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Average Joe Hunting Adventures with Dan and CJ

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Stories later.... this is actually aftermath of last night and I've been dying to tell the story... just had to find him this morning....


I actually killed two yesterday on the same sit!!!! Will update later, I've got a busy day ahead!
 
Sorry for the delay, I had some cutting and quartering to do!


So yesterday and this morning were a very action packed and exciting 24 hours!


I had posted earlier that we were going to have some storms here Saturday morning and that once they broke I wanted to hunt.

When I watched the weather it showed that once the storms broke, a few hours later the winds would turn (coming from the north) and bring in some cool temps.

I was super excited because I had one spot in mind that I had been dying to hunt. It's an area I found earlier this year and everything just felt right about it.

I gave you the story yesterday about the doe I shot, but there was more..... :)


Around 6:15pm yesterday two bucks came in with 15 minutes left of legal shooting light. The smaller of the two wasn't legal and I knew the bigger one was. 30 yards, quartering away, I picked my spot and shots. Everything felt good, looked good, but now is when it got a little crazy.


I'm hunting Florida public land(military base reservation/range), but it's managed in the way you have to check in and out at certain times.
I had to be out of there by 8pm. I was a mile from my truck with a 20 minute drive after that to the gate. I had my doe that I needed to get back to the truck, and I had just shot this buck.

I climbed down and went to the spot I hit him.... arrow was there and with good blood. That's when I also noticed the ground was super wet because it had rained about an hour before and I got a little nervous.

I packed my doe up and sprinted to my truck.

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I got to the gate just in time and let them know I'd be out early in the morning to look for the buck.

It stinks, but they won't let you search pass the check out time...

The wet ground really worried me, I've never tracked blood before after a rain storm and was not sure how it would effect the blood trail.

I was posting in a local Facebook group and they put me in touch with a guy who had a young dog named dozer. He said he'd love to come help me look.

I absolutely hate putting people out and wanted to do it, but they all recommended I use the dog so we could get into the deer quickly in the morning to save the meat.... fair enough.
Lucky for me the temps dropped down to mid 30s last night.



I met Justin and his dog dozer early in the morning, bought them breakfast, and we went off.

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We found good blood

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Dozer worked the trails like a champ and I just sat back enjoying the show and marking blood.

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At one point we found a lot of blood and it was leading all over the place. Dozer started a grid search and I got on my hands and knees. What I discovered was the buck had doubled back on us... I started walking down a trail and was finding fresh blood.... I marked about 7 spots and decided to yell for Justin and Dozer so they could get ahead of me. Once they got to me Dozer took a few steps and guess what.... DEAD BUCK!

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I was so so so so so pleased for so many reasons!


For starts I did in fact shoot two deer from the same stand in the same day. I've never done that before! I was SO PUMPED!!!

I also had my first tracking dog experience and it was very cool! There is definitely a need for those dogs out here in these nasty Florida swamps and it all just worked out great.


The best part is the meat was still good!

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Don't mind my goofy face ^


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What a great day indeed!
Another cool piece to the story is I had this buck on camera 9 days ago in this spot.

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I was blessed with another opportunity to spend a day in the field with another friend. After a few miles of hiking and a lucky series of events, my buddy was able to harvest his first mule deer. We glassed up a lot more deer than I was expecting, and we were able to finally get close to this guy and get a shot off. He's going to be delicious.

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Good stuff, guys. Cut my teeth hunting the Florida panhandle. That Idaho season was incredible.
 
Good stuff, guys. Cut my teeth hunting the Florida panhandle. That Idaho season was incredible.

It's fun messing around down here in the panhandle.
I'm still getting use to the giant banana spiders, but I'll get over them here soon enough.
 
I'm not sure there is getting over them lol

ha ha! I think you're right.....
When I shot my doe last Saturday, I had to get through some pretty nasty stuff to pull her out.
I looked down at one point and had a 6-7" one crawling on my shirt......
I about jumped out of my skin and I cant confirm or deny, but I may have screamed like a little girl! :hump:
 
Completely forgot to do a month update for my hunts. It's been busy and my mind turns to garbage once Nov hits because it's whitetail time!


October was an amazing month because I was able to take my first ever antelope buck. He was a nice old buck with some cool character

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Then I was able to take two whitetail deer in Florida on public land.

Not only were these my first Florida deer, but it was also my first double. It was a great hunt!

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So what's in store for November?

I leave Tuesday for Kentucky and I'll be hunting out there from Tuesday evening to Saturday evening.

Then I am hunting in Oklahoma Nov 17-24th!

Add in Florida too and it'll be a great month!!!
 
I can't believe October is already gone. It was the month I'd been dreaming of since I drew my moose tag many months ago. I spent countless hours researching and preparing for my moose hunt, and everything else took a backseat. Despite the success in September, my mind and efforts were focused on October, and specifically the moose hunt.

After 6 challenging, but awesome and fun days of hunting I killed my first moose, and very likely my last moose in ID. (I'll definitely be playing the raffle... "So you're saying there's a chance!")

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Since I tagged out and was back home halfway through my leave, I was fortunate to be able to capitalize on an amazing aoudad/Barbary sheep after a trip to the taxidermist.

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I didn't waste any time after getting back from the road trip, and was able to help a good friend kill his first deer, and find and kill a good buck down in the desert away from the crowd.

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I was also blessed with the opportunity to help another buddy harvest his first muley on the last day he was able to hunt.

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Never could I have imagined my October turning out the way it did. Each hunt was amazing in is own special way. I don't think I could list them in any sort of rank order. They're all just a piece of an outstanding season, and I can't be thankful enough to have been so blessed.

I've only got 1 tag to focus on in November, and it's not even mine. I can't wait to get out in the desert with my wife and kids, and if we're able to find a buck my wife wants to shoot I'll be extra happy.
 
You guys are having an outstanding year. I wish I could do half the hunts you have done. I am extremely jealous of the aoudad hunt. Its on my list in a few years. Keep the stories coming guys, I love this thread.
 
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