Arty
10-15-2013, 10:55 AM
Friday 10/11 6:30AM. After a few months of anticipation and planning, my 15 year old son, Jared, and I hit the road and headed west. I texted Cappy and he replied with a pic of some deer eating under his stand, which just made my son even more excited to get in the woods and hunt. We took our time, had to stop for breakfast, stopped at Dicks to pick up something I forgot to pack, got gas, etc etc. We arrived at Cappy's farm around 10:30 or so. What a gorgeous place. First task at hand after we unloaded the truck was to feed the bulls, put some mineral out for the cows, count calves, and get the grand tour of all the stands and take a look at the ponds. We got back to the house and it was lunch time. Mrs. Cappy had made some Wild Turkey Salad for us to make sammiches. WOW was that good. Wild turkey breast, raisans, pecans, grapes, dang that was good. Jared fell in love with it..if memory serves he ate two of those sammiches a day. After lunch we stole some of Cappy's crickets and headed down to the pond. It was mid day and they weren't biting all that well, but Jared caught a BIG bream, and I caught a couple of small bass. We came back to the house, and got ready for the afternoon hunt.
I hunted with Jared in the same stand the first evening. We hunted the White Rock Hill stand. Awesome stand. Right on the top of a knoll, Feeder 50 yards in front of us, food plot 50 yards to the right. Oaks all around us. It was warm. Probably a little too warm. We didn't see a thing, but it was great to settle in to the woods and anticipate. This is the White Rock Hill stand.
1925
1926
1930
Came back to the house at o dark thirty...it was time to eat again! Captain made dove poppers and his world famous pig dip. I made some rib-eyes on Cappy's grill. I had put them in some marinade earlier that afternoon. We made baked taters, salad, had smoked oysters, smoked sausage, cheese and crackers...it was a feast! I'm pretty sure Jared ate 75% of the dove poppers and 90% of the pig dip. We sat around a bit after dinner, and decided on where to hunt the next morning.
Up at 5AM Saturday morning, and Jared really wanted to hunt by himself, so we decided he'd go back to White Rock Hill, and I'd go to “Mawmaw's Stand”. Captain said he was gonna go to the stand that Niner saw a big buck the week before. We got all settled in well before daylight. It was cooler. Foggy. A little overcast, which made the temps much nicer than the day before. Right at daylight Cappy texted me and said there was a buck at the feeder by his stand, then another text picture of 2 does. That was good news...they were movin'! About 20 minutes later another text of two more does! Right about the same time, I saw 3 deer come out from behind me, and started grazing on acorns. I scoped them out, they were all does. I watched them. They stayed. I watched some more. They stayed. I truly had not planned on shooting anything this early...I really wanted Jared to connect on one first. BUT – I'm weak and I text Jared and tell him I'd been watching 3 does for 10 minutes and he replied “Shoot one!!!” So I did. Here's a pic
1931
Not 10 minutes after I shot, Jared texts me and says a deer is walking through the thick stuff around his stand. I tell him to wait for it to come out for a clear shot, and shoot. 5 minutes later I hear a shot. I get down, and head his way. We determine exactly where it was when he shot. We look...and look...and look some more. NOTHING. He missed clean. This was his very first time looking at a deer through a scope and I'm sure he saw some brown in the scope and yanked that trigger. We had walked around his stand so much we decided to head back and get the golf cart and load up my doe. Here's a pic.
1932
We headed to the barn, NICE SET UP. PERFECT. Hangin pole with electric winch, lights, water, drains, NICE SINK and table for cleaning up deer, excellent for cleaning fish, what ever...all right there. I can't imagine a BETTER SET UP. We got her hung, skinned, and gutted. Cappy makes one phone call and off to the processor we head to get the meat ground up. We dropped that off, and headed to the Piggly Wiggly in town. The run to the store was IMPORTANT. We did need ice for my cooler, but more importantly we had to go get more stuff for PIG DIP! So we made the run there and back, picked up 22 pounds of good burger on the way back, and we hit the house for lunch. Wild turkey sammiches, and a tiny bit of left over pig dip. I had brought a nice slab of ribs with me and I lathered them down with Head Country, a little grape jelly and put those on the grill. Those went about 3-4 hours on low while Jared and I went to the pond and fished. 3 broken lines later (they had to be WHALES)..we came back. It was still a bit early in the afternoon, so Jared hopped in the golf cart and rode that thing around every gravel road on the place. Long about 4pm we get ready for the evening hunt. Jared went to a stand at the end of a big wildlife strip, man...that is one DEERY lookin area. I sat up in the “Old House” stand, and Captain went somewhere so deep in the woods he could see the squirrels on the ground (leaves ain't even beginning to turn down in these parts yet). Not a deer was seen that afternoon, but here's a couple of views from my stand that afternoon. The other stand wayyy back there is the stand at the end of the wildlife strip.
