Ben's semi-live 2024 hunt thread

[TheBenHoyle]

I finally got around to grinding up my trimming from the buck I shot last season. I made 8 pounds of Italian sausage and 25 pounds of ground venison and got it all vac sealed. I fried up some of the Italian sausage and put it on my pizza last night. I was very happy with how it turned out.

Then I discovered I had another 4-ish pounds of ground venison that needs a second grind in a big bowl in the fridge. I think I'm going to season it up and make breakfast sausage patties.

This was my first opportunity to use the LEM grinder I bought in the fall. I had been using a little grinder attached to my Kitchen-Aid. This is such a big upgrade. I did have a little bit of trouble with things jamming up on the first grind. But it was relatively easy to pull it apart and clear it.

Anyway, I'm getting a lot of practice in with my bow. Feeling good out to 40 yards I shot 50 once and it was pretty good, but I don't think I would want to shoot an animal that far out. I'm just trying to be confident in shooting longer ranges since I don't know that sneaking in to 20 or fewer yards is realistic in a Hawaii sheep hunt.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I was able to make up 26 breakfast sausage patties with the rest of that ground venison. I froze them individually so I can just pull out one or two at a time.

I totally forgot to put in garlic per the recipe, but I was really happy with the flavor anyway.

It is funny that when I first got into hunting I daydreamed about having all this meat to process and I was unsuccessful in killing a deer for like 3 years and by the time I finally had deer meat to process I forgot about all the sausages I wanted to try making. Over the past couple years I have slowly gotten back into the idea of processing meat.

I do have 25 pounds of ground venison and I might circle back to it to make up some summer sausage or something later this summer. But for right now I am done with meat processing for a little while.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I just got back from Hawaii and I have a hunt report to share. the back story is that this summer was my 20th anniversary and so my wife and I decided to take the same trip we took for our honeymoon: 4 days on the Bid Island and 6 days on Kauai.

I love Hawaii and I have been there several times. This was my 6th trip to the islands and I was hoping to do some hunting. This is partially because I wanted to get up into the countryside and not just sit on a beach the whole time. But it is also because I would like to hunt Axis Deer and Mouflon sheep in my lifetime and both can be had at various places in the state of Hawaii.

I considered doing a DIY hunt, but I decided I didn't have enough experience with his type of hunt yet, nor did I have the time to dedicate more than one day to a hunt. So I decided to go through an outfitter with a guide. Also, sadly I could not afford an axis or a mouflon hunt at this time. I could have done a hog hunt, or a Spanish goat hunt, but I ultimately decided to opt for a black Hawaiian ram hunt.

I spent a lot of time investigating outfitters and decided to go with Nahele on the Big Island. If anyone wants to know more about them, drop me message and I can tell you more about that. I was very happy with my experience although this is the first guided hunt I've ever done do I don't have a lot of experiences to compare to.

I should also mention that they have feral cattle on the big island. The week before I was there, a hunter had taken a beautiful orange-haired bull. Which I thought was crazy but that morning we pulled in there was a big black bull about 30 yards away.




He just stood there and watched as I shot my bow at a target to make sure it was still tuned up after the long flight over. It was. This was my first time flying with my bow. I ended up getting the Sitka Nomad bag instead of a dedicated bow case. It is huge and it protected my bow very well as well as holding all of my stuff for the entire trip.

That bull eventually got into a roaring match with a few other bulls off to the north and then he trotted off in that direction.




we hiked across a semi-open pasture-like area with stacked lava rock fences and little stands of trees.




The hiking was pretty treacherous in that the ground was grassy looking but it was not flat or smooth. It was probably 75% lava rocks and you had to be pretty deliberate in how you navigated.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

So my guide was carrying a rifle in case one of those bulls should decide to pick a fight with us. Also, although I wanted to do an archery hunt, he said it might be tough to get in to archery range on the sheep so the rifle was an option.

I have not rifle hunted in the past and the few times I have shot a rifle it was a little less that successful. Long story short, I am not comfortable with rifle shooting, but I am open to trying more of it.

Before long he sees a group of rams and I follow him as we creep and crawl into position. I'm at 75ish yards and considering a different move to cut 25-30 yards but struggling to even get a good range.




I look back behind me and see this hog at about 20 yards. I strongly considered changing the "catch of the day" but ultimately decided that I wanted a shot at a ram more than a chip shot at a pig.




