2011 Journal
How Lucky can one guy get? After shooting one nice 3.5 year old nine point in NH on the bow season opener and then going to Ohio and tagging an awesome 13 point stud, I would have never expected to have an opportunity at another mature buck back in NH. As many NH hunters can agree, you usually get one opportunity a year, if that, at a nice buck. You can better your chances by knowing the buck movement, practicing scent control, hanging the right stands, hunting the right wind, and ..........on and on. However I believe that luck weighs heavily into the mix during the rut. What's the chance that the buck you are after is going to walk by your stand during the day that you are in it and give you a shot. In NH at least, the chance is not very great. That buck can be miles away on a hot doe, could have been killed by a hunter sitting on a stump that got lucky (as we have found out in the past..), could have been hit by a car, or not walk by for many other reasons. I like to think that my past experiences have made me a better hunter and gave me the opportunity to kill another mature NH buck, but lets be honest. Luck always plays a factor.
Prior to bow season I had found a pinch point behind a swamp that had a thick bedding area right next to it. I felt confident i knew where they were feeding at night and the spot had numerous deer runs. However, during the season I had got side tracked by my game cameras at other spots and started hunting deer that I had only night pictures of and ignored this spot. I returned from Ohio without any expectations, but decided to hang a set at the pinch point.
A few nights later the weather was perfect and wind was right, so I decided to get out in my stand. As soon as my butt hit the seat I heard a branch crack from the bedding area. It was upwind, so I hit a bleat. Nothing. About 30 minutes passed and all of a sudden I heard footsteps. Closer and closer behind me. It sounded like the deer was on top of me, but I could see nothing. Then I look up and see a massive body moving across the swamp down wind of me. I raised my TC Encore and shot. The buck took a few steps and was facing away from me. After tracking my buck in Ohio for 2 miles I decided to throw more lead at him. I shot and he dropped in his tracks!
The celebration began. I called my dad, my girl, and team member Brett Joy letting them know I just got lucky again. I wasnt sure how good he was until I walked up on him. He was a massive 8. I quickly called them back and according to the voicemail I left Brett, I sound like a school girl after I shoot deer. I then called a couple friends and dragged the buck the long, long, long way back to my truck. After checking him in he weighed 190 lbs and taped out at 123 inches gross. What a great year, although I think my taxidermy bill may be more then my mortgage this month!
~ Rick Sprankle
November 20th
The Hunt for Age - Big Red
My father and I have been managing a smaller piece of property for mature bucks over the past 4 years. Knowing full well that this was going to be a difficult task, as we are surrounded by what is essentially public land, we did everything in our power from implementing antler and age restrictions, food plots, sanctuaries, and enter/exit strategies. Over the past two years of trail camera data and tree stand observation have confirmed that our QDM plan was working. We began seeing more 2.5-year-old bucks than ever before, and even a few 3.5+ plus year old deer. Our target being mature bucks- 3.5 years or older.
Last year we had an encounter with a mature buck that we estimated to be 4.5 years old. Although, we did not kill the deer, this encounter kept us focused on the task at hand: hunting for age. As the season ended last year, I could not wait for the upcoming summer so I could get the cameras back out in the field.
Fast forward to late August when I caught a picture of a mature buck who had recently shed his velvet, giving him the name “Big Red.” I estimated Big Red to be 3.5 years old, and put him on the top of the Hit List. I spent the rest of September and early October trying to get more pictures of this deer, but to no avail. Big Red had disappeared, for now.
It wasn’t until the second week of November that Big Red showed up on camera again in a big way. Over a few day period, he was the most visible deer day and night. I knew it was a matter of time before we crossed paths.
Finally on the last days of New York’s bow season, at 3 p.m., Big Red made his appearance known on a ¾ acre clover plot. A young 6 pointer and doe have been feeding on the plot for about 10 minutes. At the snap of a twig, both their heads, and mine snapped up looking East, Big Red was coming. He covered about 150 yards in a matter of seconds. He entered the plot and chased the younger buck off and began to make his way down the edge of the plot towards my stand. Still cruising at a fast pace, I knew I was going to have to stop him. Once he got broadside at 30 yards, I stopped him with a grunt and took my shot. I knew it immediately, I hit him too high. I couldn’t believe it, and knew the likelihood of finding this deer was not good.
I decided that the only chance at recovering Big Red would be to track the next morning, the opening day of New York’s gun season. I sat for a few hours that morning before climbing down to begin looking for Big Red. I followed blood a scant blood trail for about 100 yards before I lost it. My father and I then did a grid search for the deer, but eventually gave up and concluded that the deer was still alive.
I was right. The next evening, at sunset, I heard my father shoot from his stand over a small clover and brassica plot. Big Red didn’t make it 30 yards before tipping over. This was huge relief for me, and no better way for this story to end. I couldn’t be happier for my dad, and look forward to future successes on this property.
