Steve M's Story

2009-06-01T19:43:00.000-07:00

Well, I had to go with a new post. Probly because they knew what a pussy Shaun was on our trip up to Murphy Lake, beyond both Bennett Lake and Middle Lake. He was whining how he wasn't sure he could make it all that way with the little load he was carrying. (It's is nearly 100% uphill for about four miles from the time you leave the truck until you're at the camp site we were at but he chose it so I have little sympathy for him.....) I soldiered on like the known GI I've been for the past 30+ years and he tried to find fault with my performance regardless of what I was carrying. Anyone who knows Shaun knows that I'm so full of crap you probably won't believe the rest of my post but the rest will be the truth I promise. Shaun carried a pack that weighted somewhere in the neighborhood of 60-70 lbs plus the canoe, which is either 28 to 32 extra pounds. I'm getting short of breath just writing this. Whilst we were in Murphy Lake camping and fishing Shaun told me I was the Down's Syndrome of camping and the Special Olympics of fishing but I think he changes his tune when he discovered that the piece of crap rod and reel he provivded me was just that.....I'll let him comment on that. The bottom line being that we caught a BUNCH of brook trout at Murphy Lake, ate them for two nights and kept enough for Shaun's buddy (The Kraut) to take some to his mother and still released as many as we caught, easily. I'll attach a couple of pistures from our trip. My favorite is the view from the mountain looking down on Murphy Lake - a hellacious climb in my opinion but well worth the effort when you get to see what you get to see (and you get to see it for free without the effort of paying someone to take you to the top) I liked Scott's view of the Zugspitz (no doubt spelled wrong) but that's the pussy view if ever there was one. I've been to the Zugsiptz, skiied it in fact - great fun - it's all a matter of perspective. Watch and enjoy the pictures I post on this blog.

Spring NY Trip

2009-05-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

New post coming very soon. I spent a week and a half up in the great northeast; did some camping with Shaun and a couple of other guys and fished for brook trout and brown trout at Murphy and Middle Lakes and basically had a blast. I don't have time right now to post the pictures and a full description but will soon. I also spent another week in Broadalbin doing a few things to help my mother out and had a wonderful time. The older I get the more I appreciate being able to spend time around my family in NY. It just doesn't get any better than that in my opnion. I'll post soon.

The new deer head is in.....

2009-03-20T18:22:00.000-07:00

The first two pictures are of the deer I got this past season and just picked up today. A very nice, totally symmetrical eight pointer. The third picture is of the eight pointer I got in either 1996 or 1997 and while it isn't especially wide, it's a very high rack and it's less than 1" from the front tines touching each other at their ends.

First day of Spring and I had a pretty good day today. Went into work and completed the first stage of a Purchase Card system for DSCR (where I work) which was the first in all of DoD to roll out this system, only worked two hours and then went with my good friend Mike down to South Hill, where he's from, to pick up a vehicle he bought for his daughter Susan, a 2006 Honda CRV. It's loaded and is a VERY nice vehicle, I drove it back and wish I had something as nice. I believe she'll be thrilled with it. She's at the nationl swimming competition in Orlando Florida right now and is returning Sunday. She's 16 and recently got her license and is quite the swimmer - very close to olympic qualifying level, she's extremely dedicated to it and will undoubtedly pursue swimming at least through college, and who knows, maybe beyond. She could someday become the female version of Michael Phelps. That's probably a bit of a stretch but you never, never know, as Scott is wont to say. Mike, Sallee, his wife, and Pearson, their son, plan to pick Susan up at the airport with the new CRV. It will be a great surprise for her and it's just a wonderful vehicle.

I got the deer mount back today that I had mounted from last year's season. It's a very nice buck. It isn't spectacular or anything but it's a very nice buck and the second best rack I've gotten in my many years of hunting. The pictures are attached along with a picture of the other deer I have mounted that I killed in 1996 or 1997. That's how long it took me to get another deer worthy of being mounted. To be honest, I also got my first deer ever taken (in NY in 1974) mounted and it's a four pointer; it too is still hanging on my wall.

Plans are continuing for my trip up to NY to go with Shaun to camp and fish at the Siamese Ponds in the Adirondacks. I'm in the process of getting hiking boots, a pack, sleeping bag, mattress pad, tent, etc. so our trip will be even more enjoyable hopefully. Also hope the fishing will be a little better than last summer when we went. Shaun tells me, and it makes perfect sense, that the fishing willl be better in the early spring rather than summer time. That doesn't really matter all that much though because the Siamese Ponds are 6.3 miles from the closest road and it's part of God's beautiful outdors that many people will never experience. It's a beautiful place to behold, I'm here to tell you. We're going at the very end of April/first part of May.

