It's All About the Kids (9/22-9/23/12 Duck Hunt)

There is a new kid on the block for the youth duck hunt this year.  Riley has stepped up to a shooter spot in the blind for the first time.  She has been on multiple duck hunts with me; probably more than the other kids.  However, this year is different.  She has taken hunter education and was willing to give duck hunting a shot.  So, I dug my old single shot .410 out and managed to locate some steel shot for the hunt.  While I was secretly hoping that she would like duck hunting, I was trying not to "make" her like the experience.

Saturday's (9/22) hunt was to take place on the big pond in Burbank.  Eric and I found this spot last year and it was fairly productive late in the year.  This year, however, I had seen a lot of duck activity when I scouted the Friday before the youth hunt.  We arrived at 4:15 am and began ferrying the kids across the pond in our Marsh Rat boats.  With two adults (me and Eric) and three kids (Riley, Justus and Derek Rhoades) to get across, this task took quite some time.  By 5:50, the blind was constructed, the decoys were set and we were ready to go.

6:10 had arrived.  The first two shooters were Riley and Justus.  Birds were there right on cue.  We had some trouble seeing them coming, though.  The shooting hole was much smaller than last year.  Finally, some birds dropped in that gave the kids an opportunity to shoot.  Both Justus and Riley shot and missed a threesome of wigeon.  Single birds continued to drop in and shots were fired for another 10 minutes or so.  Justus was finally able to connect with a wigeon hen.  Then it happened.  A single mallard drake bombed in from the right and Riley saw it.  She cocked the little .410 and was ready to rock.  The bird stalled about two feet off the water and she fired.  The mallard fell to the water, crippled and unable to fly.  She got her first bird.  She needed a little help finishing it off, but Riley had shot her first duck.  As soon as the bird hit the water, I turned my attention to Riley.  I wanted to know what her reaction would be to killing an animal.  She is an animal lover, but has a solid understanding of why I hunt.  I was curious to know if she would be filled with remorse for killing and animal.  That definitely did NOT happen.  She was elated and was one proud papa.  There was another duck hunter in the Wilson household. 

Birds continued to fall from the sky for the kids for the next couple of hours.  Riley managed to cleanly kill a wigeon hen while it was flying.  Justus and Derek managed to shoot a couple of ducks apiece.  This was a very good day for me and the kids.  The final count for Saturday was 7 ducks and we were done by 9:30 am.

Sunday morning, Riley was not able to come hunting.  Homecoming was the night before and she was still at her friend's house.  Today's shooters would be Justus and Derek.  We got to the same blind as the day before at about 4:30.  However, since the blind was already constructed, there was a little more time to relax before shooting time arrived at 6:10. 

Like the day before, at 6:10 the ducks started coming from everywhere.  The boys were shooting to beat the band.  No birds were falling, though.  The boys could not kill a duck to save their life.  That changed about 8:00, though.  After a box of shells each, they boys started to hit what they were shooting at.  Their shooting improved and they managed to kill 8 ducks...4 each.

Even though this weened was a lot of work for me as the parent, it was worth every minute.  I enjoy youth season because the birds have not been hunted and that allows kids a great shot at killing birds.  It was worth it because I was able to watch the last of my children become a successful hunter.  While that would probably not mean much to a lot of people, it means a great deal to me.  I look forward to many more duck hunts with the kids. 

Anticipation

I am unsure who is more excited about this weekend...me or the kids. The kids should be more excited since this is the youth duck season. I'm just going as the "guide."  Still, it will be great to be back out blowing duck calls and retrieving dead waterfowl. Plus, the arrival of youth season means that big people duck season is only three weeks away.

The Brown-Tail Stalk (9/8/12 Deer Hunt)

Another morning trying to shoot a deer. I am beginning to question whether or not its worth the effort this year. My ankle throbs constantly and the possible health issues I face constantly nag at me. I am not really enjoying myself this time around. Maybe things will change.

I was out with Eric this morning. He picked me up at 3:30 am and we headed out to the Blue Mountains. Unlike last weekend, elk season is open. That means more people in the woods which normally equates to the deer scattering to the wind.

We arrived at our spot on Whiskey Creek Road shortly after 5. We headed in two seperate directions with a plan to meet back at the truck later this morning. After an hour and a half of walking, I started back towards the truck. I needed to get off my ankle for a little while. On the way back, however, I heard sticks breaking in front of me about 100 yards out. I was fairly certain it was not a deer. The footsteps sounded too heavy. My thoughts jumped to the possibility of a elk. This was, after all, the very same area I shot at an elk last year. I knelt down and listened for another 10 minutes or so and had a good idea where the noises were coming from. Slowly I worked my way forward. As I neared the top of the hill, I knew I was close to the source of the noise but could not pinpoint it yet. I found a small tuft of bushes to hide in. Once I finally arrived, I looked over the small ridge...bursting with excitement and to my amazement there was no deer. There was no elk. There was no bear or cougar. I did not have a license or tag to shoot what was making all of that noise. Before me stood a cow. A "Brown Tail." Frustration overwhelmed me so I headed straight back to the truck. I just wasted a lot of time and energy stalking an animal that I can't shoot...and even if I could would simply require me walk up and shoot. Stalking is not required on cows.

Eric and I tried a few more spots but were not able to find any deer. We decided to quit hunting for the morning. As I write this, I am sitting at Sharon's cabin getting ready to take a nap. Who knows, maybe this afternoon I can manage to sneak up on someone's pet llama.

