Well my first trip to MCAAP has come to an end.
With the hot weather and low success rates, I wanted to go there and prove to myself that I'm a better hunter then most of these guys...an ego thing I guess...thankfully I was able to do just that! (Not that I'm super expert hunter! Lol)
I don't intend to talk down on the other hunters that weren't as fortunate as I was, but there was a learning moment here that I felt like sharing. (And my success sure hinged on quite a bit of luck). For reference I was pretty much the only solo person in the deer creek unit. I was more or less forced into another group of three buddies. But they had picked an area I was interested in so it worked out.
I learned quite a bit on this trip. Not so much about my hunting skills, but more about attitude and mental toughness. (I know, I know, this isn't some back country elk hunt, but I feel it applied this weekend in different ways).
The evening before the first hunt there was a sense of optimism in the air. Everyone was excited and hopeful. By the end of the first day many were dejected, especially the first timers. Many hunters hadn't seen a deer, or maybe their party of 4 just saw one or two. Its entirely possible that these people just weren't good at stand placement. Its also true that many of the people I talked to were from areas where they are used to seeing lots of deer several hundred yards away. MCAAP just isn't like that where I was. Its an up close and personal event. Another factor was the fact that every evening on the drive in you would see 10-15 deer along the road and a few would be nice bucks. Add to that the hunter who shot one of the top ten the first day, and the rumors spreading about "insider information" or "he must have hunted here a lot and know the best spot" (which may or may not be true, if it is, who cares, there's thousands of deer here and a good percentage are great bucks). Plus the high temps, just combined for poor attitudes, and doubts about their spots.
The guys in my group were no exception. One guy didn't hunt Saturday evening. He just sat at the truck. The other 2 guys walked by me at 630 pm
The next morning they pulled their stands and were back at the truck by 8 am. Where they watched the road and saw all of the deer moving...right to me.
I'm starting to form a theory that there's two mindsets when it comes to certain activities. A predatory mindset, and a "prey-like" mindset. Obviously we are the hunters, so logically we would think that we have a predatory mindset. But as soon as you begin to make excuses, or complain about your circumstance, or victimize yourself, or maybe have doubts and be indecisive about stand location or what have you... I think you now have a prey-like mindset. Once you become "prey" I think your odds of success in a predatory activity decrease dramatically. I'm sure many of us are guilty of being "prey" at one time or another. I also find this "prey-like" mindset to be cancerous among hunting parties. Its one reason I like to go solo at times. Anyway I've seen and heard it enough i think ive learned to shut it out of my head. I think for a good predatory mindset you have to be confident in your location, have a good attitude towards your hunt, and if a change needs to be made to your circumstance, it needs to happen decisively and efficiently.
At no point during the hunt did I ever feel like I wasn't going get an opportunity. I did a decent enough job e-scouting prior to the hunt to get me into an OK position for the first few hunts. I saw a little buck the first morning. The second morning I saw a nice buck in the distance. I snort wheeezed and he reacted. But I lost sight of him. About a minute later a buck snuck in behind me, but no shot opportunity. The wind just wasn't working for me in that area so I made a move and had a new stand set by 3 pm Saturday. I found a clearcut with good traffic cutting across. White oaks all around. And water 150 yds to my west.
I think we can all agree that bowhunting has a significant element of luck involved. Some of that luck can be converted into probability from skill and scouting. But with hunting a new area with little scouting time there is a ton of luck still involved. Thankfully there's a little thing called the rut, which greatly magnifies the randomness of the deer movement which sort of compounds the luck element (basically what I'm getting at is you don't need to know the exact paths deer usually take to feed, bed, or drink, you just need to find a decent edge or trail and cross your fingers, If that makes sense).
That leads to this mornings hunt. I arrived at my stand...615...I can't say I'll miss the 430 alarm... I know there's tons of deer at MCAAP. And I know I just need to get lucky once. Hopes were high. Thoughts were positive. I'm mentally ready to get it done. I've been practicing all summer and preparing for this particular hunt with great anticipation...
