In keeping with Terry Green's challenge of earlier this year I'm headed to Ohio tomorrow to hunt with some TGers in the Canton area. Will be hunting with T.J. Thanksgiving morning and 4runr on Friday and Saturday. This year if I see a big buck in the little field next to the hotel I don't think I'll pass this time. lol Wish us luck!
Good luck David.
Stay safe, have fun, hunt hard, shoot straight and track diligently. ;)
I just got back from there. Hunted hard all week. Saw three deer, passed on a young 6 point. They were locked up all week and just started moving again Saturday. Good luck, hope you get a bigunn.
It's to bad you're so far away Mickey, would love to do some hunting with you out there.
Good luck, Dave...I know you have lots of bows, but which one/s are you taking.
Please take some pictures, show us what your hunting area is like.
Also take a snapshot or two of the big buck you kill !!
Good luck,
Pat
I'm taking my Black Swan TD1 with Classic limbs.
Good Luck and bring back a great story.
Good luck! I grew up in Canton and still have a lot of family there. Live aout an hour and a half away now.
Take care,
-Charlie
Good luck Dave, have fun and have a good Thanksgiving while you are there.......
David
Have a safe and wnderful hunting trip! :wavey:
F-Manny
Have fun Dave hope you have a great trip. Is TJ cooking the Turkey?
Having the turkey with my wifes brother and his family, this is officially a family visit. My wife and son visit while I hunt as much as I can. :bigsmyl:
LOL you don't want me cooking the turkey. Besides if everything goes right it'll be backstraps this year!!
Dave, I can't wait to have you down. Should be a fun time.
You should still have good buck activity. I saw 3 bucks on saturday and 4 on monday in Ohio - no active chasing but some cruising for the few remaining unbred does. Find one of those and the action should be great. Good luck.
Be safe and shoot us a big Ohio buck!
Tell Kenny I said Hi!
Been out this past weekend in SE Ohio(Noble county).Lots of activity .Should be good until Ohio gun season starts the Monday after thanksgiving.
good luck
have fun Vman.<>\\<
I think Kenny and I are headed down that way Friday KPaul.
Always have fun Frank, deer or no deer. lol
Hi Joe.
KPaul, we'll be in Washington Cty. just below Noble on Friday.
See ya Wed. evening Dave. Have a safe trip!
Hope you don't mind hunting with a fella using a release. I cut the snot out of my ring finger on my right hand today at work. Right near the crease where the string is held. :knothead: :knothead: :banghead:
Do you really think I care what you use Kenny? :knothead:
Have fun Dave!!!!!!!!
David, Good Luck and drive safe Bud.I hope you wack something nice and have a Happy Tradgiving! Oh and your only bringing ONE bow!!??
Well I might bring the Kodiak TD too. A set of #3 limbs showed up for it today.
Good luck Verm. Your coming in on the end of the first rut.
You should come East and hunt with us Ted.
Have A great time Guy's :thumbsup: Kenny send me some Pic's
<---Mike---<< :archer:
Good luck! Deer or no deer, I'm sure it'll be fun.
Mark
Good luck boys and have fun. Oh Dave, have a look at TJ's form will ya. Help the kid out. If you need help tracking anything give me a buzz.
Luck Don :thumbsup:
You going to come along Don?
Snowing like crazy here now. 1.5" in the last 45 minutes. :mad:
Dave: I won't be out there again until Sunday am.Trying to get a hunt in before gun season starts on Monday but I would certainly like to invite you out for a hunt in the future.When are you leaving Ohio.
The weather is perfect today I think I'll call in sick. Hope it holds up for you guys! :thumbsup:
Good luck , Dave
Leaving Late Saturday.
Thanks for the well wishes guys. The weather is perfect here too. The snow stopped and we got 3-4" of fresh tracking snow. Aaaarrrrggghhhh! lol
Good luck, guys. I hope you knock 'em stiff!
I just made it in myself,too hot in Florida,i'll be in Brimfield about 3 weeks,anyone want to share some honeyholes,or maybe just get together.also here to look for property for sale for the future.We're wanting to relocate.Y'all shoot straight.KEN
Gingivitiskahn- whoa look at that trunk prize! Did you get that after the camp?
