Okay, guys and gals. Here it goes.
Being that I am first home,I'll start the story.
I don't have everyone's name and apologize if I get one wrong or leave you out.
Friday about noon, Brent (brother/law) and I arrived at Knob Lake Campground. We found three guys already set up and getting comfy with the place.
Two from New Jersey and one from Pennsylvania!!
They'll be along to tell their stories.
Chatted for awhile; Catfishon, Dennis and son, Aaron and one other post surgey trad guy stopped to visit, chatted and John Scifres came in about 1. Nighthawk joined us sometime after dark.
Set up our tents amongst laughter and stories. John, Brent and I got changed and went out for an evening of scoutin/hunting, and oh yea dodging rain showers.
Brent and climbed out of the campground to look around and found a scrape 80 yds from our tent!
Lots of other sign and well worn trails but, only brown legs seen thru the brush.
Saturday dawned with off and on showers, til mid afternoon. Temps were comfortably chilly all day. Brent and I went up to the top of the ridge above camp. While John and Nighthawk (Joe) went off to see other things.
Afternoon found Joe, Brent, and I back up over the ridge. Right at last light I had something blow at me that just flat sounded BIG!
But, we did come back to find Catfishon and others grinning over his buck..
(http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g237/redwinghunter/SIH3.jpg)
his story: I'll let him tell it.
Couple poor pics of some of the "gang"
(http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g237/redwinghunter/SIH2.jpg)
(http://i57.photobucket.com/albums/g237/redwinghunter/SIH1.jpg)
Brent and I will definitely be back for next years gathering. :wavey:
Nice deer!
Nice deer!! Glad you all had a good time.
It was a great time, too short though.
I did forget guys like 702plmo, and kenratt stopped in today. As well as our German visitor,Saturday. I missed his name ,but he was wearing buckskin pants, a self made wool shirt, buckskin quiver, and an osage self bow.
And of course Nighthawk carried "Hope" into camp with him. That was a treat. What a shooter!!
Also, a fella named Darren, from Pittsburgh, that I did not get to meet came in around 2a.m. Sunday.
Heres the news I was looking for!
Did he shoot that deer on public ground?
Did anyone kill anything there on the state property?
Catfishon can tell his own story.
I had sightings and others were having close calls as well. Some are still out there hunting.
Being a first year trad only hunter, I'm calling 20 yds between me and bucky, a success.
I was there to learn and meet new folks and friends,SUCCESS!
I will be back next year.
Sounds like a great time, I was hoping to go but something came up and I wasn't able to! Great buck John, And I can't wait to hear the story!
I can hardly type I'm so busy eating my heart out. I should have done whatever it took to get down there.
Sounds like you fellas had a great hunt...its cool when a bunch of experienced bowhunters get together for a hunt and share in the experiences. Great hunt....
Dang! you guys didn't let Dennis bring "Killer" did ya? That dog probably killed the deer! He's vicious!
Seriously, John (Catfish on) is a certified bowshootin' fool. Boy could kill a 40 yard deer--and rumour has it, he carries a pre-trained bow....
(http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s73/catfishon/DSCN1971-1.jpg)
heres what happend, i got on stand kind of late
(or so i thought). i was hunting a rub line and saw that the buck had made his rounds since i had left earlier that day. i got on stand around 5:00 and about 15 min. later saw a doe in front of me about 40 yd out .i gave a couple short grunts but she just kept going ,i was disapointed but still happy that i got to see one.just befor i was going to sit back down i looked around and saw him headed for the rub line 20yd away , but he offerd no shot.after working the rubs he headed almost right at me. i knew it was my only shot so i picked a spot at the base of his neck between both legs and let go.i watched as my woodsman found its mark 12 yds from me. what a feeling! thought i was going to fall out of my tree! i just kept thinking for the next 30min or so i should have waited for a better shot. still not beliving what had happend,and wondering if my arrow really hit where i was looking.when i got down and went to where he stood and half my arrow was, i knew he was mine. wasn't hard to track him and if the leaves had been off i would have seen him fall not more than 60 yds away. and to top it off he ran out of the thick cover and fell dead right in the farming lane that ran around a corn field. i drove right to him.... lol!!! thats my story, and i hope all of you find your trophies this year. whether it be a big old buck or a small young doe. be safe and have fun ...john
John, I stand corrected. I see you shot him with your selfbow. well done!
john, i pretty much hung up my bighorn since i made this osage bow. it's 68# @ 27 and 64"ntn.
