Success!-NJ Season in a Day
09-24-2008, 08:40 AM
#1
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Phoenixville, PA USA
Posts: 5,541
Success!-NJ Season in a Day
Hey guys and gals, here is the field journal entry from the NJ opener and the incredible hunt Steve and I had. The entry was delayed because I had to wait for pictures from Steve and we wanted to wait to see how little Stephen's surgery would turn out before posting anything.
It is long, but it's quite a story. Enjoy!
Hunt Nut® Field Journal
September 13th, 2008
Season In a Day
Bryan Roth-Team Hunt Nut®
Steve Behun, the founder of HuntNut.com®, had a precarious situation this fall. His son, Stephen IV, has a rare heart condition that he was born with. To correct this condition three separate open heart surgeries are required. Stephen, who istwo years old, has been blessed to have undergonetwo of the surgeries successfully. The third, and hopefully final surgery was scheduled to occur in mid-September 2008 at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. As a result Steve knew that the amount of time he would have to bowhunt New Jersey would be condensed this season to merely one day.
Since Steve was going to be at his family’s side during the New Jersey archery season with the exception of the opener he knew he had to harvest a doe to satisfy his earn a buck requirement in New Jersey, get her checked in and on ice, and get back out into the woods to try to harvest a buck all in one day. To complicate matters further, Steve wanted to capture the entire hunt on film and would be hunting pressured public access property. That is a tall order to do in a season, let alone a day.
In mid-summer Steve set out to the business of establishing some mineral licks and putting out some food to try and get some deer on trail camera. Since the location is an hour and a half drive from his home, Steve uses external batteries and large memory cards on his cameras to maximize their effectiveness.
Steve set out 3 separate sites that would be potential stand sites. Each site was selected based on years of experience Steve had hunting these grounds and all were up the mountain a good distance from the parking area. Being public access property meant packing in minerals, food, and trail cameras by foot.
After preparing each site with his special homemade mineral blend and a food attractant Steve waited to see what the cameras would turn up. He was pleasantly surprised to find a good number of deer hitting all of the sites including some very nice bucks.
Here are some trail camera photos from the summer.
After analyzing the pictures Steve determined that the spot at the top of the mountain was his best bet at getting a doe because the majority of the activity at that site was from does. In addition to a lot of doe activity, the pictures revealed that they were there on a regular basis. This provided Steve his best opportunity at filling that doe tag and getting his buck permit quickly. He also found that another spot that was near a big old oak, had 5 bucks in the area on a very regular basis including a very respectable 8 point buck and an even larger 9 point. The regularity and quality of the bucks in this area told Steve that this was the stand he needed to be in to try to harvest a buck. Steve would take either the big 8 or the 9 if the opportunity presented itself, and since they usually showed together he was looking at having to make a choice.
With a game plan ready Steve gathered his gear and we formulated a plan on when to meet to get to the stand location with plenty of time to get to our stands. This planning was key because since we were hunting public access property we had to pack in our stands and all of our gear. Because of this the 2 mile hike up the mountain would take a long time. After careful consideration Steve decided we would meet at a midway point for both of us at 3:30 a.m.
After a 2:30 wake-up I headed out to meet Steve and we got on the road to New Jersey. Traffic was light and we made good time, but I noticed that Steve was under the weather as he coughed and sniffled the whole ride. Steve was not about to let the flu deprive him of his one day of hunting.
We got to the parking area and packed up our gear. Then we began the long trek in. Steve uses a pack frame to carry his treestand and all of his gear and by the time we were a quarter of the way there I was wishing I had one as well to better balance the nearly 75 pounds worth of gear I had between camera equipment and treestand.
By the time we got to the stand site we were both soaking wet as it was 75 degrees and getting warmer with very high humidity from the rain storm that blew through the night before. Steve had that covered as well as we both brought plastic garbage bags and a clean change of clothes. We changed, dried off, and packed our sweaty clothes into the bags and tied them up to contain the scent for the hunt. Then up the trees we went and settled in.
Shortly after first light Steve gave his opening interview. After finishing, he caught a glimpse of movement moving along the edge of the woods by the field above us. It turned out to be a small 8 point buck that moved from our left to our right and out of sight before entering the woods.
Around 7:30 we saw 2 doe in the woods making their way down toward us. Eventually one went left and the other went right and we lost them both in the brush. The activity reassured us that we were in the right place to get that earn a buck doe. Around 8:15 Steve spotted another doe about 65 yards out feeding toward a stone wall that ran toward the stand. Having hunted this spot before Steve knew there was a good chance the deer would feed along the wall, cross over it and head right toward his shooting lane.
