Citrus Buck 2013

I've been having a tough deer season so far. I had a doe jump my string at 30 yards opening weekend of Ga archery. I had another doe slip right behind me at my property in Fl during archery, when I tried to stand up and turn around she caught my movement and ran off. I missed yet another doe during general gun in Ga. With my wife's Nov. 22 baby due date fast arriving, I was feeling the pressure to put some venison in the cooler.

"Lefty" cruising during mid-day

I saw the cool temperatures on the forecast for Wed. Nov 13 and decided to take a personal day from work and try to make it happen. My plan was to archery hunt my property in the morning and then hit Citrus WMA in the evening for their late archery season. My property camera was telling me the rut was on as I had a couple pictures of a 7 point I call lefty cruising through during the daytime.

I arrived early and though I was happy about the cool temperature, I wasn't thrilled about the 30 mph winds.

Roadkill Buck

Besides getting a wild ride in my tree stand as the gusty winds blew me back and forth there wasn't much action except 9 squirrels at my feeder. I got down about 9:30 a.m. and drove to Wal-Mart to look for a new trail cam as one of mine had stopped working. On my way back to my property I spotted the white belly of a deer in the little ditch beside Hwy 98. I turned around to investigate and found it to be a beautiful 8 point that was freshly killed by a vehicle. It was still warm and smelled fine so I hoisted it on my Hitch&Haul and brought it back to my property. After messing with a few of my hunting buddies by sending them a picture with no explanation, I began cleaning the buck. It's neck and hind leg were broken but there was no damage to the best cuts of meat. Isn't the first time I've taken advantage of a road kill deer and I'm sure it won't be the last.

After getting the meat on ice and cleaning up, I headed over to Citrus for a long afternoon sit. I got up in a tree at 1:30 p.m. and sat till 5:30 p.m. when the wind began to calm. My spacing out was interrupted by the sound of a deer running through the woods across the trail I was set up on. I could just catch some glimpses of brown and white as it ran off to my left. I gave it a couple calls with my grunt tube and I heard it stop. about 5 minutes later I heard another deer trotting strait towards me from across the trail. I stood up and saw a nice buck coming quickly towards me. I knew I would have to stop him at just the right time to get a shot off. As he came into the trail at full trot I gave him a loud deer stopping sound, you know, something like, "Maah!" and tried to get my top pin behind his shoulder before he took off again. He was 15 yards away and quartering towards me. I don't know if it was because I was shivering in the cold wind or what, but for some reason I could not seem to steady my pin on him. I released my arrow and heard a loud "Thwack" that sent him running a beeline across the trail and into the woods behind me.

I sat till dark thinking about the shot and how it just didn't feel right. It happened so quickly I was trying to remember where I saw the arrow hit him. It felt a little far back. When I got down my fears were confirmed. My arrow was laying in the trail covered in stomach matter. It looked like the dreaded gut shot. I decided to not even look for blood but rather to back out quietly and let him lay over night.

Citrus 6 point

After a night spent dreaming about looking for my buck I took the next morning off work and returned with my brother Jonny with the sober understanding that I may not find him. I climbed back up in my stand till it got light enough to look for blood and then began searching on my hands and knees starting where I shot him and moving into the woods where I saw him run. After an hour of searching without finding a drop of blood I went and got Jonny to do a grid search. After saying a prayer we split 30 yards apart and began walking in the direction I saw him run. As we entered a thick stand of palmettos my hopes were sinking lower and lower; but to my delight I looked to my left and there he was laying under a small cabbage palm. A beautiful 6 point. He had maybe ran 100 yards before laying down and expiring!

As the reality of how blessed I was to find him began to set in I jumped up in the air yelling as I pumped my fist and praised the Lord! The shot entrance was a little back but did get liver. The reason I had no blood trail was that with him quartering towards me, the arrow pulled the stomach through the exit hole like a balloon plugging it. All the blood had stayed inside the cavity. I was just thrilled to find him as I know the feeling when it goes the other way. It turned out to be a productive day of hunting as far as filling the freezer goes: Two beautiful Florida bucks. As after every hunt there are always lessons to be learned:

1. I should have made a better shot.

2. As the saying goes, "When it doubt, back out." I gave him time to lay rather than pushing him (I have learned that lesson the hard way before).

