, windy, and nearly 70 degrees, which is about double the normal temperature for the last week of the year. On top of that, there were plenty of people on surrounding properties hunting with flintlock muzzleloaders for deer, and with shotguns for small game. I guess that’s to be expected on a Saturday during hunting season when the weather is good.

Not more than 10 minutes into the hunt, I turned to see four doe coming in hot from my left. In one motion I rose to my feet, grabbed my bow, and got Mike’s attention as he was facing the opposite direction. Unfortunately they were on us too quickly, and in our attempt to get into position, they spotted our movement. I had the lead doe in my sights, but when I asked Mike if he was rolling, I could tell he wasn’t rolling yet. I then whispered to him “I’ll take the second one,” so he knew which deer to be filming, but we just couldn’t make it happen in that narrow window. We watched helplessly as they walked out of sight.

It wasn’t until just before dark that we saw an adult doe with two fawns passing through, but they were well out of range. We ran out of shooting and camera light, and decided to call it a hunt. It’s difficult enough to take a deer during the late season, and when you throw trying to put together a decent film of the hunt into the mix, it can seem almost impossible. We’ll give it a try again over the next couple of weeks, and hopefully we can make it happen. As for my Dad, all he saw was the group of four doe that we had under us early in the hunt. None of them came into range.

Does/Fawns Observed: 7
Bucks Observed: 0

After two years in a row of chasing bucks in the late archery season, I finally get a year off due to my success back in November. I still hope to fill one more doe tag on film, but I’m certainly not spending a lot of time thinking about stand placement. That hasn’t kept me totally out of the woods however since my Dad still has buck and doe tags to fill.

My ATV was loaded down with stands and other gear as I removed my Dad's early-season stand and then set-up the new Gorilla hang on stand that my brother and I got him for Christmas.

I got a couple photos of good bucks using a small ribbon of brushy cover that sandwiches a nice bench between some young pines and a creek bottom. I figured this would be as good of a place as any to put the stand for the last couple weeks of hunting season. My first challenge was finding the right tree. Because my Dad uses a ladder that only gets to about 15 feet, I had the difficult challenge of providing the stand with enough cover to break up his outline, which is critical for late season hunting. Although there were some larger trees in the area, I chose a smaller maple because it had at least one large branch to hide the stand behind, as well as a good backdrop smaller branches. Assuming he sits still enough, he should be hidden pretty well.

The stand is pretty well hidden by the young maple tree, and it's facing directly toward where I expect the deer to come from. I'm hoping this will allow him to get a shot without having to move very much.

Based on my photos and past experience hunting this area, I expect the deer to use this corridor primarily in the evening. Thew will likely come from the creek bottom, then follow the small bench in front of the stand until they reach the thick cover where they will either move up the hill to the right or continue straight through. They may also come down from the right side and pass directly in front of the stand before heading to the opposite hillside.

The stand (center of photo) is squeezed between a creek bottom on the left, and some brushy cover and small pines on the right. There is an active licking branch just to the right of the stand location.

Although he won’t have many shot opportunities to the right because of the branch hiding the stand, it shouldn’t matter because that’s where the thickest cover is. The last thing you want to do in the late season is start cutting shooting lanes in the already sparse cover. Overall I think this set-up and gives him a good chance to fill one of his tags, and if nothing else, it’s a comfortable stand!

We had a good game plan and executed it about as well as we could, but it still didn’t result in a filled buck tag for Angela. I thought it might be a great night because just by simply looking out of our lodge room window in the morning, I spotted a buck walking through the thicket, as well as four antlerless deer moving through.

We set up in a ground blind at 3:30 p.m. and the plan was for me to begin a series of calls about an hour before dark, hopefully drawing in a shootable buck. This hunt was also being filmed by Mike Groman of Weekend Outdoor Warior Productions, so there was a little added incentive. Mike was situated in a stand just above our blind. Shortly after getting situated, I spotted three deer sneaking in behind us. Immediately I saw that two of them were bucks. I knew they weren’t big, but I was just hoping for something that was reasonably shootable. Unfortunately, one was a half-rack two-point, and the other a six-point. Unfortunately all we could do was sit there and watch as they stood there in easy gun range for what seemed like five minutes.

Despite my best calling, I was unable to bring anything into range. I had confidence going into the hunt because I’ve had success using this tactic in the past, but it just wasn’t to be this time. Still, just before dark, Mike spotted a decent buck from his stand location. Unfortunately, we were situated a little too low to get a good look, so Angela had to let it pass. Still, she was happy to see three bucks in less than two hours of hunting.

