Ben's 2022 Semi-live Hunt Log

[TheBenHoyle]

As it turned out, if I had been able to move and set up a blind I would have had turkeys right in my lap. I will keep that in mind for the future.

I kept watching over there and there were probably 5 turkeys over there, which matched up with the 5 I had on camera, so imagine my surprise when I look to the north in the CRP and see 5 or 10 more turkeys. Now I am stuck in the tree as there is no way I could get down and not be busted by one group or the other, but I am doing some calling and the two groups start thinking they should meet up.

The CRP group disappears but before long I see them (kinda) in the shrubby stuff in front of me about 25 yards out. I'm doing some soft calling hoping they will come through into a shooting lane, but all of a sudden they bust into the air. Most of them fly over to the corn, but a couple peel off to the north.

So I start calling again and before long they are working down the creek and will come right by me at 20 yards. I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS IS WORKING.

I should have pulled back my bow earlier, but I didn't realize they were so close so as they get in the open I draw and they veer away so now I have a 30 yard shot, but I am all lined up and I push my trigger and nothing happens. I stay on the turkey and push again. Nothing. Then I realize you pull a trigger idiot... I stay on the turkey and I pull the trigger and the turkey steps forward and my arrow goes right behind him...

I'm sure you have heard of buck fever, well I have turkey fever. I want so badly to shoot a turkey and I am so afraid it's not going to work out that I totally forget how to do things. In retrospect, I was so worried about drawing my bow that they would see me and run that I just didn't do my normal process. It turns out I had plenty of time to make a shot, hopefully I will do better next time.

As it played out, all of the turkeys made it into the corn field and they were joined by 10-15 deer. I couldn't tell if there were any bucks in the field, but it makes me think that in a couple weeks when I get back in there there should be plenty of deer around. I don't like to be out during second shot gun season which is next weekend and after that is muzzleloader season, so I might just do some waterfowl hunting. But I will be back out there before Christmas for sure.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I got out for my first waterfowl hunt of the year this morning. I have plans to take my buddy Chris and a new hunter out next weekend on some public land that I got access to through a lottery. But in talking to Chris about those plans he suggested we hunt the river spot near him that we have hunted before.

Unfortunately the river is pretty low and so our 2.5 mile boat trip was a lot of grinding mud with the prop and at times just wading as we pulled the boat along with us.

But we got out plenty early and had a nice spot with a good spread set up well before legal shooting light. Unfortunately there was another boat with a couple hunters that came in after us and set up about 300 yards downstream of us.

I don't begrudge anyone from taking the initiative and getting out on the river, but they weren't the best neighbors. At about 10 minutes before legal shooting light we had 4 ducks in our spread already and there were some on the water between us and the other hunters. We also had 4 more come and land right in front of us. I could have reached out and patted their little ducky heads.

And then the other hunters started blasting (I assume they had ducks in their spread too) at which point all of the ducks in front of us got up and we had maybe 6 more from their spread come whizzing past us. But it wasn't legal shooting light so we didn't shoot.

The next 30 minutes as we had legal light and no ducks were full of not nice thoughts about our neighbor hunters. But eventually we had ducks flying and we were working them and managed to pull 2 out of the sky.

Then we had a big group of geese come in and do the whole circle and cup and start dropping into our spread, which I have never seen before. It was awesome. What was not so awesome was our ability to shoot layups on fully-committed geese. We should have had a 2-man limit but instead we got 2 geese...

Later we had a single goose come through and he was also fully-committed but he must have been wearing kevlar because he was able to fly on out again.

After our neighbors left (at about 8, when plenty of geese and ducks were in the air as they were packing up their decoys...) we did have another big group of geese come in but they hung up and we didn't shoot thinking they would swing around again but they didn't. They were followed by another and another group who did similar things. Chris and I were calling and watching and really engrossed in all the geese action when out of nowhere a couple of mallards just landed in our set up. Or almost landed. We changed gears pretty quick and dropped them the last few feet into the water.

There was a bit more action but that was the end of any close action. We boated/waded out and split the take between us.