The doe took an agonizingly long time to make her way in. She was very content nipping the leaves from the brush all around her and wasin no hurry to be anywhere. Steve struggled to keep his coughing in check, but with the thick warm moisture in the air it was difficult. As she worked her way in Steve checked carefully for buttons to make sure we did not remove one of the bucks by mistake. Finally, after about 40 minutes the deer crossed the wall and moved into the open area where Steve could get a shot and then stopped and fed behind the one large tree remaining in the our path.
Steve stood at the ready, and with the deer only 20 yards away he had to contain his coughs as best he could. The time did give us the opportunity to verify for certain that it was a doe and not a button buck. Finally, she had her fill and moved out into the open.
I told Steve to let her clear a small tree in front of us before shooting. When she stepped behind it Steve drew his bow back and anchored. She stepped out and I gave Steve the green light to shoot. Once she stopped and put her front leg forward slightly quartering away Steve released and hit her perfectly burying the arrow through the chest cavity and into her far front leg.
The doe ran off hard and we heard her crash in the brush. Steve checked his watch and it was 9:08 a.m. He had his doe for earn a buck and now all that was left was the recovery.
The recovery proved more challenging than anticipated because everything was so wet that the blood diluted and washed away in a lot of spots. At the beginning of the blood trail we were following where flies were landing on the leaves and checking for blood. After about 30 yards the trail improved, but the deer was heading into very dense cover. We made our way through and eventually found her. Even though she was hit with a double lung and heart shot and the arrow stayed in her she managed to go 150 yards before expiring.
Steve cleaned her, dragged her out and we got her checked in. He quartered the doe and put her on ice. Now with his buck tag in hand we prepared to head out for an afternoon hunt hoping to score on a buck.
In preparation for the afternoon we washed off from the sweaty morning walks in and out with a make-shift shower. We headed back to the parking area and gathered our gear. Steve was adamant that we had to be very quiet walking in and setting up because we would be within 100 yards of where the bucks bed.
After walking in we again changed our clothes to get the sweaty clothes bagged up and slowly and carefully got set up. By the time we were set and in the stands it was close to 3:00 in the afternoon. The activity that Steve had been seeing was usually between 6:30 and 7:00 so we were confident that we had not disturbed the deer on our way in.
Just before 4:00 I stood up to change tapes in the camera and Steve said, “Hold up, there is a buck coming.” I stowed the new tape and hit record. We got some great footage of a big bodied 1.5 year old spike that fed around the area. Had he been more what Steve was looking for he would have offered several shots. The buck worked his way around and started heading our way. He got to about 4 yards and stopped right under some thick brush where I lost sight of him. Suddenly, he snorted and blew out apparently detecting something he did not like. We are guessing that he got our scent at that close range and that set him off. Even with our impromptu showers and changing of clothes it is hard to be totally scent free when the temperature is in the high 80’s with 75% humidity.
Steve was encouraged by the activity but a little worried that the buck spooking like that may have put the bigger bucks on alert. We could only hope that the commotion the spike made went undetected.
Shortly after the spike left it started to rain. It was a short rain, but hard enough that I put the camera cover on to avoid technical problems. After the rain stopped I waited about 10 minutes to make sure it would not start up again and then stood up to take the cover off and Steve said, “Don’t move! Big buck coming.”
The way we were sitting Steve could see down the hill to where the bedding area was. To be over Steve’s shoulder I had the tree, which was a very large diameter tree, between me and that area. So, I peeked around the tree and saw the buck was just about right on top of us. I got my eye in the viewfinder and struggled to find the deer because I am used to filming using the LCD display on the camera. With the cover on the camera the LCD cannot be used. I finally found the buck and recorded the events that followed.
Steve had gotten himself standing and had his bow in hand. My camera was right over his head staring down at the buck as it fed through the thick brush. I told Steve he could shoot whenever he was ready and he acknowledged with a nod. As the buck fed he raised his head to reveal the tall tines and long main beams he was sporting on his 9 point rack.
It slowly nibbled its way through the brush toward the opening we had around 20 yards out in front of us. The buck flicked its tail showing its contentment as is approached. Each second ticked by like an hour as the deer was well within range, but not out of the underbrush that protected its vitals. Step by step the buck came and I could hear Steve’s excitement in his breathing through my headphones.
