Hunting Season 2019

Upland

    The hunting season kicked off with a trip to the North East Kingdom of Vermont, (NEK). We rented a house in Charleston, right on Echo Lake. I went up there with my wife and daughter, as well as my parents. My Dad and I were able to get away to do some early season grouse hunting. Woodcock didn't open up until our last day, so we mainly targeted grouse.


    Using a mapping system I had to find old cuts, we ventured north. Of course, on the days we couldn't shoot woodcock, we ran into woodcock. Piper had a good point and I flushed, what would have been an "easy" shot. Luna did very well. She retrieved a grouse that flushed from a tree, that I was able to get a few bb's in. Ruby flushed her first grouse and I was able to knock it down quickly. She found it without issue and brought it back to my very happy father.


    The last day out was the opener for woodcock. We went to a spot that had been cut specifically for the conservation of woodcock. We tried to make the most of our time there and split up. I chased around what was probably the same woodcock for about an hour, firing at it numerous times. Luna was doing really well relocating and staying steady. I just was not on my game. While attempting to relocate the woodcock I just missed Luna went on point in an area that I did not believe the woodcock to be. ALWAYS TRUST YOUR DOG. I walked over to her to release her and get her back on task when I flushed a grouse. I wasn't ready for the first flush but lucky for me there was another explosion from the base of the same tree. It was a straight away shot, nothing like the timber doodle fluttering. I knocked it down with the first shot. It was a grouse! Luna didn't retrieve, but she pointed the dead bird. When we regrouped I told my dad about the problems I was having with the woodcock, but showed him the grouse. He showed me the woodcock Ruby had flushed and retrieved.




Luna with her Grouse



Luna and Ruby in the NEK, VT




Ruby's First Grouse





NEK VT, Me and Luna with a Grouse

Pheasant

    Back on Cape Cod for the remainder of the upland season, I took both dogs out a few times to some local areas that stock pheasant. Luna pointed a non performing rooster. I tried to get it to fly but Piper rushed in and grabbed it. On another trip, we were able to kick up a female pheasant in Myles Standish State Forest, that I knocked down. On Thanksgiving I shot a rooster on my way to Western MA in the town of Bolton. Otherwise I didn't get out much.






Piper's pheasant at Myles Standish


Thanksgiving Rooster

Deer

    Deer season was a struggle for the year 2019. I put in the time and effort, but ultimately came up empty handed. This was the first year in a long time that I didn't have a local zone doe tag. There was a 94% success rate for zone 12, but I ended up in the 6%.
    

    The start of the deer season started with a trip to the Vineyard for the second year in a row. We had such great success in 2018 that it seemed like a guarantee... however, mother nature had other plans. We invited along a family friend, Dan Hogan, who was in pursuit of his first deer. We scouted a few new areas and set stands in some areas that looked like great spots. The wind kicked up on opening day which halted all deer movement. On the second morning it was misty and damp. I saw a small doe sneak past me without a shot opportunity. My Dad shot a doe and took a whack at a buck but missed. We came back later that afternoon and recovered that doe. Dan was the one who actually found it after the blood trail ran dry.
    

    That afternoon my Dad shot at another two does from the ground. He hit both but we only recovered one. I saw a deer but there was too much noise and commotion from a group of hikers behind me. The deer spooked and the only sight I had was the white flag as it ran away. Dan did not see much action and didn't get a chance to let any arrows fly. We ended up leaving early because a large storm was kicking up some nasty weather that was going to park over the island for the next 5-6 days. We got on the ferry just in time before the conditions got too bad.
    

    Feeling gypped, I planned a second trip during early October, hoping to catch some rut activity on the island. I saw a small doe at 80 yards on my first night, while it was drizzling. Then the temperature dropped overnight. The wind chill left the real feel below 0. This froze the moisture in my bow's arrow rest, so I had to manually hold it up. I must have jumped 30-40 deer on the way into my stand. A few cold hours later and a nice 8 pointer came right down the trail I had walked in on. At the last minute he jumped into the thickest part of the woods he could find and walked by me at 35 yards, never presenting a shot opportunity. He turned nonchalantly and walked out of my life.
    

    Later that afternoon I had the opportunity to shoot a couple of does that were being chased. The does stopped 10 yards from my stand, but I could hear something following them so I waited. A decent little buck was about 30 yards over my right shoulder. As I turned towards him, he noticed me and took off, along with the two does. Another squandered opportunity.
    