~ Mike Brown
November 15th A Dream Come True October 3rd
The rut is finally here! One of our friends named Paul, my father, and myself were excited for a trip we had planned to Johnstown, Ohio in Licking County. We packed our bags and bows and left for the 12 hour drive and arrived early morning on November 12th. Upon arrival, we were eager to scope out some Ohio landscape where we would be hunting. This was a little different then the terrain than we were used to in NH with large agricultural fields, but our guide Michael Hendren did a great job with the sets that were hung on creek bottoms, timber draws, and oak flats. I set my sights on one stand that sat on a creek bottom running between two corn fields up to an oak flat. I sat on the stand every day with the right wind hoping a giant would eventually be cruising the bottom for does.
On our third day of the five day hunt a shooter appeared to my left at 40 yards. He continued to close the gap as I quickly drew. To prevent a straight down shot and him getting down wind I decided to let my arrow fly as he quartered to me. I had a complete pass through as the buck bounded off. I went down and saw buckets of blood around my arrow.
After a couple hours of letting him lay we began tracking. The first 600 yards we tracked him at a fast walk. Buckets of bright pink blood with bubbles throughout indicating a lung hit were everywhere. Eventually it slowed to drops as he crossed a brook and an open field and jumped a fence. We then decided to back off and let him lay longer. After several more hours we tracked him down a ridge through another creek, up a ridge and to an overgrown field. As we entered the field we saw a hunter walking towards us. The hunter said he just jumped a giant buck that looked hit. He said the buck walked off and jumped a fence in the corner of the field. Sure enough at the fence line was a puddle of blood. At this point we had tracked him a mile and a half according to Google Earth. We decided to once again back out until the next day.
The next day my Dad shot a nice 8 pointer. After taking care of my Dad’s buck we went back in and lost the blood from where we had last found it. However we thought he would double back to the last creek and bed. It was a ninety acre piece of timber, but with the help of Mikes family we grid searched the whole thing with no luck. At this point we gave up until my father found some blood where the buck had gone in the other direction. We tracked him over two more fences to a driveway and an open field blood then that blood slowed too, so we went back to the lodge.
The next day was our last before we made the journey back home for New Hampshire. As we woke up, I decided to give it one more shot. We went back out to just poke around more for a piece of mind that we had checked everywhere. We grid searched another sixty acre property. The piece lay so that the buck would have had to travel all the way back towards behind the field that he ran from after being jumped by the hunter. After searching with no luck my father called me on my phone and we decided to meet at last blood to go home. As soon as I hung the phone up, I saw a patch of white. At first I thought it was just a piece of trash, but after double checking and seeing a rack I sprinted towards it. Laying there was my 13 point Ohio Giant.
He was a main frame eleven with a split brow and a kicker off his main beam. The coyotes had eaten the hind quarters, but I was just happy to recover him after such a long search. The buck had traveled 2 miles from where I sunk a rage through one of his lungs. Unbelievable! I owe a special thanks to Paul who found blood across the creek showing the direction, my dad for finding blood after we had lost hope, Mike for tracking like a damn bloodhound, and Mikes family for helping with the grid search and welcoming us like family. Once again God blessed me with an awesome hunt!
~ Rick Sprankle
November 5th
Over the years, I have been blessed to have shared many memories afield with family and friends and I wouldn’t change any of them for the world. November 5th, 2011 was one of the best days of my life. I had accomplished a lifelong goal that took nearly 10 years. This goal was to harvest a mature New York State whitetail on film.
Like every other hunting season, the anticipation was extremely high to get into deer woods and go after the elusive whitetails that we love so much. The 2011 New State Archery Season was hot right out of the gate. Cameraman, Nathan Elvers and I, had an awesome encounter opening night with a 2 ½ year old 8 point which I got an opportunity to fire a rage quartering away at 35 steps. The arrow looked to hit its mark but lacked penetration. We let the deer lay that night and pursued the blood trail the next morning. We tracked blood for over 400 yards and unfortunately ran out. We looked and looked but to no avail.
We were bummed that we couldn’t find that beautiful buck because we were confident that he was dead. But we hopped back on the saddle and began strategizing plans to get after another bruiser. Oak Ridge Founder, Brett Joy, made the trek up to New York to film myself for a day before we headed off to Wolf Creek Outfitters in Killbuck, Ohio.