Of course, my little piggy friend got wise and ran off, which sparked off the sheep moving away, so that was a first stalk blown. I talked to the guide about the rifle and mentioned that there was a ram I would have shot in a heartbeat with the rifle if it had been there with me when I was at 75 yards. He said that maybe I should be prepared to use the rifle on the next stalk because the sheep had run off into. wide open bowl. Easy to get within rifle range, but the bow would be useless until the sheep moved.

The picture above is after a couple rifle shots, but there were sheep spread all along the lowest fold and I shot at a nice ram just to the left of the second big tree from the right. I missed high. Then it got a little crazy as I tried to get lined up on another nice ram to the right of that same tree. I had to shift and get re-settled. but ultimately I pulled the trigger and my guide said it was a good hit and my ram went down hard.

Celebration time, right? Wrong.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I sat up an took that picture and we watched as the ram kicked around a little, thinking that he was expriring. And then we saw a tom turkey about 30 yards to the right of where the ram was laying down. I pulled out my mouth call and got his attention, which was fun. I love turkeys.

All of a sudden the ram gets up and starts running to the right, stumbles and goes down. He gets up and runs like that a few more times. We decide to close the distance and see if I can get another shot off.

I get to about 30 yards and pull back my bow, thinking that it will be what's needed to put him in the dirt. But he is a thing jumper and my arrow goes right behind his butt. Now I'm trailing him, but every time I get close enough to it, he turns his ass to me and runs ahead.

Finally he goes up a little bit of a narrow draw and stops. My guide flags me over so I can approach unseen and take a 20 yard broadside shot.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

And that was that. Ram down. It would have gone a little better if I was more well-versed in rifle shooting, but it was neat to use a rifle but ultimately take a kill shot with my bow.

We dragged it over the the shade of a smaller tree to cut up the quarters and get a photo.




And after we got it all packed up and started walking back towards the truck, my guide found a tail feather from that turkey and gave it to me.




I'm a sucker for turkey feathers. so of course I had to stick it in my cap and take a macaroni photo.

It was a great morning in the field and I am happy that I had a chance to go on this hunt. I am having the meat sent home and a Euro mount done by a taxidermist on the Big Island since my wife didn't want me to have to mess around with freezing and packing the meat and the head. It will be more expensive that way but it allowed us to enjoy the rest of the trip without that hanging over our heads.

I did get out to a local lumber yard to pick up a piece of Hawaiian wood for an eventual mount to hang the ram head from.

It was a great adventure and a great trip to Hawaii. I'm already scheming how I can get back to hunt axis and mouflon. Might need a winning lottery ticket...

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Because I am in the doldrums of hunting season with archery opener in Illinois still 2 months away, I decided to do a little project. I love finding turkey tracks so I preserved the feet off the last turkey I shot and made a couple of stepping stones.




The one on the left turned out way better that the one on the right. I took my time with the left one and I was scrambling to finish up the second one. But it was a fun idea and maybe I'll make a new one to replace it some day.

In two weeks I am headed out to visit a buddy who lives somewhat near where I have a trail cam on some property I can hunt. The batteries are needing to be replaced, so I'll try to take care of that. I have been seeing a velvet buck the last week or so on that camera, so I don't think I will move it like I originally had planned.

And of course, high school marching band season is just starting up and I have two kids involved this year. So October 1 will be here in the blink of an eye for me.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I finally got the Hawaiian Black Ram Euro mount up on the wall of my shed.



I did a little longer post about it on the Woodworking Hunt Talkers thread.

Still need to get the Euro for my buck from last November put up. Hopefully I'll get that done before October 1, the start of my archery season.

 

[duckhunt]

I finally got the Hawaiian Black Ram Euro mount up on the wall of my shed.

View attachment 337492

I did a little longer post about it on the Woodworking Hunt Talkers thread.

Still need to get the Euro for my buck from last November put up. Hopefully I'll get that done before October 1, the start of my archery season.

Now that is cool.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

A little rant about acquiring hunting tags in the state of Illinois.

Archery deer and turkey tags go on sale on August 1 every year. I usually put it in my calendar and try to get them on August 1, but there is no real rush. Season doesn't start til October 1 and there is no chance that they will sell out.

I live in the suburbs of Chicago and the two license vendors that are closest to me are Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart. Unfortunately, for the past 4-5 years the people at Dick's Sporting Goods have claimed that their machine didn't work, which seems strange that they would let that go on so long without getting it fixed.

