I had an incredible experience with the guys in Ohio. I was going to do a post myself, but I have been having a hard time after wounding that buck as to telling the story about the hunt. I have told my friends about the bad hit, but don't generally share that info. The guys are experienced and believe the deer will live, so that gives me some solice.
Although I really wanted too, I opted out of the last evening hunt, because I didn't want to make a bad hit and then not have the time to wait overnight as my plane left early the next morning.
Outside of getting cold like normal, the weather was awesome.
I had never seen so many deer in my life. I passed on a couple of bucks early in the hunt, it slowed down and then I decided to take the next deer that came in. I made a shot that was a little high and apparently in that void area above the lungs. We waited 3 hours, tracked for an hour, bumped the buck and he took off looking no worse for the wear.
After that shot, I almost called it quits. I've made a couple of bad shots with my compound and rifle for that matter, but I was questioning whether I should still hunt trad. I have only lost a couple with the compound in almost 20 years, so losing an animal is not something that has happened to me very often.
Mike's words were encouraging and did help, but there is no worse feeling in my mind other than losing a friend than wounding an animal.
yep, the food was great. The night the guys were having rib eye steaks, I opted out for the left over smoked ribs :D
I had planned to take lots of pictures, but I seemed to be so tired most of the time that all I did was hunt, eat, and sleep LOL. It was almost like I was in a transe the whole week LOL.
The first 3 days were insane to me. I saw 3 to 5 bucks a day, which for me is a lot.
I live in Blacktail country and bucks are far and few between. Ohio is crawling with bucks.
The only reason I passed on the smaller fellas early was the fact that I was seeing bigger bucks within 100 yards of my stand, the guys told me to hold out the first part of the hunt, because I knew it could happen at any time. That and the fact that the area was like a deer factory and I didin't figure it would be a problem to harvest one in the last day or two.
Well, I would have been right if my arrow was placed a little lower, but I didn't pull it off.
A big thanks to the guys for having me out there and treating me like a king. I had nothing too want for the whole trip. I am use to being the one in charge and showing others a good time, so it felt kind of odd for me to be pampered LOL.
I feel honored to have been a guest with such a fine group of guys. The guy I think I connected best with was Mike P. or Missingimpossible. Well if you watch him shoot Missing IS possible LOL Sorry Mike I had to get you back a little bit for all of the your jokes that I was the brunt of LOL.
Missingimpossible Mike P. is about the witiest guy I have ever met. His jokes or stings as I refer to them are non-stop and we were always laughing. Basically, if you open your mouth, he will figure out a way to twist it into something humorous. Most of the time it is some what sick and twisted but it is always funny.
If you watch his face while someone is speaking, he is contemplating how to sting you LOL. I know there is Camp Bastard, Fat Bastard, Little Bastard, but I don't know what they call Mike P., so I told my wife that he is the Smart Bastard.
Anyway, it was a great time. I plan to return and hunt the public land across the road at some point in the future, possibly next year.
As I said before, anytime any of you 4 want to come out here and hunt elk, you are always welcome.
Thanks guys,
Paul