November 5th, 2011 presented us with ideal conditions to be in the timber, 32 degrees, high pressure, blue bird morning! A week earlier, Nathan and I had placed a set in an open pocket on a thick brushy ridge where a lot of does bed and big boys like to cruise through. We had always wanted to have a set in this location but access gave us second thoughts – not this year! We cleared a trail to help eliminate access noise and placed the set in a group of maple trees. Brett and I got into the set extra early to get set up and let the woods settle down. The morning started off slower than expected. One little buck graced us at first light and that was it! Around 9:50am, Brett and I were chatting about what we wanted to do for the rest of the day. We decided that we were going to give it to 10:30 or 11:00am, get down, check trail cameras, then get back in the stand for the afternoon. It wasn’t even 10 minutes later, I heard a stick break, off to our left, and I slowly turned my head to take a peak and there he was coming down the main trail heading directly into one of my shooting lanes. Without hesitation, I immediately tell Brett “Big Buck, Big Buck, Shooter, SHOOTER!” I grabbed my new Mathews Z7, knocked my release and asked Brett to tell me when he was on him. Once Brett gave me the green light I stopped the boss at 24 steps, settled in, and let the rage fly! “SMOKED! I did it Brett” were the first words to come out of my mouth after the shot. The shot pierced through both lungs as Brett and I watched the buck take two big leaps and bounds with blood pouring out from both sides. He made it only 65 yards and piled up! Words cannot explain the emotion that came out of me at that moment in time. Ten years of dedication and commitment all tied into one finally paid off! I tried to gather my thoughts and focus to give a good interview but this deer had me shook up! I quickly got on the phone with my Dad and told him I just smoked a big boy and for him to come on over to track it – I wanted him there along with our entire hunting crew! I then called Nathan to tell him the great news and then in the midst of our conversation I happened to look on top of the ridge and there was another big buck with his nose on the ground cruisin’ through. I quickly hung up on Nathan and gave Brett my bow. He handed me the camera but I was so emotionally excited that I couldn’t even focus! We tried grunting the other buck back in but he had his mind on other things!
Brett and I eventually packed up and got down from the stand. I went over to my arrow and it was completely covered up in blood! We backed out to get the crew and during our walk back I pinched myself over 50 times to make sure this was actually occurring. Once the crew was gathered we went in to recover my trophy. High fives and fist pumps were seen all around. We took lots and lots of pictures and stayed by the deer for quite some time soaking in the moment. We never had any history with this deer – as we left the woods we grabbed our trail cameras and guess who showed up at 1:30am on November 5th? The big boy! The picture was taken only 150 yards from our stand…how cool is that?
What a way to end my 2011 Bow Season. The pressure is off and now I can focus on filming my main man, Nathan Elvers in hopes of knocking down another New York State Stud with a gun in hand. Stay tuned…the
New York Boys are on fire!!!!
~ Wes O’Connor
“The Skinny 8 “
The hunt for the “Skinny 8” began in the summer of 2010 when I scouted out using aerial photos and long sweaty hikes in the summer heat a new piece of public land that I was sure got little pressure and held mature deer. Unfortunately when I blew out my knee I wasn’t able to run cameras like I wanted to or even hunt this spot until late October. Once I could walk again I hobbled the ½ mile out to the primary scrape I had found that summer in my new spot and hung a trail camera over it. A week later I checked it. BOOM! Three mature bucks on the scrape. The first picture was a daylight picture of a wide 8 pointer with little mass. I have been reluctant to assign names to deer over the past few years because every time I’ve done this I’ve had no luck seeing the deer never mind killing them. So I just referred to him as the 8 pointer. October 30th I climbed into my best stand with the intention of killing one of the three mature bucks I captured on the camera the week before. My rear wasn’t in the stand 10 seconds when one of those bucks came cruising in, but it wasn’t the 8 point. I proceeded to miss him at 8 yards on video but that’s a whole different story. Fast forward to Thanksgiving morning, I’m in that same stand and had just passed up a 2.5 year old when received a text from team member Rick Sprankle with a picture of a great 8 pointer that he had just killed. As I looked up from my phone a see a familiar wide racked 8 pointer coming down the ridge. Unfortunately (but fortunately in the long run) he never closed the distance more than 60 yards and I never got a crack at him with my bow. I continued to get numerous trail camera videos and pictures of him throughout November into December. 
A few days before September 15th the New Hampshire archery opener I went into the Skinny 8’s area to check a few cameras. On my way out I noticed some white oaks that were dropping acorns pretty heavily. Upon further inspection I discovered several large rubs and on hemlocks along with some fresh scrapes. This area was a point of a ridge at its base. There was thick bedding cover further up the ridge and a swamp down in the bottom. I knew this was the early season spot I was looking for that may afford me the opportunity at a mature buck. The problem was although I had noted the spot during shed season I hadn’t hung a stand there. The first few days of the season I hunted elsewhere because I wasn’t going to have a chance to hang a stand until the 18th. On the 18th I asked team member Rick Sprankle to give me a hand hanging the stand so I could do so quickly and quietly. The great thing about this spot is your access is ideal and you can easily slip in and out of the area without alerting any deer.
The next day I happened to get the funky SE wind I needed to hunt that stand and slipped in. I had several deer move in at dark but the only one that came into bow range was a 1.5 year old buck that I let walk. My buddy was also in a stand about 500 yards away and he spotted 2 mature bucks, one of which he described to me as a wide mature 8 pointer, the Skinny 8. There was the spot I had been getting pictures of him all summer. I hunted the stand about a week later because I got the SE again but all I saw was a black bear and a flock of tom turkeys. Right at dark I heard deer blowing down on the edge of the swamp but my wind was perfect and figured they possibly winded the bear. After two sits and no sightings of a mature buck I was considering letting the Skinny 8’s core area cool down until the rut. Typically you have 1 or 2 shots at a mature buck like him and I didn’t figure it would do any good to over hunt that spot and drive him out of there before the rut drove him to walk during shooting time.