At the Walmart, the machine works, but there is literally only ever one person in the store who knows how to use it. And that person isn't necessarily stationed at the sporting goods desk...

So last night I needed to pick up some school supplies and even though I didn't want to go to Walmart for them, I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. I found the school supplies pretty quick and then went back to the sporting goods desk. There was a guy getting a fishing license, which I took to be a good sign.

After that was done I stepped up and told the Walmart employee that I wanted hunting tags. He claimed that he needed to get someone else to help me with that and walked away. I waited 35 minutes before someone showed up. In the mean time I pushed the call button several times as well as calling the store number, hoping to speak with the service desk to send someone to the sporting goods desk. I tired all of the extensions and they would just ring and ring and ring.

I did get through to the bakery and asked that person to reach out internally for me, but I don't know if she actually did or not.

Once the lady finally showed up, she claimed that the first person who helped me could have sold me the licenses, but he was confused because he didn't know that it was the same as selling a fishing license... After wasting more of my time explaining that, she finally got into the system and less than 5 minutes later I was able to walk out with the licenses and the school supplies.

In the 35 minutes I stood there waiting I probably saw a dozen Walmart employees who all claimed to not know how to run the license machine... And the person who did know how to do it and finally showed up explained that she had been busy getting a delivery truck set up for unloading. All in all, it was a big waste of my time. But on the upside I have my tags and I'll be set for the Oct 1 opener.

 

[duckhunt]

A little rant about acquiring hunting tags in the state of Illinois.

Archery deer and turkey tags go on sale on August 1 every year. I usually put it in my calendar and try to get them on August 1, but there is no real rush. Season doesn't start til October 1 and there is no chance that they will sell out.

I live in the suburbs of Chicago and the two license vendors that are closest to me are Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart. Unfortunately, for the past 4-5 years the people at Dick's Sporting Goods have claimed that their machine didn't work, which seems strange that they would let that go on so long without getting it fixed.

At the Walmart, the machine works, but there is literally only ever one person in the store who knows how to use it. And that person isn't necessarily stationed at the sporting goods desk...

So last night I needed to pick up some school supplies and even though I didn't want to go to Walmart for them, I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. I found the school supplies pretty quick and then went back to the sporting goods desk. There was a guy getting a fishing license, which I took to be a good sign.

After that was done I stepped up and told the Walmart employee that I wanted hunting tags. He claimed that he needed to get someone else to help me with that and walked away. I waited 35 minutes before someone showed up. In the mean time I pushed the call button several times as well as calling the store number, hoping to speak with the service desk to send someone to the sporting goods desk. I tired all of the extensions and they would just ring and ring and ring.

I did get through to the bakery and asked that person to reach out internally for me, but I don't know if she actually did or not.

Once the lady finally showed up, she claimed that the first person who helped me could have sold me the licenses, but he was confused because he didn't know that it was the same as selling a fishing license... After wasting more of my time explaining that, she finally got into the system and less than 5 minutes later I was able to walk out with the licenses and the school supplies.

In the 35 minutes I stood there waiting I probably saw a dozen Walmart employees who all claimed to not know how to run the license machine... And the person who did know how to do it and finally showed up explained that she had been busy getting a delivery truck set up for unloading. All in all, it was a big waste of my time. But on the upside I have my tags and I'll be set for the Oct 1 opener.

I absolutely hate Wal mart for the exact reasons you explained. In the last 7 or 8 years I've maybe been in a Wal mart 3 times. The last time I went to the checkout and only 2 checkers. About 15 customers in each line. That was the last straw for me.

 

[Pucky Freak]

A little rant about acquiring hunting tags in the state of Illinois.

Archery deer and turkey tags go on sale on August 1 every year. I usually put it in my calendar and try to get them on August 1, but there is no real rush. Season doesn't start til October 1 and there is no chance that they will sell out.

I live in the suburbs of Chicago and the two license vendors that are closest to me are Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart. Unfortunately, for the past 4-5 years the people at Dick's Sporting Goods have claimed that their machine didn't work, which seems strange that they would let that go on so long without getting it fixed.

At the Walmart, the machine works, but there is literally only ever one person in the store who knows how to use it. And that person isn't necessarily stationed at the sporting goods desk...

So last night I needed to pick up some school supplies and even though I didn't want to go to Walmart for them, I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. I found the school supplies pretty quick and then went back to the sporting goods desk. There was a guy getting a fishing license, which I took to be a good sign.

