I, along with several buddies, drew into the MCAAP hunt this year. We will be there this coming weekend... just in time for the rut!! For those who aren't familiar with this hunt, it's pretty dang cool! It's held at a massive 40K acre Army Ammunition plant in McAlester, Ok. The wildlife department manages the land tightly... producing some world class bucks. For six weekends (Friday - Sunday) during the season the base is opened up for something like 250 hunters, each of who are assigned to one of three major areas. The kicker is that it's Traditional Bows Only! Just the way we like it :bigsmyl:
Anyway, I've drawn the hunt two other times, the last being 5 years ago. As providence would have it, not only did my group of 3 friends get drawn, but two other groups as well. So there will be about 11 guys hunting down their this weekend who I know. It's going to be a blast!
On to the arrows... I started hunting with Doug Fir woodies this year and I was basically using the three arrows that flew the best out of a test pack from Surewood Shafts. So I ordered a dozen of those and made up what I think are some pretty sweet arrows...
(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/timsalters/IMG_1836_zpskbqed0ir.jpg) (http://s1105.photobucket.com/user/timsalters/media/IMG_1836_zpskbqed0ir.jpg.html)
(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/timsalters/IMG_1854_zpsktsaqmnx.jpg) (http://s1105.photobucket.com/user/timsalters/media/IMG_1854_zpsktsaqmnx.jpg.html)
(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/timsalters/IMG_1856_zpsorcavljx.jpg) (http://s1105.photobucket.com/user/timsalters/media/IMG_1856_zpsorcavljx.jpg.html)
I lightly flamed them with a torch to created the camo effect. The are tipped with 185 grain grizzly broad heads with a total arrow weight of 650 grains. Out of my 60# bow they hit pretty hard. Hopefully I will get at least one of the them bloody this weekend. :campfire:
They look good - keep us posted and good luck!
They look sweet!! I've just come around to liking that flamed look, especially with the white fletch!very nice! Hopefully you'll get a chance to add some red to them on your hunt! That's realm cool that its managed for traditional hunting only. Good luck!
Those look awesome Tim! I hope you all have a great hunt!
DANG, Those look COOL!!!!!!!!!! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Good Luck on your hunt!!!!! We've done a few BIG HUNTS (about a dozen guys or so) over the years, and they are always a GREAT TIME!!!!!
The "company" just seems to make the hunt...
Have Fun, All!!!!!!!!!! :campfire: :archer: :archer:
That is an awesome combo you've put together. Hope you have a great hunt with opportunities.
Those arrows look great, but there is just one thing missing...You need to bloody one of them this weekend. Good luck!
Arrows look great! Good luck!
Cool arrows... I need to try that...
I would think any deer would be proud to stop one of those. Good luck.
Sounds great Tim! I'm rooting for you brother! Can't wait for the story!
:campfire:
Good Luck Tim!! I hope you get a shot at a monster. I have been out 4-5 times this year, but no shots yet. find myself getting picky as I age and letting the young bucks and does pass. Your Arrows look Great too :-)
Nice work, great taste in bows as well! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Good luck....
,,,Sam,,,
:thumbsup:
:campfire:
Those are some awesome looking poles!
You'll have to give us a report after the hunt is over too!
Nice looking arrows, good luck on your hunt~!
Love em.
Man those are sweet. I wouldn't want to get hit with those!! I did the same thing this year. Love my surewoods!
Thanks for all the comments fellas. I will definitely share how the hunt goes.
Arrows look great- best of luck on the hunt. Sounds like a great experience and an awesome thing they do with trad only!
Myself, my brother, and a buddy will be there this weekend also! We all got quality passes for does last year. We will be in hominy. What area are you guys hunting?
Man, do I like those arrows!!!
Good luck on the hunt & have fun.
QuoteOriginally posted by Masham Man:
Myself, my brother, and a buddy will be there this weekend also! We all got quality passes for does last year. We will be in hominy. What area are you guys hunting?
Hey Daniel, that's awesome! We are in Deer Creek. We'll have to meet... Maybe at the stump speach. I'll PM you with my number.
Good Luck Tim. :archer:
Good lookin' sticks!
Good luck, Tim!
Bisch
Tim, very nice arrows! and what a great weekend to be drawn in! Hope you do well. I went last year and it was earlier and pretty hot.
Joe D
Have a great hunt, man. Turn some white feathers red. Let us know how deer creek treats you.
Nice looking arrows! :thumbsup: :clapper:
Tim,
Those turned out really great! Here's hoping one of those gets acquainted with an animal this weekend.
