Im a Laaaaaazy blogger...

I have also been a lazy editor. At this point I have enough fresh material for about 2 seasons of Television... Or I guess 5 years of Television if I did it like 95% of the crap on the tube these days... (How many more "Hunting" shows can we watch that end up with a terrible shot or no actual animal being taken at all?) Oh well... Just wish I had the funds to get this stuff out there...

With that being said... I hunted my butt off this year and with a ton of my friends... some new, and some old. Some just a little, and some way more than normal. I am still trying to hook up with a few that I have not been able to get out with. I was hoping to be able to keep up with the bi-weekly episode deal online but ended up with a whole hard drive full of half done episodes...... grrr


But come on man!!! I was hunting and filming a lot... and I mean a lot!!!
I spent 25 days in the woods during November!!! It was awesome. TIRING... But awesome. The funniest part is I have not shot a deer since October... (other than this little critter than ran in front of my shotgun at the wrong time while driving deer on an island)

I just haven't found the right one for me to fling an arrow at and punch my last tag.
It really doesn't matter to me if I fill that tag or not... I have fun just spending time in the deer woods. I spent a ton of time with Doug in his honey hole and we captured footage of a great buck for the 5th time in as many years!!! This palmated freak was infatuated with our decoy set. We had just moved our setup and realized we missed the mark by a few yards while we were sitting in it... We got aggresive and moved the stand to a tree we picked while in the new stand and killed this buck on our next morning hunt!!!

Doug spent a ton of time tagging along with Tyler... I say tagging along because that kid is an animal!!! I dont even think he needs any help to hunt anymore... I have honestly lost count of how many doe kills the boy has had this year but here are some pics... He even got his first taste of running cam when he filmed his Father taking out this badly injured buck that had been victim to a poachers bullet in the days prior...

It must have been Dougs year for busted up bucks because he throttled this buck we had seen numerous time and named the "Gimpy 8" The buck was always in the back of the pack trying to breed and followed a group of does right into Dougs lap on his last evening of vacation... Now he is super gimpy!!!

Felipe smoked yet another Giant Buck... All I was hearing was how there were no deer on anyones cams and then I get this pic... Hey, when you're hot you're hot...

I spent a ton of time with Bobbie V in the woods this year... Im still exhausted from laughing... If it weren't for the fact that I shot my good buck with him this season I would swear we were making to much racket... We had a few encounters but could not seem to make it happen after my deer... We even tried to get it done on the Eastern Shore and never quite sealed the deal. Bob was filming Scott and there was a big deer... a branch... a leaf... a twig... and the big deer.... and then it wasnt there... but the arrow was... but it wasnt bloody... Im not sure what happened but it wasnt good... hehehe!!! In any case we came out of that mess with yet another dead deer for Doug... Now that was some crazy video... We had just hit the ground to pick up decoys when I saw her coming... It was the opposite of over the shoulder as I filmed and hid behind a tree while Doug shot past me... Awesome!!! On the ground and smoked!!!

In any case I was definitely happy to get the pic of Bob with Scott and his Son after they teamed up on some critters... Bobbie Finally broke the spell and smacked a nice buck!!!

And then that guy Paul..........

After being dealt a hand that not too many people are happy to have been dealt... The MWC Horseshoe... Paul brought out the good powers of the shoe capping off his already stellar season opener with his first Sika Stag and a great WVA buck!!!

Paul also took his good buddy to one of his hot spots for a rut hunt... He was able to take his best bow buck... Doug and I were able to join up and help track, drag, and take pics!!!

And now its time to smoke some quack........ We have already gotten into em a little... I just need to figure out what to do with this video??? Another DVD? OR TWO?!?!

and oh yeah...

GO SKINS!!!

Rattlin' em up and Knockin' em down!!!

Bob and I only had until 8:45 to get a deer on Thursday so we had to make it count. We were heading down to 3J's Archery for Bob to give the guys a once over on the website before we could get back in the woods. Boobie had always wanted to hunt in my ghetto spots and said it was on his bucket list.... I had a ton of bucks cruising around and even some daylight stuff on cam and with that area being my best late october rattling area we were pretty amped!!!  I told Bob he could shoot pretty much any buck unless 2 I had on cam showed themselves. They had been pretty late movers as of late but ya never know.



The week before during the ML season I had rattled in and shot a buck with my Son that I would normally give a free pass... But the rattling, crashing, and running in was too much excitement for both of us so I shot it on the ML tag I would eat anyway. It was great fun and had me really looking forward to a repeat from a larger buck.





I rattled 4 times throughout the morning with zero reaction... We figured one more before we get down and go in a half hour... 5 minutes after that mock battle Bob and I were back to acting stupid in the tree... so stupid in fact that if it weren't for his labored breathing when he said a big one was coming I would have never believed it!!!

I knew who it was once I saw him...I have been calling him "Sway" since Paul and I saw him last week but I had seen this buck off and on all season... The last good trailcam photo was last week but I had a couple 7 and 8 am quick shots a few days ago on this scrape...



I was totally unprepared to shoot as I was fully expecting to be filming... The cam arm was on my tree...had to get the cam out and into Bobs hands as the buck was coming... The buck was dipping down in the creek and seemingly hiding while surveying the situation... (Paul and I had seen this buck at another spot squaring off with a smaller racked buck last week...He seemed timid and not the aggressive type so I was surprised he responded) He was cautious and trying his best to get completely downwind but we had 3 blockers to keep that from happening... an open yard, a shed, and a house!!! hehehe....



The buck was now at 13 yards standing down in the creek... I was getting my quiver off the bow and nocking an arrow while kinda stalling to let Bob get some footage....  The lead up was pretty anti-climactic as we had this guy duped... The wind was in our favor...We were in a new tree that is like sitting in the palm of a hand with loads of cover...and the buck was scanning everywhere but up for the "fighters" he had heard.

Once I was sure Bob was on the deer and steady with the cam I drew... Made sure I was free from obstructions... buried the pin and straight smoked this buck!!! I took out one lung and skewered the heart before exiting the front side of the opposite leg. The bounded off as Bob threw the camera on to me... We were starting to give high fives when we heard the big boy crash and take down a tree!!!







We had to get down and take pics quick so we could hit the road...I was happy that the buck had a little ground "gainage" as I was about 6 or 7 inches off my estimate...we got some great pics and recovery footage as well as some shots we have been wanting for a while...We were only a tad bit late for the meeting!!!









While down there we took the deer to a local butcher was kind enough to cape the deer for taxidermy and had a family he could donate the meat to so we could get back in a tree for the eve....



I was more confident for the eve than I was for the morning at an unhunted stand location but the heat, the moon, and the neighborhood construction had other plans...

What a great day!!! I owe ya big Bob!!! 

Finally Pauls Turn!!!

I am so stoked that Paul is finally on the board...After coming through with some great footage for us he seemed like the lucky horseshoe for anyone he ran cam for....but it just paid of nicely for him with a great buck!!! Here is Pauls Story.....

Shot that monkey off my back...

Finally the 1 season drought of not having a Mature buck in bow range is over.  Between hunting with Team Overkill and videoing close friends I have been behind the camera and videoed 4 bucks over 145 inches getting killed and for some reason last season the big boyz did not want to show when I was in the stand with bow in hand.

  This season I had a good feeling things were going to change. I only had the chance to hunt once this season and pretty much got soaked with Troy. Got to watch Lil C for the whole week because my wife was on a business trip and was counting down the days for the 17th. Called up Kevin the night before and said we needed to get in the stand early because deer were going to feed early with the moon phase as it is and with this front coming in. We were both stoked with this stand location b/c there were some pigs running around. We decided on meeting at 1 and hopefully getting into the stand at 2.

  We made to the stand at two and with only 45 minutes rolling by and we had a fawn do the loudest bleat I have ever heard. After that fawn waking us up we had two 100+ does feeding in front of us with their fawns meandering around. The wind was a bit swirly and the does got nervous and left.

