2006 misc photo journal

[R.J.]

Some photo journal enteries from 2006 ... may be slightly out of order of date , but I copied from my other site to share here ...

Here it goes ...



I had purchased an extra archery tag for WMU85 ... good for buck or doe .... decided to skip the spot I was in last night and try a ground set up today ... in a spot in WMU85 , that I scoped out when I was hunting Pheasants .

Well , I didn't shoot anything but what a rush I got fooling with a button buck ... from 100 yards out to 10 yards broadside !

I did some light contact grunts and got him to cross the field , right to me !

I took over 40 shots of him ... here is a condensed photo spread ..

When I first saw him ..



He starts across the field ...



Stops at 40 yards ...



Then eventually right in at 10 yards ...



Sniffing my boot tracks ..

[R.J.]

Then a couple of shots of his exit ...




Man that was cool ! ... what a rush ! ... I love those close encounters !

Spent the rest of the day scouting ...

A lot of food left for the turkeys and deer !







Some birds shots , while I walked the farm ...

[R.J.]

This guy was looking sleepy ! :lol: :lol: I must have missed him with my .223 this summer :lol:



The only snow that was left was on the rock piles etc.



Tomorrow is shotgun opener ... the country side will look like a great pumpkin patch !

Have a safe hunt guys ... shoot straight and watch your background !

[R.J.]

Great first day ...

Another beauty sunrise !




Randy S. got a beauty 8 point ... on his morning ground stand ... 50 yard shot ... right in the boiler room !



The 1st doe that came by my stand ( although we had some deer by our stands before legal shooting light ) in the a.m. ... pushed from another group from the other side of the conncession road .



With Randy's deer tarped and tagged , we headed for breakfast ... which is just as much a tradition as the deer hunt ( peameal and eggs at the Teviotdale Truckstop ! )





After breakfast ... Got some cool pictures from 1 drive we did .... turkeys , does , a fox .

[R.J.]

Never pushed a buck and no shots on the does during the drive ....

I missed an 80 yard shot on a Monster 10 point on an evening stand in the swamp ( will be back in that tree for an all day sit tomorrow )

Back at it tomorrow ...

[R.J.]

Day # 2

Lot's of rain !

Lot's of small deer ... 2 of the older gents in our group tagged a couple .... I saw many small bucks , does and fawns ... due to the rain these are the only pictures I got today ...

A small six point following a doe across a stubble field at approx 85 yards .





The small creeks we usually walk across were getting wider today !



An old stand at one of the Mennonite farms we hunt ... they have taken many deer from this stand .... generation to generation !



The little fork horn came by me again today around 4:30 pm in a different ground stand on the same property I saw him last week . ( same buck as in the link below ).

http://www.excaliburcrossbow.com/phpBB2/vi...pic.php?t=15728

I got three nice frames of him ... he was so close I could hear him sniffing the clover !





I have been leaving the house at approx 4:30 am every morning and getting home late , so not much time for TV .... I did see this good news in a farmers lane !



Off to bed soon ... back at it tomorrow !

[R.J.]

Day # 3

Very foggy and wet !

After missing a shot on a " wopper " 10 point Monday night with my scoped Remington 870 ... I resighted it in .... it keeps moving :x The scope is pooched ... I put it away and used my 20 gauge Beretta AL391 Teknys Gold semi .... a quick sight in and it shoots right where I point it !

A slow morning stand again ... the fork horn showed up and a medium sized doe ... ( no pictures due to rain and extreme fog ! )

I hook up with CH for breakfast .... and we make a plan ... My goal is to harvest a large doe from public land so as not to deplete the doe supply on our private properties ... I have an extra controlled hunt antlerless tag and have passed many does on other properties since Monday .

Problem is ... where to go ? The Conservation lands have been hit hard since Monday by several groups ... we talked about still hunting the large grass areas of area # 3 etc. ... and finally decide to do the " One man push ! " ( our only option since there are only two of us ! ) :lol: :lol:

We setlle on a sweeeet spot that has worked for us in the the past ... but it is a big area and the " One man push " means CH needs to zig zag the bush quitely / stealthily / tapping trees and making it sound like there are many silent pushers coming thru ....

To make a long story short ... CH puts the " sneak on " ... weaving thru the bush and cover .... 5 deer run towards my position ( I can barely make them out from the fog ) ... one more deer approaches ... it is a big doe ... I let the other 5 slip by me as I stand like a statue at a fence post ... when she gets within range , I shoulder the 20 gauge and take her in between mid air leaps !

