Trad Gang

Well I am counting down the days till I head north to Pike County for my St. Judes deer hunt. Got all my clothes washed and groceries bought. Just got to pack a few things and then my buddy Troy and I are headed north on Wednesday afternoon. Got a bad case of BIG buck fever that just keeps getting worse the closer it gets to November. Heck the way my season has been going I would be happy to have a button buck get close enough to shoot at, a nice buck would just be icing on the cake . Got to go to town tomorrow and get me a memory card so I can take lots of pictures to bring back and show you guys.
The only downside to this hunt is that I probably won't get to meet Hackbow (Darren) as his dad told me the other day that Darren's schedule probably wouldn't allow for him to make it out while we are there. He has been great to work with planning this hunt and I would like to thank him and his dad in advance for hosting us. If nothing else this trip will have helped out a bunch of kids who needed it and I will get to see some new country that I probably wouldn't have gotten to see if not for the Trad Gang. Oh yeah and the chance to take a HUGE whitetail!

Scott, I'm sorry I won't be able to be there. I'll be in S, Indiana for a few days on a hunt and then some biz travel. I hope you and Troy both have a chance at a biggun. I talked with Dad and he said you guys are working on the details.

Best of luck and you better have that memory card filled up to share with us!
 :thumbsup:    :thumbsup:

Well the truck is fueled up, loaded and pointed North. Just waiting on my partner to tie up a few loose ends and we are headed to the pomised land of monster whitetails. If I can find internet access I will try to get you guys some updates. Good luck to everyone else hunting this week, may the gods of the hunt smile on you!

Well were back and everything is put away. I have to go Trick or Treating but I will leave you with a teaser.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r27/sparson_bucket/100_1001.jpg)

NOT FAIR   :mad:

You just can't show that picture and leave.....    


David

OK, where is Ozark? I am ready to go gittim!  :mad:  

Killerdeer

That's COLD!

Man, that is just plain evil    :banghead:

Give it up buddy... we are waiting...

Oh, man......!!!!!

DOH!!!

oh yeahhhhhh!!!!

Scott obviously DIDN'T get suggered up last night, otherwise we'd have the full story by now!  We'll give him one more hour, then he is in big trouble......

Hey, what happened, someone give you poison candy???  You got a story to be told!  :readit:

Sorry guys, the trick or treating took way to long. Ok here are some more of the details. We stayed in Barry at the Icehouse Inn (nice motel) but if I went again I would stay in Pittsville. There was only one restuarant in Barry and it opened at 5:30 AM and closed at 7 PM. We brought breakfast and lunch stuff but had to drive to Pittsville or Hannibal, MO to eat dinner (20 miles). We called Darren's Dad (John) Thursday morning and he took us out to the farm.
This is the old barn that was our changing room, it was very nice to have as the weather got wet right after we got there.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r27/sparson_bucket/100_0987.jpg)
Off of the right side of the barn is a hollow (Barn Hollow), the next hollow over is the pond hollow. Johns dad hadn't been out to the farm much this season but told us these two hollows usually held the deer. We talked with John for about an hour and then took off to do some scouting. This is a picture of the alley between the Barn and Pond hollow.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r27/sparson_bucket/100_1005.jpg)
We found the scrape in the post above along the northside of the Pond hollow and decide to set along it as their were open fields to the north, east and west. Troy took a good looking spot I found beside the pond and I took a spot on the west end where John's son Danny had a stand hanging. Here is a view of the property looking North from the Pond hollow
 (http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r27/sparson_bucket/100_0996.jpg)
We took off and went back to Barry for a little lunch and a nap. What happened that evening was beyond anything we could have imagined.

So we get back around 3 PM and head to the stands. I hadn't even pulled my bow up or hooked up my safety harness and I was seeing deer in the upper field (3 does and a buck). From that point on there wasn't but a few minutes that I could not see a deer somewhere from my stand. About 4:30 I hear something behind me and turn to see a nice 8 pt. (130 pt) buck standing 15 yds away from me but before I could even reach for the bow he takes off after a doe farther down the hill. I don't think I would have shot him anyway with the two bigger bucks I had seen in the distance earlier. Anyway the evening ended with me seeing 25 deer and 8 were bucks. When I got back to Troy's stand he had seen 30 deer and 9 bucks. Now at least 3 of these bucks we saw were the same ones but I could hunt for 2 years around here and not see that many deer.