Have a safe trip, Chase
Sweet looking arrows!!!
:thumbsup:
The hunt begins tomorrow morning! We checked in today, received our breifing and then from about 1:00 - 5:00 went out to our selected area to scout and hang stands. We walked about a mile in to an area on of our guys had hunted before. About the time we all found spots to hunt it started pouring!! We got drenched but its supposed to be clear the rest of the weekend.
We can't take any pics inside the base but I'll try to post some of camo.
Check in building.... Plenty of old sheds And skull mounts to gawk at!
(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/timsalters/7B104E97-460B-4637-9109-85F67AA1D531_zpsnzrimym5.jpg) (http://s1105.photobucket.com/user/timsalters/media/7B104E97-460B-4637-9109-85F67AA1D531_zpsnzrimym5.jpg.html)
Getting checked in... More huge antlers on the walls. This place is awesome!
(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/timsalters/027D25C8-4086-43D8-9C43-F544D95121EC_zpslno1lhrr.jpg) (http://s1105.photobucket.com/user/timsalters/media/027D25C8-4086-43D8-9C43-F544D95121EC_zpslno1lhrr.jpg.html)
One of the cool traditions here is the rocks. Each rock represents a pope and young buck killed. They literally have a pile of rocks ready. If you shoot a P&Y they let you pick out a rock and bury it yourself.
(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/timsalters/EA7BE4FE-3127-4314-93AD-4E479581443A_zpso2gkxhhn.jpg) (http://s1105.photobucket.com/user/timsalters/media/EA7BE4FE-3127-4314-93AD-4E479581443A_zpso2gkxhhn.jpg.html)
Skinning station with a hanging house.
(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/timsalters/D5117F49-47AC-4647-A118-E67C150A2E95_zps3kgxyd0b.jpg) (http://s1105.photobucket.com/user/timsalters/media/D5117F49-47AC-4647-A118-E67C150A2E95_zps3kgxyd0b.jpg.html)
Guys stand around looking at maps trying to come up with a game plan.
(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/timsalters/BE9F3BBA-D997-4CE0-B63A-8CFDCE3ECFCC_zpsq0fgye98.jpg) (http://s1105.photobucket.com/user/timsalters/media/BE9F3BBA-D997-4CE0-B63A-8CFDCE3ECFCC_zpsq0fgye98.jpg.html)
The stump speech where they go over all the rules...
(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/timsalters/AF1E7B61-6CA9-4697-B5E6-A0E8CC09AC7E_zps3pvbekfm.jpg) (http://s1105.photobucket.com/user/timsalters/media/AF1E7B61-6CA9-4697-B5E6-A0E8CC09AC7E_zps3pvbekfm.jpg.html)
And finally the meeting where you put a pin on the map where you want to hunt. Then drivers are selected.
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Tim, you are not there in the same group as Shiloh, are you???? I know he is there right now, hunting in Hominy also. Best of luck to all of you guys up there now.
Bisch
Looks like a really neat place! That rock garden of P&Y harvests is creative - hopefully you'll be choosing a rock this trip:). Anticipate living the hunt alongside, via this post! Good luck, safe hunting
Sounds really cool Tim, good luck!!
Looking forward to the stories and pictures. Sharing a hunt like this with 11 people you know is a treasure.
Hope you have great hunt, Tim. And get to plant your rock. :pray: If you need me to check on your Ft. Gibson stand while you're gone, just PM me the location and I'll go see if the deer are still visiting... :goldtooth: :laughing:
quote:
Originally posted by Fattony77:
Hope you have great hunt, Tim. And get to plant your rock. :pray: If you need me to check on your Ft. Gibson stand while you're gone, just PM me the location and I'll go see if the deer are still visiting... :goldtooth: :biglaugh:
Bish, I am not with Shiloh. The guys I know are all from the Muskogee area.
No luck this morning. In fact, I didn't see a deer so I moved down on a Greek bottom (which has 4 wood ducks floating around in it as I type this) :-). about 300 yards from where I was. Some of the guys in my group have passed on young bucks and have seen does from a distance. They are offering s quality pass on does and hogs (quality pass is an automatic ticket to come back next year on the same weekend)... Needless to say that makes does and hogs quite desirable.
Alright, no more tradganging from the stand. Wish me luck!
I'll report back tonight.
Sounds awfully tempting to fill the freezer with a doe and win the free prize to come back again... Touch choice I suppose.
(can't eat the antlers)
good luck
QuoteOriginally posted by TealCoin:
Sounds awfully tempting to fill the freezer with a doe and win the free prize to come back again... Touch choice I suppose.