Enjoy the pictures. I'm very happy with the new deer head mount. The first one was "Half sneak right" and this one is "Half sneak left" so they're sort of looking at each other.

Steve

Winter 2009 in Central Virginia

2009-03-03T16:32:00.000-08:00

Congratulations Shaun on the nice perch in the previous post. I wish I had something as exciting to post. Also glad that you got through your surgery and I hope you're feeling much better by now. Mom tells me you went back to work today so I hope you'll be ready for our adventure into the Adirondacks fishing at the end of April/beginning of May. I'm looking forward to that like there's no tomorrow. Catching fish or not, it's the adventurte of hiking through the Adironkacks for 6.3 miles to get to our destination that makes it special; and having the area to yourself for the most part.

We had our first decent snowstorm here in Central Virginia in the past 12 years or so so there have been some exciting times at Ridgemont High here. It has also been pretty cold so the snow has hung around for a day or two. It started snowing Sunday evening and they closed all the local schools and we even got a day off of work for the weather. They closed Defense Supply Center Richmond yesterday due to the snow and icy conditions. We only got about 5" of snow at my house as far as I could tell but some of the areas around here got 6-12 inches and there was freezing rain before the snow started so the roads were treacherous, especially considering that none of the people down here know how to drive in the snow (I include myself in that group, I used to know but have been removed from doing it for thirty years so I admit I'm probably not much better than your average southern driver).

Anyway, it's been real pretty down here as evidenced by the pictures I've attached and we're enjoying our version of a Virginia winter. Snow is rare here so it's a treat. I worked from home today so in effect I had a four day wekeend from going into work. I imagine the schools will be closed yet again tomorrow but there's no telling.

I went without power/electricity from about 9:30 Sunday evening until 10:00 Monday morning but I consider myself pretty lucky there too because this girl I work with who lives north of here has been without power since late Sunday and is still without it - challenging times for the old water pipes when the temperature gets down to 12 degrees last night and is supposed to go down to 13 tonight. Luckily she was able to stay with a friend last night to avoid the cold.

Well, that's about it from here. Gotta get the dog in for the night and try to stay warm. I hope everything is well within my very limited reading audience.

2009-02-19T05:15:00.000-08:00

Hey all, it is Shaun and I am recovering from surgery I had last week (Gall Bladder/Lipoma removal) I know TMI. Anyways I am extremely stir crazy after close to two weeks of TV watching, not working and being afraid to bend or twist etc. I really, really, really would rather be ice fishing. I did alot of fishing the weekend prior to my surgery in a two day contest. I won 100$ with third place perch! Saturday I set up on a good spot I found with alot of strructure in the channel. I got eight flags and one jig pole hit. Catching Three walleyes and two perch and missing several other fish. I moved Sunday morning to fish with some friends of mine but the fishing was quite slow in that spot. We had 30 tipups in the water all day (pretty much) and got only two fish, both of which were pickeral one was 27 inches!. The spot we were in is usually an old faithful, good for Pike and Walleye. If I feel up to it, I may tag along with some friends this weekend if I can get them to cut my holes for me. If anyone is in the area in March and wants to go ice fishing please count me in and give me a call. I really like the late March northern lakes for Salmon and Laketrout. Many times you will need your sunscreen and regret not bringing the lounge chair to lay out in the sun!!
Regards Shaun

February in NY

2009-02-12T05:25:00.000-08:00

I went ice fishing all weekend in a two day contest this past weekend. I was lucky to get third place perch winning $100! The perch was about 14 inches long. I need to get a new digital camera so I can post some good pictures.
I had surgery on Monday and am laid up right now. I had my Gall Bladder removed and three lumps (lipoma's) from my belly/chest. It feels like someone ripped out my guts. I am bored to death right now and have all week off. Probably a good thing as I do not feel that good.

I Know - TMI but these are the good old days!!!

2009-01-05T17:58:00.000-08:00

(Written at 9:30, Monday, January 5, 2009) I've just gotten to sit down for a few minutes after cleaning and packaging deer meat for the past three plus hours. Thank God Mike found some guys at Garland's (auto repair place just up the road from work where we get our oil changed and other minor vehicle maintenance) that will take all the deer meat we can provide them. I went through the meat I still had this afternoon when I got home and discovered I had 10 tenderloins and 10 hind quarters. That's a tremendous amount of meat for one person to clean up, cut up and pack in only a couple of days. I put five hind quarters in a cooler and buried them deep in ice and they'll be going to the guys at Garland's tomorrow. It's good that they want some meat because it would be a shame to waste it. We had eight deer; Shaun took one, Mike took two and that left me five - Brother John!!

