HuntingNet.com Forums - Official Team Elowapi Thread (15)

captains log 11/1/08....gunna be long..to sum it up...interesting day...no shooter bucks...pulled a ROB on a turkey....

got settled in a little later than i wanted...dont know why i was up at 0515..but it was 0700 when i settled in...shortly after, its breaking light and im starting to look around when i hear twigs snapping behind me.."uht oh! here he comes outta the corn going to bed for the morning!!" i slowwwwly ease my head around and there stands 2 turkey hunters...they walk closer(they were at like 25yds!) and get right behind me and i flag them down...the one points up..they looked up, pointed up the other side of the saddle and walked RIGHT under me and kept going....they walked RIGHT where all my deer always come from :( [:'(] [:@] i wanted to cry...but i sucked it up and said "anything can happen today" funny, as they walked infront of me, i could hear my hen and poults to the right..right where they always are...they hunters went up the saddle and i never seen or heard them again.

i cant remember what happened first...but, somewhere around 0900 i hear shuffling of the leaves..figured it was another danged squirrel, but looked up anyway...here comes a deer running right at me, mouth hangin open! "YES! its gunna be a doe with a buck hot on her trail!!!" wrong....turned out to be a tiny spike or 3 or 4pt...i dont know what he was running from...no doe came by me but he was acting like he was trailing...wouldnt stop for nothing...6-8yds, and he wouldnt stop...i could sworn i seen blood around his mouth, but could been slober or i was seeing things...so i then thought he just got tore up by a bigger buck and is running for his life...so after he passed i let out some grunts hoping the other buck would come...nothing came.

before, or after, here comes my turkeys up behind me...3 or 4 were within view directly behind me and left...1 was getting spooky and i was caught flat footed..i didnt think i would ever get all 7 or 8 to pass at 5yds and go unnoticed...and i cant shoot sitting down in my Viper(can to the left i THINK..but havent tried yet) so when the 3 or 4 werent looking i stood up and drew in one quick motion...they were all tiny so im looking for mom and only mom. i didnt wanna drill a pheasant on steriods, though i would have if that was the only shot...but i found mom standing on my trail i walk in on waiting for the poults to catch up and get outta there...im already at full draw, looked and felt like 26-27yds so i put my top(20yd) pin on her back and my 30 was just below the butt of her wing...shes in an opening standing broadside...poults scattering about...anchored, floated, pulled through, followed through and watched my arrow fly perfect.....perfect for where my 20yd pin was....yep, i blew a few feathers off her back and that was that. paced it off to 22-23yds...i WILL own a range finder by next season!!! just no way to practice and get better at it without one....oh well, better than wounding her...another 2-5 inches lower woulda had her flopping...

all the while theres turkey hunters and small game hunters just having a field day ALL around me...even had a beagle loose a rabbit in my setup lol...pretty funny to watch the rabbit run and the dog came and plain out lost the track infront of me. there were guys EVERYWHERE though...sounded like the old opening day of rifle season!

kept saying "sooner or later someone is sending SOMETHING my way..." and "the deer are being chased around...the bucks gotta be moving to find does" noon i got down and locked the climber up and headed for lunch...back in the tree about 230ish...

buddy says they are going to be turkey and small game hunting the big hill that isnt overly far away...so i felt confident they would send me deer...that hill holds alot of deer...330ish here comes 2 deer FLYING...same exact path they took the last time my buddies small game hunted that hill and i hit that one buck high, 2 season ago....sure enough, just like last time, here he comes!! but hes not running...he wasnt big...basket rack i couldnt tell how many points if any...but he was scraping dirt like a bull and litterally RUNNING through saplings. ive never seen anything like it...he stayed in the brush and went right and started to disappear...gave him a couple grunts but he never showed...tipped the can and nothing to that either...he acted very frustrated like he was chasing the does...maybe the buddies didnt kick them out..i dont know....5-10 mins later i spot another deer in the brush behind me...it never showed me more than legs and bottom of the body...looked like a bigger deer..could been the same basket rack...i dont know...gave it 5 mins or so and gave it a couple grunts..nothing.

6ish i hear the boss hen trying to locate her poults..shes 150yds or so left...then i hear and spot them 50yds infront of me keekeeing..."yes! im gunna get a redemtion shot!" they all kinda stayed put while mom beat her feet right up to them...when she was like 50yds away she gave them a series and a couple of the jakes fired off some half gobbles...that got me fired up!! too far and brushy for a shot...figured they may come back to get to their roost..but no luck....

very beautiful day....cant complain. a little warm....a LOT busy with other hunters everywhere...and inconsiderate [:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@][:@] "hunters" walking right through my setup....i was the bigger man and didnt say a word...i wanted to just loose it...if they would have stopped i would have GLADLY told them exactly where the birds roost...i would have been happy to help a fellow HUNTER...but, typical slobs...oh well....i got my shot...hopefully next time they are on the same pattern and i get another....i hate boss hens...id love to take her out ;) im sure she was one of the troublesome ones this spring stealin away my longbeards!!!