My First Big Buck

Last Saturday morning I decided to go deer hunting where I had been going most of the year. My stand was in a good spot and I was pretty confident that I would see something because every time I had hunted there in the morning on previous hunts I always saw a couple of deer. In that same stand I had already passed on two smaller bucks and a few does. I had no interest in shooting any small bucks or does though. This year I had been waiting for a big buck. It was tough to pass on those smaller bucks but I just had a gut feeling that if I kept waiting I would get a chance at a bigger deer. Plus one of my best friends, Cory, who always shoots big deer, had been telling me all year to pass on smaller deer and I would get a chance at a big one.

When Saturday morning came around I woke at 5:45 A.M. I wanted to be in the woods by 6:18 because that is an hour before sunrise and that’s how early you need to get out there. I got up and went to put on my clothes and unbelievably I found all of my Under Armor in the washer and it was still wet! I wasn’t happy because I knew it was cold outside and I was going to have to wait for my clothes to dry before I could leave for hunting. I finally got dressed by 6:15 but I still had to go get all of my gear and go to the woods.

I walked out to the barn to grab my bow, some doe scent, a bleat call and my dad’s range finder. After cramming all of that stuff into my pockets I headed for the car. I drove down the road to my girlfriend’s house. The field I had been hunting in is across the road from her house behind a large bare corn field, her parents had been letting me park at their house for hunting in that woods. I was hunting in those particular woods because all fall I had been seeing 15 to 20 deer including some large bucks in the corn field in front of the woods every night. I started walking to my tree stand around 6:30. I was definitely late. I got out to my stand location but before I got in it I put out some doe scent in some scrapes that were 20 yards from my stand. I knew the wind was coming from the east so I thought anything coming from the west will smell it and come right to me. This sounded like a really good plan because most of the deer I had been seeing were coming from the west. There is creek bottom that they come out of over there.

I finally got into my stand by 6:50. I got out my dad’s range finder to figure out all of the distances around me. It turns out the scrapes were 25 yards away instead of 20 but I also figured out what trees were within my range for my bow. At around 7:45 I started getting bored. There wasn’t anything moving in the woods so I pulled out my phone and started playing a game. As soon as I started playing one of my new favorite games, I heard a noise behind me. It sounded like a deer so I put my phone away and grabbed my bow. I slowly turned around to see what was behind me. I saw a deer walking through the woods and I saw some antlers on it. It kept moving towards me from behind and I was able to see that it was definitely a shooter buck. The width of its antlers was wider than its ears and I could see at least 8 points so I knew I was going to shoot it if I got the chance. I stood up when the deer wasn’t looking and got ready to shoot. By this time the deer was coming around behind me to the right. When the deer got to about 20 yards away it turned around and then just laid down.

I couldn’t believe what just happened! The buck had no idea I was there and it was going to take a nap 20 yards from me? I decided that I was going to have to shoot it while it was lying down because the deer was facing away from me and if I were to wait for it to stand up it might just start walking away from me. I had a few branches in the way of a clear shot but I thought I could squeeze it in there. The deer was lying mostly angled away from me but it was leaving me a shot at its vitals. I drew my bow back and put it where I thought would be a great shot. I pulled the trigger on my release and the arrow went flying. I saw it hit the buck near its rear quarters and I was instantly upset with myself. I finally got a shot at the big buck I had been waiting for and I blew it.

I knew that if I wanted any chance at finding this deer I had to get out of the woods and hope it bedded down somewhere to die. I packed up all of my stuff and got out of the tree stand. Before leaving the woods though I checked to make sure there was some blood to track and there was.

I walked back to my car and went home to wait. Once I got home it was still pretty early so my parents were still asleep and I couldn’t make much noise. I really wanted to make breakfast to waste some time but I had to wait for my parents to wake up. I watched TV until 9 when they woke up. The first thing I said to my dad was "I blew it." He asked me what happened and I explained to him that I shot a big buck in the butt and we probably wouldn’t be able to find it. I told him my plans were to wait until around 10:30, then go back to the woods and look for the deer. He tried to cheer me up by assuring me we would find it, but I really thought the chances were slim because of the shot I put on it. I was really down on myself, convinced that I messed up a good chance at a nice buck.

