Another 20 dollars

As an outdoor enthusiast, I find myself watching all too much of the sportsman’s channel. However, shortly after getting the outdoor package added to my TV subscription I noticed that most of what is offered is about as real as most peoples Christmas trees. I don't know about you, but on top of not wanting to watch people shoot any kind of bird or reel in a fish, I more than anything else despise watching some rich guy pay someone to walk him onto a private ranch to kill what is basically a farm animal. Now that I got that out of the way, I want to address something else that I hope for my own sake is also a TV hunting illusion.
From what I have watched it appears that hunters have about a 97% success rate at recovering their animals. Now I will admit that a lot more people are willing to show the world their “complete miss” blunders. It seems that almost every show will unashamedly air some clean misses. Just this year I personally took part in a “complete miss” that was so bad that if you had been there you might have guessed that I was shooting a bow for the first time. When was the last time that you watched a hunting show that actually let you know when they hit a deer and didn't recover it. Maybe my friends and I are just bad shots. I don't want to guess at a percentage but I will guarantee that our numbers are not near as impressive as those of the glamorous Hollywood recovery rate.
More specifically I want to talk to bow hunters who's shots may only be inches off their mark but still result in grief. The area of a deer from the top of it's back to the top of it's lungs. On the diagram I posted the area appears small and you might think that an arrow placed there would certainly result in a spined deer. I've been bow hunting for a short five years and have unfortunately placed more than one arrow right in this spot. The blood from hit like this is dark, sparse and usually dries up within 100 yards. Not that its the biggest of your worries but it is usually also the end of another 10 dollar arrow and a 10 dollar broadhead. The most insulting part of this scenario is that you were literally just inches from a nice double lung shot or from dropping the deer in it's tracks. And meanwhile Mr. Hollywood can stick a deer in the back leg, feet away from the desired vitals” and he'll catch an artery and get his trophy. Honestly for the deers sake any recovery no matter what the shot placement, is always a good thing. But lets be honest with each other 97% isn't happening. But it is most defiantly something we can all aim for. Let us know what you think your recovery rate is, be honest there really aren't many people looking at this anyway. Also feel free to share a story.
Only a couple weeks left for us Michigan bow hunters, good luck to you all and..... aim low.

Dads Doe Show

Dead eye Dad took out this doe with a shot that will make us all forget about his former arrow slinging adventure. Although this deer was taken with a muzzle loader, it's not always easy to put a bullet EXACTLY where you want.
Krack Boy Outdoors does not want to be known as a bunch of cold hearted killers, nor do we want to be too descriptive or gory when it comes to stories or pictures. But on this occasion I want you to see a picture of this deers heart. It must have taken a very direct hit, I think we can assure you that this animal did not suffer. (See Photo Below)
Another part of this story has to do with the "clean up". I'm talking about field dressing and gut piles. Not every day in Krackville is a day in paradise, typically we all get along very well. Unless a couple of thoughtless guys leave a big ole nasty stinky gut pile 15 yards from a tree stand that Old Bro Krack is intending on hunting the next day. All is well now, but it did bring up some interesting conversation about gut piles. PLEASE COMMENT and let us know how you think gut piles affect deer behavior.


Shot Placement: Heart
Distance: 40-50 yards
Weapon: Knight 50 cal. Muzzle Loader
Bullet: 245 grain Powerbelt hollow point (90 grains black powder)
Location: Lower Stand
Date: November 17, 2011
Weight: ??

The Hunters Helpers

My first wall hanger came to me this year on opening day of the Michigan gun season. It always looks impressive when you see someone holding up a nice set of antlers, and it is usually assumed that the guy in the picture did most of the work. However in this hunt there should be a few others standing by my side. My own Father, my Father in-law, brother in-law, and a gracious land owner all played a part in this story.