On Monday October 3rd I checked the weather and saw that the 4 days straight of rain was going to let up and the sun was going to make an appearance for short time in the afternoon. The temps were dropping and I knew that with the front passing through the deer would be on their feet. I checked the wind, you guessed it, SE again. Now it’s decision time. Do I got hunt the Skinny 8 or leave him on ice until the rut. I had a feeling I should give it one more shot before the rut and my main decision making factor was the fact that the stand on the white oak flat was such a low impact stand with great access that I could hunt it one more time without pressuring him. My mind was made up. As I got to the stand I pulled the card from my camera that I had over a big sign post rub that sat in a line with many others that connected the swamp to the white oaks and then to cover further up the ridge. When I checked the card in my digital camera in the stand I was excited to see a mature buck, who I thought was the Skinny 8, not 30 yards from my stand the night before during last shooting light. The buck in the pictures was a wide 8 pointer with a busted brow tine and a small G4 on his left side. I assumed that it was the Skinny 8 because of the similarities in their antler configuration and I also hadn’t seen him out of velvet yet in 2011. The stage was set.
At about 5:30 I got a text from the same buddy who I believed saw the Skinny 8 on the 19th. We usually compare notes and communicate to hunt around each other but the wind was funky and both our hunts were last minute decisions. It just so happens he was sitting in one of his stands just up the ridge from me. He asked if I was hunting and I responded with, “Ya I’m in the white oaks on the point it’s the only stand I have for a SE early season and it’s so low impact. I got a picture of a mature buck yesterday afternoon 30 yards from my stand.” He texted me back “You just saved a big does life. Had her at 22 yards.” Just so happens that he was planning on shooting a mature doe for the freezer and happened to look down at this phone, which was on silent, right as he was getting ready to shoot her. If he looked at his phone 10 seconds later dead doe, and both of our hunts are over.
As light began to fade I was asking myself what it was going to take to kill a big New Hampshire buck in the early season. Shooting light was waning and I figured this stand with these weather conditions and the trail camera picture that I got the night before had to make this my best opportunity in years. Right at last light I looked up and saw a buck walk through my 23 yard shooting lane and stop with his head obstructed with just his shoulder in the lane. I didn’t know what to do. It was low light and I knew it was a buck but I didn’t know how good of a buck, or which buck he was. I elected to pass the shot in hopes of getting a better look. He then turned and faced me in the lane and I could see he was a mature buck and assumed he was the Skinny 8. As he stood there I heard a few more deer coming up from the swamp behind him. Next thing I know he was walking head on to the base of my tree under the canopy. I can’t see him but I can hear his footfalls closing the distance from 23 yards. When the sound of his hooves in the leave stopped he was directly under me. All of a sudden I see a wide heavy rack emerge from under the canopy. Right then I know 100% its him, but am I going to get a shot? I have no angle at all and he’s facing the tree and begins to SMELL my climbing sticks! A million thoughts are racing through my head. I am a scent control freak and always keep my boots outside and spray them down with scent killing spray but I know better than to think I can fool a mature buck’s nose every time. Then another though comes into my head. I used the lineman’s belt on my Muddy harness to climb the tree so my hands hadn’t come in contact with the climbing sticks. I take tree stand safety seriously and try to be attached to the tree at all times. I know it could potentially save my life but I think this time it ended the Skinny 8’s.
So now I have the deer I’ve been after for 2 seasons at 0 yards under the stand smelling my climbing sticks. WOW! I start to anticipate his next move. Will he smell my scent on the sticks and be gone? Will he go back the way he came under the canopy offering me no shot? Will he go left or will he go right? Left or right and I have a shot. After what seemed like 2 minutes of smelling he must have decided whatever he smelled wasn’t a threat and turned right out in front of my stand. He’s now at about 2 yard and I just don’t have enough of an angle to feel comfortable taking the shot. He takes another step and now he’s just less than 5 yards facing dead away from me. One more step to the right and he’s under the canopy again and the show is over. I figure it’s now or never. I draw back and put my pin just to the side of his spine. I figure with my bow shooting 300 fps with my hunting set up and he being at about 3 yards I can take out his liver and 1 lung with the angle I have and get a complete pass through. I made a conscious effort to stay off his spine and behind his shoulder blades. This while not the perfect shot will put him down fairly quickly and give me a blood trail to follow. I made my decision and let the 2 blade rage do its work. As I saw my Lumenock disappear into his back and him tear away up the ridge I knew I got great penetration and that he was hit hard. I heard him stop up the ridge, then take off again crashing through the mountain laurel. Then I couldn’t hear him anymore but I didn’t hear him go down.
I text my buddy, “just put an arrow thru him”, he responds “I heard”. We take our time getting down and examine the point of impact and immediately find good blood. We give him about 45 minutes. But one thing is heavy on our mind, another front is coming that is supposed to bring heavy rain within a few hours. We decide to follow blood while it looks good, which it does. Shortly up the trail I find my arrow, which is coated with blood from Rage to Lumenock. It looks like good blood but not lung blood. This is somewhat concerning. We push on and he enters thick nasty mountain laurel on the ridge and the blood trail becomes harder to follow. I decide we better give him some more time. I DO NOT want to push him if he’s bedded in the laurel. My buddy checks the radar on his phone and it looks rain is moving in within the hour. We wait until the rain is almost upon us and the decision is made to push on. We follow a tough blood trail for 200 yards through the laurel and lose it a few times. The blood is going from good, to ok, to poor. I’m starting to get concerned. He has now paralleled the ridge and is headed straight down. We continue on drop by drop blood until we reach the base of the ridge and it crosses a trail. He is now headed straight into the same swampy creek bottom he come from a few hours earlier when he approached my stand. I stop on the trail, and look at my buddy.” I think we should back out until tomorrow”. I accepted the fact that we wouldn’t have a blood trail to follow in the morning and would be just looking for a deer, but he has gone a long way and hadn’t bedded down once. We also haven’t pushed him. I highly doubted he would leave the creek bottom. We marked last blood with an arrow and backed out. I now can’t sleep and talk to the other Oak Ridge team members. Every one of them says, “he’ll be dead in the creek in the morning.”
I didn't sleep but 40 minutes all night and met some buddies to start looking at first light, it’s pouring and miserable. We start at last blood fan out and head toward the creek which is about 150-200 yards from the base of the ridge. I am on the far right and I don’t rush however I don’t look too hard in the bottom. My gut feeling tells me go straight to the creek. I get there and stop on the bank. I am looking around and wondering what to do next. I am the first one to reach the creek. I take a few steps so I can get a better view downstream. ANTLER! Fifty yards down stream I see a G2 and G2 jutting up out of the creek, that’s it. I drop my bow and pack and lose it! My hollers filled the whole bottom and I am soon joined by my buddies. We all get soaked trying to cross the creek and get to him. I walk up and grab a hold of the Skinny 8, the moment I’d been anticipating for over a year. I get his head partially out of the water and realize his much bigger than I thought, he must have grown 15-20” going from 4.5 to 5.5 years old. Rick then grabs him and muscles him out of the creek. I then realize no G4 and no busted brow! The deer I got a picture of the night before is a different mature buck!
May 21st
I am still so elated as I write this, and somewhat shocked I’ve finally achieved my goals after years of hard work. I have learned a few different things from this hunt. The first is early season is all about food, wind, and access. If I didn’t have all three of these factors working in my favor the Skinny 8 would still be walking. I hunted the white oaks close to cover, on the right wind, and had minimal impact and great access. I also didn’t wait to hunt this hot spot. If you’ve got the right wind and a hot spot you have to hunt it. Always strike while the irons hot. Another thing I have learned is that if you want to shoot mature big racked bucks you have to pass immature deer for two reasons. First if you shoot an immature buck you won’t see the big one that’s coming behind him. Second in the Northeast you aren’t going to see young deer walking around with trophy racks. It takes until they’re 5th or 6th fall until they will become mature enough to sport impressive head gear. I believe, although I could be wrong, that the Skinny 8 was a 4.5 year old deer in 2010. While pretty he only had about a 110” – 115” rack. That additional year of age allowed him to grow an additional 20” as a 5.5 year old in 2011, as he grossed 132”. Lastly I have learned that you should spend time hunting deer you see, and capture pictures of most frequently and during the daylight. There was another mature buck that lived in the same area as the Skinny 8 but I never saw him nor captured his picture during daylight. The Skinny 8 while primarily nocturnal was sighted by myself, and photographed approximately 6 times during daylight in 2 years. This make me believe he was a killable buck and is why is he one of my top two targets for 2011 and I spent time hunting him.
~ Brett Joy
September 15th
Open day of the 2011 NH Bow season has finally come. Upon scouting a new area, I was able to locate a nice thick bedding area a couple hundred yards from a main food source (hay field). Over the past several weeks, I have been able to get trail cam pictures of two bachelor bucks that have been running together in that area. The trail cam showed what I believed to be a 3 ½ year old 9 pointer leaving his bed just before dark. The 9 looked mature and would definitely be a great early season bow deer for NH. Shortly after the 9 left the frame, I got excited. The next picture was of an awesome 8 pointer. The 8 had tall G2’s that I thought would be at least 10 inches and also had good mass. Just like the 9, the 8 left his bed just before dark. I continued to get pictures of the two bucks as the season approached. I set my stand up about 60 yards from where they were bedding in hopes to catch a glimpse of the 8 pointer when the season opened.
