MCH's 2005 Season

[MCH]

After talking with Kyle and Ryan, I was reminded to start this year's journal.

I've been doing a lot of scouting lately. On foot and with my new Stealth game cam.

The only pics I've gotten off my Stealth are of cattle, so I'm positive my foot scouting has been more effective...

I've found 3 new stand sites for my Summit Viper and have already cleared shooting lanes.

My back injury has stopped me from shooting everyday, but I keep from getting rusty by shooting every two weeks or so.

Recently shot the Okie get together shoot and was lucky enough to place first. There's no doubt that I could've shot better without the back problem, but I'm still good enough to draw down on that deer this year.

I harvested 3 deer with my bow last year and look forward to tagging out at 4 this year.

[MCH]

The plan for the Oklahoma Bowhunt this year is to camp at James Collins. I've never been to JC so I logged on to www.wildlifedepartment.com and played around with their topo map generator. After getting a makeshift topo of the JC area, I decided to check out my area. I found a couple of roads that I had originally thought were dead ends that made a complete circle through some nice woods. I zoomed down to within several hundred yards and couldn't help but think that the area would be great for a couple of stand locations.

Funny thing is, my son and I have always seen deer in that area. We haul our trash to dumpsters on a river road and make a circle that goes by these roads. Several times we have caught 4 or 5 doe crossing the road right at dusk. I knew that the left side of the road was private land and that the right hand side was public but the public side was small pines...not suitable for a summit climber or ladder stand.

Anyway, after looking at the topo, my son and I hauled off trash last night, with the intention of checking this road out. Boy, I'm glad I did. I cannot believe that this road has been within one mile of my house and I've never been down it!

We didn't get out except to verify that one dead end section of the road butted up against my friend's land. I do plan on scouting out some hunting spots later this weekend. If all goes well, this may work out to be some great spots for my fellow Okies that have promised to make their way down this hunting season.

[The_Kat]

OOOHHH Goodie, you've found my hunting spot!

[MCH]

Anytime, Kyle.

We had a small storm yesterday evening at around 6:00. At 8, I decided to take Chase around looking for "pows"(deer) and "bunnys". We drove down the circle road and spotted a bunny right off the bat. Chase hollered at it, but it didn't seem to understand two-year old talk, so we watched it hop off.

About half a mile west of the circle road is another piece of public hunting land with a road down the middle. The circle road is owned by Plum Creek Logging and the west road is Government land.

Anyway, we turn off on it and spot a new black Dodge pulled up in a narrow turn off that leads to a pond. My friend had just got through telling me that he had checked out the pond yesterday and saw that deer were hitting it like crazy.

As close to dark as it was, my first thought was "poacher". So I drove about a 100 yards down the road and turned around. I got the guys license plate and turned to drive by my friend's house to tell him that we had a poacher on one of his favorite hunting spots. Less than a 100 yards down the road, I heard a .22 shoot. I stopped for a little bit but didn't hear another and then floored it trying to hurry up and get to my friends house to call the game warden.

Long story short, my friend was out working in his dump truck so I called the game warden who was on the other side of the county and left. As soon as I got to the stop sign just past his house, the black Dodge pulled out in front of me. By this time it was dark and I could see a teenager in the extended cab looking back trying to make out who I was. The man driving kept checking his rearview while talking on his cell. Once on the main highway, he turned off into a neighbor's driveway and it was only then that I realized.......it was my neighbor. Now, I'm not too sure that he was poaching. The fact that he had his kid with him and came out of the woods so soon, have me thinking that maybe he was just shooting turtles or something. After talking to my friend, though, he seems to think that he poaches with his kid all the time??

Boy, I hope not.

[MCH]

Lake Crook Shootout: Saturday August 27th

Well, the shoot was broken down into two 20 target sections. Plan was, to shoot either the east or west section, have lunch, then shoot the remaining section.

On the first 20 targets I shot great. I was 8 up with 10 X's and one eight. The lone eight came on a turkey but I couldn't complain since I X'd two other turkey's in the same section.

Then the wall started tumbling down. My friend and I shot with a man and his two sons. We were one of the last groups to come in. Mainly because we were looking for arrows on almost every target. Sure makes for a long day. But the bad part, by the time we got to the clubhouse, they were out of hamburgers! So we had to settle for $3 hotdogs..

The second 20 started out great. Shot an X on a 33 yard Hyena across an open field. Actually had 3 X's on my first 5 targets. But then the rain hit. I'm not sure if that was my excuse, but between my glasses fogging up from the humidity and the rain, I just couldn't find the X ring from there on out. I shot two more X's in the next 15 targets. The course was comparable to the first so I was getting pretty frustrated with myself.