With the deer at the edge of the cover and moving forward Steve took advantage of the last bit of brush to raise his bow and get drawn back. The buck stepped into the clear with his head up, flicked his tail, and resumed feeding. Steve settled his pin on the buck and released. His arrow hit with a loud crack sending the buck’s back legs limp. Steve quickly nocked another arrow and put another shot on the buck. This quieted the buck, and Steve got down quickly to make sure the 9 point was down for good. After that it was all over but the tagging and dragging.
Initially Steve thought he had misjudged the distance and held too high on the buck. After reviewing the footage frame-by-frame we could see that the deer dropped a minimum of 6 inches as the arrow approached. Even a calm deer can jump the string.
After making sure the buck was anchored Steve looked up at the camera still in the stand and sent a heartfelt message to his son, Stephen, and dedicated the hunt to him. You can hear his voice crack as he is overwhelmed with the emotion of speaking to his brave son through the camera.
The buck is a very nice 9 point that is a mainframe 10 missing his G4 on the left beam. He does have 2 unique stickers at the base of each antler. It will likely score around 120 inches gross and is estimated at 3.5 years old. It is a great buck and particularly good on pressured land. The buck is going to the taxidermist as it is Steve’s biggest New Jersey buck and has been dubbed, “Stephen’s buck.”
Steve knew what he was up against with the time constraints he faced due to his son’s upcoming surgery. After hundreds of miles on his car, hiking miles up and down mountains with hundreds of pounds of gear and supplements, waking up at hours that some are just going to sleep, putting forth extra efforts to go undetected while hunting, and capturing it all on film, Steve was able to do in a day what many will strive for and not succeed at throughout an entire season. That is Steve’s season in a day.
This day was a shining example of Steve’s commitment to both the hunt and to his family. Seeing this first hand makes me proud to call him a friend and honored to know that a person of this caliber is who we have leading Hunt Nut® and our team.
Some may think that going to such great lengths to hunt just one day is not worth it, but that is life as a Hunt Nut®…
…and on this day, life is most certainly good.
Authors Note: Stephen IV’s surgery was conducted September 18, 2008 at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. After an inspirational recovery little Stephen returned home Tuesday September 23, 2008 with Mom, Dad and brother William. Thanks to God’s grace he is doing remarkably well.
It is long, but it's quite a story. Enjoy!
Hunt Nut® Field Journal
September 13th, 2008
Season In a Day
Bryan Roth-Team Hunt Nut®
Steve Behun, the founder of HuntNut.com®, had a precarious situation this fall. His son, Stephen IV, has a rare heart condition that he was born with. To correct this condition three separate open heart surgeries are required. Stephen, who istwo years old, has been blessed to have undergonetwo of the surgeries successfully. The third, and hopefully final surgery was scheduled to occur in mid-September 2008 at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. As a result Steve knew that the amount of time he would have to bowhunt New Jersey would be condensed this season to merely one day.
Since Steve was going to be at his family’s side during the New Jersey archery season with the exception of the opener he knew he had to harvest a doe to satisfy his earn a buck requirement in New Jersey, get her checked in and on ice, and get back out into the woods to try to harvest a buck all in one day. To complicate matters further, Steve wanted to capture the entire hunt on film and would be hunting pressured public access property. That is a tall order to do in a season, let alone a day.
In mid-summer Steve set out to the business of establishing some mineral licks and putting out some food to try and get some deer on trail camera. Since the location is an hour and a half drive from his home, Steve uses external batteries and large memory cards on his cameras to maximize their effectiveness.
Steve set out 3 separate sites that would be potential stand sites. Each site was selected based on years of experience Steve had hunting these grounds and all were up the mountain a good distance from the parking area. Being public access property meant packing in minerals, food, and trail cameras by foot.
After preparing each site with his special homemade mineral blend and a food attractant Steve waited to see what the cameras would turn up. He was pleasantly surprised to find a good number of deer hitting all of the sites including some very nice bucks.
Here are some trail camera photos from the summer.
After analyzing the pictures Steve determined that the spot at the top of the mountain was his best bet at getting a doe because the majority of the activity at that site was from does. In addition to a lot of doe activity, the pictures revealed that they were there on a regular basis. This provided Steve his best opportunity at filling that doe tag and getting his buck permit quickly. He also found that another spot that was near a big old oak, had 5 bucks in the area on a very regular basis including a very respectable 8 point buck and an even larger 9 point. The regularity and quality of the bucks in this area told Steve that this was the stand he needed to be in to try to harvest a buck. Steve would take either the big 8 or the 9 if the opportunity presented itself, and since they usually showed together he was looking at having to make a choice.
