Last coon hunt of '08

And I finally have something to write about. Went out for some coon callin' yesterday before the bad weather moved in. Hunted for around an hour, saw one set of eyes that just would not leave the tree, when my caller started acting up. My foxpro sounded like a bad record, it started popping and skipping real bad, at first I thought it was just the recording I put on it. After I tried some of the other sounds that came on the caller I realized my batteries were going dead. So into "town" I go to get some new batteries,of course town only has 2 gas stations and one of them is closed. The one that's open had one pack of D, C, AAA, and of course a flat battery but no AA of which I need 4. So off to the bigger town I go and after 20 miles and $5.00 I'm back in business. I went out to the same tree to try and pull the coon out far enough for a shot , and I got nothing he didn't even look out to see what the problem was. So I went to the edge of the forest where it drops off to a creek bed and goes back up on the other side to some more forest , set up my caller and started calling. These sounds are the best I've ever used and after about 3 min I heard a coon coming in. After a little searching with the light and a brief wait he was clear enough for a shot at 5 yds. The shot put him down, I probably would've given it a follow up shot however my gun is not operating properly and is going to be shipped back to Remington yet again at the end of coon season-(do not buy a 597!)- . Anyway I got one coon and fit in one more stand before the weather got too bad. I'm going out New Year's day after work and if it's a nice day I might try to get some Video. Wish me luck. As I wish you a happy New Year!

The long hard road of a dedicated hunter

Well yesterday started with a duck hunt, not an average duck hunt but a sled in duck hunt. You see the reservoir I usually hunt has been froze over for a while so I got a spot down from the dam that I have permission to hunt. So I hauled all my gear down there set up and only saw 2 quackers. The weather didn't really want to work with me, it kept snowing all morning making my dekes snow piles. So I pulled 'em and headed in and of course then the sun pops out, but I already had it in my mind I was going Pheasant hunting when I got home. So I put all my duck hunting gear away and got ready to go Pheasant hunting. I got to the prop around 1:00 and with the fresh snow that morning my plan was simple cut a track and follow it. Apparently yesterday was skip work and go pheasant hunting day, I saw 6 trucks at the first spot I wanted to hit so I went down the road a little further and started walking. I cut a track and followed it for at least an hour and a half to no avail. So I got back in the car and took off for another section I've shot birds at. There were tracks everywhere so I just stared pushing small sections of cover, going real slow, changing directions often, and stopping alot. Nothing, not even a rabbit. It was starting to get late by now and just when I almost ran out of options I heard a rally call. A cock was getting ready to roost and looking for company, so I took off towards the sound and let me tell ya he just wouldn't shut up which was good for me. I had to cross a ravine and two small sections of cover but finally got close enough to almost see the bird (of so I thought). Then he just shut up so I did what I thought was my best option and rushed the bird. Nothing no bird, so I started running through this postage stamp of cover trying to flush him out. Sure am glad nobody saw the orange idiot running through the tall grass. Then just when I was ready to give up I saw him about 5 feet from me at the base of a small tree. Well after working this hard all day I was going to go for the ground pound and right now I wish I could've accomplished that. What happened instead was he saw me and took off I unleashed the fury of my mossberg. What fell to the ground was more hamburger than my prized pheasant.
Yes I took him home, yes I surgically removed all the bad stuff and saved what I could. I'll be making some pheasant soup today and now the meat is practically all cut up.
So I had a good day yesterday only to be screwed by today. Today was supposed to rain all day and as I write this looking outside on this bluebird day I just gotta wonder how many quackers I coulda had this morning?

so much hunting so little time

Well got out last week and shot this mallard flying right at me, going over my head. He fell on land behind me, when I got out of the boat to get him I turned to see a woodie dropping into my spread. So as stealthily as I could I snuck back to my boat, loaded my gun, jumped the woodie up and dropped him down. Did not see 1 goose all day.

