07/08 Season Journal

2007/08 Hunting Season Ramblings

I killed this buck on my all time favorite farm here on the Eastern Shore of MD on November 1st 2007(am). Early that morning right off the
bat I laid out a few grunts and immediately an immature fork horned buck came running to me. Just 2 minutes later this great 4 1/2 year
old 10 point came through and gave me a beautiful broadside shot at just 14 yards. He didn't go 35 yards before going down. Big 8 with
split G-2's

I will continue to post my season report as it unfolds. Next week I leave for Illinois to film an archery hunt and gun hunt for The Bucks Of
Tecomate. Then return to Maryland to film a 4 day gun hunt for Quality Whitetails TV. Should be a very interesting coming weeks and I
am really looking forward to it. Good luck to everyone afield!

November 2007 Illinois Trip

Illinois was good to me again this year even though I did not fill any of my archery or firearms tags. I passed up several 120-140 inch bucks with the
hopes to get a crack at some of the high end bucks using my farm. Trail cameras had proved once again that there were several and I was not about to
put a tag on something other than one of those bruisers. Blaine Burley from Tecomate(Plotmaster Systems) met me out there along with our 2
cameramen from Orion Multimedia. We were there to film a 3 day archery hunt and then the 3 day Illinois Gun Hunt for "The Bucks of Tecomate" TV
show.

The first day of my archery hunt I had a close encounter with a great 4 year old buck. He was in and out just as fast as I had seen him. Blaine saw an
18 month old buck and a handful of fawns. We pretty much agreed that the rut was in lockdown and most mature bucks had found their Does and had
them pinned down somewhere. Basically, we saw all fawns and 1 and 2 year old bucks roaming around with not much consistency. I, on the other hand,
was lucky and for some reason that same 4 year old buck from the first morning came through all 3 days pretty much within an hour of each visit. He
was the only mature buck that I saw that was still on his daily pre-rut routes, searching for does. For the next 3 days Blaine did not see any bucks he
wanted to shoot(yet).

So, on the second day of the archery hunt I decided to pull the 2 man setup and move the stands to the south and try to catch the buck in a pinchpoint
should he repeat his route the last day of archery. I followed the old logging road due south and found a force-funnel with paths leading to it that were
pretty worn down. I setup the new 2 man location in an old, large triple tree that was in the ideal location. We hunted it that afternoon with only a few
fawns to be seen. The next morning we got in early and at 7:05 the 4 year old came through. I spotted him when he was 45 yards and closing fast. He
got within 25 yards of the setup and rather than staying on the logging road, he veered off slightly and into the timber. Basically, he was gonna walk 10
feet from my setup. So, we had to shift from one side of the tree(for the shot) to the other and when we did, the buck picked our location and it was
done. This is nothing more than one of the major hurtles of trying to film a hunt.... Twice the odor, twice the movement, twice the visual and twice
everything else! When you see someone kill a mature deer on film, trust me, they worked hard to make that happen....................It Ain't Easy!!!

Here is a picture of the buck that tickled me for 3 straight days during the archery hunt and picked out our location.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

The 4th day of the hunt was the start of the first Illinois 3 day Gun Season. I was hunting in the same local as I had been during the previous 3 days of
archery. The spot was a very good one and the lockdown was near end, which should put the bigger bucks back on their feet looking for the next round
of hot Does. Right off the bat I had Does pile in from the neighboring property. Shortly after daylight there were a total of 18 Does and fawns feeding in
my lower field, which was just out in front of me about 150 yards. Two 2 year old bucks came into the field and immediately singled out one of the Does.
They pushed her around for a few minutes and from my southern corner here came a really nice 4 year old. He immediately pushed ALL the deer from
the field and into the woods to me, while keeping the Doe to himself out in the field. He stayed out in the field with her for 30 minutes and out of no
where, another buck walked in the field. While the bucks were eyeing one another, the Doe made a run for it and came dashing into the woods. Both
bucks came in right away and then the Doe made a sprint past my stand at just 10 yards. The two bucks came crashing through the woods(I will never
forget how loud that was) and right past me. Despite my yelling, they would not stop. They continued up the hill and into my back field. Immediately,
ANOTHER doe with a big buck in tow came crashing down from the same field and into the woods.............again, right past me and they would not stop.
It was total coincidence. After than, it was over for the morning......as quick as that. Blaine managed to see several 2 and 3 year old bucks but nothing
he wanted to put a tag on. That afternoon I hunted one of my food plots and although I had some Does and bucks come to the field, I did not see
anything I wanted to tag. Below is a trail camera picture of the first buck that ran past me and would not stop.

The next morning I saw several sets of Does come from the north and into my farm. I saw two super bucks cross behind them, one of which was easily in
the 5 year range sporting a Booner rack. The other was in the 160's...........both in the category I was looking for. Ten minutes after I saw them, Blaine
had the two bucks skirt him and although the Booner was in his crosshairs, the cameraman could not find him in time. Just 10 minutes later, ANOTHER
Booner crossed into the farm and headed towards Blaine. This time he was able to pull it all together and shot the buck at 15 yards with his TC Encore
Slug Hunter. Below is a picture of his buck. He grosses 176 with a solid 16 points. What a Buck!

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

I ended up hunting hard the final 1.5 days of the hunt and never filled my tags......which was fine. Throughout the archery and shotgun hunt I passed on
several 3 year olds that were in the 125-140 range. My management efforts on the property are to target 4 year old bucks or older, which is the main
reason why we have 5+ year old bucks using the property. In all, the trip was awesome and I enjoyed spending some time with Blaine and the 2
cameramen. I will never forget how excited Blaine was over that buck and the deer is truly magnificent.

I am returning to Illinois for the 3 day Muzzleloader Only hunt next week(first week in December). We will be filming a segment for The Bucks of
Tecomate. The weatherman is calling for very cold temperatures, which could just be what the doctor ordered. Plenty of foodplots on my property and
lots of corn all around. Will post up when I return. Below are a few pix I took of my archery setup and cameraman, Kyle.

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Maryland 2007 Gun Season

Back in August I held my annual Fall Food Plot Day sponsored by the Maryland Chapter of Quality Deer Management Association(MD QDMA).
BOSS OUTDOOR PRODUCTIONS attended and filmed the event. Absolutely the HOTTEST day of the summer, but we did get it done!! John Brown,
jr, Vice President of BOSS OUTDOOR PRODUCTIONS filmed the event and he and I decided to have him back in November to film a hunt with me.
Well, John came into town this past Friday for our Saturday opener and we tied in the Food Plot Day with a great buck down on film.

Saturday morning, November 24th was the Maryland Gun opener. The moon was full the night before and walking in Saturday morning was flashlight
free! We never saw a deer until around 9am when I cut out a few grunts. Immediately a 2.5 year old 8 point came in and mingled around. After that,
nothing showed and we were out of the stand by 10am. After a quick lunch we were back another stand on the same property by 1:45pm. Around
2:30pm the Doe parade started, as they mingled from the swamp and up to the hardwoods. I was going to take one of the Does but since they started
up so early and it was the tail end of the rut, perhaps a shooter buck might follow....... but none came through.

The following morning was Sunday. Four years ago the state of Maryland gave us the first and last Sunday in the month of November to hunt deer.
So, we were in the stand early. We were in a different stand, one that generally produces for me during gun season. I had not hunted this spot all
season and I felt confident in the setup. We got in by 5:15am, a full hour before daylight. We never heard any deer walking in the "dark" and it really
did not look good. No one was shooting in the area so we figured there would be little forced movement. At 7:55am I heard a snap off to our left.
Squirrels are not in shortage here in Maryland and they had fooled us many times up until this point. A couple minutes later I spotted a tail flicker and
feet, as a large deer was making its way towards the long shooting lane to our south. As it got closer I could pick out antlers and felt confident it was a
good mature buck. John was on the ball with this guy and the camera was rolling. He and I could whisper and hear one another with no problem. I told
John that I would take the buck after he stepped into the lane. As he slowly walked in, I 100% positively identified the buck was a shooter and when
John gave me the ok, I dropped the big 8 point in his tracks. Man, that TC Encore Slug Hunter with Hornaday SST slugs did the shwammy on that
buck!!! After the buck dropped I just stood there watching him for a few seconds and the adrenaline rush hit me like a ton of bricks. I recall looking to
my cameraman and he was still on the deer but panning my way. I will never forget the look on his face as he panned to me.........he was smiling from
ear to ear and his eyes were WIDE OPEN!! "We did it baby........we did it!" We high-5-ed a few times and I cannot describe how rewarding that whole
hunt was.

We did a few re creates and some interviews then went to the buck. A solid 4 year old 8 point with a dark chocolate rack. I taped the rack last night at
144 with only 2 inches deductions. This buck totally meets the parameters of our Management Program on the farm. Each year the quality of bucks
continues to grow on the farm and although we have several bucks on the farm much larger than the one I shot, we were thrilled to take him and I am
one happy hunter! Below are a few pictures of that buck and my cameraman, John Brown, jr. Thanks again John for coming up from South Carolina
and pulling this all together. I look
forward to hunting with John in the future.

You will be able to see that hunt on QDMA's TV show, "Quality Whitetails TV" on The Outdoor Channel. Quality Whitetails will begin
airing on The Outdoor Channel after January 1, 2008. I will post updates and perhaps clips of the hunt as they are available.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

CLICK TO ENLARGE

RETURN TO HOME PAGE