We're gonna need our rain suits for thursday. Jim, Don, or Mike, any of you guys gonna come?
Hehe no that was my doe from a month or so ago. :-p
Sounds fun, but I've got a buddy in town at the moment and Dylan and I will have just a tiny amount of time this week to hunt so I'll have to pass. Thanks though.
I hope you guys are up to your you-know-whats in deer.
good luck david
good luck bro,,,be safe and have fun.
Good luck David, and have a good time.
Tj sent you a PM
Someone better be posting some pic's from this trip! :campfire:
Just got back from runnin Verm to get his lic and tag. We are fired up to go after them wiley whitetails and Turkeys. I did a little scout and hunt down there on Sunday afternoon, called in a couple jakes,and was an eyelash from a release when he stoped and busted me. I hope friday is a different story.
We'll have pics, Joe. Success or not!
Good,,,,, we're counting on some pics. Maybe I can get a glance at the mysterious Vermonster!
How many bows is he bringing down? 6, 8, 10??? :biglaugh:
I think he just brought 2. Take-downs, as space was at a premium in his wife's Honda.
Good luck Dave,hope you all have a safe hunt.
Good luck boys. I've taken 3 without and looking for one with...horns that is. :archer:
Met TJ and David at the hotel this morning at 6:30 and escorted them to their hunting place for the day. I no sooner left then Dave called and said he was in amongst a roosted turkey flock :banghead: whydidievervolunteertocookthestoreboughtbird
About 1/2 hr later and he called again and said TJ had his first ever deer encounter. I'll let him tell about that.
Ah...road trip.....gonna do that one day!!!
Pics I await.
Are they hunting at the wildlife area we hunted last year?
Yeah, Steve the same spot. This time there were 2 other trucks in there. Hopefully they'll keep the deer moving, as it's coolder and windy.
Come on and give it up. Did T.J. get a shot? Aargh - it's a hunting story tease. :-D
I bet it was pretty nasty weather for bowhunting. Down here it was windy and raining off and on.
Sounds like the game was moving though,,, maybe we'll get an update soon!
Alrighty, update on the way...
:bigsmyl:
I don't have but a minute but TJ will have some good reading for you folks. I had an encounter of my own courtesy of TJ that I'll up date you on later when he's done. Been a lot of fun so far. Need more tags then I bought though.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! It was a great thanksgiving today as I have a lot to be thankful for. This morning I met Kenny and Dave at the hotel. Kenny escorted us through the black winding roads of rural ohio in the pre-dawn. 20 minutes later we arrived at our spot right at first light. Timing was perfect. The three of us talked for a little bit and admired Dave's new Fred Bear takedown. What a beautiful bow with a near perfect grip. Kenny and Dave also showed off there knives made by Robatto (spelling?)Wow does we make a great knife and I'll be in touch with him soon. Kenny had to leave pretty quick but man what a great guy. I really look forward to hunting with you in the future sir! After Kenny left Dave and I started to slowly ascend the hill in front of us. The weather was 40 deg., rainy and only going to get colder as the day went on. So the plan was to still hunt most of the time and sit for a little while when a good spot presented itself. There were quite a few pheasant hunters out and we intended to use them to our advantage. So off we went slowly up the hill. 30yrds up and the plan was set. I would cut off to the left and follow a horse trail around the base of the hill through the woods, hook up to a gas line and follow that to the top. Mean while Dave would follow the old road straight to the top where it met the gas line. Off we went hoping to maybe catch a deer by surprise or to unknowingly to the deer push him gently to the other person. As I made my way on my first still hunt experience I carefully and slowly made my way around. Through the woods and around promising wood and brush piles but nothing stirred. The fresh dawn light lit up the woods just perfectly for us to sneak through. I connected up to the gas line happy that I didn't get lost. These woods are all new to me. I slowly made my way up the ridge. Two steps, look around was the name of the game. I got about 50yrds and up popped a spike. He was at 30-35 yrds. He took a quick look my way and bounded off waiving his beautiful white flag. He never gave me a shot but it didn't matter. The adrenaline was there. I just snuck up to within 35yrds of a buck on my first still hunt! The deer were here and I was excited for a great day of hunting. I made it to the top at the exact