Yesterday got out for some coon hunting. I stared at 2pm and hunted til 9:30. These are the lessons I learned #1. Always be ready. On my 5th or 6th set of seeing nothing I got set up, started the caller, and had 2 sets of eyes come screaming at me . Which brings us to #2. When calling at night and using long shooting sticks always have your aim low. I had set up and have never had coons respond the way they did last night. So I was set to shoot into the tree tops not at the 2 grizzlies coming right at me. The closest coon actually climbed the small tree I had put my call in lookin for a fight. I could not get my light and sights on them in sync and in time to shoot . Now with these two lessons fresh in my mind, on the 2nd set after this circus I set up on a coon trail, put the caller in front of me and let her rip. I heard this coon coming before I ever saw her eyes, she sounded like a truck crashing through the leaves coming at me. Had the light on her put her in the crosshairs and ....... coonzirra

Now this morning did some qwacker control on the river dropped a nice mallard. Had a ton of geese overhead, this one got too low I shot ... crap the goose didn't drop so I watched him and I could see he was goin down. So I did what any responsible hunter would do and went after him. To make a long story shorter I found him about 2 blocks from where I shot him at, on a pond that I had tried to get permission to hunt last year. So I went up to the guys house told his wife, I shot and wounded the goose on their pond, and could I go get it? She actually looked at me and said "well why did you shoot that goose?" I said the only thing that came to mind "cause it's goose season". Well she hymned and hawed around, finally got her husband and after letting him know the whole story he let me go get the goose.

By the way for those of you eagle eyed enough that's a mink I shot this morning on my duck hunt.

Just one more thought: If I could remember how crappy it is to pluck a Turkey before I shoot one, I would stay home and just buy one. But we all know that will never happen.

My vacation so far

Well went out Tuesday and Wednesday trying to get a couple coon. Wednesday was the day, set up on a tree started the player and out popped a head. Shot that one, walked around the tree to see the hole better and had another in the tree. He poked his head up and took him. Fortunately they both popped out of the tree. Made a deal with myself after the 2nd coon, I'm not going to shoot unless the coon is at least half way out of the tree. On the next stand this practice was put to the test had a coon pop his head out but would not commit to leaving the den. All in all called 4 coon today and got 2.




as soon as the weather gets better (no rain) I'll try to get some video, it's a pretty cool way to coon hunt.

Official recap of last week

It all started last Sunday I worked from 6 am til 2:30 pm rushed home so I could still hunt that afternoon. Well I went out and had a 8 point buck walk under the stand that I was not in. I also saw 2 yotes. I decided to hunt the next morning and assumed my wife had set the alarm. She did not , I know what your thinkin' ( why can't he set his own alarm???) well you see this is the way it is at my house. I am not allowed to set my alarm because I have it set to the radio and it's VERY loud and since when I get up I wake her anyway she thought it would just be better if she used her alarm. Enough said back to the problem she forgot to set the alarm so I missed going out Mon. morning. I worked from 2:30 pm til 11:00 pm Mon. night got home got some sleep got up Tues. morning in time to get out for some duck hunting. Got my first Wigeon and a nice mallard drake.

Now it had started raining and getting really

windy so I didn't go out deer hunting Tues. night.

However come Wed. morning I was back out on

the water after the qwackers. That's when I picked up this little girl.

Now were getting to the fun stuff- Wed. night I went out for a nice deer hunt.

I was in my second deer stand and was unsure as to whether or not to stay, because they were actually harvesting the corn while I was trying to hunt. I ended up staying and glad I did, after only 2 hours in my stand I noticed a corn stalk not moving the same way as the wind. I got my binoculars out and saw I had a buck eating some corn. I kept a close eye on him cause it was pretty hard to see him through the corn. He started moving away from me and stopped and started eating again. After 10 min. he was finally turned around and coming my way. I waited for the perfect moment and drew back...... he stopped and started eating again with only 3 feet to go to clear the corn thus giving me a clear shot. I let down and waited, finally he started towards the edge of the corn I drew back touched off the release he bucked and bolted. He only ran 20 yrds. and dropped in the first row of the corn

Well I didn't get any film of the hunt but this is after the hunt.

So with the first phase of my plan complete we drug the deer up towards my first stand so I could gut him and thus leave some bait for the yotes. Well this plan almost worked too good and I'll let the video show why.
I got this guy right over where the gut pile had been this was the second yote I shot at this morning, but he didn't get away

The past week and the last two days

Gloom, Despair and agony poor me. Yep sure seems like the deer know my game plan, last week my schedule looked like this-Sat. and Sun. work mornings, deer hunt from 3:30 pm to 1/2 hour after sunset. Deer hunt Mon. morning work Mon. at 2:30pm til 11:00. Tues. and Wed. off hunt both days mornings and evenings for deer. Thurs. hunt morning for deer work 1pm til 9:30. Fri. work 6am til 2:30 deer hunt 3:30 til sunset. Whew I'm whooped. Now I've seen a number of deer and yotes and nothing has given me a shot opportunity.