After that was done I stepped up and told the Walmart employee that I wanted hunting tags. He claimed that he needed to get someone else to help me with that and walked away. I waited 35 minutes before someone showed up. In the mean time I pushed the call button several times as well as calling the store number, hoping to speak with the service desk to send someone to the sporting goods desk. I tired all of the extensions and they would just ring and ring and ring.

I did get through to the bakery and asked that person to reach out internally for me, but I don't know if she actually did or not.

Once the lady finally showed up, she claimed that the first person who helped me could have sold me the licenses, but he was confused because he didn't know that it was the same as selling a fishing license... After wasting more of my time explaining that, she finally got into the system and less than 5 minutes later I was able to walk out with the licenses and the school supplies.

In the 35 minutes I stood there waiting I probably saw a dozen Walmart employees who all claimed to not know how to run the license machine... And the person who did know how to do it and finally showed up explained that she had been busy getting a delivery truck set up for unloading. All in all, it was a big waste of my time. But on the upside I have my tags and I'll be set for the Oct 1 opener.

We shop at the same Walmart, apparently.

 

[BQ12]

It's Tim e to start the 2024 hunt thread. I went out yesterday for coyote. I really don't know what I am doing, so my strategy it just to be out in the woods and hope that my call will bring one in.

So far I have been unsuccessful and this year was no different. But I got to spend some time with a buddy and I moved a game camera that will hopefully provide some intel on my turkey hunt at that location in April.

I also got to pick up the Euro mount from the buck I shot in November and the skull from the doe I shot in 2022. All in all it was a good day.

So far I have a few turkey hunting weekends planned for 2024:
2nd season Special Hunt Area with a buddy - I hunted turkey here last year and had a close encounter but didn't connect. That is where the game camera is.
3rd season hunting with an outfitter in West Central IL with my dad. I haven't hunted turkey with dad since 2017 I think, so this will be a nice trip.
5th Season special hunt area solo - I have hunted deer in this area a couple years ago. I don;t have it all figured out yet, but this hunt should offer me a chance to learn more about the area, and I believe turkey population is very high.

In the fall I will probably be going to Ohio with my buddy who has family out there for the rut. And I will try to get a couple of my other buddies out to get them to connect with a deer. I'll try to hunt with my recurve a little more than I did last year. My fall plans are not set yet, but you know I'll try to get a lot of time in the woods.

Nice!

 

[BQ12]

So I'm back from two days of turkey hunting with my dad. It was a lot of walking and listening and calling and not seeing any turkeys... The first morning we had a gobbler and it sounded like he was closing in and then poof no more gobbles. We had another gobbler fire off about noon but after a couple gobbles, a bald eagle started flying overhead making bald eagles noses and the gobbler decided to be quiet and stay down in the wooded draw...

This morning we were rained on and slogging through muddy wet grass. No gobbles, just wet boots... In terms of turkey production, the weekend was a bust, but in terms of spending quality time with my dad it was a real big win.

And let me just say, for a guy who is just a few months shy of 78, my dad was able to handle all of that walking and discomfort like a champ. I just hope we get a chance to take another turkey hunt and that it ends up being a bit more action packed.


View attachment 324583

Here's a picture of the mighty oak that 400 years in the future will be someone's kitchen cabinets...


View attachment 324584
And that is a picture of my dad totally blending in to the natural environment. He had some orange on his hat and I told him to put his face covering over his mask and poof he disappeared.

One more turkey tag left. It will be more of a public land scout on the Wednesday after Mother's Day. I don't expect to encounter any turkeys, but I do want to get out and investigate places to deer and turkey hunt in the future.

Great Pics!

 

[Khunter]

A little rant about acquiring hunting tags in the state of Illinois.

Archery deer and turkey tags go on sale on August 1 every year. I usually put it in my calendar and try to get them on August 1, but there is no real rush. Season doesn't start til October 1 and there is no chance that they will sell out.

I live in the suburbs of Chicago and the two license vendors that are closest to me are Dick's Sporting Goods and Walmart. Unfortunately, for the past 4-5 years the people at Dick's Sporting Goods have claimed that their machine didn't work, which seems strange that they would let that go on so long without getting it fixed.

At the Walmart, the machine works, but there is literally only ever one person in the store who knows how to use it. And that person isn't necessarily stationed at the sporting goods desk...

