Thursday: The other guys are showing up at the campground sometime today. Being retired is great and kind of bad at the same time. It’s great because I can hunt and fish whenever I want to go. On the other hand it is kind of bad because all of my friends are still working and I don’t have anyone to share my time afield with. Oh well, they should be getting here soon. I decided to stay around camp so I can welcome them, besides I’m awfully stiff and need a break from climbing the hills. I’m actually glad to take the day off so I can recuperate.
I already know Caleb, Tyler and Dave but have not met Arkybob or Powduck yet. Everyone is a member of Trad Gang. I’m thankful for Trad Gang because without it this hunt would never have taken place. A traditional hunt with other folks that enjoy long bows and recurves has been on my mind for several years now. I started a thread on TG to see if anyone was interested and it looks like the hunt is actually going to happen. Whoohoo!
Have to go get gas for my jon boat today. It only has a six gallon tank but the 25 hp motor sure makes that six gallons last a long time. I absolutely love using my boat to hunt public land. In only a few minutes you can get to places where seeing another hunter is a very slim chance indeed. After getting gas I drove down the road a little way and arrived at Burl’s smoke house. They have great smoked meats and a sandwich was on my mind but that wasn’t all. They also have a museum of sorts in the store. This would be a good time to get a bite to eat and take some photos of the stuff they have collected in the store.
Everyone has arrived and met. Our respective camps are set up and plans have been made for the evening hunt. Dave is going with Caleb in Caleb’s boat and I’m taking Tyler with me. Arky bob and Powduck are hunting together from their boat.
I set Tyler up on some persimmon trees that were getting fed on and I went across the little bay to the same place I have seen the deer the last two days. I was pretty sure I had my three deer figured out and even expected them to show at 6 pm. Right on time I could make out pieces of a deer in the leaves slowly working its way towards me. It slowly wondered through the area and kept me on my toes but never came close enough for a shot.
The three deer that I was expecting finally showed up at 6:20 pm. Instead of coming out of the dry creek bed like they did the night before they came out some distance further up the creek. I watched them feed on acorns for awhile only about 40 yards away. I knew if I could move my stand over there after dark I’d have them locked in for the next evenings hunt. The problem was finding the correct tree they had walked by. Once I get on the ground things look different to me than when I’m up in a tree. I had to figure some way to mark the actual tree that I wanted. The light bulb went off and I unscrewed my broadhead and replaced it with a hex head. I shot the arrow right at the base of the tree that I wanted to move my stand to. Even in the dark the reflective wrap was like a beacon guiding me to the correct tree. I patted myself on the back as I placed the climber on the tree. I’d get a deer for sure tomorrow.
I made the short trip to pick up Tyler. He hadn’t seen anything. Maybe tomorrow his luck would change. We loaded his gear up and headed back to camp where we would sit around and get to know the other guys better.
While sitting there practicing our lies on each other I brought out the beaver teeth and told everybody they were Big Foot claws. Had lots of wild guess as to what they really were but nobody guessed beaver.
It looks like this is going to be a great hunt with some great people. Hope this takes off and becomes a yearly event. I’ll just have to wait and see.