Yeah I know I said I was going to stop when Duck season came in, just couldn't do it really need to stick a deer. So no yote huntin' til I get a deer.

This was MY opening morning Duck hunt (yesterday)

Goose isn't in right now.

Which leads me to the reason behind the intro- I've got 2 stands 75-100 yrds apart. Well for the most part I always hunt out of stand #1, waiting for a NW wind to hunt stand #2. Well I've hunted that stand only twice this year. I watch deer come and go at that location on a daily basis. The second time this year I've hunted that stand was last nite. I was sooo happy to finally get to hunt this stand that I was practically giddy....... until I watched a 10 point walk practically underneath stand #1. Yep if I would've been in my #1 stand I would've been done deer hunting and had a great deer.

If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all. Gloom, despair, and agony poor me.

This is my second day of Duck hunting

Goose is still not open

Isn't this the way it always goes?

Well I was able to scratch out a couple ducks today. 1 woody, 1 ringneck, and 1 drakemallardpintailhen.

Long time no see

Well, bow season is now in full swing.I haven't been on here because I've been hunting. I know my thousands of readers are chomping at the bit for this installment so let me clue you in to what has been happening.
Nothing.... I've been out 6 times seen deer all but one time. I've seen the buck I want to shoot twice, he just didn't cross close enough.
The bad/good thing is duck season starts here on the 18th. I would much rather duck hunt than deer hunt so, I've already cleared it with my wife that I'm going to start duck hunting with or without a deer by the 18th. Now the other problem is every time I've been out I've seen at least 2 yotes which is good and bad. Good because I have yotes using the property everyday, bad because I have yotes using the property everyday. I know this is why I haven't been seeing the numbers of deer I have in the past. There has always been yotes out there they just haven't called the property home before this year. They really need some thinning out. So that's what I'll be doing during duck season. Hopefully I'll be able to get a deer during muzzleloader season, at least that's the game plan right now.

Things that make you go ...Dumbass

I knew from the beginning that I should just stay at home today. Checked the weather and the wind was from the wrong direction.My nice cool weather had left for warmer days and to top it all off it was supposed to start raining. I hate hunting in the rain.

So even though I had all this stacked against me I decided to go anyway, cause I'm just not that bright. Got out to the field to walk in and there was a deer milling around just about under my stand.If I could've just gotten there an hour earlier .......... Even though it was just a yearling she still would've put meat in the freezer and gotten me off the snide. I waited for the deer to go into the woods on the other side of the field before entering the field, then I practically ran to my stand and got ready for the action that I was sure was going to happen at any moment....... 5 hrs later the action started.

The first fur I saw after the yearling was a coyote. He was crossing in front of me about 50 yrds away so I thought to myself might as well shoot something and he'll do. So I started making kissing noises with my lips to get him to come closer for the shot, he just looked around. Then he went into the treeline,I kissed again and he came back out and looked around again. When he went back into the woods for the second time I noticed a black spot in my peripheral vision. I slowly turned my head thinking it was another yote, and....... nope there's a mid-sized doe looking at me wondering why I'm kissing the air. Well to make a really long story shorter, she took off, the yote disappeared and I was left to mull over what had just transpired.

Something just moved at the top of the field, get out my binos and see it's another yote. I put my binos away put my release on my loop and .........crap the yote I was kissing at just saw me move. He was coming up the other side of the fence row by the corn and bolted. In the mean time the other yote had vanished, and the deer are nowhere to be seen.

So here I sit at home deer less,yote less, and slightly damp thinkin'.........I had a great day, glad I went out.

fresh paint

been thinkin bout doin this for a while just had a hard time justifying it. my shotgun was not cheap but finally talked myself into it. I have to seal it yet but I think it turned out pretty good. Sorry bout the bad pic.