With a game plan ready Steve gathered his gear and we formulated a plan on when to meet to get to the stand location with plenty of time to get to our stands. This planning was key because since we were hunting public access property we had to pack in our stands and all of our gear. Because of this the 2 mile hike up the mountain would take a long time. After careful consideration Steve decided we would meet at a midway point for both of us at 3:30 a.m.
After a 2:30 wake-up I headed out to meet Steve and we got on the road to New Jersey. Traffic was light and we made good time, but I noticed that Steve was under the weather as he coughed and sniffled the whole ride. Steve was not about to let the flu deprive him of his one day of hunting.
We got to the parking area and packed up our gear. Then we began the long trek in. Steve uses a pack frame to carry his treestand and all of his gear and by the time we were a quarter of the way there I was wishing I had one as well to better balance the nearly 75 pounds worth of gear I had between camera equipment and treestand.
By the time we got to the stand site we were both soaking wet as it was 75 degrees and getting warmer with very high humidity from the rain storm that blew through the night before. Steve had that covered as well as we both brought plastic garbage bags and a clean change of clothes. We changed, dried off, and packed our sweaty clothes into the bags and tied them up to contain the scent for the hunt. Then up the trees we went and settled in.
Shortly after first light Steve gave his opening interview. After finishing, he caught a glimpse of movement moving along the edge of the woods by the field above us. It turned out to be a small 8 point buck that moved from our left to our right and out of sight before entering the woods.
Around 7:30 we saw 2 doe in the woods making their way down toward us. Eventually one went left and the other went right and we lost them both in the brush. The activity reassured us that we were in the right place to get that earn a buck doe. Around 8:15 Steve spotted another doe about 65 yards out feeding toward a stone wall that ran toward the stand. Having hunted this spot before Steve knew there was a good chance the deer would feed along the wall, cross over it and head right toward his shooting lane.
The doe took an agonizingly long time to make her way in. She was very content nipping the leaves from the brush all around her and wasin no hurry to be anywhere. Steve struggled to keep his coughing in check, but with the thick warm moisture in the air it was difficult. As she worked her way in Steve checked carefully for buttons to make sure we did not remove one of the bucks by mistake. Finally, after about 40 minutes the deer crossed the wall and moved into the open area where Steve could get a shot and then stopped and fed behind the one large tree remaining in the our path.
Steve stood at the ready, and with the deer only 20 yards away he had to contain his coughs as best he could. The time did give us the opportunity to verify for certain that it was a doe and not a button buck. Finally, she had her fill and moved out into the open.
I told Steve to let her clear a small tree in front of us before shooting. When she stepped behind it Steve drew his bow back and anchored. She stepped out and I gave Steve the green light to shoot. Once she stopped and put her front leg forward slightly quartering away Steve released and hit her perfectly burying the arrow through the chest cavity and into her far front leg.
The doe ran off hard and we heard her crash in the brush. Steve checked his watch and it was 9:08 a.m. He had his doe for earn a buck and now all that was left was the recovery.
The recovery proved more challenging than anticipated because everything was so wet that the blood diluted and washed away in a lot of spots. At the beginning of the blood trail we were following where flies were landing on the leaves and checking for blood. After about 30 yards the trail improved, but the deer was heading into very dense cover. We made our way through and eventually found her. Even though she was hit with a double lung and heart shot and the arrow stayed in her she managed to go 150 yards before expiring.
Steve cleaned her, dragged her out and we got her checked in. He quartered the doe and put her on ice. Now with his buck tag in hand we prepared to head out for an afternoon hunt hoping to score on a buck.
In preparation for the afternoon we washed off from the sweaty morning walks in and out with a make-shift shower. We headed back to the parking area and gathered our gear. Steve was adamant that we had to be very quiet walking in and setting up because we would be within 100 yards of where the bucks bed.
After walking in we again changed our clothes to get the sweaty clothes bagged up and slowly and carefully got set up. By the time we were set and in the stands it was close to 3:00 in the afternoon. The activity that Steve had been seeing was usually between 6:30 and 7:00 so we were confident that we had not disturbed the deer on our way in.
Just before 4:00 I stood up to change tapes in the camera and Steve said, “Hold up, there is a buck coming.” I stowed the new tape and hit record. We got some great footage of a big bodied 1.5 year old spike that fed around the area. Had he been more what Steve was looking for he would have offered several shots. The buck worked his way around and started heading our way. He got to about 4 yards and stopped right under some thick brush where I lost sight of him. Suddenly, he snorted and blew out apparently detecting something he did not like. We are guessing that he got our scent at that close range and that set him off. Even with our impromptu showers and changing of clothes it is hard to be totally scent free when the temperature is in the high 80’s with 75% humidity.