It was one of the best days I have personally had hunting waterfowl in that spot evenjhough I discovered that my right wader boot has a leak just below my knee. My cold wet sock was barely tolerable. I'll have to patch that leak before Sunday.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Oh as a follow up, my fall slam is a deer, a duck, a goose and a turkey. I once had a squirrel on that list but I decided I could pass on that as a regular pursuit. In any event, I now only need to get a turkey to close out this fall slam. I feel like I have an opportunity for a turkey at that stand I have been hunting, but I guess we shall have to see how those hunts turn out.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Saturday was supposed to be an introductory waterfowl hunt for a new hunter but he had to cancel so it was just a hunt with my buddy Chris. He and I usually hunt the river near his house, but I had put my name in for a permit to hunt a limited-entry public area so we went there instead.

Unfortunately there was no push of migrating birds coming through so we had to hunt the local birds who knew better than to come anywhere near the decoys. We had some mergansers and ruffle heads (I think?) that landed about 200 yards out and that was fun to watch for a while.

We worked a few groups that were flying and probably should have tried some passing shots, but we kept thinking we would get the to turn and come a little closer and they would instead just keep going...

It was a fun time but ultimately there were no ducks or geese to bring home.

I think next week I am going to be back at my tree stand. Hopefully I can get an arrow in a nice buck or maybe I will get lucky and shoot a turkey. Whatever happens, I'll share the story.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Planning on an all day hunt this Sunday. Should be a cold front coming through so I have hope that the deer will be on the move during the day. Got some info from my dad. The corn field by the stand I have been hunting has been turned over so there is not much reason for deer to be hanging around that spot. I have a different stand I can hunt that hasn't been hunted in about a month so I will probably go there instead.

Really hoping that I will get lucky with some turkeys in that neighborhood or a big buck. We'll see how it goes though.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I hunted Saturday. There was fresh snow on the ground and that was nice. What wasn't so nice is that at 8 am two coyotes came scooting through the timber, never giving me a shot in range, but bumping a group of deer to the west of me...

It seems like every winter I have one of my hunts that get messed up due to coyotes. I would love to take one or more of them out but so far I've never had the chance...

I backed out a little early that morning to go over to where my other stand was because I thought I would check my camera and maybe if there was something promising I would sit the rest of the day over there.

I got into my camera around 10:30 and realized I didn't have my card reader... Also I saw that there was a group of three deer headed south along the creek away from me. I don't know if I bumped them or if that was just their plan. But I felt like I should just pull the camera and then maybe head back to my first spot to spend the afternoon.

I did that, but I climbed a different tree with my saddle set up. It was on the lee side of a rise, which I thought might be attractive to any deer and it gave me a good view to the north where I was hoping I would be able to see turkeys.

I did eventually see the turkeys, they were about 1/4 mile to the north and they stayed there.

At about sunset I had 6 does and 2 bucks (a fork and a half rack 4 point) out in the beans but they were way too slow coming across the field for me to have any play on them. The closest they got was about 60 yards about 10 minutes after legal shooting light.

I can't decide if I want to be discouraged or not. Part of me feels like that's the best I'll see between now and the end of season and I should just shut it down. But part of me is thinking back to all the times I have hunted that area and I had random encounters with deer and turkeys that I never would have expected. So I think I'll keep at it. Like I said, I usually have one coyote scramble every season and this was it. Plus there might be more snow and even colder temps the next time I get out so you never know how that will turn out.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

So I was able to sneak out for a short hunt yesterday and I have a bonus to add to my fall slam.



I shot this bunny with an arrow. It's my first rabbit and I am super excited about it. I see bunnies a lot when I am out after turkeys and deer, but it is usually too late to do anything about it. But this guy hunkered down under a bush thinking he was safe. I was able to ease forward after I came to full draw and put it right through him.

Side note, I have only eaten rabbit once before. It was very good and I have wanted to have more, but the official party line back at the house is that if I get a bunny I need to make sure my wife and daughters don't see it and don't eat it. So that's just more for me!