  One fawn was feeding off to my right while the other was just teasing Kevin b/c he need his two doe tags. I told Kevin "if she gives you a shot, take it"and for the next 5 minutes we were waiting for her to give him a shot .  Of course she some how managed to get behind every branch possible to prevent Kevin to make a good shot. Kevin turns to me and says "it's not meant to be" and he laid his bow down. Right when I sit down I look to my left and a basket 8 with short brows is headed our way. I tapped Kevin and whispered "buck,buck". In all of our trail cam pics this buck was always the first out and trailing him would be the bucks we were after. Look to my left and at about 40 yards staring at the basket 8 was "wide eight".

   This buck was wide and looked really old. I looked in the woods behind him hoping that the Big 7 was right behind him but unfortunately nothing showed up. I kept on looking at the "wide 8" and kept on thinking how old this buck looks and didn't even hesitate to tell Kevin that if he give me a shot I was going to take him. Kevin could not see the corner that I was looking at and was thinking that I wanted to take the short brow 8 until he saw me looking to my left. like a mature buck would he walked into the field with the wind in his face. At this time our wind was probably blowing to his left about 20 yards. The buck looked at the short brews one more time and started to walk down hill with the wind in his face until he hit our scent. he started looking our way and started to turn around.

  Finally I hear Kevin says "I got him and I get ready to pull back and realize I have a limb in my way... duck down a hair and pull back and had to wait b/c he was biting his side. At this time he is around 40 yards and I knew I could make that shot. I told myself when he looked forward I was going to let it fly. Well he did and of course he took a step too. Watching my arrow fly in slow motion I watched the arrow go from a heart lung shot to a lung liver shot.. and then he saw the arrow and ducked... spine shot... As I was turning around I hit the camera and knock Kevin of the deer. I grab another arrow and aim at the shot I just made and x ringed it. with the angle he was at right then the arrow double lunged him. No blood trail there.

 

Old wide eight is down for the count at 3:50. Chalk another down off of the hit list.
 21.5" inside spread  22" beams  green score 129 7/8"

One thing that I forgot to mention was that the arrow I used was a arrow I let Brandon use to try to shoot a ground hog with.  Unfortunately he shot right under him.  I told him that day I was going to use that arrow to shoot my next deer and look what happened.  That young man enlightened me on my perspective on life.

Tylers first Compound bow Buck....persistance

Here is Dougs account of the story...

After 48 hours of not eating or sleeping well, I can finally gather my thoughts and tell this story.  Sorry, it's kind of long, but worth it I think.

This season is my 13 year old son Tyler's first year hunting with a compound.  He told me early this summer that he wanted to sell his crossbow and exclusively commit to hunting with his new Hoyt Ruckus compound.  So, that's what we did, and the early season goal was to get Tyler his first deer with a compound.  All summer long Troy (Bowtroll) and I had preached to Tyler the importance of practice, and just tried to get Tyler to understand how much different this year would be hunting with a compound.

Saturday evening, Sept 15, was my first night out where it was just Tyler and I, Tyler as the hunter and I as the camera man.  We got settled in and the weather and wind were just perfect.  I discussed with Tyler the conditions, and we both agreed that we would wait for a shooter buck this evening just because everything seemed so perfect.  Well it didn't take long for our gut feeling to prove accurate as we were absolutely covered up with deer.  The first 10 deer we saw were 8 bucks and 2 does.  Of the 8 bucks only one was a shooter.  Most of the deer we saw early on moved past us except for 2 big fat does that came into 10 yards.  At this point I was questioning my call to hold out for a buck, but none the less that's what we did.  Finally, after moving past us 30 minutes earlier, those 8 bucks slowly came back into range with the shooter showing up last.  A nice 110" main frame 8 with an extra Unicorn brow tine sticking out the front was the star of our show and slowly moved into 15 yards where Tyler could take a shot.  I, as the Dad first and camera man second, was scared to death as to whether or not he would be able to pull back his bow unnoticed with so many deer around.  With the deer at 15 yards I whispered to Tyler from above that I was ready when he was and I had the deer in the frame of the camera.  Tyler pulled his bow back, aimed, and squeezed off.  The deer mule kicked and bounded off.  Because I was looking into the view finder I couldn't tell exactly where the arrow had hit and Tyler told me he felt it was a little far back.  So, we looked at the tape from the tree and decided it was definitely a little far back especially given the fact that the deer was quartered to us.  I asked Tyler why he didn't wait for the deer to turn broad side and he said he thought that when I told him I was ready with the camera that I was telling him to shoot.  So, inexperience and miscommunication lead to a not so desirable shot angle.  Of course I started calling the rest of the Team Overkill gang and the consensus was to back out for the night.  After getting home and watching the video back on an HD TV, we felt there would be no blood trail, but that the shot was lethal most likely hitting liver and guts.  At that point I made a phone call to secure a tracking dog for the morning in hopes of recovering Tyler's first compound kill. 

