After taking my wife out for "date night" Wed evening and returning home and helping Ben make some adjustments to a couple bows, I found my truck packed and on the road at 9:00pm. I arrived at Matt / PA's house shortly after 11:00. This is the first time I'd been to Matt's house. He has a beautiful house in a nice development with a spacious backyard and target range. I specifically loved his deck and "man room". We talked shop, plans and eventually went to bed around 1:30 am. The morning came quickly and we hit the road for North Carolina. The trip went quickly and Matt and I shared more stories than I can remember.
As we passed into NC I mentioned the gorgeous view from I77 in VA looking into NC and where you could see Pilot Mountain. A NC landmark that I never knew of until the first trip to NC. Jeff mentioned it was often referenced in the Andy Griffith show because it was filmed or at least Andy Griffith was from Mt. Airy which is right near Pilot Mountain.
We arrived at Jeff's around 2:30 and unpacked the truck and sat down to relax, shot our bows and talked of the weekend plans prior to heading out for evening stands.
Once in the stands, AAHhh it felt so good to be back in a treestand with the anticipation of seeing whitetails and the possibility for a shot opportunity. That evening I saw 5 but with no shot opportunities. We also had turkeys roost near us but they sounded like they were going to roost on us. Jeff was filming Matt but with no shot opportunities either, there was very little footage opportunities. I did hear that Jeff filmed me snoozing in my comfy Ol'man stand for a short while. That felt so good as well. Treestand naps are something I really look forward to in the down time.
That next morning was the morning Matt shot his doe. You can read all about that in the NC thread by GMMAT. That was indeed an exciting morning.
That evening however we hunted another spot entirely as well. The spot is an incredible oak flat and "akerns" were falling all evening I took some landscape pictures to give you guys an idea. This is somewhat of a pinch point and I'd hunt that spot often as it's clear the deer come through, just not that evening with the exception of a small 1.5 year old buck.
I was positioned off the outside corner of a fence, near the park.
Matt was off to my left, just right of this shot. And this is where the 1.5 year old showed up.
All evening the acorns fell. In this photo it shows an old house/barn or structure of some sort with a tin roof. Each time the acorns hit it, it echoed and actually made Matt and I jump.
Matt was sitting in a tree just off this structure some 60 yards from me and Greg / MO will like this pic.
The next morning I was in the tree I had been in the previous morning. It was actually the exact opposite end of the previous fence, the opposite outside corner.
The tree I'm in Jeff's taken 4 deer out of and if I'm not mistaken, including the Bull.
The foliage was thick and visibility wasn't far.
That morning, Matt saw 12 and I just happen to look in his direction (50 yards seperate us) and I caught a glimpse of movement and glassing over there I saw 2 fawns. Matt saw 12 and I luckily saw 2. Matt had opportunities on 2 mature doe that started feeding towards me and he left them go willing them toward me and as much as I appreciate that gesture I told him he should have shot. I was there to have fun and killing a deer was the highest priority so Matt could easily had another shot opportunity. Someone came out of one of the the houses and the animals retreated back into the park.
I was just more than happy just to be in a tree doing what we love to do.
That evening we tried it again and I had Matt's orphans under my stand for quite a while but as GMMAT mentioned, I'm a big softy and just enjoyed having them near.
Ducsauce was due to roll in and have an evening out with the boys. What can I say about that eveing? Well what I can say is I probably laughed more that night than I've laughed in a very long time. Meeting ducsauce (Don) who is now strictly known to use as "Finch" was a barrel of entertainment and with all 4 of us, nothing but laughter. I thoroughly enjoyed that night out.
I'll let you decide but Matt and I made the decree that ducsauce needs to change his username to Finch and if anyone has watched American Pie, you'll get that. See group pic below.
Sunday morning came too soon. The 4 of us and Jeff's gorgeous wife went out for breakfast, came back and shots some bows, told some lies and prepared to head home.
Left to Right:
Rob, Finch, Jeff and Matt.
Great times guys, thanks for that.
NC, a recap from my perspecitve with pictures.
Thanks again guys for EVERYTHING and I hope to do it again sometime.
