The first two full weeks of North Carolina's Archery season are in the books and we have been fortunate enough to spend a couple days in the woods. No deer yet but lots of valuable information has been gained on this particular piece of public land we are hunting.
For instance, the afternoon of opening day I realized parking at the first parking area you come to at a certain area of Alcoa gameland, which we normally pass right by, is not recommended when the temperature is close to 90 degrees. It will lead to a sweaty time under full sun while getting dressed, packed up and eventually headed down the logging road. But luckily I carried a towel in my pack, so I was able to dry off after climbing the pine tree I picked out at the head of a creek drainage and getting setup. At look at the map on my phone a few hours into that afternoon hunt I realized I was actually at a spot I had meant to hunt last year and scout earlier this year. I just happened on it randomly when I thought one of the lanes they had cut earlier this year through the pines would lead me to the oaks I THOUGHT I had seen during an August scouting trip (more on that later). Just as I was going to cut to the right off the lane I came to the area I hunted, where two cut lanes ran up each side of the drainage area. The spot looked promising even though it was hard to see how fresh tracks were in the rock hard soil. But one thing I always remember hunting areas like that is the deer will often times just browse around and not really follow a distinct path through the vegetation, especially when the terrain is fairly flat. That's where hunting at the head of the drainage comes into play as it lays at the bottom of a slight hill, theoretically causing a pinch point for deer coming North to South. As luck would have it, I was just serenaded by birds and frogs all evening long with some excitement coming right before dark as turkeys flew up to roost a hundred yards or so between myself and the truck. I do know I'll be back there in that spot again come rifle season as it's a thicker spot compared to the other areas they thinned on that parcel of land.
Fast forward to the 14th. This was a hunt Paul and I had planned since our August scouting trip and with my new camera arm having came in on Tuesday, we would be able to start off with our renewed plan to focus more on filming this year. I was behind the camera(s) that morning and Paul played the role of bowhunter, hunting a spot on the same section of Alcoa as I had just 7 days prior, but a good 400 yards from there and closer to the lake. We were perched 20 feet up a poplar where bottom-land hardwoods meet thinned pines. Trails ran along the perimeter of the woods and also up, down and across the cut lanes. Squirrels and birds kept us company while the deer decided to not come where we could see them. After climbing down we decided to do a little midday scouting before grabbing lunch. We found that the deer had been really utilizing the hardwoods as well as the next cut lane over from where we hunt. The plan was to find those oak trees I just knew were off the road bed between that morning's spot and my opening day one. After 10 minutes of looking for them we quickly realized what I thought was oaks were just other hardwood trees so it was back to square one for finding a small patch of oaks amongst all those thinned pines for me to hunt that afternoon (but we definitely found travel corridors that will be hunted come rifle season). 15 more minutes of walking found us down a road bed running parallel to the one we had been hunting below just an hour before. Halfway down it and we found exactly what we were looking for: a small group of three big white oaks and one small black oak just off the now grown up road bed with trails leading right to them. We checked the ground under them, hoping to see some acorns or fresh hulls but all we found were signs that last year was a banner mast crop, not now. Storing that away in the "to hunt at a later date" file, we cut across to where our stands were, grabbed them and headed back to the truck.
After a Bojangles lunch break, going over the video camera and camera arm how-to's with Paul and filming a introduction for our - knock on wood - upcoming web series on here at the end of this hunting season, we grabbed our stands and headed the mile back to some hardwoods I had found with our buddy Seth last year. When we finally got there we liked what we saw with obvious sign that deer had at least been coming through looking for acorns even though we couldn't find any on the ground. Getting settled into the white oak we picked out took a while but the beech tree it butted up against gave us plenty of cover, hiding cameraman Paul in amongst it's branches. Anticipation was high, even though the wind did a complete 360 around us throughout the afternoon hunt, as a ton of squirrels were out feeding on hickory nuts. We just knew that at least one of the oaks in there had to have acorns on it as said squirrels kept knocking things off every tree around us and they weren't branches. Hunting a transition area between different types of habitat is something I love to do and the pines behind us had plenty of cover that we hoped an old buck would decided to ease out of right at dark. No such thing would happen however and as legal shooting time came to an end we began the long process of breaking down camera equipment and climbing down. An hour later we were gladly back at our trucks, packing up and heading out separate ways til the end of the month when we try our hand at some favorite Raleigh, NC area public land for the Eastern NC Muzzleloader opener. I'm taking a break from hunting this week unless I have time for a quick hunt around my house Friday or Saturday afternoon, so I'm hoping Paul has some luck if he decides to head out to said Raleigh spots with his bow this upcoming weekend. Til next time, be safe out there and good luck!
-C.B.
Fast forward to the 14th. This was a hunt Paul and I had planned since our August scouting trip and with my new camera arm having came in on Tuesday, we would be able to start off with our renewed plan to focus more on filming this year. I was behind the camera(s) that morning and Paul played the role of bowhunter, hunting a spot on the same section of Alcoa as I had just 7 days prior, but a good 400 yards from there and closer to the lake. We were perched 20 feet up a poplar where bottom-land hardwoods meet thinned pines. Trails ran along the perimeter of the woods and also up, down and across the cut lanes. Squirrels and birds kept us company while the deer decided to not come where we could see them. After climbing down we decided to do a little midday scouting before grabbing lunch. We found that the deer had been really utilizing the hardwoods as well as the next cut lane over from where we hunt. The plan was to find those oak trees I just knew were off the road bed between that morning's spot and my opening day one. After 10 minutes of looking for them we quickly realized what I thought was oaks were just other hardwood trees so it was back to square one for finding a small patch of oaks amongst all those thinned pines for me to hunt that afternoon (but we definitely found travel corridors that will be hunted come rifle season). 15 more minutes of walking found us down a road bed running parallel to the one we had been hunting below just an hour before. Halfway down it and we found exactly what we were looking for: a small group of three big white oaks and one small black oak just off the now grown up road bed with trails leading right to them. We checked the ground under them, hoping to see some acorns or fresh hulls but all we found were signs that last year was a banner mast crop, not now. Storing that away in the "to hunt at a later date" file, we cut across to where our stands were, grabbed them and headed back to the truck.
After a Bojangles lunch break, going over the video camera and camera arm how-to's with Paul and filming a introduction for our - knock on wood - upcoming web series on here at the end of this hunting season, we grabbed our stands and headed the mile back to some hardwoods I had found with our buddy Seth last year. When we finally got there we liked what we saw with obvious sign that deer had at least been coming through looking for acorns even though we couldn't find any on the ground. Getting settled into the white oak we picked out took a while but the beech tree it butted up against gave us plenty of cover, hiding cameraman Paul in amongst it's branches. Anticipation was high, even though the wind did a complete 360 around us throughout the afternoon hunt, as a ton of squirrels were out feeding on hickory nuts. We just knew that at least one of the oaks in there had to have acorns on it as said squirrels kept knocking things off every tree around us and they weren't branches. Hunting a transition area between different types of habitat is something I love to do and the pines behind us had plenty of cover that we hoped an old buck would decided to ease out of right at dark. No such thing would happen however and as legal shooting time came to an end we began the long process of breaking down camera equipment and climbing down. An hour later we were gladly back at our trucks, packing up and heading out separate ways til the end of the month when we try our hand at some favorite Raleigh, NC area public land for the Eastern NC Muzzleloader opener. I'm taking a break from hunting this week unless I have time for a quick hunt around my house Friday or Saturday afternoon, so I'm hoping Paul has some luck if he decides to head out to said Raleigh spots with his bow this upcoming weekend. Til next time, be safe out there and good luck!
-C.B.
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