1st annual Adirondack attack!(the secound wave)

[jcsnapshot]

What a great weekend. Ken is a wonderful host. If any of you guys are thinking about a possible trip, stop thinking and make plans. You'll have a wonderful time for sure.

Chuck, Thanks for the "situpon" being a ground hunter that will sure come in handy. It was great seeing you again. I'll share a campfire with you anytime.

Drewsbows, Thank you for the goodies you left there for Kens guests this year that was very generous. My son will love the arrows, and I was hoping to put the knife to use this weekend. Oh well, the Southern Zone archery opens next weekend. Maybe then????????

Ken, again Thank you for having me/ us this weekend, It was an awesome time sharing the woods with fellow Trad Gangers..............

Pics and more about the weekend tomorrow after work   :(   need to unpack and get some sleep.

Shoot Straight>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Jim

[woodchucker]

I got home this evening and I will refrain from posting much other than to say that we had a GREAT weekend!!!!! In the next couple days you will see LOTS of pictures and here all about it. I will give Ken the "first rights" of telling the story.....

Ken, Thank You My Friend!!!!!              

[adkmountainken]

i had an awesome time with everyone over the last two weekends and i just want to say thanks for hunting with me. i will be posting a lot of pic's in the next couple days also. the last two days were absolutly great, great weather and company!!!! many thanks are in order for many wonderfull things presented to me and i will also post pic's of these items and give recognition. i don't think i have enough film in the camera to show what Drew brought for everyone!!! thanks again Drew!

[jcsnapshot]

Well, can't sleep again  :(  So I guess I should post some pics.

Here is one of Ken opening a gift from Chuck. A beautiful Railroad Spike tomahawk

 

[jcsnapshot]

woodchucker enjoying Ken's reaction to his new "hawk". The generousity of the people on this site never ceases to amaze me.

 


Ken tossing his new toy  

 

[drewsbow]

awsome hawk Chuck ,
Ken : you are a lucky man :0)

[adkmountainken]

that hawk is absolutly awesome, i will take a good pic of it this week, i'll also be carring it this week hunting, thank you so much chuck and everyone involved!!! here are a few pic's for ya.
here is Chuck doing the woodchucker shuffle putting his boots on, sorry Chuck couldn't resist!!
   
this is a early morning shot of Chuck & JC starting up the hill.
   
Chuck at black squrriel heaven.
   
JC caught me relaxing with a good pipe.
   
more pic's to follow.

[jcsnapshot]

Ken, did you "catch" anything today?

    You guys have no idea how I had to bite my tongue when she asked that at the restaurant.

Thanks again bud for a great weekend. Hope there are many more.

Shoot Straight>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Jim

[adkmountainken]

JC,
   you will be happy to know that those dam turkeys busted me this morning as i was preparing to draw!! whole flock of them feeding my way, i was in the stand by where you sat which is a favorite of mine. had a deer walk by before light, i was in the stand at 6:00 and still couldn't see. i went turkey hunting this evening by my house on the south side and wouldn't ya know it a doe walked right by meat about 7 yards! hope she makes that misstake next week. here are a couple more pic's from this weekend.
my hero pic of the stump i knoced over before Chuch could shoot at it.
 
JC stumping
 
more to follow

[jcsnapshot]

Got to love stumpin' That was a sweet shot too. Right where you were looking. This is your week to Christen that osage stick. New moon, cold front coming in. Tues night or wed am, I'm expecting to hear the story of your first Trad whitetail. Those turkeys really are sly. Still trying to figure out how I got busted    Those things were right behind those to beeches in front of me  :confused:  Go get em'

Shoot Straight>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Jim

[Aram]

Looks like an awsome time was had by all.
Chuck, that is a gorgeous gift to a most worthy recipient.         That photo of you smiling speaks volumes, your generosity and the joy you find in giving is sooo inspiring.      
Ken, can't thank you enough.                      This is got to become an yealy event! Let me know if and how I can help next year. I'll be there!
     
Aram

[adkmountainken]

Aram,
     i'm allready thinking about next year, this year everything was put together rather quickly and i really didn't have it planned out as well as i would have liked. i will definitly makeit a yearly event and would love to hunt with you again as well as pick your brain on bow building and other crafts. i think next year i want to have 10-15 stands up and spaced out aways apart. would also like to do some drives to get the deer moving as they donot move to well this time of year. also thinking i would like to have a big fire pit to sit around later at night and get to talk more than we did. any ideas on improvments would be greatly apperiated. Did you start a bow for your wife yet?

[woodchucker]

Well!!!!! I had a GREAT TIME!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't have been happier!!!!! I was hunting with 2 good friends,in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains..... If I had to use one word to descibe it,that word would be..... "Perfect".

Joe Skipp had told Ken that this was a very generous offer...To which Ken stated that he had an ulterior motive,He wanted to get some guys up there to look over his set-ups,and his hunting area and to "Pick thier brains" about what they thought.

Well,Let me tell ya.....

THE MAN KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING!!!!! His hunting area is first class!!!!! It has a healthy and plentiful deer (and other game) population.You can tell that Ken's trapping experiance has taught him to pay great attention to detail.His set-ups are about as perfect as you can get!!!!! ALSO...although they were taken with a gun (and BTW alot of us do still gun hunt) Ken has already killed bigger bucks than many of us will ever see and most of us can only dream about.        

