A Co-worker of mine recently said, "I wish I could get excited and into something as much as you do hunting". Gosh darnit if he aint right, I dig it.
WOW, WOW, WOW. What a deer season that was. I got to hunt all the way up to January 3rd in VA! Far and away, my best deer season so far. Many more to come. The final tally is - a few :) Mostly a management season and comprised of taking mature does to get that buck to doe ratio closer to 1. If there's one thing I've noticed about the south other than how few hunters there are, it's that they have some problem with taking does. It's almost like it hasn't been a lesson they have been taught, take more does! This year we nabbed 4 bucks, 1 8pt, 1 management 6pt, a spike and a wounded spike that some jack-in-the-box couldn't hit his mark and left me to put the thing out. I've also gotten pretty darn good with the DIY Euro mounts (none were really worthy of full shoulder). Here's a quick before/after of each:
I took two five gallon buckets of corn with me up to Patrick County on my last day out. I spread it around my cameras after the season was officially over and am yet to go grab the SD card. Once I sift through the 1,800 pictures of Raccoons, I'll post the pics. I'm also running with a few guys over in Buckingham County where we are pooling our cameras and going to see what we have left. I know for a fact that the 8pt I passed on during archery, to allow him some more mating time, is still out there as I had him on camera all the way up to the end. I'll be a monkeys behind if there won't be three different full shoulder-mount-able bucks this next season in Patrick County alone. Geeze, look at me, it's January and I'm already thinking about October. Well, it is only 9 months away.....
Moving forward, I'm meeting with a guy up in Buckingham County sometime in February and I might be securing me some rights to multiple trapping grounds. These are large-tracts where the beavers have been a nuisance. Since I got it in my head that I'll be making a Beaver Fur Blanket, it's time to get to it. Don't laugh; those badmamajamas go for six grand on the open market.
Upland season is here and I'm equally as anxious about that. It is such a neat thing to do to hunt a field with a good bird dog. Pheasant, Chukar, Quail & Dove are on the list. Then before you know it, it'll be gobbler season again!
Only a few posts between now and Turkey season but thanks for reading along and don't forget to send in pics of your own.
Damn fine year.
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