Inside Out Outdoors

A Look at Indiana Through an Iphone

1/4/2012

I travel for work. A lot. And for the past month and half I have been working in Indiana, from the Louisville-area in the South to Bloomington and now Terre Haute. In my "adventures" I have seen many deer, too many turkeys and some amazing scenery, so who could blame me wanting to share with you just fraction of what I have been able to see. Let's just say it's a good thing we have an unofficial company policy to use our Iphones to capture the beautiful, the amazing and the down-right weird.

-C.B.

2011 Hunting Season...In Pics

1/2/2012

Decided to put together a short slideshow recapping the 2011 hunting season here in NC. It's not much (I really need to carry the camera more often!) but hopefully this gives you a little look into my passion. Oh, and I have to apologize for the lack of harvest photos with me in them, turns out this year I was a vegetarian, aka the Indian work for "bad hunter".

-C.B.

Finally Time for Deer Hunting

12/2/2011

So with work keeping me busy and away from home, coupled with being a newlywed, my hunting time this Fall has been reduced to say the least. When you couple this with the fact that I have been working in KY and now Indiana, both home to some whooper bucks, well, I have been salivating at the chance to get back out in the field. Luckily I was off this week and I was able to do just that.

Trip to New York - Act Two

11/28/2011

Last Wednesday I was able to get out to Owasco Lake and do a morning of duck hunting with my buddy Brian and his younger brother. The morning was a brisk one: heavy rain, 10-15 mile-an-hour winds with 30 mile-an-hour gusts coming from the N/NE and temperatures in the mid to high 30's! Most people would probably have stayed in bed but I've had good luck in the past on rainy, overcast days hunting for ducks, so we decided this morning should be no different.

The morning started around 5:30 a.m. when we got our decoys out in the water and our blind situated on the shore of the lake. By the time legal shooting time rolled around there were a good number of ducks flying down the lake, with a few pairs eying our decoys. But, and this is a big but, the wind speed and direction were working against us in this regard. We were, however, able to harvest one Mallard drake. Once the wind died down by mid-morning, the birds had slowed their flight down the lake, but we did have one more single Mallard come into our decoys and he never made it back out!

I wish I could have gotten a picture of him but unfortunately I only had my cell phone with me and I had dropped it in a puddle at the gas station getting coffee and breakfast for my hunting partners, and since water and technology usually don't mix, it was not functioning most of the day. He had three curls on his tail feathers though and was also a pretty hefty bird with very bright colors, one of the best looking Mallards I've seen in awhile!

Overall it was a great day hunting. Keep an eye out for my next post which will have multiple photos of another more successful Duck hunt last

I also made it out deer hunting on Tuesday, however I only saw three does and none of them gave me a shot (they were quite a ways away from me when I saw them).

-Paul Nicolucci

My Thanksgiving Tradition

11/26/2011

While most look forward to eating turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce whenever the 4th Thursday in November rolls around, I am sure I am not alone when I say that as a hunter I look forward to getting out in the field that Holiday weekend. This year was no different as I was able to get out to hunt on Wednesday afternoon and Thanksgiving morning, both hunts happening in the small strip of woods behind my grandfathers house in the foothills of North Carolina. Not my typical hunting grounds, I've walked around those woods ever since I was just a little boy who never thought I'd have a beard (now at 26 that has changed, having not shaved since early October!), so I know them like the back of my hand. Sitting in that ladder stand watching the creek bottom, hardwood ridge and thickets, I was able to relax and unwind, letting the past 14 days of work leave my mind. And I am pretty sure I daydreamed about all those Indiana deer (especially the two big bucks!) I saw just a few days earlier, hoping their Southern cousin who made the rubs just a few yards from me would come strolling by. As luck would have it, he didn't, nor did any of his female counterparts, but those two hunts were exciting as always. Especially when one squirrel decided he wanted to come up the tree my stand was in to get a better look at me. It's amazing how curious some can be while others will take off up a tree at the slightest movement. I hope everyone has had and will continue to have a happy Thanksgiving and be safe in all their outdoors adventures!

-C.B.

Trip to New York - The First Act

11/23/2011

The opening weekend of the regular gun season in New York was this past Saturday and Sunday. I had four people in my hunting party on a parcel of private land that we have been hunting for years. Saturday was a very successful day with 5 deer making it to our garage; below is how they got there.

Saturday was a very clear and unseasonably warm day with temperatures in the 50's. I arrived to my stand around 6 a.m.; we had our first deer down by mid morning. My grandfather, for the first time in his hunting career, had the pleasure of taking three deer in one day! He shot two does and a 5 point buck by the day's end! He was as excited as I've ever seen him while hunting, as he should have been since it's a great accomplishment to successfully take that many deer in one day. We will not have empty freezers any time soon to say the least!

My step dad Doug was also able to take a nice doe on Saturday. And then there was me. I was successful in taking a 6 point buck as well! Take a look at the attached photos of him while I fill you in on what happened. He came into sight around noon. I missed him on my first shot and he ran closer, presenting another shot to me which I gladly took! The journey ended with the deer laying about 40 yards from my tree stand!

Now that I have my buck tag filled in NY I'm doe hunting for the rest of the time here. I will hopefully not have much trouble filling these tags as I saw many does on opening day, counting 9 deer - including the buck I took - throughout the day.

I'll continue to try and keep our readers updated on my hunts as they occur. I plan to get out tomorrow morning and do some more deer hunting and then have a duck hunt planned for Wednesday!