Opening day finally came and I de-scented over and over before hitting the woods, even though the wind was in my favor. As I sat waiting, I imagined how awesome that monster 8 would look next to my other mounts on my wall. Finally I had some movement as a doe popped out. She wandered and then vanished into a thick patch. Again I waited, until finally I saw bone. Like all bucks, he just sat on the edge of the thick patch before stepping out. When it did, I recognized him as the 9 pointer from my pictures. Good ole buck fever started to kick in. I held off for what seemed to be hours, but in reality was probably only minutes for the 8 to follow. With light faded and no sign of the 8, I decided that the 9 was too nice and mature for me to let walk. I stopped him perfectly broadside and sent a rage through his lungs. As the arrow hit he spun and took off. He stopped about 80 yards out and walked off. I climbed out of my stand and my stomach turned as I looked at my arrow on the ground. No blood at all on the shaft. I could have sworn I saw my arrow hit perfectly, but nothing remained on my fletching except for a brown substance that smelled like a stomach shot. I grabbed my SD card from the cam and left the woods to let the buck sit overnight. The cam showed that the 8, like most mature bucks, disappeared just before the season opened.
The next day I called in the reinforcement of my dad to help track. My old man always seems to find my missing bucks so I felt reassured after not getting any sleep all night. We went to where I last saw him and there was not a drop of blood. I felt sick…. We began a grid search, and after not long the taunting sound of my dad saying “I found him” broke the radio silence. He taunted me a little more before I had to threaten him to tell me where the buck was laying. The arrow had gone into his lung and exited out his stomach as he spun. Although it sounds strange, this must have prevented the blood from exiting his body cavity. Now that the 9 pointer is in the freezer, my sights are set back on the big 8. I’m looking forward to tracking him down later on in the season and possibly catching up with him during the rut.
~Rick Sprankle
"Matty’s Bird"
Nate and I have been so fortunate over the years to harvest many adult turkeys but this bird by far means the most to us. Nate’s brother, Matt Elvers, is a proud member of the United States Marines and just recently graduated from boot camp. While growing up, Matt wasn’t anywhere near the avid hunters that Nate and I were. Something changed for Matt while at boot camp – in his letters all he talked about was coming home and wanting to go Turkey hunting with his Dad and Nate. After reading the letters our mission for the 2011 Turkey Season was to get Matty Boy a bird!
Matt was on leave for only 10 days and he hunted his tail off on every single one of them. May 14th was an awesome morning in the timber – Bash Brothers, Matty and Nate, were side by side with guns in hand, as I was behind the camera capturing this special day on film. Birds were not as plentiful as years past in Upstate New York but Nate did a lot of preseason scouting and had a big ol’ gobbler picked out for Matty. The morning started off with a very unique encounter – while waiting for the birds to start gobbling on the roost, we had two mature coyotes that came within 30 yards of us before running off. Hair raising on the back of all our necks to say the least. We heard a gobble from the big boy and quickly dashed to the edge of the field to get set up. The monster tom made his way from the ridge top right down to the field where we were set up. He toyed with us for over an hour coming as close as 70 yards but never graced Matty with a shot. Bummed and heartbroken that we were so close to getting this bird for Matty, we still had a smile on all of our faces because of such an awesome encounter and most importantly, spending quality time in the great outdoors together – which we cherish so much!
Matty’s home visit quickly came and went, as he headed off to Camp Lajune for Marksmanship Training. Fast forward one week (May 21st, 2011), Nate and I were determined that we were going to get this bird for Matty. We went back to the same set up and moved up 80 yards closer to the bird. Nate was filming and I was locked and loaded with my faithful, Mossberg 20 Gauge. It didn’t take long for the action to heat up – this 3 year old bird was on the move and approaching our decoys fast. Before we knew it, this bird was at 15 steps strutting along the edge of the field on a v-line right to us. I placed the tru-glo bead right on his head and touched one off at 10 yards. This story does not do the hunt justice at all – the emotion, joy, and happiness that came out of both of us after the shot was priceless. Even though Matty didn’t pull the trigger on this bird, it still felt like he was right there with us. By far our best turkey hunt ever and to capture it all on film makes it so much more rewarding. We are all so very fortunate to have courageous soldiers like Matty out there protecting this great nation we live in. Don’t ever be hesitant to thank a soldier when you see one – they are the ones who keep our freedom alive!
~Wes O’Connor
May 20th
"May Madness"
I was able to get nine days of leave for the month of May and knew exactly how I was going to use them. I booked a flight home to New Hampshire and coordinated with fellow team member Brett Joy to spend a week in the NH turkey woods trying to get a kill on film. When I arrived in NH I got a phone call from Brett with some not so good news about the upcoming week’s weather. Rain, rain, and more rain. We discussed and both agreed that this would hinder the turkey hunting but no matter what the weather did we felt that we could get the job done.
We spent the first seven nights roosting birds and then setting up on them the next morning with several close encounters that came up short. Finally on the eighth morning of my hunt our luck was destined to change. After another failed attempt at killing a bird off the roost we took to the roads and started trying to locate birds at spots we new held them. We headed up to Lyndeborough and pulled of the side of the road and listened as Brett let out a few clucks and yelps. Almost instantly we were overtaken by a loud gobble that was really close. We immediately grabbed the camera and the shotgun and rushed to get set up. After being set up for only a few seconds Brett started calling again and was interrupted by the same gobbler that sounded as if he was only fifty yards away.
