jeezticals
Next Year
Another deer season comes to a close and all I can think about is kicking it off again mid September for youth season. Yeah I shed hunt, turkey hunt and get quite a bit of fishing and camping (BEER) accomplished, but the deer hunting thought process never seems to stop, as many of you can relate. This past year has been pretty tough for me hunting wise and I have seen some strange deer activity as well as less in numbers. Never have I seen such a late rut and then also heard about and experienced such early shedding. I guess that's just mother nature making things unpredictable as usual. I normally don't leave blogs Whitetail.com, but my good friend and hero BLAKE enticed me to write about my latest experiences. So I hope some will enjoy.
Spring of 2010 wasn't very exciting for me. I did more shed hunting than usual and found a few sheds, nothing extravagant. My luck with trail cams was somewhere around, lets say, majorly suck. I seem to have luck every other year with my cams. Don't know why, just seems that it has worked against me for approximately five years. I planted a new food plot using roundup corn and also a turnip plot which I will touch on more later. September rolls around and I am very excited to take my nine year old son out for youth season. Unfortunately as they get older the activities they participate in become more often. It just seemed that every free moment he had I was working, and working 12 hour shifts that seems to be all that gets done is working for the man. We went out a few times with very little luck. The temps were hot and it was just hard for me to get motivated to be carried off by mosquitoes. So, since the DNR allows me to take him out through the other seasons, I just bided my time (by the way, I wish they would allow extended time for turkey season.) During the youth season I had bumped into some highly successful deer management land owners that I know and started talking about the upcoming bow season. They were telling me about an elevated deer blind they were in the process of constructing. I stopped by their garage and they showed me what they were building. I thought that is something that I could do, so I did. They also got me onto a late turnip seed. So I thought it would be a good idea to rough up a spot where I plan on putting the blind and have a plot below it. This is were the first accident occurs. While discing up the sod, I was going down a fairly steep grade in the 1066 with a 17 ft disc. I was following the contour of the hill and the left rear tire hit a hidden log. That tire gets in the air making me feel like I was going over. When the wheel came down I got slammed back into the seat and then stepped on the clutch to stop, and stop I did. Since the implement was still in the ground it was stop right now. Forward I go forehead right into the planter monitor hanging from the ceiling. Only a shallow cut, but man it stung. So now it was time to start building. I am not a carpenter, so it was slow going and wondered if it would actually be safe to be in the air eight plus feet. I constructed the platform at my home and then erected the walls and roof at my hunting spot. That's when I began to wonder if this blind was in God's plans for me. The only wind that would effect the stability of my blind would be from the east. And really, how many straight line strong due east windy days do we really get in Iowa. Apparently all it takes is one. I go back out to paint and there she is, blown over to the west up hill no less. I got the trusty 1066 out and used the loader to get my structure back up, which took approximately two hours. Then some minor rebuilding took place. So, here it is ready to paint but it will have to wait til another day. And that day came. One I would like to forget. As I was setting out my paint supplies, I was acting extremely arrogant knowing that my blind was still up ( thanks to cables and anchors ) and I was going to complete my task this fine day. Then there it was. That three inch screw protruding through that nasty 2x4. As I was walking, paint tray in hand full of paint, I took an arrogant step right down on that screw. Shoved it right threw my boot and into the ball of my left foot. Ouch, it hurt. Paint went flying and swear words were yelled. I looked at my predicament and began feeling faint. I had a gap about one inch wide between the bottom of my boot and the 2x4. The fencing cutters were here somewhere. Yeah, eight feet in the air in the blind. I got up and attempted to climb the ladder. Didn't happen. the board was about 30 inches long and the screw was about six inches from one end, so to say the least it wasn't balanced well when it was off the ground. There's that faintness again. I called a neighbor and about five minutes went by and he and his farmhand showed up to help. I had him cut the screw with the cutters to at least get some weight off of it. Then, what a great idea, hey Matt, get on that screw with some pliers and back it out. Things then got really fuzzy and the next thing I new I was in my truck as a passenger on my way to the hospital. That's where people got very interested in my problem and couldn't wait to see what the Dr. was going to do. In the end, I was drugged up and got goofy and Doc got a very special surgical instrument, vice grips from a paramedic's truck, and yanked it out. See the pic of my x-ray below. The next day I finished painting the blind and thought two things: either God is telling me to not do this in an inhumane way or God