This is how hunting is supposed to be! Cold in the morning with a solid front on the ground. Noisy but not enough to give your cover away. And sun. I love the sun. I sat in the Sky Condo, Hubby was in T3 and Dad decided that since time is ticking, he would walk. The plan was for him to walk the piece by T3 in hopes of jumping something towards Hubby. Then, the guys would head my way and split up. Dad would head east and loop around to my treeseat. Hubby would make a loop west then swing east and come out at my treeseat. When I saw Hubby at the foot plot, I was supposed to head immediately to my treeseat. I was excited about this plan because I had not sat in my treeseat all season and I missed...
We kicked off the new season on Saturday and it could not have been a better morning. The moon was out, the stars were bright and there was just a slight chill in the air. It was 24 degrees. After last year's last minute switch in sitting spots and my success, I let Hubby pick where he wanted to sit. He wanted the Sky Condo and I took T3. As the three of us walked along the path into the woods, the silence was broken by a single howl. It was loud and close. Sound travels Dad said but we all knew that the coyote was close. He was probably in the woods between us and T3. Luckily, it was just one coyote (only one was howling.) We split from Hubby and headed directly towards T3 as another howl came....
A few weeks ago, Dad got his old bow out for us to play around with. He estimated that he hadn't shot it in about 40 years and he wasn't sure how good the string were so we were a little cautious. We had some rusty broadheads and smiled when we confirmed that we were all up to date on our tetanus shots. 40-ish year old broadheads I had never handled a bow, much less shot one. I was excited, nervous and cautious. Dad, being Dad, picked up the bow and drew back like he had just put it down yesterday. He may not want to admit it, but he is a natural outdoorsman. Look at that form! I don't know any see it.t archery but I know decent form when I see it. Dad shooting his bow Hubby, Dad and I got a hay bale out of the...
The night before we were going to be heading into the woods, I looked around for my home made box call and slate call and could not find them. I only had a store bought box call, push call and electronic call. I have tried and can not use the mouth calls, so those are pointless. I gathered up my camo and got ready for the 4am excursion. I can't help but wonder exactly why I want to go turkey hunting; it's a season of ridiculously early starts, ticks and warm weather. And ticks! There is really not much that is appealing about it. But, Dad and I were going to try to find a turkey. We started off at the Sky Condo in a ground blind. We sat and waited. I used the chalked-up box call and the...
As I walked into the woods with Dad, I noticed many more posted signs than in previous years. And more than what had been there even two weeks before. No one had signed them but they were clearly on the property next to ours. We walked along the property line towards my treeseat. It was raining hard enough so that I could see the drops flash in front of my headlight but I was in my wool pants and coat so I knew that I should be OK for the five hour sit that I had planned. Dad waited until I had climbed up, got situated and clicked off my headlamp (it was a new purchase that I had made when I decided to go bear hunting and it was very useful now as we walked into the dark woods.) I settled in and waited for...
Last fall, we had somewhere between 7 and 10 bucks of all sizes around the treestands. The biggest bucks we have ever seen showed up a few years ago in mid-August. This year, we had only does on the cameras. Sometimes two, three or four but never any antlers. A few weeks ago, we finally saw some velvet. But this, is more like it! And check out the time of these pictures. I just hope that we start seeing these types of pictures more often now. I dont know if this is the same spike horn as the first picture or...
Dad has been gathering and rotating the camera memory cards for about a month now hoping to get a picture of something we like. There are a group of does hanging around which we think are the same group that has been there for the past three of four years. We kept telling ourselves that 'where there are does, there are buck' but it's just not the same. Finally! We saw what we were looking for. Just two pictures but this one is good enough to get us ready to take to the woods. Bring on deer season! I called tibs on this guy! A nice eight-pointer walking...
In search of our turkeys, we walked down this camp road. It was around noon and there were some great spots to sit and call from along the way. Right from the start we knew this was an animal haven! The tracks and scat were all over the place. Some of the tracks actually surprised us. A fresh bear track. Check out those claws. Two bear tracks. A better view of the palm of the paw. It was like Grand Central Station for turkey up and down both sides of the road. Turkey tracks and turkey scat. While we did not see any turkey that day, Brian did call in five Toms the next day. The great thing about hunting and being outdoors is that you never know what sort of adventures you will have during the...
I have been thinking about it since Friday. The gobbling that just got closer and closer, seeing the quick movement in the dense trees and brush just in front of me, that black band across the top of those dark brown feathers and his white head stretching above the blow downs to find that purring hen that he was after. I could hear the drumming and strutting as he got closer. Finally, there he was in front of me. He stepped out, his long neck leading his puffed out body into the slight clearing... The field where we started calling. Dad and I woke up a little before 2:30am in order to have breakfast and meet our guide, Brian for our turkey hunt. We got to these fields around 4:30am with just...