There's a little more to the story too, I bought 12 arrows a few years back and deemed 6 of them hunting arrows and 6 as practice arrows. I numbered each set 1-6. Over the years I have shot a squirrel and 4 deer with arrow number 3. My most recent deer broke good old number 3 so practice arrow number 3 got called up to the big leagues about a month ago.

And it was good new number 3 who took a trip to bunny town yesterday. It stands to reason that there is a date with a buck in number 3's near future.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I went out Monday morning to the stand that I have gotten all of my Illinois deer from so far. There was snow on the ground and I was able to get in without making too much noise. At first light I could see deer to the west and then I saw some about 60-80 yards north of me. Including a fawn doe that bedded down in a spot where I could watch her.

I didn't hear any turkeys even after I made a few calls about sunrise, so I figured I was out of business on those at least for the immediate future. I got pretty interested in watching the doe (tunnel vision I suppose) and after about 40 minutes she got up and started digging around in the snow to find some food. She was putting on quite a show and then I heard Putting from alarmed turkeys right behind me...

I later figured out that they had roosted about 100 yards north of me and then flew down silently after my call to the south and landed about 80 yards straight east of me in the picked soybean field. That was probably what caused the doe to get out of her bed. Then they worked their way over to the edge of the trees. I was so caught up in the doe's actions that I was't looking behind me. I must have moved just enough to spook them and they were off to the north. And that ended up being the end of turkeys for me that day.

Of course when they ran, the doe ran to the west and my little corner of the woods was empty. So I got down and still hunted to the north side of the woods to see if I could find the turkeys and they had joined up with the rest of the flock on the other side of the creek about 1/4 mile north.

The woods I hunt is about 20 acres surrounded by fields and it forms an L shape. I have noticed that the inside corner of the L is a hot spot for deer and I was hoping I could get my saddle into a tree right near that corner it would be highly likely I would get some opportunities.

It being about 11:30, I figured it would be a good time to still hunt that way and get set up. As I was getting loser and closer I could see a doe about 60 yards west of me with another 2 deer about 40-50 yards west of her. None of them seemed to know what was up and I had decent cover so I kept moving up slowly. At some point she looked my way and seemed to think I was something to watch. She walked behind a tree and I got low so she couldn't see me and I happened to look to my right and I saw a little buck right on the field edge on the leg of the L that runs to the north.

Staying low, I sidled over to the some better cover and realized that there were at least 6 deer kind of running around in the woods and along that edge to the north. I was pretty well concealed so I tried ranging things just in case the deer came closer, but the battery was reading that it was dead due to the cold.

I have always wanted to shoot a deer from the ground and so I thought maybe I would try to grunt the little buck into range, but wouldn't you know it, my grunt call was wrapped up on something buried in my many layers of clothing. As I was pulling on the cord to dislodge it the buck noticed movement and starts walking straight at me.

I see that he is going to be behind a tree and then step into the open at 5-10 yards so I pull back, thinking that I don't want to shoot him (3 points each side with maybe 5" spread between antlers), but this was good practice for a time in the future when a bigger buck does something similar. So I pull back and he does just what I thought he would.

He freezes and I put my pin on his vitals and just stay at full draw. After 30 seconds he spins to go back in the field and comes face to face with a bigger buck who has come out right where he had come out. He was not a huge back but he was 8 points and I had a lane to shoot him at what I thought would be 30 yards. So I shifted my aim and settled my pin on his vitals and let it go.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

The shot felt good and He acted like he was hit as he ran off. There were three other deer in the field when I shot and all of the deer ran north., He stopped after about 40-50 yards. And just stood there with his shoulders kinda hunched up and his back arched. I kinda thought I would see him fall over right there.



I took a picture of him standing there and then I got my bins on him and I didn't see an entry wound . That was the side I shot at and there wasn't anything that I would call an entry wound, there was a darker spot right infant of the hind leg and I thought maybe I had hit I'm in the guts.