1933
1934
Back to the house for more good eats. Saturday nights menu included some fairly decent spare ribs, more PIG DIP, smoked sausage, cheese, and I washed it down with some WILDERBERRY juice. Man that is some smooooooth stuff there. I don't even drink liquor, I'm a beer guy, but man that stuff is good.
We watched some of the race, sat around and scratched ourselves and told stories. Good times!
We were up at 5AM Sunday Morning, and since I'd shot a doe already I decided to sit with Jared that morning. He and I headed to the stand that Captain had hunted the morning before where he saw the buck and the does. It was a little windy. Real DARK...very overcast. And did I mention DARK? About 6:50...could just barrrrely see the edge of the field, I could tell something was at the feeder that sits back in the pines. It was so dark the scope didn't help much. But I could see movement, and could hear it. About 5 minutes later I look directly down over the side of the stand and there's a doe standing there. I nudge Jared and tell him to spin around in the SWIVEL DESK CHAIR that is in every stand (GOSH THOSE STANDS ARE PERFECT, you could live in them!). By the time he got turned around, the doe had gone in behind the oaks behind us, and we couldn't see her, but we knew she was there. So we waited. 10 minutes go by and another doe comes down by the feeder and was head right to us. Jared couldn't get his eyes on her, and about the time she was gonna jump the fence into the field, she decided to snort and stomp. She either heard us moving around, OR, she may have smelled us in the wind, not sure. Either way, when she snorted, the doe behind us decided it was time to head back into the pines and she came right out into the field, broadside. I turn around and saw her (we were still looking in the direction of the other doe). I nudge Jared and said “Right behind you”. He looks, eyes go WIDE open, and he gets into position. I'm whispering to him “just breathe and take your time, aim small”. What seemed like a minute was probably 10 seconds and I'm starting at the doe, then I hear “BOOOOM!!!”. The doe dropped in her tracks, gets right back up, thinks about jumping the fence, decides she can't and turns a 180 and heads back up toward the house. Within 10 yards of running she had gotten back behind the oaks and we couldn't see her after that. I knew he had hit her, he's breathing heavy and whooping, and I said “You got her man!!!!” He said “I KNOW!”. We were hugging and slapping each other's backs, high fiving, smiling...what a moment to be in. I know he won't forget it ever...but neither will his daddy. Bout that time Cappy sends me a text that said “Sounds like meat”. I tell him he hit her, and she ran. We waited about 10 minutes and got down. I taught Jared how to track a deer, how to go to the spot you shot and not head directly where she ran. We looked around for less than a minute and found this.
1935
Picking up the trail was a little tough. I finally found a little more blood about 10 yards away, just a little bit up the hill. As I was looking for more, I look up, and I see her laying in the grass. I holler at Jared to walk my way, and he got about half way and he finally spotted her. Here is one PROUD and EXCITED YOUNG MAN. Side note to Kribbs – this is your old 30-30.
1936
We went and got the cart, loaded her up and took her to the barn.
1937
Here's a pic of Jared, and a pic of me and Jared at the barn.
1938
1939
Jared did 99% of the skinning, gutting and cutting up. Captain made a phone call and we dropped off 21 pounds of meat to have ground up. Jared and I headed back to town. Had to get ice, but MORE important, we had to get more PIG DIP stuff!!!! We kept Captain busy on that stove!
We got back to the house and warmed up some left over ribs, had wild turkey sammiches, and watched some football (the Panthers actually looked GOOD Sunday!).
Sunday afternoon Jared took off in the woods with Cappy's 22 and a pocket full of bullets. He came back empty handed with no bullets, but had a lot of fun plinking at stumps and trees. Later that afternoon Jared and I headed back down to the pond, and got into a small mess of bass. Here's a couple pics of those.
1940
1941
Sunday evening was chill time, Cappy made more pig dip (two batches in fact), made more dove poppers, sausage, cheese, more leftover ribs, beer, corn liquor, and football.
