Vanish and FireTiger's 2018 Hunt Journal - Season 8
- Thread starter vanish
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Matty B
Member
Awesome, good to see you were successful opening weekend! Congrats to you and your dad!
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Great job! Congrats to you and your father!
PA deer hunter
Active member
Awesome ! Some of my best hunting memories were made with my Father . Congrats to Dad on a fine bull !
Thanks everyone for the congrats! I really appreciate everyone reading.
We took our time with the quartering and pack out. It was about 1.5 miles from camp. Aside from the nasty drop at the end, it was a very easy pack out all things considered. We got some rain and hail to spice things up, so I shuttled the meat up to the easy section for us. There was one 15 foot deep ravine I had to cross that had me puckering pretty good. Thank goodness for trekking poles.
Sadly, I did not take any photos during the packout. Dad simply slung a front quarter over each shoulder as he refuses to buy any more gear, like a reasonable backpack. Something about too much junk in the garage already. We deboned the hind quarters and I took care of those. We finished just before dark.
We took it easy Sunday and made our way to my house to do the butchering. Put the last packages of burger in the freezer at 9pm last night.
We took our time with the quartering and pack out. It was about 1.5 miles from camp. Aside from the nasty drop at the end, it was a very easy pack out all things considered. We got some rain and hail to spice things up, so I shuttled the meat up to the easy section for us. There was one 15 foot deep ravine I had to cross that had me puckering pretty good. Thank goodness for trekking poles.
Sadly, I did not take any photos during the packout. Dad simply slung a front quarter over each shoulder as he refuses to buy any more gear, like a reasonable backpack. Something about too much junk in the garage already. We deboned the hind quarters and I took care of those. We finished just before dark.
We took it easy Sunday and made our way to my house to do the butchering. Put the last packages of burger in the freezer at 9pm last night.
Crossbowguy
Well-known member
Great Story and Congrats on an awesome hunt!!!
publichunter1
Well-known member
Good way to start the year. Congrats!
A death in the family made a bit of muck out of my weekend elk hunt, so FireTiger convinced me to go East with her. We'd take Fitzy target practicing and hopefully find some turkeys.
First stop was the range. We brought a .22, .270 and a 20 gauge and shot for a couple of hours. I can't believe how bad I've become at shooting clays.
First stop was the range. We brought a .22, .270 and a 20 gauge and shot for a couple of hours. I can't believe how bad I've become at shooting clays.
dirtclod Az.
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- Jan 24, 2018
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Congrats on your Elk hunt,looking forward to the trest of the season
After the range, we had about an hour to check out a place we've driven by but never hunted. Before we even got to the parking lot, I stopped the car and pulled out the binos. Bingo, a flock of turkeys, and then a second flock of toms. We got to the lot and suited up, but rather than pursue those birds we thought we'd just slip through the creek bottom looking for other turkeys. We found 4 whitetails and a fox, but ran out of daylight before finding any turks.
The place we have to camp is unfortunately not where we can hunt, but we had the place to ourselves which was a miracle for Labor Day weekend. Fajitas rounded out the day. Fitzy is a good cook.
Sunday morning we hung out at camp and had a big breakfast. It seemed like there wasn't a rush, as we'd seen turkeys at all times of the day in this place in the past. We headed to our intended destination. We split up, with me heading to the blind where I took my whitetail last year. I was aiming to get a turkey with my bow, and I figured I'd have better luck getting drawn than spot and stalk.
The place we have to camp is unfortunately not where we can hunt, but we had the place to ourselves which was a miracle for Labor Day weekend. Fajitas rounded out the day. Fitzy is a good cook.
Sunday morning we hung out at camp and had a big breakfast. It seemed like there wasn't a rush, as we'd seen turkeys at all times of the day in this place in the past. We headed to our intended destination. We split up, with me heading to the blind where I took my whitetail last year. I was aiming to get a turkey with my bow, and I figured I'd have better luck getting drawn than spot and stalk.
I'm in the blind for about half an hour when I hear a turkey sound off to my left, and immediately two more fire back to my right. In the middle ... score! In this spot, the dry creek bottom is only about 50 yards wide terminating in a sheer cliff, so I'm fairly sure if they move through, I will see them. The one to my left never makes another sound, but to my right they just keep popping off. They don't sound too far away, and finally I see two black blobs at about 60 yards. I wait and watch and watch for at least another half hour, and they don't see to be going anywhere. I think I can slip in on them as there is a very dense bush at 40 yards I can use for cover, however I have Hank sleeping in the blind in front of me.
