One of the worst days ever...

This should have been a good day.  The weather was gorgeous and it was the last day of pheasant (on a Saturday) and then I'm going deer hunting.  Greg, Amil and I started out on the hill.  As soon as we stepped in the woods, a rooster busted.  Greg and Amil shot and missed.  We continued up the hill a few more steps and a hen shot up.  Greg shot and then I shot and we both missed.  Not sure how we didn't even get one bird, but whatever.  That was IT!  We walked all the way past the honey hole, across the road and back and nothing.  4 hours and nothing.  We were standing by our trucks ready to leave when a bird coasted to a landing in the field.  We got our stuff out again and went into the field, within a minute, Amil had a bird.  I left to go to the club.

I got to the club and, because I am so sick, I decided to take a 30 minute nap.  As I started to close my eyes, a blue Jeep Cherokee pulled up into the field to my left, some guy got out...peed and then left.  I started to get dressed and noticed a girl walking a horse in the swamp field.  She left, I guess, as soon as she saw me.  I went to stand 4 and got in.  It was beautiful.  I looked behind me and saw two atv's riding out past pain in the neck.  Grrr...this is getting frustrating.  Just then, I noticed a white van and a white pick up truck coming through the gate.  They had dirt bikes in the back.  oh no!  Yup, they started riding in the pit, right behind were I was sitting.  So loud and obnoxious.  I left 4 and decided to go to the other side of the property near 10 so I can get away from the bikers.  I got there and as I was about to walk up the hill, an ATV came riding out from the property next door.  I got into some words with him and told him to stay off our property.  He did, but he just rode in circles on the property next door.  I was so frustrated at the day, I left.

A slow day

I started off my day by going to Flatbrook for some birds.  With the promise of the state stocking an extra 1,000 it should be a fantastic day.  I got to the lot and met up with Greg and Amil.  There weren't as many cars as I was used to but sadly, there weren't as many birds.  After walking around for 3 1/2 hours, and having Amil's dog, Chase, we didn't even get a flush!  So, off to the club...

I got to the club around 11:30 and after getting dressed, walked to Secret Stand.  I was curious to check out the area because, aside from Greg getting a doe there, I'd seen all those deer during bow season.  I loved the stand.  Sat on top of the property so I could see forever.  I didn't see any deer but it was a really nice post.

omg, so frustrating!!

Went to the club and met up with Tony and Greg.  Greg was going to Secret Stand and Tony was going to Bailers.  While we were standing around, Bob came driving out from the back.  He told us that the place was plowing in the swamp :(  When Bob left I mentioned to Tony that the landscape in our place changes from week to week.  He said that he wouldn't be surprised if we lost the property.  He said that "the kid" (Tony P's son) is running the place and that he lets his buddies hunt all the other properties and it's only a matter of time before he is hunting ours.

Well, with that lovely news I headed out to hunt the side of the hill near 13.  It was a nice evening.  I could see Greg in secret stand and to my surprise, it was right near where I saw all those deer during rut.  I didn't take long but about a half hour after getting there, Greg shot and took a doe.  I could see, right after he shot, a head coming into the thicket where I was hunting so I was hopeful.  I waited but nothing appeared, but I figured it was just a matter of time.  Greg got down and left to drag out his deer.  By around 3:10, a beige Jeep Grand Cherokee came tearing down the field, turned up to where I was and went into the pit.  I heard them start up a machine for a quick moment and then silence.  At around 3:35 the Jeep came tearing down the path again.  Went to the corner of 13, spun out around the corner and tore up the field.  I was so frustrated I could spit fire.  Totally disgusted I got up and went for a walk.  I walked around to the other side of the thicket to see if I could get on the high side and I heard a deer bust out.  Figured.  I went back to my spot and sat until dark totally frustrated and disappointed.

Buck week (or 6-day firearms)...