Weapon – Mossberg 20 ga. Pump
Ammo- Slug
Shot Distance -20-30 yards (first shot, I'll not mention the others)
Dressed Weights -170 lbs
Shot Placement – GUT (yes it says gut, and yes it also says 20 yards, and yes I did win Krak Shot this year---Buck Fever)
Sex - Male
Points – 8
16" inside spread

Krack Dad's Buck

It has been quite the dry spell for dad, but after putting in his fair share of hours in the treestand, he connected with this handsome 4point. 

Dad was coming off from a hunt the day before that produced nothing but feelings of anger.  Anger that was induced by meeting up with a young kid on his way to the treestand.  The kid told dad he walks around in our hunting area all the time.  He said he really enjoys the trails the we mowed and even told dad where he usually jumps the deer out of.  Dad took care of the situation in a polite manner and sat for the remainder of the night and not surprisingly seen nothing.

Monday night, Nov. 7, was a different story.  There were no kids to be seen on his way down to the lower stand.  Instead, this nice 4 point buck came in and gave him a 32 yard shot.  Miss judging the distance of the deer resulted in a spine shot, but three broken arrows later the deal was sealed. 

Congratulations dad on the nice buck.



Upon special request by Jim V.  here are the stats:

Shot Distance - 32 yards

Dressed Weights - 130 lbs

Shot Placement - Spine

Sex - Male

Points - 4

Banking'em At The Bank.

October 22, 2011 – Saturday morning, it is the first time this year that all the Krack Boy’s would be in a stand at the same time.  It gave me hope knowing that all three stands would be occupied.  The odds of someone getting a deer were in our favor. 

I took the “Killer stand/Hotspot/Upper stand”  (I think we need to nail down a name for this stand).  Dad took the “Poison Ivy Palace, and Chad was in the lower stand. 

My last encounter with a deer was in the Poison Ivy Palace (PIP) where I shot a nice eight or nine point buck.  The reason I’m not sure how many points it was, is because we never found it.  I hit just a bit too high.  We had good blood for about 100 yards and then it shut off.  It was very disheartening to say the least.  That was two weeks ago and every hunt in between then and now I ended up getting skunked. 

Now that you know that story, you can understand why I got so excited when two deer came walking in this Saturday morning after only sitting for probably 45 minutes.  I was out to redeem myself and prove that I can hit what I’m aiming for.  My heart was racing and my legs were shaking.  The deer came in so fast that I had no time to stand up.  The first deer pasted over the bait pile without giving me a shot, but the second deer came in right behind and was not as lucky.  I drew my bow from sitting position and took a perfect 20 yard shot.  It was a money shot! 

Because it was so early in the morning and Chad and Dad were still hunting, I decided to just continue to sit in my stand.  About 45 minutes after the last excitement, a doe and two button bucks came running in on the same path as the earlier deer.  I could tell the story but it would sound like I was repeating what I just said.  The only difference is that these deer were much more wary and I had better shooting light.  It took a bit longer for the mamma to give me a shot, but it finally happened, and it was a shot that most hunters are not proud of.  I spine shot her.  I shot another arrow and finished business.  It’s sad, but it is true what they say, “you spined it, you find it”. 

Two deer in one morning was very exciting, but some of that excitement quickly faded when we found the first deer and shot and discovered it was a button buck.  I’m a baby killer.  I thought I was done with these days.  I could make a bunch of excuses, but the reality is I shot a button buck and I have to man up to it.  I need to get better at judging the size of deer from my stand......

Or I am going to have to get used to taking the abuse from the other Krack Boys.  They are not going to let me forget this one.   

Funny stuff guys!!!

Deer #1 Stats:

Shot Distance - 20 yards

Dressed Weights - 63 lbs

Shot Placement - Double Lung

Sex - Male

Deer #2 Stats:

Shot Distance - 20 yards

Dressed Weight - 92 lbs

Shot Placement - Spine

Sex - Female

Top 2 reason why you shouldn't shoot a 3 point on October 4

I trust that you all understand what the title means.

