Deer Hunting 2020

MV Trip #1

    I spent the early opening week of bow on a solo camping trip to the Vineyard. I went to the usual campground on the island and spent a few nights sleeping on an air mattress in the back of my truck. The very first night I was walking around with my climber on my back, looking for a decent spot to sit. Hunting these "public areas" its not uncommon to find what looks like a great area, only to find a stand right above your head. I was getting way too sweaty looking around in the 70 degree weather and decided on a spot on a knob full of oaks. The acorns were still falling while I settled in my climber and soon enough I saw a doe sneaking through some thick bedding area. I watched her for a while until she came back up the hill I was sitting on. She stood broad side at what I thought was 40 yards and put the 40 yard pin on her shoulder. I shot and immediately thought I shot over her back. I ranged out where she stood again and realized she was closer 30 yards. I later checked my arrow and realized I had just glanced her back. Not a great feeling.

    Luckily I sat in my stand until dark and just as last light settled upon me, another deer came down the hill and stood 20 yards completely broadside. The deer's head was down and was behind a tree, so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that it was a small buck when I found him in his final resting place. The antlers are a dark chocolate color, making it even harder to tell from a tree stand at last light. Perfect arrow placement led to a really easy track. In fact the blood was pouring so heavy that it pumped out towards another deer run that led me down the wrong track. I had to back track and then I realized what had happened, that the deer had run on the other side of a tree and within seconds of realizing this, I found my deer. Gutting, dragging, getting back to camp, hanging my deer, cleaning out the bed of my truck, showering, and blowing up my air mattress lead to a late night. But those are good problems to have on a bow hunting trip. I only had a few more deer encounters this trip, spooking a doe while getting out of a tree in the morning, and having deer stand underneath my stand until it was too dark to see anything. On a solo trip for meat in the freezer I was happy to be going home with one tag filled.  

MV Trip #2

    I went back to the Vineyard on a second trip on Nov 1 with a group of guys. My buddies, Louie, Tom, Mike, and my Dad. We rented an Air BNB that was kind enough to let a group of hunters use their property for the week.  I always envisioned that the deer density on the island would make for an amazing rut week. Not sure if the rut was later than I expected, but we did not see the deer movement I was hoping for. Sure, we saw A LOT of deer at night, in fields and crossing the roads, the island just has an insane amount of deer. BUT, while in our stands, we just didn't connect like we should have. My dad on the other hand, had himself a great week, shooting 2 does and a spike. All and all it was a fun week, just not sure I would do it again. Public access is tough, and if that isn't hard enough, this year with COVID-19, made everything more difficult. More human pressure, from other hunters, or just an increase in hikers, definitely had an effect on deer movement.

The Cape, Bow and Shotgun

    I had few encounters during the rest of bow season on the Cape. I didn't bow hunt Rehoboth at all this year because I was getting reports that the deer behavior was unusual because of all the acorns, they were not patterning to the same spots.

    I had many opportunities to capitalize during shotgun season. On opening day I got into a new spot I had set up with an old ladder stand. I wasn't expecting to see anything and was very lackadaisical in my mindset. I brought a coffee with me, (which I never do bowhunting) and sat with my shotgun propped up next to me. Sure enough, first thing I heard was the sound of a deer approaching over my left shoulder, and I did what everyone knows not to do and turned quickly to look. Sure enough a buck stood at 40 yards staring right at me, stomping his hoof. I knew I either had to wait for him to saunter off or I needed to get my gun and raise it quickly. I did the latter, which was the wrong move and the deer took off. Sitting there disappointed with myself another group of bucks came back towards me. I would later learn that there was a group of hunters pushing the area and the bucks had been jumped towards me. I watched them circle my stand at about 100-120 yards, and when I thought I had my best opportunity I took a poke at about 80 yards. Clean miss. My shot jumped these deer into the group pushing the area, they shot several time, (missing as well, thankfully.)

    A few days later I was doing a small group drive. My friend, Rob, dropped his cell phone and we spent the better part of the afternoon looking for it. The group of guys just wanted to walk back to the truck. I wasn't done yet, and as the sun set I walked off trail, towards the general direction of the truck. I ended up on another trail that ran along side a main road, and I figured I would follow it silently back to the parking area. As I crested a hill I saw movement. I saw antlers and a white tail. I shot. The deer stopped, put his head down. I had my red dot on his head, but I didn't want to ruin his antlers, so I never pulled the trigger on a second shot. I looked hard for blood that night but found nothing. I went back the next morning and scoured the area. I found my wadding, and a small amount of deer hair. This gave me a good and bad feeling. I knew I had hit it, but not well. I spent the entire day zig zagging back and forth. Towards the end of the day I was zig zagging through an area I thought looked like great bedding. Sure enough a doe popped up and I dropped her. I through a second shot in her just to be sure and then realized I was about 10 yards from the main trail and about 50 yards from the road. With so many hiker and bikers out on those trails, I had many eyes on my while tagging and gutting that doe, some supportive, some not so supportive. I never found the buck from the night before but at least I had a consolation prize for the freezer.

    

    Later in the year, during black powder season, I was hunting in a new spot in Plymouth with a friend when a coyote walked up on me. It was a large coyote with a beautiful blonde winter coat. I had help from my friend Chris, who is an experienced trapper, to skin it out and package it. I later sent it out to USA Fox and Furs to flesh and tan it.

Some Notable Trail Cam Pics from this Year

Fishing 2020

 Fishing 2020

    Well 2020 was a different experience for a lot of reasons. There was a global pandemic with COVID-19. Many people took to "socially distancing" by taking up my fishing spots. This was evident from the very beginning when I took my two year old daughter trout fishing. In my usual spots there weren't any parking spots, never mind open spots on the shore.

Ellie's first fishing trip

Saltwater

    I took Ellie out for her first saltwater trip this year too. We took out the "Ellie Sue" in Barnstable Harbor and got into some hungry schoolies. I would hook them and help her reel them in. She was unsure about them at first but quickly got excited to catch more.

                                                                Ellie's First Striper

    There was a very large biomass of 22-26 inch striped bass this year. They were around pretty much all year. The big fish never really showed up. I heard reports of all the big fish being up around Boston. The canal never really got hot either. My father in law caught some bigger fish later on in the season around late October.  I only caught one decent fish while bringing out my friend's Dad, just trolling tube and worm towards the last can in Barnstable Harbor at dusk.

Fresh Sea Lice

Mr. Glynn with an Above Slot Limit Fish

Large Biomass of Schoolies

The blue fish, who were almost completely absent last year, showed up in big numbers towards the end of the season, late August, early September. Trolling tube and worm was very productive.

The Blues Showed up this Year

One of the Many Rat Schoolies from this Year

Feeding my Portuguese In-Laws

    

                        Here's a video of my Dad reeling in a small schoolie using a Hoochie troll

                       Ellie is learning how to reel in her own line.

My Mother-in-Law reeling in a small schoolie

My wife, Tracy, catching a small scup after a long and frustrating day chasing albies in September.

Spring Turkey 2020

    I decided to take a buddy of mine out to a few spots on an early morning hunt in May. He told me that he was interested in getting into hunting so I figured taking him out for a turkey hunt would be a better introduction to hunting than sitting in a tree, freezing your nuts off, for hours on end. This was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic so there were a lot of people out "socially distancing." A few of my money spots had gobblers sounding off, but too many trucks in the parking lot to make me want to compete.

    We tried a few other spots with little luck, just walking and calling. The wind picked up and it was hard to hear anything. We were about to try a final spot near another buddy's house. We pulled onto the road and saw what looked like a turkey farm in the neighborhood with several longbeards running around. We quickly and quietly grabbed our stuff from the back of the truck and did our best to sneak into the nearby woods. 

    I set up decoys and tried calling just outside the 500 ft rule. Nothing answered and I quickly realized that the flock was moving on. I moved as close as I could to the road, leaving my setup behind, and tried calling. I got an answer and then I suddenly saw a red head pop up from the tree line. I did an about face, slumped down, and tried to quietly move back to my setup, but my initial thoughts were that I just blew it.

    I sat down, put my gloves and face mask on and tried calling again. I got an immediate answer. I called a few more times to get him fired up and it became apparent he was coming in hot! I told my buddy to get ready and several seconds later he came strutting down the very path I was just walking on. He never saw the decoys but stopped at 30 yards to my right. I took a shot, but I think the pattern was deflected from a lot of ground cover. We were sitting in the typical Cape Cod scrub brush. He jumped up and took two steps into a clearing and I let him have it again. This time he dropped. We weren't able to capture it on video because he didn't cooperate with our window of opportunity, but we bagged one none the less. I'm glad I was able to get outside on a beautiful spring morning and had the chance to show someone who didn't grow up around hunting, how exciting it could be.

Ellie looks impressed

March 2020 woodcock training

March Woodcock Training Video

Here is a quick clip from Francis Crane WMA in Falmouth during the March woodcock migration. Luna and Piper were both on point and a single woodcock flushed in front of them. Both remained steady to the wing.

March 2020

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.