About shooting light I hear a noise off to my right. I peer through the underbrush...
Squirrel!!!
As the morning wore on I'm scanning the different zones, mainly watching the clearcut to my left and listening into the woods on my right. Every once in awhile scanning the woods to my right just in case something sneaks in through the leaves with the wind covering its noise.
About 730 I scanned from my right to my left and see movement. A really nice buck had ghosted me! A stereotypical 8-10 point, wide past his ears, with 6-8" tines. A shooter in my eyes. He was moving right through that cut. I had less than 3 seconds to make a shot from the time I saw him. I drew, anchored, and let fly. By my estimates he was at 28 yards. A poke. But one I've been practicing. I watched my arrow fly in slow motion as the buck dropped at much faster rate. I missed high. Honestly I missed high anyway, he just added another foot to my miss. I really need to work on rushed or maybe a better term is quickened or short opportunity shots. My brain just has too much going through it to calmly plan and execute a longer shot it such a short period.
Well I got my shot, I blew it, but to me getting an opportunity equates to a succesful hunt. I was still hopeful though. There's no reason another buck won't do exactly what that buck did. I reloaded and calmed down. I put on my lucky home made goose feather arrow. I needed some good juju.
About 830 I hear a noise off behind me. A deer! Probably 40 yards. She came in just perfect. Slowly meandering towards the clearcut. I was setup off to the side of the clearcut in a nook of grass, if that makes sense. She was headed right for the edge of that nook. Plenty of time to identify her as an adult doe, and to get the shot planned and lined up. As she started to break through the small saplings transitioning from the edge of the timber to the nook, I drew. She cleared. I shot. Perfect. She tore off across the clear cut and into the woods on the other side.
Slightly quartering. 8 yards. From 14 ft or so. Hit her 5 inches behind the shoulder a bit high on the body. Arrow penetrated deep enough that just the nock was showing on the near side.
Gave her 45 minutes to an hour. My hunting crew pretty much saw the whole thing, which was kind of comical (well they saw the deer crossing the road before it got to me).
I dropped my stand about 915. My guys drove in and we loaded up my stand and started the trail. They said they saw a deer run down the road about the time I shot. So we sent one guy down the road as me and the other trailed her. My new friend found my arrow and lots of blood. The broadhead broke off so I looked back to the area where I shot her to see if it was there, as he continued trailing. Laying right on top of the ground was my zephyr Sasquatch, the big ol shiny thing is hard to miss. About that time the guy we sent down the road hollered. Found her! She made it less than 100 yards and was easily visible from the road. But the blood trail was plenty good either way! Can't complain about a 20 yard drag on a 45000 acre property!
We got her cleaned up and called it a hunt. She was a 2-1/2 year old according to the biologist, weighed 101 lbs!!!
I got packed up and drove to to my parents place in okc and butchered her up. Killed at 815 am, ready for the grinder by 815 pm. Can't beat it. I'm very excited about my doe, a trad deer is always an accomplishment! But I'm even more excited about the prospect of getting to come back next year with some better weather! Shooting a doe there gets you a free pass for next year!
I believe my doe was deer number 18 out of 238 hunters, and I didn't see any other come in after me. Tough odds no doubt.
Anyway, I know it's a long post, but I appreciate those that read it. I guess some of the takeaways were to just always have that positive attitude, sit in your stand during the rut ("is it that hard guys!?!?" Talking to my group. Lol), trust your hunting instincts on spot selection, and get very very lucky!
My setup was as follows:
62" Palmer recurve, 58# @ 30.5", I'm drawing to 27-ish
400 spine easton fmj
Zephyr Sasquatch
Self made goose feathers
About 475 grains
I'll try to put up some picks tomorrow!
Topic: MCAAP hunt conclusion, and what I learned about a positive attitude (pics added) (Read 1864 times)