I cleaned and cut up all 10 tenderloins and two hind quarters. I still have three hind quarters that I'll cut into jerky tomorrow. I made four packages of thinly sliced tenderloin to use the way Brian and Mike do cooking at Sammy's pond. Sam Jr. has the recipe and I'm looking forward to that - it's just plain delicious - Sammy told me one of the keys is cutting it thin and then mashing it paper thin with a hammer before you bread it and cook it. The secret is also in the spices used with the breading - Sam Jr. knows what those are too so we should be good to go.

I also made three packages of tenderloin steaks or medallions or whatever they might be called. They're very good on the grill, maybe marinate them a little before hand, wrap bacon around them, attach with a toothpick and grill for a couple of minutes on each side - very tasty.

My last hour or so was spent cleaning the last tenderloin and two hind quarters and cutting it all up (by hand) into jerky sized pieces of meat and stuck them in the freezer until I can get some more marinade ingredients.

Pictures - sorry for the blood but there's some blood involved in deer hunting.

2009-01-05T14:27:00.001-08:00

Sammy and Shaun with the four pointer Shaun and Mike drove to Sammy on the Wal-Mart Drive.

Below: Sammy & Shaun on an obviously chilly evening.

Below: Sammy explaining to Mike that he's killed three deer and probably renewing the offer for some long range shooting lessons.

Below: Shaun, Mom, and me in my kitchen after three long, hard days of hunting.

Below: Shaun down on the creek/swamp near where my climbing stand is with the big doe he shot Saturday afternoon. This picture doesn't do it justice, but believe me, this is a big doe. Shaun even agreed and he's used to seeing those big NY deer.

Below: Taylor(?), Sammy, Mike, Scott, and the back of Ben's head.

Finishing the season with a BANG!!!

2009-01-05T08:26:00.000-08:00

All I can say is wow, did we have a great weekend of hunting (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday), here in Virginia. Shaun was down, as evidenced by his less than honest portrayal of our hunting experience these last few days of the season in his post. We make man drives and I would have to say I was in on making somewhere in the range of 70-75% of them so I definitely wasn't sitting on my ass. My only thing was that I've killed enough deer this year and I had a designated driver in Shaun so I could sit around and drink a few beers with Sammy and/or Mike while some of them still hunted on Friday and Saturday afternoon. Just to be perfectly clear on the drive front, we usually have two people driving and sometimes three. We were able to do that more these last few days because we had more people hunting. A high of 11 hunters at one point on Saturday.

Just to give you a synopsis - on Thursday we hunted in Blackstone making drives most of the day and we jumped a total of 25 deer that we saw. We made the Continental Can drive backwards (from Ft. Pickett back to Ridge Road) and jumped at least five deer we know of. There were only six of us hunting, Scott and I were making the drive and everyone on stand got to shoot (Scott even got to shoot in the cut-over where we jumped the deer). The only problem with that was that Jay got a running away shot at a doe and missed, Sammy got a shot at a doe he's pretty sure he hit with the shotgun but we were never able to find it, and Mike and Shaun both got shots at what they both described as a 'nice' buck (mountable according to Mike and he doesn't mount small ones). They hit that deer because they found blood but, again, we weren't able to find the deer. Another drive of note was the Parham drive where Mike and Jay ran a group of 8 does by me and I got one of them but should have had at least two, maybe three. They jumped two more deer on that drive but no one else shot. All in all, 15 shots were fired and we ended up with what we thought was just the one doe for the day.

Late that afternoon most of us sat in a stand somewhere for the afternoon hunt. Sammy and Jay (the landowner (and good friend - Mike and Jay basically grew up with Sammy and I've been hunting with these guys for about 20 years) and Mike's brother) went to the squeaker stand and watched down the light line into Ft. Pickett. That's a good place and you usually see a deer or two because you can see so far. The thing is that they're usually so far away the shot is nearly impossible. Shaun sat on my climbing stand overlooking the swamp on the house side of the land and I sat in a stand where I could see Sammy's truck where he and Jay were. Shaun got a shot at a doe but missed. Sammy shot twice at a doe across the creek into Ft. Pickett. We estimate the distance at around 600 yards. He shot and neither he nor Jay could tell if he hit the deer but there were still two deer in the light line so he shot again. They didn't see what happened to the deer so they just decided to leave it alone, rather than cross the creek and go looking in the dark for a deer that he might or might not have hit. We probably should have known better since Sammy is often saying he's "One shot Sam," or singing "Sammy Gee was a man, yes a big man….." or recent sayings like "If it's brown, it's going down," and "If it's brown, it's on the ground." Those are all in good fun and just joking but I'd have to say Sammy pulled off a shot something akin to Dan'l Boone killing a bear with just his bare hands and a knife. I took Shaun back to the Squeaker Stand the next afternoon to sit (because you can drive to the stand) and he looked across and saw what he thought was a deer laying in the light line about 600 yards away. A look through his 14X scope confirmed it so Shaun went and crossed the creek and dragged the deer back to the stand. By then Mike and Sammy had arrived and I told them what we had discovered and the legend of the 1/3 of a mile shot started to emerge. It's a story that will no doubt be passed down for generations and will probably be embellished some but I'm here to tell anyone reading this that I was there that day and it really did happen just the way I've described. It was cold Thursday night (20's) and chilly and rainy all day Friday (30's) so the deer meat was fine. A neighbor and friend of Sammy, Chuck Parrish, suggested that Sammy might want to approach some of the ammunition companies and make a proposal to them for the long range shots he's becoming known for. That would be to make the bullets with a certain percentage of salt content so the meat would be preserved until you could make it to the remote location where the animal was when you brought it down. I think that's a pretty good idea myself.