At long last it has arrived

Yep today was the first day of bow season. The morning sun found me sitting in my deer stand watching everything come to life.
I had a great day, the sky didn't pee on me and the sun didn't roast me. I saw 4 deer, 3 of which were bucks. They stayed far enough away from me as to not become supper in the near future. I watched around 3 billion geese come and go all day ... now that might be a slight exaggeration but I saw alot of geese. I also watched at least 6 coyotes cross in front of me. They were closer than the deer but they were still 100 yrds out.
No shots, no meat still had a great day and as soon as I stick a deer I'm going to head back out to thin the yote herd that seems to be growing wild out there.

tuning up

Well I've been gettin out doing some shooting with deer season only 2 days away. And I've found a problem not in my stance or form but I think the Video will do the talking.
I'm good at talking :)

Last fishing trip of the year

Well it was the last fishing trip of the year, and even though I didn't catch anything it was a great time/day. I went up to LM in the car because the new fishfinder is not on the boat yet. I got up there at 2ish (pm). Started talking to a couple guys (older) who were also from Fort Wayne. The way they were talking they had fished up there before, but had not caught anything. The older of the two come to find out only had vision in one eye that's why he gave up golf. So fishin' was alot easier for him. The whole time I was talking to them the more I realized the older guy Loves to fish. He just kept casting, he didn't sit down, he didn't stop to get a drink he just fished.
I just kept wishin' to myself that he could catch a nice king. At least an hour went by and finally the younger of the two hooked into one, I grabbed the net and ran down to them. On the way down to them I noticed the younger one trying to give his pole to the older guy. I took the older guys pole while he took the pole with the fish on it, then I landed the fish. I wish I could put into words how happy they were. Anyway like I said I didn't catch a fish but my wish was granted anyway.
Well time to put the poles up and get the guns and bows down, so I probably won't have a new post until deer seson starts on Oct. 1 so until then : take some time and do something nice for someone you don't know it could be the best thing to happen to you all day.

Last day early goose season

Got out this morning for the last day of goose hoping to get a couple. It sure was a great morning mostly sunny w/some clouds.

Well I set up in the middle of the river tied off to a log. Shot 3 of my geese then was waiting for a couple more and started to get the feeling like I was moving. Didn't think too much of it because I'm on a river and just thought it was my mind playin' tricks on me. Well the dekes I set out in front of the boat were slowly starting to get tight to the log I was tied off on.

Crap, I'm moving with the wind tied to the log trying to mow down my deke's. So I jump out put my dekes on the upwind side of the log, help the log move out of my spread without taking any of my deke's with it. Get back to the boat post it out so I can keep hunting and .....did you hear a goose? yep that's a goose started calling and brought the 5 pack close enough for me to hit one of them (saw the feathers fly) but didn't drop him. They flew out 2-250 yrds and came back . By this time I was back in the boat and ready, dropped one on the first shot then concentrated on the cripple. He also went down so I untied the boat collected my geese, picked up my deke's and went home with what????? Yep Limit

MMMMMMMM geese

By the way I'm still sick

Well got out today for some dove hunting. Boy do they learn quick only saw 21 and shot 3. However I really didn't stay out too long because as of yesterday morning I've officially got a cold. So I'm home right now trying to get rid of it as quickly as I can.
I've only got 2 more days to goose hunt for early season and one of them is tomorrow so wish me luck at getting well.

Finally got out this morning for a goose hunt and low and behold I got 2. Here's the pic
Now some of you more clever hawk-eye hunters are saying to yourself right now: Self - those ain't geese.

You would be correct in my haste to get out to the dove field today I neglected to get pics of the geese. However these doves decided to stand in for them. Hunted the first half for geese-2 and the second for dove-2. Still seeing alot of dove but they definitely know whats going on now.

With Sept. comes the new season lets go hunting

Yep tried Tues for some geese to no avail they just flew by laughing at me, nobody wanted to play. So I went to the dove fields for some shooting , had two great hunts, got 12 yesterday and 7 today.

Only took one pic this was yesterday. Really hopin' I can get out next week and put some geese in the freezer.

Talked to some guys from MI today, when I went back to the car to get my camera. Come to find out they have come down here every year since the legislators took away dove hunting up there.

How is it in the great USA, that people with more time than sense can decide what it is that I either need or don't need????? Why can't people just leave others alone, to do what they will as long as they aren't hurting anyone else?????

Don't let ANYONE take away ANY of your rights because someday they will take away a right you do care about.

Trust me our rights are eroding little by little- seatbelt laws,smoking laws,helmet laws, whether good or bad these are our rights and should be protected as such.

Alright enough politics for now.

Hunt hard, Have fun, Enjoy what you've got, it can be taken away.

Dedicated to my wife and my aunt nae nae

This blog is going to be dedicated to Hunting, Fishing and the great outdoors. You'll see the years pics and video.
I'll be telling the story, so just sit back relax and prepare to see the world through my eye's.
Coming soon with the start of the Hunting season Sept. 1