Ice Fishing

Been able to get out and do some ice fishing this winter. With work being seasonal I have a little more free time than I wish sometimes. Here are some pics of my success with Nick.

 

This was at Lost Lake just off of Big Creek. Fishing was slow but we managed to hammer down on some slab gills just at dark. 

 

 These were from Peterson Pits just outside of Ames. We managed to find decent bass, a ton of small crappies and bluegills, and even iced some channel cats. Nick even managed a hog of a bass. 

 My boss Brad invited me onto a private pond to fish Saturday the 25th, cold or no cold. It was difficult to find the fish, but when we did we only found quality. Slob gills. All over 9 inches, and one just over ten. The best part was schooling both. No electronics. I caught all but two of them. It felt good to ice some huge bluegills.

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An Ancient Goes Down: Sleeper

If I told you a few hours after my last post I was going to harvest my largest buck with a muzzle loader, I would have called you insane and reckless. I was watching football, to which point I questioned whether or not I should go, and even Rachel agreed I should get out.

It's been a tough season for both of us. Neither of us harvested a deer during the bow season. A lot of bucks, and some of the biggest I have seen, were harvested by close friends and family. At this point I just needed any deer to put in the freezer. I collected all of my gear and then some and headed for the woods. I pulled into Nick's driveway and put my bow stuffs together. I still had my bow tag and figured I should shoot first.
I hadn't shot my bow since the beginning of November.
I wouldn't have believed it if told by someone else, but bundled up with blaze vest and 'abominable snowman' suit I actually shot better than all season.
Dime sized grouping at 40+. I was a happy guy.
Bow
Tripod
Folding hunting chair
muzzle loader
diddy bag
These are just the things I had to carry. I also had coveralls, snowpants, snow mobile boots, thick sweatshirt, Dad's turbo parka, and my snow suit. It's a miracle in itself that my legs are strong enough to carry me and all of this gear farther than 20 feet.  All together over 40 pounds of gear and clothing.
I got everything situated and headed for the corner of the prairie behind the house. I cross the fence and look down the first nook of a ravine. Three does bedded and oblivious to my presence. I back out, shed most of my gear and take my muzzle loader and tripod. I stood and watched them for 10 minutes as the wind whipped around up top. I must have made too sudden of movement as one looked straight up at me and then bolted. The other two followed suit but not without snorting and creating a ruckus. I recollect all of my shit yet again, and walk slowly down the old logging road. This was just like last year. I knew where the deer were going to be in these bottoms if they were there. I get to the end of the road and look down.

Deer....

I can see that it is a larger deer but the brush hides any bone if it was there. I again back out and shed most of my gear. I get back into position and scope out my situation.
It is indeed a buck and a decent one at that. There are also two more with it. I grab my tripod and gun and decide to get closer. The wind is perfect for a stalk and they have no idea I am there. I slid down a deep wash and come up behind a large oak tree. I slide my barrel around the side of it and reassess.

I am covered in bucks!
I have managed to sneak into the jackpot of buck bedrooms.

Hammer back.

I put my cross hairs on the good buck and wait. Three steps right or left and he is mine. I pull my head up off the scope and continue looking around for a better buck. All are bucks but the first one seems the biggest.
I catch movement below me at the base of the finger I am on.

GIANT...

Curled up in a ball is a bruiser of a buck not 50-60 yards and in the open bedded underneath the largest cedar in the creek bottom. He has his head down and turned and at first I was convinced he had already dropped a side. He then picks his head up and gives me a panning view as he surveys the creek bottom.

I am in shock and have to bring myself back into 'gametime' mode.
Hammer already back I figure it is now or never. He is still bedded down, broadside but quartering-too a bit.
I know some may see it as against the Geneva Convention but I had come this far, snuck up on a group of bucks in their territory, and they had no idea I was there.  
I pull back and move to the other side of the tree to make sure my shot was as clear as possible. I did not want to screw this up. I left my tripod on the other side of the tree...
I knew I had done it before and could do it again.

