As many of you know Chris Kinslow, Gary Norris and I had plans to open the Missouri deer season on the farm of our recently deceased buddy Mark Harris.
It was going to be a little weird hunting there without Mark. He, Gary and I had shared camps across most of this country. As many critters as had graced our game poles, the stories connected with them were legion.
Chris is the youngster of the group but in his short association with Mark had developed a love of the guy like Gary and I had.
He also has included his two young sons in as many of our adventures as has been convenient to their busy young lives.
They've certainly absorbed a little lore from us old timers and more than a few new "words" have been added to their vocabularies... much to the chagrin of Chris and his wife.
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Oooh! Should I pop some corn?
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We all arrived on the Friday evening before the opener the next morning. It was as I had suspected it would be. We all missed our buddy, but for me at least his spirit seemed to be there with me, smiling that impish grin and watching over me. Somehow it made things o.k.
We made our plans that night. Chris and I had made a quick tour of the farm checking for sign in all the places we'd found it in the past.
The Burr Oaks were barren for the most part. All that remained under the oak where I'd shot a doe last year were the dried husks of acorns she'd fed on before my arrow found it's mark.
The pear trees Chris had found in his early explorations of the farm held no fruit this year. There were acorns on the Shingle Oaks we found. It's an oak that I wasn't familiar with as they don't seem to occur in the areas I typically hunt.
It has a spear shaped leaf not at all like the lobed black, red and white oak leaves.
A few of the tiny acorns had fallen and it was obvious the deer nibbled on them in passing. Nothing indicated the deer were focusing on them.
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:campfire: :clapper: :clapper: another one of Charlie's stories, I can't wait till I get home !
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After putting our heads together that evening, it was decided that Gary and I would concentrate on one of Mark's main food plots where the clover seemed to have weathered the oven like temperatures of the past summer.
Chris would head over to the northern boundary of the farm to a spot we call the scrape road for the prolific scraping that takes place there later in the year.
There is a ladder stand there that had given up a fat doe for him last year. It could work again as a heavy trail led past it from a bean field to the north to heavy bedding cover to the south.
I'll give the others a chance to chime in. Besides , I've got deer meat waiting to be processed and wrapped.
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I hunted the scape road on Sunday morning and had a wonderful time. The woods was beautiful and I was as comfortable as a guy could be sitting in my stand. I was using a millennium tree seat with a wooden ladder platform stand.
Here was my view of the scrape road and my bow. This is Mark's old bow and I put up a post a few weeks back about having it redone to use as a tribute bow.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/ckinslow/2012-09-16_07-19-06_70.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/ckinslow/2012-09-16_08-18-03_8.jpg)
I was hoping to christen it in right this morning. I was starting to think I wasn't going to see anything at 8 am when suddenly I heard a doe blowing above me which was upwind of my position. I was confident with the follage and the wind direction it wasn't me that had alerted her. I stood up and readied myself. About 5 minutes later I was thinking about sitting down when I looked over my shoulder and saw a doe walking up the scrape road. I readied for the shot using my typical routine. I often draw when a deer is behind a tree in order to minimize my detection as well as it puts me at full draw without any sight picture of the deer. She walk into my sight picture and the arrow was away. It almost seemed too easy as my mind was already telling myself what a great shot I was making. It did look perfect right until the point it hit the deer with a loud CRACK!!!!
The deer was off like a scalded dog and I was left with the disturbing image of my arrow that had not penetrated much of her shoulder blade.
I was shooting a 56# bow with beaman arrows weighing sporting a 100 grain insert, 125 grain steel adapter, and 165 grain Simmons treeshark. I'm not lacking for FOC but it wasn't much of match for her shoulder blade. I regret to say that despite 3-4 hours of tracking in the morning and another 1 hour later that afternoon we followed a diminshing blood trail that eventually stopped. I was sick and still am that I made a hit that didn't put her down. Heavy bone isn't forgiving and while my shot location was only 2 inches from being perfect it was still 2 inches from its intended mark. This is not how I wanted the first shot with Mark's bow to go. But like real life, hunting doesn't always have the perfect ending. My hope is the does wound will heal and I will see her again.
