 |
| First Snow on Farver Acres |
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
First Snow on Farver Acres
Hurricane Sandy has brought us an early snow on Farver Acres. We probably have about an inch and it is still snowing. The higher elevations in WV are supposed to get 2-3 feet just a couple of hours South of here.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
Monday, October 8, 2012
2012 Hunting Season...So it Begins
We had an awesome time with Sophie, Hans, Brenda and Ray here, they along with Christopher and Lorrie all helped me celebrate my 50th birthday, great time! As much as we loved having our house guests and sure miss them, they know we put hunting season on hold for their visit, something that rarely occurs in the Farver household!
With the deer processing area ready, food plots growing nicely, the hardwood leaves changing their beautiful colors and "fall" temperatures in the air, it was time to take to the woods......
Though we have owned the property since 1999, we never had the equipment to put in food plots, I knew if we did, it would provide us a way to give the local deer herd year round nutrition and to also allow us to harvest the deer we need and keep the herd in balance. It sure paid off...now the story... you know I always have a story.
Lorrie and I had been checking the trail cameras for the past several weeks and were seeing many different bucks of varying sizes (and tons of does), mostly smaller bucks that would get more of our attention in a year or two. However, there was this one deer that got our attention that was showing up at Christopher's stand deep in the woods well before dark, then showing up in the food plot (which is just down the valley from Christopher's stand), still during daylight hours. I decided that was the deer I was going to go after, now I needed a plan. I had to decided, do I go to Christopher's stand or to the food plot. It is quite an up hill hike to Christopher's stand and as hot as it was, I would need to ride an ATV to keep from getting very sweaty. But riding the ATV would make more noise than I really wanted, I wanted to keep the pressure low this early in the season. Lorrie suggested she could take me and drop me off and the deer would hear the ATV come in and then leave and the deer would assume we were gone. Sounded like a good idea but I was concerned with after dark, she would need to come get me and would spook anything around the stand or in the food plot both. I decided to take the most conservative approach, ride the ATV to the lower field below the house, park it there, then walk back to the back food plot (mostly a level 1/4 mile walk). The only issue I might have is when it got dark, if there were deer in the food plot, I would have to wait them out (however long it took) to clear the field so I could leave undetected. The plan was set.
I wrapped up work at 5PM Friday evening and hit the shower, all my hunting gear was ready weeks ago, cloths washed in scent free, bow sighted in, backpack ready, etc. Now "I" was scent free after the shower so I suited up. It was warm (low 70's) so I dressed in my lightest Scentlock Savanah series clothing and un-insulated rubber boots. As planned, I rode to the lower field and started a very slow walk back to the back food plot. As I got closer and the trail opended up where I could see the food plot, something looked different. I stopped and used my binoculars to check it out, there was a smaller buck standing down in the stream bed to the left of the trail and all I could see was his head. I watched him and he climbed up out of the stream bed, ate in the food plot for awhile then dissappeared to the right behind the hunting shack I was heading to. I assumed he was going to keeping going to the right and leave the food plot up into the woods. I waited and again, something caught my attention, I looked with the binoculars again, and he was down in the stream bed again, this time on the right of the trail just below the hunting shack, check out the picture..... click on it to make it larger..... and look dead center......
It gets better......he climbed up out of the stream bed and back into the food plot then walked to the left where I could not see him. I could hear him in the leaves from time to time but I stayed still and just waited him out. Movement caught my attention 15 yards below me to the left, it was him, again down in the stream. He must have been really thirsty and looking for any moisture he could find. There were pretty thick woods between us so he could not see me but I could watch him with binoculars. I was getting impatient, by now since I approached the food plot, 20 minutes or more had gone by. I knew I needed to get into the hunting shack at the edge of the food plot very soon or more deer would likely be coming out and I would never make it there.
I watched the deer and "gave him 5 more minutes" and I was going to keep walking. When he started to close his eyes and fall asleep, I knew there was no better time so I gave up on him not knowing I was there and just started my slow walk to the hunting shack. I have no idea if he saw me or not, he never ran off, never snorted or anything, I just never looked back. By this time it was approaching 6PM. Finally I was in the shack, got settled in, checked everything out to make sure I was ready to go.
About 20 minutes later a mature doe entered the food plot first from just about straight ahead of me, I ranged her at 50 yards. She was followed into the field by what looked like her 1 1/2 year old doe and her 6 month old doe. They all milled around the field eating away for about 15 minutes and wandered up into the woods to the right.
At about 6:40PM I could hear movement in the very dry leaves to my left coming down out of "Poplar Valley". Sure enough, within minutes I could see a smaller buck and then another buck behind it. The smaller buck came down near the food plot and, like a child at a road crossing, he looked left then looked right and then jumped down off the hill into the food plot. The second buck then started forward, I could see it was "him". I couldn't believe it, really.... it never works out that way. They never do what you think they are going to do, but here he was. He dropped down into the food plot and immediately started eating, relaxed as could be. His "buddy" moved all over the food plot, at one point walking right up to a trail camera and actully hitting it with is antler, he then walked within 10 feet of me, down wind. I was expecting him to smell me and start snorting, nothing, he kept going behind me. The big buck kept eating, he was the only deer in the food plot at this point but he was over 40 yards away. He then just picked his head up and started walking in my direction, stopped and put his head down to eat and I ranged him at 22 yards. He turned to my left and kept eating, it was all up to me at that point.