3. Don't give up searching just because you don't find blood. Give it your best effort and go a little further because he may be laying dead just ahead.

Now I'm ready for my wife to have this baby and then take my two older boys to my property for doe week to try to get them their first deer.

An Adventure in Tampa Bay

A couple weeks ago my brother Jonny and I heard a tale of someone who hunts hogs in a mangrove swamp somewhere in Tampa Bay. Yes, I'm being purposely vague. We did some detective work and figured out where it was. It is accessible by boat only. After contacting the FWC to make sure of the legalities of hunting hogs in the tidal mangrove and mud flats we planned a scouting trip for last Friday morning.

We loaded my Carolina Skiff with our bows as well as fishing rods and, after getting a later start than we planned, began a long run to this mysterious mangrove swamp that we had only seen on Google maps. It ended up being at least 10 miles from the boat ramp we used. Next time I am going to try a different ramp.

We arrived at the edge of the mangrove swamp late in the morning and were greeted by a school of pompano cruising along the grass flat that boarders the swamp. After getting sidetracked by throwing a pompano jig with no luck we began push poling up a narrow cut into the thick tangle of mangroves. At times the cut was so narrow we had to push branches aside to continue on.

The sun was high and hot by this time and the mosquitoes were thick. Luckily Jonny had brought a can of mosquito repellent which we quickly took advantage of. After pushing a long way in we found a spot where the mangroves opened up to a large expanse of mudflats. We pulled the boat up into the mud and grabbing our bows, we began walking the edge of the mudflats.

The hogs had been digging for fiddler crabs

We were excited to see plenty of hog tracks, and most of them very large. The mud and sand was
rooted up where the hogs had dug for fiddler crabs and shellfish. It's amazing how wild hogs can adapt to nearly any environment. We could see hog trails going into tall salt-grass fields and thick groves of Brazilian peppers. It was obvious that the hogs were bedded down in thick cover to escape the August late morning heat. But there were hogs there and that is what we had come to investigate.

Our plan is to return in the late winter months when extremely low tides leave the flats exposed, offering the hogs an all they can eat seafood buffet. Then the hogs will move during daylight hours and the mosquitoes will be gone as well. It should be a fun option come January when deer season begins wrapping up and the fishing slows down.

Satisfied with our findings Jonny and I pushed our way out of the mangroves and began the long run back. A couple big storms had built up in a few different areas of the bay and we had a pretty rough ride in my small skiff. We ended up going under the Gandy Bridge to get some shelter from the storm. We began chumming with greenbacks and fished our heavy spinning rods with pinfish.

Jonny's cobia

It wasn't long before my rod doubled over. As I was trying to tighten my drag, the fish took me around a piling and snapped my leader. After I was snapped a few more times and Jonny jumped a big tarpon, Jonny finally got a cobia to cooperate and fight away from the pilings. Every time it would see the boat it would take a strong run away. After a long fight we netted it and got it in the boat. It just made the size limit and we had a tough time fitting a 34 inch cobia into a 20 inch cooler.

After catching a mixed bag of mangrove snapper, jack and bluefish, and getting broke off by some more very large fish, we decided to call it a day. Sometimes I have a tough time on my day off deciding whether to go hunting or fishing; it was a cool feeling doing both on the same trip. It was kind of strange having to rinse my bow off along with my fishing rods though. I'll definitely do it again when the weather cools down; and I'll bring a bigger cooler.  

Trail Camera Pictures Update

After having my automatic feeder stolen and switching to a homemade gravity feeder I have been getting a lot more activity at the feeder on my property in Fl. Also I am going through a lot more corn as the deer are getting an all they can eat buffet verses the 4 lbs. a day they were getting with the automatic feeder. I checked my camera today and had over 400 deer pictures this week. They are eating about 100 lbs. of corn a week with some help from the raccoon and turkey. I won't be able to keep that up for long.

The biggest of the four bucks that have been coming in just lost his velvet. I thought he was a wide 7 but upon getting clearer pictures I see he is a wide 6 point. I have some pictures of him from right before he dropped his last set of antlers and he has definitely gained some mass as well as another point. Here are some pictures of what has been coming in. Only three more weeks till archery opener!

