Late Season Hunting: I Give It a 10

I recently read a questionnaire asking, "On a scale of 1 to 10, what is the highest possible score you would give an entire hunting season in which you did not take a deer?" When first reading this I thought to myself that one can learn a great deal and have a wonderful time in the woods even if a deer is not harvested and, with that thought, I figured the highest ranking I could possibly give would likely be an 8 or 9. Well, having just completed one of those seasons I have to say I stand corrected.

This hunting season, especially in the late season, Cody and I spent more hours in the woods than we had ever before. As Cody said, we experienced -25 degree wind chills, deerless days and late season rutting activity that got the adrenaline pumping just like a shot opportunity would. Personally, I learned more than ever before about deer behavior all the while becoming a more disciplined hunter. And, while I wasn't able to take a deer, the lessons learned, time spent with family and time spent in the woods all adds up to a season that easily scores a 10.

I spent the majority of my late season hunting time hunting with a bow as I felt it would be quite an accomplishment to take a late season whitetail with the bow. Unfortunately, as the days begin to dwindle and are doe harvest goals yet to be reached I turned to the TC Triumph for the final days. Over the last couple of days I did have several shot opportunities, however, there was uncertainty as to whether or not the deer in question was a button buck or a doe. Perhaps my best opportunity was my last on the season's final day and, while we were certain that it was a doe that had come into the field, visibility did not allow for an safe or ethical shot to be taken. Had she came out 5 minutes earlier it may have been a different story, but sometimes the ball just doesn't roll your way. Oh well, though, there is always next year and a lot was learned from the experience.


While I focus the majority of my time hunting whitetails, I did get to spend a little bit of time in the bear woods this winter with my grandfather Jack Schumaker; (known to me as PawPaw.) Known all across the states of Virginia and West Virginia as a magnificent hunter and an even better person, I feel I'm doing a great disservice to him in calling him a "Bear Hunting Legend." I was able to bear hunt two days this year and while no bears were taken or even scene I still had a wonderful time in the woods with PawPaw (even though I at 21 was unable to keep up with him at 78 walking straight up the mountain leading dogs, talk about a humbling experience!)




On the aforementioned walk up the mountain we stopped to listen for dogs and a fellow hunter said with respects to hunting, "If it were easy, everyone would do it." And, following this season as a whole I can say I concur whole heartedly. This season I never once drew my bow, clicked off the safety of the 7mm08 or cocked the hammer on the Triumph and nevertheless I still had an amazing hunting season. It is that there the descries exactly while hunting to both Cody and I is much more than a pursuit.

Go Gators

To break our trend of hunting posts, I’d just like to take a minute to do a little bragging on my Florida Gators. In case you didn’t see or hear, the Florida Gators won the 2009 BCS National Championship by beating the mighty Oklahoma Sooners 24-14 Thursday night.

Tim Tebow, perhaps the single most dominant player in college football, carried his team to victory with the help of fellow junior studs, Percy Harvin and Brandon Spikes. Despite a lethargic first half which saw Tebow intercepted twice and the Gators D (which I enjoy watching almost more than their offense) carved through like a Thanksgiving ham, the aforementioned Spikes and Tebow took over the locker room at halftime and the Gators owned the second half. Midway through the third quarter when Tebow took the option keeper for a first down, got up and gave the fans the Gator Chomp I looked over at dad and confidently said, “We’ve got our Tebow back.” Seeing Tebow return to his true from was a sigh of relief as I knew he wasn’t going to let the Gators lose and Spikes and the uber-athletic Gator D wasn’t going to let OU score. After true sophomore Ahmad Black intercepted Heisman winning QB Sam Bradford in the 4th quarter, Tebow and future NFL star Percy Harvin led an impressive Gator drive down the field that was capped by Tebow’s signature play, a jump pass completed to B-lister David Nelson to take a 24-14. Defensive MVP Carlos Dunlap, Spikes and the Gator D stopped the OU offense with three minutes left and the Gators were National Champions!

