hunting blog 2014
This page is going to be an ongoing diary of our days in the field as we are in pursuit of the Whitetail Deer. We have many stands set up in different locations and will be hunting for two and a half months searching for that trophy animal. Cameras have been placed at stand locations for a while now and pictures are promising that this could be a very good year for the class and size of deer that we are recording. So check back often as we go to the field in our pursuit of a trophy whitetail deer.
1/25/14 Hunt
Another day has come to head to the woods in search of a predator that lives here and hopefully give my son his first crack at taking the elusive coyote down. The conditions were not that favorable as the air temperatures were in the teens, had cloudy skies with threatening snow and the winds were whipping fairly good across the swamp. We setup the same location as the previous week in hopes that now with the snow cover, we have an advantage of seeing them coming across the swamp that much easier. As we were walking in, we had crossed numerous areas that had coyote tracks in the snow so we know that they are definitely around the area and just need to be able to fool them into coming and taking a look at our setup. We setup the blind amongst the brush and pines, set out the Mojo Critter decoy and also the Primos electronic caller and retreated to our blind in hopes of a critter coming in. With the wind and cooler temperatures, this wasn't faring well for my son as he was getting cold fairly quickly and was able to tough it out for an hour. As with deer hunting the wind, the area usually doesn't yield any sightings of quarry so once that hour had passed, he was ready to head out and warm himself up. There is still another month and a half of the season to go yet and the mating season upon us, may move down the swamp a bit and give a different location a try.
Until next time, keep them critters running...
2014 Coyote Season
`1/18/14 Hunt
The main hunting season for most species has come to an end with the beginning of the New Year. But there are still a few species that have open seasons and those would be the coyote and fox. This time of year is prime time for varmint hunting as with the cold and snow, these critters are spending more time looking for food and if you can get your decoy and calls setup to look and sound inviting; this will make for a productive hunt. In our location when a youth turns 12 they are able to go hunting as long as they go with a licensed adult. Also, when doing this, there can only be one weapon between the two of you and with this makes for a fun hunt as this will be my sons first real experience in actually hunting. There is a location where I deer hunt that gives a great advantage for sight of placing a decoy that the animal can see a long ways from three different directions. So Saturday morning came and we were up early so that we could get into place as it was getting light out. Without any snow cover, it will make spotting a coyote a bit more difficult as their fur blends perfectly into the dead grass of the salt marsh swamp that we were in. With the blind setup, the decoy placed and the call set out, we were ready to see if we are going to have any action. We had been calling for about 30 minutes and the first flock of crows came in and they hung around for 10 minutes or so circling the decoy and calling sounds before moving off. After about an hour my son spotted a coyote skirting us to the left and not sure if he wasn't comfortable with the setup or if he seen movement in our blind, but when we saw him he was trotting to our left and wasn't going to slow down. So we took a quick running shot at him and that was a miss as he kept running towards the field and then shortly later seen him running along the edge of the swamp further down. We called for another half hour or so but nothing was going to come in so packed our gear up and headed home. That was a very exciting time for my son's first time in the field actually hunting and seeing and taking a shot at an animal and he is ready to go back again this next weekend.