This is not ideal for archery turkey hunting but you do what you have to do. I'm concerned that if I leave the blind Hank will get up and either try to follow me or start howling. As I contemplate my options, I hear something behind me. I've been very focused on the two toms to my right. Without thinking, I look over my shoulder, and there are two toms at 6 FEET on the other side of the blind. Of course, they see my head turn, start putting, which gets Hanks attention, so he sits up and there's just no way I can get a shot. With a shotgun, I'm done, but no I had to bring the bow.
At least there are still two toms at 60 yards. Well, there are until something starts a stampede of cattle out of the trees near me. The turkeys don't care for that and disappear into the creek bottom.
I'm supposed to meet up with the girls at 1PM back at the car for lunch, so I give it a bit and then decide to start creeping my way back...
This is not ideal for archery turkey hunting but you do what you have to do. I'm concerned that if I leave the blind Hank will get up and either try to follow me or start howling. As I contemplate my options, I hear something behind me. I've been very focused on the two toms to my right. Without thinking, I look over my shoulder, and there are two toms at 6 FEET on the other side of the blind. Of course, they see my head turn, start putting, which gets Hanks attention, so he sits up and there's just no way I can get a shot. With a shotgun, I'm done, but no I had to bring the bow.
At least there are still two toms at 60 yards. Well, there are until something starts a stampede of cattle out of the trees near me. The turkeys don't care for that and disappear into the creek bottom.
I'm supposed to meet up with the girls at 1PM back at the car for lunch, so I give it a bit and then decide to start creeping my way back...
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dirtclod Az.
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And Then...?
Oh yeah, I forgot, I had this doe encounter while in the blind, too. Its a long boring video, I won't be offended if you don't watch it/all. 
[video=youtube;cfjTmBcNZ-E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfjTmBcNZ-E[/video]
I can't seem to find video stabilization on YouTube anymore :/
[video=youtube;cfjTmBcNZ-E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfjTmBcNZ-E[/video]
I can't seem to find video stabilization on YouTube anymore :/
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Hank and I are sneaking along as much as one can with a leashed bird dog in quail country when I spot a hen a mere 20 yards ahead in the middle of a cow path. Incredible. I nock an arrow and as I draw, a fawn steps up behind the turkey, pushing it out of the trail and into the tall grass. I didn't realize just how tall the grass was until the turkey completely disappeared. I had no shot anyway with that fawn standing right there next to the turkey.
Continuing on, I get to the edge of a large opening with a set of three bushes in the middle. I can see a turkey head periscoping between two of the bushes. Hmm, 60 yards is too far. I get Hank to lie down and slip my backpack off as an anchor for his leash ( sort of, he could pull it if he wanted ). Now there are two turkeys as I start slipping in. I get to 40 yards and its obvious they're on to me, but they haven't left. Draw anchor aim release, and my arrow clips an overhanging limb I didn't see.
The turkeys start moving away into the opening, but I have the one bush for cover and manage to close in to what I believe is 30 yards. Not sure what went wrong this time, but I miss again. The hens, however, are acting very strange and run into a patch of extra thick grass in the wide open. I run up on them and miss yet again as they move right as I shoot. This is embarrassing. I'm getting concerned about finding my arrows at this point, but I have one more. They run under another bush and hold, and this time I get rangefinder and slip in to slam dunk distance, but something stops me.
AHA! This is why they're acting weird. They've got young-of-the-year birds with them. I could never see them due to the tall, thick grass. The adults weren't fleeing because they were waiting for the little ones to catch up. Now, these aren't small birds at this point, much larger than a grouse, but I decide I like turkeys and the wee ones have a best chance with a mother, so leave them be and manage to retrieve all three of my arrows
I finally meet the girls back at the vehicle a little late and as they didn't see anything we decide to all head to my blind for the afternoon, which proved to be a good decision...
