Thought I would finally get this updated with a story to go along with these photos. :d It all started on Friday. I woke up and decided to take a half day at work that morning. I have some vacation time to burn, Dan already had the whole day off, and I knew Matt wouldn't exactly have to turn in a PTO form to head up to my camp a bit early. I worked from home for the morning, and around 10am or so........couldn't concentrate anymore and called Dan to tell him I was on the way to pick him up. I called Matt once we were on the road, and he said he would head up, settle in, and wait for us to arrive. We get down to camp at around 3:30pm or so, and find Matt hanging out there already with Fred the cabin cat. :d Matt had already showered before he left, so I told him to go ahead and change and head to a ground blind just off one of the food plots that we had prepared the weekend before. Wind was perfect, and I was pretty sure he would end up with some sightings. Dan and I headed up to my Aunt's house just up the road to shower and change. Keep in mind this house is now abandoned, however used by various family members as a vacation home when visiting the area. Dan and I made sure no one came up unplanned, got our showers, and headed afield. I sat about 150 yards away from Matt hunting a funnel that went from bedding cover to apples, and Dan went across the road to the "Truck Cap Blind".........a piece of truly awesome architecture designed and built by yours truly. The Truck Cap Blind sits on another one of the food plots......directly in front of my camp watching a spot we refer to as the "Point" where I shot my doe the weekend before. Picture of the Truck Cap Blind As the night unfolded, I had a doe and button buck fawn directly under my tree, well within range. I have a tag but was hoping to save it for a while.....maybe for one of the moose like does that I know roams this property. I didn't see much else. Matt ended up seeing the same deer, as well as a woodchuck in the plot that he swears was a good 3' at the shoulder (thats what happens when they eat Biologic all summer). He got video of both the woodchuck and the pair of deer. Dan had a group of does at 6 yards from him at the Truck Cap Blind, but filled his only doe tag the weekend before. At dark, we all headed back to camp, headed out for some wings........and waited for Rob to come join us. Rob ended up showing up around 10-10:30 or so...and we stayed up way too late watching hunting videos, telling deer hunting lies, and giggling like a bunch of boyscouts at summer camp for the first time. About 2-3 hours after we all passed out finally, the alarm went off and we were up and headed to my Aunt's house up the road for showers and to get dressed. We hopped into Rob's truck, drove up with all our gear, and piled out and into the house. Rob was first up in the shower, and the rest of us stayed in the kitchen waiting for him to finish up. After Rob was already in there, Matt and I were talking and I turned around to see someones motorcycle jacket, wallet, and keys on the table. Without us noticing, another family member had showed up at the house late the night before for a weekend getaway, and was still sleeping. At that point it was about 4:30am, so we backed out after Rob was done in the shower. The rest of us simply wiped down with scent eliminating towels and body lotion deoderant, got dressed and headed into the woods. I decided due to wind conditions that Dan would hunt the "Hollow" stand, Matt would sit in the "Nanny Whacker", and Rob in the "Taj Mahal". All 3 were great spots and the wind seemed good for them all. I decided to head to the "Hemlocks" stand down in the spring bottom. I got to my stand at about 5am, looked up, and all I saw was one lone tree step halfway up and no stand. I was furious. We have had problems with trespassers in the past, but I've never had a
VERY nice!! Doesn't look like Matt's gonna run out of venison any time soon, huh? And with three weeks or so out here in Illinois... he may need a bigger freezer this year. Great-looking buck, RJ! Beautiful pics!
Nice buck Matt and doe too Matt. The colors of the leaves look nice too. Just starting to turn around here. That must have been a fun weekend with the crew you had up there. Looking forward to sharing my hunting grounds with a couple of guys in a few weeks.
Here's my video of my morning sit. I had to make it in two parts, Morning Sit Part One, Almost! Morning Sit Part 2, Damn not in Season!
Matt, First off, nice buck! Congrats. Secondly, great photos. I love the ridge you drag the deer to for some of the photo opts. (I notice it must be one of your favorite photo spots on that farm) That is definitely a great lookin' picture. BTW, is that your farm in the background or a neighboring property?
Thanks guys! and of course a big thanks to Matt for his hospitality.........when you live in a part of the state like I do trust me it's a HUGE breath of fresh air to get up to that camp. LOL Hopefully Rob can get the videos uploaded of mine and Matt's recoveries. They were some of the more fun ones I've ever been on. (Not challenging but the whole process that day was a ball from the blood trails to the tractor. I ALMOST got my kill on video but the deer handcuffed me a bit on the opposite side of the camera and arm and since she was quartering toward me and coming and this is PA and not IL where deer actually notice people in trees, LOL.........I just decided to drill her and be done with it. I did get some nice footage of another doe and a fawn that came down the same trail and a little spike "Rob buck" in the making. Great time. Hope to get back up there in 2 weeks.
Wow! Congrats again Matt and a big ole CONGRATS to you Matt!!! Great buck!! Great pics and Rob, great video!!!! Wow ... I cant wait!!!
Rob, If you want to burn a copy of the weekend's events onto a disc to bring down for me for this weekend, I'm not gonna stop ya.
