Headed to Maryland for Sika

[SAM E. STEPHENS]

Get em , sounds like a great time....

,,,Sam,,,

[Roy from Pa]

Best of luck to you guys... Waiting on stories and pictures...

[two4hooking]

Originally posted by reddogge:
The truth of the matter is you dream of this....

   

But you usually come home with this.....

   

But at any size or sex these things are a trophy.

I've just come home exhausted!  But boy is it fun!  I'm hooked!

[Roy from Pa]

WELL, John?

[SCS]

Yeah, really. How was it??
Steve

[jsweka]

OK.  The hunt is over and we had a great time.  Unfortunately none of us went home with any meat.  We hunted from treestands - sometimes over feeders, and sometimes in bedding areas hoping to catch them coming by.  I didn't see any the first two days, but I did hear one bugling Tuesday morning and evening.  He was just teasing me and wouldn't show himself.  I might have seen one Wednesday morning - just some some brown animal running through some thick pine trees without making a sound.  It might have been one         )  

It was certainly different hunting scenery from what I'm use to and was definitely worth the trip just to experience hunting in the marsh.  Here's some pics.

Sunset over the marsh.
   

I couldn't resist getting a pic of my equipment in this setting
   

Dave coming to the realization that a Hill Style bow just isn't quite suited for a ground blind.
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[jsweka]

And some pics around camp...


Gary - WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THAT POOR DEER?
 

It was the best botle opener ever      
 

Finishing up dinner.
 

The other gentleman who shared camp with us was Jack Davis, also from PA.  He was one hell of nice guy and this was his fifth trip to Muddy Marsh (which says something about them eventhough I came home empty handed)

Gary practicing
 

Dave looking for Gary's arrows with a metal detector      
 
(OK Gary didn't lose any arrows at the practice range, but Dave did find some from previous hunters)

[jsweka]

It was a real fine time despite not bagging an elusive sika.  How can a motley crew like this not have fun together?      
 

[Jayrod]

I love it ...John I must say you always catch Gary at his CLASSIC moments I am still laughing     Thxs for sharing the pictures looked like some nice country!!

[SCS]

Glad you guys had fun! I need to plan a trip down there.
Steve

[jsweka]

It was pretty neat country.  I should have taken some pics of walking to our stands - wading through water and muck - but I think I was more concerned about not sinking up to my waste in the swamp than about getting pics of it at the time.

[Jayrod]

I hear ya there looking forward to seeing you at ETAR!

[Keith Zimmerman]

Yep, Gary is always in a compromising position when his pic is taken.  Just bad luck but funny!  I see he looks like he is at full draw.  That's a WIN WIN WIN  for him!

[Roy from Pa]

Nice pictures, John..

[reddogge]

Just a quick note on my last Sika bowhunt I did the evening before rifle season for those interested in Sika hunting. I set up on the ground in a natural blowdown backed up to a very thick green briar thicket in my Huntmore chair so I could swivel from front to left for a shot. This is the same spot I missed a nice doe last year. The deer come from in front of me and pass to the left of the thicket usually.

Just about 5:00 when it was getting dingy I heard a loud bugle so close to me in front that I could hear his breathing. The hair stood up on my neck as I strained to catch a glimpse or a clue whether he was heading my way or away from me. I was so tense I thought I would explode. Darkness came and no deer so I left and met my partner who was across the muddy road a couple of hundred yards from me.

Turned out he saw the deer at 75 yards in the failing light as it crossed the road from the woods I was in and it was an immense stag similar to the one I posted above. We put two and two together and this stag snuck behind me passing no more that 20-25 yards from me downwind. He never spooked but was sneaking. So close but so far. About as exciting of a Sika hunt I've ever had.

But that's why they are called "Marshghosts".

[cacciatore]

What a blast

[lt-m-grow]

I noted that folks heard bugles, but it didn't appear you called back as can be affective when hearing a buck grunt or elk bugle.

Can you call these things in?

Thanks for sharing the story BTW.  Very cool.

[canopyboy]

I was told the only "call" a sika comes to is corn.

Seriously though, these things are like little brown ghost deer. I saw three, but never had a shot under 40 yards. Heard a few more moving through the water.

One of the guys who was hunting with Muddy Marsh as well (Jack) said "the whole deer tastes like filet mignon." This was his 5th trip there, he comes every year, same week. He's taken deer 3 out of the first 4 times, I hope he got one after we left.

It was a fun trip. I think I have a few pics, I'll try to post later.

As for hunting with Gary and John: I've never hunted with someone who is so dramatic with an IPA headache in the morning or is so violent when awakened in the middle of the night. (I'll let  y'all guess who is which.)

[Keith Zimmerman]

How was the snoring?  LOL!

[canopyboy]

Those guys are amateurs. I've had to endure way worse. John didn't think so though. Gary actually drove him to get up and move into the other room on the last night.