    I only hunted a few times during bow season in Rehoboth, (zone 11). I had a doe come into range, all I needed was for her to cross a small stream, but she spotted me and wouldn't come in. I didn't have many encounters on the Cape. I didn't have a doe tag so I didn't spend a lot of time in any of my stands. During shotgun I tried hunting in Western Mass. Opening day dumped over 2 feet of snow. This was great for tracks, but was terrible for tracking, even with snow shoes. I jumped several does, in different areas, but without a doe tag in zone 2 it made shooting a deer impossible. My father and I tried a few areas at the base of Mt Greylock in zone 1 because my Dad had a zone 1 doe tag. We tracked a few does, but never got a shot. I also lost my phone in the deep snow on one of the afternoons. Someone on a 4-wheeler found it in the spring.


MV Buck





My Dad and Dan with a Doe they recovered on MV


Strange Racked Buck
Cape Cod

Ducks

    I spent a good amount of January hitting the coastal duck marshes. A few times I had my Rehoboth hunting buddies come down to the Cape to try their luck hitting the fast flying divers. I found a new area in Yarmouth I wanted to try and ended up shooting a black duck from my kayak while it flew overhead. Piper jumped in and retrieved it. We even tried sitting on the end of a jetty, where the ducks flew into the river like running a gauntlet. Piper grabbed the easy ones, but when the waters got too cold and choppy she left it up to the brave kayakers.





Female Bufflehead and an Eider


Piper and a Black Duck, Cape Cod Marsh



Retrieving from a Jetty

Fishing 2019

Fishing 2019

I had an overall very productive fishing season.

The striper bite in the Cape Cod Bay was very good. The majority of the biomass was very small, 20-25 inches, but there was plenty of them to go around. The south side had a similar account, producing more fish than the year before, but around the same size. Fun to catch, but not the slobs I was looking for.

I did a lot of fishing from my 16' center console, but I also purchased a 22' center console with a 125 Merc, at the beginning of the year, to extend my fishing year and give me a chance to get out there on snotty days.

I fished the canal for the first time in a long time with my father in law who has a camp on Bourne Scenic Park. I timed it right and had one of the best fishing days of my life. Cow sized stripers were slamming schools of macks. I was throwing a Sebile Magic Swimmer for the majority of the day. Even when things slowed down I switched to a plastic swim bait and pulled them off the bottom. 

I got to experience tuna fishing for the first time. A friend took me out of the coast of Chatham to the Sword. We hooked a 74" tuna while whales were breaching all around us. It was an all around amazing experience.

I took a charter with a few guys from work on the Emma Jack, out of Bass River. We went to Monomoy Rips and had a fun day catching a lot of shorts.

Check out the Youtube video below for video footage from this year.

Canal Cowfest

New boat, the "Ellie Sue"

Tuna Time

Spring Turkey 2019

Turkey Season 2019

I almost don't want to keep a record of this year's hunt, because quite honestly it wasn't really much of one. I walked into the turkey woods one late morning and made a few calls without hearing any answers. I crested a small hill and came face to beak with a nice tom. I stood about 20 yards from him while I started to load my shotgun, thinking he would putt putt off soon and I could get set up to try to call him back in. Except he didn't move at all. He just stood there staring at me as I raised my gun up to my shoulder and put the bead on his head... I guess these birds are just to used to humans at this point, and I took it upon myself to reintroduce the fear of people... we have to keep these turkeys guessing. 

POW! That's pretty much the entire hunt summed up. It wasn't very sporting and I'm not entirely proud of what happened, but... it happened. At least I was able to show my daughter what a "Turchee" looks like close up. I think from now on I'm going to hunt turkeys exclusively with a bow and arrow to raise the difficulty bar back up.

Deer Hunting 2018

Deer Hunting 2018

I've been slacking when it comes to keeping this blog record up to date. Its almost been a whole year since my 2018 season began. As I am preparing for the upcoming 2019 season I thought it was a good time to reflect on what had happened last year. I think I use the phrase "high's and low's" so much when talking about a hunting or fishing season. The truth is, every hunting or fishing experience is filled with high's and low's. That's what makes people come back for more. If it was all highs then the activity would lose its allure, and if it was all low's then it wouldn't be worth doing in the first place. However, 2018 deer season was exactly that, filled with those high's and low's.

MV Deer Camp

I can't quite remember when, but I heard of a mythical place where the deer flow like wine, and the women flock instinctively like the salmon of Capistrano. I'm talking about a little place called... The Vineyard.

I have wanted to do a deer hunt on Martha's Vineyard for some time. I grew up hunting in the hills of western Mass, but for almost the last decade I've spent the majority of my time in the south eastern part of the state. The two things that these areas have in common is that they all dream of the mythical island deer hunt. I can remember when I was in high school, Nantucket opened up an extra hunting season in January. A few guys from the Berkshires that I knew took the journey and were not ready for the thick scrub brush and prickers that the island is covered with. Never mind the fact that they opened the season up to shotgun hunters. It sounded more like a war zone than a deer hunt.

So there is a lot of talk, backed up with a few photos, of the deer on the island. The state record for largest antlered deer is still held by a lobsterman from the Vineyard. The story that I was told was while pulling up one of his pots, he also pulled up a dead buck with a rack that you can only dream about. Some say that there was a deer farm on the island that is responsible for the genetics for the island's antler size.  Whatever the reason, Martha's Vineyard is known to have some big antlered bucks. They also are known for an abundance of deer numbers in overall population. 

The reason why my father and I did the trip this year was two fold. One reason was because Mass decided to extend the bow season by two weeks in the early season. This gave us some extra time, seeing as I am usually bird hunting in mid October. Also, the only campground on the island closes mid October, but by going early we would be able to tow the camper along and keep the cost to stay down.

Our first few days we spent really scouting out where we would go. We brought a few light climbers, which was more than enough. The key was really just find an open area to shoot your bow and let the deer come to you.

The first night there I shot a small doe at forty yards. I was able to capture it on my Go Pro. A larger doe came down the same run a few minutes later, but I wasn't able to get a shot off.

We tried a few more areas without any luck, but by Wednesday we found where we wanted to be. I shot three does in one sit. My father also shot at one, (bow hunting from the ground).  He ended up having a clean miss, which was fine because that night was filled with tracking and dragging anyways. I actually had to leave one overnight, which anywhere else I would worry about coyotes getting at it, but THERE ARE NO COYOTES ON MARTHA'S VINEYARD. Another reason why whitetail deer numbers are doing so well.

The next day I found the doe I hit the night before. I cleaned it and dragged it out. I tried my best to air myself out from getting so sweaty and went back into the woods to find a new spot. I jumped three deer on the edge of a field so I climbed a small tree and sure enough a six point buck walked in around dark. I put what felt like a good shot on him. He ran around and then walked off. We tracked him for quite awhile through a thicket I can only describe as "satan's asshole." The blood trail led us to the back of a million dollar estate. It proved difficult enough to track over a mowed area, but what made it worse was my father apprehension about using our flashlights on what could be the Obama's vacation house, so we unfortunately chalked it up to a loss. The same night we had to recover a doe my Dad hit. We tracked his doe through a similar, "satan's asshole" area and ended up finding it thanks to the Rage broad head blood trail.

By the end of the week we decided to focus on the island within the island, Chappaquidick or Chappy. We only hunted the afternoons for the majority of the trip. Mainly because we needed to scout during daylight and because we were so busy processing deer in the morning. First night on Chappy my Dad jumped what he called a "freakin Monster." He thought that it had run right by me, but what he didn't know was that I had moved my stand at the last minute... I saw three does that night, and passed on shooting a small yearling. My Dad shot a doe and recovered it right away. We tried Chappy one more time for the final sit and didn't see anything. 

In total we bagged 6 deer. Plenty of meat for the freezer. I remember the nights that we say the most activity coincided with cool front temperature drops. I learned that when going to deer bow hunt camp its important to bring two of everything. I lost my wrist release on a drag, luckily my dad had a backup or else my trip would have been over. I had to break into my Dad's extra box of broadheads as well. This year I'll remember to bring plenty of arrows. 

Doe hung on the custom hitch meat pole

Recovered Doe

Deer Camp

For the Freezer

The Cape

I had two run ins with deer that I should have shot. This is one of those "low's" I mentioned earlier. Later October I was hunting over an active scrape. A decent buck walked in to check it right at last light. In fact there was only about 3 minutes left of legal shooting light. The deer came in quartering away broadside at 20 yards and I could'n't see through my peep to make a confident shot. I let him walk. This year I will be practicing shooting at last light so I can get confident with that shot.

The second "Low" moment came in the heat of the rut. I hunted a spot that has always produced during the rut because its a natural pinch point between two bodies of water. This particular morning two does walked past me. I went to pull back on one of them and my string slipped off my cam! I was in shock as to what happened but later I realized that a stick had been lodged between the cam and the string. I now carry my bow in a sling to keep this from ever happening again. While I was able to record the deer activity with my camera, that was about all I could do. As I was in my stand I knew the longer the doe hung around the better chance I had at seeing a buck chase her and sure enough.... that is what happened. I watched as a buck of a lifetime came running in and stand at 35 yards. He would later wind me, blow, and take off. Heart crushing is the only description that comes to mind when I think about that deer. On opening day of shotgun season he would be taken by a guy who only hunts one day a year, while on a push, a quarter mile from my stand. Like I said... heart crushing.

Equipment Failure

Rehoboth

I still hunted quite a bit off cape in Rehoboth. I did not see one deer. My trail cams showed a few good bucks in the area, but I never saw one.  I hunted one day during shotgun and didn't have much luck either. I didn't go out once for muzzleloader. 

Early season deer from a new spot I tried in Rehoboth

The "Heart Crusher" who walked in and out of my life

Rehoboth decent buck

Bird Hunting 2018

Upland and Duck Hunting 2018

In between bow hunts I kept busy with getting the dogs out for some bird hunting action. I have a hard time balancing between deer hunting and bird hunting, mainly because I feel guilty when I am sitting in a tree stand and I knew my dogs are at home, staring out the window, wondering, "why are we not hunting birds right now?" 

I also find that when you spend too much time in a tree stand you can burn yourself out really quickly. I think that getting the dogs out and getting some action really helps my drive and recharges my batteries to get back to stand sitting, (also the extra exercise doesn't hurt). I don't hunt birds for the sake of shooting birds, that's really just a product of letting the dogs work. I get more enjoyment seeing my dogs point, remain steady, and then give me a retrieve, (supposing that I've actually hit my target.) Watching my dogs behavior after they have done what they have been genetically bred to do is the reason I hang up my bow and pick up my over under.

VT Trip

Second annual Northeast Kingdom trip did not produce anything. We had a limited amount of flushes. We didn't see any woodcock at all, which was disappointing. We went the 3rd week of October but a cold front came through and it felt more like January. The weather was cold and rainy and there was snow on the ground. We saw grouse flush, but didn't come close to hitting any. The last day we tried a different spot close to the house where we were staying. We found an open area with a beaver pond in the middle that held a few ducks. My dad had his waterfowl license and some steel shot so he switched over and we let his spring spaniel flush them off the pond. Luckily the flew back towards us and my Dad took one down. We let his springer, Ruby, get the retrieve. It worked out rather nicely. While we were congratulating Ruby on her bird, Piper flushed a grouse out of a pine tree into the open. I took two shots and thought I may have hit something but we searched the area it went down with negative results. It was nice to have a little action to end our trip though.

Pheasant and Quail

Luna and Piper using teamwork to hit the bag limit on 2 roosters

Back home in south eastern MA I ran the dogs in tandem at a couple of WMA's that stock pheasant, and one that stocks quail. The Francis Crane WMA in Falmouth is a huge area of cleared fields and trails that are perfect for upland hunting. The other is in Plymouth, in the Myles Standish State Forest. They also stock quail. Piper does not hold tight enough to use her for quail hunting but Luna is very cautious and we usually limit out every time we go, with plenty of empty shell casings in my vest pocket as well.

Pictured above was a day in Myles Standish that I was most proud of. Early in the morning Luna slammed on point and I found a rooster that I would dub a non performer. Piper honored for a moment when I told her to whoa, but then broke once she saw me try kicking the bird into flight, as I would during a training session with a pigeon. The bird took off by did not go far enough. I shot at the bird and it slammed to the ground as Piper was top of it to retrieve. The second bird Piper flushed originally but relocated it and had a beautiful point about 10 feet from the rooster downwind. She held steady and Luna honored as I yelled whoa. I flushed the bird, shot it (a little too close as feathers exploded everywhere) and Piper retrieved it to hand perfectly. It was a great way to end the day.

Luna with one of her roosters of the year

Luna and a Bobwhite

Ducks

Male bufflehead and a female eider

I was only able to get out duck hunting twice, but was successful each outing. I never hunted them in the early season, but waited until after January and did coastal flyway only. The first trip I shot a bufflehead and a female eider, (my first ever sea duck). The last day of the season I shot a hooded merganser as the sun was setting. Piper did an excellent job retrieving all the birds. As she gets older I think she's going to be my go to waterfowl dog and Luna is going to be my ace for upland, but we'll see how it plays out. They started hunting well together this year so I don't mind running them together on pheasant.

Piper's last retrieve of the season was a beautiful one

Fishing 2018

Fishing 2018

This season had its ups and downs, but overall it was successful. I fished mainly from my small 16' center console and my buddies 21' on commercial days. I did a charter trip on the Emma Jack out of S Yarmouth for a tournament and came in 3rd place with the striper on the scale pictured below.

I had by far one of the best days I've ever experienced in Cape Cod Bay in August. I worked a midnight shift and towed my boat to work with me. When I got out of work I made my way to the ramp but did not get far before the skies opened up on me. I had to wait until the rolling thunder storm passed. As I made my way towards the east end of the canal the skies opened up again. I did my best to keep from getting struck by lightning and wound up snagging a few macks with the sabiki. On my way to meet up with a buddy on another boat the calm waters exploded all around me. I was set up with a small white top water plug for schoolies. This plug was not prepared for the thrashing it was about to take. 

For about 2 hours as the tide went high and slack their was a feed like I've never seen. I caught fish on everything I through at them. Live lining macks, tube and worm, but my personal favorite, top water plugs. I kept the biggest fish of the day, ( I now regret the fact that I did this and would have rather put it back). I brought it to Powderhorn Outfitters because I thought it would get me a state pin. Unfortunately it didn't make the 40 lb cut and wound up somewhere in the 36 lb class.

On my buddy's commercial boat most nights/days were fishless. But we managed the get one day where we hit the limit. The season never closed due to the quota never being met. A gloomy look at the overfished fishery. Overall many small fish were around, as long as they are given the chance to grow, and regulations change, the fishery should bounce back.

Hunting 2017

Hunting Fall 2017

 My 2017 hunting season started off with a trip to the Northeast Kingdom in Vermont. I had a brand new puppy named Luna, (another GSP) that I got in June and was anxious to see how she would do with wild birds. Luna was not even "whoa" broken yet. I just wanted her to get a feel for finding wild birds. She had seen a few pigeons and a few quail and I had gone through a few drills to get her used to gunfire but this was all new to her. She did more than impress me at only 6 months old.

My Dad also had a new puppy named Ruby, an English Springer Spaniel. We were hunting both puppies in a woodcock habitat area in the Silvio Conte Forest. Ruby put up a woodcock, my Dad shot it, and Luna found it.

The next day we were hunting in a cover that looked good for woodcock, thick alders and wetland, but it ended up holding a bunch of grouse. My older dog Piper had injured her elbow early on, so while she was down and out, Luna got the call from the bullpen. We must of had a dozen or so grouse flushes until I finally had an opportunity to shoot.  I wasn't sure if I had hit it as I watched it glide over a hill. Luna was right on it and I was very pleasantly surprised to find her on top of it when I got over the hill. Luna had her first grouse at 6 months old.

 Deer hunting was frustrating to say the least. I did not see any deer in the woods during the early season. I focused on hunting on Cape Cod mainly. Things did not happen until the first week of November. I was not able to get in the woods until Friday that week because I had training for work. Friday afternoon I bumped a nice 6 pointer with a couple does while walking into my stand. I used a new attractant, "Cooks Fatal Attraction" doe in heat. I put it out 20 yards from my stand with a scent wick and it sure did its job.  A really nice 8 point came in and stood right underneath that scent wick with a large tree right in front of his vitals. While he was standing there he locked onto me. He stood there for another few minutes, as I stood as still as I could, trying not to let my adrenaline get the best of me. Finally, he did an about face and started walking away. I made the mistake of thinking I should take a shot at a deer facing completely away from me. Luckily I had a clean miss. I never found my arrow but I'm pretty sure I buried it. I was heartbroken to say the least. Later that night I found him on my trail cam, along with the other six point I had seen earlier.

Here is the deer I missed, on a licking branch, earlier that morning.

 Later on in the year, I did a drive during muzzleloader. It was bitter cold, with the wind howling that day. We were wrapping up our push when I heard a loud bang and watched a small doe run in a circle. Everyone was taking a shot at it and it came within 10 yards of me. I pulled the trigger and heard, "click". Later I discovered my breach plug was full of debris and frozen over. Its not like I blew the opportunity of a lifetime, but it was a symbolic way to cap the season off. A year of disappointment and frustration.

Video of a Fisher Cat

 I did some upland bird and waterfowl hunting, but with Piper out with her injury I really didn't get out as much as I usually do. Luna had a great day at the Myles Standish quail field, where we limited out in less than an hour.  On Thanksgiving morning, I stopped off in Norton at a pheasant stocked WMA. Piper, (feeling better at this time) and Luna, hunted together for the first time. They bumped a female pheasant and I dropped it.

I did not get out to duck hunt until the late season, and only went a few times without any luck.

Luna with her 3 bobwhites

Pheasant from Thanksgiving morning

Luna had another good outing, across the street from my parents house. She pointed and retrieved two woodcock. 

Louie and Tom stuck in the mud