Ben's semi-live 2024 hunt thread

[TheBenHoyle]

When I was out in the public land a couple weeks ago I moved my game camera to a spot that just seemed deer to me even though there wasn't a lot of sign other Thant several trails crossing.

I have had a ton of pictures of raccoons and squirrels and bunnies, but very few deer, until recently. One daylight pic of a young doe and several night time pics of a nice 10 pointer and a young 7 point buck. The young buck actually bedded down in front of my camera for about an hour, which was pretty cool.

I have never been this successful with a trail cam and I am super excited about the fact that I am getting pictures of deer. Would like to see some turkeys but I am willing to be patient on that. I know the turkeys range around the property pretty widely.

That being said, I am pretty excited about this 10 pointer.




He's not a giant, but for a first public land buck I would be stoked to put an arrow in him.

I'll keep watching for the next 11 days and be out hunting that spot with my nephew watching. He is visiting from Sweden and wants to get out in the woods with me for a couple days. Can't wait.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Couple things. I just made up some venison jerky. Kinda wish I had made a double batch. I am planning on sharing it with some friends and I think It will go pretty fast. Might have to make more before my brother and nephew come to hunt with me...

Besides that I have had some fun game camera stuff happening. Recently I caught a bobcat taking down a squirrel. I have a bunch of pics of the chase, but a lot of it is too blurry to tell what is even going on.

Here are three of the best pics.







I've never seen a bobcat in the wild, but I am kinda curious if this guy will be around when I get out hunting next.

 

[duckhunt]

Couple things. I just made up some venison jerky. Kinda wish I had made a double batch. I am planning on sharing it with some friends and I think It will go pretty fast. Might have to make more before my brother and nephew come to hunt with me...

Besides that I have had some fun game camera stuff happening. Recently I caught a bobcat taking down a squirrel. I have a bunch of pics of the chase, but a lot of it is too blurry to tell what is even going on.

Here are three of the best pics.

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View attachment 345269

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I've never seen a bobcat in the wild, but I am kinda curious if this guy will be around when I get out hunting next.

That's pretty cool to see.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Tis the reason for the season...



Hunting season that is. Grilled up some venison teaks tonight.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

No pictures to post, but tomorrow I pick my brother and nephew at O'Hare. They are visiting for 10 days from Sweden and want to tag along on some hunting with me next week.

I talked to a buddy and we can hunt his dad's woods and there are reports of15-20 turkeys hanging out in there. I'd be happy to put an arrow through one of those or a nice deer if we see one.

The weather will be a bit warmer than I would like for late October, but any time I get to spend in the woods with my brother and nephew is golden to me.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I DID IT!!!!!!

I finally got a turkey with a bow and arrow. It was also my first fall turkey.

Now, as excited as I am about this accomplishment, it comes with. big dose of bittersweet disappointment.

I'll start at the beginning. My brother and his son (my godson) hunted with me last Christmas when they were visiting from Sweden and we had a lot of fun and saw a lot of turkeys and some deer, but they were all very far away.

So they decided to come back this week and talked me into going out again. Now, neither of them wanted to have a license or a weapon in hand, they just wanted to get out into the woods with me and see some action.

My buddy's dad has a house in the country that is surrounded by family land and there is a flock of 4 mature toms and 15 hens/young of the year and they roost in the trees just south of the house yard most evenings. And they said we could set up a blind and see what we could see.

The first morning we set up east of the main woods kinda downslope from the main roosting area. We heard the turkeys but didn't see where they flew down to. My nephew got tired of sitting and so I send him south along a treeline where there was some elevation to hide behind. The idea was for him to get a look at the field to the south. He came back and had seen nothing. So we deduced that the turkeys were all to the west of the trees and we had some time to explore the creek bottom to the East, since I thought there might be an opportunity to put out some decoys and shoot some ducks later.

We ended up getting pretty far south and when we came to the edge of the field the 4 toms were hanging out in the picked corn. I think we must have bumped a deer because before the turkeys could have seen us they were scooting back to the north towards their roosting trees.

We circled back around to the north the way we came and when we go back to our original spot we saw the hen flock crossing another spot and I thought I might be able to cut them off, so I took off to sneak into where they were going. Unfortunately I was unable to get there in time.

