NJ Escapee Steals Buckeye Gold On Way To Oklahoma

[Molson]

Mike (Arrow k9) and I first met Pat Kelly (PDK25) about three years ago on our first hunt at Ray Hammond's.  It didn't take long for Pat to become one of those people you feel like you've known longer than you have.  We've hunted the past three years at Ray's together and it never seems like a year has passed since we've seen each other.

Pat finished up his residency in NJ and was leaving for good, heading to his new home and future in Oklahoma.  It just so happens we are on the way to Oklahoma so Mike and I invited Pat to stay over Friday night and do some bowfishing Saturday before moving on Sunday morning.

Pat took us up on the offer and arrived Friday evening.  Shortly after arriving we broke out the bows to do some shooting.  Pat had a new ams bowfishing rig and had not shot it yet.  We walked back to Mike's pond so Pat could take a few practice shots.  As Pat started retrieving his second shot it became clear he had snagged something big.  A big ghost of an object started rising from the bottom of the pond when Mike shouted, "Hey that's my blind!!"  

Mike had lost his blind back in April during a wind storm as it was sitting in the backyard airing out for Turkey Season.  He spent a week looking all over for it and became convinced it had blown out into the field where someone spotted it from the road and took it.

Mike ran up to the house and drug the canoe back to the pond and we began rescuing the blind.

 

We tied it up with some rope and after a few good tugs we had it on shore.  The pic could be better but the mosquitos were tearing us up and we forgot the Thermacell.

 

Mike was excited to have his blind back and after a good cleaning with the pressure washer it appears good as new!


Saturday morning we headed out to the lake to get some bowfishing in.  The lake was quite high and pretty muddy in some places, clear in others.  All in all it was a difficult day to be out.  It started out like most with both Pat and I missing fish.  Mike was working the motor and oars guiding us on from spot to spot. Pat was having a difficult time at first picking out the fish and we felt it necessary to give him a bit of grief. I missed a few more and Mike asked how many I planned on missing.  I declared I was done playing and not going to miss again then promptly shot the next fish in the head.  Pat sat down to contemplate what he had learned...

 

And finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

It wasn't too much longer before Pat spotted a fish up ahead and made good use of the lessons learned.

 

Pat had taken his first fish with the bow, one of only two landed that day.

 

We all made a few more memories and are looking forward to getting together again for more adventure!

 

[**DONOTDELETE**]

Kool, Way 2 Go Pat.. I hope Your Move Goes/Gone nice and Smooth.

[magnus]

Great story and Picts. Thanks.
Magnus

[Guru]

I can't believe you got the blind back!  How cool is that    

Bowfishing with good friends is as good as it gets      

Thanx for sharing fellas

[owlbait]

Neat story and great pics. My buddy KHALVERSON shoots fish like finding that blind, just lucky    :D

[Killdeer]

Figures that Pat would arrow the biggest thing in the lake! What a great sendoff.
Godspeed, Pat.

Killdeer  

[pdk25]

Great spending time with you and Mike, Tim.  Thanks for having me out and hooking me up with my first bowfishing kill.  I wish that I would have had more time to spend with you guys.  You'll have to come out to Oklahoma so I can return the favor.

Got into Ada a little after midnight on monday morning.  Boy, was it ever hot during the day on monday.  Got out for a walk on the property just before dark.  My wife had seen some hog sign and that's where I headed to.  Daylight was fading, so hurried to a wild plum thicket.  Almost 8 acres of wild plums that I didn't even know where on the property!  I headed toward the west, in the middle of the thicket, and the going was pretty noisy.  I decided just to head around the eastern border of the thicket, toward the north, to see if there was anything out in the clearing to the north.  While I was walking I heard a loud grunt from the thicket.  I thought that I might have spooked the but I didn't hear it run off.  I hurried to the northern end of the thicket, since the wind was very slight and out of the south.  When I got to the north end of the property, I heard more grunting and squealing.  No way of knowing, but I'm sure that there was at least 7 or 8 hogs in there.  The problem was that they were behind a thick wall of brush.  Since I wasn't very familiar with the thicket, I opted to sit tight and hope that something came out into the clearing.  I was only around 10 yards from the hogs at this point.  I forgot my thermacell, and light was fading fast.  I decided to sneak forward and look for an opening in/through the brush.  Each way that I tried was a dead-end, and I ended up backing out and making a counter-clockwise circle to the northeast.  I finally found an opening, but my motion spooked a hog.  I froze, and still heard hogs feeding and saw brush moving.  As daylight faded, I had a 125 lb. hog at 7 yards, but it didn't give me a clear enough shot with the lighting conditions.  I backed out the way I came in and made for home, hoping not to spook them out of there.  There is a peninsula of woods with a creek in it just to the south of the plum thicket and a patch of hardwoods to the west.  In around an hour and a half, I'm gonna try it again.  See what I can do with a little more daylight.

Oh yeah.  I was wearing blue jeans, black tee-shirt, tan baseball cap, and old-spice deodorant.  Gotta love using the wind.

[Molson]

Old Spice?!?!?!  Now I'm jealous!  

[rastaman]

 Good stuff guys!

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

Glad you made it in, Pat!

[Molson]

I should add that Pat made an awesome shot on a fish just before he boated his first.  It was probably 15 yds away.  Pat saw the fish cruise out from the grass on the opposite bank and called it out.  I told him to shoot.  He did and nailed it.  The fish took off and while retrieving, Pat's line got tangled.  The fish was able to get back in the grass and pull off while Pat was untangling the line.  That sure was a great shot!!!

[Mike Gerardi]

Pat worked me like a convict! cook,made,guide,boat operator,paddle guy, chauffeur, and bottle washer!! but it was all worth it. I had a great time. Cant wait to get together again and make some more memories..

[Mike Gerardi]

I still can't believe that blind is back in my garage ready to go! Crazy!

[Deadsmple]

Thanks for sharing guys! That Pat sure is a great guy to have around. My boy still asks when am I gonna have a "sack of arras" like Mr. Pat.

Pat, we'll miss you back here in Jersey. Good luck my friend!

[pdk25]

Thanks for the kind words, Vaughn.  I'll miss you guys too.

We'll have to hook up soon, Cam.  I think that I'm gonna make it to the July shoot at Stafford.

Mike, Sorry for working you so hard.  Bring that blind when you come out to Oklahoma.  It ought to have some pretty strong mojo.

Update on the hogs.  Didn't hook up with any last night.  Kicked up a few doe was about it.

[Dirtybird]

Hey Pat sorry I missed the party with Mike and Tim.  Sounds like your having a blast at your new place.  Home sweet home.  I really wish you could have spent more time I was going to make Tim and you some special sandwiches. LOL  Have fun and good luck with the hogs on your place.

[Mike Gerardi]

That blind is yours Pat as soon as I can get it to ya!    .

[maxwell]

Cool story-  Good luck in your new home Pat.

[Molson]

Hey Dave sorry I didn't call ya!  I must've said, "I gotta call Dave" a dozen times that week and still forgot.  Must be getting old...  :confused:

[bentpole]

ATTA Boy Patrick. Great thread guys thanks for sharing!