WOW, Nice Un. Congrats on ya'lls hunt. :readit: :thumbsup:
ttt
I'm back. I'll post all the pics here later but here's one more of Catfish's buck. It shows the unique mass on him. He is a beautiful deer.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw08.jpg)
And here's my buck.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw09.jpg)
A Ribbie 190 from 5 yards from a treestand did the job quickly. Had it not center-punched that rib, we might have had a bloodtrail :) Turned out not to need one as I heard him crash...er tumble down into a Washington County hole. The drag was brutal. Thank God for strong friends like Darren.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw10.jpg)
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw12.jpg)
Did that "monster of a dog" help out with the hunt? Congrats. Awesome story and awesome pic. Dave from Nova Scotia
Thats one heck of a Buck! Sounds like you boys had a good time.
weekends hunt was great. Good people and plenty of deer. They just didn't seem to walk infront of me. Planning on doing some scouting this winter so I'll be better prepared next year. Saw some beautiful bows and learned a thing or two about my favorite passtime(building bows).
Burnt
I got to the campground around 1:00 Friday and quickly found Dennis Evans and his nephew Aaron with Brent (burnt) and Billy and Jim, a friend of Dennis' gathered around the camp of a couple Jersey boys, Pete and ?, and one PA guy, Fred. We got our own sites picked out right below the shelterhouse and got to jabbering. Denis even built a fire for us.
However, I needed to find a place to hunt and set off for a small plot of land I have access to that is nearby. I got my stand set up over a scrape line on a trail on this ridgetop property that fell steeply into the ravine adjacent to it.
I hunted that evening and didn't see anything but had high hopes for later in the weekend. I returned to camp and we sat up with everyone for a while. It wasn't long before Joe Doyle, Minutemen, came in with his pop-up and we all got to jabberin' again. Around Midnight we decide to get to bed :) Dawn was gonna come early. Unfortunately, I wasn't too excited to get up and hunt so we all kind of slept in.
Joe and I got out late in the morning for some scouting and found a neat little spot behind the archery range. We also found a cool little statue on what I found out later was a piece of private land.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw06.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw05.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw07.jpg)
The land is owned by a friend of Darren's who we visited later. This memorial is to the former property owner who was an infaous coon hunter and outdoorsman in the area. He isn't buried there by the way :)
Joe and I continued to hunt and scout and found some really nice trails and a saddle that will definitely see me some other time. We got back to camp and found the others in the shelterhouse.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw04.jpg)
That's Billy in the background and Joe on the left with Dennis on the right.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw03.jpg)
That's Joe, Brent, and Dennis in front of the fireplace. The dogs are being trained to track deer and Dennis was hoping to get them on a trail but we just didn't cooperate. One funny thing happened when Dennis went to throw something in the dumpster and found this apparently intoxicated coon.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw01.jpg) He couldn't get out and basically just seemed annoyed at our interruption of his nap. Aaron propped a stave in the dumpster and next time he checked, the coon had used it to climb out. If he was prime, I'd have been tempted to get a quiver :)
A couple other folks stopped in Saturday afternoon for a while. John Herron and Roland from Germany. I forgot to include John French, catfishon, in the list earlier but he came back on Saturday also. So as of Saturday, we had a bunch of Hoosiers, PA, NJ and Germany represented. Next year I'm calling it the International Southern Indiana BowHunt. We really didn't do any serious bowmaking.
