Any tales from Shrew Haven 2024?

[evgb127]

Just curious about how the Shrew Haven gang made out this year.  I saw on Facebook that there may have been a successful hunt.  Perhaps Ray Lyon has some beans to spill?  I wish Ron was still here to tell some tales.   

[huckbuck]

 

[Ray Lyon]

I was just about to post this years hunt.   Hang tight folks.

[Ray Lyon]

First of all, we of course miss Ron.  Fortunately, Ron’s son Bill has been in camp the last two years.  More on that in a moment. 

This year’s crew:

[evgb127]

Sorry for jumping the gun Ray.  I’ve been out of commission this season so I’m chomping at the bit to hear some good hunting stories.  I can’t wait. 

[Ray Lyon]

Camp members standing left to right:
Myself, Kevin Marshall, Roger Norris, Tim Cosgrove and Bill LaClair.
Kneeling left, Greg Nicolaou and on right is Henry Bodnik.

[Ray Lyon]

Henry brought a bottle of Blanton’s Gold from Germany.  This is like bagging the proverbial 30 point buck.  Blanton’s was one of Ron’s favorite bourbons in his final years.  We toasted our departed friend and the memories of Shrewhaven.

[Ray Lyon]

And yes, there was great food as always including charcoal roasted leg of lamb and apple pies

[Ray Lyon]

The weather was unseasonably warm and hampered deer movements.  We did take advantage of the weather to enjoy evening campfires

[Ray Lyon]

We love to shoot bows in camp.  We had the new Scout long bows (50” and 52”) and the Tsunami 3 piece take down.  I hunted with my new 52” Chameleon Scout and Tim hunted with his ‘pink’ 50” Scout (don’t make fun of this little dynamo it’s a fantastic shooter even at my 28.5” draw.
 

My Scout at about 30 yards

For a 52” bow it’s fast and well behaved!!

[Ray Lyon]

Henry’s Tsunami

There’s always bows and arrows everywhere!!

Roger goes to bed with face paint on-saves him time in the morning (I think he doesn’t want to spend money on new paint 😂)

But he loves ground hunting

[Ray Lyon]

The property we hunt is beautiful:

[Ray Lyon]

Helping Henry set up his stand site in the oaks

Germany doesn’t allow bow hunting

[Ray Lyon]

Speaking of beauty, one of my favorite camp views, the Armstrong Creek:

This is part of a story……..


Good night Gang, gotta date with some back home buck’s early tomorrow morning. 😉

[Ray Lyon]

We should probably mark the corner of the cabinet where the Bears take a bite out. It seems like every year. Hard to tell what’s new and what’s not. If Ron was not the first one in camp, he would always ask ‘Did the Bears take a chunk out of the cabin corner again this year’.

Bears, wolves and coyotes roam the property.  Greg heard wolves earlier in his stay and late in the week the coyotes were yipping at night. Typically these two species don’t mix. Bald Eagle’s were seen on one of the gut piles. 

[Ray Lyon]

More about Bill LaClair.  Bill has been in camp the last two years.  Last year he just hung out and helped with tree stands and general camp work.  Bill has participated in archery since he was younger, however like his father he is a lefty. So with some encouragement at the end of last years camp he practiced with his dad’s equipment this summer and came to camp ready to hunt.  Unfortunately the weather didn’t cooperate for Bill and he needed to leave early to tend to his dog (which was Ron’s last dog Ruger). The weather turned cold the day after he left and the deer really started moving.  Typically our high temperatures at camp are low 50’s and some year’s snow on the ground.  Most of the time this year was in 60’s/low 70’s.  The day after Bill left the high was 44 degrees!  30 degree swing in one day. 
Anyway, Bill is enjoying learning about what camp traditions are like and where events had taken place that he had heard from his dad.  Bill indicated that he wanted to continue to hunt the property for years to come

[Ray Lyon]

So, let’s get some deer!!!

As I mentioned, the weather was dry and warm.  Roger camo painted his arms one night and hunted from the ground in a olive drab tee shirt.  When we were down to the last three days, the temperature plummeted and deer were seen Wednesday morning and adjustments were made.  I went from the oaks on the north side of Banana Ridge to my old faithful-The Tressel Stand.  I had no more than been on stand for 45 minutes and Kevin texted he had a good arrow in one.  Roger chimed in that he mmmmmmissssed one (hit a branch).  A short time later I had a good doe broadside at close range and put a Kustom King Trailmaker through her.  I waited for only 10-15 minutes as I wanted to line out the trail before dark set in.  I heard a splash and when I got to the bank over looking the creek my doe was laying in the middle.  It’s uphill through thick marsh grass and tag alder so………………

Let’s wait to gut her until we float her 200 yards down the creek where an old trail angles down from the tressel.

Kevin had backed out of his stand waiting for reinforcements before trailing.

[Ray Lyon]

So after Kevin helped get my deer hung up, I worked on dinner while Roger, Tim and Kevin took up the trail of his deer.  With a higher entry and no exit, blood was sparse at first.  They made it about 40-50 yards and decided to back out.  This is always a risky call because of the prevalence of bears, wolves and coyotes.  Kevin and I took up the trail at first light the next morning and I was able to line out the trail in short order (ALWAYS easier in daylight). We found her at about 100-125 yards and if the guys had made it another 15 the night before they would have found her.  The scavengers missed out and we soon had Kevin’s deer hanging…..

[Ray Lyon]

Kevin had seen a lot of deer moving around him on his one stand and Tim took a turn there.  Sure enough he had a deer in range but shot high and slightly back with no blood.  The night time wait was on but Tim didn’t fare so well.  With two gut piles within a half mile of where Tim’s deer landed the coyotes had learned their lesson and we found half a carcass the next morning.  Unfortunately Tim had literally walked out on o two track and passed within 30 yards of the deer.

[Ray Lyon]

We put a ribbon on a different year for sure.  As mentioned Bill left early to take care of his dog. Greg had a developing root canal and left when Bill did.  Roger had a birthday party for his granddaughter on Saturday.  Henry had developed a terrible cough and runny nose. Kevin and I were facing another warmup with hanging deer.  Therefore we decided to pull out Friday instead of Sunday. 

Camp is certainly not the same without Ron’s presence.  However, we’re glad his son has made the decision to be a part of the tradition and carry the torch forward.