Coolest hunt ever! Blackbeard Island

[Duckbutt]

quote:Originally posted by SheltonCreeker:
Enjoying this on already. Keep it coming!    

[Jeff D. Holchin]

Rob had good cell reception so he called his wife while sunning himself on a coastal island with his PBS buddies. She was slaving at work earning money while he was goofing around. I knew that my wife was hard at work also, but I decided to not disturb her.  Note Rob's choice in footwear - I bet those pack boots won't make the next trip!


 


Speaking of cell phones, it was amusing to walk into the bathroom and see 20-30 phones being charged. Many of us (including me) have a hard time "cutting the cord", even while hunting..

 


The very best times, for me at least, were when we sat around the fire, ate good food and enjoyed each other's company.....

 

The island has quite the history and we barely scratched the surface in exploring it, partly because you had to be on stand from 6:30 to 9 am and from 3:30 to 5:30 pm (no walking about then). Tim and I did find the old island crematory...

 

Here is some history related to that artifact:

In 1880 the U.S. Marine Hospital Service opened the South Atlantic Quarantine Station at Blackbeard Island to monitor oceangoing shipping entering the Georgia ports of Savannah, Darien, and Brunswick. The quarantine station was built in response to the yellow fever epidemic of 1876, which claimed 1,000 lives in Savannah alone. Yellow fever, typically spread by mosquitoes, was usually introduced to the American mainland by ships arriving from tropical Caribbean waters. Vessels bound for U.S. southern Atlantic ports were required to report to Blackbeard for inspection and, if necessary, disinfection. The disinfecting station, built on wharves extending into Sapelo Sound from Blackbeard's north end, was composed of tanks and a rail track to expedite the removal of ballast stone from the holds of ships contaminated by yellow fever. In 1904 a brick crematory was built; it is the only structure from the quarantine era that still remains on Blackbeard Island. Marine hospital records do not note that this device was ever used for its intended purpose—to cremate the bodies of yellow fever victims.

[KentuckyTJ]

After camp was set we were free to roam the island searching for potential spots to hunt. My plan was to find as many hot live oak trees as I could find. Problem was that even though they were literally everywhere on the Northern end of the island getting to them was another story. As soon as you stepped off the road the jungle rose to what seemed 8-10' above the ground immediately. I made it to check quit a few trees but never found a single nut.

With my first day scouting info I naturally decided to go where I had seen the most deer sign in the sand on the roads since this island is massive and ultra thick. I concentrated on at short dike which was the beginning of the  "Middle Trail" and separated two swampy slews. I had found a path dumping into a long slew off the 90 degree bend in the road which had a bunch of tracks, rubs and what appeared to be a still active scrape by a large bush. I headed back to camp to get my stand and steps and rode right back and hung my stand in a tree that owned this spot if anything were to filter my way.

 

This little 150 yard stretch is where Joe, Tracy and I ended up spending most our time and at last count I believe we had accumulated 21 deer sightings.

 

On this dikes 150 yards there were multiple freshly used paths dumping up and down it in the sand. Come to find out later Bill had also found this spot but he had no toilet paper to mark it and therefore was open to the public (which included me) Haha.

Next morning we all ate a bite, drank some coffee (thank God for Joe and his maker) and headed our own ways off into the darkness. Joe and I made the mile walk in short order and our first days with bows in hand on this beautiful island began.

At day break the fog had rolled in and made for a very moist first morning.

 

 

 

 

We couldn't cut any limbs as this is a WMA so we all had to tie back the branches with rope in order to create our shooting lanes.

 

Morning one ended for me with no deer sightings.

 

[A.S.]

Good stuff, keep it coming!

[thump]

this is awesome,more please.

[KentuckyTJ]

That evening I decided to give the stand another chance and climbed aboard before the 3:30 deadline. This hunt was different. At 3:40 I looked to the right and caught movement in the tall native grass. A doe had popped out of the palmetto jungle and began feeding on the short green grass at the edge of the water.

Here is a short video of her.

             

At about 25 yards and with the windy conditions and them being such a small target I didn't feel comfortable taking the shot. She fed slowly on down the edge and out of sight. At about 5 I turned around to look in the direction she had gone to see a small buck. He continued on the same path she had taken simply backward right past.

At dark I lowered my gear and climbed down. As I was about to pop out on the road from my trail I noticed a deer in the darkness just down the road feeding on the bushes. I waited a little while and she walked back down into the swamp off the dike. I walked over there and with my flashlight discovered her food source, little blue berries of some sort. The light (under my solar panel) went on.