I'm going to leave out ALL comments regarding watching the Redskins that night. It was pitiful. After the 1st half, I went to bed.
Up early Monday morning, cleaned up and packed up and hit the road. This was truly the best weekend I have ever had with my oldest son. What a trip. Perfect. Awesome everything, from the hunting to the fishing. Awesome and gracious host. Good food, great company, and I finally got to meet a guy I've known for 13 years.
Larke – Thank you so much for the hospitality and the invite. Everything was awesome. Neither Jared nor myself could have imagined the trip being any better. Thanks a bunch.
I hunted with Jared in the same stand the first evening. We hunted the White Rock Hill stand. Awesome stand. Right on the top of a knoll, Feeder 50 yards in front of us, food plot 50 yards to the right. Oaks all around us. It was warm. Probably a little too warm. We didn't see a thing, but it was great to settle in to the woods and anticipate. This is the White Rock Hill stand.
1925
1926
1930
Came back to the house at o dark thirty...it was time to eat again! Captain made dove poppers and his world famous pig dip. I made some rib-eyes on Cappy's grill. I had put them in some marinade earlier that afternoon. We made baked taters, salad, had smoked oysters, smoked sausage, cheese and crackers...it was a feast! I'm pretty sure Jared ate 75% of the dove poppers and 90% of the pig dip. We sat around a bit after dinner, and decided on where to hunt the next morning.
Up at 5AM Saturday morning, and Jared really wanted to hunt by himself, so we decided he'd go back to White Rock Hill, and I'd go to “Mawmaw's Stand”. Captain said he was gonna go to the stand that Niner saw a big buck the week before. We got all settled in well before daylight. It was cooler. Foggy. A little overcast, which made the temps much nicer than the day before. Right at daylight Cappy texted me and said there was a buck at the feeder by his stand, then another text picture of 2 does. That was good news...they were movin'! About 20 minutes later another text of two more does! Right about the same time, I saw 3 deer come out from behind me, and started grazing on acorns. I scoped them out, they were all does. I watched them. They stayed. I watched some more. They stayed. I truly had not planned on shooting anything this early...I really wanted Jared to connect on one first. BUT – I'm weak and I text Jared and tell him I'd been watching 3 does for 10 minutes and he replied “Shoot one!!!” So I did. Here's a pic
1931
Not 10 minutes after I shot, Jared texts me and says a deer is walking through the thick stuff around his stand. I tell him to wait for it to come out for a clear shot, and shoot. 5 minutes later I hear a shot. I get down, and head his way. We determine exactly where it was when he shot. We look...and look...and look some more. NOTHING. He missed clean. This was his very first time looking at a deer through a scope and I'm sure he saw some brown in the scope and yanked that trigger. We had walked around his stand so much we decided to head back and get the golf cart and load up my doe. Here's a pic.
1932
We headed to the barn, NICE SET UP. PERFECT. Hangin pole with electric winch, lights, water, drains, NICE SINK and table for cleaning up deer, excellent for cleaning fish, what ever...all right there. I can't imagine a BETTER SET UP. We got her hung, skinned, and gutted. Cappy makes one phone call and off to the processor we head to get the meat ground up. We dropped that off, and headed to the Piggly Wiggly in town. The run to the store was IMPORTANT. We did need ice for my cooler, but more importantly we had to go get more stuff for PIG DIP! So we made the run there and back, picked up 22 pounds of good burger on the way back, and we hit the house for lunch. Wild turkey sammiches, and a tiny bit of left over pig dip. I had brought a nice slab of ribs with me and I lathered them down with Head Country, a little grape jelly and put those on the grill. Those went about 3-4 hours on low while Jared and I went to the pond and fished. 3 broken lines later (they had to be WHALES)..we came back. It was still a bit early in the afternoon, so Jared hopped in the golf cart and rode that thing around every gravel road on the place. Long about 4pm we get ready for the evening hunt. Jared went to a stand at the end of a big wildlife strip, man...that is one DEERY lookin area. I sat up in the “Old House” stand, and Captain went somewhere so deep in the woods he could see the squirrels on the ground (leaves ain't even beginning to turn down in these parts yet). Not a deer was seen that afternoon, but here's a couple of views from my stand that afternoon. The other stand wayyy back there is the stand at the end of the wildlife strip.