SO we took down our blind and snuck up into the roosting trees and found a good spot on the west side to set up after we watched the tom flock head over a rise about 150 yards west. And then we went off to take naps and have lunch.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

That afternoon we headed back to the blind and slipped into place without any of the turkeys getting wise. Sadly we probably should have been about 50 yards north of where we were because we watched the Tom flock come through that spot and then the Hen flock came through. And we watched all of the turkeys feeding along the edge of the alfalfa (which was right in front of us) and the picked corn that was about 150 yards west. It was right at the edge of the rise so they would come in and out of view. It was an exciting show and our eyes were definitely focused westward and we thought all the turkeys were over there, but all of a sudden there was a hew sneaking in right behind us. My nephew and brother had a front row seat to this hen eyeballing our blind.

I was on the other side of the blind so I had to wait until she cleared out to about 20 yards away in the alfalfa before I had a line to shoot. I was remarkably calm and comfortable as I settled the pin and pulled the trigger. I kinda felt like the shot was low and back because I think the turkey stepped forward as I released. But it sounded like a hit. Sadly, the turkey jumped up and flew off to that spot north of us.

At that moment the western turkeys were all out of sight, but it was getting close to sundown and I was reluctant to head after the turkey right away. SO I snuck out and got my arrow. It was tucked under the alfalfa, but no blood... There were some underbelly feathers but no blood. I slunk back to the blind thinking that I must have missed, but I noticed that the arrow looked dirty, but it wasn't in the dirt it had been under the alfalfa but not into the dirt. SO I smelled the arrow and there was definitely a smell of guts. I felt like I probably hit the turkey in the guts but I didn't know if that was going to be fatal or if the bird would live long enough to hide away and die where I would never find it.

And before I could decide if I wanted to go knocking around looking for the bird, the whole combined flock came back and into the woods at that spot and started to fly up to roost... We waited til dark and snuck out taking a log walk to the south and then coming back around to the car in hopes that the flock would be there the next morning.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Wednesday morning we reversed course and walked way south to come in from the other direction in hopes that the flock would be none the wiser.

Sun came up, turkeys came down and then they walked right past us at about 65 yards. It was a slow parade with 4 toms fanning and strutting and 14 hens. I was pretty sure that the 15th hen was dead somewhere, but I wasn't sure we would ever find it.

By about 8:30 the turkeys were somewhere off the the south, so we moved the blind to the spot north of us that had been traffic central the night before. While we were looking for a new place to set up the blind, my nephew happened to spy my bird. It had been picked pretty clean (no breasts and one thigh completely gone) but It had landed on a downed woven wire fence with a wing wedged in pretty tight. I think this is why we were able to find it. Otherwise I think whoever ate the meat would have dragged it away to a hole somewhere.

I am disappointed that I didn't recover it intact. I honestly wasn't confident that I had hit it. I was hopeful but just figured I had messed up. But now I know for a fact that it is possible to hit a turkey with an arrow. I think that is a sea change for me.

I was able to take the wings and the tail and I will attempt to do something with them to commemorate the hunt, but I don't have a plan yet.

The rest of the hunt was fun but ultimately unsuccessful. We didn't see birds or deer and we got rained on.

BUT guys I DID IT! I shot a turkey with an arrow and I notched my tag. So happy to be able to say that.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I feel bad that I didn't post any pictures in my turkey hunt write up.



Here's the as they lay photo of the hen when we found her. The head was gone. As was the breasts and one full leg.



On Friday I made some venison kabobs. Should have cooked up twice as much meat. It was a big hit.


This is the tail fan from that hen. It is so small compared to a tom. I cleaned it up and put borax on the center and pinned it. I'll try to do something cool with it.

This week I have to pack so that early Friday morning I can be on the road to Ohio. Was planning on going Wednesday but my daughters' end of season marching band awards night is Thursday so I had to rearrange my plans.

I am hoping I can shoot a decent buck on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning. Here's hoping anyway. Also I want my buddy Dan to shoot his first deer on this trip. It's his 4th season hunting.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

The Ohio trip: This is the third trip to Ohio in as many years. It is part of a process that has been 5 years in the making. Back then, I was approached by an acquaintance I knew through our kids' schools and various community gatherings. He knew I hunted and started asking about it. We discussed all types of hunting but it was pretty obvious he was interested in deer hunting. I'm more of an archery hunter myself and so he went with me to an archery range several times over the next several months and eventually decided to buy a nice bow and get proficient with it. The hope was that he could go deer hunting with a bow.

