Deer Hunting 2022

 Deer Hunting 2022

    My deer season for 2022 was overall a great success. I didn't punch a tag on a monster buck, but I filled my freezer and had a lot of great experiences.  

    Opening day I shot a doe. This was my first time hunting from a saddle. I was more interested in fine tuning my gear for the season I did not actually give my thought to actually shooting a deer. However, I scouted the area out that afternoon, before finding a tree to climb. It was a windy day. I climbed a tree and quickly realized how close I was to a walking path. It didn't matter. Well before sunset a giant buck walked towards me from the other side of the tree I was hanging from. So with my saddle the deer was coming in the direction I was looking and I was going to have to try and make a shot from either the left or right side. So many things I read and heard about saddle hunting, they say not to lift your bow over your tether to shoot from the off hand side. Well I figured out why. As I moved my bow over the tether, I forgot that my arrow rest was broken and had no way to hold the arrow in place if tipped up. The arrow fell off my bow string and tinked down the steps below me. I hurried to grab another arrow from my quiver and leaned around the tree only to lock eyes with the buck below me. He disappeared shortly after.

    Not soon after that a momma and her baby came walking behind me. This was a shot that I had practiced. I leaned out, drew my bow and sent my rage broadhead to the pump station of the bigger doe. She ran about 30 yards and dropped. 

    

    Later on that year, during that pivotal first week in November I got up early and headed to one of those areas that is always good during that time of year. I had a few encounters with deer during afternoon sits in past years, but had never hunted this stand in the morning. In fact, I hadn't hunted any mornings prior to this. My wife even criticized my hunting strategy and asked if I was ever going to be getting up early. So I set the alarm and got out of bed. I hadn't been to this stand since last year, and with my new love of saddle hunting I wanted to sit in that, instead of my stand. Getting set up was no efficient. After I finally climbed up to my spot, I quickly realized that my bow string was caught on one of the steps and I couldn't pull it up. I climbed down and back up and was still wiping the sweat off my forehead when I heard deer running towards me. I looked up and saw two does. I leaned out from my saddle and my platform made a loud creak. The lead doe stopped and stared at me. She stomped her foot and was about to blow at me when I let one loose. It hit her high and spined her. She dropped but was far from dead.

I took another shot at her put missed, as my adrenaline was still pumping and so was hers. She was flopping all around, not giving me an easy shot. I took another shot and it deflected off a branch that was in front of her. As this was happening I heard another approaching deer and heard a grunt. I grunted back. In all of this commotion the other doe came around my stand, now down wind of me and started blowing. If I had another doe tag I would have shot her too, but I only had 2 for the cape and had already filled one on opening day. The blowing doe took off and with her the sound of the grunting buck. With all this going on, called the attention to a small 4 pointer whose curiosity got the better of him. He stood broadside at 20 yards and the rest is history. I was able to climb down the tree and finish both deer off right under my stand. I grabbed my kids from daycare and had them "help" me track and drag the deer out. 

    

During shotgun I went out with two of my buddies, Rob and Johnny. We went to an area I had never hunted but wanted to check out. Early that morning we spread out in a small area with the intention to sit quietly for the first hour and then start pushing the area. Rob texted me and said that there was a buck headed my way.  I stood up and pushed deeper into the woods, as I was standing close to the highway. Just as I did I saw the buck running about 80 yards out. I took my first shot with a red dot mounted on my Remington 870. The deer ran another 30 yards and then stopped and looked towards me broadside. I shot a second time and he dropped. The first shot had hit him in the hind leg area and the second shot was high but in the vitals. 

    During 2022 my dad and I did our first deer camp with an outfitter in the Finger lakes of upstate New York. I had a few encounters on my trip and made a couple bad shots, (one high shoulder hit, one gut punch). My dad shot a six pointed and with only one buck tag, had to pass on a nice 8 pointer the next night. After this season I inevitably needed to figure out my shot placement and ended up buying a new bow with a better setup. I also went down the rabbit hole on target panic and have been working on making better shots in the future.

New Brunswick Spring Bear 2022

 

    In early May of 2022 (5/8-5/14) I took my first trip to Stony Brook Outfitters in McAdam, New Brunswick for spring bear over bait. This was the first real outfitter trip I had been on and it did no disappoint.  The camp is right on a beautiful lake that is full of pre spawning smallies. During the day you can do whatever you want, shoot your bow/gun, fish, take a boat ride or a nap. Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and is served prior to going on stand. As with any outfitter, your experience weighs heavily on who your guide is. At Stony Brook, the owner, Bob Parker, hires a handful of really good local guides. Some are more "old school" or traditional with their sites, easily accessible, with a limited window or shooting lanes to conceal movement. Other guides run tree stands and trail cameras in a more modern approach. This first trip I had a guide who had more of a traditional approach. I used my friend Louie's 30-30 rifle and watched a barrel in a small window for the majority of day 1 with no sighting. Day 2 came and a small boar came out early in the hunt. In my haste I only waited about 10 seconds before pulling the trigger.  The bear weighed about 130 lbs. An average size for the camp but for that early week it won the big bear pool.  The coat had already started to rub, so I wasn't worried about messing it up too much and used it as an opportunity to try skinning and drying the hide myself. I sent it to a tannery who professionally tanned it, and it now hangs on a wall in my basement. 

    The rest of the week was filled with fishing. I brought a small fly rod, which I was trying to get better it. Being inexperienced I brought leaders set up for trout and broke off many small mouth, losing my best flies. It only taught me out to play a fish carefully on light tippet.  Overall I would highly recommend Stony Brook and I ended up going back the next year for another trip. This time with my bow and proper fishing gear. 

Wyoming!

 The big planned trip for this year was to go out west and mule deer hunt in Wyoming. I went with Tom, Louie, and Chris. We stayed at Tom's friend Mike's house in Gilette. We rifle hunted public land. The conditions were very dry and from what Mike told us, the deer sightings were minimal. Tom was able to shoot a nice buck, with the help of a well-placed follow up shot from Louie, while hiking deep into a large piece of BLM land. I heard the shots tearing across the drainage from where I was. I watched two does take off from the shots. The pack out with the quartered buck was quite the workout in 80 degree dry heat. It was an amazing experience just being out there even if the conditions were sub-prime.  

    On the last day to hunt I took Luna out for a bird hunting excursion and on the way home I stopped at a spot I had taken notice of with the help of Onx. It was a small piece of BLM, but there was a drainage area I thought might hold deer, so I grabbed my rifle and left the bird gun in the truck. I didn't have to walk far, and I saw a doe jump out from the drainage. I got my rifle ready on my sticks and watched a group of does take off down the drainage. I studied each deer as they ran off for antlers and to my surprise, I noticed one deer had horns. Without thinking too much about it I pulled the trigger and dropped a small spike in his tracks. Not the biggest mule deer, but way better than eating a $600 tag. The saying, "every deer is a trophy" doesn't always ring true, but it did in this case.  The spike had a little velvet on the tips of his horns, known as a "cactus buck." 

Deer Hunting 2021

 I didn't spend anytime scouting or running cameras in the early season because I was gearing up for a trip to Wyoming. I missed a lot of the early season bow hunting, but spent a considerable amount of time in a stand after that. I had an opportunity on a really nice buck that came into a grunt call on Nov 5 in Yarmouth. I took a shot at 40 yards but missed low and in front of the brisket. The buck jumped back and then spooked after I tried to grunt him back in. 

Later that year, during shotgun I sat in a stand that I hadn't seen much in earlier in the year, but during the "late rut" when the yearlings were coming into heat, a small doe came running by my stand. I did not have a doe tag for zone 12 so I let her pass and this turned out to be in my benefit because a nice mature buck was hot on her heels. I shot him at 40 yards and he didn't run 20 yards before tipping over.

The day before shooting that buck I did a drive on opening day with Johnny, Rob, and Nate. I jumped a spike and unloaded on him but missed. He ran right into Rob who dropped him with a load of buck shot.

During muzzleloader on a deer drive in Rehoboth I had another really nice buck come to me. My radio, (which was on way to loud) went off and spooked him. We stared out each other for what seemed like forever. I swung my muzzleloader around and took a shot as he started to run. I found a little hair, but no blood and without much else to go on wasn't able to recover him. Little Tom saw him run past but didn't have a shot. Even though I didn't pack my freezer with MA tags I had a successful year with 1 mule deer, 1 pronghorn, and a nice white-tailed buck. 

My Dad shot a monster Florida Mountain buck during shotgun by the Deerfield. 

We also took a late season MV trip with my Dad, Rob, and Nate. We stayed in an Air BnB in West Tisbury. The first night Rob shot a doe, but we had a lack of action after that. I took a pop shot on a doe in a thicket of briars but missed. We checked out the state forest but didn't see much. The deer might have been pushed out by the shotgun season or they just headed to wintering areas not on any accessible land. 

Upland 2021

 I wasn't able to do an early season upland trip in the fall due to a trip out west. Instead, I hunted sage grouse in an outfitter near Casper, WY. I was able to do a short day trip to the Manchester/Peru area of southern VT with my Dad and Dan. We didn't knock down any grouse but had a great woodcock flight.  I also had a few opportunities to get out on some stocked pheasant in MA. I took a few trips in Western MA as well as Norton, the Cape, and Plymouth. The dogs were working well together, but Piper came up lame on one of the last hunts on the year in Falmouth. Luna was solid and is starting to come into her prime years. 

VT Bear 2021

 I tried something new in September 2021 by tagging along with Tom and Louie to the Northeast Kingdom in VT for an early bear hunt over hounds. Just watching the dogs work was worth the trip. Tom shot a nice bear on the first morning and then we struggled to tree another bear after that, but the experience was enough to plan another trip for the following year. 

Markover Hunting Preserve 2021

 In March of 2021 we spent a night at Markover in CT. The lodge was a great time, but lead to a tough morning of bird hunting.  Overall it was a good experience. Along for the trip was my Dad, Louie, Nate, and Rob. We decided the next time we would hunt first and then drink after.