Wide six last year and this year

The future is bright

Bucks are starting to visit closer to daylight hours

Lefty should be really interesting in a year or two

Young buck

Packed house

Florida Deer Hit List 2013

Well, I've managed to keep a trail camera on our Florida property for almost two weeks without it getting stolen. My neighbor must still be in jail. After checking the SD card this afternoon I was able to catch up with the bucks that frequent the property. I was very pleased to see how much their antlers have grown since last time I saw them back in June.

While I have many daylight pictures of does, the bucks are coming in under the cover of night. Hopefully that will change when the weather begins to cool and the rut kicks in, which is usually mid November where I'm at. I'll be more than happy to arrow a fat doe before that though. I'm just really getting excited about hunting my own property for the first time. Just a month to go!

Here are some pics of what's been showing up.

Daily Does

Lefty - this buck has an extra beam growing out of the left side of his head.

High Five - a tall five point

High Five, a forked buck and a wide seven point in the back.

The biggest buck, a wide seven point

Raccoon doesn't want to give way to forked buck

These little turkey have been visiting everyday

Archery Season is Coming!

Nice preseason grouping at 30 yards

July is finally wrapping up and the end of summer is in sight! As a youth pastor, Summertime is my busiest time of the year with conferences, camps and extended hours at the Skate park and Rec. Area we run. By the end of July I'm feeling worn out and ready for some recharging. My mind begins to wander forward to September, sitting in a tree-stand with my bow, far away from wild middle school students and parents looking to me to fix their kid's problems. Don't get me wrong, I love having the great privilege and responsibility of sowing God's Word into the hearts of young people but by the end of Summer I'm ready for a break.

We are going on a family vacation to North Georgia at the end of August to relax at a cabin on top of a mountain, swimming with the kids and helping them catch bass and bream in the lake. Then I have the weekend of September 14 and 15 off for the opening of archery. This year I have a harder decision to make regarding where I will be sitting opening morning. In past years Georgia's archery season opened a week earlier than Florida's but this year they open on the same day.

So my options are:
1. my lease in Georgia
2. my property in Brooksville
3. Chassahowitzka WMA

Daylight does from a recovered camera that had been stolen

I don't think Chassahowitzka is going to win. I did really well last year on opening weekend at Georgia taking a buck and a doe but on the other hand I'm looking forward to hunting my property near Brooksville for the first time. When my camera's aren't being stolen, I've been getting quite a few daylight pictures of deer. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that since my last post two more cameras were stolen and both of our feeders. They caught the guy who stole them but we have only been able to recover two cameras out of the four and he must have already sold our feeders because they have not been recovered yet either. It was a guy who lived  a couple properties down from us. He's currently in jail for beating up his girlfriend and some drug charges. Not so great neighbors. At first I was really angry at whoever was stealing my stuff, but after going over to their property with the police officers to look for my stuff and meeting these people, I just feel really sorry for them. They are strung out on drugs, living in poverty conditions and their only hope of being set free from the destructive cycle they are trapped in is through the love, forgiveness and freedom that Christ offers to all.

Didn't work

Seeing that even my metal lock-box didn't work I'm sort of at a lost for how to keep cameras going at my property. As far as feeders go I'm going to replace my stolen automatic feeders with cheap PVC tube feeders that have no value to the thieves in the area. That way I can keep the game coming onto my little property and give myself a better chance of connecting with a deer come Fall.

I shot my bow the other evening and after a tight group of three in the bulls eye at 30 yards I'm feeling confident for the opener. I might just have to flip a coin between Georgia and Florida. I'll keep ya'll posted.

Trouble With Trespassers

It's been exciting owning some property near Brooksville, Florida that draws in a lot of game. I've been

heading up there nearly weekly to check on my beehives, fill feeders, tend the food plot, change
batteries and check my trail cams. The only downside of the property has been dealing with trespassers. Last month I found a bunch of brush dumped on my property with truck tracks coming from a neighboring property. With the piles of brush I found a receipt with a name on it. I also had a couple of pictures of people walking through my food plot on the same date as the receipt showed. I fenced off the access points from the adjacent property, posted private property signs all over the place and held on to the receipt and the pics, hoping that would be the end of it. Unfortunately it wasn't.