So, it was actually two deer for Thursday. Friday we made drives in Dundas and while I'm sure we must have gotten a few deer up, I know no one shot any deer that day.

That left Saturday and we were back in Blackstone. Just to hit the highlights, Shaun got a doe on the Parham drive that Mike and I were making. The deer got up in front of Mike and ran right to where Shaun was and he got it. Then on the Locust Grove Drive (again, being made backwards), Aaron shot a three pointer but it didn't die right away so he and a couple of the other young guys went back later and found the deer, finished it off and dragged it on out. We also made the Wal-Mart Drive (so named because it starts behind the Wal-Mart in Blackstone). Mike and Shaun made that drive and they drove a nice little four pointer to Sammy which he dispatched with one load of buckshot. Shaun probably drove the deer to Sammy but on a drive like that it's hard to say exactly where the deer came from unless you see or hear it get up and I don't think that was the case with this deer. It's just that Shaun finished up the drive right near where Sammy was. Sammy was saying later on that he didn't like taking those close-in shots but when you're making drives it only seems right to shoot what comes by you when the drivers are putting in the effort. This was, after all, the day after we confirmed his 600 yard kill shot with a 30-06, 150 grain bullet.

Still hunting for the afternoon on Saturday didn't include me or Sammy, we had a few beers at the trucks. We heard Shaun shoot and we had Shaun's radio so we eventually learned that he had shot a great big doe (for down here) - again while hunting from my climbing stand. I carried my safety strap down to him to make the drag a little easier and carried his pack and gun back for him. Then we heard Mike shooting down below the Locust Grove and it turned out he had five does walk out on him and he was able to kill two of them so it was a six deer day for our group.

After cleaning all the deer, Shaun and I went over to Sammy's in Dundas where a bunch of guys were cooking deer meat, shrimp and potatoes. We ate, I had a few beers, and we headed for home. I should mention that Mom came down with Shaun and while we were hunting, she was cleaning my house (thanks very much Mom, I love you!). Shaun, Mom and I got up for breakfast Sunday and went to the Cracker Barrel. After a nice breakfast, they headed for NY and I went home to get some much needed rest. I've got two big coolers pretty full of deer meat that I'm planning on starting on tonight.

I have pictures I'll post soon - as I said though, it was a great weekend of hunting. A total of eight deer for our little group in three days and it could have quite a few more. Lots of action and excitement and that's why we're hunting after all.

PITIFUL

2009-01-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

Hey this is Shaun. Steve wimped out real bad on the deer hunting front today! He sat around drinking beer while I had to go get all the deer for him. Right now he is saying how glad he is that hunting season is over as he has a date with the couch...pitiful!! I can see that I need to come down here more often and kick his ass into shape dragging my deer out for me. I can lure him with a bottle of beer on a stick while he drags out my deer and then foremanize him while he cuts it up and makes jerky out of it too.

Ohio Hunting Trip

2008-12-23T09:29:00.000-08:00

A friend and co-worker of mine, Darrel Coley, went hunting this past weekend in Ohio. His son Matt lives up there somewhere near Cleveland. Both pictures are of the three deer they got on Sunday, and the two guys in the second picture are Darrel and his son, Matt. Matt shot the doe around 7:30 in the morning and then around noon, Darrel had a group of five deer come in his general area. He said he only saw three but his son was just down from him and got to watch the show and he said there were five. Darrel shot one of the eight pointers with a shotgun (slug). I mention slugs because we don't use them here in Virginia - buckshot only for the most part. I guess some people do in the few counties that you can only use shotguns but none of our group do. The doe weighed 130 pounds and the bucks were around 180 each. The inside spreads on the bucks were 20" and 15". Quite the harvest for a two day hunt in Ohio. Congratulations Darrel and Matt!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

Almost Christmas and I realized I haven't posted anything in some time. Hunting season has slowed down considerably but I don't think that's a big surprise. It usually does for us during the month of December but almost always picks up a little bit toward the end of the month and toward the end of the season (January 3rd this year). We've been hunting every weekend and making man drives like we always do but it's just been slow. I think our group has killed two deer on drives this year and that's kind of pititful but what are you going to do. I haven't seen a deer to shoot at since my last post.

