Happy new year!

I had planned on taking Tuesday, December 29th off to go hunting.  The weather had other plans for me so i worked on that day and took the day off on New Year's Eve.  I met with Greg and Amil and was told that, despite the cruddy weather on Tuesday, the hunting was great.  They said that there were very few guys and a ton of birds.  FIGURES!

This wasn't the case today.  The parking lot was full, it's the last day of the season.  We started in the fields and it's amazing that there were no birds.  Nothing!  We did end up getting 4 but they were late birds and, for the most part, from walking the edges of the fields on the way back from two bridges.  I shot like crap...couldn't hit anything!  It was fun though and the weather was nice.  When we got back to the trucks we had a celebration beer to end the season.

Need some peace

So, after having 18 people over on Christmas Eve and 18 people over on Christmas day, I need some time in a tree!  I went, for a quick trip, behind my company.  I was only there for 3 hours but it was nice to have some peace and quiet.  I saw nothing but enjoyed it a lot.

Quick stop

So, on my way in to work I made a quick stop at Black River.  Despite the amount of cars that the parking lot holds, it never feels overly crowded.  I managed to get a flyover hen (a harder shot that the one I missed on Saturday...this stuff just doesn't make sense sometimes).  I walked around for a bit and then got to work.

Skunked.

For the first time this season I got skunked while bird hunting.  Greg was already away so it was just Amil and I.  There seemed to be a lack of birds this time.  It was more like the stocking of old.  At the end of the first field, Chase put up a bird in the hedgerow but it was flying through the trees and I just flat out missed.  Amil and I both got a shot at another bird in the Honey Hole but he and I both missed.  We both should have gotten it.  A great day, however.

Granddaddy!!

It was opening morning of 6-day firearms season.  I went to the club where I met Greg and Tony at the gate.  They told me that Jeff was at 13 and so I went to 4.  As I did on opening day muzzy, I sat at the rock in the morning and saw nothing.  After nappy time I went to 4 and brought my stand in.  I set it up a little up from 4, actually right next to old 4.  At around 3:00 I saw movement coming from the thicket but all I could make out was a butt as it walked away.  Then, at around 3:30, a buck walking through the field up towards the pine.  It was a spike on one side and a nub on the other.  A sad looking deer but a decent body.  I was surprised to see him walking through the field, to be honest.  I decided that I should probably keep an eye open in the field from now on.  So, at around 4, I saw coming from the pine and walking diagonally through the field a huge deer.  I was shocked.  I put up the range finder and saw that it was 108 yards.  I thought to myself, "no way I'm going to get this but i'll never have an opportunity like this so you better shoot".  And I did.  I quickly put up the gun and made a noise.  He stopped and puffed up and I squeezed off a shot.  I saw him take off like a bat out of hell.  Of course I missed...how could I not.  I got down from the tree to make my way over to where I shot just to make sure.  As I started walking towards the spot I noticed, coming from over the hill, an orange hat.  I couldn't imagine who that could be.  As I got closer I saw that it was Tony.  He put his thumb up, I'm assuming to ask me if I got a deer.  I got closer and he said "you got the Granddaddy of the property".  I was in shock!  I asked if his was kidding me and he said "would I be here if I was".  He heard the shot and then heard the deer crashing.  He said that it was so loud he figured that it was a bear.  I walked over to the deer and started to shake.  This doesn't happen to me!!  I started to dress it but Tony did the honor instead.  I was happy!!

Opening day Muzzy

Beautiful, clear and crisp day.  I went to the club and was met there by Tony and Jeff.  I went to 4 and sat behind the big rock in the morning.  I stayed in to about 10 and then came out for a cup of coffee and a nappy.  Went into stand 4 at 1:30 and saw nothing.  At about 3, there were shots from across the road but in total, it was 10 shots.  What a stupid day and time to sight in your gun!  Saw no deer but had a nice time.  When I got out Jeff said that he and Tony saw the bear near stand 12.  Jeff said it's pushing 500 lbs

Quick trip for birds

Went to Flatbrook today but didn't have much time because I was getting a tattoo.  Again, it was pretty crowded but there were decent birds and I never felt like I was trying to avoid people.   I got one in the field after Amil had put it up and shot twice (it was actually a far shot so it was pretty nice).

