Monday, October 23, 2006

Sorry that I haven't updated this thing yet, again. I have been busy moving, going to class, working, and trying to shoot a deer. I am not going to get into the deer stories now, I'm saving that for a sunday or when I am really bored. I will however, for the second year in a row, reiterate that I wish it was turkey season still. I can't wait for the spring. Don't get me wrong, I love to deer hunt, and I want to shoot a nice buck, especially with my bow, but I still feel this crazy drive to be calling turkeys in the spring
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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

I finally got some bowhunting time in. I hunted tuesday morning for a few hours and didn't see anything at the farm around the corner from my house. I did however go looking for clues as to what all the deer where doing that I was watching in the preseason. They stopped coming into the field I can hunt when they moved all the cows back in to the field. I suspected that they were still coming off the ridge in the same spot and just paralleling the field to a neighboring field. Well, sure enough, I found a staging area full of rubs and heavily used trails. In the afternoon I hunted the spot where I shot my nice 8pt last year with my bow. I passed up a 1.5yr doe with two fawns. The doe was really small, it's not that I'm above shooting a doe. My next opportunity to hunt will be on Sat. The 14th. I will post that story later.
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Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Okay, I've slacked a bit on my journal this year. I think I will finally be in the groove from now on. Last Friday (the 6th) I went out for an evening hunt at our blind with Larry and Hazzard. We pushed a bunch of wood ducks, mallards, and teal out when we set up. A few woodies came in at MACH 10, we managed to shoot 5 all night. The first one I shot, fell, and started swimming for a small clump of willows. I jumped out of the blind to get it, but couldn't. I followed the feather trail as long as I could, but I know that little guy just tucked up under a clump of grass and let me walk by him. The second one I shot made it safely into the blind. Then I shot a third one, dead as a doornail, folded up, flipped upside down, plopped in the water behind the willows across from the blind. I went to get it, but no duck could be found. Larry even helped me look for it, and we couldn't find a thing. I was pretty irritated at that point. Of course, as we were picking up the dekes, a flock of 15 or so buzzed in and landed in the thick stuff across the open water from the blind.

Saturday the 7th:
I went out to the CRM 9 blind with Larry and Hazzard. The weather was perfect for duck hunting, rain and wind at 10-15mph in the face. I wish it was from a different direction, but beggars can't be choosers. We downed one female woodie, and then Hazzard knocked a hen mallard out of the air. As he and I were looking for her, a flock of 8 decided to sit down in a different part of the wetland. We watched them land right on the upper side of berm. We knew that there was a small patch of open water there, that they were hanging in. So, Larry aborted the blind, and we all met up at the base of that berm. As we neared the top, I poked my head over to see all 8 mallards looking very confused at the situation. Without a count down, we stood up, and managed to collect 5 of the 8. Before we could even pick one up, the other three had circled back around to find out what happened to their friends. In the panic mode of reloading and aiming, we missed. Yup, we all missed! Oh well, gues you can't be too greedy, right? It's a good thing, because we were one hen shy of a limit of hens. Had we found the one Hazzard knocked down, we wouldn't have been able to shoot any more hens, and I think two of the remaining three were hens.

On the deer note.......................
I was really sick monday and tuesday, but by tuesday afternoonI felt good enough to go out. I managed to scout the big field I'd been glassing all summer, and I determined that the deer that used to be coming into that field are still coming to the edge, but rather than coming out, they are paralleling the edge until they get on the neighbors property. I found an area with a bunch of rubs where they are staging up. If I get the right wind, I will try to intercept that nice 2.5yr-3.5yr 8pt there. I also pulled my stand in the bottom of the field since they are no longer using that area. I then went to where I shot my nice 8 last year with my bow. I got in there and the wind was perfect, and the setup felt good. At about 6:15 a Doe followed up minutes later by her two fawns passed directly under my stand. All presenting shots from 40yds-5yds. The doe was young, I let her pass simply because it was hot out, and I have a busy week ahead of me and I didn't want to have to deal with processing it. I would have dealt with the hassle had it been a nice buck. The best news from that experience is that the doe used one crossing and the fawns used another, reassuring me that my stand location is still right on the money. The tenent of the land also cleared and area of the woods and put a driveway/parking lot along 300' of the stream, which means all the deer that crossed there, now have to work their way under my stand if they want to get across the property to the fields!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Well, it's the night before the early opener of the VA duck season. I have to go to class tomorrow afternoon, but I had the perfect opportunity to go duck hunting in the a.m. HAD being the key word there. The property that I am moving to this month has a duck blind on it, and there are some ducks there. The company I work for sold the property to my landlord, and in the talks of renting the place, I made it clear that am not going to move in unless I can hunt it. Well, now that the lease is signed, things have changed. Originally my boss and I wanted to hunt tomorrow morning because we have to work out on that property the rest of the day. We got shut out because that is the "only" blind the VP of the company has to duck hunt. I guess if you don't count the awesome tidal wetland blind on the potomac the company has and the major wetlands we have created on a private owners land, who doesn't allow anyone to hunt, except for the VP. So, we asked if he wanted to hunt together, but he's hunting in the afternoon. We can't because of class. Well, today, I hear that he's hunting in the am. Did he have the common courtesy to ask if we would join him? Nope! I actually thought he was a decent guy. I guess I haven't stuck my nose up his ass like some other people in the company. Don't mistake this as jealousy, trust me I will never be jealous of anyone who has to degrade themselves or diminish their personal life to earn a friendship. I've been noticing this phenomenon around me a lot lately.

Bitch number two:
I've been patterning about 30-40 deer on my only place to deer hunt regularly. They have been set in their patterns for two weeks now. I was fully planning on their patterns to change as fall got closer, but I assumed the does would continue at least through this Sat which is the bow opener. Sat night I glassed and found everything to be okay. Sunday I committed to hanging a stand to shoot this nice 120-130 buck. Well, sure enough, the landowner moved about 40 cows/bulls, and a half dozen horses into the field. There was one spike within range of my stand on sunday night, and that is it, not a single deer visible in any of the fields that I can hunt or the neighboring fields for that matter. I don't know what I am going to do, except maybe go back to where I shot my buck last year, but I even think that place maybe a shutout. I noticed the tenent has moved out, and the landowner has told me I have to ask the tenent for permission. I guess if the for rent sign is up, I'm still good to go. He doesn't have a problem with it, as long as the tenents don't, and if there are no tenents, then I assume there is no problem. I am pissed, I think I gotta stop ranting now.
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