I am not sure if my hunt was unsuccessful?

bigbore442001 · Post by **bigbore442001** » Sat May 10, 2008 9:30 am

Many people define success in a hunt as whether they take their intended quarry.Others define it based on the experiences they had while in the outdoors. I guess mine would be based on the latter.

I arose early this morning to the raucous din of some inane pop star on the clock radio. That ended my blissful slumber very quickly. I dressed and imbibed a hot cup of Keemun tea with locally produced honey along with some yogurt and my dose of vitamins. I drank another cup and really didn't dwell on the diuretic effects of tea, which would be my downfall for the mornings hunt.

I got into the Ranger and headed north to a friend's property who has graciously allowed me to set up a outhouse blind in his field. I get the bow out and walk to the blind. I heard a gobble across the road. It is behind someone's home and it was a shock gobble to the man's crowing rooster.

I set up the decoy and sat. I waited and waited. I made some hen yelps. No response. I called again after a while and still no response. Then I heard a gobble, but it seemed further away. The effects of the tea were starting to make itself apparent. I summized that I better answer the call of nature now rather than sit in agony while a bird was in the field.

I exited the blind and ..well... did what I had to do. As I was getting ready to go back into the blind guess what shows up around the corner? Yup. The gobbler caught me unprepared. All I could do was stand there as he walked with a very fast gait into the posted land. I knew that I could not get my bow and shoot fast enough. He was already forty yards away and headed for cover.

Lesson of the day. Make sure I have a bottle in the blind. I packed up and decided that I will go to the club property and hike in to the back side of the land I was hunting. The turkeys were headed for a small patch of posted land and my strategy was to call them off the posted land from the other side. I summized that the birds travel on this abandoned rail road called the Grand Trunk. A little history lesson. The Grand Trunk RR was a line planned to connect the port of Providence RI to central Massachusetts. It was to be a rail line without any grade crossings . The head of the operation and main financial backer was a man named Charles Hayes. He was in England in 1912 trying to drum up business. He took a new ship which was supposed to be unsinkable. Needless to say he was one of many victims on the night of April 14th when the Titanic struck and iceberg off of Newfoundland. The abandoned line bisects the posted land and enters the club property. I figured to walk down to the border,set up a decoy and begin calling. I didn't have a blind but I had my ghillie suit on. I figured that this would be enough.

As I drove to the club I spotted a red pick up at the entrance. Hmm. Someone is hunting turkey on the club property. It isn't posted so anyone can hunt. I unlock the gate and drive to the pistol range. I begin to don my attire and then I hear a shot. One single shot usually tells me that the bird is down. The shot came from the back side of the campground area. I have walked around that area without ever seeing a bird. Maybe they have moved in now. Hmm. I decided that I needed fresh air and exercise so I trotted on down the dirt road and then throught the tick filled brush to the Grand Trunk. Good think I soaked my suit in permetherin. That stuff is great. Not a tick on me.

I come to the end and set up the decoy. I am slightly elevated on the railroad bed . I leaned against a nice white pine tree and made some calls. I sat there for a while and sort of daydreamed. As I was sitting I spotted something odd. A head. Hmm. A deer's head. About twentfive yards in front of me was a deer. A nice large doe. Then I saw the outline of a deer's back. Another deer. Then I spotted two more. Four deer in all. All of them were contently feeding on the new black birch leaves unrolling from the saplings. They had no idea I was sitting on the ground about twenty yards away. I watched as they meandered closer along the rail line. I saw the matriarch touch noses with one of the small does and then lick the side of it. It must be it's offspring. The last deer looked to be a button buck. It could be larger than that since the antlers are still growing.

There was a swirling wind and I figured that as the deer moved closer they would eventually smell me. I was thinking to myself," If this was October 13th, I could take any one of these four deer whenever I want." I see a nice tall white pine on the Trunk that would be a good stand site several months down the road. What really intrigued me was that one of the younger deer became enamored with my decoy. It could not help but stare at it. It was mesmerized by it. The matriarch looked at it a couple of times but kept on feeding . Sure enough as the wind changed, the matriarch blew. All the deer then followed her to a position in some woods about fifty yards away from me. All but one of the young ones. It was overly curious. It kept on looking at me. This was of course after I made a few turkey calls. Then it blew at me. I then sat and more or less savored the experience. I looked at my watch and wanted to calculate the time it would take me at a normal pace to get to the truck. I got my decoy and everything ready to head back. I walked through the same woods as I came in through and arrived at the black Ranger. It took me twenty-five minutes. I plan to set up a stand for the fall in that area. The Trunk makes for a natural funnel and I suspect that the deer will still be in a summer like mode for October.

I have some regrets in the fact that I didn't take the gobbler, but I did have some good experiences and learned a few things about the deer situation. I will be back.

Post by **Hobie** » Sat May 10, 2008 9:35 am

I'd count that a good day...

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Sat May 10, 2008 11:49 am

Hobie wrote:I'd count that a good day...

Ditto!

WCF3030 · Post by **WCF3030** » Sat May 10, 2008 11:58 am

Instead of chipping away at the honey do list you were hunting.
That in itself is the definition of success!!!!

Rexster · Post by **Rexster** » Sat May 10, 2008 12:38 pm

Sounds like a very, very good day, to me.

GANJIRO · Post by **GANJIRO** » Sat May 10, 2008 4:45 pm

My most memorable hunting trip was on the island of Moloka'i with my 2 bro-in-laws on several hundred acres of private land. We hunted for 3 days and did not fire a shot nor did we see one head of game but we still had so much fun we still talk about it 25 years later.