Day one in the books for me but oh how I was looking forward to our first camp fire.

[KyStickbow]

Enjoying it fellas...keep it coming!!

[zipper bowss]

Originally posted by KentuckyTJ:

The light (under my solar panel) went on.

      That is what Tom calls his bald spot! His solar panel.       I had forgotten about that. You learn all kinds of things when you hunt with an old guy.    :D          
Bill

[cacciatore]

Great stuff,thanks for sharing. Hunting camps have something magic it isn't just the hunt.

[rastaman]

Great stuff guys!

[kennyb]

This is totally cool guys! Thanks for bringing us along & keep up the good work! LOL

Kenny    

[KentuckyTJ]

Is there anyone else out there?

[zipper bowss]

My story took place on the last day of the hunt but I'll go ahead and post it up now.

Tom, Rob B., Tim and I left camp on the last evening at the same time. We were all headed to the middle road. Tracy decided that she was not going to hunt the last evening so I was headed to her stand that Tom had so graciously hung for her.I did not bring any tree stands for us because quite frankly we had far too much gear to deal with already. Plus I had no idea what the Island looked like or even if a stand would be usable I will definitely bring a stand on the next trip to the island. It was sure nice to get up above all of that cover for a change. This stand was located in a low drainage that has since dried up.Where the water had receded there was a bunch of young violets coming up. Tracy had told me that she had seen the deer feeding on those violets.There was also an amazing trail coming from the swamp on the opposite side of the road into this little drainage. In fact Tracy had seen 9 deer there throughout the hunt.
I had not much more than gotten settled into the stand when I saw Joe headed down the middle road. I waved him over to let him know where everyone had gone along the road and to try to talk him into taking Tracy's stand for the evening. The spot that the stand was located in was actually marked by Joe. I really wanted him to sit that stand that evening since he gave up the spot to Tracy. He would have none of it and moved off to another spot that he had found that was only a hundred yards or so away.
About 8 or 10 minutes after Joe moved off I saw him pop out in a clearing. He waved to me and I waved back.Then he moved into the thick brush again. I was thinking to myself that is just about the direction that the deer I had saw from this stand that same morning went. Sure enough a few minutes later I could hear something coming in my direction through the palmettos. At about 30 yards the movement in the palmettos stopped soon all was quiet again except the birds picking seeds from the weeds around the stand.
It was a good hour later when I heard that same clump of palmettos start to rattle again. Sure enough out steps a deer. It started to feed on the young violet shoots and ever so slowly work toward me. This little buck was nervous. Every time he heard something real or imagined he would jerk his head up and flinch like he was about to bolt.He would then stare in the direction he had come which was also the direction Joe had gone.I suppose Joe may have bumped the deer going into his hunting spot for the evening.
To my surprise when this "monster island buck" all of 40#-50# came out I got excited like it was a booner back home.That really surprised me. I gave myself and the deer as much time as I felt comfortable allowing him and me to try to calm down.Finally at 15 yards and nearly perfectly broadside he entered a hole in the tall weeds. The shooting lane was about 8 inches wide with tall weeds on both sides. The whole was plenty big and the deer vitals were centered in the opening. Since I knew the little bugger was a little bit spooky I aimed extra low picking a the spot right at the bucks elbow just up from the bottom of his body an inch or so.Once I had my spot burned in my mind I drew an shot.

[zipper bowss]

