Do any of you use a crossbow? If so, can you share your experiences with us? We'd love to hear about them and get some advice from our readers!
Thanks for the input!!!
-Paul Nicolucci
So the new regulation in NC that allows anyone to buy and hunt with a crossbow during all open deer seasons has really sparked my interest! However, since this is fairly new to the NC area I'm having a hard time finding good reviews on crossbows. Still, I'm really considering the idea of picking one up during the off-season and using it next year! With that being said, does anyone have any suggestions? From what I've read I'm leaning towards TenPoint as they seem to have quite a line-up of cross bows, with a varied price range from $600 all the way to $2K!
Do any of you use a crossbow? If so, can you share your experiences with us? We'd love to hear about them and get some advice from our readers! Thanks for the input!!! -Paul Nicolucci
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A day late, and, well, just a day later than I wanted to get this posted (though I am a few dollars short since payday is still a week away!). It's the beginning of a new month and you know what that means: Wildlife calendar time! Again, forum member Crash on NC Hunt and Fish has posted up the monthly calendar put out by the North Carolina Wildlife Federation and here is is for everyone to enjoy.
Oct. 1: Eastern Muzzleloader deer season opens Oct. 1: Sea duck season opens Oct. 1: Controlled hunting preserves open Oct. 1: Delayed-Harvest Trout Waters Open. Oct. 2: Last loggerhead sea turtle nests are hatching. Oct. 3: Western Muzzleloader deer season begins Oct. 3: Chimney swifts are leaving. Oct. 4: Peak surface activity for hognose snakes. Oct. 5-8: Duck, Merganser and Coot season is open. Oct. 5-15: Dark Goose season open Oct. 10: Tail end of migration peak for many shorebird species. Oct. 10-16: National Wildlife Refuge Week. Oct. 11: Ruby-throated hummingbirds are leaving for Central and South America. Leave your feeders up for potential sightings of unusual winter birds. Oct. 15: Eastern Gun deer season begins Oct. 15: Mud turtles and chicken turtles begin hibernation. Unlike most aquatic turtles, these species usually leave their ponds to hibernate on land. Oct. 16: Red bats are mating. Oct. 17: Western Bear season opens Oct. 17: Bobcat, Squirrel, Ruffed Grouse, Raccoon and Opossum seasons begins. Oct. 19: Light Goose season open Oct. 23: Acorns are mature for most oak species. Oct. 25: Persimmons are ripe. Oct. 29: Central Deer Muzzleloader season begins -C.B. With muzzleloader season opening Saturday morning in the Eastern-season section for deer, I figured I would take the time to post up the remaining opening dates for each section.
Eastern Deer Season Muzzleloader - Oct. 1 to Oct. 14 Gun - Oct. 15 to Jan. 2 Central Deer Season Muzzleloader - Oct. 29 to Nov. 11 Gun - Nov. 12 to Jan. 2 Northwestern Deer Season Muzzleloader - Nov. 5 to Nov. 18 Gun - Nov. 19 to Jan. 2 Western Deer Season Muzzleloader - Oct. 3 to Oct. 15 Bow and Arrow - Oct. 17 to Nov. 19 Gun - Nov. 21 to Dec. 10 Cory and I have both been quite busy lately with our jobs so this post is a bit late, but hey, better late than never! We did, however, get out together with the camera on Saturday October 17th for a day of hunting. Waking up around 4 a.m., we got everything packed up into the truck and off we headed to the area Cory hunted the afternoon before on Butner-Falls of Neuse gamelands (see his blog entry from Thursday for the lowdown on that hunt). It was a beautiful morning at that time with temperatures about 60 degrees but we stuck with our decision that we would use the ground blind as there was a very high chance of rain later in the morning.