Saturday evening I busted some ash and got up on top of one of the ridges and found this awesome saddle south of the campground. It is a burn area and is thick with greenbriar. It also separate the capground area from the some more remote land. It has to be a hot spot later in the season especially when the orange army invades. Late in the year, when other browse is gone, I bet the deer hit the greenbriar hard here. Ihunted back down towards the campground from the saddle and found trails with scrapes and rubs. This is another spot that will see me later. One the way out I bumped into a couple compounders from Lawrenceburg who were hunting in the same general area. I also got to meet the representative from PA, Fred. He had seen a buck and a doe in the area Joe and I had hunted in the morning.
I was hanging around back at camp when catfish showed up with this buck he killed nearby.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw08.jpg)
Sweet.
Darren Shue, HackBow, called to let me know he'd be in at 2:30 in the morning and to have his air mattress set up in the Hotel Scifres so he could roll into bed for a couple hours sleep before our hunt on the private property I had hunted Friday night.
Darren got in right on time and barely even slept before our hunt. We got in a little after light and I showed him a nice trail to sit while I climbed into my stand.
Around 9:30 a doe shows up behind me right in my shooting lane. She looked up as I drew but the sun was right in her eyes so I don't think she could see me. I shot as she looked back down and it was perfect except I forgot about a small branch I needed to duck slightly and it sent my shot 2" below her chest. She blew out and I thought I was screwed for the morning but at 10:19, a small buck starts heading right into the scrape I was set up on. He gets about 5 yards away and I shoot him right there. A short dash and a crash and I was pretty sure I had him. Darren came in 15 minutes later as arranged and we took up the trail. It was pretty easy to see where he ran and we follwoed tracks. The lack of blood made me a little nervous but the placement and half an arrow sticking out of him put my mind at rest. I figured I hit his off shoulder which prevented an exit hole. It wasn't long before Darren found some skid marks and then some obvious places where he fell. Not 10 seconds later, Darren said "There he is". He had crashed and started tumbling into this hollow before some greenbriar snagged his leg and planted his antler into the ground. That made an already brutal drag at least a little easier. Darren has all the good pics but here's one after we found him and oved him to a tree to keep him from falling any further. He had ran about 75 yards and tumbled another 40.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw09.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw10.jpg) The shot had entered a little high but had center-punched a rib and then passed through about 1/2" into the off side shoulder.
Thanks God Darren was there to help me drag. Thanks bud!
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw12.jpg)
john, glad to see you got one!i stoped back at camp sunday about 3:00 to set up a meeting time with you for monday. now i see what you were doing..good job!!! i can't wait till next year.
i think that statue marks the spot the coon hunter passed away. i heard he was a big guy and his dogs were on tree at the top of the hill. while climbing the hill his heart gave out. i would have to say he was a lucky man to die outdoors doing what he loved.
After the drag, the check-in, lunch and a visit with the property owner I talked about earlier, it was pretty late before we got back to camp. When we did, we found one of my best friends in the world, Kenny Ratliff, from KY there at camp. He had been there since morning waiting on us. I felt bad about missing the time with him but he understood. Everyone else except the PA/NJ boys had bailed. Sorry I didn't get to say good bye to you all.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw11.jpg)
We visited with Kenny for a while and then got to boning out the deer. With that job done we went to the grocery for some ice and butter to cook some tenderloins and backstraps for supper. Darren and I got some quality time with the campfire that evening. The next day found us back at the private property in the morning but only a beautiful sunrise showed from my stand.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw14.jpg) Darren's luck was about the same.