Having been a Gator since I was 6 years old I’ve developed a strong, passionate and emotional bond with not just a bunch of players but the program in general. As silly as it may sound, I cannot express how proud I am of this team. You may think I am some basement-dwelling nerd who has no life; I proudly call myself a diehard Gator. I keep a daily tab on the program following recruiting; staying active in Gator football forums and simply learning anything and everything I can about the Florida football program.

As I said before I’ve developed a strong emotional bond with this team. No, I am not going to break down and cry if they enter the NFL, nor do I go ballistic when they lose (which is rare). However, having followed them since they were in high school to hoping and praying they would commit to Florida to watching them work their way up the depth chart to watching them shut down and overwhelm the most prolific offense in history, I’ve got to admit, I was beaming with pride and joy Thursday night.

On a side note- Tim Tebow announced today that he will return for his senior season. More than a football player to me, being able to watch this man represent the Gator Nation for one more year is something that I am extremely excited about. He is an incredible role model, a man that I try, yet can only hope to be like and one of my few, but influential idols. His deep faith, respect for all men and women and energy for living life are all traits that I try to embody in everyday life.

Quick Late Season Recap

Welcome back everyone, we apologize for our lack of posting over the last month; we’ve been busy enjoying the holidays with family and of course spending every last minute in the woods as the season slowly, unfortunately came to a close. I thought I would take a quick minute to recap the last month of hunting season and give you guys a run down of how we closed the season.

The last month of the season found Damin and I focusing on does and this greatly affected our hunting strategy as we focused on known doe groups. However, on the morning of December 19th, with Damin and I in the same stand, attempting to record a doe harvest on film, we had an awesome encounter with a yearling buck. This little guy was overwhelmed by the sweet smelling estrous that permeated the woods, no doubt emitted by a late cycling doe. At first light he chased a doe by our stand at about 30 yards and then chased her out of sight. Three minutes later we see the little guy running circles to our east, and to this day, I’m not exactly sure what he was chasing as there were no other deer in the area. Just a prime example of what excitement the whitetail rut can bring to the deer woods. Realizing that there was an estrous doe somewhere in the vicinity, I hit the grunt tube several times simulating a buck tending a doe, and within seconds, we see the same little spark plug making a bee line right for the stand looking for a fight. It was a blood pumping experience to have called in a deer right under the stand, regardless of how big he was. I just can’t imagine how Damin or I would have acted had he been a shooter.

Damin and I hunted pretty consistently until Christmas day with no luck. We did, however, experience the coldest hunt of our lives on the morning of December 22nd when the temperature plummeted to 7 with the wind chill 25 below. Neither of us saw any deer on this hunt yet we came away extremely satisfied as we went toe to toe (whether we could feel them or not) with Mother Nature and withstood her fiercest punch as neither of us got cold!
After spending the Christmas holiday with family, we soon got back to the deer woods with the focus still on the does. I headed to the woods with camera in hand on December 29th with Dad in hopes of filming him harvest a doe, and for the only the second time in our amateur filming careers we actually did it! Dad and I had seen close to 15 does that morning when a 2 year old wandered by the stand with her fawn and ole Dad made a near perfect shot on her, and best yet, we caught the whole thing on film!

Feeling the pressure Damin and I knew we had to step up to the plate in order to compete with dad and on January 1st, I thought I was about to even the score. I was hunting a stand that I literally know like the back of my hand and I had a nice 4 year old doe wander out into one of our food plots. I was over confident the “easiness” of the shot and didn’t take advantage. I didn’t give my self a good enough rest as I thought the shot would be a piece of cake and I paid for it big time, in two ways. I squeezed off the trigger and knew the shot wasn’t good and was nearly positive I had missed. After watching the doe bound off unharmed, I felt a warm feeling of pity soothe down my face. That feeling was blood. I didn’t secure the barrel of my Pursuit II and she reminded me of it alright. Blood was pouring out of a two inch long gash right between my eyes; boy did I feel small then. Feeling dejected after missing the “gimme” shot an blooding my face badly, I nearly called it quits for the year with only two days remaining. However, knowing I couldn’t’ harvest a deer from the couch watching college bowl games, I headed to the same stand two days later, the last morning of the season, and was fortunate enough to make a near perfect shot on a fat 2 year old doe. I felt extremely blessed by the second chance the good Lord gave me and ended the season on a strong note. Persistence pays, my friend!