CH crossing the field ( see the fog and the vast bush behind him ! )
the " One man push " is complete ! He is one stealthy mo fo !



The walk up



Check out the hoof on her !



A beauty doe ... to compare scale .. I'm 5' 6'' 205 lbs ( I know , I know , not exactly an athletes stat's ) :lol: :lol: but I can still keep up with the best of them ! :lol: :lol:



Wrapped , tagged , dragged and ready for the butcher !



We end the evening on stand where I saw the Monster 10 point ... no big bucks show but CH gets some great video of turkeys , and 2 dogs harrassing a doe ( in the neighbors field ... his dogs ... and something I will be reviewing with him shortly ! )

Tomorrow is day 4 ! .... now if that monster 10 point would just give me another chance ! :lol: :lol:

[R.J.]

Day # 4

Very windy !

CH and I covered alot of ground .... had opportunities on does and a spike buck but all passes since we are both hunting on our primary tags , so holding out for a decent buck or a rack buck that comes to a rattle squence ...

A fellow hunter ...





We tried a couple of routines for the Monster 10 point , but he isn't cooperating right now .... we will be back at it tomorrow ...

He looks similar to this one , only bigger ! :shock:



And yep ... we still have till Dec. 31st !

[R.J.]

Thursday / Friday ... have seen many small bucks following doe's ( no pictures , all in heavy cover while staking or on stand in low light ) .

Had a small 5 point and a doe nearly run me over today ... CH and I put the miles on today busting cover , trying to figure out where the big bucks are hiding ?

Small bucks , doe's and turkeys ... still , cool to watch !

In one area along the lake I found some shells spread out around an old shell belt that looks like it has been there for awhile ! ... had moss growing on it .... it had 00 buck , slugs , 3 inch mag BB , and # 6 bird shot ... man that hunter had all the bases covered !



Tomorrow is the last day .... still working on the 10 point I saw on Monday ... I carved a new climber spot tonight ... will see how things pan out tomorrow ...

[R.J.]

Well today was the last day ...

CH , Isis , and Greaylag took a morning stand and I decided to give my dog a run on some upland treats ! ... ( it is Conservation land , there are 7 hunting areas and I went in the ones that the deer hunters were not in ! )

It started to pour rain ... Sally and I picked up 2 grouse right off the hop ... ducked into a farmers wood shed to get out of the rain for a quick picture ...



Carried on and in the next 1/2 hour we picked up 2 pheasants .... here is a picture of the first one ( a hen ) .



Sally was fired up ! ... but I finally got her to sit for 2 seconds to get a picture ! :lol: :lol:



CH saw a nice buck chasing a doe on his morning stand , but no good shot oportunity .

Isis and Greylag ... saw nothing on the morning stand , but put together a " One man push " after breakfast and Isis picked up a nice yearling ... ( good eating and easy for the 2 old gents to drag out ! ) :lol: :lol: :lol:

I headed futher north for an evening stand .... saw 2 does in the corn field and a buck grunting , tending a doe on my way back to the truck ... no shots in the pouring rain tonight !

What an awsome week in the outdoors !

The butcher had my meat ready from previous deer .... picked it up on the way home ....


Man the freezer is full now ... geese , grouse , pheasants , and deer !



Back to work Sunday night ..... :cry: :cry: :cry:

Congrat's to all on your wild game harvests from the last few weeks ! .... Got to rest up .... clean and pack gear ... Will be back at it next weekend !

[R.J.]

After about an hour walk ... I picked up a limit of birds off of my dog Sally , check out the colors on this one ...



Heading back to the truck ... Sally does a ground track to a tree .... turns out to be a racoon den tree ( they have been using it for years ) ... I peek inside and a couple of racoons scramble up the inside of the tree ... one gets stranded at the bottom ...




I go for a drive to scout a new location .... and can't pass the oppurtunity to take a picture of this tree stand :lol: :lol: :lol: ! ... the guys saw deer in this field earlier in the a.m.



I scout out a new tree by some recent active scrapes on public conservation property ... I climb up with my climber settled in and I do a rattle / grunt sequence .... eventually a small 8 point comes in he makes a scrape and comes into my 35 yard shooting lane ... I had the camera on maual focus and obviously didn't get the settings right .... still can't get the low light pictures down pat with this camera :? .... I zoomed in to ID his rack and all I got was a grainy double exposure :roll:



He eventually went back into the bush .... Ileft my climber there and will try again for some pictures in the morning ...