This past week I headed up to check my cameras and change batteries in the feeder. I've been excited to check the pics lately because the buck's antlers are growing so quickly that every week brings new surprises as they reveal what the hit list may be this Fall. As I walked up to where my feeder is, my excitement turned into a sinking disappointment, my trail camera had been swiped. After changing the battery on my feeder, which was luckily still there, I walked over to my brother's feeder to discover that his camera had been taken as well. Near the front of my property I found an attic fan with a cordless drill in the road. It looked like someone had ripped the fan off the abandoned home in front of my property and were using the drill to get to the copper coil. They probably heard the feeders go off and went to investigate. After finding two $100 cameras they must have left the drill in their excitement to hock em' and buy some more meth.

I called the Sheriff's deputy out who was very friendly and helpful, unlike St. Pete Cops are here. He took the drill

Trespassers in the food plot

for fingerprinting as well as the receipt bearing the name of a man that has a record of drug possession and petty theft in the area. He also said they would stop by my property when they do their rounds at the Golf Course next door to make their presence known to the locals. That's all great but I don't know how much good it is going to do. I have to figure out how to keep my feeders and trail cameras going while monitoring who's coming on the property. Now that someone has a couple SD cards loaded with pictures of deer, I need to guard against poaching as well. The joys of owning property.

After pondering ideas like rigging up Swiss Family Robinson traps that would crush some trespassers and cause others to fall into pits loaded with poisonous snakes and beehives, I finally settled on some more practical applications for security. For starters I put up a fence blocking the last entrance vehicles might be able to access my property. Hopefully this will help our feeders stay put as not many thieves want to carry a huge corn feeder a couple hundred yards. I brought up my last two trail cameras, which are cheap and take rather poor quality photos, and camouflaged them in well while I am awaiting a better camera I just ordered online.  I then built a steel security box for the new camera.

I saw some security boxes online for about $30 but the metal looked a little on the thin side. I took
matters into my own hands and made a box that I would love to see someone try to break open. I had some scrap 3 inch galvanized angle iron that is 1/4" thick left over from a skate ramp we recently tore down. With this I welded together a lock box that will bolt from the inside behind the

camera to a big pine tree near my feeder. The top cover is secured with a master lock. This will hold my good camera at my feeder and I'll hide my cheaper cameras near the food plot and the main drive way to monitor for trespassers.

Hopefully I'll be collecting a weekly harvest of deer pictures at my feeder once again and not have to experience another stolen camera. We'll see how it goes. I know that where there's a will there's a way, I'm just hoping these people get the point and move on to easier pickings.

  

Late Spring Update

Well, turkey season is over where I'm at and I'm wishing I could have a do-over. On my last post I

The property hen

detailed my plans for this turkey season and although they sounded good, they just kind of fell apart. I hunted Richloam WMA on opening morning and started near a main road where I saw a ton of tracks while scouting. I got there really early, set up in my ground blind on the edge of a Cyprus Swamp and as soon as I started calling I was mimicked by the worst sounding box call I have ever heard. After realizing the guy kept getting closer to me, I got up and moved a few hundred yards along the edge of the swamp, he followed me. I spent all morning trying to shake this guy off my trail. I gave up about 11:30 a.m. and decided to check out the area I had hunted last season before I called it a day.

I arrived at the area a little before Noon and walked back to where I had found a freshly killed

Does at property feeder

raccoon surrounded by panther tracks while scouting a week earlier, that's the main reason I didn't choose to hunt there again this year. As soon as I hit my call I was cut off by a gobbler that was close! I dropped down against a tree and readied my gun with my heart beating out of my chest! He continued to gobble but I could soon tell that he was moving across to the left in front of me. I only had about 30 minutes of shooting time left so I decided to sneak over and try to get closer. I never was able to get a look at him before 1 p.m. came so I had to leave him to his gobbling.