I don't have great access locally where I can take another hunter and he wasn't terribly interested in public land hunting, but he had some land in the family that we could hunt. We tried hunting in Indiana at his godmother's place, but they had kind of unknowingly ceded the hunting rights to a guy who wasn't really willing to share and they didn't want to tell him otherwise, so we were unsuccessful that year.

Then we went to his wife's uncle's place in Ohio. They have plenty of hunting areas on their farm and incredibly graciously let us hunt there. That first year I took a doe and my buddy got to help gut it and even helped me butcher it.

While he is proficient with shooting his bow at a target, he felt like it limited him since he has a bit of a fear of heights and doesn't feel safe in a stand. SO he hunts from the ground and decided he wanted to try a crossbow. So last year he borrowed his uncle's crossbow and while we both had a lot of action with the rut going full swing, neither of us were successful in shooting a deer.

This summer he got himself a better crossbow and a good hub blind and we were all set to leave Wednesday and have several days to hunt in Ohio with the rut in full effect.

Cue real life, my daughters' marching band awards are scheduled for Thursday night. So I can't leave until Friday morning... My buddy can't change his vacation days so we drive separate and he gets the blind set up Wednesday and leaves the woods undisturbed on Thursday.

I get in on Friday and he reports he shot at a doe, but she ducked under the shot, which makes sense later when we see bucks chasing does like crazy. Those does are on edge.

I get set up for an afternoon hunt and manage to set myself up for failure.

I need to get better at picking trees to climb. I thought I had a good one, but when I got to the top I realized that there was a branch that kept me from hanging off the side of the tree I wanted to be on and there was a screen of understory branches that kept me from having any shots to the right. On top of that I was very exposed to anything coming in directly behind me.

I should have gotten down and moved to a different set up, but I instead decided to "make it work." It did not work. On the plus side, I got to see some hot and heavy chasing action and if I could have stopped that buck I might have had a shot. But there was no stopping him and she looped back around and headed to the creek. They probably crossed that creek 3 times in about 15 minutes.

Right about last light I had a nice buck sneak in behind me and instead of waiting and letting him get past me, I tried to get my bow and get turned and he totally pegged me because I was so exposed...

 

[TheBenHoyle]

We were both feeling pretty optimistic for the next morning, although the wind shifted so I decided to set up on the other side of the woods, closer to my buddy.

Again, I struggled with tree selection. I got up the tree and realized that I was hanging on the side that limited shots to my strong side and somehow all of my gear was really crowding me instead of hanging to the side.





But we did have deer walking in the woods by 7:30 so I didn't think too much about it. At 7:57 I get a text from my buddy that he shot one. I told him to sit tight and give the deer time to expire. And then I saw a buck and two does walking from left to right about 60-70 years out in the picture above.

I tried ti get them interested in heading my way but they continued to the west and then I got down and went to help my buddy find his deer.

He was definitely scrambled and although he had found the blood, he then came back to the blind and started taking it down. When I got there he couldn't recall where the blood was. So we had to walk around and re-find it.

It was a great blood trail and it led right to a button buck that he had shot perfectly. Double lung and heart shot. We dragged it out and took it over to the farm and managed to get it checked in and all cut up in enough time to have me back out in my tree by about noon.

I considered moving my sticks and stand 70 yards south to be on the path I saw that buck take in the morning, but then I saw this rub right by my stand.





I convinced myself that I should stay right where I was. And for the next 4 ish hours I kept thinking about moving south. And sure enough right before sunset, that buck followed one of those does on that exact path... Nothing came by me.

Not ideal for me, but I am so glad that my buddy finally got his first deer down.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Here is a cropped picture of my buddy with his first deer.




It was very hard for me to convince myself I didn't need to go back out this morning. I was somewhat confident that I could set up in a tree on that path I had observed on Saturday and I would see the buck. But it was going to be rainy and whenever I left for home it was going to be about 5 hours of driving. In the end I decided to cut out in the morning and get home. That buck will just have to be one of those "what if?" hunting memories. But if I get a chance to go back next year, I might try to push in a little further than I did this year.

Sadly, I don't have any immediate hunting plans. Most likely I will get out in the next couple of weeks again. But it will be in Illinois. No more long drives to hunt this year.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I wanted to get out this weekend to the Public land I have been hunting. I figure the more time I spend the more secrets I will learn and eventually I will have figured out how to get on turkeys in the spring and deer in the fall.