With Gianna

Today is Thanksgiving and I went hunting with Gianna this morning.  It was soooo much fun to have her with me.  We reminisced about old hunting days, got a bird and she shot the gun.  It was so much fun.

Spread'em

Today the bird hunting was nice.  Sure it was crowded, it's always crowded, but there was a nice amount of birds and they were spread out nicely.  There were even tree birds in the second field.  It felt like they stocked by actually driving in the field.  It was nice.  Got two.

Envy and Q

I was supposed to take the day off work today but it's supposed to pour so instead, I decided to just go bird hunting at Black River and then go to work.  I did that and there was hardly anyone there.  Perhaps the rain?  I met an older guy named Stan.  What a super nice guy!  I told him about a bird that went into a hedgerow and he invited me to hunt with him and his two dogs; Envy and Q.  I ended up getting two birds and actually had to let another fly away because I limited out.  He was such a nice, old, Polish guy.  He said he lived in Succasunna near the lake off Eyland.  I ended up getting to work by 8:30!

oh, so close...

I took the day off to go hunting today.  The weather is outstanding!  First I headed up to Flatbrook to find some pheasants.  It was crowded but not super terrible but, to my surprise, Amil wasn't there.  So Greg and I went up the hill instead of the field.  I think that was a mistake as we didn't see anything.  Well, not much anyway.  We had three birds in a tree from the lot but chose not to shoot them.  As we went up the hill, there was a flyover that I took a pot shot at but didn't hit (it was high) and then, as we came around the other side of the hill a bird was in the tree and took off (startling Greg).  He shot but missed.  That was it!  No other birds seen.

I then headed up to the club.  I brought my stand to go between 3 and 4 and had a hard time finding a tree.  I sat lower than I would have normally liked in a crooked tree and was facing the field.  As luck would have it, I had two does behind me for quite a while.  They were just picking back and forth for a while.  I couldn't turn and get a shot and was hoping they would come into the field but they never did.  oh well...close but no cigar.

Birds AND deer

Well, at least that was the attempt.  The crowds found their way back to bird hunting.  We started with a line of orange but, to my delight, there wasn't any craziness.  There were some birds out but they seemed to be scattered around nicely.  Despite the few in the trees and the one or two in the first hedgerow, so it was nice.  Made our normal loop, picked up a few birds and then went back to the truck for some refreshments.  I brought some beer for everyone to try and we just hung out talking.  it was really nice.  then I went up to the club.  I went to 4ish (sat behind the rock) and managed to see a few does coming out near 3 and stay up on the pines.  I have the feeling that they saw me, even though I was far away, because they sort of just disappeared. Greg saw nothing near 10 and Tony said he saw a few bucks chasing.  He said that he went out during the week and saw a few nice bucks too.  I'll head out again on Tuesday.

Rainy Thursdsay

I took the day off to go hunting today.  Just my luck, it's going to rain today.  Well, it wasn't supposed to according to the weather.  It was only supposed to be a little shower at 11.  That's ok because, by then, i'll be between bird and deer.  That's not the case, however.  I showed up on the parking lot a bit early and was the only one there.  By the time it was hunting time, it was me, Greg, Amil and one other car with two guys.  WHAT?!  That's fantastic.  AND there were 6 birds sitting in the trees.  I managed to scare away a few of them but the others wouldn't move.  I usually don't like shooting in the trees but Greg and I made an agreement.  If, by the time we're ready to go, no one else shows up, we'll take them out of the trees.  NEVER expecting that to happen I was surprised when it was shooting time and no one else showed.  So, I took one, Greg took one and Amil took one.  (Amil's flew away...lol).  We then started down the field and there was a nice amount of birds.  As we were coming back from our first pass down the field it started to rain and we all had our two birds.  We stopped at the trucks, got our rain coats, stashed our birds and went back out.  We made our normal loop and had a blast.  We put up more birds and shot at more birds.  Not so successfully though.  I think that the Honey Hole put out an additional 8.  We got one.  lol.  It was a fun day.