We headed back to town for a great lunch at a local eatery and then back to camp. Our plan for the evening was to hunt some of the southern reaches of the forest. It was more of a scouting trip than anything but we did luck into a deer sighting. Here's Darren as it happens.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw21.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw22.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw23.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw24.jpg)
The deer ended up skirting our location before offering a shot but it was exciting nonetheless. We also got into some coyotes and set up with a rabbit screamer for a while to no avail. As dark was settling, we decided we better get back down the ridge and stump shot our way down to the creek that lead to the lake we had parked on. One thing I learned about stump shooting in the dark, you better still pay attention to the direction of travel while seeking out the next shot. Darren and I would pick a spot with the flashlight and then turn it off for instinctive shots in the dark. It was fun and enlightening but eventually, we checked our compasses and found that we had missed a downstream turn and walked a half mile up the creek instead of down it while we were distracted with the shooting fun :) We weren't lost, just farther away from the truck.
A stop for supper and some more quality campfire time and we needed some rest. We decided not ot hunt in the morning and just relax and break camp before heading home. We slept until about 8:30.
Here's some camp photos.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw26.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw25.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw27.jpg)
Finally the time to say Goodbye had come and we saddled up for the short (mine) and long (Darren's) trips home.
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/jw28.jpg)
This was a great trip. I will do it again next year but this time I am going to take a suggestion of Darren's to have a big feed on Saturday evening so we can all be together at one time. I missed a couple folks including 702plmo. Sorry. Next time we'll have a little more organized bowbuilding time too.
Thanks to all those who came!
What a successful first hunt - good job with the planning John and nice shot! Hope I can join in the fun next year. Glad to see Darren with his bow - that boy needs to go hunting more often!
Dang I forgot all about Preacher Jonathon showing up Monday. He's from Clarksville and goes by "twigflicker" here on the TG.
Jeff.....you got that right. Life's getting' a little easier and it looks like I *MAY* be able to call myself a bowhunter sometime soon. I think you have to hunt more than 3 days a year to qualify! I hope you can fit this on your calendar next year as well, Jeff. Maybe you and Daniel can make it a combo trip with your Cinci area hunt.
John's right about some good pics, but I got home in time to kiss the family, catch a couple hours shuteye, and hit the airport at 5:30 this morning for a biz trip. I had to find a Panera Bread for lunch so I could use their Wi-Fi. I'll be home Thursday night and get the pictures downloaded and posted (it may be Friday morning!).
Thanks to John for organizing this hunt, taking care of most of my camping needs and being an all around great friend and brother. I got to meet the Pete & Jerry? from Jersey along with Fred from NE PA. They said they really liked the area and would like to make it back. It was also a treat to meet Jon Talbot and to see Kenny again. Sorry I didn't make it in time to see most of you, but I did hear Nighthawk snoring a good bit. :D
Oh Man! I gotta do this with you guys one of these years!
Tom...talk is cheap :) We didn't have anyone from west of Indiana. No one seems to be willing to leave Illinois or Iowa during late October to come to IN to deer hunt. Why is that?
Congrats John on your harvest but I notice you and Darren have gone a little high tech with your equipment..whatsupwiddat?..5 yards? That selfbow range brother!
Darren you can't kill a deer dressed like that! How in the hell is Bill Jerdan gonna lease up all those fancy ranches?
Ok I'm not going to Wisconsin next year, maybe I'll be able to make it to Indiana for a couple of days. Sure thought about you guys that week.
Guess that's the only way I'm gonna get to see Darren again.
Yep, I'm with ya Mickey. I haven't seen that fella in nigh-on 3 years now. All my vacation time is spoken for this year, but I'll get another 4 weeks next August! It's good to see Darren using a real quiver these days too. He must be making too much money. I'll stop saving cardboard tubes and PVC pipe, and string.
Thanks Mickey. Looks like you all had fun up in the land of cheeses. Come on out any time. It is really a cool place with a nice campground close to town. The country is unlike anything I thought I'd find in Indiana. The place we hunted the last evening looks like hardly anyone gets up there. I know why after the hike in :)
Darren and I are thinking of doing a late season hunt somewhere in mid Ohio for bunnies or whatever instead of our annual New Year's hunt. Got any suggestions?