Early Season 3 Point

October 4, AM
My second sit of the year resulted in another productive hunt. So far this is the best year of hunting I've ever had. It's no B&C but it made me a pretty happy guy. I also want to let you all know that I did get permission from my older brother before I touched off the release. And I also broke my record of closest shot on a deer at about 4-5 yards. Luckily the deer only went about 30 yards and died. I say that because at this point Enzlee was still in the hospital and Amber wasn't allowed to lift the kids from their beds. Maybe I shouldn't have been hunting.

Meat in the Fridge

October 4, 2011 - It was a Tuesday night hunt, the temprature was in the mid 70's, and I had already been skunked in the "killer stand" during the firts two times out since opening day of the regular season, so I decided on trying the "lower stand".  I got in my stand around 4:15pm (plenty early considering it gets dark around 8:30pm). 

By 7:00pm it looked like I was in for another night of being skunked when out of no where a couple of deer showed up to the north of me.  With all intentions to harvest another doe because of the low inventory of venison in my freezer, I prepared for a shot.  The deer came in to about 10 yards in no time at all.  She looked as if she may have been a little on the small side, but I knew it was not small enough to be a yearling so all lights were green to take the shot.  I drew my bow and followed her as she walked to the backside of my tree stand.  Just as she gave me an open shot, I realized my bow was tangled in the bow holder on the side of the tree.  I quickly cleared my bow of the holder while still at full draw, crouched down below it, and took the shot. 

It was a double lung shot and the deer was down only 20 yards away.  Andrew came in to help me drag it out despite of his allergic reactions.  We didn't have a great camera or any lighting so sorry for the poor picture quality.  Thank you Andrew and sorry about your puffy, red eyes.

This makes two doe for the year already so the pressure to fill the fridge up with venison is off, and I can hold out for the big boys now.  Did I mention I love bow hunting!

Fall Salmon Fishing

I have been getting some grief about not posting this sooner so here it is!

Chad and I were anxious to try out a new fish finder so we headed out onto Lake Michigan just before sunrise. Thank goodness the new fish finder had GPS because it was pitch black. Its a little scary trolling out into the big lake with decent size waves when you cant see anything but what your spotlight is pointed at.

Anyways, on to the good stuff. We got out to 90 feet of water and started to put lines down as the sun just started to rise. Once we hit around 110 feet of water we got our first hit followed by 2 others. 2 people on the boat and 3 lines with fish on. Imagine the chaos.... We ended the day going 7 for 8 in only 2 hours of fishing. Hopefully it wasn't a fluke and we can be as productive everytime we go out.

Got em!

Just kidding Aaron.

Under Pressure

With only 4 Lbs of venison left in the freezer from last year, my wife put on the pressure. She was more than willing to hold down the fort on Saturday morning, even though she is only weeks away from becoming a mother for the 4th time. So I grabbed my ole Diamomd Justice and climbed in to old faithful. You may better remember her from previous posts as the "Killer Stand".
My story is similar to Bryan's in many ways, but there are a few differences. Bryan is a great example of a hunter. He prepared in many more ways than he divulged via the blog. He was more than ready to hunt and put a deer in the freezer just as I hoped he would. However this early success instantly made me a little jealous. And since I was not planning on doing any hunting in the early season, I was not prepared to hunt at all.
But you all read the post, he correctly gave credit where credit is truly due "God's Grace". After all isn't that were all of our successes really come from anyway? So I ran out to the bank on Friday and put out a little bit of corn. Then I went home and washed all my hunting clothes.
Early Saturday I was sitting in a stand that didn't have any lanes cleared, I was wearing damp clothes (thank you Whirlpool for your auto dampness sensor), and I had spent about 2 minutes scouting the night before.
I was in the stand at about 6:40 and at about 7:30 the first deer of the year came in. It was the closest shot I had ever taken, maybe 5-8 yards. I hit her and she bolted. After I calmed myself down (yes I still get excited about shooting doe) I found my arrow and POOP! Yup, I got a whiff of that infamous smell, a gut shot. So I got out of there and didn't return for about 7 hours. When Bryan and I returned it took us about 20 minutes to travel 100 plus yards, following an almost non existent blood trail , before we found the very bloated doe. The shot hit lung but then clipped a small bit of guts. She died in a hurry but I didn't know that in the morning so we just played it safe.
Our stories are similar in that we both filled early season tags, but different in that He did it correctly and I truly just got LUCKY, or as Old BRO says BLESSED!