After about a minute or so I caught movement at forty yards in front of me and realized that it was a hen that was shortly followed by two others. As they made their way into gun range I caught more movement over by were the hens just came from and instantly realized that this was the tom that we were waiting for. The tom was on a string, strutting and following right behind the hens and within a matter of minutes was thirty yards in front of me with Brett telling me that he was on him with the camera and to take him at any time. I raised up the Remington 870 settled the cross hairs and let her bark. As I watched the shot through the scope I knew right away that I had accomplished what I set out to do eight days prior. We quickly gathered up our things and made our way over to the bird and started examining our trophy. It was a decent tom that weighed in at 20lbs with a 9 1/2" beard and 7/8" spurs. Needless to say I was pleased with my hunt and can’t wait to return home next year and do it all over again.
~Jason Dubois
May 7th
"Persistence"
Fellow turkey hunter Ross Roberge and I had been trying to get it done for 5 straight days and we were having some bad luck. We honestly hadn't heard a SINGLE gobble during the first three days of the season. I knew that the wind and rain had something to do with it and felt things were going to change. Saturday the 7th dawned perfect turkey hunting weather. Ross and I were able to roost a big long beard on my family property the night before but things didn't work out at first light. As we were trying to make a move on this bird we got a gobble from another bird and immediately sat down in one of my old food plots. This happened to be the same food plot that Maddie shot her bird the weekend before and Steve "Beanie" Byrd shot his gobbler last year. I knew this was a good spot to call from. It took him a while but after an hour Ross and I worked the gobbler into 40 yards. He came over the crest of the plot with 2 jakes and a hen strutting and gobbling. Finally Ross couldn't take it anymore and gave him a face full of 5's and that's all she wrote. Tale of the tape: 20 lbs., 10" beard, 7/8" spurs.
~Brett Joy
May 6th
In Season Report:
Well I wish this journal entry was a picture of one of the Oak Ridge team members with a nice gobbler but that's just not the case this time. We've hunted hard the first 3 mornings of the NH season but it has been super slow. I think that weather may have something to do with it. You never know with turkey hunting. What I do know is they haven't been talking. Late mornings seem to be your best bets, birds are gobbling occasionally but just don't seemed to be that fired up. We are dealing with a lot of henned up birds, wind, and rain. This combo makes for tough hunting. The weather for this weekend seems to be looking up and I believe Ross and I will be able to get it done. There is no shortage of birds that's for sure, we've seen some biggest bird I've ever seen in the past few days on our scouting missions. Now it's time to move in on em. Good luck in the woods!
-Brett Joy
"When Feathers Fly"
We just got word and our first DVD title "When Feathers Fly" will be available for purchase right here at oakridgeoutdoors.com by next week. Check back and get your copy. Our first DVD has over 20 turkey kills all film in the Northeast!
May 1st
"New Hampshire Youth Season: two days, two firsts"
When fellow NH turkey hunter Ross Roberge heard of Dylan's success he congratuled Dylan and informed us that the young girl he had taken out on saturday, Maddie Randall, had missed a big ole gobbler first thing in the morning. I told Ross that if they were interested I had just the spot picked out if Maddie wanted to give it another shot. Both Maddie, Ross, and Patrick said they wanted to give it a go. Ross and I roosted 3 long beards saturday night and set up two enormous blinds in the middle of the field. I wanted to get right in their face in the morning so Maddie would have a nice close shot. Well we had a close encounter at first light with a nice long beard but things just didn't happen for Maddie. I told her not to worry and that I had just the mid morning spot for her in mind.
We took a ride up to my father's property and immediately spotted 2 giant strutters. Unfortunately they busted us coming in because we couldn't get set up quick enough. We were about to head to another spot when I got another bird to light up with some aggressive cutting on the mouth call. We quickly set up in an old food plot and got ready. The next time the bird gobbled they had cut the distance from about 200 yards to about 100 and I knew they were committed. Three red heads popped up on the food plot and I knew Maddie was going to get another shot. The three jakes worked in to about 30 yards and Maddie flatten one, a 16 pounder, for her first bird! It was great to see how excited she was and that she had the ambition and persistence to experience something that most 13 year old girls never will. Here's to Maddie for sticking with it and her first bird!
~Brett Joy
April 30th
"The School Bus Bird"
Youth hunter Dylan Cadorette has been telling me for over a month about these 4 big toms he has been seeing every morning, without fail, from the school bus. Dylan hunted hard last year with me but after many close encounters was never able to seal the deal on his first gobbler. A week before New Hampshire's youth turkey season Dylan and I went on an early morning recon mission and were able to find these bird's roost and the route they take to get to the pasture Dylan had been watching them strut in. Friday evening we went to put the four long beards to bed and after a little running around in circles were able to do so. We set up a ground blind about 100 yards from the roost and snuck out of there. Dawn came and we must have heard over 3 gobbles while these birds were on the roost, it was INCREDIBLE. They flew down and took their time working in, but finally closed the distance. Dylan smashed the last bird in the quartet and he had his first long beard, and a good one it was! Tale of the tape; 21 lbs, 9 1/4" beard, 1" spurs, a great NH 3 year old.