CRACK!!!!

Absolute wintery hell broke loose. I knew I was in 'Buck Bedroom' but I had no idea. 10 to 15 bucks come screaming out of the bottoms after my shot. I had a 125" 8 pointer come up the side of the ravine by me and there were deer scattering everywhere. Every deer I saw had antlers.
I had never seen anything like it before in my life.
I picked out my buck and could see the foam forming on his side.
Perfect shot.
I watching him stop and stand. And then stand some more.....Still standing...
My diddy bag was at the top of the hill yet.
I belly crawl back to the top and ram in a bullet. I watch him sway and then bed down. His head was up and he was not dead yet. I thought I had a perfect hit...
I watch his head go down and he laid down for good.
I grab my phone to call Rachel.
I look up to see him trying to get back up again.
I drop my phone and put another one in him at a hair under 100 yards.

CRACK!!!

MAN that thing is loud! Down for good.

I proceed to call Rachel for real and give her what Michael gave me. Complete chaotic gibberish. I call Nick whom is not actually home and he get the neighbors kids to help me drag him out. I call Ned Parker and Jon Jones and both say they will assist as well.
I go down the ravine and take my sweet time with pictures before guys start showing up.
A light snow greets me as I get to the bottoms.

After conversing with Nick some it was determined which deer this was indeed. Nick had trail cam pics of him earlier in late September in the field where Lisa shot her buck. He also informed me that the neighboring taxidermist has shed from a few years from this buck. This buck was at least 6 and 1/2 years old.

We got the deer up to the truck and then Nick's neighbor did me another huge favor and let me do the skinning and boning in his woodstove-heated shop. In all honesty, he was not that big of a deer and his age showed it. When I skinned him the hide was yellow, and the meat was borderline black. I have shot 2 and 1/2 year old does that have produced more venison.

In the shop today I cleaned up the skull and got a look at his teeth. He is well past his prime and 7.5 or older. Once they get past 6.5 it's tough to age by tooth wear. Based on the wear on the incisors I would say older yet. I have never seen wear on incisors and these were almost worn flat.

I have always wanted to harvest a buck by way of spot and stalk: accomplished.
I have always wanted to harvest an old warrior of a buck: accomplished.
The fact that I was able to sneak up on such a large group of bucks, including this grizzled old warrior means more to me than I could have thought possible. I nor my wife harvested a deer this 2013 season. Hours into 2014 and I am off to a great start.



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Holiday

Been busy which beats the alternative.

This year marks our first REAL Christmas tree. I figured as a forestry grad we should maybe support the forestry program at ISU and actually have a real tree for once. Rachel hand picked a Balsam fir in 8 degree weather and we strapped it to the roof of Rachel's car.

This winter has been cold and more cold. Cold brings ice!

Have a little time this January and hopefully I can put a tag on a deer before the season comes to a close.



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Cookie Day

Every year my wonderful wife takes the time out of her busy schedule to do Christmas cookies for our friends. I am getting the swing of things and have assisted in the process for the last few years. This year we made an entire day of it. We ended up with eight different cookie recipes. Rachel bounced around the kitchen all morning and it was wonderful to see her get away from studying for awhile. I had the ipod on Nat King Cole Holiday and we got all sorts of old school Christmas tunes.

As hard as we tried, we attempted the Nerds cookie roll again this year and failed miserably again...

At any rate we ended up with a lot of cookies!

 At the end of the evening we were tired and just plain done, but I even mustered the will to help frost cookies as well.

11 plates ready to be sent off!

