2024 documenting hunts/somewhat live

[BenP]

So, I have not done live hunts before and don't really do much "story" worthy hunting but have noticed with just turning thirty that I don't remember all my hunts as easily I used to (pictures help bring back memories). So I thought it would be a good idea to start writing them down and might as well share them at the same time.

All my hunting is pretty much just in NC within a couple counties but have traveled a little, with that said I don't have any far away trips planned this year for hunting. I do have a bear hunt planned for my oldest and I to go on in a month so hopefully that goes well since neither of us have killed a bear.

So, this probably won't have a ton of adventurous hunts but they will be documented for y'all to see, and for me to remember. I am hopeful for a good deer season as I got a new savage 220 which opens up better shooting opportunities compared to using my 30-30 since there is no elevation restrictions with slug guns in my area. Deer season for gun opens up this coming Saturday and hopefully I'll get out for that in the morning. I do have off Friday so plan to bow hunt that day or maybe put up a two man stand for my son and I to hunt out of later this season.

I have only been hunting twice so far this season, opening day of dove and one bow hunt. Dove hunt was fun with my oldest shooting his first dove with the shotgun.




The bow hunt allowed me to see one doe at 600 yards. But enjoyed being out there.






So here is to another Ben, posting about their hunting life on the internet for others to see.

 

[WildWill]

So, I have not done live hunts before and don't really do much "story" worthy hunting but have noticed with just turning thirty that I don't remember all my hunts as easily I used to (pictures help bring back memories). So I thought it would be a good idea to start writing them down and might as well share them at the same time.

I started my live hunt thread for the same reason. Seems like a good way to keep a record of the season. I'm following and Goodluck!

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Welcome to the live hunt threads from another Ben. Looking forward to your adventures.

 

[BenP]

So, I didn't make it out Friday as I was having some sinus problems and the wife needed some help around the house with kids and had to get the yard mowed, also mowed my father in laws as they have been busy picking beans and he won't have time to do it.

Did make it out this morning to a spot my brother has been watching but I haven't been out there yet this year and wasn't sure where I was going to sit on the wood line. Got out there around a hour to shooting time and got to the area and was looking the best I could in the dark. Took a few minutes before I found a spot that was eating me with green briars and as I was putting my pack down and looked up there was a deer staring me down about 40 yards away. Stare down was around 30 seconds before it trotted off.



Well that's pretty much my luck, with deer hunting. So sat there and at 8 minutes to shooting time a doe appeared out of no where at 45 yards looking all around. I figured maybe a buck was chasing her and was hoping they would stay til shooting time. But after a minute she trotted off down the field and made it to the cotton field to vanish into the southern snow.

There was no other deer to be seen for the next couple of hours. So, walked around and found a better spot to set up for next time and prepped it with some river cane and limbs for cover.

Got the okay from the wife to come again this evening so we will see if my luck changes.

 

[BenP]

Well as soon as I put my phone down two does ran out of the cotton into the far end of the woods. Hope they make it down here to me.



Also had a wood chuck chilling, eating beans.

 

[duckhunt]

So, I have not done live hunts before and don't really do much "story" worthy hunting but have noticed with just turning thirty that I don't remember all my hunts as easily I used to (pictures help bring back memories). So I thought it would be a good idea to start writing them down and might as well share them at the same time.

All my hunting is pretty much just in NC within a couple counties but have traveled a little, with that said I don't have any far away trips planned this year for hunting. I do have a bear hunt planned for my oldest and I to go on in a month so hopefully that goes well since neither of us have killed a bear.

So, this probably won't have a ton of adventurous hunts but they will be documented for y'all to see, and for me to remember. I am hopeful for a good deer season as I got a new savage 220 which opens up better shooting opportunities compared to using my 30-30 since there is no elevation restrictions with slug guns in my area. Deer season for gun opens up this coming Saturday and hopefully I'll get out for that in the morning. I do have off Friday so plan to bow hunt that day or maybe put up a two man stand for my son and I to hunt out of later this season.

I have only been hunting twice so far this season, opening day of dove and one bow hunt. Dove hunt was fun with my oldest shooting his first dove with the shotgun.

View attachment 343594


The bow hunt allowed me to see one doe at 600 yards. But enjoyed being out there.

View attachment 343593

View attachment 343592


So here is to another Ben, posting about their hunting life on the internet for others to see.

Every once in awhile I like to go back through and reread some of my own threads. Really brings back the memories of the hunts.

 

[BenP]

 

[BenP]

I'm sitting there swatting mosquitoes on my legs and look up to see a doe coming out the woods on my left hand side at 120 yards out. I'm sitting on the corner of a cut woods with fields 270 degrees around me. This morning I was sitting to the right of my current location looking to where I currently sit.

Where I am at.


My gun is sitting in a tripod facing to my right back to where I was sitting this morning since the deer like to come out in that corner and would be harder for me to shoot since I'm right handed and didn't want to fumble with the gun if they came out there.