same time as Dave. I quickly told him about the deer and our excitement grew. Next was plan two. He would follow the gas line down and up to the top of the next ridge. I was to go down the other side of the ridge to the right, sneak my way through the slough, over the brook, into the woods and around to the other ridge. Clearly my youthfulness was being put to the test. We headed off on our separate ways. I made my way through the briars and thorns and down to the slough. The rain had swollen the brook and I was about to put my boots to the test. I patiently made my way through the thorns and found the narrowest spot to jump the brook. Well I can't jump as far as I thought and my back foot quickly splashed me, my quiver, and my bow with ice cold water. Luckily the boots didn't leak. While I was at the thick bottom in between the ridges I decided to make a little noise in hopes of kicking something out to Dave. I went up to a little spot over the slough and found a nice trail with a rub over looking the slough. I sat there probably 15-20 minutes. Then slowly walked through the woods to the backside of the ridge and into a field. As I did that my phone recieved a message. To bad I didn't check it. It was Dave telling me he just had an eight pointer kick out the bottom and go down the gas line road. and to stay put and wait. Well oblivious I kept on going. Around the second ridge through the grasslands hoping to stumble on a bed or two. No luck. I met Dave at the top and quickly realized with Daves help that I need to slow way down when still hunting. What should have taken me 3 hours I did in about 1 1/2 hours. Hmmmm one of many lessons Dave was going to teach me today. So off we went. Down the ridge back to where started. Along the way we saw lots of acorns and the biggest scrape I've ever seen in the woods. It was about 3 feet across! We decided to cut into the woods and set up for our last hour of hunting before I had to drive back. As I sat there it took me 20 minutes to realize the Dave was only 60-70yrds away. I could see him at all until he looked at me and I saw his eyes through the cut out in his face mask. Lesson 2: Never forget your face mask. It makes a huge difference and without it your face will light up like a beacon without it. Well the hour came and went with nothing happening. Shivering like a leaf I went up to meet Dave and we went back to the car. BUt the lessons were far from over. Now it was time to work on my shooting. Dave is a master instructor. To say my form was a mess was an understatement. Within an hour he quickly corrected the basics and had me CONSISTANTLY shooting more accurate. He helped me with my short drawing, my anchor, my release, and my back tension.
All in all there's a lot to be thankful for tonight. I met 2 great guys. Had my first still hunt and got to see another deer! But most of all Dave retaught me the basics of my new passion and installed in me the knowledge to help my shooting take off!
So thanks to Kenny and Dave! I hope all of you had a Thanksgiving as great as mine.
T.J.
(http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u132/fhorn23/2007_1122hntg110001.jpg)
Cool story T J. I enjoyed meeting you as well and look forward to many hunts together. Too bad I can only take one other guy to the private land tomorrow.
That's alright I'm stuck working :banghead:
Jt if you ever want to hunt that land again get ahold of me. I hunted there with Dave and Kenny last year and would love to hunt it agian along with kenny.
Very cool - sounds like a great day. :-D
Loooooooong day!
Left the house around 3:30 am, picked Dave up at the hotel, drove to nearly Marietta, Oh. Got in the woods just at day light. Flocks of Robins and other small noisey birds kept me on my toes for the first 2 hrs.
Usually by 9, at the place I was, is when it's been most productive. 9:30 showed up but the deer hadn't. I was gettin antsy to get moving, as the frost melted off and the leaves were wet and quiet. I made my self stay a little longer.
Off in the direction where I'd left Dave, I heard a deer blow," Busted" I thought. Then I heard scurrying headed my way. I was on full alert. Then I saw movement, brown hide slidin through the brush. Then it stopped at 20 yards, broadside, slight quartering away. Drawing back, dang brush in the way, better not, doesn't feel right. Oh wait, there's another, stops behind brush, first one moves behind tree, second one still behind brush, lean back slightly to see if first one is coming out, second one moves into opening, draw back, dang brush again, I might be able to get through there, better not try it, uh oh, big eyes spotted me, stamping right foot the game is up ,gone!