Really?

Before I was the owner of a trail camera, I was a son of an owner of a trail camera. I spent a good amount of time harassing my Dad for having his camera sitting on a shelf in the basement. Or for not putting it exactly were I thought it should go. So when I finally got one that I could call my own, I told my wife not to ever let me "shelve" my camera. Well..... Dad you were right again.
I had my camera down in our hunting hole almost all summer long...... wasted effort. Dead Batteries, Mosquito bites, pictures of nothing, and on average about 1 pic of a doe per week was all I had to show for my labor.
So I went into a full on slacker mode while still not shelving the camera. I decided to set the camera up in my Dad's back yard. And when I say back yard, I'm not talking about 1/2 mile behind, or a quarter mile, I'm not even talking yards. He almost had to mow around the thing. But there was a price to pay for such a genius idea, and that price was harassment. Old Bro Kraker, was on me just like I had been on Dad in years past. Hopeless, waste, desperate, the words were real but were they warranted? You tell me.................

First Day / First Deer

I'm lucky enough to say I got my first deer on the first day of the early doe season.  I hope this is a sign of how good of a year it is going to be.  My early success may be due to the time I put in watching trail cams and putting out bait, or it may be due to my lucky picture that Chad made me back in the day (I shared this picture with all of you in an earlier post), but I'm sure it was by the grace of God that I got to harvest this beautiful deer.

I got home from work on Thursday, Sept. 15 and hurried to get out in the woods.  I got to my stand around 4:30 pm, which I thought was plenty early, but the deer were already there.  All I heard was deer running and snorting as I entered the woods behind my house.  As any hunter knows this is a very disheartening feeling.

Since I was there so early I had hope they would come back or others would show up, and they did.  I had a fawn come around and hang out for about 45 minutes on the bait pile and then around 7:50 pm the rest of the crew showed up.  There was one deer that was considerably larger than the rest and this is the one I had my sights on.

I attempted to draw my bow and at the exact time the trail cam flashed and the deer spooked (see picture below).  I was in full draw thinking that I had lost my opportunity, but thankfully the deered turned right back toward the bait pile, and while I held my bow at full draw for what seemed like five minutes, the doe presented me with a 20 yard shot that I couldn't pass up.

I let the arrow fly and everything went beautifully.  The luminock lit up the poorly lit woods and flew right where it needed to.  I instantly got out of my stand, knowing I had a good hit on the deer, and went to get my tracking partner, Rogue.  Thanks to Rogues Keen senses and phanominal tracking skills we found the deer about 60 yards away in the creek bottom. 

Thanks to Rogue, Burt Coyote Lumincok, Muzzy bad to the bone Broadheads, Carbon Express Arrows, and Hoyt Ultra Tech. 

Big Lake Fishing Tournament

Bryan: I was in my first Big Lake Fishing Tournament this past Saturday (9/10/11). My luck with fishing has been less than exceptional this year on the big lake. As a matter of fact, up until the last couple of weeks, I only had one salmon under my belt. 

I was asked to be in this tournament by a couple of guys from my work (Bernie and Brett Cobb).  We went four for six in the tournament, two lake trout and two king salmon.  We did not place, but we had a good time catching fish.  We fished the entire day in 25 feet of water right outside of the Saugatuck pier heads.  It was very crowded and very foggy, but we managed to get out of there with only one casualty.  We lost an entire spool of lead core, a planner board and a spoon to a charter boat.  Luckily, Bernie got a hold of him on Monday and got his stuff back.