Long story short, I finished only 1 up for the second 20. The 9 up, 409 secured my 4th place, two out of third...

The club had an awesome turnout. Over 130 shooters showed up, some driving as far as 300 miles to attend.

I did get to meet a Realtree forum member, struttinhoyt. The kid shot his first competitive 3-D tourney and shot a 387(I believe) in the youth division!! Awesome shooting! I think that was good enough for 3rd in the youth division but I'm not sure. He did get a trophy though.

All in all, it was a great tourny. I was extremely pleased with my shooting. And it sure is great to see the kind of turnout at a local tournament.

Now, its: let my back rest another 3 weeks and shoot the MCAA invitational.

[The_Kat]

Congrats Kevin, sounds like I missed out on some fun. See ya the 3rd.

[MCH]

Spent most of this evening getting everything ready for tomorrow. I'm meeting Griz and Roadkill10 at the James Collins WMA near McAlester. Kyle is supposed to be there also, but I have my doubts...

Talked to a couple of landowner's today that have land near a piece of government property that I've been studying. I've got permission to cross their land to reach this "island" of land but was told to hit it early because there was quite a few who didn't have permission that would be getting in there once blackpowder and rifle get here.

I'll be taking my camera tomorrow, so I might get some picks of possible stand sights.

[The_Kat]

lol, come wake me up in the morning, I'm in room 258

[MCH]

I arrived at James Collins at 9:00 on the button. Unfortunately, my scouting buddies didn't...

Griz and Roadkill10 showed up at 9:30 and Kyle finally made it at 9:45.

After comparing my Topo map to the road map provided by the manager of the WMA, we split up into two vehicles for some much needed scouting.

Kyle hopped in the truck with me and we went straight to "Turkey Strut Road" to check out an apparent funnel on the topo.

We parked at a gas well and walked down the gas line about 400 yards. We found a decent setup just inside the woodline. With the gas line leading to another gas well road, we chose two trees that would offer decent shooting lanes with a view of the gas line and would offer us two different options depending upon the wind direction. I had brought some Black Magic Deer Cane with me and we picked a spot adjacent to both trees and made a mineral lick.

Leaving the gas well, we thought we knew where we were going next, but the road map wasn't made to scale... We did find a nice watering hole that would be perfect for a ground blind and we also found a couple of mudholes, one of which my little V6 skirted...

After meeting Mike and Dale at the campgrounds for lunch, we had them follow us to a food plot on "Ash Creek Cutoff Road" for some additional scouting. On the way, I noticed a nice looking wooded section behind another food plot. We pulled in and trudged across the food plot to scout the area. Perfect spot. The terrain was very similar to my home area with tall oaks and open flats. This was surprising since the majority of the WMA was scrub brush and more meant for ladder/hang on stands instead of a climber.

While Kyle, Mike and I worked on another Black Magic lick, Dale walked on ahead and spotted a nice buck that apparently we had jumped from a bedding area.

After leaving the area, we took Mike and Dale mudding down the Ash Creek Cutoff Road..

We also made another mineral lick in a Pine flat just beyond a food plot.

All in all, it was a great day.

We saw 4 deer, including two that ran right across the campgrounds..., and several flocks of turkey. Kyle and I got a few pictures and I should be posting mine sometime this week.

[MCH]

A friend of mine and his two sons dropped by and picked me and Chase up today to do a little scouting.

On the lease road, we spotted a nice 8 pointer running with a basket racked 6 or 8. I took mental note of the area since I've spotted several deer on that particular run. I know its getting late, but I may sneak in there next weekend and see if I can find a suitable stand site that won't require much trimming or disturbing.

On the way back to the house, I glanced out into a field and just caught the image of a group of hogs feeding near the woodline. I hollered for Chuck to turn around and see what they were because I've never seen hogs that South of Little River. After turning around, we drove slowly out of the woodline and saw 5 young coyotes sniffing around about 200 yards off the road. We drove on up to the gate to enter the field. I hopped out and jumped across the gate and used a tree as a prop. I picked out one of the closest coyotes and squeezed a round off. The coyote flinched and sped off into the woodline. I had told Chuck to keep an eye out for dust from the bullet in case I hit low or high but he said he didn't see the bullet hit the ground. The shot felt good and from that distance I'm pretty sure that the .22 wouldn't exactly knock the 'yote off his feet.

When we got home, I called my cousin who owned the land that the coyotes were on and he was glad to hear that I may have gotten one. Apparently, he's taken a few shots at a group of coyotes in the last few months.

