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.
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.
North Carolina's Central season had just opened and thanks to an understanding wife and my beloved NC State Wolfpack getting destroyed by Florida State on the gridiron, I headed out for a late afternoon walk on the Alcoa gamelands next to Tuckertown Lake. Running late, I got to the parking area with about 3 hours of hunting light to take advantage of and went down the logging road towards the back end of the property some mile-and-a-half in. I knew someone else was already hunting in the area so I crept quietly along, using the damp leaves from early morning showers to my advantage as well as to hopefully not mess up their hunt if I walked up on them. All the oaks in this area were loaded this year and walking over the acorns was like walking on marbles; luckily I am nimble like a cat and was able to stay on my feet the entire time. I made my way through the hardwoods and eventually a hidden clearcut, checking out the deer sign as I went along and making mental notes for later in the season, before I finally got to my destination near the back of the public land. I knew there were a few ladder stands in the area from scouting after last year's deer season went out and intended to climb into one of them if things looked good.
As luck would have it, there was someone in the one I had made up my mind of hunting. After standing in the middle of the road whistling and waving at the man for what seemed like 5 minutes, he finally saw me and I motioned that I would be going on up the hillside. He acknowledged with a head shake and up the hill I went, boot bottoms getting covered in that famous Carolina red clay. Once I reached the top of the hill, I eased across the road bed and back into some hardwoods. Man am I glad I didn't hunt on of those ladder stands, what a beautiful location! Fall colors were everywhere and after finding the perfect stump to sit against to overlook the orange, red and yellow canopy-filled ridge, I began to setup shop for the remaining daylight. In the process of doing so, 8 hen turkeys came flying in and landed a mere 30 yards behind me, easing through the woods cautiously while trying to figure out what exactly the blob wearing hunter's orange was. Needless to say, this spot jumped straight to the top of my turkey hunting area list for when the 2012 Spring season comes in!
Once they had moved on and I had gathered some limbs for cover, I settled in and, propping my gun up on a improvised gun rest made from the v-grooved limb of a dogwood, waited for the deer to move through. And I waited some more. And a little more. I tried some light rattling and grunting, hoping to stir up an old buck who was out cruising for a fight or just love. Didn't help. Of course the fact that the wind was blowing a steady 20 mph aided in the lockdown on deer movement, which is especially the case when not hunting in open pines or next to (or in) thickets of some sort from my experience. As the last bit of the evening sun sank over the horizon and legal shooting time ended, I gathered my things and hiked back to the truck, cutting across a ridge and hollow to get to the railroad tracks that run parallel to the lake and directly back to the parking area. Typically the less scenic route, this more direct route provided my favorite sight of the hunting season so far: A setting moon above the opposite shore's treeline as the last bit of an orange sunset was fading into the night. It's sights like that that make my 30 minute walks out easier. They are what bring me back for more whenever the game I am hunting evades me and fuel the passion that is my love of the outdoors.
-C.B.
North Carolina's Central season had just opened and thanks to an understanding wife and my beloved NC State Wolfpack getting destroyed by Florida State on the gridiron, I headed out for a late afternoon walk on the Alcoa gamelands next to Tuckertown Lake. Running late, I got to the parking area with about 3 hours of hunting light to take advantage of and went down the logging road towards the back end of the property some mile-and-a-half in. I knew someone else was already hunting in the area so I crept quietly along, using the damp leaves from early morning showers to my advantage as well as to hopefully not mess up their hunt if I walked up on them. All the oaks in this area were loaded this year and walking over the acorns was like walking on marbles; luckily I am nimble like a cat and was able to stay on my feet the entire time. I made my way through the hardwoods and eventually a hidden clearcut, checking out the deer sign as I went along and making mental notes for later in the season, before I finally got to my destination near the back of the public land. I knew there were a few ladder stands in the area from scouting after last year's deer season went out and intended to climb into one of them if things looked good.
As luck would have it, there was someone in the one I had made up my mind of hunting. After standing in the middle of the road whistling and waving at the man for what seemed like 5 minutes, he finally saw me and I motioned that I would be going on up the hillside. He acknowledged with a head shake and up the hill I went, boot bottoms getting covered in that famous Carolina red clay. Once I reached the top of the hill, I eased across the road bed and back into some hardwoods. Man am I glad I didn't hunt on of those ladder stands, what a beautiful location! Fall colors were everywhere and after finding the perfect stump to sit against to overlook the orange, red and yellow canopy-filled ridge, I began to setup shop for the remaining daylight. In the process of doing so, 8 hen turkeys came flying in and landed a mere 30 yards behind me, easing through the woods cautiously while trying to figure out what exactly the blob wearing hunter's orange was. Needless to say, this spot jumped straight to the top of my turkey hunting area list for when the 2012 Spring season comes in!
Once they had moved on and I had gathered some limbs for cover, I settled in and, propping my gun up on a improvised gun rest made from the v-grooved limb of a dogwood, waited for the deer to move through. And I waited some more. And a little more. I tried some light rattling and grunting, hoping to stir up an old buck who was out cruising for a fight or just love. Didn't help. Of course the fact that the wind was blowing a steady 20 mph aided in the lockdown on deer movement, which is especially the case when not hunting in open pines or next to (or in) thickets of some sort from my experience. As the last bit of the evening sun sank over the horizon and legal shooting time ended, I gathered my things and hiked back to the truck, cutting across a ridge and hollow to get to the railroad tracks that run parallel to the lake and directly back to the parking area. Typically the less scenic route, this more direct route provided my favorite sight of the hunting season so far: A setting moon above the opposite shore's treeline as the last bit of an orange sunset was fading into the night. It's sights like that that make my 30 minute walks out easier. They are what bring me back for more whenever the game I am hunting evades me and fuel the passion that is my love of the outdoors.
-C.B.
The man, the myth, the legend hunting hard
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