Bernie actually took me fishing the weekend before the tournament as well.  We went 5 for 9 that night.  I payed close attention to lures, speed, depths, and other techniques that may be helpful to the success of the Kraker boat.  Some of the hot lures we used are pictured below.

A few things I took away from my lesson on the lake with Bernie was to watch for feeder fish groups on the graph, pay attention to the radio, glow in the dark lures are hot, bigger spoons may help during the later season, keep trying new stuff if you can't find the fish, and most importantly, stay out past sunset at night and get out before sun rise in the morning.

My hope is to use some of these tips, maybe change our set up and gear a little bit, and hopefully make the Kraker boat a little more successful.  

Krak Shot 2011

    This year we hosted the first annual Krak Shot at my (Bryan) house.  It was an event inspired by the reality TV show Top Shot.  We kept the event fairly small this year because we were uncertain how things would go.  I am happy to report that for the most part everything went well.  The weather gave us some concern as a storm blew in hours before we were to begin.  Luckily, it blew over and we got the show on the road around 2:45pm.

   

We had two teams of three people.  The teams were determined by a quarter shoot with the Benjamin Air Rifle.  Marty, Jer, and myself were the first to hit the quarters and we all ended up with tails, so we made up one team, and Chad, Andrew, and Rick made up another. 

      We first did four team events and then split off to do three individual events. The first team event was with the .44 magnum hand gun.  It was a relay shoot where we had to shoot apples that got progressively further away.  The event was won with the best time by Rick, Chad, and Andrew by a blow out.

      The second team event was the balloon shoot.  The key was to shoot as many of your color balloons with the .22 LR in 30 seconds.  It was a head to head event and each shooter got two 10 shot clips.  You could not shoot your color balloon until the one in front of it was shot.  Some technical difficulties with the guns jamming up, put the event in turmoil, but it was still a good competition.  This event was won 2 points to 1 point by Jer, Marty and myself.

     The third team event was the trick shots.  A contestant from each team had to attempt splitting a bullet on an axe head with the .44 mag.  Another contestant from each team had to hit a small target shooting the 30/30 Winchester backwards, using a mirror to aim.  And finally, the remaining two contestants had to shoot a fiberglass rod and string in half with the .22 LR.  Each team scored three points in this event. 

      The final team event was 100 yard bow shot.  Each person went head to head with an opposing team member in a game of who could get closer to the bullseye.  Three shots were taken by each person and you could cancel out your opponents hit by hitting the target closer.  Marty, Jer and Myself dominated this event and took three points to their zero.

       The individual events were the trailer shot from the back of a moving quad with a 9mm handgun, long distance shots with the .223 rifle at targets placed at 75 yards, 140 yards and 200 yards, and finally skeet and trap shooting with the .12guage shotgun.   

        After the individual events, Chad had the most points and Rick was a close second so they entered the final shoot out where they would pick their weapon of choice and shooting distance and style.  After the smoke settled, Chad came out victorious and got to sign and take home the coveted "Head Shot Trophy". 

          Congratulations to Chad and I can't wait to see everyone again next year on another season of Krak Shot.

Here are some clips of video taken during the event:

Backyard Beauty

Here are some pics my trail cam captured behind my house. I consider this deer a shooter and hope he sticks around till October.

PS The time setting is incorrect on these pics. I'm pretty sure this was more like 6:30 in the morning.

1 boat + 2 fishermen + 2 kids -Bryan = Catching Fish

I think the title says it all. My Dad and I (along with Elijah and Elizabeth) got these 2 Salmon Friday Morning. One was 16 Lbs. and the other didn't register on the scale, Guess which one.

But I still won't consider this year a success until I get to watch skunk (Bryan) reel in a fish.