[MCH]

Saturday, September 10th, 2005

Rolled out of bed at daylight and headed to the lease to do some scouting during the "cool" hours.

I've been seeing some deer cross the lease road quite regularly and I was wanting to see if I could find a good travel route just off the road that I could easily access in the dark.

Fifty yards from the road, I come across a dry creek bed. I follow it and find several small holes that normally hold water but were dry at this time. The deer tracks in the dry dirt was evident of a decent watering hole. Some tracks went up to three inches deep so I know it holds a decent amount of water.

Anyway, after meandering for about 100 yards, I came to an elbow where the creek turned back east(to my left). Looking ahead, I noticed a tall white oak with a good crop of acorns. Intrigued, I ventured off the creek and walked past the white oak. Less that 20 yards from the elbow, woods opened up for about 15 paces. Standing there, I could identify at least 3 good trails leading into the opening. On the north side of the opening, just past the white oak, I found a nice tall, straight post oak that would be perfect for my summit. There was also a small sapling running up along side the post oak but far enough away to allow a climber. I would, however, have to start climbing, facing away from the opening and then about 15 feet up, begin turning to the south. Twenty five feet would put me at the top of the smaller tree and help break my outline up.

Gotta go.

Will write more later.

[MCH]

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Shot the MCAA Invitational today(last tourney of the year) and did pretty good. On a 28 target course, I shot a 284...good enough for 1st place overall. I was proud of my shooting, just wish I could've scored more X's.

I also made out like a bandit on the Door Prize drawings. I won two items: A Scentlok camo cap and a Bobblehead Buck. Before the drawing, I told everyone that I wanted one of the Bobbleheads and I got lucky...

Well, time to concentrate on deer season.

On a hunting note, I checked my mineral licks out Saturday morning and they're still getting hit hard. Surprising with the drought we're having.

Gameplan for Saturday, October 1st: Morning---hunt the funnell near my Trophy Rock. I've harvest 3 deer from that funnell in the past couple of years and I know deer are using it. Evening---hunt a funnell near the edge of a three year old clearcut, full of briars. The fence surrounding the clearcut is down at the southeast corner and there's a well worn trail leading into the clearcut directly to an old pond that the deer are using for their primary watering hole.

[MCH]

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Well, scratch the water hunting. We got about 4 inches from Rita and now last night, we got 2 inches in less than 30 minutes! Sure, the ground sucked up a lot of it, but the small holes of water that had been dry in the area are now sufficient to water several deer.

The morning hunt is still in effect and I'm debating whether or not to hunt it that evening as well.

I was hoping to get my Primos Bowhunting Vest in the mail today, but it looks like I'll be biting fingernails, praying that it makes it here tomorrow. It always seems that when you're in a rush to get something, the mail takes its sweet time, but when you could care less when you get something, you get it the next day...

[The_Kat]

Hope it stays cool like this. Wouldn't that be a nice season opener.....65 for a high 52 for a low.

[MCH]

Saturday, October 1st, 2005


Got up this morning, checked the weather and saw that there was a storm headed this way. The doppler showed it over Dale and Mike's area, but wouldn't make it here until around 9 or 10 so I decided to venture out.

I've got to have my caffiene in the morning so I went in the kitchen to start some coffee only to find out that the coffee pot was broken! Looked in the icebox for some cold caffiene but all I could find was Sprite..

Giving up on the caffiene, I loaded up and went to my hunting spot.

About 8 o'clock, I started getting a nagging headache, obviously from the lack of caffiene and lack of sleep the night before. Needless to say, my next 3 hours on stand were a nightmare.

Got down at 11 and had to run to Broken Bow with my mother in law to clean a cabin that was pulling double rent duty today. Got through cleaning at 2 and headed back home. Took a scent free shower, put on my T-shirt and lightweight pants and took off again to my hunting spot.

I tell you, if someone is wanting to lose some weight, then they need to go bowhunting in October when the temps are in the 90's. I sweated off about 10 pounds just climbing my tree!

Once up my tree, I put on my Bug Tamer suit and immediately started sweating more. Unfortunately, the mosquitos were so bad that I had to keep it on. I did find a new use for my safety harness.....I used it as an anchor to keep the mosquitos from carrying me off...

Just when I thought it couldn't get worse, the wind that was at my face, switched directions...then it switched again...and again.

Long story short, the only animals I spotted were squirrels and a big boar coon. The coon did make my hunt because when it came in, I could've sworn that it was a deer. The dry leaves caused the sound to reach me while he was still 80 yards out.

Oh well, at least I'm getting to hunt...