...

[marksjeep]

Congrats! Well done and well told.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Congrats. Not too dissimilar to some of the terrain I hunt down here. I was telling someone yesterday who lost their private land access and was asking about hunting game lands like I do, you've just got to accept you aren't going to see deer. It's too thick. You're just constantly ready and all of a sudden one is there.

That is the truth, I've missed half a dozen deer by not being alert, the monotony of trudging makes it hard to maintain the focus you need to make a quick shot.

Are you using slugs or buckshot. Buckshot is certainly lethal at these ranges, and I think great for the brush... but I'm thinking of going back to slugs simply for the massive blood trail.

 

[Deleted member 52098]

Having spent a good portion of my young adult life in new England, I can imagine that 1.25 hours easily felt like 6 hours in that stuff. It can be exhausting to navigate. Congrats on a great hunt and the way you told it.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Great perspective of a different hunting style. Curious as to why you don't break it down and pack out on your back, would be a lot easier in that tangle. Are you required to remove the whole animal by law?

Yep, out whole for in person check.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

So where was the hit? Why no blood? Answers man!

Lungs, front shoulder, knee.

Small slow projectiles

Although...

.264 win - Swift A frame, .264 win Nosler Etip, 00 Buck, 295 grain .50 call power belt

 

[np307]

That is the truth, I've missed half a dozen deer by not being alert, the monotony of trudging makes it hard to maintain the focus you need to make a quick shot.

Are you using slugs or buckshot. Buckshot is certainly lethal at these ranges, and I think great for the brush... but I'm thinking of going back to slugs simply for the massive blood trail.

I use a 30-06. I've got no rifle/height restriction and have more terrain to make the shots safe.

 

[Southern Elk]

Good stuff!

#backcountry #wilderness

 

[Dougfirtree]

Congrats! I’ve been hunting more in swamps, lately and there is something compelling about them. What I don’t love is the uphill drag that goes with them, so often.

 

[Big Fin]

I love this story. Thanks for posting it here.

 

[Sytes]

Enjoyable story and love the pic in the trunk. Haha!

Thanks for another great HT story.

 

[Stocker]

I gotta quit reading your posts. You tell the story so well I find myself wanting to hunt deer in the MA swamps now.

 

[TOGIE]

Awesome story!

Wondering if as the pendulum swings and the western lands fill, the "true" hunters will be drawn back to hunting areas like this.

boy, i think often about traveling east for hunting like so many come west for hunting. i think about it a lot.

it's intimidating. limited public land and wonky laws. but many a critter to chase and success to be had.

even just thinking about doing it gives me a new level of respect for the easterners that trek west and fill tags.

 

[Dsnow9]

Nice work man. The contrast of the city to swamp photos is wild

 

[44hunter45]

Needs more charts and graphs.

 

[JLS]

I can see it now “Hunt the MA swamps every year, we’ll help develop your strategies ” by wllm…

Nice work. I’ve grouse hunted some shit like that. It’s mentally taxing.

 

[MinnesotaHunter]

Nice job on the recovery @wllm. A lesser hunter might have written him off.

I have seen deer do that sort of thing in the past hunting the thick stuff. Twice I have had to drag a buck out from a thicket on my hands and knees. The worst one, I hit with an arrow and he had gone about 30yds when he made a bound, so I thought he had gone further, but it turned out he died in midair, and crashed into some nastiness. I looked all over for that deer gridding for hours expecting he had come out the other side, and had just called for backup to help. Dumb luck my flashlight caught an eye back where I last saw him bound into the thick stuff.

 

[BirdManMike]

See any squirrels?

Nice writeup!

 

[Nameless Range]

Heck yeah wllm. Thanks for taking us somewhere most of us will never get to go. Nice job.

 

[Deleted member 28227]

Nice job on the recovery @wllm. A lesser hunter might have written him off.

I have seen deer do that sort of thing in the past hunting the thick stuff. Twice I have had to drag a buck out from a thicket on my hands and knees. The worst one, I hit with an arrow and he had gone about 30yds when he made a bound, so I thought he had gone further, but it turned out he died in midair, and crashed into some nastiness. I looked all over for that deer gridding for hours expecting he had come out the other side, and had just called for backup to help. Dumb luck my flashlight caught an eye back where I last saw him bound into the thick stuff.

That's wild.

I'll totally admit I was completely demoralized when I didn't find blood. Searching when there is no sign of a hit leaves you second guessing everything.

I was trying to talk myself into writing it off as a miss...

 

[noharleyyet]

At the parking lot there are 4 other hunters, all boomers. Super nice, hanging out shooting the bull with them is markedly different from every western trailhead conversation I've had.

They're giving me spots, telling me where they like to put stands that I might try. "I don't hunt there anymore because I can't drag a deer outta there, but you should try hunting..."

I ask if they have kids that hunt/where do they see many younger hunters?

"How old are you"

"34"

"You won't see anyone one out here younger than you, my kids don't hunt we really don't see anyone out here under 50..."

Small sample size... but definitely anecdotal evidence fitting with the aging out of hunters in the east with no replacements, at least when it comes to public land gun seasons.

The meat of the hunt right there . . .