You guys are having way too much fun...keep it up! Doc
That's good excitement there!!
sounds like you all are at least seeing deer. I hunted yesterday and saw nothing again.
I should have just came up there with you guy's!
Good stories! I'm living through you guys right now, my little one has been sick for three days. Nothing serious, just a virus. I have been sitting at home with her and lurking around here. I'll get to hunt later, keep up the good work gentlemen.
-Charlie
Joe I'm having about the same luck here. Yesterday neither my wife, son or I saw anything. This morning I saw one button buck. I think it's the moon.I'm going to go back out today from 11-1 or something and see if they are travelling mid day.
One more day before armagedon :scared:
GREAT STORY AND PICS.<><
All that and only one pic & two stories....
Was it Dave that spooked the deer to you?
Did Dave ever get a shot off or see any Ohio bucks? Bet he was too busy thinking about turkey dinner. :biglaugh:
There should be plenty of Pics and stories later. Just got home and need to get at it. I thought Kenny was going to post the teaser pic for you of something dead.
WELL!!! Shawn
I was but I've had time issues and now I have camera issues.
I have a lot of typing to do so I'll post one picture to wet your appetites for when we get to the end.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/vermonster13/Ohiodeer2.jpg)
Well at least we know how this one ended! :thumbsup: Now you can drag the rest of the story out till next season! LOL!!!
ALL RIGHT! :thumbsup:
Can't wait to get the details. I know Ken has tagged out on the bucks, so Congrat's Dave!!! :clapper:
Okay. Kenny already filled you all in on the tags and assorted Sundries so we'll skip to the day one hunt.
T.J. and Kenny are supposed to be there at 6:30am so I go out at 6:00am to check on the weather. It is about 55 degrees out and the wind is blowing sheets of rain straight sideways. Figure I'll learn real quick how serious the youngster T.J. is about hunting. I know Kenny is dumb like me and will show up.
Go back out at 6:30 and they both pull in, good starting marks for T.J. We do the cursory introductions and load in. Next time I ride with T.J. I need to spray some PAM around the doorway of his car so I can get into it. I was not a good fit but managed to get in.
We followed Kenny to where we were hunting for the morning. Kenny was kind enough to take a pic of us (T.J. is standing about 8 inches up the bank behind me so we can see his face too. lol). Seeing how T.J. was dressed I knew he was in for a rough day. The temps were supposed to drop about 30 degrees. Wet, windy and cold don't mix well with fleece on the outside. A lesson learned well by him that day.
Kenny said goodbye and T.J. and I got down to business. I gave him some idea of the lay of the land and sent him down a side trail that goes right through an area Kenny had jumped deer in a week before. I headed up the hill and things got fun.
The lower area of this hunting grounds is made up of a mix of evergreens and hardwoods. Excellent turkey roosting area, but Kenny had already told me there weren't any turkeys in here so I had passed on buying a turkey tag :banghead: . So of course I start to hear what must be helicopters all around me, no wait, it's a flock of turkeys coming down from roost. At least a dozen and the first one comes down about 5 yards n front of me and just stands there. 4 more are about 8 yards to my right and a few a little further up above me come down. Aaaarrrgghhhh!!!!!
Called Kenny to let him know that new playmates had moved in so he could get excited for Saturday morning's hunt. :knothead:
Worked my way up around to where T.J. and I were to meet and he was glowing happily as he told me about his encounter. Always a good sign to see deer, real hard to fill a tag when you don't.
T.J. told me that he would need to leave around Noon so I talked out a little plan with him that I thought would fill up our morning and maybe give us some opportunities. Every hunt is a learning experience and even more so when hunting together for the first time.
I have to go to bed real soon, guess this will wait until tomorrow night for me! Shawn
There is a gas-line clear-cut running down one side of the hill and some good horse trails that run out on to it that are real nice for working through these woods. I told him to go about half way down and then work his way slowly across. Said he should be standing or sitting way more than moving, we have all morning to get anywhere. Last year the deer had been running inside the woodline along here and I told him I had seen three does right off then so be ready.
I worked over to the edge of the road that leads to the top of the property. The wind was good for me to go to the top without being winded and setting up on the high field for a while then work my way down towards T.J.
