muuuuch better

So, it was a lot cooler today.  I went in the morning and the only thing I was was a smallish 7 pointer. He came in and fed all around me and although at times he smelled the air, knowing something wasn't right, he just hung around for a while.  I got out of the tree around 10 and went into my office to do a little work (and use the bathroom).  Then went outside and hung in my hammock.  I went back in around 3.  At 5ish, Gianna texted me and asked me to come home.  After a bit of guilt tripping I left the tree.  On my way down, I had a big buck come near me, about 40 yards.  I didn't see him again.  I left and noticed that the other guy was in his stand.  hope I didn't screw him up.

Opening day....whew

It's opening day and holy mackerel it's HOT!  I went behind work, however and it wasn't too terrible. I had one with spots and a small unspotted "older sister"  not too much older however.  I didn't have the heart.  I went home after about 10 and washed my motorcycle.  it was so dang hot I couldn't go back (about 95 with 90% humidity).

Opening day Turkey 2016

What a great day it was!  To start with, it seems like the season started a little later than normal and so the weather was really  nice.  I was disappointed, however, that I couldn't smell the autumn olive.  In year's past it would fill the air with sweet fragrance but either way, it was great!

As usual, I had the club all to myself.  At dark I went into the blind that I had set up over the weekend.  I set up the decoy and went to the blind on the first field.  I didn't realize when setting up the blind that the ground underneath it wasn't level so I was sitting on a lump!  It was quite uncomfortable, to be honest.

Around 6:30ish, I had a hen come walking into the field from the railroad bed and as she started to walk around I had to adjust myself because it started to hurt sitting the way that I was.  That noise was enough to scare her off but she didn't run putting, just meandered away.  Soon afterwards, from the left of me, appeared a group of 5 deer.  I think they caught my scent (or heard me move) and they ran off too.

It was about 7:15ish and I was feeling like I should walk around.  Just then I heard a gobble, so I called and to my surprise, two gobbles!...from different directions.  One behind me to my left and one from, it sounded, across the property.  I called and they both answered back.  I thought "It may actually be on".  After a bit of calling back and forth, I noticed a hen coming into the field to my left. She was followed by two more hens.  I couldn't see them too well because of the brush but as they approached my decoy I saw a gobbler!  He also approached the decoy and I lined up my sights and pulled the trigger.  NOTHING HAPPENED!  My gun wouldn't shoot!  I checked the safety and it was absolutely off so it should be shooting.  I pulled the trigger again and nothing.  I decided to cycle another round into the chamber.  So slowly, and as quietly as I could, I cycled the pump on the shotgun.  I took off the safety again, lined up the shot and this time it went off.  The bird fell on the spot and the hens flew away.

What an awesome hunt!

All the last days rolled into one.

I guess I forgot to post what my last days of hunting were like for the season.  Could be, because they were so uneventful.  I don't think i even saw a deer.  There was one day that I went to the club after some snow fall and saw only one track from the field in 4, which tells me that I was wasting much of my time.  There were actually a bunch of tracks from the pit into the main field so I sat in the back of my truck along side of the field.  Saw nothing.  Oh well, the end of the season came and it was a slow, but good season.  I got the biggest buck of my life.

Behind the rock

I know that Tony and Greg are going to push the club so I wanted to get out a bit before they do that.  I am going to Joe and Danny's tonight so I can't get out, so I went to the club and sat behind the rock this morning.  It was a nice morning...not too chilly.  I saw nothing, but I Tony did sit in the morning as well.  When I got out of the woods I chit chatted with Tony for a few minutes and then when Greg came, I left.

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.