is testing my internal fortitude to see if I finish this and then pound a monster buck on this spot. Well, its first muzzle loader and my son and I go out some more. A lot of the same luck, it is hot and just don't see that special deer to kill. I had been out bow hunting a few times but again the heat was persuading me to golf instead of hunt. First of November, might as well be a national holiday. Beginning of rut, or is it. I go to my stand where four fences come together. I saw a decent deer in the distance while walking in so I had to divert from my normal route to not spook him. It is now about thirty minutes before sun down and here he comes from behind me. He appears to be about 120 inch 8 point, I draw, normally passing these guys up, but decide to let the arrow fly. Right in the boiler. I allow about twenty minutes to go by before I begin my walk. I immediately find blood and follow it about one hundred yards till I loose it in the dark. So I decide to wait until tomorrow morning. Within ten minutes the deer is found. He was what I thought he was. Probably a three year old eight point. Not my dream buck by far, but its meat in the freezer. First season shotgun in fast approaching now. I get our group together of about twelve hunters, two of which are youths. I know a lot of you guys curse party hunting, and I realize is it really hunting. No I don't think so either, but I enjoy the hell out of it and take a lot of pride in having proper permission on all properties that we hunt. We killed two bucks just under 170 and a few in the 115-130 range. Quite a few smaller bucks were passed up and only three springers out of 19 deer tagged were killed, only one being a button buck. It was the most successful season I had been a part of and all the guys were great. The youths also seemed to enjoy themselves enough to join us again next year. During second season I took my son out some more with no luck. I was beginning to feel "unlucky" for him but had to reiterate to myself "that's hunting." Most groups I spoke with did not see the numbers like last year. I would have to agree. Many places where there would be fifty deer, we would count in the low twenties. Or if their were normally twenty plus, there were only ten. I am not saying that it is like this everywhere in the state, that was just my observation, take it or leave it. Second season black powder. The weather is good, too good, no snow on the ground or if there is it only was here for a couple days. The conditions were not ideal for hunting, in my opinion. And I have been hearing about numerous bucks shedding. This mother nature lady is starting to get on my nerves. But who cares right, not her. Again my son and I get skunked and we have accepted the fact that it just isn't in the cards for us this year. But, looking back I experienced many great things. I know I haven't covered them all but I don't want to loose any more readers than I already have. First bow buck in three years, great shotgun season, awesome time in the woods with my son and to top things off, I sold corn for five and a half bucks a bushel, Polaris RZR Baby!!
Spring of 2010 wasn't very exciting for me. I did more shed hunting than usual and found a few sheds, nothing extravagant. My luck with trail cams was somewhere around, lets say, majorly suck. I seem to have luck every other year with my cams. Don't know why, just seems that it has worked against me for approximately five years. I planted a new food plot using roundup corn and also a turnip plot which I will touch on more later. September rolls around and I am very excited to take my nine year old son out for youth season. Unfortunately as they get older the activities they participate in become more often. It just seemed that every free moment he had I was working, and working 12 hour shifts that seems to be all that gets done is working for the man. We went out a few times with very little luck. The temps were hot and it was just hard for me to get motivated to be carried off by mosquitoes. So, since the DNR allows me to take him out through the other seasons, I just bided my time (by the way, I wish they would allow extended time for turkey season.) During the youth season I had bumped into some highly successful deer management land owners that I know and started talking about the upcoming bow season. They were telling me about an elevated deer blind they were in the process of constructing. I stopped by their garage and they showed me what they were building. I thought that is something that I could do, so I did. They also got me onto a late turnip seed. So I thought it would be a good idea to rough up a spot where I plan on putting the blind and have a plot below it. This is were the first accident occurs. While discing up the sod, I was going down a fairly steep grade in the 1066 with a 17 ft disc. I was following the contour of the hill and the left rear tire hit a hidden log. That tire gets in the air making me feel like I was going over. When the wheel came down I got slammed back into the seat and then stepped on the clutch to stop, and stop I did. Since the implement was still in the ground it was stop right now. Forward I go forehead right into the planter monitor hanging from the ceiling. Only a shallow cut, but man it stung. So now it was time to start building. I am not a carpenter, so it was slow going and wondered if it would actually be safe to be in the air eight plus feet. I constructed the platform at my home and then erected the walls and roof at my hunting