Unfortunately, Damin did not harvest a deer during the late season. Against my wishes as a deer manager, he hunted nearly 75% of the time with his bow, which is truly commendable given the conditions and how hard these deer are to hunt during the late season. Still, he stuck with it, and while he didn’t harvest a deer, he earned my respect as a fierce bow hunter and avid sportsmen. Again, we apologize for our lack of posting, but the blog is sure to be hopping now that the season is over. Stay tuned within the next couple weeks as Damin and I each give recaps and how we would grade our seasons from a personal stand point.

Thanksgiving Week Wrap up

Welcome back everyone; we hope you've had a safe & successful Thanksgiving Week both in the deer woods and with family. Damin and I surely had a busy week followed by an even busier week at school so accept our apology for our lack of posting!

I thought I’d take this little time to share how our hunting went over the Thanksgiving break. It started off with a bang for me on Friday afternoon as I was hunting a particular buck that we had caught on the trail camera just days before. This buck, nicknamed Hulk (pictured), sports a massive, powerful body that I believe weighs over 200lbs. on the hoof! He is a mainframe 8 the best I can tell and I would guess him to gross in the low 130s. However, what attracted me to the Hulk was his enormous frame! This buck is without a doubt a 4.5 year old deer, making him a real challenge to hunt. In fact, I was talking with Damin on the phone just that day telling him of my plans to TRY to pass on Lefty or the Dark Knight so I could increase my chances and time afield for Hulk.

Anyway, I was perched up high in a Gorilla Hang On stand overlooking a network of doe trails that ironically, was just 60 yards from where Hulk was caught on film. It was a cold, blustery afternoon with the temperature in the high teens and the wind chill around zero. And, I’m not going to lie, for the first time in my hunting career I actually got cold! I was clearly under-dressed and it affected me mentally and physically on stand. I went through almost an entire bag of shelled walnuts to keep my metabolism high and give my body some energy to create warmth. Still, I kept telling myself, “Cody, this is primetime, we have a giant working this area, tough it out!” So I continued to fight the cold and after seeing a couple does browsing two does came bursting out of an oak flat and I was sure Hulk was to follow.

I immediately grabbed by Traditions Pursuit II ready for the shot, however, no buck followed. I was sure there was buck in the oaks simply because nothing else would cause the two previous does to act the way they did. Almost two hours had passed without a deer and I was about ready to get down and surrender to the cold when a doe and a massive buck came out of the same oak flat. I glassed him out and, while trying to honor my promise to Damin, wanted to make sure it was Hulk, and it was! Unfortunately, as is often the case during the chase phase, he did not present a shot. He was too busy dogging the doe back and forth and would not allow me to get a shot off. Oh well, he did not get that big and old by being dumb.

In hindsight, I wish I would have handled the differently in two aspects. For one I would have dressed warmer, obviously. And for two, when the first two does were chased out of the oaks, I wished I would have become pro active and did some serious grunting and rattling. I KNEW there was a buck out there, but I chose to be patient and wait for him to come to me. Had I been able to call him in he may have presented a makeable shot as he would have likely actually stayed still! Regardless, it was an extremely exciting hunt simply because we caught him on camera had the stand hung specifically for a buck of his caliber, it just didn’t come together but hey that is hunting!

The remainder of the week was pretty uneventful for me personally. Damin, however, did have a quick encounter with what we believe was the Hulk as well. He was still at it chasing a doe and was in and out before Damin could even shoulder his rifle. Damin also saw several good looking 1.5 year old bucks that we are hoping will survive to mature into shooters in the next 2-3 years. To the best of our knowledge though, we do know Hulk is still out there and actually as I finish this post, I am going to go do a little scouting to better our chances to tagging this bad boy during the late season.