I guess over the years this has gone by many names.  This is usually the day that all the non-hunting yahoo hunting wannabees come out and hit the woods.  With that knowledge, because I have a club to go to I want to be in the woods too so that all the pushed deer might come my way.  If I didn't have private property, I wouldn't touch state land with a 10 foot pole.  With that said, I went to the club yesterday and got there at 6am.  I met Greg at the gate and after exchanging hellos, went to my stand.  I decided to start off on the side of the hill on the way to 13.  I saw nothing.  It was quite chilly, however.  By around 9 I had enough and I got up and walked towards the back of the property.  I wanted to check out the water bottle location.  It looked nice down there.  Some nice runs and a nice, big, fat tree to hide behind.  I sat there until about 11 and while I was there, I caught some movement from my right (facing the river and away from 13).  It was a coyote and it was headed my way.  When he/she got 10 yards from me I stepped out from behind the tree and scared it off.  After a while I went back to the truck to warm up and have some coffee. I came right back out and got into the same spot by 12:30.  At around 3:30ish I had two does come out to my left but behind some thickets.  They must have seen me move and left snorting.  Right after that, a doe came in from my left.  When she got about 60 yards away she knew something wasn't right.  I could see her kind of freeze up in the middle of the field.  Lucky for her I was looking for a buck only.  She must have scented all my tracks from walking around down there to check the place out.  I won't be doing that again.  She creeped towards me but when she got about 20 yards away she turned around and slowly jogged away, with her tail waiving high.  That was all I saw but it was a very enjoyable day.  By the way, Greg scored on a really nice 8 (or 7) over between 10 and pain in the neck.

rainy pheasant day....

The weather was supposed to be horrible...and it wasn't great.  It was raining all the way up to Flatbrook but by the time I got there it had slowed down a bit.  There were far fewer guys in the parking lot today.  Greg and I were going to start into the field but changed at the last moment and went up the hill.  Of course most of the shooting was from the field.  Even though there were not many guys, we kept bumping into people on the hill.  After the first rush we came across the road and headed down the river bank.  We talked about how we hope the after-push was good considering how we screwed up the morning.   As we were walking the river, to our surprised, we put up a bird.  I saw him sitting behind a tree and got Greg all set.  The bird started running and when I turned around he went up...how did we both miss?!

We continued on to the bottom corner.  As we were walking there, Greg saw a bird running so we took off after him.  We followed him up the steep hill and as Greg got to him he took off flying.  Greg missed...i saw him but didn't shoot.  We continued around the lake and on the other side, Greg spotted a bird in a tree.  He shot and it sort of just sat there.  We thought it was get stuck in the tree but then it went to take off.  Greg shot again and got it.  As we were trying to make our way back through the swamp I but up a bird that was just standing there.  We both shot...and how the hell did we miss again!?  lol.

It was a fun time with not a lot of pressure on birds, a good amount of birds, a good amount of guys and a good amount of rain.

Day two of muzzy

I took the entire day off today.  It is supposed to be really crappy today, sleet, snow, rain but I am going to the woods anyway!  I did some stuff in the morning (getting Christmas decorations out, haircut, etc) and then went to the club.  I decided to try to sit at 14  because there is a roof on the stand.  I got in the stand at 12:30 and it was a really nice, sturdy and high stand.  I really liked it.  I didn't see a thing but liked it.  The wind was blowing again and it made me cold but I was dressed a bit warmer so it wasn't quite as bad.  I'll be back to this stand again.

Opening day muzzleloader

I had to run sales payroll so my plan was to go to work, leave around noon and then get up to the club.  I had an "issue" running payroll so it took me forever to get out of work.  I ended up leaving around 1:00.  By the time I got up to the club, dressed and in the stand (13) it was about 2:30 but it was better than nothing. Greg was there also.  He was in the stand way across the field from me, on the edge of the cemetery field.  It wasn't that cold out but the wind was steady and blowing so it went right threw me.  I was quite cold.  At around 4:00 I had a bunch of 5 or so does come to about 65 yards from my stand.  They were coming from the river side and when I turned to see them (I was going for just bucks anyway), my foot slipped on the surface of the stand, they saw it and took off running and snorting.  It was a fun time though.