As the doe come out into the field she keeps looking back so I assume another is about to follow. I keep low and bring the savage around to face the left and lay it on my lap. I then try to bring the tripod over as I know I'm shaking too much to feel comfortable shooting at that moment. So, as I'm trying to get the tripod across I see the 2nd deer come out.

I get everything all set up and I sit up to get ready to shoot. The deer are walking towards me but going further left into where they will get blocked by the trees next to me. I'm holding off and finally one turns broadside... so I think, she was quartering to me so my shot was a little further back on the exit than I wanted. I squeezed off the trigger and she jumps and takes off to the left into the woods and the other deer stands there while I cycle another slug in. That one jumps around a bit before stopping broadside and I squeezed off again.

Drop!



First day of gun season and I just filled two antlerless tags. First time I've killed a deer on opening day and first time I shot two in one day.

I easily tracked the first deer into the woods about 30 yards. Worst part was the cats claw attacking my legs and arms pulling her out.

 

[duckhunt]

That's great on the first day.

 

[BenP]

One hind leg will be ready tomorrow to start dehydrating. The boys love deer jerky and are excited to get some early in the year this time.



The other 3 hinds are still dry aging in the fridge, will get to those next week. I might take the oldest out Friday afternoon, but I am a little sleep deprived and have a busy day Saturday and Sunday so not sure I want to add another deer to clean right now.

 

[BenP]

Well did make it out Friday afternoon with the oldest. Saw one doe that was bedded in the soybeans at 400 yards. She walks to the edge of the woods and did circles for 30 minutes coming to about 280 yards which is too far with the slug gun. She eventually walked down the wood line until we couldn't see anymore. Mosquitoes got rough the last 10 minutes of shooting time.

Looking left where I hoped the deer would come out of.


Looking right.


Blurry pic of the doe where she circled eating beans.

 

[BenP]

Yesterday was an eventful day of hunting for my oldest and me. Started off with my son G waking me up at 0501 asking why his alarm was set for 0500. I look at my phone and realize I set my work alarm which only goes off week days so if he hadn't come and got me then there would have been no morning hunt.

We got everything ready and headed to the truck. The plan was to hunt my brothers stand as he had a few bucks running through the last few days on a doe. The problem is the stand is across the field where the deer might be in so the risk was walking into the deer to get to the stand.

Sure enough we get 10 yards from the stand and a deer is right there under it and runs 20 yards out and stops. I can see it through the binoculars but can't tell what it is. Scared my son though having it that close in the dark jumping next to us.

Didn't see anything after that although I'm pretty sure I heard a deer walking behind us in the swamp.

We go home and plan to wait for an evening hunt. My father in law stopped by and took the kids to the shop to get drinks and snacks and while they were away my wife said "there's your buck!" I look behind the house and sure enough a small 8 is coming out of the woods and walking across the field at 1445 in the afternoon. I watch as he runs to the beans and beds down. I call my brother to make a plan.

After debate on what to do we decide G and myself would walk out there with shotguns and buckshot and see if we could get him. I had a good line on where he was in the field and set off to try and get close.

Walking out there.


We get to the edge where I think he is and we slowly walk into the beans. He jumps up at 15 yards to our left and I tell G to shoot... at this moment I realize we really need to practice more on how to take the safety off as you pull up to shoot. So he tries shooting with the safety on and figures that out to take one shot and then I shoot three times but at this point he is out a good distance and I'm terrible at leading running deer with buckshot. The deer runs back to the woods and we check for blood to make sure but find nothing.

He did a good job for his first deer stalk like that. I think we might have got him if he was able to shoot right when the deer got up. I could have shot then but wanted him to shoot him so waited longer than I would have if been by myself.

We went out for an evening hunt after that and didn't see anything but mosquitoes. I should have taken more pictures of where we were hunting.

 

[BenP]

received my swan permit and G's and mine bear tooth envelopes. Less than 2 weeks for the bear hunt.

 

[BenP]

Well, not the kind of update I want to give but guess it's important to remember the good, the bad, and the ugly.

So, took my cousin out Saturday afternoon to where I shot the ones on the opener. Sat for several hours and didn't see anything and around the last 10 minutes a nice back comes out the far end of the woods around 400 yards. Couldn't see points well but looked to be an 8 point (3x3 with eye guards for y'all crazies).

He moved across the field pretty fast to an island of woods so we decided to pack up and go over there as the truck was there next to that woods. We get over there to the corner and the buck is right there on the edge looking at us about 90 yards.

It's the last minute of shooting time so he crouched down and takes a frontal shot. I see the deer hunch from impact and hear the whop from the slug, the deer takes off into the woods.

We go down and find the tracks where he jumped and look for blood right around there and find none. I call my brother out to help and bring more lights so we can also give the deer time since he didn't just drop like I expected.

After about 50 minutes when my brother gets there we start into the woods where we saw he jumped in. Immediately find quite a bit of blood but it seems low on the reeds.

After tracking blood through that woods and across open fields about a 1,000 yards to the next block of woods we decide to back out and come back in the morning.