I didn't hesitate for more than 10 seconds, I just waited for his left leg to come forward in alignment with his right leg and the arrow was on its way. I could see I had made a perfect double lung shot. He was gone..... ran up the hill to the left, I could hear some crashing as he went, then silence.
I called Lorrie and told her the news, she couldn't believe it. My first night out of the season and I had only been away from the house for less than 2 hours..... She walked down to the ATV and drove it back to the food plot. In the mean time I had gone looking for my arrow. Sure enough, a complete pass-thru, what every bow hunter wants to see. Lorrie arrived and with Christopher's sooped up SureFire flashlight (I call it the "mombo light", this is just a small fit in your hand flashlight but it drives the LED so bright it actually gets hot after you hold it for awhile...best blood trailing light ever!), we started looking for blood. Not a single drop at point of impact or anywhere in the food plot. About half way up the small hill we finally found the first drop, normally I would be worried with how little blood we were finding but I was very confident in my shot. We would find a drop every 10 feet or so and once we were on top of the hill we hit one of our ATV trails and that's when the blood trail become intense. It entered some very thick briars so I went up the ATV trail and was going to re-enter the woods past the briars, no need, he was laying there 20 feet off the ATV trail!
I have to say, this is the fastest I have ever taken my buck in any deer season so far. Everything came together like I had always dreamed it would once we moved to the property, living the dream!
We field dressed the deer and though challenging, Lorrie and I were able to get him up on the ATV. We took him back to the house and he became the first deer in the game cooler! We placed him there for the night with no worries at all. We used to have to go in to town and get ice to pack the deer to get them chilled down, make sure we had them in a location at camp where the coyotes would not get them, etc, no more!
Saturday first thing we took him in town to check him in and then took some pictures in the daylight, check out how we moved him around, did I say how much I loved my tractor?
.JPG)
With all the pictures out of the way, I removed the hide. We all decided a few years ago, that we would only mount deer that were "125" or bigger. This means that they needed to have 125 inches of antler as defined by Boone and Crocket. I had measured this deer and he just made it over 125 and especially since he was the first buck taken after moving into the new house, Lorrie and I decided he was getting mounted. We contacted some locals we had gotten to know during the construction process and located a recommended taxidermist, we put the rest of the deer in the walk in cooler and took the cape and head to the taxidermist. He said he was backed up quite a bit from having to take some time away to take care of his elderly father who had fallen and it would likely be a year before I got him back, but we could come get the antlers in a coulple of days to keep them and show them off until he was ready for them. Back from the taxidermist we proceeded to cut up the deer meat, vacuum seal it and get it into the freezer. All in all, we finally finished up completely by about 5PM Saturday!
Now we will see who is next to take a deer this season on Farver Acres, stay tuned.....
With the deer processing area ready, food plots growing nicely, the hardwood leaves changing their beautiful colors and "fall" temperatures in the air, it was time to take to the woods......
Though we have owned the property since 1999, we never had the equipment to put in food plots, I knew if we did, it would provide us a way to give the local deer herd year round nutrition and to also allow us to harvest the deer we need and keep the herd in balance. It sure paid off...now the story... you know I always have a story.
Lorrie and I had been checking the trail cameras for the past several weeks and were seeing many different bucks of varying sizes (and tons of does), mostly smaller bucks that would get more of our attention in a year or two. However, there was this one deer that got our attention that was showing up at Christopher's stand deep in the woods well before dark, then showing up in the food plot (which is just down the valley from Christopher's stand), still during daylight hours. I decided that was the deer I was going to go after, now I needed a plan. I had to decided, do I go to Christopher's stand or to the food plot. It is quite an up hill hike to Christopher's stand and as hot as it was, I would need to ride an ATV to keep from getting very sweaty. But riding the ATV would make more noise than I really wanted, I wanted to keep the pressure low this early in the season. Lorrie suggested she could take me and drop me off and the deer would hear the ATV come in and then leave and the deer would assume we were gone. Sounded like a good idea but I was concerned with after dark, she would need to come get me and would spook anything around the stand or in the food plot both. I decided to take the most conservative approach, ride the ATV to the lower field below the house, park it there, then walk back to the back food plot (mostly a level 1/4 mile walk). The only issue I might have is when it got dark, if there were deer in the food plot, I would have to wait them out (however long it took) to clear the field so I could leave undetected. The plan was set.
