My 1st Trad Buck and Added Pics for Ohio Trad Deer Hunt.

[buckeye_hunter]

Okay guys. For those of you who got home early, this is the place to put up any pictures or tell of your time in the stand. I hope you guys get the stories and pics going soon! I will start with mine as soon as I can. I can start off by saying I shot 2 deer this week! One buck was my best ever to this point!

       

[buckeye_hunter]

I have been thinking about this post a lot. I don't know where to start exactly, but I will try. This has been such an overwhelming season so far.... My first trad doe, squirrel and now buck.

I guess I should start by thanking our great creator for all I have been blessed with in my life. This is more than a story about a deer for me. It is a story about new friendships, faith, perseverance and priorities.

I know this hunt would not have developed in the fashion that it did without rearranging my priorities. I had to get them right for everything to flow correctly in my life and in the woods.

My priorities are now in this order: God, family, hunting.

Previously, I would have had to list them as family/hunting (very close, but family 1st) and then God last.

In my life that order didn't work well. Things didn't start to work for me until I had that straightened out. It is funny that putting hunting after God and family in my priorities has made it more meaningful and productive.

[4dogs]

        AMEN!

[magnus]

Congratulations Charlie on your life changes and your many first's this year!!! Look forward to the rest of the story and pics.

[JamesKerr]

[Joshua Long]

Right on Charlie! Congrats.

[NoCams]

Oh..... this is going to be a good 1 !!!
           a 3 cupper maybe ?

[AWPForester]

That is the way it works.  Give the Lord his first and he will give you the desires of your heart.  Now get the story and pics up!  I gotta go to revival at 7!  God Bless

[Butchie]

Thank you for sharing your story with us.  God Bless and congratulations!

[Friends call me Pac]

Met some good people.  Hunted for a week and missed the only deer I saw.  Very happy for Charlie.  

The day I left Banshee winds and I had a ghillie suit showdown.  We hid just off the road in camp and Charlie & Oldskool came looking for us a few minutes later.  I guess both of our suits worked mighty fine but my tennis shoes gave me away.  The rest of my "pac-o flage" worked pretty well.  Hope to see the photos soon.

[Boomerang]

"In my life that order didn't work well. Things didn't start to work for me until I had that straightened out. It is funny that putting hunting after God and family in my priorities has made it more meaningful and productive."

Amen! Good for you!
         

[Dirtybird]

     can't wait and congrats to all that made it down there this year.

Congrats on your priorities and on your firsts!

Tuned in for more......

Bisch

[buckeye_hunter]

I apologize that this has to be in segments, but I am working late tonight and am taking periodic breaks to type this post.


On with the story. I promised my wife I would change my yearly week long Trad Deer Camp trip to SE Ohio into an every other year event. I did this for 2 reasons. One reason is to spend more time mentoring kids at church. The other reason for changing things up is that it is kind of hard on her. It is hard on her to work full time plus get the kids to school while I am gone. I am thankful she is willing to do it, but family has to come first. Therefore the hunting has to be scaled back a bit. This will also allow me time to organize a youth bow-hunt at church next year.


So, with a new set of priorities I headed to camp knowing I wouldn't be back to these hunting grounds for some time. I wound up getting into camp later than expected on Saturday about noon. I set up my portion of camp and met a few new people and shook hands with some old friends.

Life was good.

[buckeye_hunter]

When I hit this point, I knew I was in camp and ready for some quiet time in the woods...

 

[ti-guy]

[buckeye_hunter]

Making camp next to this pond just feels like home. I love it. I often dream about building a house here and moving my family. If only I owned the land! It is a blessing that this is public land we are allowed to hunt and camp on.

   

[buckeye_hunter]

After setting up camp and visiting a bit, it was time for the first evening hunt. The temps were cold and I figured the deer would be moving early. I knew it would take me awhile to get to my stand site so I headed out with high hopes and plenty of enthusiasm. Somehow I knew an encounter with a deer was inevitable back in the these hills today.

I have seen everything from button bucks and does to 180 inch giants in this area. I just couldn't wait to sit in a tree over one of those old logging roads off my favortite clearcut/powerline. The hike into the stand is somewhere around 1/2 to 3/4 mile. It is all the way back to the far hill in the picture below.

 

Knowing what timber ghosts haunt those logging trails helped my boots feel lighter while climbing those hills!

So with all my gear loaded and my climber on my back, I headed into my favorite hunting spot. I made sure to keep my lucky arrow from my first bow kill in my quiver. The walk into my stand felt easy and I settled into a tree right where two logging roads form a T....

[rastaman]

What a good hunt already Charlie!

[buckeye_hunter]

I will tell more of the story from the hunt that night tomorrow, but here is a pic of the arrow from that encounter for now.