The Curse of the WMA

Just a quick update!

    2019 was a pretty good hunting season, for the most part. My trip to West Virginia didn't pan out! Weird weather and a dwindled deer herd because of disease. SO while I had fun I came home empty handed. It all worked out though. I was able to make a visit on my way home and didn't have to worry about deer meat in the cooler.!

   Your right that doesn't sound 'pretty good'. Well I was able to go out a bunch here at home and found a new hunting buddy at church so that's cool! I also broke a long standing cure that has been weighing over me..the WMA curse!

    I finally harvested deer from out local WMA! Not just one but two!

    I have been hunting the WMA for years and usually see deer but something happens that I can't get a shot off or I miss or something. It was kinda disheartening. I love hunting, but sometimes walking miles back into the WMA to come up empty well...sucks! SO this past season I decided to do something a little bit different. I didn't walk for miles.. I actually harvested both deer within in eyesight of the truck!  That's right each time I could see the truck from my spot in the woods. I'm not talking looking through the rifle scope or binoculars either. I'm talking see and read the license plate close! The one deer piled up so close to the truck I didn't even need the cart it was on the path coming into the woods!

    New strategy! Being that close to the truck also let me not have to bring my pack in with me, just my gun, chair and a bottle of water! All the cleaning tools and ropes and drags and survival gear...in the truck!!!

Woot!

Oh My How Time Does Fly!

Here it is May of 2019!

Wow so much time has gone by since last posting here. The kids are gone out of the house, the house has been sold and new one bought, a child married off and a grandbaby born! And still I hunt! Well not as much as I would have liked...

My last post was so long ago...wow how time goes by. Believe it or not I have had much more luck over the past few seasons.

A small buck here at home.

A triple in W.VA, plus a couple more that week.

Trying our luck dove hunting! More like wasting shotgun shells!

a limb hanger!

Buck down on the last day of the hunt.

Not a good weekend for the turkeys!

Not only successes here and there but some great memories and good stories have been made!

One thing I will say about time passing is that as we lose time we also lose some of ourselves too. I have recently been the recipient of not 1, but 2 hearing aids! Yes you heard it (I didn't though). Normal enough as we age but my hearing loss has come a little earlier in life than some, mostly from doing construction work without using hearing protection. Have this condition does make it a bit more uncomfortable while hunting. especially when hunting turkeys. So as  Public Service Announcement--use hearing protection when ever possible, mowing the yard, using power tools and of course on the gun range. Trust me you'll thank yourself later.

2016 the year of the deer!

I know, I know, 2 posts in one day! What is going on?

Well I figured since y'all know about my new Jeep I figured I would give quick update on my hunting exploits. I lust looked back on my posts and saw that I haven't told you about what happened last year!

This happened on public land (not WMA) but still Some respect please! There is a spot not far from my house bordered by a large factory and a railroad that is adjacent to a very busy intersection as well. On Thanksgiving I walked through there and said to myself if I see any kind of sign I'm coming back Saturday. I found a nice rub on a sapling, then another...that was it I was convinced! I found a nice tree for my stand and marked a trail. I got up early Saturday, walked over to the spot and climbed my tree. I dropped a Tink's bomb full of Code Blue from a string below me to act as a cover scent. It actually worked! After about an hour or so a nice 6 pt. came in. But because of the wind and how I had the scent bomb he did not go where he was supposed to! He kept trying to get downwind from the scent. That was putting him behind me and in alot of tight brush. Fortunately he couldn't get through the brush. He made his way within 23 yds. It took him 45 minutes to get there from when I first saw him! I had an awkward angle & BUCK FEVER set in so I shot low! It was AWESOME!!!! I thought I'd be ok to cable & padlock the stand to the tree and come back and try again another day. I went back the next Saturday to try again and.... the welfare mooching, ass hats of society had struck! They took everything not cabled on . It was an old climber with the metal boomerangs, they took both boomerangs, bolts and the thumb nuts, all the quick release pins etc... All for Scrap metal ! Maybe .8o¢ worth !!! Ruined my hunt! I thought with this location my stuff would be safe no houses close, wedged between a factory and railroad tracks, HA! At least I only walk to this spot from the house .... I did get a new Summit climber though! That's a cool story !

Well gotta get back to work. I will up date more on the year of deer. later

If I had a truck

So it's that time again! Time for me to update this never-seen-by-anyone-but-me blog!