So last night I needed to pick up some school supplies and even though I didn't want to go to Walmart for them, I thought I would kill two birds with one stone. I found the school supplies pretty quick and then went back to the sporting goods desk. There was a guy getting a fishing license, which I took to be a good sign.

After that was done I stepped up and told the Walmart employee that I wanted hunting tags. He claimed that he needed to get someone else to help me with that and walked away. I waited 35 minutes before someone showed up. In the mean time I pushed the call button several times as well as calling the store number, hoping to speak with the service desk to send someone to the sporting goods desk. I tired all of the extensions and they would just ring and ring and ring.

I did get through to the bakery and asked that person to reach out internally for me, but I don't know if she actually did or not.

Once the lady finally showed up, she claimed that the first person who helped me could have sold me the licenses, but he was confused because he didn't know that it was the same as selling a fishing license... After wasting more of my time explaining that, she finally got into the system and less than 5 minutes later I was able to walk out with the licenses and the school supplies.

In the 35 minutes I stood there waiting I probably saw a dozen Walmart employees who all claimed to not know how to run the license machine... And the person who did know how to do it and finally showed up explained that she had been busy getting a delivery truck set up for unloading. All in all, it was a big waste of my time. But on the upside I have my tags and I'll be set for the Oct 1 opener.

Whew!! That was a close shave with only a little over a month to spare.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I just posted a little story about the plaque I made for my 2023 buck Euro mount to the woodworking hunt talkers thread. I just hung it up in my shed the other day.




It is nice to have that project done. I got it done just before I got really busy with my daughters' marching band season.

Over the weekend, I drove out to some public land to replace the batteries in a trail cam. It was a nice little scouting trip. I had placed this camera kind of hastily and this was an opportunity to see if there was a better placement. Which I think there was, and I identified a good tree to climb this fall for hunting.

It will probably be at least a good 4 weeks until I get a chance to go out with my bow. Which is good, since it has been so warm around here lately.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I'm headed out to my parents' house tonight so that I can get up and hunt in the morning. I don't expect to see much if anything, but I have a spot in some public that I think could be good to get to know. Hopefully I will hear some turkeys and maybe around 10-11 I'll do a little scouting on my way back to the truck and my parents house.

They just got back from South Dakota and brought some ground beef from my uncle's farm, so I'll definitely be bringing home meat.

Hard to believe that it is already archery season here in Illinois, but I will be happy to be out in the woods again.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Great star show this morning as I hiked in to the spot I wanted to hunt. Getting there and up a tree took me longer than I anticipated and it was fully light out by the time I was set up.

Turns out I was smack dab in the middle of a squirrel playground... Oh the fun and games they had, chasing and barking and climbing.

I didn't hear any turkeys and I didn't see any deer, but I do feel like I am in a good spot. When I got down I hiked a 10 yards north and found a better spot that looks like there are trails crossing and a good climbing tree.

I attempted to make a scrape and moved my camera over it. We'll see how effective my deer fooling skills are I guess.

Ultimately this was a scouting mission and I feel like I learned a bit, I also got a chance to work the kinks out of my saddle hunting/tree climbing process. It will be a couple weeks before I can get out again but I want to make sure I'm not fumbling around in the dark next time.

 

[typhoon916]

Great star show this morning as I hiked in to the spot I wanted to hunt. Getting there and up a tree took me longer than I anticipated and it was fully light out by the time I was set up.

Turns out I was smack dab in the middle of a squirrel playground... Oh the fun and games they had, chasing and barking and climbing.

I didn't hear any turkeys and I didn't see any deer, but I do feel like I am in a good spot. When I got down I hiked a 10 yards north and found a better spot that looks like there are trails crossing and a good climbing tree.

I attempted to make a scrape and moved my camera over it. We'll see how effective my deer fooling skills are I guess.

Ultimately this was a scouting mission and I feel like I learned a bit, I also got a chance to work the kinks out of my saddle hunting/tree climbing process. It will be a couple weeks before I can get out again but I want to make sure I'm not fumbling around in the dark next time.

I use a saddle whether is private or public

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I use a saddle whether is private or public

I have been slowly but surely moving to saddle hunting. I have access to a couple of places where the stands are already set up, but even there I kinda feel like the deer and turkeys know that the stands are there, so I am thinking that setting up with my saddle on the new stand bypass route is the way to go. I love being mobile, that's for sure.