Just as predicted, this afternoon didn't pan out any better. After running into Walla Walla for some lunch, we set up in two different spots on Whiskey Creek Road. I was overlooking a ridge that I have seen deer walk across in the evening on their way to the field to eat. I sat and watched the sun go down until about 6:00. Then, a doe and a fawn jumped the fence onto some private land. These deer were officially off limits unless they kept walking onto the public land. As I watched the deer, I grew more frustrated at the state of public hunting around here. See, just before those deer jumped onto private land, they came from an area that used to be public last year. Then someone bought the land and won't let people hunt there any more. That was good land that I would have hunted again this year if it would have remained public. As I sat in my popup blind stewing about things, I saw two does and a fawn hop the same fence at the same location. That really didn't help my frustration level. Finally, as the sun went down, fate flipped me off one more time by sending another doe walking right past where I would have set up in that other land if it would have remained public. Someone please remind me why I like deer hunting so much. This state, like it does in so many other ways, frustrated the hell out of me. It's the goddam liberals on the west side screwing things up. I know it is. The hunting regs here are jacked up and don't show signs of improving.

Frustration (9/1-9/3/12 Deer Hunt)

Deer season opened Saturday, September 1st. I had been looking forward to this day for a considerable amount of time.  Riley asked earlier in the week if she could go and I was glad to have her along. 
We arrived at Joy's (Orville's sister) at 4:30 am. We normally stop there on our way to deer hunt because the house is abandoned and it gives us a good place to change into our event free hunting clothes. Anyway, we waited about 45 minutes for Don and Neal to show up. When they arrived, we promptly left. Riley and I finally got to the deer stand about 5:50 am, which was five minutes after shooting hours began and about an hour after I like to get there.  I don't like getting to the stand at the last possible minute...or after legal shooting time has began.

We settled in and were finally ready for whatever action was to come our way.  At 6:08 am, it began.  To our right we heard twigs breaking and a familiar rustle of the brush.  A doe popped out about 5 yards to the right of our treestand.  However, the odd angle would prevent me from taking the easy shot.  We waited silently for another two minutes while the doe worked her way out from our stand.  It was go time.She turned broad side, I pulled back on the string, centered the 30 yard pin right on the sweet spot and let the arrow fly.  Bingo!  My arrow flew right to where I aimed (which is a major feat in itself these days).  She was hit just in back of her shoulder joint.  She jumped in the air and took off like a shot.  Riley and I sat motionless as we watched her disappear into the thickets.  After what seemed like an eternity, we climbed out of the stand to begin the search.  I found my arrow, which was covered in deep red blood.  As we followed the blood trail (which was composed of very small droplets of blood) we weaved around and under massive rose bushes until we hit the the edge of the wheatfield.  The blood trail dried up.  Nothing.  We checked everywhere for another sign.  Nothing.  We went back to the stand to wait it out.  I didn't want to push too hard since we were getting close to Neal's stand.  10:00 rolled around and we climbed back out of the stand to look for the doe again with Neal's help.  Another try yielded the same results.  No deer.  I began wondering how such a perfect shot could shed so little blood.

After heading back to the "cabin" behind Orville's daughter's (Joy) house, we all grabbed some lunch and sat around for a little while.  At 3:30, we headed back to the treestand.  That afternoon, Riley and I watched two whitetail fawns and one mulie fawn play in front of our stand.  Hust as the sun was beginning to set, we saw two buck in the distance.  They were fairly large boys...one 5x5 and one 4x4.  Neither came close enough to let an arrown fly.  After the sun set, Riley and I made our way out of the stand and back to the truck.  On the way home, we stopped at McDonalds.  While I didn't get the deer, I did get one great day with my daughter.  Those are the memories that I will always hold onto. 

The next day (Sunday) I headed back up to Orville's again.  I met Don and Neal in Walla Walla.  They had drove back into twon to make a couple of calls.  They had slept in that morning, wanting to give the deer a chance to settle back down.  That afternoon I planned to hunt some public land where Neal had spotted several deer.

I got the the parking spot around 2:30 pm and began setting up my pop-up blind.  After it was set up, I got settled in.  I did not see one deer that afternoon.  Frankly, I didn't see ANYTHING that afternoon.  I picked up and was out of the woods by 8:00.

Again Monday morning, we didn't roll out to the stands until almost shooting light.  This time, I went to the stand that I had shot a doe from a couple of years ago.  I had high hopes for shooting another deer from it this morning.  What a joke.  I saw ONE doe.  Even though she never presented a perfect shot I took one anyway and totally missed.  That was all I saw from the stand that morning.  I did see four more does bedded down on my way out of the stand later that morning.  Just my luck.   

With so much time to just sit and think, I realized a couple things.  First, I think I might have solved the mystery of why my perfect shot didn't yield much blood (and hadn't in years past either).  The 9mm handgun round is not effective because it is a light projectile travelling at a high rate of speed.  This is the same way my arrow set-up is.  I shoot 100 grain broadheads with a very fast bow.  I think I need to slow the arrown down a little and make it like a 45 caliber bullet.  That bullet is not as fast, but has much more power because it weighs more and travelling slower.  In light of this epipheny, I am going to try a 125 grain broadhead and see what happens.

The other thing I realized this weekend was why I am getting so frustrated while I deer hunt here.  I used to enjoy deer hunting as a time to relax and surround myself with nature.  Since I have moved to Washignton, I have not enjoyed it as much as I had in the past.  I think I feel more pressure to shoot a deer here.  Washington only has a three week deer season, as compared to the season in the midwest that lasts over three months.  I'll let that one soak in the brain for a little while.  Maybe that's what is going on.