What an exciting morning it turned out to be. First and foremost let me tell you it was cold out there! My first thought as I saw the forecast the other day was poor Angela. She really only gets an opportunity to hunt on Saturdays during firearms season, so when the weather is tough, that makes things a lot less enjoyable for her. Still, she stuck it out much longer than I thought she would, and eventually she took down a nice adult doe for the second year in a row.

Angela shot this adult doe at 10:55 a.m. It was her second deer in a row.

Before she finally got a shot, we saw several deer moving throughout the woods, but they just wouldn’t offer a good shot. Finally, a lone deer came in from our left and stopped in an open area. It was a smaller deer that stood nicely in range for what seemed like an eternity. I watched patiently as Angela aimed at the deer, but for some reason, she just wouldn’t pull the trigger. Despite my best effort, I couldn’t contain myself and said “Hurry up and shoot.” Of course, that only raised the stress level and in the end, a shot was never fired. Luckily we were able to laugh about it and I didn’t get into too much trouble.

Once again I think I was more excited than Angela was. She was most happy about making a good shot.

Finally an adult doe provided about a 75 yard shot. She was holding steady and she said “Okay, I have her.” I told her “Whenever you’re ready.” The crack of the rifle rang in my ears as I saw the deer kick and then run out of sight into a thicket. I felt good about the shot, and Angela felt that she was holding steady. I decided that we should wait for a few minutes just in case. While we were waiting, the other deer that were around were hanging out where I thought the deer may have gone down, which I took as a good sign. As we crested the hill, I could see the deer was down, not far from where it went out of sight. It was a perfect shot through the shoulder, which took out the deer’s lungs resulting in a very humane harvest.

Having enough of this hunting stuff for a day, Angela headed into town to find some warmer clothing for the Steeler game tomorrow (high temperature forecast at 25 degrees). I decided to grab the muzzleloader and see if another adult doe would pass through. It wasn’t long before I spotted one a little higher on the hill than I would have liked. Still, it eventually moved to a small opening where I could see its neck and head clearly. I figured I’d give it a shot, and if I missed, it wouldn’t be a big deal. I squeezed the trigger and for a second, all I could see was smoke and deer tails bounding over the hill. As the smoke finally cleared, I saw one of the deer drop. I finally took a deer with my muzzleloader!

This adult doe was the first deer I harvested with my muzzleloader.

When I got to the deer, I saw that I took her in the neck, pretty much where I was aiming. The shot was about 100 yards, which I thought was pretty good for a muzzleloader. Despite the cold weather, it ended up being a great day of hunting for both Angela and I, and I’m sure a day we won’t soon forget.

December 1, 2008

Location:  Bricklemeyer Tree Farm – Behind Murray’s
Entry/Exit Times: 6:45 a.m./11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m./5:00 p.m.
Weather: 35 degrees, overcast with light snow, windy – W 15 - 20 mph, barometer 29.39 – rising
Moon Phase: waxing crescent - 14%

Without going into a lot of detail, my entire post for today got wiped out when my Internet connection stalled out! Frankly, I’m too tired to rewrite it right now, so maybe I’ll have an opportunity tomorrow. In summary, nobody shot anything or saw anything terribly exciting. Still, it was an enjoyable day since we all got to hunt together, and spend a day outdoors.

Does/Fawns Observed: 7
Bucks Observed: 0

Oh how the times have changed. I can remember as a young hunter how excited I was for the opening day of firearms season. Now that I’m almost exclusively an archery hunter, it’s just not the same. I still plan to go out tomorrow morning with my dad near his house since I have an antlerless tag for that management unit, and so I can be there to help him out if needed. He still has his buck tag to fill, so there is a little more at stake for him. I plan to take my in-line muzzleloader since I’ve yet to take a deer with it, but if the weather forecast holds true (rain and wind), I may have to take the rifle.

Even though opening day isn’t quite the same, I’ll still be excited to go out and take in the sounds and smells of “deer season.” I love hearing shots around the area and wondering what the story is behind them. Was it a big buck going down, or a young hunter taking his or her first deer? Did they miss and is the deer headed in my direction? You just never know. It was a little more exciting before Pennsylvania went to a combined season because you knew that someone was shooting at a buck. I would hear a shot nearby and immediately go into red alert since a buck was definitely in the area, and he may be coming right to me. Of course the more shots you hear, the better chance the buck got away and is still on his feet. I hope I hear the crack of my dad’s .308, with the result being the filling of his buck tag. Knowing him though, he’ll be just as happy taking a big old doe. He shot some good bucks over the years, and I really don’t think it matters as much to him anymore.

I’ll share one quick memory of opening day. Perhaps the one that stands out most is when I took my first buck. I remember how excited I was that morning because I was able to pick out my own spot for the first time, and I was sure it was a good one. I picked an area about 100 yards off of a brushy knob on the Kinter farm that always had a lot of good buck sign. Me, my dad, and my late uncle Jim went out the day before and prepared our spots for the next morning. I picked the biggest old oak tree I could find, cleared the leaves from beneath it, and scanned the terrain trying to imagine where the buck would come from in the morning.

It was a cold morning, but I was so excited that I barely noticed. Just as I was starting to get disappointed because I hadn’t seen a deer yet, I could hear the leaves rustling below me with the sounds of a deer coming in my direction. Before I could get nervous, a buck crested the small hill and was standing in front of me not more than 50 yards away. I pulled the trigger on my open-sights .30-.30 and the gun cracked, waking up the previously quiet hillside. To my amazement, the deer bolted to my right necessitating another round. Three shots later, my first buck was down, and I couldn’t have been more excited. I actually hit the deer three times out of four, so it certainly wasn’t the cleanest of kills!

I blew the wistle that my dad gave me the night before three times to get his attention. Shortly thereafter I saw an orange vest headed my way, which I thought was the one my dad was wearing. It turns out it was an archery hunter who shot my deer before it got to my hunting location. The shot was just beneath the backbone, and didn’t touch any of the vitals. Just as he was starting to give me a hard time, my dad arrived and quickly got updated on the circumstances. After a brief discussion, the hunter yielded the deer to me, and my first buck was in the books. It was a decent 8-pointer with about a 12-inch spread. I was so proud, and my dad and uncle Jim were very proud of me. Now that’s an opening day memory that I’ll never forget.

Every year growing up I looked forward to the day we would sight our guns in as we prepared for the firearms season. We didn’t really shoot throughout the year, so this was my one window of opportunity to fire the rifle. I loved the smell of solvent and gun powder when my dad opened his gun case, which seemed to go hand-in-hand with the smell of Thanksgiving dinner.

My brother Chuck was shooting his brand-new 7mm-08 for the first time. It didn't take long for him to put holes in the quarter-sized orange dot in the center of the target.

Yesterday was shooting day. Originally it was supposed to be me, my brother, and my dad, but somehow word got out that the range was set-up and the next thing you know we had enough guys to form a small army. In fact, we ended up with four neighbors at the house, which really brought back childhood memories. There were several calibers represented including .270, .30-.30, 7mm-08, .308, .222, and even an in-line muzzleloader. We threw a lot of lead, and in the process, tore a giant hole into the ground at the end of my parents’ yard!

Once I began shooting the bow, my firearms hunting career really took a back seat. Still, you can’t replace that feeling of opening day, which is always filled with the anticipation of taking a buck. You just don’t get that with the archery opener, probably because the season gets better as it goes along as opposed to firearms where the activity decreases. I was shooting in the .30-.30 Savage for Angela since she was beginning preparations for Thanksgiving dinner. I put a scope on it for her, so it took a little time to get it centered in. This is the same gun that both my brother and I shot our first deer with, so it has become a family heirloom. I also shot my CVA in-line muzzleloader, which I hope to use on opening day to take a doe. I have a doe tag for the management unit that I grew up hunting, and this will allow me to hunt near my dad, who still has a buck tag. Angela won’t be able to hunt until the first Saturday, and I’m excited at the possibility of her getting her first buck. She took her first deer last year, a doe right behind the house, and I think I was more excited than she was.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I’m pretty much all whitetails all of the time with regard to hunting. Every once in a while I have a small window of opportunity to hunt turkey, and I had one today. I’m definitely not a serious turkey hunter and my approach today was typical of that. I was really going to rearrange my game cameras, but I took the gun along and my turkey calls in case I came across some while I was out and about.

As I headed up the hollow after servicing two of my cameras, I noticed a fresh set of turkey tracks in the snow. They were so fresh in fact that I decided to find the nearest tree and start calling. It didn’t take long to get a response and before I knew it, I was reeling him in like I had him on a fishing line. I gently adjusted my position to ensure the best shot angle when the bird arrived. I could see him coming through the brush, and his purple head was a clear sign that the bird was a gobbler. As he approached, I decided to let him walk into a nice opening in front of me a mere 10 yards out. By now I could see his lengthy beard dandling from his chest, and I’m pretty sure I smiled a bit, almost laughing at my dumb luck.