When 10:30 finally came around, after all that waiting I got ready to go back to the woods. I put on some camouflage and got my bow. I wanted to have my bow with me incase I ran into the buck and it was still alive. My dad was going to come with me and just stay back about 50 yards while I snuck through the woods looking for the deer.

When we got to the woods I headed for my tree stand. As I approached I saw a buck about 60 yards away. It ran off. My first thought was it was my buck that was still alive and I had just scared it away. I found the blood trail for my buck though and I figured I would follow it. The blood trail started leading the opposite way that the buck I saw went. I continued following it. There was a lot of blood until I got about 150 yards away. At that point the amount of blood was very little. I could only find a drop or two every 5 feet. I followed it into a thicket where I found what looked like a spot where my buck had laid down and slept. I speculated that if the deer wasn’t at this spot, then it must have survived and gotten away. But then I found more blood and followed it about 6 feet. When I looked up and to the right behind some thorn bushes there was a big buck. I ran over to it and saw my arrow sticking out of it and instantly I started freaking out. The buck had run 150 yards and finally died.

I started yelling for my dad to hurry up and get over here. He didn’t know what I had found so I tried to yell that I found it but he didn’t believe me. Eventually he got close enough to see it and he was excited. He ran over and gave me a high five we started checking it out. It was a nice 10 point buck.

I had been yelling so much for my dad to get to me that my neighbor, who was hunting in the woods next to me, heard me yelling and got down from his tree stand to see what was going on. He walked over and saw the buck and knew why I was yelling so much. I apologized for yelling while he was hunting but he was done hunting anyway so it was ok. My dad and I talked to him and he said he could get his 4 wheeler and help us get the deer out of the woods. So while he went to get his 4 wheeler my dad and I began gutting the deer. Gutting the deer is extremely gross so I’ll skip that part. My dad and I dragged the deer to the 4 wheeler trail to wait for my neighbor. My dad left me there to go get the Suzuki samurai and meet me at home. Once my neighbor, Bill, showed up we loaded the deer into a little trailer behind his 4 wheeler and he took me home. I had already called my mom and told her we found the buck so she had called the rest of the family and they all came over to see it. When we pulled into the drive it was like a hero’s welcome for me. My grandparents, uncle, sister, brother in law, girlfriend and best friend all showed up to see my deer. There is nothing like the euphoria of a successful hunt. I don’t think I’ll ever forget the day I took my first big buck.

Duck Pond Update/ Deer Hunting Update

Well this summer we added on to the duck pond. We made it a lot bigger. The problem that we have now is that duck season starts in 1 month and the pond is empty. We made it bigger in June and its now November and it is still empty. This year has been unusual because we have had almost no rain all summer and fall. I think there might be 1 inch of water in the bottom of the pond and it’s supposed to be about 3 feet deep. It is going to take a lot of rain to get the pond to fill up. Hopefully it happens soon though because we really want to use it for this season and shoot some ducks and geese. The whole reason we made it bigger was to give us a chance at shooting some geese and more ducks. If it’s empty we won’t have any chance at shooting either from it.


The last couple weeks and this week are the deer rut. This means that the bucks and does are mating. This is the best time to shoot a large buck because they are so full of testosterone that they don’t pay attention to their surroundings as much. I have been in the woods as much as I can, but I haven’t had a chance to shoot anything big because where I’m hunting there aren’t a lot of deer. I am working on getting permission for different woods to hunt in and if I don’t get permission, I’m still going to move my stand to another location that I like. Almost every night though I have been watching a big 10 point and big 8 point in a field by my house. I am trying to get permission for the woods next to the field but so far I haven’t been given the permission let’s hope I get it though.

Two Days ago my brother in-law shot a button buck but he hit it in the stomach so we weren’t able to find it until the next day. By then it had been chewed on by some animals and it was pretty nasty. Hopefully next time he shoots something he'll hit it in a vital spot and it won’t be able to run so far. He did make the other mistake though of getting out of his stand too soon after shooting the deer. After he shot the deer, it laid down about 40 yards from him. If he would have left it lay there it would have laid there and died. His mistake was to get up and look for the deer right after he shot it. He spooked the deer away before it died and it ran for a long ways.

