New Quiver for Lauren / Girls Hunt?

At the beginning of March, Lauren began taking private lessons for Archery.  After 1 hour of lessons, she was invited to train with the Intermediate group but will not be able to compete at the intermediate level because of her age.  She was invited because she was already staying on paper at 20 yards, as where in the Basic Group only shoots 10 yards.  Last night she got a new leather quiver and wanted to try it out so we set up a 10 yard range in the backyard and she emptied a couple of quivers full of arrows.

Nice shooting Lauren!

Mike also has a daughter who is into the outdoors and is going turkey hunting with her Dad this coming weekend.  Here is a picture of Jessica at the range with one of the various upgraded weapons.  Jessica, leave the fan and beard next to mine on the "brag" board, take some pictures and we'll get you up on the blog proudly with your new Tom Turkey!  Good luck on the hunt!



Spring Turkey Opener

Last week I wanted to write a pre-Turkey Season post about getting ready for the weekend, where I wanted to hunt and when, but now that that weekend has passed - it all seems pretty pointless.   We headed out to Gurra Ranch Thursday afternoon hoping to all get Tom Turkeys on Saturday and some hogs throughout .  Alpar a fairly new addition to the assorted crew rode out with me and Anders followed shortly thereafter.  We arrived, set up, and went to bait, and drank a few beers after Anders arrived.  We planned our hunts, locations and times.  I would start out on the NE corner where I saw the turkeys in December also where I shot a hog.

Saturday came and the morning hunt produced nothing.  After a late breakfast and some minor chores, we met back at camp for lunch and more beers.  A gobbler was going nuts about 150 yards to the SE, we had heard him Thursday and Friday, but now it was legal to take him; only problem was, he was across the road down in a gully on another ranchers land.

I made a couple hen and jake calls from camp and he was responding to every other one.  I grabbed my Benelli and went to see how far away he was.  I closed in on him moving several times closer when I could tell he was crowing away from me.  I had pretty thick cover and I was moving really slow.  I took up a position against an oak; I must have been 75 yards I estimated from him at that point.  I returned to camp got my camera (point and shoot POC), turkey vest and all of my calls and headed back to that spot.  I sat there for another 20 minutes conversing with this stubborn ass mule of a Tom.

I moved again to a closer, better position to wait him out.  I got the camera affixed, did some calling; by now he was getting closer.  After 20 more minutes I caught a short glimpse of him making his way to the road and then he disappeared.  I figured he would keep coming if a called a few more times as he bracketed my position; I put down the calls, pointed my shotty where I figured he would come out, it wasn’t 1 minute later he stuck his neck out from around the grove.  Lights Out! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yZkzli5uII

(My crappy camera couldn't take the shock of the gun blast and the video went into a tizzy.)

12ga Benelli Nova Pump, Winchester Supreme High Velocity Turkey Load, 3” 1300 FPS, 1 3/4 oz, #4

Why it's always a good idea to invest in quality scouting equipment, keep it in good working order, change the batteries, swap your cards as often as possible and spend some time analyzing your footage; if nothing more than to keep you motivated for the next season!

Spike. Look at the torn left ear?

Bigger this year!

Who knew it'd snow? 

What? Another Spike?

Two Spikes.

Minding my own business.

Intruder Alert!

I'll just be leaving now.

"Big Hoss," missed my chance at a clear shot on him in December.

 Stay thirsty my friends and

Get Some!

Check out these plates!

The other day I picked up my new personalized license plates, like every sob story, I didn’t get what I wanted but I got the next best thing.  I wanted the TX Deer Conservation tag, and wanted to play off the deer illustration as part of the whole plate.  I had seen the same sort of tag at the airport on my way back from New Orleans in February.  In Texas they let you have a few symbols as characters such as a heart, a dash, and an outline of the State of Texas. 
I played around with different versions of the word “hunter” but most had been taken, plus it’s hard to get real creative when you only have 5 letter/number combinations.  I settled on “HUN7R” where the number 7 stands for a “T” in Leet Speak (elite speak) or L33T as it were; so you would read the tag like this, “Texas Deer (illustration) Hunter” if you were tailgating me!  “HUNTR” had already been taken as well as (Heart)2HNT; I believe “HUNNR” is still available Anders??  Not enough numbers for “(Heart)my-06.”  $30 of the fees goes to Texas Wildlife conservation programs, that can’t be all bad.

Deer (General) Season 2011/12

During the season opener in November I passed on some does - waiting for one of those bucks I scouted during the summer, but that did not happen. Made another trip the middle of December and hunted "hard" as Mike Hanback would say for 4 1/2 days. The first morning I saw and filmed about 8 jakes that come within 30 yards, but I didn’t have my shotgun. When the general season is going on, I have to lug 2 to 3 guns around to cover all my bases. For deer I like my Remington 700 in 30-06, for turkey I use my Benelli Nova, and for the opportunistic hog, I have an FNAR in .308. This morning I wasn’t prepared and deserved what I got – nothing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uytq3hSlOss

However, as luck would have it, I spotted 2 hogs and took the lead one out at 45 yards with a nice shot right behind the ear. Only read on if you like bloviating!

 I passed on a nice doe that afternoon, and would not see another deer until Sunday morning right before I called it quits. By Saturday evening, Anders, Mike and John had all scored a deer; all bucks. I felt pretty down on myself and began to think I blew it by not shooting the doe I had passed on earlier and that I would go yet another year without deer meat in the freezer.