(can't eat the antlers)
Oh no choice at all... You can shoot two deer. One buck and one doe, or if you shoot a buck over 115" then they give you a second buck tag.
This must be what deer hunting in heaven is like
Well Tim, waiting for your report! The weather was awesome this weekend, so you lucked out there. I saw some pretty good deer activity 150 miles west of you guys, but no active signs (chasing) of the rut yet. It is sure close though. Heard reports this morning of increased deer/car collisions. Hope you had a great weekend and am anxious to hear all about it!
Well... the hunt is over. I was too exhausted to post last night! It was a rough weekend for the all the guys I know... except for one! My buddy Jon stuck a nice 10 point that scored 136, which was 10 inches more than needed to get a rock put in the ground.
I had a really hard time just getting on deer. I saw a doe the first morning but she never got in range. Second day I hunted two different spots and saw zero deer all day.
The last morning dawned crisp and calm and I had a good feeling. I dawned the face paint for extra mojo...
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The final stump speech before we went out included a Sunday morning message by one of the guys. Not sure who he was but he talked about how life, like hunting, is all about perspective. You can always look at the negative and be pessimistic, or you can choose to look at the positive, and stay optimistic. He talked about how the apostle Paul wrote such hopeful things while sitting in a jail cell. Good encouragement for the last hunt (not to mention life in general).
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So with renewed optimism I went to a spot near a buddy. He had been seeing deer and another guy who had left the day before had missed a doe so I went in where he was. I picked the best tree I could in the dark, climbed up and waited for daylight.
About 7:50 out of nowhere I see a decent buck headed towards me... definitely a shooter for the last day. Unfortunately, he is on my left, which has very spotty shooting lanes (which I was unable to determine in the dark). He stopped behind a cedar tree and I found a hole to shoot through on the other side. When he came out I grunted to stop him... and it did the exact opposite. It spooked him! He bolts forward another 15 yards and stops about 25 - 30 years from my stand. There is all kinds of branches and limbs between us but I knew it would be my only opportunity. I let one rip and the shot went low... not sure if I got a deflection or just missed (for the sake of my ego, let's assume the former :rolleyes:
He was off like a rocket never to be seen again. I did see a doe a couple hours later but she was 60 yards away.
One of our guys did shoot a doe yesterday morning but wasn't able to find her and kind of ran out of time as the hunt ends at noon.
Sorry no pics from the field. Because it's an active military base pictures are strictly forbidden except from camp.
Thanks for following along.
I'll try to get a pic of my buddies deer posted a little later.
Congrats to your buddy! Sounds like a nice buck!
Bisch
Here's my buddy with his buck. Big Jon... He is a killer!
(http://i1105.photobucket.com/albums/h344/timsalters/F22935FC-7848-431A-82FF-C68C6BCD61FB_zpsx7bn5jlo.jpg) (http://s1105.photobucket.com/user/timsalters/media/F22935FC-7848-431A-82FF-C68C6BCD61FB_zpsx7bn5jlo.jpg.html)
Wow, that is a nice buck! Congrats to Jon! Sounds like you had a great time, without gutting and dragging :-) Lot's of season left
Awesome story! Congrats to your buddy on the nice buck!
While reading your final report, it really hit me pretty hard. I thank you for sharing the + vs - speech that gentleman shared. I needed to hear that today!
Sounds like a great trip was had!
Hes a fine beast, congrats Big jon.
Thanks for sharing your hunt. Deer Creek can be a tough nut to crack but it sounds like you had a good weekend. My buddy posted pics yesterday of a 142" he killed at Mcaap Sunday morning. I'm not sure which zone he hunted but it looks like the big boys were up on their feet this weekend.
QuoteOriginally posted by kiamichi kid:
Thanks for sharing your hunt. Deer Creek can be a tough nut to crack but it sounds like you had a good weekend. My buddy posted pics yesterday of a 142" he killed at Mcaap Sunday morning. I'm not sure which zone he hunted but it looks like the big boys were up on their feet this weekend.
Man it was a tough nut to crack! We were hunting the far north end and in an effort to get away from people and pressure, we walked about a mile back in there. We found deer sign but nothing real concentrated. Meanwhile, the guys killing all the deer are 200 yards from their trucks between the bunkers!
I told myself last time I was there that next time I would hunt the bunkers... and I should have stuck with that plan. Those bunkers form natural funnels where you can just get on the deer better. Lesson learned.
Congrats on a great hunt with Friends, Congrats to Big John as well.
Great pics and a great story Tim. I had a good time. Hopefully we can get drawn again soon.