Continuing on, I get to the edge of a large opening with a set of three bushes in the middle. I can see a turkey head periscoping between two of the bushes. Hmm, 60 yards is too far. I get Hank to lie down and slip my backpack off as an anchor for his leash ( sort of, he could pull it if he wanted ). Now there are two turkeys as I start slipping in. I get to 40 yards and its obvious they're on to me, but they haven't left. Draw anchor aim release, and my arrow clips an overhanging limb I didn't see.
The turkeys start moving away into the opening, but I have the one bush for cover and manage to close in to what I believe is 30 yards. Not sure what went wrong this time, but I miss again. The hens, however, are acting very strange and run into a patch of extra thick grass in the wide open. I run up on them and miss yet again as they move right as I shoot. This is embarrassing. I'm getting concerned about finding my arrows at this point, but I have one more. They run under another bush and hold, and this time I get rangefinder and slip in to slam dunk distance, but something stops me.
AHA! This is why they're acting weird. They've got young-of-the-year birds with them. I could never see them due to the tall, thick grass. The adults weren't fleeing because they were waiting for the little ones to catch up. Now, these aren't small birds at this point, much larger than a grouse, but I decide I like turkeys and the wee ones have a best chance with a mother, so leave them be and manage to retrieve all three of my arrows
I finally meet the girls back at the vehicle a little late and as they didn't see anything we decide to all head to my blind for the afternoon, which proved to be a good decision...
jeremy.b
Well-known member
And then...! 
WildWill
Well-known member
And then...!
Right. He's just building the anticipation.
dirtclod Az.
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helsyeh he is! And then,Hammer time...?
We headed back to the blind and found that, hey, the sun moves. It wasn't ideal for an afternoon spot, as we found the blind is fully exposed to the sun from about 1pm to 5pm. It was HOT. We couldn't hear a thing over Hank Panterson.
We got to watch a doe and fawn come in from about 200 yards out all the way to 20 yards. This was one of Fitzy's first experiences really watching deer in the field.
After quite some time, Hank finally stopped huffing and laid down in the little bit of shade. This seemed like a good idea and I took his lead.
I don't know how long it was, but a different sound caught my attention. I asked Fitzy, who was looking at some birds in the trees to the south, what it was and she didn't know. I half sat up and looked north around the tree, and what do you know, we failed again. There was a small flock of turkeys maybe 12 feet away. As I still had my bow and was completely out of position, I half whispered "FireTiger, shoot the turkeys!" and she naturally responded with *Yawn* .. "Huh, wha?"
Of course, with this commotion, the turkeys were on to us. FireTiger wasn't awake enough to just jump up and shoot one.
Half an hour later, FireTiger tells me she hears turkeys behind us and turns to get in position. I didn't catch what she did, but she was absolutely right. I saw a head pop up over the slight rise in the wide open behind us. I've debated in the past whether turkeys were smart versus paranoid, but these buggers were on to us. They snuck out in that field and peeked over to see if we were still in the blind. Here, I made a bad call. Due to the way I was lying, I wasn't sure they were in range, but they definitely were.
After that debacle, we decided it was time to give the blind a rest and took to spot and stalk...
We got to watch a doe and fawn come in from about 200 yards out all the way to 20 yards. This was one of Fitzy's first experiences really watching deer in the field.
After quite some time, Hank finally stopped huffing and laid down in the little bit of shade. This seemed like a good idea and I took his lead.
I don't know how long it was, but a different sound caught my attention. I asked Fitzy, who was looking at some birds in the trees to the south, what it was and she didn't know. I half sat up and looked north around the tree, and what do you know, we failed again. There was a small flock of turkeys maybe 12 feet away. As I still had my bow and was completely out of position, I half whispered "FireTiger, shoot the turkeys!" and she naturally responded with *Yawn* .. "Huh, wha?"
Of course, with this commotion, the turkeys were on to us. FireTiger wasn't awake enough to just jump up and shoot one.
Half an hour later, FireTiger tells me she hears turkeys behind us and turns to get in position. I didn't catch what she did, but she was absolutely right. I saw a head pop up over the slight rise in the wide open behind us. I've debated in the past whether turkeys were smart versus paranoid, but these buggers were on to us. They snuck out in that field and peeked over to see if we were still in the blind. Here, I made a bad call. Due to the way I was lying, I wasn't sure they were in range, but they definitely were.
After that debacle, we decided it was time to give the blind a rest and took to spot and stalk...