Last Thursday Cory shot another big buck. If it seems that he shoots a big buck every year it’s because he does. He is one of the only people I know that just has a knack for knowing where big deer are going to be and shooting them. This year he shot a really wide 8 pointer. Like with his last buck I am going to mount the antlers on a plaque and make them look good for him. I’ve gotten pretty good at mounting deer antlers on plaques and doing a great job on them. The way I do it is also very inexpensive so it saves money. I will do it for anyone the wants also. Two Weeks ago Tim shot a doe. He had been planning on shooting any deer just to get some deer meat in the freezer so when a big doe walk by him he took it.

Hunting Season 2010-2011

I am going to post and continually update everything we shoot this year. I'm going to include the date, how many many we shot, who was hunting and pictures when I can.

09/05/2010. 6 Geese. Evan, Cory.
10/16/2010. 8 Geese, 12 Wood Ducks (10 Drakes, 2 Hens), 3 Green Wing Teal (Hens), 1 Blue Wing Teal (Hen). Evan, Cory, Tim, Garrett, Bryce, Justin, Nick. (Nick, Wood Duck Leg Band)
10/19/2010. 7 Geese. Evan, Cory, Tim.
12/11/2010. 9 Geese, 31 Mallards, 3 Black Ducks. Evan, Cory, Tim, Bob, Justin, Alex, Tim N. (Alex, Mallard Leg Band)
12/12/2010. 9 Geese, 13 Mallards. Cory, Tim, Bob, Justin, Alex, Tim N.
12/16/2010. 6 Geese, 12 Mallards (9 Drakes, 3 Hens). Evan, Cory, Tim. (Cory, Goose Leg Band)
12/17/2010. 12 Geese, 1 Mallard (Drake). Evan, Cory, Tim, Garrett, Ben, Justin.
12/20/2010. 3 Geese. Cory, Tim, Garrett, Ben, Josh
12/21/2010. 16 Geese, 3 Mallards (3 Drakes). Evan, Cory, Tim, Garrett, Mike, Ben, Josh, Justin.
12/24/2010. 2 Geese. Cory, Garrett, Mike, Ben, Josh.
12/26/2010. 6 Geese. Cory, Garrett, Mike, Ben, Josh, 3 Cousins.
12/30/2010. 6 Geese. Evan, Cory, Tim, Garrett, Mike.
01/02/2011. 1 Goose. 2 Mallards (Drakes), 1 Black Duck (Drake). Evan, Cory, Tim.
01/04/2011. 2 Geese. Evan, Cory, Tim.
01/07/2011. 3 Geese. Evan, Cory, Garrett, Mike.
01/08/2011. 1 Goose. Evan, Cory, Tim, Nate J.
01/11/2011. 7 Geese. Evan, Cory, Tim, Garrett.
01/12/2011. 6 Geese, 1 Mallard (Drake). Evan, Tim, Garrett.
01/14/2011. 7 Geese 2 Mallards (Drakes). Evan, Cory, Mike and 1 other.
01/15/2011. 10 Geese, 1 Black Duck (Drake). Evan, Cory, Mike, Jim, Michael B.
01/18/2011. 2 Geese, 2 Mallards (Drakes). Evan, Cory, Tim, Garrett. (Tim, Goose Leg Band)
01/20/2011. 5 Mallards (4 Drakes, 1 Hen), 2 Black Ducks (1 Drake, 1 Hen). Evan, Cory, Tim
01/27/2011. 2 Geese. Evan, Cory, Tim
01/28/2011. 8 Geese, 1 Bar Headed Goose. Evan, Cory, Tim, Josh.
Totals. 139 Geese, 95 Ducks

Pintails!

Two years ago my buddies and I were hunting ducks near my house in central Ohio on some corn fields. Early on in the season we had seen more ducks in the area than we usually saw in previous years. Previously, we would maybe kill a couple ducks for an entire season but this year started out completely different. We were seeing thousands of ducks in our area as soon as the season began.

To start the season I had bought two baby Mojos to help us try and bag some of these ducks we were seeing. Instantly on the first day we were bagging some ducks. Most of the ducks we were shooting were mallards and every once in awhile we would get a black duck but those were the only species we ever saw.

After a few hunts my buddies and I began to wonder if we would get to see some other types of ducks. We all thought it would be awesome if we got to shoot some pintails. In central Ohio, during hunting season, you almost never see pintails and if you do see them they are flying really high and have no interest in landing. During one of our hunts we were able to get permission in a field right next to where most of the ducks had been landing and feeding. We figured that we would be able to cut them off and get some to drop into our field since it was so close to where they were going anyway.