Today Mike and I were the only two hunting because Sammy's mother passed away Thursday and her funeral is tomorrow so none of the Gee group were hunting. I didn't know Sammy's mom very well, only met her once or twice in my life but I'm sad for Sammy and his kids because they lost their mother and grandmother. I consider Sammy a good friend and he's a great person so I'm sorry about their loss. His mother has been ill for some time and has been in a nursing home but still, it's never easy to lose someone. I'm reminded of Uncle John, who's also in a nursisng home and can't communicate much; a condition which I'm sure is devastating to him if he knows what's going on because he was always such an active person throughout his life; hunting, fishing, doing a garden, messing around with fire wood, the list goes on and on. It's heartbreaking. Mike is going to be a pall bearer for the funeral tomorrow.

The hunting today wasn't very good with only two of us but we did make three drives with zero results. We didn't still hunt this morning but did this afternoon. Mike sat on the squeaker stand and saw one deer across the creek on Ft. Pickett a little after 4 PM. That's a long ways and not worth the shot mostly but I think he said he didn't see it until it was all the way across the light line and probably couldn't have shot if he wanted to.

I went to my climbing stand behind the mailbox drive and was up the tree ready to shoot at 2:50. About 4:40 or so two gray foxes came into the picture scooting about here and there. The one stopped behind some brush/trees but I had him in the scope so I took the shot. I know for certain I hit him because he was thrashing around on the ground and "screaming" for lack of a better word. I watched him do that for a good two minutes and I thought I saw the other fox come back into my view from where he had run after I shot. To shorten this story, I climbed down the tree and went over there but there was no fox to be found - pretty sure he's on Santa's death list since he was hit by a 30-06 bullet. After that I figured I might as well walk back to the tobacco barn (I have a picture of the tobacco barn that I'll post here) and wait for Mike. Just before I got to the stargazer stand on my way, two deer started hopping down the light line. They ran across the creek toward the original fort stand and stopped and I could have made a free hand shot at about 100 yards but I kept walking toward the stargazer stand so I'd have a rest and by the time I got there they had hopped into the bushes.

That's all there is to post for now. I did talk to Shaun today, he's coming down (as well as Mom) for New Year's to hunt Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Hopefully we'll have some luck.

Yayyyy Pearson!!!

2008-11-30T17:09:00.000-08:00

Here's the Thanksgiving weekend hunting post. I'll try to be brief because I recognize many wouldn't care but then again, I'm doing this mostly for me and a few close family and friends and this is what matters to me this time of year so I will go into a little detail. I already posted that Mike got a small buck on Wednesday (he's marinating in the refrigerator right now). A few of them (Mike, Pearson, Sammy, Ben, and Scott I think) hunted Thanksgiving morning and I believe Scott got a shot or two at a deer on a drive but missed. I wasn't there so I couldn't swear to that. I had Thanksgiving dinner with Rick and Debbie Court and their son Sean. A good time was had by all and it was a veritable feast so I'm very thankful that they invited me to join them for the holiday.

Friday was another day where we made drives and it was Mike, Sammy, Ben, Scott, and me. Nothing too much to report, no deer were taken but we did jump a few and Mike and Ben both got a shot at a buck on the Bledsoe drive that Sammy and I made. The deer was flying out of the block of bushes we were driving and Mike and Ben were at the other end but only had a split second to get a shot off so it's understandable that they missed. I think Scott might have gotten a shot Friday too but I don't remember the details so I can't report on it. We didn't still hunt in the morning but did in the afternoon and didn't see anything.

Saturday was the big day - same crowd except Pearson (Mike's son) was hunting with us and also another couple of young guys that are friends of Ben (Sammy's son); Aaron and James hunted for a little while. We hunted in Dundas during the day making drives and Mike drove a buck out from the right side bottom below the Oak Grove. Scott got a shot as the deer was running across the field but missed. The other drive of note (although Mike and Sammy made the Silo drive, which is a bear (as in a very difficult drive) but nothing came out) was the twin bottom drive from the School House to the Walnut Tree/Ant Stand (I realize that Shaun is the only person reading this who will have a clue what I'm talking about but hey, this is my blog so I'll include these little details). I jumped a doe and wasn't quick enough to get a shot but luckily it ran toward where Aaron was, even though it started out running right back where I had just come from. Anyway, Aaron shot three times and the deer had made its way over to him and he got it. Saturday was a legal doe day so that a good thing.