When Sunday rolled around, we typically only make a morning hunt, pack up camp and are on the road by 2:00 PM. Pretty much everyone came back to camp and started cooking breakfast around 8-8:30 AM, I decided I would give it until 9:30 AM and that I would just have to accept defeat.
Sitting in my G-3 blind, I got up to stretch around 0915 hrs, after a few side bends and squats, I headed back around from the back of the chair and paused to peek out the East facing window. The sun had already broken the horizon and I wasn't staring directly into the sun, but I squinted and thought I had spotted some movement on the East/West sendero just off to the south side in the brush line. It was a buck and he was walking right up to me and had no idea I was there. He was good sized most likely a 3 1/2 year old with two spindly antlers on his right side and a "spike" on the other side; why wait for the extended season? We had also captured several (4-5) spikes on the trail cams and the rest of the hunters took 2 spikes and a doe, I felt I was going to my management part as well. The winds were calm out of the East, he was grazing on some swamp donkey put out on Thursday and whatever the wild hogs left for him; it was his last meal.
He began to turn to the right and came right across the sendero at a snail’s pace, my heart was pumping, finger getting itchy, yet he was still quartering too much to me. He took a few more steps, got about as broadside as he ever would and I gave him a grunt, he stopped, looked at me and I sent the round down range. I hit him hard with the -06, but not hard enough, he kicked up and when I expected him to fall, he bolted into the brush and my heart sank. I waited a few minutes, gathered my gear, chambered another round and went looking for blood.
I did find blood, but it didn’t look like a double-lung shot; got one lung and came out the liver. I thought great, now he’s going to die on someone else’s land and I’ll never find him. I got on the radio and the gallant search party arrived to help me track, the blood trail stopped at the sendero and it was anybody’s guess where he went. We searched in 20 -30 yards and I spotted him in some low ground where he took his last breath. I was both sad for him and elated for me at the same time, he wasn’t a trophy, but he was a magnificent creature and went down fighting. I hunted hard until the last few minutes and I would not strike out 2 years in a row.   Thanks Mike. 

http://www.mikehanback.com/aboutMe/index.cfm

Post Summer 2011

Now that is beginning to cool off some, it’s was time once again to head to the ranch, feed, water, and make repairs. This summer was brutally hot and dry. Rainfall for Rockspings has only been 6 inches for the year, there was no grass, no water, and most of the oaks had died; burn bans in effect, no camp fires at night, and the free range cattle had been pulled of the ranches. The TPWD forecast for the deer herds were getting very dismally depressing.
However, looking at the camera footage taken back in July, while the bucks were in velvet, it seemed there was some hope as a few nice bucks were spotted and recorded!

Back again were the boys from Colorado, we had some good laughs, drank some fine liquor, and Mike and John made some new hasty blinds.



Bermuda 2011

In May my wife and I had a chance to vacation for 7 days on the island of Bermuda.  We had been there 10 years ago, and nothing much has changed since that time.  This trip we booked a couple days of deep sea fishing along several of their reefs.  The fishing hadn’t been that great before we arrived, and wasn’t that fantastic when we left, but we both caught fish and had a great 2 days aboard the “Equalizer” captained by Reggie Horseman.



The vacation was totally first class, we had great rooms, great food, open bars all night long, dance clubs, hospitality suites, and loads of excursions; did I mention it was all FREE?  The hotel restaurant even cooked our catch for lunch one day!

Gurra Ranch - 2011

This is our second trip out for 2011 since the end of the late deer season (I struck out during the 2010/11 deer season) and it's now the Texas Spring Turkey season. I saw a few hens and jakes, heard some but didn't see a gobbler. Hadn't checked the game cameras since they were set back in January, nothing really surprising, but captured this big hog with what looks like a snare around his neck that he managed to break free of; that’s one tough hog.  To be perfectly clear, even though we want them gone, we do not trap or snare or leave them to die; this was somebody else’s handy work.  

This hog must go if he hasn't already.

April Striper Fishing - Lake Ouachita Arkansas

I said we would make it back and we did, we thought the kids would just love it so we took the whole family.  Again I landed the biggest striper, but Markell and my daughter Lauren both caught respectable fish.
We went out with Terry again with ArkansasStriperFishing.com and he put us on to the fish, no trophy sized fish this trip, but we will be making this an annual family vacation. 

While out on the boat, we received a call from our pet sitter that my dog of 14 years, JoJo, had died in the night of the very day we left for Arkansas, this was the last photo of us taken the day we left. 

I will miss you every day, and no other animal could ever take your place.

To New Friends

Up at the ranch again in the off season for hog eradication maneuvers, this time I was fortunate to meet and hunt with a couple of really upstanding guys from Colorado, yes they made the drive all the way down for a few days of hunting!  These dudes are really cool, and they pack some serious firepower. Being the off season, it allows us to zero, shoot, practice, and just have some plain old fun.  Here we are at the range with the “new” guys Mike and John.

Mike managed to take a small one, but it made the trip worth while and everone that is taken out of the heard is progress in anybody's book.  Cheers Mate!

Destin Florida 2010

Here we go again, another vacation with our group of friends, and another fishing excursion for Anders and me; this time we went out for some reef snapper fishing.  Anders and I still have this “thing” in where Anders is more successful in salt and I am in fresh water.  Go figure?  Not only did he beat me in size and weight, he managed to land the biggest snapper of the day. 

Get you next year fool!



Hot Springs, Arkansas 2010

Markell and I headed up to Arkansas for a bit of R&R as well as some striper fishing.  We chartered a boat with Arkansas Striper Fishing (http://www.arkansasstripers.com/) piloted by Capt. Terry Brodnax.  He showed us a really good time, and we even caught some fish.  This was Markell’s first time fishing in a long time, and first time angling for striper.  She loved it and now she is “hooked.”

Of course I landed the biggest one, we lost a couple, bet we both came away with some good eatin’ fish.



 



See you next year!