Thanksgiving Hunt

It was a great week of hunting! I had harvested a couple of deer the weekend before Thanksgiving and it was back to North Florida for Thanksgiving. On Wednesday, Martus Smith and I decided to help Hatch Bend Hunting Club with a little doe management. We departed for the Club early in the morning, before the old sun had woken up the world. I will admit, riding around slow in the woods is not my idea of hunting, but Mr. Smith is not physically able to climb a tree and this gave him an opportunity to be in the woods he loves and that made the trip a special one. Mr. Smith is a strong supporter of Wilderness Calls and it was my pleasure to spend some quality time with him that day. As we eased through the wilderness in Old Blue, my ever faithful truck, we told stories of hunts past. I am still amazed how the deer and hogs get bigger as time goes on. The wildlife was everywhere, birds, squirrels, turkeys and a few hopping critters. Then as we rounded a curve, about 70 yards to our left in the pines, I observed a large, mature doe. This was what we were looking for! I took aim with my 308 and another hunt was a success. I did not have to wade up to my chest to retrieve the mature doe, as I did when I shot the 5 point earlier in the week. The beauty of this hunt was that Thanksgiving was the next day and we had just harvested food for that meal. You guessed it , fried back strap cooked in gravy with mashed potatoes and all the trimmings. As usual I ate way too much, but it was a truly great Thanksgiving spent with mom and Mr. Smith !

Then it was off to Wilderness Calls to search for that big buck. When I arrived that evening Little Samuel had already retrieved the spy cameras and was foaming at the mouth, from what he had seen on them. As we scrolled through the pictures, we were both struck with amazement at the size of one of the bucks. A 20 inch spread with 10 points and appeared to be well over 200 lbs. We immediately named him "Spread Nasty", for the spread of his horns and how nasty he appeared in the picture, as if he was the king of the wilderness. The hunt was on! After several days of hunting old " Spread Nasty " and observing several smaller bucks over the Redneck Guru estrous, I came to the conclusion he was a dude of the night and did not come out in the light of day. On Monday morning I decided to hunt my hideaway stand where we had taken some pictures of several mature does and a couple of boar hogs the day before . It was time to hunt for meat and do a little doe management on Wilderness Calls. I settled into my lock-on-stand before day light. The stars filled the sky, like thousands of twinkling lights. When day light swept the stars away, the woods came alive with all the little critters that were waking up. This part of the hunt always makes getting up so early worth the trouble, to witness nature as it comes alive. At approximately 8:00 A.M. I observed a large hog entering the area in front of my stand. He fed along the woods line out of site at first, teasing me as he grunted and ate acorns. Then he turned left and stepped into the small clearing. It was a large boar, but none of the ones we had on camera, he was much larger! I eased my 308 into position, trying not to alarm the large animal. Then squeezed the trigger. When I reached the massive animal, I was surprised at the size of this beast! He had to weigh over 250 pounds. Now this was one hunt I was glad Little Samuel and Wild Bill was with me. Yes, it took all three of us to load this large boar. We just barely managed the task though! Another successful hunt here at Wilderness Calls!

                                                       Hatch Bend Hunt

Thanksgiving is drawing near and I decided to travel to Hatch Bend Hunting Club in north, Florida to hunt a couple of days, before the big week at Wilderness Calls. I arrived late Friday evening and settled in for the nights rest. The next thing I knew it was 6:00 A.M., yes the great hunter had overslept! Not to be discouraged, I accelerated the waking up process and traveled to the woods. As I arrived at the location where I was going to hunt, the light of day was in full force. Well, at least I would not need my handy dandy flash light to see to get to my stand. The hunting Gods were smiling on me however, there was a heavy fog that restricted the suns' affect. On Friday, Little Samuel had placed some Redneck Guru Doe-N-Heat estrous in the area.
I eased into the climbing tree stand and got set for the morning hunt. As I settled in I could hear a deer blowing in front of me approximately 200 yards. Now this was not a good sign! Had I gotten to the stand too late? I figured, I was there, why not give it a couple of hours though. The woods were alive with all the small animals that makes the setting in a tree stand truly remarkable, to see the little critters in their natural habitat, scurrying around for food. I was content to be fortunate enough to see this marvel of nature.
I then took out my Wilderness Calls grunter and began to grunt in hopes to attract a large buck. I repeated the process several times, allowing about five to ten minutes in-between the grunts. Then I heard a branch break behind me. I could not turn to see, in fear if it was a big buck he would see me, even though I was 20 feet up in a tree. I noticed out to the corner of my left eye, a buck walking beside my stand. It was a five point buck, about ten yards to my left. I moved my 308 into position and as he moved farther in front of me, I took aim and shot. The large buck took off like he had fire in his britches. I waited for several minutes and climbed down to go find my deer.
Now comes the part of the story that I will never forget! First I could not find any blood, could I have missed such an easy shot? If so, Little Samuel would never let me forget it! When the buck left, he appeared to be hit! I began to circle and walk in the area where I had seen him depart, still no blood! Now all hunters can relate to the felling I was having at this point, I am sure! The mind begins to question, did I hit my mark? Why is there no blood and the best of all did he disappear? I had circled for approximately thirty minutes with no luck, when I decided to check the tall grass around a large lake. As I approached the lake I observed a piece of brown in the middle of the lake. Then it appeared to have a stick in front of it. Could it be? Yes! When I put the scope on the object, it was my deer! Where was the John boat? You guessed it, no where I needed it to be! I had to wade out into the lake to retrieve the deer. Now folks that water was cold! As all hunters know however, the cold was not noticed, for I had found my deer and it marked a successful hunt at Hatch Bend, in north Florida. I will say after the adrenalin wore off the wet clothes were extremely cold! But I had what I came for!