Another couple of Sammy's friends (Brian and Mike) were there but weren't hunting. They've built a shelter down by Sammy's pond in Dundas and it's a great place to clean deer and just hang out. They were cooking kabobs with deer meat, onions, summer squash, green peppers and man-oh-man was that some delicious stuff. Those guys really do know how to cook deer meat I have to say. That was a lunch time feast for all of us.

For the afternoon hunt, Mike, Pearson and I went back to Blackstone. I went down to the Continental Can cut-over where I had my climbing stand and pulled it out to the squeaker stand where Mike took it in his truck and carried it out. I had to get it out of there because they're getting ready to cut the timber very soon. I still hunted in the squeaker stand for the afternoon and saw nothing. I heard a shot around 4:50 and figured it was Pearson because that was where it sounded like it came from (they were in the original fort stand). As I was walking out at dark Sammy called and said Pearson had killed a seven pointer with a 15-1/4" inside spread. I met Mike and Pearson and took a couple of pictures and we went back to Dundas to clean the deer. I just bought a digital camera so I'll post a couple of the pistures here. It was a great day, everyone involved was happy for Pearson, especially his dad. Pearson is 13 and this was the fifth deer of his life and at least the second buck; he also got a seven pointer last year from the same stand. He made quite a shot on this one as the deer was up at the stargazer stand facing him when he shot (I believe that's every bit of 175 yards) and he hit it perfectly right in the center of the chest. Congratulations Pearson!!!

I realized I forgot to mention that Shaun shot himself a nice 11 point buck Thanksgiving morning while making a drive with Johnny and Tom just up the road from where they all live above Lampman Road. I got a couple of pictures from Mom on the cell phone and it looks like a nice buck. Shaun told me it had a number of stickers too but was 11 points at least an inch long and I think I remember him saying it was 16-1/8" inside spread with a 19" outside spread. He's getting it mounted and I'm happy for you Shaun.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-26T19:56:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to wish everyone who might be reading my blog a Happy Thanksgiving (I recognze I probably have a limited audience but for those of you who are reading this, all the more meaningful, eh?) Nothing to report on my personal front today but I'm happy to report that Mike Justis went hunting in Blackstone this afternoon and killed a small buck. He also shot his rifle a fair number of times to sight it in because it was off for some reason. Go figure, it was on last year but something caused it to be off. I'm glad he got it fixed. He killed a small buck and as far as I know is going to give me the meat to make jerky out of it. I have to say I've become quite the deer jerky manufacturer. It's quite a bit easier than I thought it would ever be. It's late and I'm joining a friend and his wife for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow and have plans to hunt with Mike, Sammy, Ben, Sam Jr., and whoever else is there Friday and Saturday so hopefully we'll be getting a few more deer and I can keep the jerky operation operating at full blast. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Steve

Another Weekend of "Hunting," Seven Deer and Counting.....

2008-11-22T19:17:00.001-08:00

Before I get started. I had some person of questionable mental aptitude write a comment about what a good looking twin brother I had. Delusional would be an apt description if you ask me since anyone looking can clearly see that I too am in the picture of the four Montgomery siblings so to say that the pilgarlic version of a Montgomery is "handsome" vs. the clearly studly brother, is either the result of some extreme alien mind manipulation or a pitiful case of delusional thinking on the commenter's part. Whichever it is, I wish you the best in your recovery.....
Here's a picture of the button buck I shot Friday afternoon. It's quite small, as you can tell by the proportion of it to my Browning 30-06 laying across it. I was happy to get it though because I was looking for some meat to make some more jerky with. My good friend Mike and I took the afternoon off Friday and went hunting. The sad part of it is that Mike sat in the original fort stand (Shaun, you know where I mean - where you shot a bunch of times abour 4-5 years ago when the weather was so nasty). He didn't see a thing and was very disappointed to put it mildly; he just hasn't had much of a hunting season this year so far (we still have time). I went back to my climbing stand overlooking the Continental Can cut-over and I saw two does go scooting across the cut-over but lost them in the middle of it when they got behind a dead oak tree that blocked my view. Then about 10-15 minutes later I saw a 6 or 8 pointer step out into the cut-over but couldn't get a shot (I did have that deer in the scope but figured I would rather take one of the does since I was hunting basically for meat). The two does soon stepped back out and then were just to my right eating acorns under the oak trees I was in the midst of. I got all set up for a shot, shot, and missed - watched the two does hop off into the pines beyond where I could see. About 20 minutes later this little guy was in the same place so I'm glad I didn't give up on the hunt. I say does because I certainly couldn't tell this was a button buck but I probably should have had a clue when he stepped back into the eating acorns stance after his mother had been shot at and missed.