That morning my friends, Cory and Garrett, and I setup all of our decoys and our two Mojos and we started hunting. As soon as shooting time started we had ducks coming in. About halfway through the hunt though Cory told us he saw some pintails up above. We already had hundreds of ducks circling us but I knew that we were going to wait until the pintails got close so that we could try and shoot some.

The pintails were circling above us with a bunch of mallards when three of the mallards decided to drop in early. All of a sudden Garrett got out of his blind and shot at them. He unloaded his gun at the ducks while Cory and I sat up from our blinds. At the same time we both turned to Garrett and yelled, “what the heck!” He had blown one of our best chances of getting to shoot any pintails that year and we were mad. What makes it worse is that he didn’t even shoot one of the mallards. He missed with all three of his shots. After that hunt we were no longer allowed to hunt in that field because we had accidently tracked too much mud through the farmer’s driveway and he wasn’t happy. We were able to get permission in a field nearby though but we weren’t sure if the ducks would land in it or not.

A few weeks later we decided to hunt in this field. For this hunt it was going to be Cory, me, and Mike, another of our good hunting friends. Garrett wasn’t going to be there. We got into the field early in the morning and got all setup for the hunt. It seemed like it was going to be a good day because right at the start we were seeing lots of ducks flying and a lot of them were giving a look at our setup. Very early in the hunt we started seeing a few pintails and we started getting excited. All three of us knew that if any pintails were circling we were going to wait for them to come in even if we had to give up shots at mallards. We didn’t care though.

After shooting a few ducks we had a flock of pintails start circling us. We had our Mojos turned on and the ducks wanted in. The pintails started getting closer and closer until finally, I hear Cory sit up from his blind and start shooting without even yelling “take ‘em.!” I sit up and start shooting at them too. My first shot was a shell of steel fours and it missed, the shot after that was steel two’s and they missed. The pintails were getting pretty far away and I only had one shot left. The last load in my gun was Hevi Shot B’s. I fired off the shot and the pintail dropped from the sky at seventy yards away. I couldn’t believe it. During all the craziness I didn’t even notice that Cory had shot one pintail also. We had finally gotten to shoot our pintails.

This happened two years ago and since then we haven’t seen any pintails at all. That gives you an idea of how lucky we were to actually get to shoot two pintails and if it wasn’t for Hevi Shot I don’t think I would have gotten mine. At seventy yards a regular steel load wouldn’t have pulled off that shot.

First Day of Turkey Season: We Came So Close to Getting One.