I really wanted to go out Saturday morning, but I also wanted to go shoot sporting clays with my brother in law and he was only available on Saturday morning.

My brother in law had a great round and I had my usual round. I find that I shoot the best when I am not thinking, just reacting, but I'm a little too cerebral to stay in the reaction mode. So I end up shooting about 50%. I'm as consistent as a coin flip...

And of course, at 9:15 am, I have a big bodied, small racked buck standing in front of my trail cam... I had another small buck pass by there at 3:20 pm. I took that to mean that maybe I would see some deer on their feet on Sunday morning. I was wrong...

I got out there a little bit later than I had wanted, but I managed to get up into a tree and I felt like I had a good set up. Took out my phone to text my wife to let her know I was up in a tree and I see that there was a bobcat in front of my trail cam about an hour before I got there.

I sat in the tree for about 3 1/2 hours and didn't see anything. SO I got down and on my hike out I was looking for sign. I found a rub on a game trail that would be on the primary downwind side of a band of cedars. So I will have to try setting up on that trail next time I am hunting with a northwest wind.

It was a good morning to be out in the woods and I feel like I got some good scouting in. I'll have a firearm hunt on that property the first Weeknd in December. Between then and now I might be able to get out there or another place close to my parents' house over Thanksgiving weekend.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. As much as I would love to hunt on Thanksgiving, I also like to host, which means I am up and cooking instead. But I will be going out on Sunday. I will be hunting the woods near my parents where I have had so many good hunts in the past. This property doesn't get hunted during the firearms season but everything else around it does, so it has the potential to be a good day.

It will be cold and I am planning on going out all day. I just snuck out to shoot my bow and then I resharpened all my broad heads. I am really looking forward to the hunt. This is my favorite time of year.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

I have been trying to spend a decent amount of time hunting a piece of public land to get to know better in hopes that it can be a place I can have more success in the future.

In making my plan for yesterday's hunt I went back and forth about going to the public land or going to the private land that I have had so many good hunts in the past. In the end I decided to go to the private land. It was a shorter drive and I was really wanting to be in that place.

While I didn't put an arrow through a deer or a turkey and it was super cold I am very happy with the hunt.

It started off slow and cold. I didn't hear any turkeys, which is weird since there are usually a tom flock of about 25 and a hen flock of about 45 in the area. I could hear a rooster about a 1/2 mile away, but no turkeys... So I am perplexed about where they were.

About 9:45 I saw a doe moving through a draw about 200 yards away but it was heavily obscured and I kept seeing just glimpses. After about 20 minutes I discovered it was 3 does and they were getting closer and closer, but it seemed like they were doing loops or just meandering.

Up until that point the battery on my rangefinder was too cold to give me a reading. So I ended up guessing at the range and I think I ended up shooting under the doe. They all ran about 40 yards further away and just stomping around looking at the spot on the ground where the arrow hit... The hung around for 15 minutes stomping and blowing before running off out of the woods.

I ended up losing that arrow. I looked but with the hard freeze the ground must have bounced the arrow in a new and different direction.

The rest of the hunt was slow. Nothing moving in the woods. At 10 minutes before sunset I saw what I thought was a forky buck and a doe headed my way across the field. I took a look at the forky and decided that I would rather shoot a more mature deer even though my rangefinder was now working and he was at 30 yards.

I looked back to what I thought was the doe and discovered he was a unicorn spiky buck. One little spike and a nubbin or broken off second spike. He was standing at 44 yards and seemed happy as hell to just stand there. Meanwhile the forky kept moving east and then circled back into the field and circled back to the spiky. If he had come in to 30 yards again I might have pulled the trigger, but it didn't look like it was going to happen. So I just enjoyed the show.



He just hung out there in that exact spot for a long time. Must have been some good bean residue there or something.

Just before legal shooting light ended I saw them run off to the northwest and then I got down from my tree. It was a good day in the woods, but I had to laugh when I saw the game trail picture I had received.




This big fat doe was standing broadside to my tree I would have been sitting in at 20 yards at the public land if I had decided to go there instead right about the same time I was watching the spiky at 44 yards.

Fortunately, I will be headed out to that public land next Sunday for a firearm hunt. Maybe she will show up next week...