4th of July Carp Shoot

To celebrate the holiday weekend, we decided to go shoot some carp with our bows. It was a beautiful day on Allegan lake, and the carp were up in the shallows sun bathing. The water was a little cloudy, but it was clear enough to see what we were shooting at.

We were on the lake for a couple hours and managed to get about a dozen carp in the barrel. Our shot to hit percentage was about 5%. It's not as easy as you think. Dad was the MVS (most valuable shooter) and Chad was the BC (biggest complainer).

It was some good old fashion hilbilly family time!

Lazy Days of Summer

The Lazy days of summer are here so the Krack Boy Blog has been sitting dormant. Here are some links to some of the excitement we've had in the past before the Krack Boy Blog was born.

Enjoy!

The Kraker House: Birthday Buck
The Kraker House: Bow Hunting Seasons Here!!
The Kraker House: I Love Fall Hunting
The Kraker House: Bow Fishing
The Kraker House: Bay City Walleye
The Kraker House: Spring Turkey
The Kraker House: Mother Sucker
The Kraker House: More Bucks!! (Late Post)
The Kraker House: Two More Down
The Kraker House: Early Kill
The Kraker House: Who Goes Fishing During Deer Hunting Season?

Finally!!

In the previous post, Chad refered to the walleye as one of the most elusive fish. I agree, walleye can be a very challenging fish to locate and catch, but during this spring season, big lake fish have been the elusive ones for me. I have been out several times already this year only to return with an empty cooler and a load of dissapointment.

Finally, this all changed for me on Saturday, June 11 (my anniversary). Rogue and I decided to skip the Holland Fishing Derby and hit up the big lake instead. We called Dad (Rick) and he was all about getting out and doing some fishing.
We didn't get on the lake until about ten o'clock and it was very foggy. We hooked into this 10lb King Salmon after only about 45 minutes of having the lines down. We got it on a black and green spoon in 75 ft of water at 60 ft deep. It hit hard and faught harder. The real challenge was landing this fish. Rick had to wear two hats, the captain of the vessel and the net man. With the waves we were fighting, this was not an easy feat.

We ended up fishing until about 1:30 pm. The fog had broke and the sun was out, unfortunetly, this brought the wind, which brought the waves. It was a great time and Rogue seemed to enjoy catching her first Salmon.

Krack guys try for the “Eyes”

This past weekend Krack Boy Outdoor members Rick and Chad headed east to try their hand at the most elusive of all game fish “WALLEYE”. Some... or most may disagree with that overstatement. But anyone who has taken a krack at this species knows that it is a hit or miss game. However this weekend we discovered another option, I'll call it a “hiss”. (that would be a combination of “hit” and “miss” if you needed the assist.) We were able to land over 50 fish (estimate) but still came up 3 fish short of our legal possession limit of 10 keepers. A 15 inch fish proved very hard to come by, but the 13 inchers seemed to enjoy our company.
Mom Kraker joined us on the boat and had to put up with a fair amount of harassment for losing a couple of nice fish. However, she did end up making a few nice contributions to the live well.
Shortly before we pulled our lines up for the last time Rick landed and 22 inch walleye and not long after that we got a second one of the same size.
Now that I reflect on the weekend, I think we can go back and label this one a HIT. Here are a few pictures.

Yup

Blast from the Past

I was rummaging through my old bedroom at my parents house, and I ran across something that used to be very important to me. As a matter of fact just last fall I was thinking of this item as I sat in my treestand.

It is this piece of paper:

But it is much more than just a piece of paper. It was given to me by my little brother, Chad, when I was just starting to deer hunt around the age of 11. He gave it to me as a good luck charm. I used to take it with me hunting every time I went out.

Now I have it back!! And it will be tucked into my license holder so that I know I will have it on every hunt.

I have a feeling it is going to be a good year of hunting!