First day of turkey season was upon us. I had gone to bed at a decent time the night before to make sure I wasn’t too tired for the first day. It wasn’t until 1 A.M. but that’s still kind of early for me so when 5 A.M. came around and my dad was waking me up, it wasn’t hard to get out of bed and get ready. I got all of my hunting clothes on and had some breakfast. Like usual it took me longer than expected to get ready so when we were leaving we were a little late but it wasn’t a big deal since we weren’t going far to hunt. We got on the 4 wheeler and took off. We drove to our hunting spot and parked the quad. It was about a 300 to 400 yard walk to where we wanted to setup so it didn’t take too long to walk there either. Once we got to the area we wanted to hunt, we started looking for a good spot to setup in the fence row looking out into the field. The problem was the fence row was really thick so we only found one spot to set up. We set up looking into a small field that was surrounded by a forest but on the north end, which is the side we setup on, there was an open area that is used for tractors to cross a creek and get into the small field. This crossing was about 40 yards east of where we setup. The woods that we were in on the north side of the field was also only 50 yards thick and on the other side was a larger field. Well, when we got to the spot we liked we heard a turkey gobble about 100 yards straight to the west. My dad and I setup our decoys in the small field and we both sat down. We were facing south into the small field. My dad did some calling and the gobbler instantly gobbled back. About 10 minutes later we called but this time the gobble we heard came from the southwest so we thought it was either another turkey or the same one and it had flown off the roost into the larger field behind us. My dad kept calling and the return gobbles started to come more from the south each time. At this point were both thinking that it’s just one turkey and he’s circling around us. We kept calling and the turkey was for sure gobbling back to us and he was for sure circling around. This was the first time in years that we had a gobbler that was hot to get to us. This guy was on his way to us for sure. At this point I’m thinking we probably should have moved to the creek crossing so we could get a shot at him as he moves out into the opening. Eventually the turkey made his way into the creek crossing and he gave us a double gobble, which is when a turkey gobbles two times in one breath. This guy was coming right to our decoys. As the turkey made his way out of the creek crossing and into the field toward our two decoys he was able to see them. As soon as the turkey got about 30 yards from our decoys he went into strut, strut is when a gobbler opens up his tail feathers into a fan and puffs his body up to look big then walks around in a figure eight basically. This would have been perfect if it wasn’t for a bush that was in my line of sight. The only way I knew the turkey was out in the field was because I could make out his silhouette through the weeds. Once he went into strut he wasn’t going to come any closer. I can see that he’s strutting and he’s only about 35 yards away from me but I have no shot on him at all. My dad keeps calling to try to get the gobbler to stop strutting and move toward our decoys but he wouldn’t do it. The gobbler wasn’t going to come any closer. All I needed was for the turkey to move about two yards to the west and I would have had a shot and he would be dead right now. The gobbler eventually started to figure out that our decoys weren’t real so he went out of strut and slowly started to move away. I stood up and tried to get a shot but by then he was walking away down the fence row and was gone. I came about as close as you can get to shooting a turkey that morning without actually shooting one. All I needed was just a few turkey steps and he would have been dead but instead he stayed behind the bush and lives to die another day. My dad tried to ease my pain by telling me he thought it was just a jake, a young male, but he couldn’t tell for sure just how big it was so I’m still pretty mad we didn’t get him. We’ll be back out there this weekend to try and get another shot at him but this time we’ll know where to setup and how to get him. We’ll be ready.

Hunters are Conservationists

In today’s world hunters are given a bad reputation. Most hunters in the U.S. are law-abiding citizens but because of a few immoral hunters all hunters have been given a bad name. A lot of people view the hunting of animals as inhumane and cruel. They say that the animals have no real chance at getting away and hunters are just out to kill. I’m going to prove them wrong. In my experience as a hunter for the past 10 years and through research that I’ve done, I have learned of all the ways that hunters are conservationists.

As a child I was taught how to hunt by my dad, grandfather, and uncles. Throughout all of their teaching I never once found anything they did to be illegal or inhumane. Most of my family and friends are hunters. In my personal experiences, I have not met one person who purposefully hunts and kills animals illegally. The state department of natural resources has laid out laws for hunting, and no one I know purposefully breaks these laws. The laws are there to provide protection for animals and to make hunting as humane as possible. I speak for myself and most hunters when I say that we always try to follow these laws.

The next point I want to make is that hunters are the leading contributors to almost all conservation efforts. During the early 1900’s many laws were passed to aid in conservation and lay out guidelines for hunting wild game. Some of these laws were to require licenses and permits to hunt and trap animals. The money raised from the sale of these licenses goes directly to state and federal conservation efforts. In total, the sale of licenses makes $1.1 billion for state conservation efforts yearly. Almost all hunters were for this legislation when it was created and passed.

There is another form of legislation that has been passed to help conservation. There are federal taxes on all items that are used for hunting. There is a tax on sporting guns and ammo that raises $163 million a year. There is a tax on handgun sales that raises $41 million a year. There is a tax on fishing supplies that raises $100 million a year. There is another tax on archery supplies that raises $25 million a year. Through all of the different taxes $560 million is raised per year, and all of it goes to conservation. All of these taxes are supported by hunters.

Through all of the legislation that has been passed and enforced billions of dollars have been raised. Many conservation groups receive some of this money and work to help conserve nature. Some of the more popular groups are the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the National Wild Turkey Federation and Ducks Unlimited. All of these groups are ran by hunters and work to conserve nature. I hope everything I have talked about will give hunters a better reputation, because in reality hunters truly are conservationists.

Sponsorship!