Steve was encouraged by the activity but a little worried that the buck spooking like that may have put the bigger bucks on alert. We could only hope that the commotion the spike made went undetected.
Shortly after the spike left it started to rain. It was a short rain, but hard enough that I put the camera cover on to avoid technical problems. After the rain stopped I waited about 10 minutes to make sure it would not start up again and then stood up to take the cover off and Steve said, “Don’t move! Big buck coming.”
The way we were sitting Steve could see down the hill to where the bedding area was. To be over Steve’s shoulder I had the tree, which was a very large diameter tree, between me and that area. So, I peeked around the tree and saw the buck was just about right on top of us. I got my eye in the viewfinder and struggled to find the deer because I am used to filming using the LCD display on the camera. With the cover on the camera the LCD cannot be used. I finally found the buck and recorded the events that followed.
Steve had gotten himself standing and had his bow in hand. My camera was right over his head staring down at the buck as it fed through the thick brush. I told Steve he could shoot whenever he was ready and he acknowledged with a nod. As the buck fed he raised his head to reveal the tall tines and long main beams he was sporting on his 9 point rack.
It slowly nibbled its way through the brush toward the opening we had around 20 yards out in front of us. The buck flicked its tail showing its contentment as is approached. Each second ticked by like an hour as the deer was well within range, but not out of the underbrush that protected its vitals. Step by step the buck came and I could hear Steve’s excitement in his breathing through my headphones.
With the deer at the edge of the cover and moving forward Steve took advantage of the last bit of brush to raise his bow and get drawn back. The buck stepped into the clear with his head up, flicked his tail, and resumed feeding. Steve settled his pin on the buck and released. His arrow hit with a loud crack sending the buck’s back legs limp. Steve quickly nocked another arrow and put another shot on the buck. This quieted the buck, and Steve got down quickly to make sure the 9 point was down for good. After that it was all over but the tagging and dragging.
Initially Steve thought he had misjudged the distance and held too high on the buck. After reviewing the footage frame-by-frame we could see that the deer dropped a minimum of 6 inches as the arrow approached. Even a calm deer can jump the string.
After making sure the buck was anchored Steve looked up at the camera still in the stand and sent a heartfelt message to his son, Stephen, and dedicated the hunt to him. You can hear his voice crack as he is overwhelmed with the emotion of speaking to his brave son through the camera.
The buck is a very nice 9 point that is a mainframe 10 missing his G4 on the left beam. He does have 2 unique stickers at the base of each antler. It will likely score around 120 inches gross and is estimated at 3.5 years old. It is a great buck and particularly good on pressured land. The buck is going to the taxidermist as it is Steve’s biggest New Jersey buck and has been dubbed, “Stephen’s buck.”
Steve knew what he was up against with the time constraints he faced due to his son’s upcoming surgery. After hundreds of miles on his car, hiking miles up and down mountains with hundreds of pounds of gear and supplements, waking up at hours that some are just going to sleep, putting forth extra efforts to go undetected while hunting, and capturing it all on film, Steve was able to do in a day what many will strive for and not succeed at throughout an entire season. That is Steve’s season in a day.
This day was a shining example of Steve’s commitment to both the hunt and to his family. Seeing this first hand makes me proud to call him a friend and honored to know that a person of this caliber is who we have leading Hunt Nut® and our team.
Some may think that going to such great lengths to hunt just one day is not worth it, but that is life as a Hunt Nut®…
…and on this day, life is most certainly good.
Authors Note: Stephen IV’s surgery was conducted September 18, 2008 at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. After an inspirational recovery little Stephen returned home Tuesday September 23, 2008 with Mom, Dad and brother William. Thanks to God’s grace he is doing remarkably well.
09-24-2008, 09:06 AM
#7
Giant Nontypical
Thread Starter
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Phoenixville, PA USA
Posts: 5,541
RE: Success!-NJ Season in a Day
ORIGINAL: BowHuntingFool
Very Cool Bry, well done!!!!!!!!!! Congrats! Was the delay to to a few to many beers on your Birthday?????
Very Cool Bry, well done!!!!!!!!!! Congrats! Was the delay to to a few to many beers on your Birthday?????
09-24-2008, 09:28 AM
#10
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Cogan Station, PA
Posts: 2,298
RE: Success!-NJ Season in a Day
Awesome story! To get it all done in one day just as he had hoped, and all on camera. Glad his son is doing well, it would be hard to focus on a hunt with that in the back of your mind.