I returned to that area a couple more times without hearing or seeing a thing. I consoled myself with the thought of going to Georgia where I could get my fill of heart racing gobbles in the turkey woods. My brother and I planned two trips, both of which fell through last minute because of his work schedule. This just wasn't the year of the turkey for me. Oh well, maybe next year.

My turkey-less depression has been remedied a little by how the fishing on the flats has been

heating up. last Monday morning I fished Tampa Bay and had a great time poling the flats and catching reds and big trout. it was really fun seeing schools of redfish swimming the shallow grass flats again, and even more fun fighting them.

Besides that I have been checking on my property in Brooksville about once a week; maintaining

Doe on the food plot

the feeder and checking the trail cameras, food plot and the various fruit trees I've planted around the food plot (apple, peach and plum). I also brought up three beehives last week to help pollinate the fruit trees and hopefully get some honey. The deer have been tearing up the food plot which is a mixture of sunflowers, clovers and brassica. The deer don't seem to mind the bee hives as I have a picture of a doe standing in the food plot looking at the bee boxes. They have also been hitting my feeder multiple times every evening and morning. With quite a few daytime visits I'm excited about what this Fall might hold. I also have a hen turkey hitting the feeder now pretty regularly and we actually saw her this morning on the property next to us. I have seen a couple gobblers across the street as well but have yet to see one on my property. I'm hoping that by keeping the feeder going all Summer and maintaining the food plot, I can recruit more wildlife on my small 6.3 acre property over time. But for now I'm not complaining with 3 bucks and 3 does coming every day.

I'm going to have to take advantage of hunting locally more this Fall as my wife and I are expecting our 5th child in November. So that is going to mean less Georgia hunts and more short morning or evening hunts locally. I am looking forward to planning some weekend camp-outs on the property to archery hunt Chassahowitzka and Citrus with some friends. But before that we have to endure the long, hot days of summer.

 

Simplifying Turkey Hunting

First Turkey, A Georgia Jake

The bees are buzzing, the birds are singing and the trees are showing fresh green leaves. This signals to me that turkey season is just around the corner! While I'm no veteran turkey hunter boasting championship calling status, I have put enough time in the Spring woods and enough turkeys on the ground to have a pretty good idea of what I'm going to do come turkey season. However, I freely confess that my first couple seasons of turkey hunting could be best described in one word, "clueless." I would show up at a Wildlife Management Area I'd never been to before, sit against a tree and make as much racket as I could with my turkey call and then move on and repeat the process until about 1 p.m. I would try to read up on turkey hunting and it just made the whole thing seem more complicated. Most of the articles focused on how to call and how not to call (It's hard to understand what they're writing about without hearing it) or when to use a decoy and when not to. I was confused and aggravated with the whole thing, thinking I would throw in the towel and just stick to deer and hog hunting. However, I gave it a few more chances and I'm glad I did. After finding what it takes to succeed, I now look forward to turkey season with great anticipation.

My first turkey finally came when I was hunting in Georgia. My brother Jacob, my nephew Noah and myself shot three Jakes at the same time while hunting the edge of a field where turkey would visit everyday. We received an invitation to hunt the field from a friend whose family owns a blueberry farm. They would observe the turkeys coming onto the field from the back corner every morning and every afternoon. There was no calling involved, no decoys, just knowing where the turkeys frequented, setting up and being patient.

Another blueberry field Tom

My brother Jacob and I put down a total of 8 turkey in the four years we were able to hunt that field; no more Jakes either, just nice mature Toms. While that spot has since been leased to someone else, I learned a valuable lesson from that field: Focus less on what you're doing and more on what the turkey are doing. Hunt a spot that you know turkey frequent. No amount of turkey calls, fancy decoys, ghillie suits, turkey vests, expensive shells or anything else the hunting industry says you need will match the effectiveness of this simple tactic. Now that's not saying I don't use any of the above gear, but I'm not going to trust in gear alone to bag me a Tom. Having a turkey call and knowing how to use it is very important as well as good camo and a shotgun that works. A decoy comes in very handy at times too, heck, I own a small flock of them; but these will do you no good if there are no turkey in the near vicinity of where you are hunting.