So for the past two weeks I have been working on getting sponsors for our team. I have emailed probably 15 different companies to see if they would sponsor us or if they sponsor teams at all. So far I've only gotten a few responses. Cabelas was the first to respond and they said that we can send them a letter and they would be happy to review us for sponsorship. Garrett has been working on typing up the letter so it will be sent in soon. The next to respond was Foiles Migrators Inc. They are a call making company and they said that they do not sponsor teams but if I wanted to apply for a field staff position i could. Field staff requires a lot of work for their company and isn't exactly what I was hoping for. The next to respond was Zink Calls. They are another call making company but they are from Ohio so i thought we might have better luck with them. In their email they asked for my address so that they can send us stickers. This means that we now have our first sponsor. They aren't doing any real sponsoring but for now it's a good start. We get free stickers and can build a relationship with the company while they get some free advertising. I am extremely excited that we now have our first sponsor. I can't wait to get the stickers in the mail and to see if any other companies will respond to my requests. I will keep you updated if we get any more responses.

Big Weekend!

OK. So last weekend was the last weekend for ducks and there is only one more week of goose season so we knew we had to go this weekend and go a lot. Thursday afternoon is usually when I come home from school when I get a ride from Cory, but because goose season will be over soon he decided to skip part of his last class so that we could hunt Thursday afternoon. Cory got out of class at around 2:45 and we got on the road to go home. We had been talking to Garrett and Tim the night before so that they could go set up before we got home so that we wouldn’t have to waste time getting ready. When Cory and I got home Garrett and Tim had most of the decoys set up and we were ready to hunt. Mike couldn’t make it that night because he had to talk to his son. We started hunting at around 3:45 and it did not take long for us to start shooting geese. I had decided that I would record this hunt and not do any shooting. We ended up shooting 8 geese which is our limit and I got some really good video. That night the four of us all went to a house that Garrett was house sitting and he made us steaks. Together we worked on editing the video and putting music in it. At the same time we played a ton of Wii and had a fun night. We made a decision that we would hunt in the morning but when the morning came around it looked like it was going to be sunny so we decided to sleep in. We made the wrong decision, Cory said that on his way to school at around 9:30 geese were flying everywhere but that’s how it goes sometimes. We did decide to try an afternoon hunt though. Garrett, Mike, Cory and I could all go hunting but Tim had to work and Cory had school so he would be a little late. Garrett, Mike and Me got setup by 3:30 and Cory met us at around the same time. I forgot the camera so I didn’t get to do any recording but I was ok with that cause that means I got to shoot. We only ended up shooting 3 geese while I was there but I had to leave early and the guys were able to shoot 1 mallard drake after I left. This was Garrett’s last hunt of the season because he had to go back to Cornell for school. That night Ben Carrocci, who is Mike’s nephew was coming into town to hunt with us this weekend and he was bringing two of his friends, Chris and Josh. The weather was setting up perfect for us to go hunting on Saturday morning. That morning we all woke up and it was still cloudy out so we all got up and got ready. Now this is where the story really starts. We had decided to hunt on Forrest Hale’s field which isn’t too far from my house so we could use the samurai to drive there and use the goose hunting trailer to haul all of our stuff. Cory and Tim met at my house at 6:15 A.M. and Mike, Ben, Josh and Chris were going to meet us at the field at 6:30. The three of us loaded up into the samurai and headed out. We got to the field and we knew it was going to be wet but we were still going to try and drive the samurai on the field to unload everything. This was a bad idea. The field turned out to be extremely wet and we only made it 20 yards into the field before we got stuck. The samurai just couldn’t go anywhere and the tires kept digging further into the mud. We all got out of the samurai and looked around to see how much further we would have to drive into the field to hunt. We still had a long way to go so we decided to not keep driving into the field or even to just carry our stuff out there. We had to get the samurai out of the field because we actually weren’t allowed to drive vehicles on the field because the owner didn’t want ruts. We just didn’t think we would make ruts so we decided to drive on the field anyway. That was our mistake. The field was way too wet and now we had made ruts and got stuck. I got back in the samurai to drive while Tim and Cory were going to push. At first we went backwards to get us unstuck and that worked, next was to get going forward. Cory and Tim got to the back of the trailer and started pushing while I hit the gas and started driving forward. The samurai barely made it out of the ruts and was moving so slow through all the mud I didn’t think we would make back out to the road. Cory and Tim kept pushing and the samurai eventually got a little speed going so I just kept it going all the way to the road and then waited for the guys to catch up to me. If we had gotten completely stuck in the field we would have gotten caught and been in big trouble and it would have ruined our hunt. Lucky for us we made it out of there. We made a quick decision to hunt where we had hunted Thursday and Friday and we took off. We got to the field and drove the samurai back to where we hunted. We knew this field would be wet too but we still decide to drive on it, another bad decision. We on a path to the bottom of the field and then turned into the field. This time we only made it 10 yards into the field before we got stuck. We weren’t exactly allowed to drive on this field either