Trailcam Miracle

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Well here is a story I think is pretty cool. This story starts in 2009 when my friend Kevin O shared the first 3 pictures with me on Thanksgiving day a sort of eye candy for the buck opener. Then this year he purchased a trail cam and used it in his yard to test it out. Good idea, this buck was the one by all accounts I shot on 12/10/11. Kevin lives about 1 1/2 miles from where I shot it a pretty amazing story. Go ahead and compare the other picture in the post below I think it's a dead ringer.

Second Saturday Strikes again

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         Well as you can see I had a great day of hunting. I know there are a lot of pictures but bare with me I have never shot anything close to this in my life. It all started in the morning of 12/10/11 the last day of the buck season. I went to the field with my 10 year old son to see if we could get him his first deer. The morning started slow but heated up quick enough. This guy came running in  from a long ways away and finally stopped around 80-100 yards out. The shot would have been to far for my young hunter so I took the shot and I connected on this dandy. Reed was the young hunter and was excited for me that I got a opportunity to harvest such a wonderful creature. This is my biggest   buck (by far) that I have ever harvested. Praise the Lord, for providing this nice buck.  The only thing is it's going to cost me a pretty penny by the time I'm done with it. As for the headline 3 seasons ago Kevin O connected on a 10 point beauty on the last Sat of buck at the twin towers.  2 years later this one was bagged, and  this one was also harvested, yes you guessed it, at the twin towers. The tally's are in he wasn't to wide at 17" inside spread. His tip to tip was 11". Left G1-10", Left G2-7 1/8, Right G1-9 1/2", Right G2-8", Right G3-1 3/8. The gun of choice was the H&R Ultra Slug Hunter 20g, ammo Remington Copper Solid.

Brad Scores

Here is a better picture of the bruiser that was shot Sat. at our hunting spot. Congrats to Brad!! The totals are in 19 wide 8pt.

A Great Day of Hunting

Although it was a short four day work week,  because of having off for the opening day of buck, Sat. took long to get here. The hunting actually started Fri. night with the regular communication between Kevin O on where we will be hunting in the morning. On opening day when the deer got pushed,  my other stand was the hot stand with a lot of deer going past it. I have a little honey hole we call the Twin Towers stand. (well it has been way better for Kevin O and his son to date, but we have shot deer out of it too) So when I told Kevin that Hudson and I were headed to the double stand below the circle, he must have been happy.  If you have followed this journal,  you realize Kevin has shot a buck.  Who cares where he sits.  Well Brad, his son, was home from college, and he would be hunting Sat. morning looking for a buck of his own.

The morning started out with deer all over the back green field above our stand.  We can't hunt over there so we just usually watch them go back and forth.  At around 7:30 I get the old "don't move there is a doe looking straight at us."  Well,  the doe turned out to have head gear, and after what seemed to be an eternity, the buck bolted.  He did make a mistake though.  He stopped, and Hudson put a copper solid right in the boiler maker.  With this being his third buck, he makes it look easy sometimes.

A few hours go by,  and we hear a shot in the direction of the twin towers.  With the communication these days, I get a text saying, "Brad just shot a big deer."  Later finding out it was an 8pt with a 19" spread.  A very nice deer for his first buck.  Congratulations to Brad!  What a buck!

With both sets of deer being gutted,  Kevin and Brad left leaving Hudson and I to sit the rest of the day.  Maybe Dad can get some deer hunting in now.  After Hudson nestled in for his nap, a buck worked in off to the right of the stand.  I could not tell if it had a 3rd tine or not, so I let it go.  It eventually bolted, and I could not put the 3rd tine on it, oh well.

1 1/2 hours later I noticed another deer working the general area where the other buck came from, and this one was a monster (for me anyway)it was a 10pt or better and I was going to get my first big buck. Well I shot, and I could tell I hit him by the reaction of the deer.  It ran and stopped.  I missed it 2 times!  I will be putting a scope on that gun next year.  I knew when I shot that I had put a bad shot on him.  We backed out and came back on Sun. morning with 8 people,  but we could not find it.  Being bummed is a good word to put in there and some other ones, but I have 1 more Sat. of buck.  I will be taking Reed out for a mentored youth hunt, so I hope we can connect on one for him. 

Not 1 but 2

Well the animal of the day was the coyote. We did see some deer but none cooperated enough to put one on the ground.  This was the first one we got.

N.Y. Opener

Well Blake has done it again. Last year before the PA opener I posted a picture of my nephew with a buck from NY. This year will be the same also, lets hope the rest of us have some luck also. Congrats to Blake.