As soon as I went over the edge, a nice sized buck comes trotting out on the horse-trail about 60 yards below me. Looks to be an 8 by the side facing me as he turns and trots down the hill I see one side of his rack is broken off halfway up his ear. I would have tried to take him if I was 25 yards or so closer and he was walking. Would have thought him a real nice 8 or so until too late to know better. Still two buck sightings that soon seemed to be a real good sign.
I set-up by the horse trail for a while to wait and see if any others would follow out. Looking down the hill I saw a big open Earth spot that turned out to be a huge scrape on closer inspection.
Two orange clad pheasant hunters appeared at the top of the hill so I needed to change routes. T.J ended up showing up in a place I didn't expect to see him and much earlier than I thought he would. He has pretty much told you what we did with the rest of the time so we'll move onto day two.
I enjoyed my time with T.J. and he is a very good student. In an hour he went from not being able to hit an 8 inch tree at 15 yards to hitting it 8 times in a row from 15-20 yards and within 2 to 4 inches of the called spot every time. It's a joy to work with a fellow who is open and absorbs quickly. he is going to do well in the future.
I've been up to 3:30am many times, getting up then not so much. To get where Kenny had planned for us to hunt on day two was a two hour ride and we needed to leave by 4am to get there before light. (Did any of you know it is an 11 hour ride from my house to the hotel in Ohio?) So Kenny was there to pick me up and off we went to where there is supposed to be the bucks Ohio is famous for running around. We were only 16 miles from W. VA he told me upon arrival.
After getting through the gate and then the mile trudge to the hunting grounds Kenny filled me in on where to go for an encounter with Mr. Big hopefully.
I found this where I was to set-up.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/vermonster13/Ohio2.jpg)
I was getting excited.
After spending the first few hours listening to critters working across the ridge above me and not even seeing a squirrel down on the bottom, I figured it was time to explore some.
Here are some pics of the land we hunted that day. I'll get more in depth on the actual hunt tomorrow. Getting a little foggy tonight.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/vermonster13/Ohio.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/vermonster13/Ohio1.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/vermonster13/Ohio3.jpg)
Keep it coming Dave.
Love the pics, keep it coming!
One tired fellow in this pic.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/vermonster13/cosmicdave.jpg)
SO I worked my way slowly back up the hill to where one of the runs crossed the little road I had come down in on. There was an oak stand along this ridge and plenty of white acorns about. As I worked my way around a bend in the road I saw some movement to my left. Three does were feeding behind some real thick stuff about 8-10 yards over and one of the does was a big one. Looked like she had last years fawn and this years with her and the wind was in my favor. If I could move about another 15 feet I would have a lane.
I slowly crouched down and eased up the road to where I could have a chance at a shot. I peeked over the road edge and the does were still slowly feeding towards me. This was getting interesting.
In what took minutes but felt like hours I arrived at the spot. I slowly snuck a look and the two larger does were right in the lane but the smallest one was not there. As I pulled the bow up to take the shot a little black eye looked into my soul and let out the "I see you snort" the other two didn't look to see what, they just exploded out of there. The little one had worked a little more to the left of me and at 5 yards had locked her eye on mine, the other two never knew I was there. In my experience meeting a deers eye/s is as bad as getting winded by them and it proved out yet again this time. Kenny already told you about his encounter with two of the three.
see my response to coachy :mad:
I didn't have anymore close encounters that day. I did see three more deer across the bowl in the pictures I posted earlier and jumped one in it's bed where the rub pictured was later in the afternoon.
These are some beautiful woods and somewhere out there is my Mike G armguard! SO far since coming to Ohio I had left my sunglasses in TJ's car and now lost my armguard. 2007 hasn't been my favorite year.
These deer on this property have been hunted some and are quite skittish. Coyote tracks and scat are all over the place. While hunting all these oaks I only saw 2 squirrels and had seen none the first day at the other spot. It was strange not seeing and hearing chipmunks, reds and grays. The Ohio woods are much quieter than my home ones. Though you do get to hear plenty of traffic no matter how deep in you are.
Mickey it's all about enjoying the journey, that way the destination doesn't consume you my friend.