I went home intent on getting my stuff ready to go deer hunting.  I just had to take a little nap.  Well...the nap happened, but deer hunting never did.  lol.

What an opening day!

So today was opening day of pheasant and, like always, I went up to Flatbrook.  It was the usually super-crowded.  When I got there and started my hellos to everyone, there were birds talking and flying everywhere.  It was almost comical. We lined up on the field and at starting time, Greg, Me, Amil and Mike (Amil's son) started down the field.  There were shots all over.  When we got to the end of the field, the sky filled with birds and shots.  It was nuts...but surprisingly it was not scary and was fun.  I ended up with one bird out of the field. We continued on down the fields and then up the hill.  We picked up a bird at the top of the hill.  We made our way across the hill and found a bear cub at the base of a tree, probably scared out of its mind.  We continued to the honey hole and by the time we got there it was about an hour and a half after first shooting.  We still managed to see 12 birds in the hole.  I got a chance at a double and got one of the birds.  Then we headed back to the trucks.  We got back to the trucks around noon and it was time for me to head out to deer hunt.

I went behind my company and met Brueder on the way in.  He told me that there are a bunch of guys that go back there.  I went "around the corner" from him and others.  It was a really comfortable post and at around 4:00 I had three bucks walking around me.  A spike, a fork and one with three points on one side and nothing on the other.  The last one spend some time walking around me and staring at me.  Probably was around me for a half hour.  I did see a doe walking about 50 yards away but the lopsided buck chased her and she ran away.

A great day hunting!

Happy Halloween

I decided to go back to the Recycling center.  I had put out a bunch of corn and wanted to see if anything was hitting it.  I sat from about 1:30 and saw nothing but squirrels and birds.  I had my camera there that wasn't working for a while but when I went to refill the feeder i got it to work so it only had two days but in those two days, no deer at all.

Great, a bear.

I went to the club today and sat at stand 4.  I brought my climber in and sat in a tree near 4 where there was shooting lanes.  It was a beautiful sit but I didn't see any deer.  I went out to my truck and to the gate and there I met Tony and Greg (Frank had already left).  Tony showed me a picture of a bear that's on our property.  great.

up and down

Went to the club this afternoon after brewing a batch of beer in the morning.  I decided to sit at 4 to try and get hold of the buck i had been seeing up that way.  I went up into the stand but, especially with the wind, it was creaking and did not look sturdy at all.  Aside from that, there was no shooting lanes for the bow.  I got down out of the stand and tucked myself into the the rock wall.  It was a comfortable spot but I saw no action.  Tony was at the club and was gone before I got to my truck.

6 from a distance

Gorgeous day to head up to the club.  In the morning I had to go to Aunt Carol's house to notarize some documents for her but when I got home I headed up to the club.  I wanted to try that tree i found during turkey season and when I walked there, it was all overgrown.  I'm not sure if I would see a deer walking around in all the high grasses.  I decided to set up on the road to 5 again.  It was a beautiful day.  The kind that made you just want to take a nap.  I saw that the club was getting busy as I saw Tony pull up.  Then soon after, Frank came walking towards the dip stand and then Bob drove towards the back.  At around 5, i could see a buck walking towards 4.  It was a decent looking 6.  There were times that I thought it would actually walk down towards me but it stayed up near 4.  I think I watched the deer for a good hour.  That was the only deer that I saw and apparently the rest of the guys didn't see anything either because they all left empty handed.

I'm sick....

Today is a really windy day.  I wasn't even going to go hunting but wanted to get out and into the woods.  Even if I don't see anything it will be nice and relaxing.  I decided to go to the club and sit on the ground so I don't get blown out of a tree.  I went back by 13 and tucked myself into the weeds on the side of the hill.  I certainly didn't plan on seeing anything but before I went to sit, I wanted to take a long shot into the target just to see how this bow shoots at 35 yards.  Right in the middle!  I love this bow.