The bird stepped into the opening and I gently squeezed the trigger anticipating the “boom” that would end the lonely turkey’s life. I pulled, and pulled, and pulled, and NOTHING! “What the %$#@!” I checked the safety and it was all systems go. It had to be the action. By this time it occurred to the bird that he really screwed the pooch and he needed to get the hell out of there. I must have looked like a petty thief getting caught red-handed trying to steal a 50-cent candy bar from the grocery store. I panicked, pushing on the action and apparently still squeezing the trigger and “POW.” The shot blew dirt on the bird as he achieved lift-off! Out of pure anger and disbelief, I fired the remaining to shots at him, and succeeded at taking out most of the canopy cover above me, as well as punching myself in the nose when the gun recoiled.

I have a bad history with the eastern wild turkey, and today was the cherry on top. I was so irritated, I actually switched guns (oh yeah, I took my beat-up old 12 gauge Savage pump instead of my brand-new Remington…that makes sense) and spent the rest of the afternoon looking for another bird. Of course, there wasn’t another track on the property, and my fall turkey season was over. I’m such a jackass!

As I was loading up my gear to leave on Friday, I was checking to make sure that my load was secure and realized that my climbing stand was frozen to my ATV.

Because of the weather, it’s really hard to fairly judge the quality of the hunt. I plan to look into some other options for next year, but I’m not opposed to going back to Almost Heaven next fall. I’ll take some time before making a final decision. Also, my lease runs until June, which will allow me to go back to the property in the spring and take another look around. I may even make a quick trip to hunt the property after Thanksgiving if the weather is right. It’s possible that I could have a decent hunt if there is still a bit of late rut going on.

This was the scene as I headed down the mountain after throwing in the towell on Friday morning. Not exactly prime archery hunting weather.

It was wondeful to sleep in my own bed last night with the wife by my side, the dog in her bed at the foot of ours, and the cats running around like they were on fire all night. I enjoy coming home as much as I enjoy arriving on hunting trips away from home. They tend to be physically and mentally demanding, so your body appreciates coming home to recharge the batteries. It’s funny though how quickly you want to get back to the woods. As I was washing my hunting clothes and reorganizing my gear, I was already making plans to get back out in my head. I plan to check my game cameras around the house today, reset them to sit through the firearms season, and maybe even chase a turkey around if I see one. As I’m typing this, I’m looking out the window watching for deer to cross the hillside behind the house. I also spent last night and this morning watching hunting shows. I guess it just never ends!

The Buck Truck was thawing out in the parking lot before my final trek up the mountain. If it could talk, I'm sure it would have said, "Are you out of your freaking mind?"

I had the best of intentions this morning. I got up in plenty of time, got my gear together, and headed to the mountain to brave the elements. There was light snow falling at the hotel, but the wind didn’t seem too horrible. That all changed once I got on the mountain. As I was getting my equipment ready, steady gusts of wind pounded the hillside, snow blowing with it. I sat back in my truck and put some serious thought into the wisdom of trying to hunt in this weather, and in this remote location. Common sense won out and I decided to just wait until daylight to get my stand down and head out.

Cory and Kevin passed by me on their ATV headed to the top of Lightning Ridge. I don’t suspect they’ll last much longer than I did. In fact, they may be pulling their stands as I write this, and making the same plans I am. I figured I would just return to the room, get a hot shower, and pack up everything while I wait for the weather to break a bit. Although this is West Virginia, this part of the state isn’t used to this, which is evidenced by the one snow plow that makes its way back and forth on Route 10. Who could have known that the week we picked would be a record breaker in terms of snowfall and low temperatures? The guys who have been hunting here for a while said this is easily the worst week of weather they’ve ever had here. Lucky us!

It’s way too early to say how I felt about this trip. It would be unfair to give it a failing grade simply due to the weather. Despite everything, I did come very close to taking down a good buck, and I saw plenty of evidence that they’re here. I’ll have the five-hour trip home this afternoon to digest it all. One thing is for sure, I miss my girls, starting with my wife, Angela, and our daughters Arrow (dog), Mercy, and Stella (cats). I hate to quit the hunt on such a down note, but the bottom line is this. I hunt because I really enjoy being outdoors, and the challenge of taking a trophy buck. When it’s not enjoyable anymore, it’s time to stop.