so we had to get unstuck and out of it. We unloaded everything that was in the trailer and in the back of the samurai to help us get out. I got in the samurai put it in reverse and gunned it while Cory pushed. I made it back to the trail in reverse and we were safe again. We were still going to hunt this field so I drove up the trail to the top of the field where it would be dryer and I could drive into the field from there. This strategy worked very well and I was able to make it to where we wanted to setup in the middle of the field. Since we were hunting a different field we had Mike and the other guys meet us at this field with all of their stuff. Once Cory, Tim, and I got our stuff all unloaded I drove the samurai to where the other guys were parked so that we could pick them up and haul all of their stuff into the field. Ben and Josh had brought a couple dozen decoys of their own so we loaded everything up and drove back to the field. By the time we got everything into the field and unloaded it was really close to time to hunt. I drove the samurai out of the field and parked it in a nearby forest so that it wouldn’t be seen. When I got back to the set up most of the decoys had been set up and were just doing the finishing touches on our set up. It was at this time that Cory realized his gun was missing. His gun had fallen out of the gun rack and had been lost somewhere. A couple of us walked around the field to see if it fell out in the field but we couldn’t find it. Cory’s gun is worth a lot of money so we had to find it. Cory went to the samurai and drove it back to the first field and checked there but it wasn’t there so then he drove to my house to grab a few stakes for the decoys and then returned to the field. He told my dad that he lost his gun while he was at my house so now my dad was also searching for the gun. It was completely light out by now and the geese had started flying so as Cory was searching for his gun in the field he had to get on the ground when some geese would fly close. Josh and I knew that the gun had been on the trailer when we got to the new field so it had to be in this field somewhere and not on the road or somewhere like that. We had one flock come in close enough for Tim to shoot one goose while Cory was still out in the field. Finally Cory found his gun. It was in the field straight out from our setup. Now we could start doing some real hunting now that Cory had his gun and everyone was ready. I was going to record this hunt and not shoot so that we could have some more video to post online. I don’t know when any of these flocks flew in relative to time so I’m just going to say them in order. The first flock we got to come in came right at us but didn’t want to land and they just flew right over us so everyone started shooting but we only killed 2 geese from this flock. The next flock came straight at us but they didn’t want to land or even fly over us so we didn’t shoot but the flock was still interested in our set up. The flock circled around us probably 3 or 4 times, a couple of those times we could have shot but we waited for them to get closer. Eventually they came in close and flew right over the setup. There were 7 geese in this flock, 2 of them got shot to the right of me and 1 goose flew right over me and Mike shot it and as soon as he pulled the trigger he started yelling “neck band, neck band”. He was yelling neck band before the goose even hit the ground. He jumped up and ran straight to the goose to get it. This was the fastest I have ever seen Mike move. He grabbed the goose and it had an orange neck band on it. This is Mike’s second goose with a neck band on it this year and it’s his 3rd neck band total but when he shot this goose he was just as excited as he’s ever been. It was a great moment but we weren’t even done hunting for the day. Once we got all of the other geese picked up we had a total of 6 geese shot but our limit was 14 so we kept hunting. The next flock that came in was just a pair of geese but 1 one of the geese wanted to land and the other didn’t. We managed to get the one goose to come in and land in our flock. Tim sat up to shoot the goose and as it began to fly away he dropped it in 1 shot. Now were up to 7 geese on the ground and were still going. After all of this shooting I decide to put down the camera and shoot at the next ones that come in. another pair comes in and gets really close to our decoys but they don’t want to land so Ben and I jump up and blast them both. After that flock nothing else really flew so we decided to end the hunt and go to Mike’s to eat lunch. After lunch we went back out in the afternoon and shot 8 more geese and Ben shot a duck. This brought the total for the day to 17 geese and 1 duck. This was the most geese we’ve ever shot in 1 day. It was an amazing day of hunting but it was only Saturday and we had still had to hunt on Sunday. Sunday Morning it was me, Tim, Cory, Ben and Josh hunting. We had left everything out all night so we wouldn’t have to set up in the morning because it was supposed to be raining pretty hard. When Tim and Cory met at my house it was raining pretty hard so we decided to sit in the barn until the geese started flying. As soon as we saw one flock we drove to the field and met Ben and Josh out there and started hunting. As soon as we got in our blinds we had geese flying all around us. We got one of them to come in pretty close so we all got up and started shooting. 5 geese dropped from the sky out of the one flock. As I got up and ran to pick up the first goose Tim got there at the same time and we both saw that it had a leg band on it. Tim picked up that bird so I went to grab the next one but Josh had already gotten it and it had a leg band on it too. None of the other birds had any bands. The goose that Tim grabbed had been shot by Tim and Cory but since Cory already has 3 bands he let Tim have it since Tim doesn’t have any bands yet. The other goose with a band was shot by Josh, Ben and me but since Ben and I both have two bands we let Josh have it since he only has one snow goose band. We ended up shooting 3 more geese that day to end the weekend. I would have to say that this past weekend has been the best weekend of hunting we have ever had. We shot 38 geese, two ducks, 1 neck band and 3 leg bands.

