I got my start in hunting as most of us did. My father and grandfather were both the heroes of my life, I remember being somewhere around the age of 10 and begging my father to take me turkey hunting, after enough begging to make anyone give in my father gave me an ultimatum, he said “Alright son, I’ll take you hunting if you can sit the that corner completely still until I tell you that you can move” I sat in that corner like a statue for what felt like 2 hours, it was probably more like 10 seconds and I bet a squirmed around like I was on a pile of fire ants, but my father took me hunting after that. I remember as a young boy my favorite Christmas present was a 550 round box of Remington 22lr ammo. I could have probably had a pretty good trust fund right now had I saved those rounds! But things being the way they were, growing up in a rural area having friends come over to spend the night was a rarity in my world. Not that my parents didn’t allow it but that living 20 miles from another child that was my age wasn’t very hard to do. I was always blessed as a young child to live on a minimum of 40 acres. With that came a world of options for a young country boy. I was also blessed to have a family that has very deep seated roots into hunting. I will never forget the many great memories I have of times hunting with my Father, Grandfather, and even my Mother. These memories are things that I hold dear to my heart, we didn’t have to kill anything, we didn’t even have to see anything, but those amazing life lessons are forever burned into my cranium. One of the first times I will never forget of is a turkey hunt I had with my father in a youth spring turkey season. It was a very odd day; I don’t really remember waking up that morning. Heck I probably didn’t wake up, he probably just drug me out of my bed by my toes, literally that was his favorite thing to do was to grab me by my big toes and shake me to life and give me the famous line “You wan’na go hunting?” most of the time I would reply “I dun’no I’m too tired” or “I don’t feel good”. I wasn’t much of a morning person in my early years, nor am I today either. But that morning was most strange because it had snowed that morning, we had found a set of birds out in a field that were close to 800 yards if my memory is correct, and there was a fence line running along the field that was very grown up. We used the tree line to sneak with probably 600 yards of these Turkeys and they would not work. They wouldn’t even look our direction, but they were feeding over towards us. But as a child is, my feet were getting uncomfortable. Now I wouldn’t say they were cold, because at my age now I know I have worked through colder weather for much longer hours than I hunted that 45 minutes that day. My feet had gotten cold so we got up and walked out and that day may have been seen as a loss for most people but that got me hooked as a young child. The next hunt I remember was another spring turkey season where we drove down a long drive with my Father, Grandfather, and one of the “Kentucky Boys”. It was a scouting trip for the next morning when turkey season was set to open, my father and I crossed a fence to our north and walked maybe 50 yards and sat to watch a field that he had spotted some jakes working the week before. We sat for maybe five minutes and the jakes walked out into the field and began to feed, strut and peck each other about 60 yards from us. The worked that field for about an hour before crossing it and coming within 5 yards of us on the other side of a thick overgrown fence line. This was probably the coolest thing I had ever seen at the time, when the jakes finally fed out of that field we heard a gobble about 100 yards from us in an overgrown pasture. We snuck up to the edge of the pasture and watched 2 toms work that field strutting back and forth for about 30 minutes and man was this kid hooked on turkey. We went back to the field the jakes had worked the next morning and had the fly down directly into that field and work it just out of range of my youth 20 gauge shot gun. We never got a shot that day but it’s absolutely burnt into my memory. I have many greater memories with my family and friends, but I’m going to start this blog to begin documenting and sharing my experiences with the hunting crowd around the states. I’ve never taken a buck with my bow, and only one doe otherwise. There has never been any method to my deer hunting until now either, just go to that stand my dad had hung years ago and jump in it with no care about wind direction, scent control, or any real attention to much detail at all. This year is going to change that all for me, I have permission on a 160 acres to pretty much do as I please and all the equipment to put in plots, hang stands, do some TSI, and actually do some hunting now. I have to thank my wife for supporting me in all of this, she sees that this is something I really, truly enjoy. She has become a crucial element in this hunting season. Don’t you worry, she has plans where she wants me to hang her gun season stand. If you would like to hear more of my past plans and strategies and how I’m changing them this year keep checking back, I plan to detail them to the best of my ability here and hopefully I can help you move on to greater things, hopefully you can help me!
As the 2016 Missouri Archery is set to open in seven days, I begin to look back at this year’s preparation, or better yet the lack there of. Though I have put tenfold the thought and prep into this season compared to any other in my life. I still wish I had put more effort into this. In seasons past, I would just get up early in the morning and crawl into some old tree stand that had been set in that spot for several years, with no caution to the wind, and have never used any trail camera to its full potential. This year’s plans were much different than any season before. I had big ambitions to start this year off correctly with mineral and feed stations early on this year. My budget quickly went south though with a layoff and family needs rose over any hunting needs as many of us suffer from. My only trail camera I had mysteriously quit me near April of this year without any warning at all. This put a major dampener on my mood that a $100 camera had quit me that I would not have the income to replace, and didn’t until August this year. I have completed a lot this august although things were not done as early as I wanted I have at the minimum gotten done 3 major things I wanted to. I have a two food plots out as of August 14[SUP]th[/SUP]. This plots are made up of Wheat, Brassicas, Clover, Oats, Rape, and Forage Turnips. When I bought the seed for this plot I also picked up a Moultrie trail camera. As soon as we tilled and seeded the plot I stuck the camera onto a tree almost dead center of this plot facing up in the direction I believed the deer would travel through the plot. This plot is located on a ridge top that has proven to be a great travel corridor in years past and my Father and I have located several good bucks traveling this area going to and from bedding and food. I have a stand hung on the South Western corner of this field perfect for a North East or Due North wind. The first night this plot was placed I got a picture of what seems to be a mature buck that my wife and I named “Toothless”. He seemed to be an 8 point but the lighting was terrible in the picture. Fast forward a week later and we came back to check the camera to find we have what we believe to be the same buck back on camera. As my wife and I scrolled across the picture she nearly shouted with joy, and I began to realize how much excitement my wife is hiding over this season also. With toothless making this first daylight appearance my excitement has grown tenfold! With these pictures we decided to grab a mineral block and place it in front of the camera to better increase our chances for a modeling session with this bad boy. The farm a hunt is a working cattle ranch so coming in and out of this area is no major deal so I check this camera weekly without much worry about pressuring these deer. The next week I came back to check the camera and have come across a nice little surprise. A 2-year-old 6 point somewhere in the mid 80’s class on video at the mineral block within just a few hours of me placing the block, and a few does checking out the plot throughout that week. This week my ambitions are high as I work out of town I’m sitting here dreaming about going to check this camera again. With high hopes that “Toothless” or the “Dark Six” shows back up for more photo ops. I’m also twice as excited to crawl into that tree stand on Sept. 16[SUP]th[/SUP] and see how this plot is being used! Be safe out there everyone and come back for more of this story later.