Keep it coming man....Great so far!

So Friday morning we are there a little late and it is starting to rain but still manage to scare 3 does on the way in. Once it lightens up I can see deer in the plowed field to the west of us. Not just any deer but a BIG whitetail buck chasing a doe. After they took off I had a doe come out about 10 yards from me, as I am watching her I hear a grunt and turn expecting to see a big deer only to find a little fork horn who has broken one horn off. That pretty much summed up my morning. I had decided to move back into the hollow a little and Troy had decided to move to the middle of the pond because the deer were coming out of the Barn Hollow and skirting around the pond and heading east across a pasture, we figured they were going over to some standing corn about 1/2 mile over. Here is a picture of where he stuck his stand. It was over to the right at the corner of the pond. He saw 5 bucks and about 10 does that morning.
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r27/sparson_bucket/100_0994.jpg)

After we got down it was raining hard so after I set my new stand we decided to do a little scouting on the north side. We didn't find anything to entice us to move our stands. The rain continued all day Friday, the evening hunt found us in rain gear and looking forward to meeting John and his wife Janice for dinner in Hannibal. The first three deer I saw that evening busted out of the woods and took off to the north. A little later I had a doe walk out into the field and stand underneath the tree I had vacated that morning. Luckily she decided to come back into the woods and feed. When she was at 10 yards she put her head behind a dead tree and I came to full draw, as she cleared the tree I released my arrow which sped toward the deer losing feathers faster than a canary in full molt. With a resounding THUMP and a grunt from the deer she was off and heading across the field when I saw her last, leaving me wondering how good my shot was. I thought it might have been high and the sound of the hit hadn't done anything to convince me it was a great shot. I decided to wait it out as I didn't want to take off following the deer and ruin anything Troy might have going on his end. About dark I got down and went out into the field to look for her, not finding anything I went to the barn and found Troy, who said he hadn't seen her crossing the field. After a quick discussion we decided it would be best not to try to find her in the dark and hope that the hit was good enough to put her down overnight. Needless to say I wasn't in a very good mood the rest of the night but we had a great dinner with Darren's parents.

Keep it coming Scott.......

David

Saturday morning found the full moon out and no deer along the road on the drive down ( a first). As I walked down to my stand I stayed close to the woods and happened to stumble onto my doe. She had cut downhill after I last saw her and died 120 yards from the shot. To say I was relived would be an understatement. My shot was a little high and hit scapula and angled down to take out lungs. The arrow went all the way through and was broken off when she fell.
 (http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r27/sparson_bucket/100_0986.jpg)
Saturday morning I drew a blank on deer and Troy only saw a few does and button bucks. We decided to move on over into the Barn Hollow as most of the deer seemed to be coming out of there.

Congrats Scott , these ST. Jude's hunts are great , Fred

Nice! Congrats, keep it coming!

Congrats!

Sounds like a good time!!

Robert

Sunday and Monday were does and button bucks for me. Troy had a 10 pt buck standing underneath the first tree he was in on Monday morning but by that time he was 110 yards away  :( . That pretty much ended our Pike county hunt. I would have to say that Darren didn't sell this hunt hard enough and that Troy and I got a bargain, when other people were hunting smaller properties and paying  three times as much.

I don't know if the state of IL is shooting theirselves in the foot charging what they do for tags but if people pay it I guess they can get away with it. If I had the chance to go back in the future on another St. Judes hunt I would and if you are looking for a affordable trophy hunt this would be it.

Here are a couple more pictures of does and a racoon that entertained me in the Barn Hollow.
 (http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r27/sparson_bucket/100_0991.jpg)
(http://i140.photobucket.com/albums/r27/sparson_bucket/100_0992.jpg)