Just To Take The Mind Off All The Bullshit

[Brock]

Well winter is here along with the cool and rainy weather we get in south.....temps in 50s during day for now which will fall into high 30s and low 40s by Christmas...coupled with humidity and rain makes for miserable riding at the most. Hope to get bike out this weekend but most of my time from end of August through New Years (except for the annual RIDE TO THE BARN event) is taken up with deer hunting.

 

I have been given permission to hunt a little lot of land and now after 3 years finally getting a handle on the terrain and deer movement, turkeys, foxes and neighbors. It is for sale...I cant afford it but if there was a way to mortgage my kids future, sell my soul and get this place I would. 105 acres of cypress and tupelo swamp land surrounded by oak and pine flats with 20 acres of fields and a custom home in the exact center.

 

Anyhow I digress. I am primarily a bowhunter....longbows, recurves, selfbows...shooting wooden arrows that I fletch and also hand sharpen the broadheads with a file. Have hunted this way since around 1990....though I dont give up on the rifle entirely. My wife likes the taste of venison and using it in too many dishes to not keep the freezer full. So usually I am told to get a couple young bucks or a doe for freezer and then "play with my bow and arrows" the rest of the season. Five or six deer in freezer lasts us for the year....and that includes giving some to friends and my daughters family as well. They seem to go through the summer sausage and hot link sausage quicker than I do.

 

This year though....I decided to hunt with bow most of the season and only pull out rifle for the last two or three weeks to fill doe tags. well season started good with about 12 deer within 10 yards of my ground blind...unfortunately they were does and not legal until 15 September...and the little bucks (spikes) were too small for me at this point. Ask me again the last week of December....LOL.

 

Well, bought wife new fridge and freezer combo so she told me....Since it is raining and you dont like to hunt in steady rain with bow as it washes away the blood trails...take your lever action and let the deer get within 50 yards and get me some meat for my new freezer. LOL

 

So I go out and know there are some good bucks chasing does in pre rut....long story short...I grunt and call a buck about 200 yards across the fields from some does to me....he kept getting closer and closer as I sat on ground with back against a pine....I grunt softer and he stomps and comes closer. Finally I have him about 35 yards out and put the .45-70 bullet through him just behind front shoulder. He runs about 20 yards and face plants in field.

 

I have had 6 other small bucks....and two does within 10 yards since then but always something....angling towards me with bad shot...or too small for me to want to shoot. went out Saturday to check game cameras and see if I caught a poacher I chased Monday night last week on film to give to DNR.....and got distracted when I found two huge scrapes and three very new rubs on trees. did not take pics of the new scrapes as I moved a camera there to catch activity and wanted to not disturb it more...but 100 yards away found these trees...so will be back this weekend to see what new buck moved into the area around those fields since I shot his antagonist the end of October. LOL Happy Hunting.

 

Last years largest buck, 7 points (9 points if you count one on base of antler and sticker on right beam)

....about 170lbs. December 2011

 

How he sits now in my office

 

 

This years largest so far. 7 point. Oct 2012. Hit once other spots are from me carrying him out to where I can get truck to load him up. About 145lbs I guess.

 

Rubs I found in a line on trees leading from one set of scrapes on one side of field to an older scrape on opposite side.

 

My weapon of choice for this deer season....I change bows every deer and turkey season so none sit on rack too long. LOL

 

Habu recurve, 60# @ 29 inches, douglas fir arrow shafts with barred turkey fletching and 200gr hand sharpened steel broadheads.

 

 

 

 

Not motorcycles but my passion is hunting and being in outdoors ever since I was a kid and got first .22 single shot Winchester M67A at age 7. Still got that rifle and still love being in woods alone hunting.

 

Thanks for letting me waste some time.....

[Dr. Mark]

What is he, an 8 point? Hard to tell in the photo.

[Brock]

both are 7 points...last years buck is counted as non-typical 9 point I guess as he has a point off base of right antler and another stick on main beam near point....so 9 point if bragging, 7 point otherwise though both are big enough to hang a ring off which used to be the standard. LOL

the one from this year is plain 7 point with no stickers or anything.

[Brock]

here are some of my other bows I like to shoot or just look at....

 

 

Jeffery Royal Hunter made by Owen Jeffery...one of the main bowyers for Fred Bear and has his shop with son in Columbia SC...my first bow as an adult.

I added snake skins for better camo on light wood when hunting from ground.

 

Osage selfbow with static tips made by deceased friend from Texas, Joe Mattingly. Wood starts bright yellow like sunflower and uv light darkens it over years to eventually a dark chocolate color.

 

My glass turkey call made by a fella here in South Carolina for me....not killed one with this one yet.

 

one of my racks...top bow is the osage selfbow from above, 2nd is made from vine maple, next is a piece of pignut hickory I am trying to turn into a hunting bow, and the last is a fiberglass backed longbow with osage and bamboo limbs and petrified mammoth ivory on limb tips.

 

Robertson Stickbow by Dick Robertson in Montana....Cocobola and myrtle wood in riser, bamboo limbs with juniper veneers over them...this bow has not drawn blood yet.

 

collection of old vintage bows by Browning archery...all are from 1964-1970 and all are shooters.

Left to Right: Browning Wasp, Browning Safari II, Browning Explorer I, Browning Explorer II, and Cobra II.

[Brock]

some others of a younger more in shape Brock hahahahahaha before I retired from military and gained 45 pounds. LOL

 

Turkey hunting for a week in mountains of western Maryland near Savage River State Forest

 

 

Nutria shot with osage selfbow on eastern shore of Maryland in Blackwater Refuge marshland.

 

deer hunting near Deep Creek Lake in western Maryland on another camping hunt over few days

[Brock]

enough memories.....I need to get out of here and hit the woods.

[indiantoo]

Why do i hear banjo's

[IndianTrue]

I bow hunted during deer season in West Virginia back in 86 and I must say they sure do it different than the way I hunted while growing up in Alaska. I just could not sit still in the tree stand which made it for an exhausting day not moving if you can imagine. All in all it was a lot of fun and the country was beautiful in November with all the leaves turning.

[Brock]

LOL if it was me you would only here the thuumpffff of the arrow going through your sternum LOL

 

Thick as anything around here so using tree stand or ground blind along game trails, pinch points or food sources is very common...not many still hunt but if you have private property it is fun. We dont have separate bow and gun seasons on private property in my game zone so you take your chances doing that in some areas with a lot of risk. The older I get the more I like ground blinds and still hunting until I see something or setting up along a trail out of bedding areas....not as successful but nothing like having a wary old doe at 9 yards that knows you are near but cant tell exactly how far or where. LOL Talk about getting your blood pumping.....