2nd Annual EOBH! ** PICS ADDED**

[B.O.D.]

more pics and story a bit later on, wait until you see the  trade-table pics!!!  
BD

[B.O.D.]

Even though she took ill just before the hunt started, Kelly aka "the forest witch", was a super hostess!!! we all ate more than our fill and the food was never-ending..
From me and all of the hunters, THANK YOU KELLY!!!!            , you were definatley the star of the show.
BD  

[B.O.D.]

How do you keep a huge living room full of beverage and food plied trad shooters quiet???????   :confused:    :confused:        

[B.O.D.]

Enter Sergio Venneri...this great guy has hunted and hung out with the best, the Wensels, Scott Koelzer, Roger Rotharr, Jack Kempf, Jim Emerson,  and the topic of the quiet room??? the man himself, Paul Schafer! We were being treated to some home movies of Paul on his Cape Buffalo hunts, elk hunts and goat hunts on the 60" flat screen!!! Sergio has hunted and shot with Paul and has a ton of stories...let me say that when he was holding court the room was pin-drop quiet!
Sergio was a big hit and is a great guy. Plans are being made on my part for the long trip north to hang out with him at his place in Northern Ontario.
BD ( Sergio is the guy in the middle, grey vest and khaki pants)

[B.O.D.]

more pics of the hunt, more bunny stories and such later on, gotta clean up from the weekend...YIKES!
BD

[B.O.D.]

okay, short break form trying to find the vacuum cleaner.
The third big push was down a ATV trail on the south side of a hugh berm loaded with brairs, buckthorns and snarled piles of brush, Olaf had told us on his previous push it looked like a bunny superhighway in there.
Yes there were hundreds of tracks all along this 1/4 mile stretch, a lot of fox and coyote tracks as well. Some guys decided to walk around the huge stone quarry to see if any were out on the southern facing slopes catching some rays.
Me, Tim and Jesse walked the north side of the berm while Jake tackled the top; a daunting feat due to the nasty sharp stuff on top.
We got Done our side, looked down the trail and there were a bunch of bowhunters scanning the thick brush for some little brownhides that had been jumped and were now hunkered down in thier bunny-bunkers of buckthorn, briars and prickly ash
 
We hurried down and were told that an untold number of bunnies had squirted out and were hiding in there.
Jake, Gary and Nick were on top working thier way down to the hidey holes to try to spook them out.
bunnies were seen moving, none offered shots in that stuff though.
Anybody who has heard people refer to the "bush"in Ontario, or has bear hunted up here in thick bush will have an idea of what I'm talking about, it is as inpenetrable as the jungles of Cambodia in spots; real crazy thick stuff!
We waited and waited while the guys made there way down, but some of the tunnels under that stuff were yards deep and probably all thru the cover.
the bunnies were safe in thier bunkers, we were tired, hot, bleeding and a cold beer or 6 was sounding real good about now.

[B.O.D.]

[B.O.D.]

Some of us after the tiring, thorn-studded push, some tired hot and sweaty hunters in that wool right  there!
BD

[Patience]

It was a great time and a great bunch of people. The knowledge and advice was endless. I know that I learnt a few things. I was happy to put faces to names, know I just need to remember all the names????LOL. I look forward to the next get-together.

[Patience]

Frank, if it wasn't coming from Cary, I would say that we should be offended by these short jokes.     Truth be told; I looked down the line once. There was a few of us waist high in snow, then Luke. I swear he was standing on the snow. For any of you that have seen the lord of the rings (1st one), when the troop is trudging through the side of the mountain. That's what it looked like. I need to find out how he does it.  :confused:

[Jake H]

I think it's because Luke only weighs 3 lbs.

Jake
(who thinks Luke also has an unfair advantage when carp shooting because he doesn't SINK into the water)

[Ontario Longbow]

Hey Cary and Kelly,, Thanks again the hospitality was wonderful ,, really had a great time, best part was meeting everyone in person from the Trad Gang and making new friends. See you soon,, Frank.

[THE FOREST WITCH]

Hey Cary's Crew
     I was glad to hear that all of you had a great time at the Witch's Manor.      
     Anyways, everyone get rested up and and prime your appetites for the next Gibson adventure.  Happy hunting until next time,
Kelly

[B.O.D.]

Well we got back after the first days hunt and the shooting games were getting ready to go after we warmed up a bit at the bale.
I had designed a bigger and better swinging rabbit target this year that had the benefit of a person swinging it to keep it moving.
The old deadeye himself Sergio nailed the can and a root beer was sprung!!! LOL, the silvertip had spoken...a bit later after a few hundred shots...     ;)Jim proved that not only can he make great bows, he can shoot them to as he leaked the can as well.
BD

[B.O.D.]

Next up was the "Mult-position"shoot, you had to try whatever the guy ahead of you was trying to attempt.
there were some pretty funky shots being made, but I was most amazed when either Tim or Jim layed down on thier back and shot the bale like that, NAILING THE TARGET!!! did I mention these longbows are highly adaptable????      

[Shawn Leonard]

Sounds great, did ya get any bunnies or shots? Shawn

[Luke Vander Vennen]

I had a great time on the weekend. Thanks Cary and Kelly for hosting a great time, and thanks to everyone for making it a great time. It was great to see so many faces where previously all I knew where names.

I didnt take as many pictures as I was planning on, but I'll try add a few as the night goes on.

Let'em fly at the rabbit
L-R Phil, Gary, Tom, Sergio, Jesse
 

Cary trying to be a contortionist. Thats Frank, Phil, Theo and Gary in the background
 

More shots at the elusive wabbit
 

Jim and Jake coming back from a round at the bale
 

Mike shooting from his back. That takes skill
 

[Luke Vander Vennen]

The object of many flung arrows and several broken tips
 

Retrieval
 

Tim doing his superman impression
 

The very full trade table. There was still more after this table was full.
 

[Frank AK]

nice pics luke. So the big question is.... did you guys see any of the little hopping variety?

[B.O.D.]

Frank and Shawn, yes we saw bunnies , quite a few. But the cover was too thick to get off any shots.
Remember, this is Ontario and we have a very large and healthy population of fox, coyotes, and hawks; all of which take their toll on the rabbits.
Especially as the season goes on later into the winter.
They get thier feed, and the remaining bunnies are well trained on how to evade ANY type of hunters, 4 legged, 2 legged or winged.    
As soon as you cross the border ( St. Lawrence River) and get about an hour or so south of us, the coyotes and hawks are not near as bad, or as big as the ones up here, also the numbers are not as high in the dog ranks south of here as they are up here.
The bunnies made an appearance, but we could not get anything away due to the thick cover.
All in all it was a great time though, even though no bunnies except the wooden breed were killed.  
BD