Well there is a big park just north of Columbus, but if I were you I'd email Dean. he knows where every rabbit is in that part of the state.
Wisconsin was fun, but always feels good to come home to the midwest. Wish Georges cabin was on a lake in Indiana backed up to state land ;)
As the last group left in the park, all i can say is the trip was great. Great group of guys and nice to meet some of the people on the website. As this was our first time to Indiana the land was beautiful and there were no shortage of deer (they just werent very cooperative). The last night for us (monday night) provided a tempature drop and a rise in deer movement, as there was some sucess with rattling and calling but as is part of the game, ran out of light...All in all great trip, great place, even better people and i know were all looking foward to doing it again next year.
Hey guys this was a great hunt and alot of fun.
Got to meet new friends and get reaquainted with some old ones :)
John,
I think, Darren has a good idea about having a Saturday night pitch-in. I'd also like to propose that we do some kind of event t-shirt.
Darren,
I wasn't snorin (err, uhh )I was practicing with my new buck call (uhh )yea, that's it my new buck call :bigsmyl:
I'd had this on the calendar since John advertised it way back at the first of the year... Family and work commitments got in the way... but I'd taken some time off early in the week and was hunting about an hour away...
Dropped in on John and Darren on Monday following lunch... Really enjoyed the time spent with them although way to short... they must have had some mojo rub off on me...
I'd planned to hunt with a friend in Salem and killed a doe that evening down there... Much easier drag than you guys had with John's deer... She fell only about 200 yards from the truck... Sorry no pics... digital camera in the duffle bag in Mitchell and I had to get home to take care of her and the camera's at home had no batteries...
I plan on making this hunt one way or another next year...
Thanks for making me feel so welcome...
Jonathan
anyone know how to get in touch with roland the german guy??? i would like to visit his shop and see some more of his leather work.
thanks john
pcappy- you're holdin out on the trails and terrain you scouted.
you gotta tell the one about the buck bed you got into. or the one about seeing town from the top.....or..or
glad to have met you guys and hope to meet more next year.
and i 2d the t-shirt idea
p.s. a 'meat' and greet would be fun too!
Hello everyone. I stopped by the Southern Indiana hunt on Sunday afternoon and got to meet some fellow tradgangers. It was nice to meet some fellow TraGangers. Maybe next year I can join in on the fun.
A pic of Joe(NightHawk) with Hope.
(http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n140/702plmo/HPIM1155.jpg)
A pic of me with hpoe. She sure was a nice shooting bow.
(http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n140/702plmo/HPIM1154a.jpg)
I hope I behaved myself, because I WASN'T THERE!I dunno who was impersonating me but hey thanks.
Congrats on the deer John. I'll make it next year just had too much on my plate ....
Chris
Two Chris Parkers :scared: :scared:
Don't worry Chris you are a one of a kind :)
Great hunt guys, Thanks for sharing. Sure wish I could have made it this year maybe next.
Tracy
I forgot about Hope. She was sweet. I don't think I even signed the log. Dangit!
Catfishon,
I am still in IN. Bedford to be exact. Let me know where you are and we may set something up.
Roland
That's beautiful bow to go with a beautiful buck.
Looks like everybody was having a good time.
Did you take that buck in the park there?
Here's a couple pics that Darren had on his camera. The first couple show how my deer kept from falling further down into the hole. I arranged to have that greenbrier lasso his hoof and flip him so that his antler would bury into the side of the hill. Good planning on my part huh?
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/2007JWHunt03a.jpg) (http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/2007JWHunt02a.jpg)
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/2007JWHunt09.jpg)
(http://residents.bowhunting.net/sticknstring/2007buck3.jpg)
That's a healthy spike John.
And neat trick with the greenbriar :thumbsup:
it does the same thing to me sometimes :banghead:
you indianuns know how to have a time...
you indianuns know how to have a time...