I wrapped up work at 5PM Friday evening and hit the shower, all my hunting gear was ready weeks ago, cloths washed in scent free, bow sighted in, backpack ready, etc. Now "I" was scent free after the shower so I suited up. It was warm (low 70's) so I dressed in my lightest Scentlock Savanah series clothing and un-insulated rubber boots. As planned, I rode to the lower field and started a very slow walk back to the back food plot. As I got closer and the trail opended up where I could see the food plot, something looked different. I stopped and used my binoculars to check it out, there was a smaller buck standing down in the stream bed to the left of the trail and all I could see was his head. I watched him and he climbed up out of the stream bed, ate in the food plot for awhile then dissappeared to the right behind the hunting shack I was heading to. I assumed he was going to keeping going to the right and leave the food plot up into the woods. I waited and again, something caught my attention, I looked with the binoculars again, and he was down in the stream bed again, this time on the right of the trail just below the hunting shack, check out the picture..... click on it to make it larger..... and look dead center......
.JPG) |
| Look in the center of the picture, right above the ground, you will see the bucks head/antlers. |
I watched the deer and "gave him 5 more minutes" and I was going to keep walking. When he started to close his eyes and fall asleep, I knew there was no better time so I gave up on him not knowing I was there and just started my slow walk to the hunting shack. I have no idea if he saw me or not, he never ran off, never snorted or anything, I just never looked back. By this time it was approaching 6PM. Finally I was in the shack, got settled in, checked everything out to make sure I was ready to go.
About 20 minutes later a mature doe entered the food plot first from just about straight ahead of me, I ranged her at 50 yards. She was followed into the field by what looked like her 1 1/2 year old doe and her 6 month old doe. They all milled around the field eating away for about 15 minutes and wandered up into the woods to the right.
At about 6:40PM I could hear movement in the very dry leaves to my left coming down out of "Poplar Valley". Sure enough, within minutes I could see a smaller buck and then another buck behind it. The smaller buck came down near the food plot and, like a child at a road crossing, he looked left then looked right and then jumped down off the hill into the food plot. The second buck then started forward, I could see it was "him". I couldn't believe it, really.... it never works out that way. They never do what you think they are going to do, but here he was. He dropped down into the food plot and immediately started eating, relaxed as could be. His "buddy" moved all over the food plot, at one point walking right up to a trail camera and actully hitting it with is antler, he then walked within 10 feet of me, down wind. I was expecting him to smell me and start snorting, nothing, he kept going behind me. The big buck kept eating, he was the only deer in the food plot at this point but he was over 40 yards away. He then just picked his head up and started walking in my direction, stopped and put his head down to eat and I ranged him at 22 yards. He turned to my left and kept eating, it was all up to me at that point.
I didn't hesitate for more than 10 seconds, I just waited for his left leg to come forward in alignment with his right leg and the arrow was on its way. I could see I had made a perfect double lung shot. He was gone..... ran up the hill to the left, I could hear some crashing as he went, then silence.
I called Lorrie and told her the news, she couldn't believe it. My first night out of the season and I had only been away from the house for less than 2 hours..... She walked down to the ATV and drove it back to the food plot. In the mean time I had gone looking for my arrow. Sure enough, a complete pass-thru, what every bow hunter wants to see. Lorrie arrived and with Christopher's sooped up SureFire flashlight (I call it the "mombo light", this is just a small fit in your hand flashlight but it drives the LED so bright it actually gets hot after you hold it for awhile...best blood trailing light ever!), we started looking for blood. Not a single drop at point of impact or anywhere in the food plot. About half way up the small hill we finally found the first drop, normally I would be worried with how little blood we were finding but I was very confident in my shot. We would find a drop every 10 feet or so and once we were on top of the hill we hit one of our ATV trails and that's when the blood trail become intense. It entered some very thick briars so I went up the ATV trail and was going to re-enter the woods past the briars, no need, he was laying there 20 feet off the ATV trail!
I have to say, this is the fastest I have ever taken my buck in any deer season so far. Everything came together like I had always dreamed it would once we moved to the property, living the dream!
 |
| Living the Dream! |
Saturday first thing we took him in town to check him in and then took some pictures in the daylight, check out how we moved him around, did I say how much I loved my tractor?
.JPG)
With all the pictures out of the way, I removed the hide. We all decided a few years ago, that we would only mount deer that were "125" or bigger. This means that they needed to have 125 inches of antler as defined by Boone and Crocket. I had measured this deer and he just made it over 125 and especially since he was the first buck taken after moving into the new house, Lorrie and I decided he was getting mounted. We contacted some locals we had gotten to know during the construction process and located a recommended taxidermist, we put the rest of the deer in the walk in cooler and took the cape and head to the taxidermist. He said he was backed up quite a bit from having to take some time away to take care of his elderly father who had fallen and it would likely be a year before I got him back, but we could come get the antlers in a coulple of days to keep them and show them off until he was ready for them. Back from the taxidermist we proceeded to cut up the deer meat, vacuum seal it and get it into the freezer. All in all, we finally finished up completely by about 5PM Saturday!
Now we will see who is next to take a deer this season on Farver Acres, stay tuned.....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)