I Got Me A Goose BAND!

Last Saturday we decided to go goose hunting on a field on state route 37 and this field has worked pretty well on past hunts. We had been hunting this field almost every weekend for the past month and we killed a lot of geese out of it. This made the decision easy when we were deciding where to hunt. Saturday morning we had everything in the truck and we were ready to roll. I had made the decision that we would get up early and try to shoot some of the ducks that fly right at shooting time. Once we got into the field around 7 A.M. we got everything set up and ready to start hunting. We got the truck out of the field and it was time to hunt. Right at the beginning a few flocks of ducks were flying but none of them gave us a look even though it was very foggy and the weather seemed perfect for killing some ducks. At about 8 we had some geese start flying. Geese usually don’t fly until later but they were flying all morning in the fog we had. We had geese flying all over us from 8 until 9 but we couldn’t get any to land. They had it set in their minds where they were going and they weren’t going to stop for us. At about 10 A.M. we had a flock come in to our left and I was on the left side of our setup so I got up to shoot but my gun caught the side of my blind and cocked it back. I was able to load a shell and get one shot off and kill one goose before they flew away, Cory also shot one of the geese in that flock. A little later we got a flock to come in on the right side and Tim and Mike were able to shoot two of them. Tim got up to go get the geese and once he got out to them and grabbed them a flock of geese came up on the right side. We yelled at Tim to get down on the ground and we started calling in these geese. The geese gave us a look but I had heard a different flock coming up from behind me so I looked to see where they were. I watched this flock as it came up to my left and when they got next to me about 20 yards straight to my left I saw on the second goose in the flock there was a neck band. All I saw was a silver collar around its neck and I knew it was a band. At that moment I knew I had to shoot it. My heart started pounding like crazy, I had more adrenaline pumping in me than I had ever had. Tim was still lying in the field so I knew I wouldn’t get a better shot. I was thinking I better not let my gun catch on my blind again like earlier, so I moved my gun around and then jumped up to shoot. Before I knew it I had shot 3 times and the goose was on the ground. I put my gun down and the only thing I could manage to say was “neck band, neck band” the words kind of just blurted out but they weren’t very comprehensible. I ran to the goose as fast as I could and grabbed it by the neck. It was still alive so I spun its neck and broke it to make sure it wasn’t going anywhere. At that moment Cory and everyone had made it out of their blinds and were wondering what the heck happened. Cory told them he thought I shot a neck band, but when I grabbed the bird and held it up they knew I did. I brought it back and everyone was excited. My body was still shaking from all the adrenaline but I didn’t care, I was so excited. Cory took some pictures of it but we had to get back to hunting. I put the bird down and got back in my blind. Every time I got a chance to poke my head out of my blind I would look around and check to make sure the goose was still there, and when I saw it I had a huge smile on my face. I was like a little kid on Christmas who got the gift he’d been wanting forever. I couldn't stop smiling or being happy. It’s hard to explain the feeling of happiness that I had. All of the work I had put in this goose season finally paid off when I got that band. Now that I got my band this year I’m going to try and get some good video the rest of the year and maybe shoot some more geese. Who knows maybe I’ll get me another band.