After about 5 minutes he turned so I could see the other side and there was no exit wound but he was still hunched up and looking hurt. After 5 minutes he walked down the hill to the northwest. I sat for 45 minutes and then I snuck out into the field to see if I could find my arrow or a blood trail, but there was nothing.

I checked all the way along his track and not a drop of blood. So either I had a magic arrow that went in right in front of the back ham at an angle that it got stuck in the front shoulder and plugged it's own hole so it didn't bleed. OR I shot over his back because he was at 20 yards not 30 yards and he was hunched up because he was freaked out. I think we can all guess what really happened.

All that activity sorta boogered up my plans to hunt in that inside corner so I back tracked to my original stand hoping that some deer would find their way to that corner at sunset. As it turns out, I did see some but they were too far, too late.


It was a good hunt with a lot of excitement and learning opportunities. I am planning on getting back out there on Monday, but it will be a lot warmer and the snow will probably all be gone by then. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[duckhunt]

Dang that buck does look hurt. Hopefully he's still alive and well. I hate that feeling of not knowing for sure.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Dang that buck does look hurt. Hopefully he's still alive and well. I hate that feeling of not knowing for sure.

The only indication I have that he was hurt is that posture and my feeling that it was a good shot. I'm pretty confident that I missed high. I'll be back out there on Monday so I might get eyeballs on him again.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I went out on Monday, which I know is 2023 but I always finish out my archery season that goes into the middle of January. By my estimation I have 2 maybe three hunts left.

I started in my stand and heard turkeys at sunrise, but they were north of me and after a few hours of not seeing anything from my stand I moved north to the edge of the block of woods to see if I could find the turkeys and drink some coffee.

Sure enough the turkeys were in that picked cornfield about 1/4 north of me. It was where they like to be, but I am hopeful that I will get lucky and find them in my trees one of these last hunts...

I didn't spend too much time in that spot because I really wanted to get set up in a tree just inside the inside corner of the L where I shot at that buck last week.

I new there were a few deer bedded on the south edge of the wood block about 300 yards south of where I wanted to get into a tree and I was hoping that I could sneak into position without bumping them. SO I walked very slow and got to my tree without seeing them spook. I thought about just sitting at the base of the tree for a while but decided it would be best to get my climbing sticks on the tree and get up and out of the sightlines.

I had just put the first stick on when I saw 6 deer on the south edge of the woods running off to the west. Not sure if they saw my arms reaching around the tree or caught my scent somehow but they were off to the races. I decided that I should just keep at it and I put on the second stick, I still didn't have my platform or my saddle out of my backpack, so I took a moment to bino the field to the north to see if the turkeys had moved. They had not...

I pull down the binos and there is a nice 8 pointer with really tall tines walking toward me at about 10 yards.



I drew on the photo to give you an idea of where he was. Right by 2 very fresh rubs, which was part of the reason I picked that tree to climb.

I am amazed that there is a deer that has appeared from nowhere and he has no idea I am there. Until I slowly reach for my bow. Then he decides to run back the way he came.

I am almost 100% sure this is the same deer I shot at last week. It was a thrilling encounter, but I was a bit bummed that I hadn't just sat at the base of the tree for 30 minutes...

I decided that there wasn't likely another buck right behind him, so I put on my saddle grabbed my platform and boogied up the tree. and waited... It was probably 1:15 when I got situated on my platform and nothing happened until about 3:45.

I looked down and see two doe fawns run out of the northern part of the woods and stop almost in the same spot the buck had. They were looking hard over their shoulder, so I start looking back the way they came. Then I see another doe in the field just to the right of the treelike that runs north south inferno of me. I look on the other side of my tree and see 2 more does and a buck. He's not interested in the mature does and he is trying to figure out what to do about the 2 fawns that ran off.

I'm almost 100% sure that this is the same buck who I had seen just a few hours earlier. He seems conflicted like he knew the fawns were in by me but he didn't want to go in there because of our earlier encounter. He stayed about 55 yards out and just looked for a long time.