The Yearly Trek

Last weekend was our yearly trek to the north. The grouse were spread throughout the mountain, resulting in lower flush rates. The usual schedule is walking in the morning and afternoon then sleeping I mean hunting for squirrel in the late afternoon with a chance always for a turkey. The rabbits offered great hunting with many flushed. Here are some pictures of the Trek to the north.

Kevin Strikes again

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Kevin received these pictures on the trail-cam, the one is definitely a shooter I wouldn't even consider shooting the other one (LOL). I was on the way home last Friday from hunting when I received a phone call that Kevin had scored on a possible 8pt. I swung by grabbed the deer cart and the pursuit was on flashlights in hand. The buck was recovered and the gutting gloves came out. Congrats to Kevin and now it's Hudson's and my turn to fill out our tags in the next couple of weeks. I will be posting about our small game excursions in the next week or so . I will keep you posted.

CARTER'S FIRST DEER!!!!!!!!!

Carter got his first deer today, the deer were all over us from start to finish. The weather was cooler today and we heard some grunting, the rut is on with these cooler days. It was a 4 pointer, a very nice deer for the 12 year old.

Opening Day of Pheasant, a Deer Hunt, and a Coyote

Well, I took off work for a day and took my two sons out for the youth pheasant hunt. So after the all important breakfast we went and took to the fields. Hudson had the hot hand early with missing a rabbit but connecting on a flying pheasant. Missing another one in the first 10 minutes. Before the hunt I told my sons I would take my bow in case of a deer running past us on the game lands. I eventually decided not to take the bow. It would be annoying carrying it all morning. Wouldn't you know in our first field we hunted, a 8-10 point buck (I didn't count the points because I was just looking in a kinda disbelief) with around an 18 inch spread pops out and stand 25-30 yards away. Oh well just another hunting jab in my side. The rest of the pheasant hunt proved uneventful. With a recharging of the batteries, Carter and I went archery hunting in the afternoon. Walking in we did what you don't want to do and bumped a buck before we got to the stand. He actually circled right past where we walked in. Kinda strange I thought. So we nestled in for the afternoon. Behind us as the sun was going down, we heard movement but could not see anything. So I moved to get a better look and wouldn't you know it, One caught my movement, and they moved on. There was 1 button buck, 2 doe, and a small buck in the group. 5 or so minutes later behind us a deer with 10" spikes, and a nice fat body walked in. Carter moved at the wrong time and his opportunity was over. He had the safety off of the crossbow and everything, maybe next time. While we were in the tree stand, I got a text saying my hunting partner on the property shot a coyote. It was a small pup but any yote down is good and should make a nice pelt.

Hoffman Boys Cash In On Opening Day

Well opening day for me was composed of going to work and getting home for the Phillies game. Here is a picture of opening day success. My nephews Travis and Blake scored on two deer on the archery opener. Congrats to the two for their trophies. Hudson will be going to the Oswego River Salmon fishing this weekend, and Carter will be going on his first pheasant hunt Sat. Stay tuned for the update.

New trail cam picst

Well here are two bucks in three photos. I would love for my boys or I to connect on one of these bad boys.

REED, a STRIPER, and a CAT

The title sound like a bad 80's movie, but the 9 year old showed up dad and two brothers last night. What seemed like forever we finally got the boat ready and cashed in on two really nice fish. The Hybrid Striper was around 20" and 5 pounds, and the cat was around 23" and 5-7 pounds. The Nock has been good to us with two trips this season 2 cats 18" or over and a 20" striper.

Where the fox the raccoons, and the deer roam.

More pictures are rolling in thanks everyone for the photos, and good luck to all this year. You better get going and get your doe tags there are only 88,000 left for 5c. These deer are proof that SEPA area has alot to offer when it comes to quality deer opportunities.

Once there were 2 and now there are 4

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 Well we saw these bucks a few weeks ago and they already look bigger body size and their rack seem to be filling out just nicely. These photos were taken in Montgomery County, and it will be interesting to see if the deer are harvested or not, they seem to be regulars at the local corn bar, there are 2 months basically until buck archery starts we will see if the big guys get harvested or not.  

OLD TIME CATTY FISHING

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       Last  night 07/30/2011 we decided to do a little old fashion catty fishing from shore. The boat still isn't 100% ready to go so we picked out a little shore line and had at it. For the most part the little ones were hitting. Carter did catch one nice one though, and it made the night a success.