So, I went to my spot at around 2:45 and settled in.  Literally, at 3:00, a doe came walking down the path.  I took out my range finder and guess what...35 yards.  I know JUST where to hold at that yardage.  She stopped to eat some of the autumn olive and I squeezed off a shot.  She went running up the hill into the real thick stuff.  I waited about a half hour and went to go find my arrow.  I couldn't see it and there was only a drop or two of blood on the ground.  What made it even more difficult to find that blood was that the ground was absolutely covered in autumn olive fruit...which are red and about the size of drops of blood.  THIS is going to be a challenge.  I followed where I think the deer went up the hill and I would find a drop here, a drop there.  Nothing significant and in some cases I was following olive drops and not blood.  I used some best guessing too.  At the end, I looked for over three hours and couldn't recover her.  I wanted to throw up about it.  I know that sometimes it happens in bow hunting but I don't think it's ever happened to me.

Nada

Went to the club on Saturday.  I was alone and went to stand 13.  It seems a bit more rickety than I would like but I got up anyway and sat from 2 until dark.  I saw nothing at all

Friday!

Left work a bit early and hit behind the recycling center.  Saw nothing but a bunch of squirrels.

I'm really a tree hugger

Went to the dump today in the morning.  I got there around 5:15 and while I was climbing up the tree I heard something behind me.  I was making noise and had a flashlight so surely it couldn't be a deer...must be a guy (or a bear) so i shined my (blue light) flashlight towards the sounds and there was a deer, literally 5 yards from me.  I covered the light and hugged the tree.  There was more than one and they walked around for a good 10 minutes while I hugged the tree.  It sounded as though they walked down the hill and I finished my climb.  When it got light, there was no sign of them, however. I saw nothing else either.

Buck from a distance

I took off work early to get some hunting in.  Whew it was hot!  I almost didn't go but did.  I went to the club and wanted to sit at 5 (the road between the fields and first place I got a deer a the club).  I sweat my ass off on my way into the stand but it was a nice, comfortable sit.  I was facing the field so that, where I expected to see deer would be to my right.  At approximately 5, I saw a (what a think was a) 4 pointer at the rock wall.  It fed for a bit and then wanted to get out in a hurry.  Did it see me?  did it smell me?  Not sure.  The only other thing I saw was a guy with a power hang glider...that was pretty cool.

Opening day - 2015

It was a fairly uneventful day.  The weather has been rainy the last day or two, but this morning it was clear and beautiful.  Cooler than it had been lately.  I went to the Recycling center and sat in Sam's tree.  I had, a week earlier, set up a feeder and camera.  I got into the tree at 5:30 and sat until 9:45 and saw nothing but squirrels.  On the way out, I checked the feeder and swapped out cards.  I went home for a siesta and checked the card.  There doesn't seem to be a lot of action there but there was, on two occasions, a 7 or 8 point buck that is frequenting the area.  So that got me juiced to get a doe.

For the afternoon, I decided to head to the club.  I was the only one there and it was really threatening to rain.  I got into 13, which has really grown in, and only lasted about an hour before it really started raining.  I didn't feel like soaking in the rain so I left.

Happy New Deer! um I mean year

I am going to the gang party on Saturday so I wanted to get some woods time and New Years Day is a good time to do it.  I headed up to the club determined to sit in 4.  I got into the stand and I was the only one there (which is so nice).  It was coldish, around 28 but windy as anything!  My stand kept creaking so much that I actually was worried it may come down.  I sat there from about 1:30 and then around 4:00 I had a deer come out of the thickets and snorted at me.  I didn't see anything but the tail going away.  I hadn't been moving and the wind was in my favor so I'm not sure how it busted me.  After about 15 minutes, a group of 6 or so does came from the thickets and crossed the woods into the field.  I watched the first one step out and noticed that the others were bigger so I waited.  When the last one stepped into the field (they were walking towards the dip stand) I put the crosshairs right on the chest and let it bark.  I saw her run up the hill about 30 yards and crash.  I perfect angling away shot through the chest and out through the shoulder.  That's how to start out the new year!