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The Day Sit Buck

Thursday November 7th I took the afternoon off to begin some serious rut hunting. I had already put in some hard time, but was determined to get this far. Nick and I trekked back into the deepest darkest abyss on a public property. It was a trial run for the next day in which we would be sitting all day with a climber stand and too much gear. This hunt was a sweaty horrid walk that ended in a small tree far from where I figured I would end up. Despite this, the last 20 minutes of light was the craziest thing I have encountered in the woods. At one point I grunted in 9 different bucks, all of which grunted the entire way towards me. I had a shot at a rather nice buck, but it was already too dark to see well enough to shoot. After legal light, I looked behind my tree to see a giant cinder-block on legs. He was best described as growl/snort/coughing. I snort-wheezed at him and this only pissed him off more. He postured up and walked my direction. I decided it was time to be done with these games and get out of there before I was gored by a rut-crazed buck.

Friday morning, I arrived at Nick's place a little before 4am. . . . . .

We decided with the time we had we were going to sit all day at a property we had permission to hunt near Guthrie Center. I got set into my tree and Nick faded into the darkness to do that same. The temp was going to be mild, but rather windy, and I climbed into a wet noodle of a tree.

Not ten minutes after legal light I saw a decent buck. I told myself I would pass a deer that was right on the edge of shooter and this one had a tight frame, but not huge. After watching him pace around my stand for 5 minutes, he wandered off never to be seen again.

As the morning progressed I heard a deer running through the timber behind me. I stood up because I knew what that meant. Of course, the buck caught my movement. He was a definite shooter dogging a doe. She ran past my stand, literally ramming the tree I was in. He stood back at 25 yards broadside behind a tree. He ended up facing me at 8 yards and there was nothing I could do about it. He wigged out and turned on a dime, again, never to be seen again. This kind of thing went on all morning even with the wind whipping my tree around like coffee swizzle. After 1pm I did not see another deer.

 As the evening progressed, updates from Nick told me the deer were up his way. Oh well, I was not moving. Nick and I had been texting back and forth all day.
At 4:30pm I got a call.
Again, I grabbed my phone, stared at it, and let it ring a few times before answering.

"Jon, I just smoked a bruiser! He's like a 160" eight pointer and I smoked him."

I had to verify the shot and he told me it dropped about 40 yards from his stand within sight. Things can happen fast during the rut.

I asked if he wanted me to get down and help and he told me to sit tight and shoot a deer. At this point I just wanted out of the damn tree. I had been sitting there all day trying my best to maintain my nerves with the wind and a climber stand I am not 100% comfortable with.

He called back 20 minutes later apologizing that he was going to have to bust my hunt, and he was coming to get me.

Finally.

I was almost at ground level by the time he got to me, and he was a mess. It was rather enjoyable to see Nick tied up in a knot. We got to the truck and then stopped by the landowner to inform of a dead deer and inquired about using their ranger. Within minutes we were on the way up the hill and then standing over a huge buck.

We field dressed him and got out of there with what little light we had left.

This season has used up a fair amount of good karma as both Michael and now Nick have cashed in!


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Chief: The Halloween Giant

Where do I begin. First I will give my account of said event. Second I will post Michael's story.
Thursday evening, on Halloween, I had just gotten off work and was driving home when I got 'the call'.

"!(Incoherent muffled blather)!"
"Michael are you OK, what's going on?"
 "IJUSTSHOTTHEBIGGESTDEERIHAVEEVERSEEN!"
It was so disjointed I honestly thought he fell out of his tree stand. I did everything I could to pull out discernible information.
He shot a monster buck, and as usual was calling for advise. He hit it in the middle; the middle of the middle. Because of the marginal hit it was decided that he should get out of there as quietly as possible and go home. This deer needed to sit over-night just to be safe. A well seasoned veteran will struggle to let one sit over-night, let alone a 16 year old kid. Nevertheless, Michael waited until morning to start tracking. Based on his description of the shot location, and the deer's body language post shot, it was determined that the buck was indeed fatally wounded.

Morning came and I just walked around work with my phone in my hand. By 8 o'clock I was becoming concerned as I knew I had to have heard from him yet if there was any form of good news. 8:29... My phone starts ringing and I look at it. I let it ring because I already know.

