SouthernTierHunter
Active Member
To keep things relatively brief I had so many firsts happen on MD's Archery Opener on 9/7
1st Buck
1st Velvet Buck
1st Saddle Hunt
1st Animal with a Bow
1st Animal from an Elevated Position
1st Animal from a Saddle
1st Sika
1st Hunt in another sate
1st Hunt in Maryland (Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge)
I drove 6 hours down with absolutely no where to stay other than in my truck in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I showed up at the visitor center to ensure that I had all the regulations figured out. While talking to the park ranger he recommended I speak with Allen Johnston, the Hunting Coordinator.
I was directed to a little back office where a super cool older gentleman proceeded to hook me up with a good spot to go. When I got to the spot to scout it out a little I met a fellow Sika hunter at the trail head. Doug gave me some pointers on where I should focus my efforts. "It's not going to be easy." he said. He had been hunting them for several years and has yet to kill one.
I decided to hunt the evening and went crabbing during the middle of the day.
I got to the trail head at 2PM and slowly walked the 3/4 mile along a ditch to the woods I planned to hunt. You could see mini deer trails coming out of the marsh heading to a cornfield. There were several great looking trails I would have liked to set up on but there were no trees to set up in. I came to a particularly small trail, but there was a PERFECT tree, so I decided to set up there. This tree and most of the trees there were impossible to set a stand in, so the saddle strikes again!
I sat there all day getting destroyed by bugs and seeing almost nothing, other than a fox hunting mice in a field. BTW saddle shape is a real thing, I was hurting during that first hang. In MD you can hunt 1/2 and hour after sunset and as soon as the sunset I could hear stuff moving brush in the swamp beyond me. I could hear a deer right in front of me, I dare not smack any of the 200 mosquitos bitting me. The head of the dear came into my shooting land and I could see it was a buck. With the next step he took he was all the way in my land at 5 yards away. Just then he smelled my hat that fell off during my climb. I new had to make a move soon. He put his head down to fake feed, then popped it up. When he went down the next time I drew back, aimed low behind the shoulder and let her rip! Thwack, a mule kick and he peeled off. He made an arching loop back to the cover. I heard crashing, moaning and a gurgling death rattle that brought the whole thing to a beautiful end.
The slick trick double lunged him and embedded in the ground. He made it less than 50 yards and died in about 30 sec. I field dressed and tagged him, got him in to cooler and headed home to NY smiling ear to ear.
Buck Pic
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1gK-qQem4nyWUJYQTh4cndUM0UxcDJ5ZmhJeWhBZlAtRHdZ
Buck Pic
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZOOsacxPTGZawV67Iek2FeF9jLIcC3-t
Kill Shot
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1F6T8Ia8Wa4uXA6P9cBycC3vTjE2eSD8Q
My Rig
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FbhH5iWT4aJTuNqU_HEC3hXbFhCETCAl
1st Buck
1st Velvet Buck
1st Saddle Hunt
1st Animal with a Bow
1st Animal from an Elevated Position
1st Animal from a Saddle
1st Sika
1st Hunt in another sate
1st Hunt in Maryland (Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge)
I drove 6 hours down with absolutely no where to stay other than in my truck in the Wal-Mart parking lot. I showed up at the visitor center to ensure that I had all the regulations figured out. While talking to the park ranger he recommended I speak with Allen Johnston, the Hunting Coordinator.
I was directed to a little back office where a super cool older gentleman proceeded to hook me up with a good spot to go. When I got to the spot to scout it out a little I met a fellow Sika hunter at the trail head. Doug gave me some pointers on where I should focus my efforts. "It's not going to be easy." he said. He had been hunting them for several years and has yet to kill one.
I decided to hunt the evening and went crabbing during the middle of the day.
I got to the trail head at 2PM and slowly walked the 3/4 mile along a ditch to the woods I planned to hunt. You could see mini deer trails coming out of the marsh heading to a cornfield. There were several great looking trails I would have liked to set up on but there were no trees to set up in. I came to a particularly small trail, but there was a PERFECT tree, so I decided to set up there. This tree and most of the trees there were impossible to set a stand in, so the saddle strikes again!
I sat there all day getting destroyed by bugs and seeing almost nothing, other than a fox hunting mice in a field. BTW saddle shape is a real thing, I was hurting during that first hang. In MD you can hunt 1/2 and hour after sunset and as soon as the sunset I could hear stuff moving brush in the swamp beyond me. I could hear a deer right in front of me, I dare not smack any of the 200 mosquitos bitting me. The head of the dear came into my shooting land and I could see it was a buck. With the next step he took he was all the way in my land at 5 yards away. Just then he smelled my hat that fell off during my climb. I new had to make a move soon. He put his head down to fake feed, then popped it up. When he went down the next time I drew back, aimed low behind the shoulder and let her rip! Thwack, a mule kick and he peeled off. He made an arching loop back to the cover. I heard crashing, moaning and a gurgling death rattle that brought the whole thing to a beautiful end.
The slick trick double lunged him and embedded in the ground. He made it less than 50 yards and died in about 30 sec. I field dressed and tagged him, got him in to cooler and headed home to NY smiling ear to ear.
Buck Pic
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1gK-qQem4nyWUJYQTh4cndUM0UxcDJ5ZmhJeWhBZlAtRHdZ
Buck Pic
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ZOOsacxPTGZawV67Iek2FeF9jLIcC3-t
Kill Shot
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1F6T8Ia8Wa4uXA6P9cBycC3vTjE2eSD8Q
My Rig
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FbhH5iWT4aJTuNqU_HEC3hXbFhCETCAl