At 8am the next morning we met up with Holger and his tracking dog Glocke.  We proceeded to the location of the shot and Holger and Glocke got started.  It was absolutely a work of art watching Holger and his dog work.  After a few hours the dog was able to find a small area of blood 250 yds from the shot, but after 400-500 yards away and a couple different trails, Glocke's trail ended at the road.  The dog's desire to push on was obvious, but 3 hours into it and literally no sign, Holger made the decision to call it off mostly because we did not have permission to enter the property across the road.  So we called it off and boy could you sense the disappointment in that dog.  I had to be at work anyway so we decided to come back the next day, look for birds, and hopefully gain permission to look on the property across the street.  We were really anxious to look across the road because that's where the water is and they say a liver/gut shot buck will go to water most of the time.  So, I got off from the Firehouse this morning, came home and picked up Tyler, and we headed back once again hopeful we would find his deer.  We arrived in the area an there were no birds noticeable.  I drove down the road just looking into the creek bed which ran parallel to the road and saw nothing.  I turned around a 1/4 mile down the road and began driving back which now put the creek on Tyler's side.  All of the sudden Tyler yells out "There He Is".  Tyler immediately got emotional and teared up.  I knew how important recovering this deer was to him.  His emotion made me proud.  The deer was probably 100 yards from where we had called off the search the day prior.  I was really surprised nobody had seen the deer as it was only 20 yards off the road and very visible.  I was thankful that nobody had lopped it's head off.  We knew the meat was no good as the foxes and buzzards had been having a feast.  Tyler felt bad about wasting the meat but Troy and I both explained to him that if you bow hunt long enough it's going to happen.  It's a hard lesson to learn at 13, but our persistence paid off.  We knew the deer was dead it was just a matter of finding it.

Thanks to all the Overkill guys for the confidence to keep looking, and especially Holger and his dog Glocke for coming out on a Sunday morning to assist.  On a side note, Kevin's 9 pointer from the other night will complete Tyler's mount by Tim Young.  The cape from Tyler's deer was ruined so he will be using Kevin's cape for his mount.  Thanks Kev.

Screen Grab from the buck walking in:


The shot, notice the angle and point of impact, not good:


A happy 13 year old:


The extra brow, man that thing would've caused damage in a fight:
 

A buck for a soldier...

I really have no words to describe how special this hunt was to be a part of... I have no words to describe how lucky we are as Americans to have the freedoms we have that are secured by these special individuals. 

I usually have tons to say but Im going to let these pics speak for themselves... I wish they were better but these were taken with my iphone due to my Canon falling from a tree today when I was getting down after shooting a doe......... I have a lot of words for that but its for another thread at another time....

I want to thank Billy Dove for all the work he does with these guys and the NPLB on a daily basis... He is a fantastic guy with a giant heart. I want to thank Paul for running cam and being there... Andy for throwing in some UltimateCamo (Which Brandon loved) But most of all I want to thank this awesome new friend Brandon for his sacrifices... He thanked me up and down for the opportunity to shoot a deer... I really dont know how to respond.... Thanks Brandon!!!