1933
1934
Back to the house for more good eats. Saturday nights menu included some fairly decent spare ribs, more PIG DIP, smoked sausage, cheese, and I washed it down with some WILDERBERRY juice. Man that is some smooooooth stuff there. I don't even drink liquor, I'm a beer guy, but man that stuff is good.
We watched some of the race, sat around and scratched ourselves and told stories. Good times!
We were up at 5AM Sunday Morning, and since I'd shot a doe already I decided to sit with Jared that morning. He and I headed to the stand that Captain had hunted the morning before where he saw the buck and the does. It was a little windy. Real DARK...very overcast. And did I mention DARK? About 6:50...could just barrrrely see the edge of the field, I could tell something was at the feeder that sits back in the pines. It was so dark the scope didn't help much. But I could see movement, and could hear it. About 5 minutes later I look directly down over the side of the stand and there's a doe standing there. I nudge Jared and tell him to spin around in the SWIVEL DESK CHAIR that is in every stand (GOSH THOSE STANDS ARE PERFECT, you could live in them!). By the time he got turned around, the doe had gone in behind the oaks behind us, and we couldn't see her, but we knew she was there. So we waited. 10 minutes go by and another doe comes down by the feeder and was head right to us. Jared couldn't get his eyes on her, and about the time she was gonna jump the fence into the field, she decided to snort and stomp. She either heard us moving around, OR, she may have smelled us in the wind, not sure. Either way, when she snorted, the doe behind us decided it was time to head back into the pines and she came right out into the field, broadside. I turn around and saw her (we were still looking in the direction of the other doe). I nudge Jared and said “Right behind you”. He looks, eyes go WIDE open, and he gets into position. I'm whispering to him “just breathe and take your time, aim small”. What seemed like a minute was probably 10 seconds and I'm starting at the doe, then I hear “BOOOOM!!!”. The doe dropped in her tracks, gets right back up, thinks about jumping the fence, decides she can't and turns a 180 and heads back up toward the house. Within 10 yards of running she had gotten back behind the oaks and we couldn't see her after that. I knew he had hit her, he's breathing heavy and whooping, and I said “You got her man!!!!” He said “I KNOW!”. We were hugging and slapping each other's backs, high fiving, smiling...what a moment to be in. I know he won't forget it ever...but neither will his daddy. Bout that time Cappy sends me a text that said “Sounds like meat”. I tell him he hit her, and she ran. We waited about 10 minutes and got down. I taught Jared how to track a deer, how to go to the spot you shot and not head directly where she ran. We looked around for less than a minute and found this.
1935
Picking up the trail was a little tough. I finally found a little more blood about 10 yards away, just a little bit up the hill. As I was looking for more, I look up, and I see her laying in the grass. I holler at Jared to walk my way, and he got about half way and he finally spotted her. Here is one PROUD and EXCITED YOUNG MAN. Side note to Kribbs – this is your old 30-30.
1936
We went and got the cart, loaded her up and took her to the barn.
1937
Here's a pic of Jared, and a pic of me and Jared at the barn.
1938
1939
Jared did 99% of the skinning, gutting and cutting up. Captain made a phone call and we dropped off 21 pounds of meat to have ground up. Jared and I headed back to town. Had to get ice, but MORE important, we had to get more PIG DIP stuff!!!! We kept Captain busy on that stove!
We got back to the house and warmed up some left over ribs, had wild turkey sammiches, and watched some football (the Panthers actually looked GOOD Sunday!).
Sunday afternoon Jared took off in the woods with Cappy's 22 and a pocket full of bullets. He came back empty handed with no bullets, but had a lot of fun plinking at stumps and trees. Later that afternoon Jared and I headed back down to the pond, and got into a small mess of bass. Here's a couple pics of those.
1940
1941
Sunday evening was chill time, Cappy made more pig dip (two batches in fact), made more dove poppers, sausage, cheese, more leftover ribs, beer, corn liquor, and football.
I'm going to leave out ALL comments regarding watching the Redskins that night. It was pitiful. After the 1st half, I went to bed.
Up early Monday morning, cleaned up and packed up and hit the road. This was truly the best weekend I have ever had with my oldest son. What a trip. Perfect. Awesome everything, from the hunting to the fishing. Awesome and gracious host. Good food, great company, and I finally got to meet a guy I've known for 13 years.
Larke – Thank you so much for the hospitality and the invite. Everything was awesome. Neither Jared nor myself could have imagined the trip being any better. Thanks a bunch.