We arrived to the parking area around 5:30 and started our hike in to our spot, flashlights guiding the way. After finding a spot that we thought was a good location for the blind we had some difficulty setting the blind up (So much easier to set those things up in a lighted garage!). Thankfully we got in with plenty of time before sunrise so this did not cost us any hunting time. Once everything was set up and the blind was brushed in as best as possible, we got all the camera equipment, bows and chairs into the blind and started our wait. Soon after we got settled in the blind, the sun came above the horizon; unfortunately the heavens also opened up and the rain came! It rained a good part of the day and we were not seeing much wildlife at all. After a couple hours, around 10 a.m., we decided to leave the blind and do some slow stalking and see if we could spot some deer out and about feeding or maybe even ease up on one bedded down. As luck would have it, the deer didn't want to cooperate too well, but we did find a new area to check out later in the season along with persimmon trees loaded with fruit the deer had been checking frequently (Fresh tracks told us we set up that morning on the wrong arm of the lake at that parcel of land). I had to be back home by 1 p.m. as my girlfriend and I had dinner plans with some family, so around noon we headed out of the woods without even seeing a deer. Even though we saw no deer it was still a great day of hunting since a day in the woods is better than any day in the office in my opinion! We got some good footage as well as good practice with the ground blind and the camera so all in all it was a good day and one that I'll be looking forward to again in the near future! Now if I can only get off of work early one day during this week in time to setup next to those persimmon trees for an afternoon hunt... -Paul Nicolucci 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. 60 degrees. A NNW wind. Hickory nuts and acorns falling. It was a perfect morning to start out the 2011 deer hunting season here in North Carolina at Alcoa Gamelands, except for the whole not seeing a deer thing. But hunting is not always about killing or even seeing the quarry you are after, at least in my view. It's about enjoying the thing you love and getting back into nature. And boy did it feel good to be back in the woods, bow in hand.
Unfortunately I was only able to get video of the hunt via my Go Pro since I left my camera arm at home. Along with my binoculars! Oh well, there are 4 months of deer season left for me to get plenty of footage. It would have been nice to record in better audio my exchange with a "deer". A "deer" that at first I thought was just a tree creaking before I realized it was one bleating. A "deer" that turned out to be another hunter after I saw his blind above where I sat while I walked out. For some reason this guy didn't notify me he was setup there when I walked in right at the break of dawn, otherwise I would have went further down the oak ridge or possibly a few hundred yards past him to the edge of a clearcut. Oh well, at least it made for an interesting morning thinking that I had a whole herd of deer 50 yards behind me and in a spot I couldn't see. Now the real hunting starts next week as cooler temps are supposed to be moving in on Friday and I'll actually be going on an evening hunt, which are way more successful for me in September and October. Did any of you NC guys and gals have any luck on Saturday? -C.B. The 2011 North Carolina Dove season opened this past Saturday at noon. I headed down to Goldsboro, NC to hunt with my long-time friend Derrick, who is deploying overseas with the Air Force this week. We headed out with another friend to the fields where we hunted last year and had a successful day.
We arrived to the field a bit after noon and we were all surprised to see that there was not another soul out hunting. I'm thinking it was due to the heat, it was close to 90! We stood in this watermelon patch that had given us a lot of action last year but nothing was flying! We gave it about two hours and then decided to check out another field that we saw some farmers out in picking their watermelon. Upon arriving we asked permission and they were more than happy to let us hunt their fields. We saw a few birds but only took a couple of shots, none of which yielded any birds. It was now close to 3pm and we were starting to ask ourselves what was wrong! It did not seem as though there was much shooting near us. We heard some shots off in the distance and decided to pack up and go look for the field with the action! We drove around for about 10 minutes and found a field where there were about 4 or 5 other guys hunting and there were birds all over the place! In the 10 minutes it took us to talk to some of the guys to make sure it was ok to hunt the same field we saw them shoot at least a half dozen birds! We set up in the field and hunted it until dark. We had a great hunt even though the action started late in the day! With the three hunters the bird count was the following: Paul: 13 Derrick: 7 Our other friend limited out! We then headed back to Derrick's place where I took a couple pictures of the 20 doves that he and I had shot. I'm sorry the quality is not better, but it was dark and all I had with me was the cell phone. We cleaned them up and called it a day. I'm planning to cook the doves up in the next week or so. I have a couple of recipes that Derrick told me about. 