Feeling dejected after losing my doe I was greated by my two son's Charlie and Alex. They have the amazing ability to put things in prospective. It was exactly the medicine I needed. They can always make me laugh and take my own life less seriously. Here is a picture of them on a spring turkey hunt we had. They were as happy holding up the decoy as if it had been a real live turkey.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/ckinslow/2012-04-22_12-13-31_411.jpg)
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Tuned in!
Bisch
All right guys! I didn't even know Charlie was here! Would have came up and saw you guys!
That would have been grand Ben. I think your name came up around camp a couple of times. Some of it was even nice.
:D
My own adventures this weekend would be rather dull for the most part... at least for those reading my account of it. Except for the occasional fox squirrel I saw nothing. The mornings were grand as were the evenings in the woods.
It ended up being about camp times and close friends and maybe that's the great part of any hunt.
I love messing with the little guys. A lot of stuff goes over there little heads, but enough registers that I'm pretty sure they'll remember "Big Charlie" long after I'm gone.
It'll probably go something like, "Hey! Do you remember that crazy old fat man when we were boys?"
That'd be good enough for me.
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Ben,
Sorry I didn't invite you. My bad! However the stove does have an open flame so I didn't want to risk any spontaneous flame ups from a gas leak...like you :)
I may try to get down to Snow's on Saturday night or Sunday with the boys. Wife is at another horseshow this weekend.
CK
Come on down Chris it will be good to see You and the boys. I've got to warn You though I think camp will be loaded with little girls. I'm bringing My grandaughter and I think Ben's bringing a couple of his.
bretto
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Great story guys, looking forward to the rest!
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Classic Charlie! :campfire:
Good call Chris :) you guys are having way too much fun over there. I need to get back out there... soon
:coffee: :D
It may be classic Charlie, but it ain't me you're waiting on. The real story here is for Gary and Chris to tell.
I will say that the little bunk house we based our hunt from is like a shrine to Mark's hunting life. He was a man of some means and an eye for gear big or small.
We ended up looking through a little repair kit that sat on his desk. The stuff in that box was priceless for anyone who knew Mark.
A dozen old Bear Razorheads held down one end of the kit. Their edges rough from a file which had given a place for rust to start. A little Bear Archery file in it's plastic sheath lay there with them.
There were packages of heat shrink nocking points that Mark loved. He'd bought out the entire supply of a local dealer knowing they'd become hard to get.
There were also packages of large and small Magnus
bleeder blades in there and a handful of Magnus I heads to boot.
A small pink slip of paper in one pack had instructions for using the bleeders in Magnus blunts.
A bin of old arrows stood over near the TV. I recalled how Mark had given me all of the 2216 aluminums that had been in that bin the last time we were together.
I'd really like to have a keep sake from my buddies gear. Something to carry with me when I hunt. I hate the thought of asking Anne. Kind of feel like some kind of vulture this soon.
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QuoteOriginally posted by Charlie Lamb:
It'll probably go something like, "Hey! Do you remember that crazy old fat man when we were boys?"
That'd be good enough for me.
:thumbsup:
Classic quote! Love it!
It was truly a weekend that I guess I was not looking forward to. The first weekend hunt of the new Deer season at Harris' place, without him. Charlie was the first to arrive and I was second. I walked into the bunkhouse and Lamb greeted me with , " I was just sitting thinking of Harris and the great times we have had here. " Harris never hunted, he just enjoyed all of his friends being there and hunting. He would always have a great dinner for us when we came back and just laugh his great laugh at our stories. He had done a remarkable job with the farm and put in so many hours, for us to enjoy. As we came in from the first nights hunt, I told Charlie that ," I was upset with Harris, because he left us.
I guess it finally hit me that he wasn't there with us physically.
Happy Trails to you Mark.