This morning we go in and find where he might have bedded down 50ish yards in and then struggled to figure out where he went because he back tracked and when another way.

About another 50ish yards the blood stops and we are trying to find it. I go one direction and find nothing then come back to the last spot of blood. My cousin goes to where I was and the buck jumps up about 8 yards in front of him but it's so thick he can't see to get a shot off.

After another hour of see very little blood from where he jumped we concluded that he hit low and to the deers left and with it being already 13 hours since the shot with the deer still strong and capable of running alway, that he is going to live.

My cousin feels terrible and could barely sleep last night. Was not the outcome we wanted but it is what happened, and he learned a lot about tracking and the sickening feeling of losing a deer.

 

[BenP]

 

[Wyhunter]

Did you get a pooh-bear?

 

[BenP]

The plan was to hunt bears on Friday but schedules and plans didn't work out so made a new plan for Monday to go. Where we were going is on a lease that a co-worker friend has and sets it up mainly for kids and their parents to hunt. It's near a swamp so he has a rule that it's shotgun only with buckshot and aim for the head or neck. I'm like him and don't want to track a wounded bear into a thick swamp.

So it was raining Monday morning and didn't go then, plus they hadn't seen much activity in the morning. We made it out there around 1500 that afternoon and climbed up in the stand over the peanuts. For the next couple of hours we watched a bunch of squirrels come and feast and hide peanuts which was driving G insane. He wanted to bring a pellet gun and shoot them and I don't blame him, I love some squirrel too.





The last 20 minutes of shooting time was miserable with the mosquitoes flying around and still no bear. But on the last 5 minutes I noticed a black spot through the trees to our left. Slowly sliding in was a small bear if I'm guessing 100ish pounds. With a little bit of light left I see if G can get on him but it was overcast and he couldn't tell a difference of where the black barrel was on the black bear and didn't feel comfortable shooting. I for sure was not going to press him to make a bad shot and even I couldn't see the barrel good but wasn't going to shoot anyways as this hunt is for him to kill a bear.

 

[BenP]

My friend came to get us which scared off the bear and we climbed down and went back to the camp to discuss a plan. I decided to leave work early as my son is homeschooled so no issue getting him to come back out for a Tuesday afternoon hunt.

One of the things I noticed when that bear had come in is that my son was not scared or shaking or really having any reaction other than thinking it was cool to see one for the first time. When we got back in the stand the next day around 1500 he asked "was that bear really right there at the peanuts?"

"Yes."

Then he realized wow that was really close ... 7 yards close.

So we sat and waited for the squirrel show to begin and figured it be awhile for a bear to come in.



We had the guns propped up in front of us on the shooting rail and bundled up as it was much colder and windier than Monday. I was fighting dozing off after sitting an hour and began to yawn, which made my jaw lock open and a muscle cramp in the neck. I get that straightened out and I'm massaging the muscle when I feel like I see a shadow move by a tree to of front left at 1605.

I stare for a few seconds and see the shadow again. It didn't look like the tree shadows that are blurry and broken up, it looked "smooth". So I leaned forward to adjust the view around the trees and see the brown of his face coming at us at around 50 yards.

Oh snap the guns aren't ready and he is warily coming straight at us. So I grab the guns and slowly start to move them up and rotate them. Luckily he moved past a tree so I could get mine up and then focused on G's. By the time he is at 20 yards I have his gun almost to his shoulder and under the shooting rail. At 15 yards he is swinging in front going to our right.

Oh no don't go that way, that's downwind. He stops and looks up at us and starts sniffing the air. The next 8 yard took him just as long as it did to move the 35 towards us as he cautiously came closer.

Once he got where G could get a good line up I told him to lift the gun off my knee and get ready to shoot. I felt the gun come up and then go down as he starts to breathe hard. I tell him it's okay stay calm and you can get it up on his head.

He finally gets it up and the bear is facing broadside. I tell him aim for the base of the head and shoot when he feels comfortable.



BOOM!



And the bear drops right there and rolls towards us.



Then the real adrenaline shakes started for both of us as I joyfully congratulated him on killing his first bear at 11 years old. I'm 30 and haven't killed one but this is my first time hunting them as well. We sit for a few minutes to make sure he stays down and then I go down to drag him to the edge of the woods to get some pictures.



He is all smiles and amazed at the teeth and claws and just how pretty the bear is. I let my friend know and he said he can come get us or we can sit and see if another comes in for me since it was still early. We decided to stay but nothing else came so we were picked up and my friend cleaned the bear for me since he has done a bunch and is quick at it. Weighed the bear and came in at a 125 lb male.



A bunch of congratulations and poking since some of the guys had been hunting for a few days straight and hadn't killed one yet. But he is a happy kid and hasn't decided what he wants yet from the bear. Inverted caped it so can do a shoulder mount or soft tan or what ever he wants.

I will try to get back out in the second season as this one ends Sunday and I'm busy the rest of the week.

 

[BAKPAKR]

Congrats to both of you!

 

[duckhunt]

Congrats