spot. That's when I began to wonder if this blind was in God's plans for me. The only wind that would effect the stability of my blind would be from the east. And really, how many straight line strong due east windy days do we really get in Iowa. Apparently all it takes is one. I go back out to paint and there she is, blown over to the west up hill no less. I got the trusty 1066 out and used the loader to get my structure back up, which took approximately two hours. Then some minor rebuilding took place. So, here it is ready to paint but it will have to wait til another day. And that day came. One I would like to forget. As I was setting out my paint supplies, I was acting extremely arrogant knowing that my blind was still up ( thanks to cables and anchors ) and I was going to complete my task this fine day. Then there it was. That three inch screw protruding through that nasty 2x4. As I was walking, paint tray in hand full of paint, I took an arrogant step right down on that screw. Shoved it right threw my boot and into the ball of my left foot. Ouch, it hurt. Paint went flying and swear words were yelled. I looked at my predicament and began feeling faint. I had a gap about one inch wide between the bottom of my boot and the 2x4. The fencing cutters were here somewhere. Yeah, eight feet in the air in the blind. I got up and attempted to climb the ladder. Didn't happen. the board was about 30 inches long and the screw was about six inches from one end, so to say the least it wasn't balanced well when it was off the ground. There's that faintness again. I called a neighbor and about five minutes went by and he and his farmhand showed up to help. I had him cut the screw with the cutters to at least get some weight off of it. Then, what a great idea, hey Matt, get on that screw with some pliers and back it out. Things then got really fuzzy and the next thing I new I was in my truck as a passenger on my way to the hospital. That's where people got very interested in my problem and couldn't wait to see what the Dr. was going to do. In the end, I was drugged up and got goofy and Doc got a very special surgical instrument, vice grips from a paramedic's truck, and yanked it out. See the pic of my x-ray below. The next day I finished painting the blind and thought two things: either God is telling me to not do this in an inhumane way or God is testing my internal fortitude to see if I finish this and then pound a monster buck on this spot. Well, its first muzzle loader and my son and I go out some more. A lot of the same luck, it is hot and just don't see that special deer to kill. I had been out bow hunting a few times but again the heat was persuading me to golf instead of hunt. First of November, might as well be a national holiday. Beginning of rut, or is it. I go to my stand where four fences come together. I saw a decent deer in the distance while walking in so I had to divert from my normal route to not spook him. It is now about thirty minutes before sun down and here he comes from behind me. He appears to be about 120 inch 8 point, I draw, normally passing these guys up, but decide to let the arrow fly. Right in the boiler. I allow about twenty minutes to go by before I begin my walk. I immediately find blood and follow it about one hundred yards till I loose it in the dark. So I decide to wait until tomorrow morning. Within ten minutes the deer is found. He was what I thought he was. Probably a three year old eight point. Not my dream buck by far, but its meat in the freezer. First season shotgun in fast approaching now. I get our group together of about twelve hunters, two of which are youths. I know a lot of you guys curse party hunting, and I realize is it really hunting. No I don't think so either, but I enjoy the hell out of it and take a lot of pride in having proper permission on all properties that we hunt. We killed two bucks just under 170 and a few in the 115-130 range. Quite a few smaller bucks were passed up and only three springers out of 19 deer tagged were killed, only one being a button buck. It was the most successful season I had been a part of and all the guys were great. The youths also seemed to enjoy themselves enough to join us again next year. During second season I took my son out some more with no luck. I was beginning to feel "unlucky" for him but had to reiterate to myself "that's hunting." Most groups I spoke with did not see the numbers like last year. I would have to agree. Many places where there would be fifty deer, we would count in the low twenties. Or if their were normally twenty plus, there were only ten. I am not saying that it is like this everywhere in the state, that was just my observation, take it or leave it. Second season black powder. The weather is good, too good, no snow on the ground or if there is it only was here for a couple days. The conditions were not ideal for hunting, in my opinion. And I have been hearing about numerous bucks shedding. This mother nature lady is starting to get on my nerves. But who cares right, not her. Again my son and I get skunked and we have accepted the fact that it just isn't in the cards for us this year. But, looking back I experienced many great things. I know I haven't covered them all but I don't want to loose any more readers than I already have. First bow buck in three years, great shotgun season, awesome time in the woods with my son and to top things off, I sold corn for five and a half bucks a bushel, Polaris RZR Baby!!
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