MCH's 2004 Journal

[MCH]

Opening Day:

Hunted for 4 1/2 hours that morning and it rained 3 of em. Didn't see nothing.

That evening on my way into the woods I walked up on a bedded 8 pointer. As soon as I spotted him 60 yards out, he turned my way. After about 10 seconds, he jumped up and took off. I dropped my Summit Viper, knocked an arrow, and tried grunting him back. But I guess he had gotten a pretty good look at me.

October 2nd:

Hunted 5 hours that morning. At around 8, a coyote came in. At 20 yards, when I was just about to whistle, he stopped broadside looking away from me. I let her fly. My TRX driven Spitfire hit him right in the boiler room. He let out a yelp and tried to snap at what had just blew threw him, but all he got was wind.

At 10:30, I got down and found my arrow stuck in the ground at a 45 degree angle. Perfect double lung shot. He ran over a 100 yards with hardly any blood trail. They're quick!

That evening, I jumped a doe on my way to the stand at 2:30. She wasn't bedded so I assumed she was heading to the waterhole.

At about 5:30 another doe(or maybe the same one) skirted my stand, 40 yards out, behind some thick brush. No shot.

October 3rd:

A buddy of mine, Brock, came down and hunted both the morning and evening with me. I got skunked both hunts. When Brock was walking in with his pen light on his cap he spotted eyes at about 40 yards. Not sure what it was, but it wasn't scared of him! That evening he judged a coyote to be 40 yds out and took the shot only to step it off at 55 yards.

Before the hunts I had told him to drop any coyote he sees. We're overrun with them down here since Tyson has stopped chicken farmers from dumping their dead chickens. They get so hungry that they'll try to break in a dogpen.

[The_Kat]

You bad Kev, You bad!!!! Shall we call you CoyoteKillingCountyHunter???

[MCH]

October 10th

Got on the stand at 1:00 p.m. At 6:00 a deer started blowing. Not sure whether he winded me or caught my scent trail from entering the woods. It almost made me sick.

One good thing came from it though. I re-evalutated my scent control. Previously, I controlled my scent by: Taking scent free shower(soap and shampoo), washing clothes(including drying towels for showers) in scent free detergent and fresh earth dryer sheets, then putting them in a plastic ziplock bag, spraying down with CarbonBlast, and wearing rubber boots(if possible, I step in fresh cows***).

Since this experience I have added a few items: I hand-washed my year-old backpack in scent free detergent, I have retreived an old bed sheet, washed it in scent free detergent and plan on using it to cover my truck seat before driving to my hunting spot, and finally I purchased some Stealth Dust from Knight and Hale and I plan on dusting the inside of my boots before each outing.

We'll see how it goes now.

[The_Kat]

I can help ya take care of two of those items. First off, go to wal-mart and buy one of those carbon scent free bags. Wash your clothes in your soap and stuff, and after the dryer put them directly into the bag wearing rubber gloves.

Second, instead of buying dust, wear your pants down over your rubber boots. Every time you step, it causes scent to "poof" if you you will, out of it. Covering the top of it prevents this.

3rd, Don't dress at home or in the truck. Take that bag with you and take your clothes out and lay them onm the ground AWAY from the truck. Dress AWAY from the truck. See everything your camo touches while away from the truck is natural to the deer, so it won't spook them.

4th, When your done hunting for the evening, undress from your camo away from the truck, place it in the bag, and go home. If you sweat any at all, rewash your camo. Trust me it works!


Good luck!

[MCH]

YB...reread my post. I mentioned that I did those things "previously". Trust me, I try to think of everything when it comes to scent control. Didn't realize the boot thing until watching "Dream Season". My boots don't fit under my tight-legged camo pants, that's why I bought some Stealth Dust.

October 23rd

At 8:30 a.m. an 8 point made its way 50 yards from my stand. It's legal to hunt deer with a muzzleloader now, but I decided to use my bow instead since I haven't harvested one with it yet. It's beginning to look like a mistake. 30 minutes later a spike came down the same trail. Either one would have been a chip shot with the blackpowder.

October 30, 31

Went out morning and evening yesterday but didn't see anything.

Rain kept me in bed this morning. Looks like its clearing up so maybe I can make it out this evening.

[The_Kat]

Dream on buddy. The entire state is under 90% chance this afternoon! When will it stop?

[MCH]

November 3rd, 2004

Took off work to take advantage of the lower temperatures. Got on the stand at 6:00. Rain started at 6:01. At 8:00 the rain stopped. Wind started blowing at 8:01. At 8:05, I seriously considered getting down, but I hung in.

At 9:15, I saw what appeared to be a deer moving through some thick brush. I stood up, readying for full draw. When the deer was 50 yards out, I saw the spikes. I'm a meat-eater first, horn hunter second. At 7 yards, I whistle, the buck stops, and my NAP Spitfire hits its mark.

The blood trail looked like someone had poured buckets of red paint onto the ground. The buck ran less than fifty yards.