I had met Ken and Jim before at the Tollgate Traditions shoot and they are just 2 of the GREATEST guys that you could ever meet!!!!! We met at the Dunkin' Donuts at 5am saturday morning and we had coffee and conversation with Ken explaining a basic itinerary for the weekend. Then we drove to the trailhead and "geared-up" for the morning hunt. We decided to put Jim on a stand low on the mountainside and Ken asked me if I wanted to hunt "low or high". Well, I'm an old mountain hunter and I may be a little fat and out of shape but I told Ken "I'm goin' to the top" LOL. We dropped Jim off at his stand and Ken and I proceeded to climb to the top. When we got on top Ken put me in a stand of Hemlocks with a few White Oaks and a Hickory and a Beech or two. Ken told me that it was a good deer area and that he had seen quite a few Black Squirrels there. The early morning was beautiful!!!!! The cool crisp mountain air just made me feel ALIVE!!!!! And then.....There he was.....moving quickly across the forest floor.....A BLACK SQUIRREL!!!!! I dropped my broadhead arrow on the ground and I grabbed and nocked my judo tipped arrow..... I picked an opening for him to pass through and then I would get my shot!!!!! I waited,AND WAITED.....(where the heck did he go?????) He must have scamperd up and into a den tree LOL. Oh Well..... He made my weekend!!!!!

More later.....

[drewsbow]

Great pics and stories  , glad to hear everyone had a good time as I knew they would :0) Drew

[Aram]

Originally posted by adkmountainken:
Aram,
    ... this year everything was put together rather quickly ...

I must admit!
 ... and rather professional as everyone agrees!
Ken, it really was perfect!    

[jcsnapshot]

Originally posted by Aram:
 

Originally posted by adkmountainken:
Aram,
    ... this year everything was put together rather quickly ...

I must admit!
 ... and rather professional as everyone agrees!
Ken, it really was perfect!         [/b]

Aram,
  Some paid hunting guides could learn a thing or two from Ken. Professional through and through.....................

Heck of a great guy too    

Shoot Straight>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Jim

[adkmountainken]

man you guys are giving me waaaaay more credit then i deserve! i'm just a redneck that loves to hunt and i wanted a little company from fellow traditional archers plain and simple. i do know my woods inside and out but you sure would have never know that had you been with us as i tried to bring Aram & Ed to their stands in the dark!!      :D    John told us about an awesome Elk hunting trip that i hope to take him up on that is very well within my price range, oh yeah my price range is CHEAP by the way! i watched closly JC's & Chucks shooting style and i believe mine is somewhere in between, those two can shoot i tell ya! Chucks enthusiam is something to behold, just pumps ya up being around him!!     also plan on making a hunt with JC later this year too, see that i found another southern place to hunt!!  

[woodchucker]

Well..... After saturday mornings hunt we drove to Johnstown and had a good lunch,then we drove to the Adirondack Sport Shop (?????) to see up close the Big Buck that Ken killed when he was 16 years old. WOW!!!!!!!!!! You honestly have to see this rack to believe the size of it!!!!! I'll bet if you put 2 bushel baskets side by side they would fit inside this rack!!!!! Then we drove back to Ken's mother's house for some Stumpin' Fun!!!!!            

After about an hours worth of stump shootin' it was time to get ready for the evening hunt. We started up the mountain and we decided to set Jim in about the same place that he set in the morning being as he had seen 4 turkeys there in the morning and it just felt "good" to him. Ken said that he would put me about 3/4 of the way up the mountain in a "real good spot",then he would go down below me to one of his tree stands. Well folks,I'll tell you this,when Kenny says he's gonna put you in a "real good spot" HE ISN'T KIDDING!!!!! We walked down an overgrown log road to a big rock ledge with what looked like a small ditch in front of it.As is turned out that "ditch" was a deer trail!!!!! It was worn into the ground about a foot deep and I bet the deer have been using that trail since back when my Mohawk ancestors were hunting that mountain. As we were looking the spot over Ken said that it was a reall good spot,but he was conserned that I couldn't see very far. I told him THAT was NOT even a concern of mine seeing as any deer that came down that trail would be between 10 and 20 yards away when I could see it!!!!! The evening hunt was very enjoyable. I saw alot of chipmunks that kept me entertained including one that kept coming over and climbing up on my boot. I did see 2 gray squirrels (no blacks  :(  ) but I was not able to get a clean shot at either one of them. About an hour before dark a big flock of turkeys came up the mountain behind me an started flying up into the Hemlocks to roost for the night.I could not see them clearly as they were up the mountain from me and through the trees,but all of the yelping and cackling made it sound like it was a REALLY BIG FLOCK!!!!! Things were getting quiet and it was just about dark when I decided to call it a day.I had just finished packing up my gear for the hike out when I had a "nature call" (boy was THAT a bad idea LOL) The sound of water hitting the leaves just made this deer above me that I couldn't see come UN-GLUED!!!!! It started snorting and blowing up a storm!!!!! It must have blowed 20 times!!!!!!!!!!

Gotta go!!!!!, Be back later LOL

[Seeking Trad Deer]

This is my favorite thread of the season...pictures are a nice touch to caputre the story too!

[woodchucker]

OK.....I start to pick my way out to the logroad,all of the time I'm kicking myself for having my grunt call packed away in my fanny pack instead of out where I could get at it.(I'm not a big fan of grunt calls but I figured What could it hurt????? The deer was already spooked LOL) As I head down the mountain I meet up with Ken and he says "Listen,The coyotes are starting to howl,They are down by where Jim is sitting" Ken and I head on down the logroad and we meet up with Jim who is now standing up on the logroad.When we got to him Jim said,"Those coyotes were howling all around me!!!!! It sure does give you an eerie feeling when your all alone!!!!!" Ken's quick reply was....."That's one of the reasons for carrying BIG knives" Ya just gotta love a Mountain Man
   After dinner I hit the rack early (I didn't even get undressed and I think I fell asleep the minute I hit the cot LOL)

Tommorrow was going to be another BIG day.....

(be back later)