Then today no one was hunting to speak of so I took the morning off myself and waited to ride down with Mike but his son's (Pearson) football game went into overtime so we drove separately and I was in the stand by 3:15 until 5:15 and saw nothing today. It's been downright chilly the past two days and all I can say is hallelujah!!!! We've been mostly in the 20's in the mornings and evenings and that's a lot more comfortable for my liking when it comes to hunting. I know you New Yorkers would laugh at me saying lows in the 20's are cool but for us down here it's about all we can hope for and the colder the better in my opinion when it comes to hunting.

Mike sat in the stand on the big light line behind the tobacco barn where we park and he got a shot at a small doe (legal doe day today) but apparently missed or at least couldn't find the deer that he's pretty sure he hit. Mike is a pretty good shot I can tell you from hunting with him for many years and he said this was a 40 yard shot at a standing still deer with a good rest so something must be up. It may have gotten into some of the really nasty thick stuff without bleeding and he just couldn't find it. He said he checked carefully where he shot at it and there was no blood even though he was pretty sure he had seen blood when he shot.

Another note is that another guy that hunts Sammy's land (Brian) was hunting from his truck yesterday afternoon because it was pretty chilly and he was on the big light line on the big side and shot four times and killed a great big doe and a small button buck about like the one pictured here.

So, it was an unconventional weekend of hunting - no drives but we still got a few deer. I'm suffering from a head cold that just came on a few days ago and so is Sammy. I hope we're feeling better for this Friday and Saturday - the next planned days of hunting. Hopefully we'll be able to get some decent drives in. These cooler temperatures are supposed to stick with us as far as I know.

A picture of a different sort.....

2008-11-17T07:50:00.000-08:00

I decided to not use the hunting pictures because all I could do with hard copies of pictures was to scan them in and then change them from .pdf files to .jpg files and they came out quite small. So, here are a couple of different pictures for your viewing pleasure of the Montgomery siblings (sons and daughter of Larry and Jeannie Montgomery). That's me on the far left, then Sally, then Shaun and finally my twin brother, Scott. There's something fairly unique about our family that I've never run across with anyone else; that is that both my father (Brother Lowell) and mother (Brother John) were twins and they had twins. That's pretty unusual in my experience.

The first picture is one of Scott and his wife Val. Just a couple of pictures I had on my computer. The one of the four of us is probably 4 or 5 years old.

A hot day of hunting.....

2008-11-17T07:20:00.000-08:00

Temperature wise that is. It was Hot with a capital H. The high temperature was somewhere in the mid 70's and that just doesn't cut it when you're trying to make man drives through some very thick stuff where you have to wear briar proof clothing or you'll get ripped to shreds. Shaun can attest to that as one of the first times he came down here and hunted he made a particularly nasty drive wearing only blue jeans and got his legs all cut up. The briars here are unbelievable and unrelenting in some places.

It has finally cooled down and I'm pretty thrilled about that. Saturday was just plain miserable for hunting. We made a few drives and one young guy that hunted with us shot four times at a buck and hit it and even knocked it down on the ground twice but it kept on going and they trailed the blood quite a ways but eventually lost it and never found the deer. It was just too hot to enjoy hunting; coming out of the woods and having the sweat just pouring off of you is no fun. I did see a deer still hunting in the afternoon and shot but missed (oh well, everyone misses and I've had a great year so far).

I'm going to attach a few pictures of a lizard I came face to face with when I was hooking the cable back up to keep people out where we were hunting. This was a slightly different outdoor experience but interesting all the same. I contend you just never know what you're going to see in the outdoors. All part of God's wonderment.....

I would really like to get some more deer meat because I figured out how to make jerky with a dehydrator a friend of mine loaned me and some advice/a recipe for marinating it from Shaun. I made my first batch yesterday and it was done this morning. I tasted a couple of pieces and must say it came out pretty good. I'm sure our group will get more deer so it shouldn't be a problem getting more meat.

I also have some pictures from last year that I came across that I'll try to post later on. Come to think of it, they might even be from two years ago.

A couple more pictures.....

2008-11-14T07:31:00.000-08:00

First of all, I was told that picture I posted the other day of that nice buck that was supposedly hit by a truck in Powhatan, VA was fictitous. Oh well, it was a nice buck just the same. I'm going to attach a couple of pictures of one of the spikes I got the other day as well as another buck that was supposedly taken in Isle of Wight County, VA recently.