Krack Boys Photo Enters National Contest

Be sure to check out the previous post. It's an incredible story of Old Bro Krack's early success turkey hunt. This is just a quick post to let you all know that Krack Boys have entered the Field and Stream Spring 2011 Trail Cam Photo Contest. Check out our pic here.

http://www.fieldandstream.com/contest_entry/1001444279?page=43&pnid=1001444815

And don't forget about the Turkey Hunt Post. Congrats Brother!

Turkey Time!!

Despite the cold weather and the occasional snow shower, it is spring turkey hunting time. The early season opened up on Monday the 18th of April, and it started the season with snow on the ground.

The Saturday before the season opened, I went out to set up the blind. While I was down there I spotted several birds. While clearing a couple shooting lanes, four big toms came up from behind me and started gobbling. I quickly ran back to my blind and watched them roam the field twenty yards in front of me for about a half hour. If I had any doubt about the spot I had chosen to set up the blind in, it was gone now. The little display these toms put on was quite reassuring.

My first day in the field was Wednesday the 20th of April. It was a windy and cold day with small amounts of frozen rain coming down on and off. Even though the weather was poor, I had high hopes. Dad had called me at work at about 1:00 pm to tell me he seen a bunch of turkeys at the top of the hill where I hunt. This made the last couple of hours at work take forever. I busted out of there at about 2:30pm. The original plan was to wait until Chad got out of work at 5:00pm so we could sit together and get some action on video for our faithful blog followers. Unfortunately, the excitement over took reason, and I couldn’t wait to get out there and bag me a turkey.

I got down in the woods at about 3:30pm and the blind was blown down from the strong winds we had earlier in the week. I set it back up and clipped some more undergrowth that I had missed out of the shooting lanes. Finally!! I got and arrow nocked and I was ready to start calling some birds.

I called for about a half hour with no response. I decided to make one more call; if nothing responded, I was going to pack up and come back later with Chad like we had originally planned. I hit the call and to my surprise, I got a response. My heart started racing. We called back and forth several times, each time I could tell they were getting closer. After about five minutes, they came into view. I counted five toms. Three of them were shooters by my scale.

I quickly grabbed my range finder and ranged a clump of grass at 20 yards, but they passed right by, never giving me a shot. My heart sank. The turkeys were all behind me and on their way out. I had no decoy so they didn’t know what was making all the noise. I called a few more times very quietly hoping they would circle around and do some more investigating. Luckily for me, they did just that. Within a matter of minutes there were turkeys by my 20 yard clump of grass. I passed on the first one because the one behind it had a beard twice as long. As soon as that one stepped into my shooting path, I let the arrow fly. Perfect shot, the bird fell in its tracks.

I’ve lost an arrow before by assuming that a turkey was dead. Well, this one was not going to run off with my arrow. I set my bow down and went to retrieve my harvest before it took off. The problem was the other turkeys didn’t want to leave. They were busy beating up on the turkey I had just shot. It was crazy! I got 5 feet away from them before they took off. I was just hoping they didn’t decide to fight me.
It would have been some good video footage, but because I let my impatience get the best of me, I will have to rely on my memory for this hunt, and it will be a good memory to keep. The turkey ended up having a 9 inch beard and 1 inch spurs. It is about the same size of all the spring turkey I have taken from the bank.

There is still hope of a turkey hunting video to come. Chad and I went back later that night and made a run at calling in another one. This time I was armed with a video camera and Chad had his bow. We got some calling going but had no luck drawing them in. We will keep trying.



Wish us Luck!.

Atlantic Ocean Surf Fishing

After a week on the Atlantic Coast we are packing up and heading back home. There was no boar hunt, but the fishing was great. We caught over 50 whiting and a handful of Pompano, blue fish and Sheephead. We also landed a sting ray and a bonnet shark. Besides the crabs walking over my feet and the time I accidentally stepped on flounder or stingray, it was a really great week on the water.