It sounds simple enough: hunt where the turkey are; but how do you know where they are unless you're hunting a turkey farm? The answer is scout, scout and scout a little more. You need to find the turkey before you kill one. While I have a couple private properties I turkey hunt in Georgia, I also hunt Public Land in Florida which is much harder to scout successfully. I'm going to focus on my approach to scouting Public Land using three steps:

1. Prior knowledge

Big Georgia Tom

I've archery hunted most the WMA's I turkey hunt and so I start by thinking of areas I've seen turkey while hunting deer and hog. While their patterns do change a bit come Spring, there are certain spots that are just more "turkier" than others. I take note of these spots I consistently see turkey at while Fall and Winter hunting. Obviously, I use info from past experiences turkey hunting a property as well. This is a good place to start but it is not foolproof. Sometimes spots that were crawling in turkey in the Fall are a foot under water in the Spring or have been logged or over-pressured, causing the turkey to move on to a different home range. Turkey patterns change from year to year but starting where you left off last time is a good place to begin.

2. Study Topo Maps

Please ignore the top GPS co-ordinances;)

Google Maps is one of my favorite hunting tools. It gives me a bigger picture of the layout of the land. Turkey, like deer, prefer edge habitats where different terrains meet. The Osceola turkey here in Central and South Florida are notorious for roosting on the edge of Cyprus swamps before working their way into the open areas like burned palmetto flats, or rows of planted pines. I look for places where these different terrains meet. Finding these places that funnel between marshy ponds are my personal favorites for Florida turkey hunting spots.

3. Boots on the ground

No amount of past knowledge or studying terrains from the comfort of your computer desk can equal getting into the woods and locating turkey. I make a list of potential spots from the above methods, then a couple weeks before the season opens I get out into the turkey woods. At first light I'll call and listen. If I can locate where gobblers are roosting I'm golden, well almost. I know I'm not the only one doing my homework so I want to find more than one area where turkey are roosting. Preferably an area that is remote and not the obvious go to spot for every turkey hunter that comes opening morning. After the early morning passes I'll walk sandy roads and fire breaks looking for tracks, strut marks and better yet, turkey. I mark on my GPS every spot where I see sign.

The Shared Richloam Gobbler

The conclusion of these three methods of scouting is to have a game plan come opening morning. Mine is usually to get there really early, be patient and if that doesn't work, be flexible. Last year I did my homework, found some gobblers and set up early just to have another guy come tromping by me and scaring them off the roost, I did end up shooting that same guy a couple days later but that story is an entire post in itself (The Shared Richloam Gobbler). Have a game plan as well as a couple of backup plans. This is what separates the guys who bring turkeys to the check station from the guys who sit under trees practicing their calling skills.

I once again drew a Richloam quota permit, not the rarest but better than nothing. I'm planning on starting to scout next weekend as well as taking advantage of the Youth Turkey Hunt the weekend before the main opener with my sons Israel and Judah. If nothing else it will be a good scouting opportunity and who knows, Israel just might get one with his 20 gauge that nearly knocks him on his butt when he shoots it.  I'm hoping to connect with a gobbler and steer clear of the crowd, especially my old buddy from last season.

Owning Land: A Dream Come True

For years I've dreamed of owning a piece of land in the country to have as a family getaway and a hunt camp. I tried to buy 8 acres in Georgia a couple years ago, but after making an offer the owner decided that they didn't want to sell it after all; the Realtor was ticked and I wasn't very thrilled either. I drove my family 6 hours and stayed at a hotel overnight to see a property that wasn't really for sale. After that door was slammed shut I sort of gave up on the dream.

A few months ago I started thinking about getting some land near Brooksville, close to the public lands I hunt and also nearer to home. I had been keeping an eye on the listings and noticed a 2.5 acre property that had been foreclosed on near Dade city, they were asking $4,000. I called the Realtor and he told me that the property was "very undesirable." I thought to myself, "What kind of Realtor is this?" Anyways I went and gave it a look and it lived up to its reputation. It had been used by the locals as a dump site and the deeded easement ran through a couple hundred yards of wetlands. Definitively undesirable.