Here is the property we hunted the final day. Have some things to do and will finish this all up this afternoon.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/vermonster13/Ohio6.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/vermonster13/Ohio5.jpg)
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/vermonster13/Ohio4.jpg)
Good story Dave, looking forward to this afternoon....
Gas and oil wells are all over the place in Ohio. Makes for some strange smells and sounds when in the woods. The middle picture above is one of the gas wells in the area we were hunting that day.
Kenny picked me up at the hotel at 6:00 am and we headed for the piece of public land I had hunted Thursday with TJ and him last year. Our original plan went straight into the dumper as three other fellows were getting there gear ready at where Kenny was going to drop me off. So after a little Pow Wow we decided to work the side the turkeys had gone into the other day.
We worked up through were the birds had roosted previously and could hear them keeing quite a ways off. Kenny decided to set up on the ridge side and see if he could call one in and I would work down to the edge of the swamp and see what was happening.
As it got lighter out a chorus of shotguns shooting could be heard. The pheasant hunters were back at it and I am sure some folks were sighting in guns for Monday's opener. It was not the best of circumstances to be hunting in as some of the shooting was closer than one might like.
I made it to the bottom of the ridge and took a few pictures that I posted above. Saw my third squirrel of my visit, a black colored fox. He was busy going about his business about 60 yards away. The chickadees were doing their usual flitting about and peeping, if not for all the gun noise it would have been about perfect in the woods.
I decided to try a little calling since we had only seen bucks in here and no does as of yet. I hit the doe in heat can and then did a string of tending grunts. A deer wheezed at me from upwind in the thick stuff to my left back up the ridge a ways. I waited a while to see what would happen next.
After nothing showed I decided to work a little towards where I had heard the wheeze from and call a little more. I stalked a bit down the horse trail through the thick stuff and as I went around a small bend caught some antler out of the corner of my eye. The buck was laying in his bed and was going to let me walk right by him it appeared. He was only about twelve yards from me in a thick little hidey hole, but I had a good open shot at his left front quarter. I swung slowly drawing as I kept walking so he wouldn't know I had spotted him and hit full draw.
and :archer:
I never released the arrow. Something wasn't right about this buck and upon walking up to him and pulling him onto his side I discovered what.
(http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f311/vermonster13/Ohiodeer.jpg)
Someone had heart shot him maybe two or three days before and never found him. His body cavity was full of blood. It was a shame that such a deer went to waste but he was the only Ohio deer that I got to draw on this year.
Sorry for the poor ending to three great days of hunting. As a consolation prize I did get to spend a few hours at Hill Country Bows with the owner Roman and his boys. We got to shoot a lot of bows and had a grand ole time. Anthony says hello Killie.
Doh,thats a shame Dave,it sure sounds like you had a great hunt none the less.
I don't go with high expectations John. This is only my second year there and the public piece we hunt is pretty high pressured and has been hunted for quite a while before I get there. It's good to see some fellow Trad Gangers and new country. I enjoy every minute of it when I'm there. Kenny has said he is going to see about getting us permission to hunt a couple of the farms around for next year though.
Here is my question... How in the heck does a deer get heart shot and not found? That sucks. sounds like you had a good trip though.
It was raining pretty good at times so it must have happened late Wednesday or early Thursday morning. Just about any blood trail would have been washed away in that typhoon.
Dave, looks like you had fun all in all. I enjoyed your thread. Thanks for sharing..
Sorry i could not meet up with you this year. Got stuck in West virginia for the weekend. Hopefully I will be able to hunt with you next year.
Missed seeing you Steve. Would have loved to get on that other piece of property with you. I may be back before my tag runs out so who knows.
Glad the experience was worth the while. There's always a next time.
Sounds like a pretty good hunt Dave, you were with friends, family and into animals, not much more a guy can ask for........ :thumbsup:
David
Well, It was a hoot reading about and that's one more buck than I've seen this year. :banghead:
Hey Bryan, the fellow who lives next door to me took a nice 7pt out of one of my ground blinds I told him he could use while I was gone. It was his very first deer period and he got it in the last legal light of the regular season. He's pretty happy. lol
Nice! You getting out in Dec?