I hope everyone else is having some success! Please let us know via a comment on this post if you have any stories to share with us, or even some pictures! We'd love to post them and share with others!

-Paul Nicolucci

Trip to New York

11/17/2011

I'm currently in the process of preparing for an out of state hunt in New York, heading up there tomorrow night and staying until the Sunday after Thanksgiving. I make this trip every year for the opening week of the regular season and have three permits in hand: two doe permits and a buck permit!

I'm going to be hunting on land I've hunted for many years (it is all private land so a bit different from the usual hunting that Cory and I do in NC). I've had great success over the last couple of years, so be on the lookout for hunt recaps and photos of some great deer (fingers crossed)!

I've also planned a couple of duck hunts on Owasco Lake this year! The spot I'm hunting has been pretty good to me so far and I'm hoping nothing will change that fact this time around.

All that being said, I always forget how hard it is to get all the gear you need together for an out of state hunt. Needless to say I have my hands full right now with work and trying to get everything packed. Wish me luck :)

Happy Hunting!

-Paul Nicolucci

My Muzzleloader Opener

11/14/2011

A view like no other!

Wow, time flies when you are busy with work and try to squeeze in hunts. Makes me forget that I need to put my hunts into print when they are all said and done so I can share them with you guys and look back on them days, months and even years later. All that being said, let me fill you guys in on how my first muzzleloader hunt of the year went back at the end of October.

A Day of Hunting is Better Than a Day of Work

11/8/2011

I was able to get out for the last weekend of the Central muzzleloader season here in NC on Saturday. I hunted a spot where I had success with the bow last year, waking up to some great cold morning weather with a temperature of about 37 degrees! I arrived to the parking area and found one other guy who was hunting with his bow and had a quick conversation with him to see where he planned to hunt. Quick piece of advice: It's always a good idea to do this so that you don't hunt too closely to someone else and you especially need to know where everyone is, if possible, when on public land.

I got to my stand location at around 7 a.m. and settled into my tree as the sun was rising! The sun came up and the birds started to chirp...but no deer! I heard a few shots in the distance and by noon I had not heard much action for a couple of hours, so I packed it up for the day; but hey, a day in the woods is better than a day in the office! Even though I did not get a shot or even see a deer, it was still a very enjoyable morning. Especially since I find sitting in a tree one of the most relaxing things I do!

-Paul Nicolucci

A Smokepole First!

9/30/2011

In celebration of the Eastern NC muzzleloader season starting tomorrow, here is the story of Paul's first buck with his CVA Accura...yea, we know it's a NY buck, but it's still a good story to get you pumped down here in NC!

I bought a CVA Accura muzzleloader in 2008 and hunted with it during the Regular New York Deer season. I headed out on Opening Day in 2008 with only my muzzle loaded I had decided that since I just spent a good chunk of change on this new "toy" I'd better hunt with it! I had spent many hours at the local range sighting this gun in and I was confident out to 200 yards with the Accura.

I was settled into my stand and around mid morning I saw a very large buck come out about 150 yards away in the thick swamp area behind my stand. I scoped the buck and saw that he was in fact very large! He was moving quite fast and would not give me a good shot, the only shot I had due to the thick cover he was in was a head shot which I was not willing to take at that range, there are too many factors that could cause you to miss, especially shooting in the type of cover he was in. I watched as he walked around me and passed all of the other hunters I was with that day, all who were hunting with slug guns and non of them could get a shot either he was just keeping too much distance from us.

About an hour later I had a small doe probably only about a year old come right out from behind me and walk about 10 yards next to me. Although not a shooter, what better to draw in a big buck than a live doe decoy ;) I watched as she feed near me and kept a close eye out behind my stand where she had exited the thick cover hoping a buck would come out. Within about 10 minutes one did! He must have been walking right in the Doe's tracks! I turned around in my stand and got a solid shooting rest thanks to a branch in my tree! When we got within about 25 yards of me I had a great broadside shot and I took it, as the smoke cleared I saw the buck run right past my stand and stop about 50 yards in front of me, the doe was about 30 yards away from the buck and both had just frozen not knowing what had happened.

A million thoughts ran through my mind and the first was "Dang how did I miss him!!!!", the second being "Man, I wish I had my slug gun with me so I had a quick follow up shot" and the third being "How am I going to explain missing a deer at 25 yards??!!". I started to reload as fast as I could while both deer just stood there! I got the 777 pellets loaded and the sabot seated onto them and pulled out a primer and then he dropped!!!! Boy was I happy when I saw him go down! I had a double lung shot on him and it just took him a minute to go down! I took a huge sigh of relief as now I could relax and tell everyone on the radio that I had a huge buck down!

I'm not 100% sure if this was the same buck that I saw a bit earlier but it sure looked like it, the left side of his rack was pretty memorable and it looks to be the same deer but I can't ever be sure, but I'd put my money on it as we did not see another buck that large the rest of the year. I unfortunately was leaving to take a job in NC in a few days and was unable to get this deer mounted ( I still take some grief from folks for this ) but I have the memory and that is all that matters to me! I've attached some photos for your viewing pleasure, once of which is the antler mount that I put together that is hanging in my living room!

Soon after this hunt the muzzle loaded started to experience some mechanical problem, the firing pin spring was not working properly so I had to send it in for service. It was low down on my to do list and took me nearly a year and a half to get it sent out, however CVA got it right back to me and I have it in hand and ready for this upcoming season! I can't wait to get out with the Accura again, it's a great gun!

-Paul Nicolucci