The Realtor told me about another property that was bank owned and located at the end of the Veteran's Expressway on Ponce De Leon Blvd, within five minutes of my favorite hunting spot at Citrus and also close to Chassahowitzka and Richloam. The property is 6.3 acres and because there is a sinkhole in the back, they were asking $28,000. Being that my budget was $10,000 max, I thought it was out of my league. The Realtor encouraged me to at least make an offer if I liked it and see how motivated they were to sell. 

I met him at the property and was greeted by deer tracks all over the sandy rodes that wind through the property. It is surrounded by over 3,000 acres owned by World Woods golf course. Beyond that is Citrus WMA. I loved the property and made an offer. To my delight they accepted it! My older brother, Jacob, wanted in on the deal so we split it $5,000 each. As soon as we had a contract on it I brought up a trail camera and a bucket of corn. After 5 days I checked the camera to find over 400 pictures of deer! I was jumping up and down pumping my fist in the air. Not only did we score a killer hunt camp but also a honey hole loaded with deer, not to mention the turkey, bobcat, quail and other wildlife we've seen on the property. 

As soon as we closed on the property we brought up two corn feeders and I set up a lock-on stand. I also started building a bunk house. The plan is to run the feeders all summer and slip in with our bows come September. If some hogs show up we might be able to slip in sooner. So far I have three doe coming in daily as well as a wide 5 point, a spike that has dropped one side and another decent sized buck that has already dropped both of his antlers. It will be fun to keep track of these guys over the summer as their antlers grow and also see what else may start using the feeders. Here are some pictures.

Finding Bedded Boars: In Unlikely Places

Chad with his first hog

I did another hog hunt at Cracker Heritage Hunting Preserve and it turned out to be a really fun hunt. I have a friend, Chad, who is a Pinellas County sheriff's deputy and also a S.W.A.T. team member who had never been hunting in Florida. After talking about taking him hunting for a while I finally pulled the trigger and scheduled a private land hog hunt. My goal was to put him on a hog and make sure he had a great time. We arrived at the ranch at 5:45 a.m. and Dennis took us to a spot he calls the Heifer Pasture and put us in stands overlooking corn feeders. It was cold and windy and I wasn't sure if the hogs would be moving. The plan was to sit for first light and if nothing happened, get down and stalk around together.

He brought his AR 15 and I brought my bow and my 30-06. After sitting for a little bit after 1st light I decided to get down and meet up with Chad to try to find the hogs. I have hunted this area many times and knew some spots where I had found bedded hogs before. The plan was to sneak through the swamps and try to either come on some bedded hogs unawares or spook them up and get them on their feet. After meeting up and stalking through the front swamp with no luck we headed to a thick ditch line in the back of the pasture. There was fresh hog sign everywhere so I was surprised we had not jumped a single hog. As we were stalking the ditch line I noticed a well used hog trail going out into the open pasture towards the corner of the field where there was no cover except for an old set of tractor discs overgrown with weeds. I wondered out loud, "Why would that trail be going out there?"

fat bar hog

I decided to investigate. As we neared the set of discs about 7 big hogs stood up and began running along the fence line. I felt like Troy from Swamp People as I shouted to Chad, "Shoot em!" After letting Chad shoot twice I picked out a big boar and dropped him in his tracks. "Which one did you shoot?" I asked. "The one that dropped." He replied. Oops, I shot the same one. I quickly picked out another big boar that was running full speed and led him with my scope. As I pulled the trigger he rolled to a halt. It was exciting! It was also the first thing I had taken this season with my rifle.

After congratulating Chad on his first hog, we took some pictures and called the rancher to pick us up. It was 8:30 a.m. and we had gotten the job done. They were both about 225 lbs. and had nice cutters. The only difference was that mine was a bar hog which usually means better eating. Lucky me!

This place gets a lot of pressure and the big boars don't get that way from coming to the feeders. These guys had survived other hunters by bedding in a spot that wasn't a usual suspect. If their trail hadn't given them away I would have never expected them to bed in the middle of a grass field under old farm equipment. I'm going to keep that spot in mind for next time though. Mature hogs get smart and the challenge of outsmarting one is what makes hunting them so much fun.

This was a great way to cap of my season and also my freezer. He was a big clean bar hog and I've have never seen so much fat on a wild hog. With four deer and two big hogs for the season I should be able to feed my family all year. I did make sure I left room on top of my freezer for a turkey or two though.