[R.J.]

Some more scanned pictures I did tonight they are from years ago .... not all great quality since I had quick shoot auto 150mm zoom 35mm camera then ... others were shot with my Pentax .... there are some cool shots ..

A new farm we got permission years ago .... set up a quick stand with an aluminum ladder ... it was an obvious stand but the deer got use to it ... here is a picture of a doe and fawn walking out with CH in the stand watching them ... ( hard to see CH , top left since it is a long shot )



I was walking into a climber stand location one afternoon approx 1:30pm ... thought it was early enough but the buck was already there with a doe ... The tree I use is the one at far left of frame , with branches trimmed off ...



A cool series of shots of a jack rabbit in flight ...






A cool series of shots of does jumping the fence and running by me during a silent drive ...





I was sneaking up on a young racoon with my daughter ... it was feeding on a dead fish on the shoreline at Pelee Island ... my daughter thought she was going to catch it in her butterfly net :lol: :lol:

My wife got a picture of us from her camera ... kind of cool to see a picture of us from her camera and a picture of the racoon from mine ..

[R.J.]

A doe standing up to get at some apples ...



A buck walking into the hardwoods ... he was following a doe during the rut ...



Fox on the run !!



A close up of a muskrat ... just before he boogied back to the creek !

[R.J.]

Today was Pheasant opener at Conestoga Lake ... they only have a 2 bird limit but we wanted to get the dogs some " run time " ... so Randy and I headed up there for a morning hunt ...

We were lucky ... the rain stopped and the dogs did their job .

Here is a picture of my dog Sally ( left ) and her daughter Abby ( right ) = Randy's dog .

Trivia

Anybody recognize the gun on the left ? ( hint ) = it is a Winchester , built in USA ( not overseas ) between 1960 - 1965 .



The rain started again just as we were getting into the truck so we pulled into a farmers wood shed for the pictures ...

Freshend up some apple piles and got home early .... cooked up todays harvest for the family ( my wife will be home from work soon , so I thought I would get some brownie points ! :lol: :lol: )

Fillet Pheasant breasts



Cube and braze one side in butter for 2 minuets .



Turn over and add approx 6 onces of your favorite beer ( or whatever is left over in the fridge after poker night ! :lol: :lol: )



Add some spicy plum sauce ( from M+M meats )



Stir and let it boil lightly for 5 more minuets ... sweeeeet table fare in under 10 min's !



The beavers are trying their best to keep us out of one of our favorite spots ... dropping trees across the trail in ...



Some heavy trails in the bean fields , and some boundary scrapes , but I haven't seen any big bucks so far ...

[R.J.]

Some turkey vultures , fan out to warm up and dry off opening morning .




There is a break in the clouds when I get home this afternoon , and some geese drop into the field across the road from my house... just in time to tease the dog while I am laying my gear out to dry ...



Been a great week off work so far !![color=green][/color]

[renegade]

That is the most unbelievably enjoyable batch of pictures. You are really gifted at capturing some great shots. You have been busy! That is a lot of work posting that many pictures. Really look forward to the pictures in the coming months and on into the fall. Hopefully some of us can get some of those great shots too and learn a bit from you. My brother bronzeback loves picture taking too. I am going to make sure he gets to see these threads...Thanks!

[R.J.]

Thanks ... I had posted them on another site during the 2006 season ... I copy paste to enter them here ... doesn't take that long , but I have to break it up because this forum will only post so many per thread , so I have to " add reply " ... still goes pretty quickly ...

Look forward to the 2007 season and more photo journals !

[Greenhorn]

Fantastic pictures,RJ .I liked the one of the doe reaching up into the apple tree.It reminds me of the time.I had two fawns off to the left and the doe wanted some wild rose leaves at the bottom of my tree stand.I was at full draw and let her walk.Brent J..

[LoneWolf]

I have to say that I'm totally speechless over these pictures of yours!.... All I can say is WOW!!!

Rick,

Man, it is truly a priviledge to have a photographer of your caliber as a member here at OTB. As was mentioned, we are looking forward to your pictures in the futur!...

Keep that fantastic photography comin'!

[renegade]

Any 2007 stuff RJ? This was nice to revisit!! Awqesome pics. Just showing some friends and family these pics.

[nubo]

RJ ! Those are some awsome shot's ,great work .

nubo

[Gibby]

Awesome photos, looks like you have permission in some pretty nice spots
Thanks for sharing, I enjoyed it

Gibby