17 April To MAHA Staff: I just thought I would send in a few picture & drop off a few words on this year's hunting season. My friend Gary and I made our 1st trip at the start of November to [location deleted] archery hunting. We hunted about three days. Together we seen twelve bucks, four of which were shooter type bucks. No shots presented on this trip. Not a lot of sign shown yet.
Next trip was to [location deleted] for opening of rifle season. I was to meet up with the famous [name deleted] brothers. To say I was excited would be a major understatement. I had very little knowledge of the area which I was going to be hunting so I made a call to the office and spoke with the very patient Jon Nee. I asked Jon where I should try and without hesitation he made a suggestion. I told him to put me down, I would give it a shot.
I met up with the [names deleted] brothers at the motel. Two of them drove straight from [location deleted]. One of them had a scored on a really nice ten point.
Opening morning I slipped into the property using the wind to my favor watching a small bedding area.
When I heard the 1st shot, I made some aggressive grunts and rattled my horn. While I was still banging the horns together I looked down the treeline and there was a deer coming straight for me. I raised my rifle after I could see it better to realize it was a good buck. When he made me out it was too late. I took him at 28.5 yards. When I first seen him he was well over a hundred yards out. I looked at my watch and thought Jon Nee sure knows how to pick them. I just scored on a nice ten point. It still amazes me how much bigger these deer are compared to where I hunt five hours south of here. On opening morning our group was 3 for 6, not bad.
Third trip. Gary and I headed back for [location deleted]. A little different this time more sign, more movement. After changing farms we finally found that spot where you know this is where I need to be. 1st evening on stand I had two very big bucks fight well after dark just out of range. I had one buck walk just under me and all I could see was his white horns. When I finally was able to get down it was forty-five minutes after dark. These bucks were mean and mad. I'm not going to lie, I was a little bit nervous.
Next morning I was excited because I just knew that I might get a chance with the frost on and what I seen the night before. At 7:30AM I was surprised I hadn't seen any deer. I made a few soft grunts, and waited. Just a few minutes went by I looked over my left shoulder and seen a nice buck on the trail headed right for one of my shooting lanes. When he walked behind a tree I drew my bow. As he walked out I stopped him and made the shot. He kicked his legs high and bolted out of the falt I was hunting. I gave him an hour and Gary and I found the buck at the end of a good blood trail. As a bow hunter when you make a good shot nothing feels better. Another nice ten point. This deer has no spread but has good mass and tine length. When I first seen him I knew he was good enough for me.
Gary is still hunting this area, new tot he asc. he knows this land will produce and i hope he scores.
I am very excited to be a part of such a good organization. I know I have awesome places to hunt. There is no wrong, except whether or not you are successful in drawing a tag for the season.
I am around hunters every day. I talk about MAHA and they say that's a lot of money to hunt, and they don't say much about it. I break out the pictures of the deer and turkeys, next thing you know they want telephone #'s to call to find out about MAHA.
I think the one thing that stands out to me about MAHA is if you are a member and you have friends that become members it all feels like you are family or maybe a brotherhood. You help each other to succeed, its not about competition. I have more friends today because I belong to MAHA. That is a good feeling to have, its nt all about numbers with Mid-America.
You guys do an unbelievable job, Mr. Wenzel, Mr Nee, & Jerry. Thank you for putting up with me.
Jamie.
Those that hunt bow, muzzleloader and modern firearms provide themselves with much flexibility of when to hunt and open up lands with the gun the archery hunter would find the range of observation just too great.
He shows some of the ground he hunted.
Click the icons to read this letter in its original format.
Whenever we get such a review as this from Association hunters it brings a great deal of satisfaction and the burden of additional pressure to insure we never let down hunter expectations. An obligation we take seriously in every aspect of the Association.
Thank you Jamie for an excellent account of how the potential for great success is within each hunt.
WisdomA long time and very successful trophy whitetail deer hunter made the comment that hunters are on a 24 hour cycle, but trophy deer are not. His comment we share here with his concurrence was related to the topic how often does anyone see a shooter buck. His point being that rarely will the same trophy deer make a pass through the same spot in sequential days. The day he sees a trophy buck on a farm but does not get a shot he watches the buck in connection with the weather, terrain and rut conditions at hand. Waits until he is sure the buck has long gone out of that area, adjusts his stand as he deems right and leaves the farm not finishing the hunt that day or coming back the next. He scouts/hunts another farm (developing other spots) letting that deer continue on his path. That hunter will then return to the trophy deer farm the third day, letting the woods settle, and then continues to hunt day to day in succession until that buck is seen again. He then repeats and adjusts as the eyes-on, shot opportunity or not, adjust stand location and leaves or continues the hunt as appears right. He believes hunters do more harm (leaving scent behind) by hunting the same spot over sequential days than can accurately be seen by the hunter.
Why should anyone follow this anonymous hunter's advice? Because he is in his 60's, long ago maturing into the non-competitive and effective whitetail hunter we all aspire to be, and has more top 20% bucks than most others. His pictures, most just of his harvested deer, are on this website more than a couple of times. April 2008 page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |
