OFFICIAL 2013 SOLANA RANCH HUNT THREAD

[Tsalt]

Bish, you're comedy of errors sounds like my entire season!        Way to hang in there and make it happen.  Congrats and thanks for sharing!

[Bowhunter4life]

...To my right walks out a really good 8 point... close to 2" outside his ears and tall with really good mass... Only flaw was a broken G3 on the right side... I looked him over really good and finally decided to take a shot if he presents it to me... Well, he finally eased into position at about 23-24 yards slight quartering away with his head down.  I eased up came to full draw and looked at my normal position just below body line and about 3" behind the off leg and loosed the arrow...  And all He!! broke loose!!!  There were deer jumping and running in every direction as there was 14 down there before he came in...  

Well, I didn't see the arrow connect, but I heard it... and it wasn't that nice thump of a chest hit.  Heck I would have taken a crack of the shoulder or thump of dirt over what sound I heard... The sound I heard was the smack of a paper bag full of water... I couldn't see him move off to far because of cover, but I got the general direction, and it was the same direction at least 1/2 of the other deer ran.

When Robert arrived to pick me up, him and I went to the site of the shot and confirmed what my mind was thinking... Guts... There was some blood on the one side of the arrow, but definate gastric contents on the other...

You know the old saying, "Rather have a clean miss then a poor hit,"  I couldn't agree more...

We backed out and let him sit for the night... a long rather sleepless night...

[katman]

Here are the views from my hide the last evening of the hunt, a carpet blind set up just off the top of the ridge. Gary drops me off and I get settled, the deer all showed up just after the feeders second throw, 30 minutes after the first, unusual as most times button bucks, does and fawns came in after the truck left after dropping some corn. I think the competition for what corn is available is high. But there were 5 bucks coming from the right, made a wide loop in back of the feeder and worked there way in from the left by the tree, timidly. Good thing the guide figured the wind perfectly. Wind started out northwest and switched to southeast just before they showed up, I was looking south with the cameras view.

[BDann]

Sunday morning was pretty uneventful, except for the spectacular show at daybreak.  I could hear deer crunching corn in front of me, ducks whistling overhead, and wave after wave of turkeys gobbling.  

A doe finally came within range, and appeared to be pretty calm.  She was quartering away slightly, with her head down feeding when I began to draw.  Suddenly her head snapped up and around, looking right at me.  It looked like she was saying "don't even try, I'll make you look stupid!"  She and her young son were gone in a flash.

I ended my hunt early to search for the hog I shot the night before.  Amazingly we could find no blood, and an exhaustive search of the hillside revealed no arrow, no blood and no hog.  

What an awesome time I had at Solana, and like Rob said, the hunt is the cake, and the harvest is the icing.

[katman]

But I am getting ahead of myself, evening before,Friday night, had me in a tripod stand amongst limbs and leaves of a live oak, what a neat hide. Saw several does, fawns, bb at first. Finally a buck shows and its a young 8 point just inside his ears. Was watching him eat corn, bounce out and filter back in several times for about 30 minutes. The buck throws up his head and looks up the hill in front of the hide. These deer will let you know if anything else is coming way before you know, so I learned just to watch the deer at the feeder and DON NOT MOVE anything but my eyes. And on the mature does squint.

A large group of hogs were trotting in and when they got about 40 yds out the buck takes off. The pigs went to munching, after a bit a sow gives me an opportunity, I drew and let her go, SQUEEEL, and trots off, the others just looked up and went back to munching. Well time to reload, picked out another and let her rip, SQUEEL, another arrow finds the mark. Pigs got a little nervous but remained and went to munching but now out on other side of feeder. Guide had given it to me the first night when I did not shoot at hogs at dark thirty so what the heck, reload. A little further than I like to shoot but drew aimed low on the hog, nervous animals are supposed to squat, and released. Arrow looked good but fell just under the pigs chest sparked off the ever present rocks and I watched the firenock glowing angling up and out into the cactus. At pickup we tracked the second hog easily and had trouble with trail on first, let it rest over night but no luck scouring the flat the next morning. Amazing I got all 3 arrows back intact and the VPA survived the rock nicely. A very exciting hunt to say the least.

[gregg dudley]

So my early hunts produced a lot of sightings and a host of "almosts."  

Jan 2 PM  Carpet blind
7 point, 4 point, nub buck, 10 does

Jan 3 AM  Ladder stand
3 does

Jan 3 PM  Tripod
6 point, 8 point, 4 point

Jan 4 AM  Rained like heck and only real hunters went out to shooting houses.  I slept.

 

Then on Jan 4 PM, John and I decided to get a little creative.  There was a shortage of stands set up for the wind that afternoon so we took a Gerber machete (awesome tool) and hacked out a blind inside the branches of a cedar tree on the down-wind side of a productive feeder.

The whole process took about 10 minutes tops.

Here is a view from inside my improvised blind.  Note the video camera mounted on the gorilla tripod:

   

[gregg dudley]

Deer started coming in to the blind almost immediately and a small spike fed at 8-10 yards for nearly 45 minutes.  Other deer that visited the blind included a 4 point, an 8 point, a broken horn buck...looked vaguely familiar!?! and five does.

Then the pigs came.

This is the first time I have tried to film a hunt and I learned a lot.  Namely, shoot the pig that is on camera.  That would be ANY pig, EXCEPT the one I shot!          But I had my heart set on the little ugly one and that is what I shot.  It was completely perfect.  The shot was seven yards or so and the lethally shot hog charged through the cedar cover that I was hiding in passing four feet to my left before expiring thirty yards behind the blind.

CLick the picture to play the video.

   

[Terry Green]

[BDann]

Great video!    

[TaterHill Archer]

Great video, Gregg!

[Guru]

[gregg dudley]

Here is the video of the recovery.  You can see that the first part of the arrow is just yards behind the blind.  I need to figure out how to edit the dead part out of the first video and seam the two videos together...

 

[gregg dudley]

[gregg dudley]

 


 

[gregg dudley]

Bisch, Congrats on the doe, bud!  Sorry I wasn't there when you recovered her.

[coaster500]

Great Work!!!


   

[Izzy]

Perfect shot on that hog buddy. Fine looking nanny Nathan and what a sweet bird.  

[FerretWYO]

That great stuff. Many congrats to you all.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

This thread is Hot.

Great shooting guys !

[bornagainbowhunter]

Originally posted by katman:
[QB]  Had the jakes in and out and all around all morning and when Gary come to get me a lone hunter slipped out of the truck stalked up to them and...

]

Gary is referring to me.  It was quite a morning already.  I had shot a doe already.  Gary, the guide, picked me up first.  We tracked the doe with Gary's Blue Lacy (by the way, I am looking to buy one as I type this...) and went on our way to grab Bisch,  Brian and then Gary.  Long story short, as we passed through a gate nearing Gary's stand several turkeys crossed the road.  I steped out of the truck and took a shot, a looooong shot.  On deer, I would have never attempted this, but turks, its kill or miss.  Anyway after the turks ran off, from a distant shot, I went to retrieve my arrow.  When I picked it up I heard yelp yelp yelp..  There was one that had not made it across the road yet.  I stalked up on it and listened for the leaves crunching, here he come.  I put tension on the string for what sounded to be about a 20 yard shot, but when he come out of the cover, he suddenly burst into flight.  No shot.

I am telling you, if you ever get the chance to partake of a hunt like this, you better do it!!!