When I make a good shot on game I usually don't remember drawing the bow, anchoring, the sight picture or much about the shot except the arrow flight. It just seems like if I'm really locked onto my target once the shot is presented it just happens. I know it may sound strange but that is the way it works for me. This shot was one of those shots.I can see the arrow spiraling to the deer and the impact but I sure don't remember how it got there   :D  
I clearly saw the arrow hit to the left of center of my hole I was shooting through. I was sure I had hit the deer 3 or 4 inches back from my intended spot. The arrow went through the deer like he was not even there. Much like you would expect on any deer shot through the lungs but it did not sound right. We all know that hollow pumpkin like sound an arrow makes when impacting too far back. I clearly heard it on this little deer.
After the shot the buck did not really run. He took a few hops then stopped. He then stood stone still for what seemed like 5 minutes or more he was not more than 12 or 15 yards from where I shot him and still in the small flooded opening. After standing there looking around he began to arch his back just slightly and then laid down. From his reaction and the sound at the impact of the arrow I knew I had some guts in that shot but was hoping that I was correct in that I was only a few inches back and would also have gotten the liver in the shot as well.He only laid down for a couple of minutes and then got up to move into the thick cover. I quickly lost sight of the deer.
Listening closely I thought I heard a twig snap in the direction he had walked off about 25 or 30 yards behind where he had first laid down. I decided to give it an hour and then sneak over and look at my arrow. Luckily the ground was still soft and damp from the recent flooding so I knew it would be quiet to get to my arrow. After the hours wait I snuck out of the stand and over to my arrow. It was buried deep in the soft muck which wiped the first half of my arrow clean of sign. Only the mud remained. The back half of the arrow told the story. It definitely had gut material along with some blood which gave me hope for the liver as well.One thing puzzled me though. The arrow clearly had gut material on it but it did not smell right. It did not smell like an arrow that had been through a deers gut.
As I turned to go back to the stand to wait for darkness I stepped on a small twig. At the crack of the twig I heard something behind a large palmetto move. I thought sure it was my deer because it was just on the other side of the brush I had lost sight of him in. I had misjudged where he had laid down. Luckily I did not hear him move anywhere. I only heard the initial noise of what I assume was him standing up so I quietly snuck back to the stand to wait for dark.

As darkness fell I met up with Tom, and Rob and Joe eventually joined us as well for the walk back to camp to make a game plan for recovering this deer. Back at camp we all ate dinner and discussed our options. As I'm sure you can guess and even though it was a mile walk I did not have to ask for help when it was time to go back and track my deer.There were more than enough volunteers.

Once we got to the sight of the shot we all started looking for sign. I believe it was Rob or Tom who spotted the first bit of blood. Then Matt and Joe heard movement. After a few minutes we figured out that an armadillo was trying to crash our party and that was the movement that they had heard. The thing is though Rob and Tom had also heard movement but in the direction the blood sign led. Rob and Tom tried to stay on the track while Joe, Matt and I tried to circle some of the tangle of vines, palmetto, and a general mess of tangles to try to pick up the track. Needless to say our plan to circle around was hopeless as the whole area was a mess of tangles. Luckily Rob and Tom did a real nice impression of a tracking dog and found OUR prize at the end of the trail.
THANKS AGAIN FOR THE HELP!!

[zipper bowss]

Back at the designated camping area there was a nice area all set up for getting your deer skinned and boned. Once the buck was hung and ready for boning out it was time to see just what happened with the shot. The shot was in deed farther back than I expected. It took the buck right through the middle from top to bottom and well behind the lungs and even behind the liver. I still can not understand the lack of smell on the arrow. It just does not make since. The best I can figure since the deer was a bit spooky he must has lunged at the shot making the impact farther back than I expected. The reason I say that is because the hole in the weeds that I shot through was not nearly wide enough for me to get an arrow back that far on the deer. It just reinforcement that what we think happens at the shot is not always what actually happens.

[Hawken1911]

Awesome hunt report!  I can't get over the size difference between those deer and those here in Michigan.

[zipper bowss]

Originally posted by Hawken1911:
Awesome hunt report!  I can't get over the size difference between those deer and those here in Michigan.

I'm with you, Paul. I knew they would be small but I never expected them to be as small as they are.

[KentuckyTJ]

Day two I decided to return to the treestand since it seemed to be coming to life somewhat. But with all the tracks on the road and the food source I saw the doe eating on the night before on my mind, a different strategy was rolling around in my head. I found myself climbing down at the 9 am no walking cuttoff to explore the new area just up at the end of my entry trail. I walked to the berry bush and snapped a pic of them. No idea what they are, they looked liked tiny blueberries though but she sure liked them.

 

The wind was coming out of the NE and blowing over the road from the berry bush which was perfect. I began looking for a spot to set up a ground blind as there were no trees close enough. I found a suitable spot and tied back some palmettos and even propped up a tree branch with a stick that was in the way of a shot to the road if given the opportunity. Not five steps from the road, here would be my hide for the evening hunt.

 

[KentuckyTJ]

Originally posted by Hawken1911:
Awesome hunt report!  I can't get over the size difference between those deer and those here in Michigan.

Yeah Paul, big shock from ours also. One guy killed a nice buck for there one evening, The biologist said it was 5 years old buck and it was 118 lbs live weight.

[JJY]

The "Berry Bush" is Wax Myrtle.