He eventually worked to the east and came into the trees about 50-60 yards east and I watched him continue on to the south. He was never in range again, which is frustrating, but that's hunting for you. I think I'm going to try again on Sunday. Not sure what the plan is, maybe set up in another spot not so far in. Closer to the quarry edge. I saw a lot of fresh sign all along there. I hope I haven't spooked them out of those trees. I think those fawns will have been bred by the time I get back out so that buck might not be so active.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

My plan for Sunday was to spend all day in the woods where I have been having close encounters with that buck, but then on Saturday my buddy Chris asked if I wanted to do a morning hunt for geese on the river by his house. Looked at drive times and convinced myself I could hunt geese with him and then get out to the woods for an afternoon hunt.

We managed to get three geese, 2 for him and 1 for me, but by rights we should have had two daily limits. We had three geese fly right in front of us and put 6 shots in the air and none of those geese fell...

And of course we spent a lot of time watching geese fly over us way too high. With my second hunt in mind I decided we should call it for the day and just when we had committed to pull up decoys we had a huge flock coming low over the field like they wanted to come to water. And we were both out in the middle of the river, very visible and no guns at hand. You could just see them change their collective minds and start gaining altitude. Isn't just the way it works?

I was happy with the hunt though. Always fun to spend time with Chris and there's another goose in the freezer.

I drove the 2 hours out to the woods and did a double take when I pulled into the field entrance. I could see a side by side parked in the field right by where the stand is. I called my host and asked him if he was out in the woods. He said he misunderstood and thought I was hunting Monday. So he thought it would be ok for his son in law to go out and pull a stand he had put up this season. As we were on the phone I saw him drive off with the side by side.

I decided to go in anyway. I had driven all the way in and I was hoping that his disturbance on the east end of the woods would have bumped the deer gently to the north and west. I was planning on getting closer to the middle of the woods and I thought perhaps they would be moving back through at sunset.

That is not how it worked out... But I got more practice with my climbing sticks and saddle set up. Need to get better at picking trees with the right type of lean. I had a decent spot and tree but I ended up being on the side that leaned toward me and it was less than ideal.

I think I have 2 more hunts for this season. I am taking a new hunter out Friday afternoon for a CWD firearm hunt and then I might go out next Sunday for the last day of the archery season. Sitting in my saddle yesterday I came up with a potential plan for those turkeys if they are following their normal pattern I have been observing.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

On Friday, I had an opportunity to take a new hunter out for the first time. To call it is a hunt is generous since there was a pretty low probability that we would see deer let alone deer within range, and we didn't. However, it was an important first step to this hunter.

1. He had a shotgun he bought just before the pandemic that he had not yet shot, so I set up a target and he shot at it.
2. He had never sat out in the cold for 4 hours except at football games.
3. I was able to share a lot of knowledge about why we were where we were and what we would do if we saw deer.
4. It is likely that we will plan a bit more extensive hunting opportunity next year.

As for the end of my season, I was faced with a coin flip, hunt Saturday or hunt Sunday but not both. I chose Saturday because the forecasted winds were going to be less gusty 10-15 mph instead of 20-25.

Well, I think the coin cheated me out since I got to my spot Saturday and while there were turkeys in my block of woods and I heard them fly down about 100 yards from me, they somehow dematerialized after that. I saw one doe but she was too far from me and by 9 am I noticed that the farmer that rents the field to the East and North of these woods was out with a crew digging rocks with a tractor and a pickup in full view of any deer or turkey who might have been interested in moseying my way.

I sat until about noon thirty hoping that maybe they would spook something my way but eventually I decided to pull out and go see my parents. It was nice catching up with them, but then I was too warm to want to go back into the cold for an afternoon sit.

So there you have it. 2022 in the bag. It was a great season full of adventure and meat in the freezer. In a few months I will start up my 2023 hunt log. Might get out after coyotes in March. definitely be after turkeys in April and May. I'm also looking into a western hunt trip in 2023 or 2024 with my dad and brother. My dad is in his mid 70's and my brother lives in Sweden so it will take a decent amount of planning to bring it all together.

 

[duckhunt]

Great season Ben.