"Jon? We found him. He's huge. I mean yeah he has a lot of bone, but I don't know how we are going to get him out." 

I literally started jumping around our clients lawn. My co-worker just shook his head and wanted to know how big it was.

Big day for all of us as we all wanted one thing out of this season, and that was for Michael to shoot a good buck.

Here is Michael's take on the event:

This last Thursday, Halloween at that, I got out of school and headed for work. Get there and my boss says its too wet to haul grain today. That was alright with me! So I quick gathered my stuff and got in a stand. I played the wind and got in as quietly as I could. I get settled in and was already enjoying the evening out. After half an hour in I did a light rattling sequence. At a quarter after 5pm I see a buck crest the hill; one glimpse at this buck and I knew who it was. It was a buck I called 'Chief'.



He pinpointed exactly were the rattling had come from and was making a bee-line right for me. He makes it to 16 yards, slightly quartering-to and I let the arrow fly. I hit him directly in the middle. I had felt pretty calm but I just freaked out I guess. He takes off and runs 50 yards out into the corn and stops. I'm glassing him and see my arrow stick out the side of him, but from the angle I couldn't tell exactly how far back it was. He then walked off slowly tail down and head low to the ground. After some phone calls the management decision was made to get down, check the blood to confirm the paunch/gut hit, then back out for the night. Getting out in a stealthy manner was a complete nightmare, deer everywhere, and my nerves were shot. I finally get back to the truck and headed home. I knew he was dead, it was just a matter of not jumping him. My Dad and I got back out there at 7:45am to begin the track job. Found first blood and followed it across the field. It was not a carpet of blood, but it was consistent. We followed blood down into this little draw, still consistent blood. 75 yards down this draw, there he was, piled in a heap!!!


It was just meant to be. I was happy to have my Dad here with me when I found it. Just added to the adventure.



This was by far the largest deer I have ever seen let alone shot at. It took everything we had just to get it in the truck, even after field dressing.

He's all butchered and in the freezer now! He rough gross scored at an unbelievable 168" with just over 50 inches of mass! Still hasn't sunk in that this happened. My goal going into this season was to shoot a 115"-120". I drew the right card and now I get to sit on my hands for the rest of the season, which also means I get to sleep in.

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Buick Bonus Button Buck

After our duck hunt and even an evening deer hunt, Michael and I decided we were going to make the trek to Steamboat and try our luck there in the morning. It was a lot harder to wake up the second morning. We got in with plenty of time and walked super slow through the timber. It still sounded like two buffalo rolling on bubble wrap. Michael got my stand located and then set up about 75 yards west of me.
This place is instant goose bumps. I felt like it was going to happen at any second. And then I look down. :) Three does had popped out on the trail below me. They got wiggy on me and headed away towards Michael. I heard a bleat, a snap, and a THWACK! I only saw one deer come back my way. Within seconds Michael calls me and says he has one down but it keeps trying to get up. I told him to shoot again and I hang up. I waited a long time before I just call him back. He climbed down the tree to take care of business, but his button-buck had expired before he got there. It was still early so I requested we sit a little longer. By 9am I was cold and ready to see his deer. I come up on Michael and he is all that is 30 feet up. As he starts working his way down I look behind me and there is another button buck within 30 yards. It gets to about 25 yards of me before it figured out what I was. Michael continues his descent when he has a minor mishap. The bottom section of his climber falls all the way to the ground.

Lesson learned and crisis averted.

When we walk up on his deer we turn it over and discover he hit it in the jugular. It was borderline graphic. The 35 yard shot connected and spun it around 180 degrees, before it fell.

We gutted, tagged, and got out of there. Bonus Hardin County tag filled.

In checking the trail cam pics, a number of bucks were there that morning. That's hunting I guess.

We got all of our gear and the deer back to the car and devised our plan. No trailer. No pickup. No problem.

First deer on the back of the Buick. It's about time!

I would call this weekend a success. It's Monday night and I am beyond beat. :)



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