1) Dove Rice - Boil the dove breasts in chicken broth and then add rice(s) and some seasoning to the mixture. 2) Dove Kabobs - Wrap each dove breast in bacon, place on Kabob sticks and grill until the bacon is done. If anyone else has any suggestions I'd like to try them out, so let us know! -Paul Nicolucci Here at Inside Out Outdoors we keep a close eye on the always changing hunting regulations, mostly in NC for now. With that being said, I have reviewed the latest publication of the NC Wildlife regulations here. A great feature of the publication is that all of the changes from the previou year are written in red text to make them stand out! One of the regulations that caught my eye was the following: "If a hunter kills or wounds a big game animal during legal shooting hours the hunter may use a portable light source and a single dog on a leash to assist the hunter in retrieving the dead or wounded big game animal and may dispatch a wounded big game animal using a .22-caliber rimfire pistol, archery equipment, or a handgun otherwise legal for that hunting season. If necessary, the hunter may also retrieve wounded big game in this manner from 30 minutes after sunset to 11:00 p.m. The hunter may not use a motorized vehicle when searching for the wounded animal" I'm happy to see that NC has allowed the use of dogs to find wounded game! More and more states are allowing this type of retrieval method. In summary, a hunter who kills or wounds a big game animal during legal shooting hours can use a portable light source such as a spot light, lantern, etc, in combination with ONE dog on a leash to help find the animal. Not only can you do this during daylight hours but you can also track in this fashion until 11:00pm. This gives the hunter a chance to find their game that they have shot close to dark! If the animal is still alive once found it may be killed using a .22-caliber rimfire pistol, archery equipment or a hand gun that is legal for that hunting season. If we are talking about deer season, this handgun must fulfill the following requirement as documented on page 42 of the hunting regulations: "Deer, bear and wild boar may be taken with a handgun during the established gun hunting season provided that the handgun is not less than .24-caliber. Muzzleloading pistols are not legal for hunting." Also remember that handguns cannot be carried during the Archery season except for big game retrieval! Please give the latest edition of the regulations a read before you head to the field this year to make sure you know all of the latest regulation changes and additions! I'm really happy about this new addition to the regulations as it should hopefully help hunters find their game without having to wait until morning to finish tracking. This should also help decrease the number of deer that are lost and/or spoil due to the NC heat during the early season. If you have any questions please let us know and we can contact the Wildlife commission and get clarification. Remember, if you just want to give the regs a quick glance to see if anything is different, look for the red text as that indicates changes from the previous year. -Paul Nicolucci Another month, another calendar for wildlife happenings in good ol' North Carolina courtesy of Crash on NCHuntandFish.com as well as the NC Wildlife Federation. Without further ado, here we go:
September 1: Canada Goose season opens. September 3: Dove season opens. September 4: Copperheads give birth. September 9: Wild muscadine grapes are ripe. September 10: Peak flight periods for some common and uncommon butterflies, including Gulf fritillary; cloudless sulphur; little yellow; and Aaron's, Dion, and Yehl skippers. September 12: Whip-poor-wills and chuckwill's widows are leaving. September 14: September is an excellent butter fly month. Migrating monarchs can be particularly spectacular. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a good area for monarch watching, and Tunnel Gap at milepost 415.6 is an especially good spot. In the outer Coastal Plain, look for the queen a close relative of the monarch. Rare in our area, it breeds farther south but occasionally migrates northward along our coast. September 21: Hawk migration peaks. Mahogany Rock in Doughton Park along the Blue Ridge Parkway is a particularly good spot to view thousands of broad-winged hawks as well as other species. September 27: Most whitetail fawns have lost their spots. September 28: Bog turtle nests have hatched. September 29: Expect first frosts in the mountains. Carolina mantids are depositing their oothecae (egg clusters). -C.B. Just wanted to share something I've been meaning to for a few weeks now. In this internet age, a lot of us have come to like how easy it is to buy licenses, obtain maps and information and apply for draw hunts. While many states have been doing this for years now, NC has finally allowed you to apply for permit hunts online. If you are like me and know more about the NCWRC's computer system than the person working it at your local sporting goods store, then this is a time saver and way less stressful. So head on over to the NCWRC's home page and click on the button on the side that says "Permit Hunt Opportunities Apply Online". Hopefully I'll see you out there this season!
-C.B. |
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