Hey guys, here is the field journal entry from the NJ opener and the incredible hunt Steve and I had. The entry was delayed because I had to wait for pictures from Steve and we wanted to wait to see how little Stephen's surgery would turn out before posting anything. It is long, but it's quite a story. Enjoy! Hunt Nut® Field Journal September 13th, 2008 Season In a Day Bryan Roth-Team Hunt Nut® Steve Behun, the founder of HuntNut.com®, had a precarious situation this fall. His son, Stephen IV, has a rare heart condition that he was born with. To correct this condition three separate open heart surgeries are required. Stephen, who is two years old, has been blessed to have undergone two of the surgeries successfully. The third, and hopefully final surgery was scheduled to occur in mid-September 2008 at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. As a result Steve knew that the amount of time he would have to bowhunt New Jersey would be condensed this season to merely one day. Since Steve was going to be at his family’s side during the New Jersey archery season with the exception of the opener he knew he had to harvest a doe to satisfy his earn a buck requirement in New Jersey, get her checked in and on ice, and get back out into the woods to try to harvest a buck all in one day. To complicate matters further, Steve wanted to capture the entire hunt on film and would be hunting pressured public access property. That is a tall order to do in a season, let alone a day. In mid-summer Steve set out to the business of establishing some mineral licks and putting out some food to try and get some deer on trail camera. Since the location is an hour and a half drive from his home, Steve uses external batteries and large memory cards on his cameras to maximize their effectiveness. Steve set out 3 separate sites that would be potential stand sites. Each site was selected based on years of experience Steve had hunting these grounds and all were up the mountain a good distance from the parking area. Being public access property meant packing in minerals, food, and trail cameras by foot. After preparing each site with his special homemade mineral blend and a food attractant Steve waited to see what the cameras would turn up. He was pleasantly surprised to find a good number of deer hitting all of the sites including some very nice bucks. Here are some trail camera photos from the summer. After analyzing the pictures Steve determined that the spot at the top of the mountain was his best bet at getting a doe because the majority of the activity at that site was from does. In addition to a lot of doe activity, the pictures revealed that they were there on a regular basis. This provided Steve his best opportunity at filling that doe tag and getting his buck permit quickly. He also found that another spot that was near a big old oak, had 5 bucks in the area on a very regular basis including a very respectable 8 point buck and an even larger 9 point. The regularity and quality of the bucks in this area told Steve that this was the stand he needed to be in to try to harvest a buck. Steve would take either the big 8 or the 9 if the opportunity presented itself, and since they usually showed together he was looking at having to make a choice. With a game plan ready Steve gathered his gear and we formulated a plan on when to meet to get to the stand location with plenty of time to get to our stands. This planning was key because since we were hunting public access property we had to pack in our stands and all of our gear. Because of this the 2 mile hike up the mountain would take a long time. After careful consideration Steve decided we would meet at a midway point for both of us at 3:30 a.m. After a 2:30 wake-up I headed out to meet Steve and we got on the road to New Jersey. Traffic was light and we made goo
For how great the story is it is even better to hear that Stephen is doing so well. Best of luck to him and the family.
As I said on HNI, awesome story and my wishes go out to little Stephen!! Hang in there little guy!! Congrats on the team effort also!!
Great story....wonderful season condensed into a day. Amazing! And I'm glad the little one is okay after his latest surgery.
Incredible Story, I have kids that age so it hit a soft spot with me. God Bless Stephen and I am so relieved that he is doing well. And Congrats on the great buck and what sounded like a entire season for most all in one day's hunt.