Meat in the freezer and at least 4 more tags to fill. You just gotta love life...

[MCH]

This morning was the first hunt in my four day weekend. Work was closed for Veteren's Day and I asked for Friday off, too.

Nov. 11 Morning

I wanted to give my honey hole a rest after harvesting the spike, so I hunted a bottle-neck right at the corner of our property. A hardwood forest narrows down between a pine plantation and our back meadow. There is also a creek running along our fenceline. I was set-up on a dry section of the creek bed. Wind was gusting from the West. Right after daylight, I noticed a fresh rub shining about 35 yards out. It was right next to a pine tree that I had put one of my friends up in. Back then, there was no sign in that area at all. The bucks are starting to cruise the area.

Didn't see anything all morning. I got down at 10:00 to scout some of my neighbor's land across the street. He told me that there should be some good ground by some ponds. Found a few rubs and a couple scrapes. May put a ladder stand up, not sure.

November 11th Evening

Saw Mr. Bigboy tonight. He chased a doe about 60 yards from my stand at 4:00. Biggest deer I've ever seen in the woods. He'd score 130 with ease. At least a 25 inch spread. Wind was gusting up to 30 mph(at least felt like it). Temps were dropping and I had almost talked myself into climbing down. Instead, after seeing him, I stayed until dark.

November 12th Morning

Before first light, I caught the outline of what appeared to be my dog. He put his head to the ground and suddenly a white flag appeared in front of him! It was Mr. Bigboy and his breeding buddy. I stayed on stand from 5:45 until 10:00 but nothing else came by.

November 12th Evening

Moved my stand to within 20 yards of the trail BB and his doe had been traveling. At 4:30, I heard something moving through the leaves straight in front of me. After a couple of minutes, I spotted two turkeys about 50 yards out milling around a tree. They were walking parrallel to me. I counted at least 18. No deer.

November 13th Morning

Got on stand before 6:00. At 7:00, I spot a decent buck making his way towards my stand. I had left my glasses at home because they had been fogging up on me real bad. I'm near-sighted so I can't make things out far away, or I might have passed up on this buck. The side of his rack facing me, looked to be a perfect 4. So when he walked across my shooting lane at 20 yards, I let my Spitfire tipped Beman fly. The buck high kicked and ran 10 yards. He stopped, looked back, stomped his foot and swished his tail. My heart dropped, I thought I had missed! I knocked another arrow, since the buck was only 30 yards out. But then he took a step and stumbled! Then down he went. He expired less than 40 yards from my stand. Easy blood trail!

I decided to sit on the stand a little longer since it was so early. About 10 minutes later, a small fork horn made his way about 50 yards from my stand.(10 yards on the other side of my buck). Once he got about 80 yards away, I hit the grunt call a couple of times. The forkhorn doubled back and walked into a shooting lane 20 yards away. Stopped broadside looking around. He slowly made his way downwind and instead of winding me, he winded my bowkill.

He doubled back again and came right under my stand. Walked over to my arrow sticking out of the ground and gave it a good sniff. He followed the blood trail a couple of yards but then lost interest and walked off.

I got down and drug the buck to my fenceline. After gutting him and taking him to the check station it was only 8:45.(105 lbs-7 point) I skinned him and had him quartered by 9:30. Short...great day.

I actually got to sleep until 8:00 this morning. First time since October 1st.

Did make it to town to buy my rifle buck tag and another archery tag. But that will be my last buck with a bow. I can still tag two does though.

[MCH]

November 20th, 2004

Hunted the morning without a sighting. I got home at 10:30 and a buddy of mine called. He needed help dragging one out. We had to drag it 100 feet up a rocky cliff! Took us 45 minutes to make it 100 feet!!! Nice buck, though. Tall racked 8, field dressed at 130.

Another friend of mine called and wanted to hunt the lease with me that evening. He brought his two kids, ages 9 and 6.

We parked on an old logging road and he took his kids to the south to hunt a recently thinned pine cut. I took my climber down the logging to road to a spot overlooking a thin young pine cut.

At 5:00, I spotted a deer body 30 yards to my right. It appeared to be an older deer so I pulled the hammer on my 30/30 and zeroed in on him. When he walked out, I was disappointed! He was an older deer, but his rack was a small non-typical. The right side was a off-kiltered spike and the left side was long fork. This definitely wasn't a deer I wanted breeding on my lease. Coupled with the fact that my friend's boys and not been deerhunting before, I decided to cull the buck. He stopped slightly quartering away at 10 yards and I zeroed in on him for a heart shot. Perfect shot! The buck ran 20 yards and dropped dead.

The kids got to experience their first deer harvest. From dragging to gutting to checking in to skinning. They had a blast. I asked the oldest if he liked deerhunting. He said yes except for the sitting still part. And he didn't like it when him and his daddy went hunting with a friend and they split up and the friend killed a deer..... He said next time he's going with me....

[MCH]

bump