As I trudge along through the wilderness of both social media and that of God's green earth I often wonder why?
I post on this blog so infrequently that there is no possibility of anyone reading it. I don't really care that no one seems to see or read these posts. But I do like telling of my adventures and exploits. I try to not become down trodden, I try to keep a positive attitude because I enjoy doing it. Practice, I can call it practice! Some day perhaps I will write a compelling article that a wildlife magazine will pick up and I can inspire others to venture out into the woods. I venture into the woods. Very often thinking, 'This is the day!' Yet I climb back into the truck with out a harvest. But I try to not become down trodden, I try to keep a positive attitude because I enjoy doing it. Practice, I can call it practice! Some day perhaps I will bring home food for the family.

If one or the other (blog or hunting) ever becomes successful..I'll..I'll...well, I really don't know what I'd do.

In the meantime I will just keep on, keeping on. As for this blog, I do have many insights and experiences that I would like to share that are not related to hunting at all, but for now I will keep it pure and only interject when it fits. No sense in rattling on about politics if there is nothing related to it in the story, right?

I made mention about climbing back into the truck earlier and want to segue into that for a moment. Big hunting buddy and little hunting buddy are growing up and moving on! Big buddy is graduating college and engaged to be married. While little buddy is getting ready to graduate high school and has begun driving! So things have been shifting around in our house. We needed to be sure that big buddy had a dependable vehicle since she is so far away (Alabama! Roll Tide!) and her little Ford Ranger that could, well it couldn't anymore! So after a debacle with a Saturn Vue (stay away!) we decided to give her the most dependable vehicle in the fleet...MY TRUCK! which left me without a ride! As the chapters of my life move along, I thought I would take this opportunity to get a toy of sorts. A ride that wasn't necessarily practical but one I could enjoy, something I've never had, maybe a baja VW beetle, a Jeep CJ, an old Toyota 4x4. An old 4x4 that's what I'd search for, something that I could hunt in and wouldn't leave me stuck in the mud! Found one! Gotta love Craigslist!  I bought this, a 1994 Jeep XJ Cherokee,

 with some more shopping on craigslist, a little on ebay, some on amazon and a killer deal from a good friend turned it into this and it suits me!

I know it's hard to tell, but I added a 3" lift kit, 17" wheels of a Dodge Nitro, 245/75 BF Goodrich Rough-Terrain tires, new shocks, wheel spacers, lug nuts, rear main seal, oil pan gasket, trans filter/gasket, water pump, tstat, new hoses, distributor, plugs, wires, valve cover gasket, oil filter adapter gasket, climate controls, blower motor, driver seat, armrest console, dash lights and on and on. It took about a month of working on it in the evenings, countless trips to the junkyard, O'Reilly's AutoZone and Harbor Freight! Oh and I am not an auto mechanic by any stretch. I was able to combine things I learned from my father, my schooling, my friends and believe it or not the internet (YouTube). It is still a work in progress, much like my blog and my hunting career. I am sure that if  I use all the resources I have, just like with my Jeep, I will be able to write my blog, to suit me and hunt in a way that suits me too!

Thanks for tuning in!

April fool!

That's me !

Been waiting and prepping for opening day of turkey season . Got packed last night and up early today today to get under the fly down. Scouted last week and was positive it was going to be a turkey killing morning.

It takes an hour and 15 minutes to get to my spot...45 minutes into the trip and I realized my shotgun was in the garage and not in the truck !
Pranked myself . Made an April Fool of myself!

Success!!!

At Last Food For The Family!

To say this has been a crazy hunting season would be an understatement. Basically my first full hunting season without my mentor. I have been doing my best to hunt when and where I can but for the most part I have been coming up empty.

I have found a new friend and hunting companion in a man we call Doc. Doc has a bunch of land with a bunch of stands and a bunch of deer! Doc is a hunter! He has hunted most everywhere on the planet and has trophy upon trophy. Big game and exotic, he is an accomplished hunter and has taken several very large deer off of the land he lets me hunt with him.

Just last week I had a chance to hunt with little hunting buddy. It was the first time that she was going to be able to use her new Savage 25.06 rifle. We planned an afternoon hunt. We got up in a stand about 3:15pm and settled in. My only hope for the hunt was to at least see some deer even if they did not come into range, this is something that she had never experienced, seeing deer while hunting. At about 3:30 we heard a shot from a stand to our southeast. A welcome sound to tell us the deer were out and moving around.

