So my mind has been other places all week due to issues with my Jeep and trying to get home tonight (I didn't unfortunately, screwing up my plans) and my recap from last Friday just kept getting pushed back. I've finally forced myself to sit down and type out everything that I can remember, so here goes.
Ya gotta work hard to be able to play hard. In my case, this means working 40 hours Monday through Thursday so I can get back home to NC with an extra day to enjoy over the weekend. This past weekend, that meant heading to Raleigh on Friday at lunch time so I could hit the woods in one of my favorite places on Butner-Falls of Neuse gamelands in Wake County. Just about every time I have been there myself or someone else in my hunting party has seen a deer and quite a few bucks and does have been harvested there. With a cold front having come through, I felt good about deer movement over the weekend, as long as rain would hold off on Saturday (more on that from Paul in our next blog entry). With my Eberlestock Blue Widow loaded up with camera and hunting gear, along with my Lone Wolf climber lashed on, I was set to go once I got to the parking area, except for that whole waiting game I had to play since the two guys I was hunting with, Josh and Glen, weren't there yet. It wasn't long after I finished changing and had everything ready to go that the two of them pulled up and off we went.
Having decided that they would hunt in the first spot I ever hunted in this particular area, down the creek bed I went towards the lake some 200 yards below them. I knew there was a patch of oaks there, the creek on one side and the open, thinned out pines on the other. Once I got to the "bowl" of oaks in the bottom area, I noticed that there was fresh grass out in the now dry lake bed at the back end of the cove. I've had good luck hunting the lake shores around this part of NC, but only hunt right along them during muzzleloader and gun season. Deciding not to break tradition, I decided to stick to my original plan of hunting the oaks and picked out a tree about 125 yards from the shore to climb (Keep this in mind for later...) After 45 minutes of climbing, sawing, sweating and getting all camera equipment setup, I settled in for the evening hunt.
With no action taking place the first hour or so, I used that time to cool down and just enjoy being out in the Wake County woods for the first time this hunting season. I also shot some b-roll footage. Around 6 p.m. while glancing out at the lakeshore I saw something that didn't quite look right. Throw up the binoculars and sure enough, there is a doe feeding on that fresh grass I decided not to hunt! I watched her feed out there and then appear to head my way. Standing, I waited and waited, but no deer. So back down I sit to only notice about 15 minutes later a deer sneaking by me on the other side of the creek, 70 yards away, going towards, you guessed it, the fresh grass. I scan and scan to try and find the deer in the binos to no avail and finally decided to just sit back and wait for one to come walking by. And one did, but it came walking by around 125 yards away out in that same patch of fresh grass. I again had more "picking up binoculars" than "picking up bow" time, but I was just content to have my heart pounding again like it always does when I a deer/turkey/whatever I am hunting steps out. As darkness fell, I knew that every day I am able to enjoy the outdoors is truly a blessing and how I couldn't wait to get back out there. Which I did the next morning with Paul, who as I said earlier, has more on Saturday's hunt in our next blog post.
-C.B.
Ya gotta work hard to be able to play hard. In my case, this means working 40 hours Monday through Thursday so I can get back home to NC with an extra day to enjoy over the weekend. This past weekend, that meant heading to Raleigh on Friday at lunch time so I could hit the woods in one of my favorite places on Butner-Falls of Neuse gamelands in Wake County. Just about every time I have been there myself or someone else in my hunting party has seen a deer and quite a few bucks and does have been harvested there. With a cold front having come through, I felt good about deer movement over the weekend, as long as rain would hold off on Saturday (more on that from Paul in our next blog entry). With my Eberlestock Blue Widow loaded up with camera and hunting gear, along with my Lone Wolf climber lashed on, I was set to go once I got to the parking area, except for that whole waiting game I had to play since the two guys I was hunting with, Josh and Glen, weren't there yet. It wasn't long after I finished changing and had everything ready to go that the two of them pulled up and off we went.
Having decided that they would hunt in the first spot I ever hunted in this particular area, down the creek bed I went towards the lake some 200 yards below them. I knew there was a patch of oaks there, the creek on one side and the open, thinned out pines on the other. Once I got to the "bowl" of oaks in the bottom area, I noticed that there was fresh grass out in the now dry lake bed at the back end of the cove. I've had good luck hunting the lake shores around this part of NC, but only hunt right along them during muzzleloader and gun season. Deciding not to break tradition, I decided to stick to my original plan of hunting the oaks and picked out a tree about 125 yards from the shore to climb (Keep this in mind for later...) After 45 minutes of climbing, sawing, sweating and getting all camera equipment setup, I settled in for the evening hunt.
With no action taking place the first hour or so, I used that time to cool down and just enjoy being out in the Wake County woods for the first time this hunting season. I also shot some b-roll footage. Around 6 p.m. while glancing out at the lakeshore I saw something that didn't quite look right. Throw up the binoculars and sure enough, there is a doe feeding on that fresh grass I decided not to hunt! I watched her feed out there and then appear to head my way. Standing, I waited and waited, but no deer. So back down I sit to only notice about 15 minutes later a deer sneaking by me on the other side of the creek, 70 yards away, going towards, you guessed it, the fresh grass. I scan and scan to try and find the deer in the binos to no avail and finally decided to just sit back and wait for one to come walking by. And one did, but it came walking by around 125 yards away out in that same patch of fresh grass. I again had more "picking up binoculars" than "picking up bow" time, but I was just content to have my heart pounding again like it always does when I a deer/turkey/whatever I am hunting steps out. As darkness fell, I knew that every day I am able to enjoy the outdoors is truly a blessing and how I couldn't wait to get back out there. Which I did the next morning with Paul, who as I said earlier, has more on Saturday's hunt in our next blog post.
-C.B.
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