Gary
Chris' sons, my favorite grandsons, Charlie and Alex were shooting their longbows made by Big Charlie Lamb when I realized that the number one target for beginners was very close. Bull Frogs. All I had to say was , "Do you guys want to try to get a frog. " Their entire being changed. they turned into hunters. As Charlie said, "you have changed them forever. " Many of us made our first bow kill on a bull frog. As you can imagine, the hunt was on. (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/charlie/Frogshootn1an.jpg) They were flinging arrows left and right. We would pass up the little ones and go for the big. Alex was the first to sorta get one. He pinned it down. I told Charlie to make a good shot and we would have the first one. He did. (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/charlie/Frogshootn3n.jpg) Number one was in the bag. When they realized that they could actually get a frog they really got serious. It was great fun. They were shooting. Chris and I were fishing arrows out of the water and Big Charlie was cleaning frogs. All in all, they killed 4. Since they are 7 and 5 years old, I was very proud of them. Charlie put them in the skillet and we ate them right out of the pan. (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/charlie/Frogshootn5an.jpg)
It was a great day.
Thanks to Mark we were able to have that day. He was and is still a great friend. We will always appreciate the work he did for us.
Always hold your friends and family close.
Thanks Mark, Gary
Gary,
I'll always remember a moment with Mark.
We were working on some the deer habitate improvement. Hinge cutting trees for bedding areas and cutting out trails. We were taking a break and I was making some small talk and asked him if he was going to go antelope hunting this fall. Mark had lots of antelope mounts on the wall in the bunk house. He said "NO" "I won't go on another antelope hunt". I was kinda suprised by the certainty of his answer.
I asked him why not and he said he just wanted to focus on making this farm a place his friends and their family could come out and hunt. It struck me then that Mark wasn't doing all this work for himself. He wanted his grandson, my son's, and his friends to have a place to come to and have a good time.
Pretty cool!
CK
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Great stuff guys!! Those boys won't forget the great frog hunt and eatin the game right there!! :bigsmyl:
It's funny how kids can really make you see the greater good in life. I was a bit bummed about the doe until I stepped out of the bunkhouse and saw the boys down at the water's edge with Gary. I instantly could tell something was up...something fun! My mood switched from brooding to enthusiastic. Soon I was running to get the camera in hopes of catching a few images.
I am a bowhunter today because of the influence of Charlie and Gary. Besides raising his daughter as a true tom-boy its the best gift Norris has ever given me. If my boys decide to be bowhunters I'll be thrill. If not that will be fine too. But it won't be because we failed to let them experience the fun of fling an arrow out of a wooden bow. :)
Charlie told me he would keep my boys in bows as long as they showed interest. I think he still has their interest...and it's growing!
I added a couple of photos to the post guys. Looks like I have a little work to do on photo sizing.
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Like Gary said, the boys did very well on the frogs and I knew from the first shot they took that the die was cast.
I can remember Gary and I giving the frogs hell in our youth. At the time we used lights and waited till sundown for our sport. The boys will have time for that in years to come.
The past ten years or so frogs have been hard to come by and I'm not sure what has happened. Used to be that just about every farm pond around had it's fair share.
Heck! I've got a one acre pond on my place that should have a ton of the little green beggars and I'm lucky to hear one on a summer night... and he doesn't last all summer.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v229/ckinslow/Frogshoot2.jpg)
Fun stuff! I think he was getting cocky at this point!
Notice the differences in the outfits. Charlie wants to look the part of a hunter. My youngest son Alex...I'm not sure what look he was after!
Norris, Thanks for getting them started with this. At least I can blame you when he tells his teacher about killing frogs. :knothead: :bigsmyl:
Looks like Alex is wearing your old boots there Chris :D
:laughing: I'm loving this thread, thanks for sharing guys. Looking forward to getting up there soon myself.
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:bigsmyl: :wavey:
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Bisch
Kids are the best,they can always lift your spirit. :campfire:
Charlie and Co ...
Great posts and thanks for sharing them with us .
Just goes to show that hunting is so much more than game on the ground .
Appreciated .
Ben
Awesome ! :campfire: