Scouting at Blanton Creek WMA...

This past Saturday, October 8 my buddy Chris and I went down to Blanton Creek to find a spot to hunt during the next weekend's Adult/Child hunt. The cool thing about this hunt was not only are we planning to camp out, but you can use a rifle a week earlier than the regular gun season starts.

So we looked around in several places finding lots of acorn trees that were dropping, but only one rub and no place that we felt extremely confident about. We pretty much narrowed it down to two places, either a thinned out area of pines that would give us viewing in greater distances, or a hardwood ridge with a few white oak acorn trees that were dropping. We were there about 3 hours and went home tired & sweaty.

I really wanted to find something better to hunt for the weekend so Walker would have a better chance at seeing something during the hunt so I decided to go back down to Blanton Creek Monday evening after school. It had been raining all day and I decided at the last minute to go ahead & go anyway, even if it was sprinkling.

I had a place in mind that I wanted to look and I went straight to that spot. I parked & walked in and found a good trail running along side a creek bottom. The creek turned right but the hollow made a bend in the opposite direction, to the left so I followed it. After about 100 yards I found this:

I kept walking, looking for a good place for us to be able to hunt on the ground, either sitting at a tree or in a ground blind. I saw several great places for tee stands, but nothing great for the ground.

I saw several places where armadillos must have been rooting, and I even saw one armadillo.





Finally, after walking about 600 yards I found something to get really excited about. It was one of the biggest rubs I had ever found myself, and it was on a cedar tree about the size of my bicep (no jokes please...).

A little more looking about 20 yards from the big rub was this, with a very clear hoof print and fresh droppings in it:

At this point I was pretty excited and started looking around at where we might get to hunt in this area. In the direction I was walking I could look up to the left to see a hardwood ridge, but it was really too thick to be able to see much. To my right was a thick area about 20 yards wide, which opened into an area of thinned out pines.

If I turned around from this spot and walked 20 yards I would be looking into the hardwood bottom where the big rub is and where we plan to hunt this weekend:

So needless to say Walker & I are really excited about this coming weekend. The fact that we are camping out and that we are going to have a group that we are hunting with will only add to the experience and the fun. Hopefully one of us will have some luck this weekend and see some deer. And just maybe it'll be us seeing the buck that made the big rub on the cedar tree...

New stand location, 1st buck on camera, & ready for the weekend

Last night I went to check my camera since I last moved it and it looks like I've got it in the right location this time. Where it's at now I can get photos of deer coming from 3 different directions. Even though it was a small one, I was excited that I had finally gotten a picture of a buck on camera (the one in the middle).

I decided to move my stand location for the first time this year and I'm excited to try it out Saturday morning. Hopefully I'll get a shot opportunity, and even better would be if I saw a buck.

Hunt #4 - Finally a buck!

October 8th was my fourth hunt of the season and it ended up being the most exciting. I had moved my stand location to a spot where I could have a shot at deer coming from three different trails so I was anticipating some action. 

I was also excited because a few days prior I had gotten a spike on camera and I was hoping to see him. Even if the only buck I saw was that spike, it would still be exciting since all I had been seeing were doe.

So I was sitting down hunting by 6:40 a.m. and everything was quiet. Not quiet as cold as in previous weeks, and a slight wind blowing. The action started around 8 a.m. when I could see a doe and a yearling feeding on acorns about 75 yards away. I was completely focused on them and after a few minutes I noticed that the yearling kept looking in my direction - not at me but towards the area I was in. Finally I glanced to my right, and there were two deer standing 20 yards from my tree, one of which was the spike in the photo above. The doe with him was kind of small and I decided that I wouldn't shoot either one of them, but they both gave me several opportunities and it was very tempting. I was very happy that none of the deer smelled me at all, so I was thinking that washing my camo in the scent free detergent and taking my shower with scent-free shampoo & soap must be working.

About 20 minutes after the spike & doe left the doe & yearling that had been feeding about 75 yards away circled around in the woods and came out right near my stand and gave a great 15-20 yard shot, but I decided not to take it.

I ended up getting down at 9:30 a.m. to go do some scouting at the Blanton Creek Wildlife Management Area for the Adult - Child hunt that was coming up the following weekend. It was a fun morning...

Hunt #3 - Lots of Action...

Saturday morning was my 3rd hunt of the season and it was pretty exciting. I knew several days in advance that it was going to be a cool morning and I was looking forward to that. I was a little disappointed that I hadn't gotten much on my trail camera during the week, but still I was hoping for the best.

I left the house at 6:15 a.m. and at 6:30 a.m. I was making my way to my stand. I was able to go in quiet & undetected and by 6:45 a.m. I was ready. At 7:45 a.m. I heard several footsteps in the leaves and the sound of broken twigs on the ground and I knew deer were coming. They came out of the woods in front of me and to the right about 40 yards, but I didn't have a shot in that direction. I counted 5 deer and one of them had antlers. It looked to be about a 4 pointer and I was excited to see something other than a doe, but it wasn't the big 8 pointer I was hoping for. As they slowly walked away I decided to grunt at them to see what they would do. The buck looked up and back in my direction, and at this point he was at least 50 yards from me. The buck took a few steps in my direction and I started to get excited, but he stopped and turned back in the other direction. A few minutes later I heard steps coming in front of me, and out walked a decent sized doe and two young deer. I had a nice 10 yard shot at the doe, but decided there was too much action going on and I was hoping to still have a chance to see the big 8 pointer. Things quieted down until about 8:45 when I saw a doe feeding to my left. I could see it feeding and it appeared to be making its way in my direction but it got spooked from noises coming from the closest house near where I was hunting and ran in the opposite direction.

I decided to get down at 9:30 and try to find out if there were any new rubs in the area where I saw the last one. I hadn't walked 75 yards until I looked up to see two doe trotting straight towards me, stopping at about 20 yards. I reached for an arrow and they ran away. I walked a little further and saw several more deer running the other direction. I couldn't help but think that if I had stayed in the stand they might have came by.

It was a fun, exciting morning and I'm looking forward to the next hunt...

Deer Grunting 101...

I have always carried a grunt call in my hunting bag, but only because Daddy gave me one to carry. I've never really known what kind is best, when is the best time to use a grunter, how long of a grunt to make, etc. The only time I've ever used the grunter I've had is when I'm not seeing anything, or when I was trying to get the attention of a deer I saw. I've also never had any experience rattling, nor had anything to rattle with.

This year I'm planning to buy a grunt call and I've been trying to read and learn more about grunting. I came across the website with a lot of helpful information. The grahpic below lists the different type of grunts, and which are most effective during different times in the season.

Infographic by Mark C. Timney

It also has a deer grunts & tactics section where you can actually listen to examples of the different kinds of grunts, what they mean, and how to do them. The title of the article is Deer Grunting 101 by Mark Timney....here is the link:

http://www.bowsite.com/bowsite/features/practical_bowhunter/deergrunting/

I'm definitely going to try some of this tomorrow morning....maybe I'll have some luck.

About the author of Deer Grunting 101 at http://www.bowsite.com/

Mark Timney has been a working journalist for over 15 years and has professional experience in almost every aspect of the field of mass communication. He presently splits his time among a number of jobs: as a freelance magazine writer specializing in outdoor articles; as an adjunct professor of journalism and computer software; and as the head of his own outdoor communications/advertising/public relations/video production business.

Mark has a Ph.D. in Mass Communication/Journalism from Ohio University. He became interested in archery while in graduate school and began writing for several bowhunting/target archery magazines in 1995. His work has been published in Petersen's Bowhunting, 3-D & Target Archery, 3-D Times, Bowhunting World, Archery Business and Bow Masters Magazine. He also conducts archery and bowhunting seminars based upon his articles.

New release, new location for camera & stand...

I had been feeling pretty confident about my stand location for this weekend, especially after having seen 4 deer last week, and the buck being spotted a few days before my Saturday hunt. But after sitting on the stand for five hours Saturday and not seeing a thing, and then finding out the only pictures on the camera were of two doe and me coming to check it, I was disappointed.

The good news is that the landowner where I'm hunting spotted the buck that made the rub I saw the previous week close enough to see that he is a nice 8-pointer. Better than that is we picked out a new tree for my stand based on the travel pattern of the buck and A LOT of tracks on a new trail. Today I moved the camera to near that location and the plan is to check it on Thursday. I sure hope we get a photo of the buck. I also got a picture of the track made by the buck at 8 a.m. Sunday morning.

New Scott Release

Old fletchunter release

The other good news for the weekend is that I got a new (different) release. It seems like I have always struggled to be consistent with my shots when shooting my bow and I'm starting to think that some of that was due to my old release. I was using this release when I shot my first doe with a bow back in 1992, so a change was in order.

The new release came from my Daddy (seems like I say that about a lot of my hunting stuff...) when he changed over to a crossbow. It is a single caliper release made by Scott. It only took a few rounds of shots to see that I was going to be able to shoot much more consistent with this release. While the arrows in this picture aren't dead in the bulls-eye, you can see that I almost repeated the shot placement of two of the arrows at 20 yards. And for me this is great. Later in the day we shot again at 30 yards and I had similar results.

As of now it looks like next Saturday will be hunt #3 for the season. Maybe it will be the day that I take my first buck with my bow.

Shooting Range

This afternoon Walker & I went over to the shooting range and let him practice shooting the Ruger .22. We set the target up at about 30 yards, along with a milk jug full of water. The gun is a little big for him, so I was pretty proud when he was nailing the bullseye almost every time. He got really excited when he nailed the milk jug and it jumped off the ground about 3 inches as water exploded out the side. He's going to be a great shot...

The main reason he wanted to go today was to see if he could shoot my 7mm-.08 so he could try to take a deer this year. I was pretty sure that was not going to happen so I 'asked' him to watch me shoot it first. When he saw the 'kick' he said, "yeah maybe I should just wait." I asked him would he rather get his own smaller .22 and he said no, he wanted something he could deer hunt with. I'm hoping we can find him something for Christmas that he might could hunt with.

Hunt 2 - No luck...

I was pretty excited about hunting this morning, especially since the buck in the area had been seen and I was hoping I would see him. I got up early, two cups of coffee, and I was sitting in the tree ready at 6:45 a.m. enjoying the 60 degree weather. The sky was clear with the stars shining and the ground was still really wet. It was pretty quiet walking in so I was sure if there was a deer anywhere close it didn't hear me.

The peak feeding times for today started at 10 a.m., so I had planned to stay in the tree until at least 11. Unfortunately the only thing I saw was a few squirrels and a few birds. I usually have a tough time staying in the tree on days like this, but I kept thinking about how last Saturday I had saw four doe, and the buck had been seen the day before. Well I made it to 11:45 a.m. before I decided to call it a day. Maybe I'll get to go again one day this week, but definitely next Saturday. Hopefully it will be a few degrees cooler.

Deer Hunting in Georgia: the best places to find white tailed deer by region

Deer Hunting in Georgia: the best places to find white tailed deer by region - LandTalk Blog

New trail camera

I got a new Moultrie trail camera last night & put it out where I'm hunting. Can't wait to see what shows up on camera. I'm going to check it this evening and I'll be in the stand on Saturday.

Book

I came across this book & thought it looked interesting...$12.95 on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Big-Buck-Hunting-Principles/dp/1456306685#_

Whitetail Deer Passion: The Philosophy of Big Buck Hunting: © By Othmar Vohringer. We all dream of hunting big bucks but some of us don’t know how to hunt mossy old horns while others, hunting on public land, believe that there are no big bucks where they hunt. Well I’ve got good news for you.

Rick DeStefanis, a veteran public land big buck hunter of many years, is the author of a new book, "The Philosophy of Big Buck Hunting.”

2010 Season - The Camry Doe

The 2010 hunting season for the Graham household didn't have much action, mainly because we only went a few times. We were in the home stretch of our Dave Ramsey plan to pay off $60k worth of debt in 24 months and I wasn't spending money on anything. I asked Mr. Giles if the kids and I could come out and take another doe and he agreed, so Walker and I went out one cool November 20th afternoon to sit in the shooting house.

Not too long after we arrived a doe came walking out on the edge of the field and after watching it for a few minutes, Walker decided we should take it. I made a good shot and the deer ran about 50 yards into the woods. It was getting dark quickly so we gave it as long as we could stand it to wait and then started tracking. It didn't take Walker long to follow the blood trail to the deer.

We decided not to field dress the deer at that time, and we took a photo.

11.20.10

And that is where the story gets really funny. Earlier that year I had sold my truck and bought a 1996 Toyota Camry. After knowing I would need a way to haul the deer home I made a few phone calls and unfortunately there was nobody available. I told Walker that I guess we had no other choice than to put the doe in the trunk of the car and haul it out of the woods. So we walked up to the car and drove the car down the dirt road to the field, dragging the bottom nearly the entire way. I had a heck of a time getting it into the trunk by myself, but I finally got it, and I couldn't help but laugh at what we were doing.


It didn't take long after leaving the woods that we realized how bad the smell was. We laughed for about 5 minutes about the whole situation. Another funny part was we stopped at a bodyshop on Hamilton Road and I told Walker to stay put. At this point it was about 9:00 and in full camo I walked up to a group of about ten guys who were looking at me like I was crazy. I asked them if they knew of anyone that might be interested in some deer meat and they all said no. So I made another phone call and figured out a family of a student I had been tutoring was interested in the deer and asked me to bring it right over. I pulled into the trailer park and they pulled the deer out of the trunk and up onto the front porch. The grandfather came out of the trailer with a huge knife and I told him we had to get home. I didn't want to see how messy that was going to get on the front porch of their trailer.

It was one heck of an experience, but we both had a great time and neither of us will probably ever forget it!

2009 Season - First deer with the kids

The 2009 deer season was an exciting one, primarily because I had been given the opportunity to hunt a small plot of land, for free, that no one else could hunt. In addition, this land was not regularly hunted. The land belonged to Mr. Giles, the principal at the school where I teach. We started off the season by going over to check the place out. From the time we got there things just kept getting better. We had to walk about 100 yards down to the field and as we walked up there were deer in the field! 

8.15.09

8.15.09

The kids loved it. We were excited to find some hardwoods, a small field planted with grass, and an enclosed shooting house/blind sitting about 15 feet off the ground. We made plans to come back later in the season to hunt.

10.17.09

On the chosen day we got up early and got bundled up and went out to the hunting property. The kids slept a while, watched out the windows a while, and unfortunately we didn't see anything. We decided we would try again, but in the evening.







 That next Saturday was October 26, 2009. Within an hour of getting settled we spotted several deer in different directions. One group of doe's wandered into the field at about 20 yards so we picked one out and I made the shot. The deer ran across the field into the woods, and I have never seen two kids more excited. Luckily I grabbed the digital camera and started recording.

We decided to call Mommy to share the excitement and that ended up being hilarious. The video of that phone call is below:

After waiting a while we climbed down to look for blood where the deer was standing. Sure enough we found some and we followed it to the edge of the field. For a few minutes we were couldn't find where the blood trail continued and the kids almost got upset that we might not find it, but we picked the trail back up where the deer ran into the woods. The video from that point is below:

Luckily Mr. Giles had gotten home and he came down to the field to see what we had taken. I am glad he was there because he volunteered to snap a photo for us.

10.26.09 - First deer with the kids - Browning 7mm-.08

This will be one of those memories that they never forget and as the years go by the pictures, video, and the story will likely be told over and over. I am very thankful for the opportunity and the experience. Hopefully there will be many more in the future.

First Hunting Trip for Gracie

In the fall of 2005 I took Gracie on her first hunting trip when she was just 3 years old. A few weeks before we got her all dressed up in her new camo pants and went to the shooting range together and she watched us check to be sure the rifles were sighted in. She was just precious.

We drove over to Mr. Henry's farm and I will never forget that trip, and I'm sure she won't either. It had started to get cool so I had her bundled up. She had on so many layers that she had to wear one of my shirts over them all. It was an evening hunt and we were going to sit on the edge of the field so that we could see the cut-over ridge and the field.

We got out of the truck and got ready to walk about 100 yards. After about 30 yards I realized that the socks that she was wearing had bells on them! Talk about letting the deer know your coming. I told her the best thing we could do was to just rip the bells off the socks so that's what I did. It was hard for her to walk through the grass so I asked her to stand still and I walked back to the truck to leave the bells.

Finally we were ready to walk to the corner of the field to sit on the ground at a tree and we were ready to hunt. She was a little restless at first but she finally got quiet. I remember thinking I sure am proud of her. She is sitting so still and being so quiet. She was sitting between my legs in front of me and finally I leaned down to look at her and sure enough she was fast asleep. I couldn't help but laugh to myself. We didn't see anything but there were several times where we heard footsteps and we listened, hoping we might see something step out. Finally it got dark and we walked back to the truck. When we got back I can't remember if it was Jason or Mr. Henry that took the picture for us but we posed together for a photo to remember the moment. It was a special time for us both that I never forget, and I hope she won't either.

Opening Day - 2005

It wasn't until the summer of 2005 that I started to get really excited about deer hunting again.  There was an old man that went to our church named Henry Neal. Mr. Henry lived on a 100 acre farm just outside of town. One Sunday when he was over at my in-laws for lunch something was mentioned about deer hunting and he invited me to come out to his place because according to him they were all over the place. I drove over to check the place out and saw some good sign and even a few deer. I picked out a tree and on opening day of gun season, October 22, 2005 I was ready for some action. My stand was on the edge of a field overlooking a cut-over area in front of me and the field behind me. Within an hour of daylight I saw some movement on top of the ridge in the cut-over and put up the scope to see it. It was the biggest buck I had ever seen while I was hunting. I wasn't sure how big it was, but I saw antlers filling up the scope and I knew I was going to take the shot. I aimed my Browning 7mm-.08 Micro Medallion and squeezed the trigger and saw the buck drop in his tracks. I was so excited I could barely breathe. I called Jason and he drove out to where I was hunting and took the photo for me.

Opening day, 10.22.05

I couldn't believe it...opening day and the biggest buck I had ever killed - a 10 pointer. I was so excited. I couldn't wait to drive home to show Serenity and the kids.

Gracie (3) & Walker (7 mo.) checking out the buck on opening day, 10.22.05

It was a special morning that I will never forget. I sure am glad that Jason was able to come out and take the photo for me.

My first deer with gun & bow

I killed my first deer in Troup County, close to the Alabama line when I was in the 5th grade in 1990. It was a morning hunt on a short ladder stand in a pine thicket. As the spike walked up and stood broadside at about 50 yards I squeezed the trigger on my Marlin .30-.30 and almost shot over it, but hit him in the spine and he dropped in his tracks.

My second deer harvest was the most special, just two years later when I was in the 7th grade in 1992. It was a father-son hunt at the Blanton Creek Wildlife Management Area in Harris County, Georgia. We were bow hunting and Daddy and I had hunted all day, just getting down to eat lunch. Finally as it was getting dark a small doe walked under my tree and I took the shot, with the arrow passing through both lungs. It didn't run far and I remember being so excited as we followed the blood trail. The deer was tiny but it might as well have been a trophy buck to me.

In the years that followed I continued to hunt, but as I got older there were more activities and responsibilities competing for my time. I don't think there was a year where I didn't go hunting, but there were years where I only went a few times.

Early Hunting Memories...

Thinking back over the years I have so many great memories of hunting, going back to when I was little. My earliest memories are being in the hardwoods of Paulding County with Daddy. I remember taking our four wheelers up to what was then the Paulding County Sportsmen's Club (now Paulding Forest WMA) to ride the dirt roads and building, or rebuilding, wooden tree stands. Back then each spot had a name, including 'Old Reliable', 'Old Faithful', 'Honey Hole', and 'Scott's Stand' just to name a few. These were the settings of stories I heard from Daddy about his hunting adventures with Uncle Scott, Ricky, and Kit-wit when he was younger, and the settings of my earliest hunting memories. To this day when I walk into a hardwood forest with high ridges and deep hollows it reminds me of Paulding County and the great memories that were made there.

As I got older I remember going to the Buckarama in Atlanta near the end of the summer, and shooting our bows at archery tournaments to earn trophys. I looked forward to it being time to head up to the woods to check all our spots and do some scouting. For me the best part was getting to put on my camouflage, wearing a knife on my belt, and loading up my fourwheeler. I remember one particular time we took a break at a stream to cut open some watermelon. I think Daddy's friend Ricky brought the watermelon, and it seems like I remember the watermelon being orange inside and Jason and I didn't like it very much.

Another memory I have is Daddy, me, Jason, and Hailey all going hunting one morning at the "Honey Hole." I was probably about 10 or 11, Jason would've been between 8-9, and Hailey would have been about 5 or 6 years old. It was so cold, probably in November, and we were all bundled up with several layers of clothes. We all followed Daddy down into the hollow and sat in a little dip on the side of the ridge overlooking the stream. I don't know why that particular memory stands out, but I could even today I could walk you to that exact spot on the side of the ridge.

I don't remember seeing a lot of deer hunting in Paulding County in the late 1980s, but it sure was exciting when we did. In my first years of hunting Daddy and I would climb trees next to each other, and as I got older he would walk me to my stand and watch me climb up and get settled before he walked a little further to his spot. When it was time to get down he would come back to where I was and I would climb down out of the tree. This was way back before there were cell phones so if we shot at something our signal was to shoot 2 or 3 times in a row to give the signal that it was us. While I shot at several deer in those woods growing up, I never did actually harvest a deer there. But there were many memories created that we can look back on and remember fondly, memories that helped shaped who I am, and memories that I want to be able to provide for my children as they are growing up.

Now that Gracie (9) and Walker (6) are a little older and I am really excited about creating new memories with them, and Daddy, whiletail deer hunting.