Our regular season starts tomorrow and it promises to be a pretty miserable day. Temps are supposed to be in the 60's with rain most of the day. We generally make man drives during the regular shotgun and rifle season and that often means walking through some pretty thick cover trying to push the deer out to the other guys at the end of the drive so they can get a shot. I see a wet ass in my future - have to take along several changes of clothes. Not all of the drives are through this stuff but even walking through pines when it's wet can be pretty miserable.

Here's that picture.....

2008-11-12T13:05:00.000-08:00

I don't know the guy, he's a friend of a friend's son. Still, what a buck!!!

Two more deer

2008-11-12T12:57:00.000-08:00

I'm up to six deer for the year after this long weekend of hunting. I hunted Saturday afternoon and all day Monday and Tuesday. I shot a spike Monday afternoon and another Tuesday morning. On both occasions I thought I was shooting at a doe so that will give you a clue as to how big the horns were. Still, more meat for the freezer and I think I'm going to try to make some jerky for the first time. I've got a dehydrator so I figure it's worth a try. I know whenever Shaun has made it we've all enjoyed it down here in Virginia. My muzzle loading season consisted of sitting on a stand 9 times. I saw deer eight times, shot a total of 9 times, missed two does (one Monday morning and one Monday afternoon) and ended up getting 6 deer, a doe, two spikes, and a 6, 8, and 9 pointer. Had to shoot the 8 pointer twice since the first shot was somewhat of a gut shot. This has been far and away the best year I've ever had hunting already and we aren't even into the six weeks of the regular season yet.

I'm going to try to attach a picture of a deer that was killed by a truck/car not too far from here this past weekend. My God what a buck - that would be something to see walking along under your stand.

There's my brief report. Regular shotgun and rifle season comes in this Saturday so it's back to some real hunting - making man drives and still hunting only for a brief period of time in the morning and afternoon.

Steve

Incredible Start to the 2008 Black Powder Season in Central Virginia

2008-11-05T10:42:00.000-08:00

Hi, I'm Steve Montgomery, son of Jeannie Montgomery and older brother to Shaun Montgomery (Also have a twin brother Scott and sister Sally). I'm also cousin to Joe Rebisz Jr.(?), I know his dad was named Joe too because he was my Uncle Joe so I'm guessing Jody (as we always knew him when we were kids) is a Jr. I grew up in Broadalbin, NY and hunted and fished all my life growing up. I then went into the Army and took a break from that type of thing but have been back into hunting and fishing quite a lot for the past 20 years or so. I was talking to Shaun about my incredible start to the hunting season here and he suggested I try to post about it on your blog (Hooked Up). I'm not sure how this works but I'm going to give it a shot. I've lived in Central Virginia (Chesterfield County/Chester - between Richmond and Petersburg) for almost exactly 30 years now. We hunt about an hour southwest of here in two towns; Blackstone and Dundas.

The hunting season has started off pretty much unbelievably for me. Kind of like a dream or something. I hunted Saturday and Monday and got three bucks and a doe and could have easily shot more. I got a six, nine and eight pointer along with the doe. I'm going to try to attach a few pictures. I'm getting the 8 pointer mounted at Gary's Taxidermy, he's less than a mile down the road from me. I took it in there yesterday, shot it Monday afternoon. It's a perfect 8, very symmetrical and fairly heavy horns. The inside spread is 17-1/4" so I've certainly seen bigger ones but they've been deer that others have killed. It's worth it to me to have this one mounted - I just don't get them like that very often.

I saw an incredible amount of deer on my four still hunting periods in two days. I saw 4, 3, 8, and 1 deer respectively. The 1 was the eight pointer and it was at 5:15 Monday afternoon. After I shot the 9 pointer Monday morning I watched a 6 pointer in my scope in the light line I was on for close to 30 minutes. I could have easily shot that deer too but didn't want to be ridiculous or greedy. I felt a little bad anyway because my good friend Mike hunted Saturday morning and only saw one doe and then brought his son (Pearson) down Monday morning where he got a shot at a doe but hit it in the front leg and they trailed it for some time but never could find it. Then he took Pearson home and came back to hunt the afternoon and sat where I had seen 8 deer that morning and didn't see anything and I end up getting that nice 8 pointer. Frustrating for him so that puts a little bit of a damper on things but still it has been an incredible start to the season.

They say they've been spotting a cougar in Blackstone very near where we hunt. None of us have seen it as of yet but it's still early in the year. I'm thinking my luck is bound to get worse because I don't see how it could get any better.

Now to see if I can figure out how to post pictures and maybe (just maybe) get this post onto the Hooked Up blog.