Another hunter was fortunate enough to take a buck off the property over the break. While we did not get to actually see the deer in person it looked eerily similar to a 3 year old 8 point I had passed on the week before at 55 yards because I felt he needed another year. He had a suitable rack, the hunter guessed him to score 110”, but I felt his body size put him behind most 3 year olds and that another year would catapult him into shooter status. Oh well, that is just simply the way it goes sometimes!

While Damin and I had a roller coaster time in stand over the break we enjoyed some fine eating, time with family and a little catching up. So I would have to give our week an A+, because remember, very rarely is hunting about the actual taking of a deer. We hope you guys are having a successful season out there and are settling down in time for the holidays. God Bless and Happy Hunting.

Camo Review: Just Check Out The Picture!

A lot is made these days of different camouflage patterns and their effectiveness in the deer woods. And, while it is important to remember one's background, silhouette and other environmental factors, camouflage with respects to hunting hardwood treestands has been taken to a new level with Mossy Oak's Treedstand camo pattern.

Originally introduced 20 years ago, Mossy Oak has reintroduced this wonderful pattern that "utilizes digital technology to exactly reproduce the details and subtleties of actual tree limbs laid over the neutral tones most commonly seen when looking up through bare trees." I've got to admit, both Cody and I were a bit skeptical as to just how effective the pattern would be. However, after spending some time in the woods with a camera, we've found just how great this pattern is!

For All the "High Tech Rednecks" Out There

As some of you may know, when not in the classroom this fall I've spent a lot of my time working at a local archery shop called "High Tech Outdoors and Archery." And, as an official Bowtech Dealer, owner Brecht Sprouse couldn't have come up with a better shop name.

Archery is a mathematical sport. There is intense geometry, mind boggling physics and statistics come as part of an average day on the job. Mr. Sprouse said he fell in love with all of this at a very young age and often baffled his friends with his ability to talk science, archery and hunting all within the same sentence. He said that his friends began calling him a "High Tech Redneck" due to his knowledge and the name has hung with him ever since.

All that being said, there has been word in the archery world that a particular company is about to release a bow that shoots 360 fps. A speed that was once thought achievable only by crossbows, this bow would be an incredible break through in speed for the bow industry. But that got me thinking, why not 380 or 400fps? What is the limit? Well friends, take a look at this website here and check out just what math does go into the creation of a bow. As I was, I'm sure you'll be amazed.

http://www.huntersfriend.com/bow-review-400-fps-bow/400-fps-compound-bow.htm

Congratulations Are in Order

Well, it always gets the heart pumping when you see a nice buck that has been taken. Of course, if its a good friend that takes the buck the excitement is even that much greater. We just wanted to take a second to extend our congratulations to Mike Kern for taking the spectacular buck pictured here. He took this buck in Bedford County as it was chasing a hot doe during the middle of the day. The split main beam is antler character that few people in life are lucky enough to see. Congratulations to him for a great buck! Looks like he shoots the muzzleloader a little better than he shoots a basketball! (Just Kidding Mike)

Heading closer to home, Cody and I are still having a tad bit of a slow year in the deer woods. We've been seeing fewer deer than we have in past years and have seen very little movement during the day light hours. We know the deer are there, we just have to be both patient and persistent during this sometimes grueling waiting process. If Jim Shockey can hunt in Alberta dawn to dusk for 21 straight days at negative temperatures waiting on the right buck and Lee Lakosky can bow hunt 51 straight days in Iowa without even drawing his bow, I think we can be patient as well!

With hunting season in full swing we wish you the best of luck and hope that your seasons have been a success thus far. Don't forget, the rutting moon is this Thursday night and the effects of photoperiodism should be in full effect beginning this weekend. The rut will soon be on! Good luck everyone and remember to hunt hard and smart and always remember, its much more than a pursuit when you're in the deer woods this time of year.