The Stolen Trail Camera

Citrus 5 point

My deer season started on the highest note possible; a doe and a buck opening week of archery in Ga, then two more antlerless deer during muzzleloader, not to mention a nice hog and a bobcat with my bow while deer hunting. But when I climbed a tree with a modern rifle, my luck fizzled out. I did three hunts in Ga without getting to fire my Savage 30-06 and decided to give it one last chance in Florida for the last day of general gun at Citrus WMA.

I brought my brother Buka who was in town from college for Christmas Break. We arrived at our spot nice and early and after taking Buka to a tree and leaving him with my climber stand I headed to my lock-on stand. I had a trail camera up near this stand during archery season and there was a nice 5 point buck that was frequenting the area. My nephew Noah had even missed him once from this stand during archery season. My hope was to finally catch him with a rifle and put one last deer in the freezer.

It was a beautiful cold morning as light began to dawn. Then through the trees I saw a flashlight shining. It soon disappeared and I thought maybe the guy would pass without disturbing me too much. About 7:30 a.m. the guy reappeared shining his flashlight in full morning light and came tromping through the brush right towards me. I began to whistle and it took him a while to figure out I wasn't a bird. He tromped off leaving me a bit aggravated.

I little while later a deer began blowing up wind from me. My morning was shot, thanks to a hunter that preferred to tromp through the woods at first light rather than get to his spot and sit tight. The joys of public land, but wait, they get better.

Dead headless buck

I climbed down and put up a trail camera with new batteries where I had it earlier during archery season. I wanted to see what bucks survived the season. Hopefully that 5 point had made it and would be on the hit list for next archery season. I then walked out to the trail to meet up with Buka for some lunch. On the trail I found a dead buck with only his head cut off. I was pretty sure it was the 5 point that lived in that area and that ticked me off to see it dead and wasted.

I met up with Buka and after eating lunch together I headed back to my stand. When I arrived I found my spot had been disturbed. Two scent pads that were hanging off branches were on the ground at the base of my stand and my trail camera was gone. I left it for a half an hour and it got swiped! I hurried back to the parking area to find a single green Ford pick-up truck. Near the truck was a towering man with broad shoulders and arms that stretched nearly down to the ground. He was wearing an army jacket and a camo hat that seemed to barely contain the crazy curly brown hair that protruded from beneath it. Wild blue eyes pierced out from his face that was smeared in camo paint. He looked like a bad guy off an A-Team episode, a worthy opponent for Mr. T.

I confronted him about the camera and of course he denied it, quickly citing the possibility of someone parking miles away on the other side of the property and coming to the front to steal my camera. There wasn't much I could do so I began walking back to the woods. On the way I met another hunter coming out. Trying to be more tactful I struck up a conversation with him. I learned that he had come with the guy in the green truck and I was even able to learn where they were hunting. Sure enough, the other guy was hunting down the trail I was at. He must have been the guy who walked up on me and then came back later to check out my set-up, finding my trail camera and helping himself to it.

That pretty much ruined my day. I went back and moved my stand before he came back and swiped that too. The ironic thing is that I recognized the guy from my neighborhood back here in St. Pete. He's a regular at Biff Burger. I've had thoughts of showing up at his house with my iphone's map app and telling him that I have GPS chips in my trail cameras and I traced it back to his place. "Give me the camera or I'll call the cops." He looked like the kind of guy who would believe such a story. He also looks like the kind of guy who might just shoot me and throw my body behind Biff Burger.

Oh well, it's just about $90.00 in camera, batteries and SD card. I have two more cameras anyways. Hopefully he'll figure the camera out and get some enjoyment from it. Before I see him at Citrus again and follow him to his spot and ... well it would be a fun topic to think about while I'm passing time in the tree stand. Forgive and forget, that's the right thing to do, Lord help me.

Hunting can be such a fun, challenging and natural experience until some bonehead comes by and you find yourself facing the problems you went to the woods to escape, namely stupid people. But hey, now I'm just whining. All in all I had a great deer season and I am already looking forward to next Fall. For now I must turn my attention to hog and small game, then comes turkey season, "Gobble, gobble, gobble!"