Around 4:15 or so I hear "daddy, daddy, daddy! I see something small on the edge of the woods." I was looking forward over an area that looked like prime bedding area hoping something would stand up. But she saw her first deer while hunting! It was a good day! It was a fawn. We watched for a moment or two then I hear. "Daddy, daddy, daddy! I see another one!" It just keeps getting better! It was momma deer. We watched her for a few moments and discussed when she should take the shot. Momma deer gets into position..... Little hunting buddy gets into position....

BOOM!

Momma deer acts hit and heads into the woods where she came from. What excitement hits the stand! I can't describe it it is one you need to experience. So we celebrate a little then settle down after all there is plenty of shooting light left and I haven't pulled the trigger. In a very brief time I here crunching in the leaves behind us so does Little Hunting Buddy. I turn and see another doe coming in behind us. Unfortunately neither one of us can turn around to make the shot. 3 deer seen one shot at! What a great day. Wait what's that across the way? Rifle up scope set yes another deer maybe 175yds away moving through a field...into the woods..awww no chance at a shot. But that makes 4 deer! After about 45 minutes we get down and find some blood. As you know by now I am not the best tracker on the planet so....let's get the dog! Yes there is a dog that can find deer on the property

After a short time of looking Doc with the dog us with another awesome hunter it is over. We are following a great blood trail but Doc and the dog are on a scent trail and he hollers out "got it, hey that's a great doe!" She turned to me at those words and the joy in her face was something I wish everyone could experience. Here an accomplished big game hunter calls all for all to hear "great doe" in recognition of my 16 year-old's first deer ever! It doesn't get any better than this!

Possibly the Worst Hunter Ever

THAT'S RIGHT YOU READ IT HERE: WORST HUNTER EVER STRIKES AGAIN!

It's with a sad heart that I write this entry today. While this morning started out wonderfully enough things change as time progressed. I took the opportunity to go rifle hunting in the big woods this morning. Hoping that I could harvest a deer and be home by lunch and go to work for the later half of the day.

I programmed the coffee pot, my wife prepared my clothes and I packed my lunch last night so I could hit the ground running this morning. Coffee brewed, alarm clock rang. I was up, ate breakfast and on the road by 5:24am. I was going by myself so there was no need to hurry. I had planned on using my good friend's sweet spot, (he has taken 8 deer out of that spot). I pulled up to the gate and no one else was there I had the whole woods to myself. It was still a bit dark but by the time I got everything situated the sun started rising. It is about a mile to the sweet spot from the gate so when I got down there I could see without my headlamp. I stowed my deer hauler and went to find "the spot". I missed it. But I found a spot that was sort of open and set up my stool. I was next to a brook so hearing anything was out of the question. I had a good view across the brook and up and down my side of it so I felt good about things. Then I started questioning myself and my spot. Then I reassured myself that I was good. I had some decent woods behind me so I tried to check there every now and again. Which was a wise thing. I happened to look back and saw a buck coming my way. He was digging his nose in the ground as he came so I had a chance to get up and turn around without him seeing me. I found him in my rifle sight, he lifted his head and BOOM!!!! He jumped and did a kick like a rodeo horse! Then he staggered around a little while. I thought about shooting him again. (note to self shoot 2x if needed) He got behind a big try and I could see him swaying back and forth, back and forth he looked like he was going to fall over any second.....Then he gets a second breath and bounds off boing, boing, boing.............

So I 'm thinking AWESOME I FINALLY SMOKED A BUCK!!!!!! I take my time gathering stuff together. Not too much. He did not fall over so I was thinking I may have to put another bullet in him. I go to where he was standing..Blood! Yeah! I follow as far as it goes, basically to his bounding spot. I see some footprints ahead but no blood..... Long story short! For over three hours I roam the woods making half circles out from the last blood spot, busting through thickets and underbrush, every once in awhile I smell the musky, wet dog smell that deer have and it turns out to be a scrape. Then another scrape more foot prints, no blood.

I finally had to give-up. I was so discouraged I felt like crying. We see deer on the side of the road all the time and feel no remorse but I inflicted a mortal wound and was unable to harvest the bounty of the hunt! It is an interesting emotional whirlwind.

So, yes, I am officially the worst hunter ever! It surprises me how much I enjoy hunting even though I have little to no return on investment. I spend hours and dollars on an activity that can bring dividends. Other activities like golf, you invest time and money and there is no reward. Sure your skills get better but unless you go pro there is only time and money spent. At least with hunting the reward of a harvested animal puts food on the table. Yet, alas, I am no good; if this were another activity and I failed this miserably I would hang it up and move on, yet...I am looking forward to this weekend and going out again..To The Hunt!