~Brett Joy
March 1st
The Oak Ridge Outdoors team is very centered around deer management. We are always studying trail camera pictures or video footage trying to determine the ages of various bucks on the properties we hunt. It has become somewhat of an obession for us. We mostly target 4.5 year old bucks or older and try to never harvest anything under 3.5 years old. We know what these older age class bucks can carry on their heads and want them to realize their potential.
Over the past four years I have saved the jaws from all the bucks I have shot, mostly to get a better idea of age by molar wear. I believed that by studying trail camera pictures, the deer in the flesh and after harvested, and molar wear I could get a pretty good idea of the age of the bucks I was harvesting. We thought we had become pretty good at it. However I learned we weren't as good as we thought and some times you just never know.
After this past season I sent four teeth from the 4 bucks I harvested from '07, '08, '09, and '10 into a lab for cementum-annuli analysis. This process is the ONLY accurate way to know for sure the exact age of a whitetail deer, other than monitoring a deer from birth. This process involves slicing a tooth into slivers after a chemical softening process. After sliced the slivers are viewed under a microscope. What is revealed is pretty interesting. Every year deer build up a line on their teeth much like the rings on a tree, these rings are counted and the exact age of the deer can be determined.
I just recieved the results back from the four tooth samples I sent to the lab. The results were somewhat surprising to me and the other Oak Ridge team members. I thought I would share the results with all of you. I will now go over each buck, what we thought his age to be and what cementum-annuli analysis determined the actual age to be.
Sample #1: My 2007 New Hampshire muzzleloader buck. I harvested this buck on Nov. 7th in southern NH. He dressed out at 200 lbs and grossed 138". We knew for sure that he was a 4.5+ year old deer by his physical characteristics, body weight, and tooth wear. I thought he was probably 5.5 years old, possibly 6.5.
The lab results said that my '07 buck was 7.5 years old. I'm not suprised but it's very interesting because less than 1% of wild deer live to be this old in North America. This buck was truely a unique trophy.
Sample #2: My 2008 New Hampshire shotgun buck. I harvested this deer on Nov. 27th not far from buck #1. He dressed out at 140 lbs and grossed just 109". I knew this deer was at least 3.5 because I had watched him and got footage of him the previous summer as what I assumed was a 2.5 year old. His molars showed moderate wear, and his rack lacked the typical mass of a 4.5+ buck. His low body weight made me question whether he was even as old as 3.5, however his stocky build and large blocky head contradicted his body weight. In NH it's fairly common for 2.5 year old deer to weigh around 140-150 lbs. I concluded that he just had poor genetics and nutrition and his low weight was due to the rut and that he was 3.5 years old.
The lab results determined that my '08 buck was 5.5 years old! It just goes to show you every deer is different, just like people. There are big deer and small deer. This was just a smaller deer with poor genetics. It just goes to show inches of antler and body weight are highly inaccruate methods of aging deer.
Sample #3: My 2009 Ohio archery buck. I shot this buck on my first trip to the midwest on Nov. 3rd. He dressed out at around 200 lbs and grossed 162". We knew this deer was mature but several things made me think that he was not an older deer, probably 4.5. His molars had little wear, even less than my 2008 buck. His head was not at all blocky and his neck and shoulders were fairly slender when compared to the previous two deer. His antlers while grossing 162" lacked mass at the bases that you typically see on older deer.
The lab determined that my '09 buck was 6.5 years old. He probably sported the best set of antlers he ever would, and was and older deer. This is why molar wear aging does not work. He had the teeth of a 3.5 year old deer but was actually 3 years older than his teeth indicated. Molar wear is effected by so many different factors such as diet, that it can't be used other than to determine if a deer is 6 months, 1.5, or 2.5 and older.
Sample #4: My 2010 Ohio archery buck. I knocked this buck down on video on Nov. 11th this past year. Although we didn't weigh him, I'd estimate his weight to be around 185 lbs. He grossed 125". Myself as well as the other Oak Ridge team members where dead set on assigning an age of 3.5 to this deer. When I first saw this deer coming up the ridge I thought he was a 2.5 year old, just because his 125" rack is somewhat small for a deer older than 2.5 in the land of great genetics that is Ohio. However, as he got closer and I studied his body she showed characteristics of a mature deer. I was fairly sure he was at least 3.5 years old and killed him. His teeth with moderate wear also supported this.
The lab again determined that we had under estimated. He was 4.5 years old, a fully mature whitetail. This just shows you that even in a genetics rich area of the country there are still mature deer that sport smaller racks. Had I gone on body alone I would have guess 4.5, but his smaller rack made me bump my age estimation down a year.
We can conclude several different things from these tests. Antler inches or configuration cannot be used when determining age. There are 5.5 year olds that are barely over 100" and 2.5 year olds that reach into 160's. Tooth wear cannot be used other than to put deer into age classes of 6 months, 1.5 years, and 2.5 years and older. Body weight is not always an accurate representation of age, this too depends on genetics, nutrition, region of the country, and time of year the deer was harvested. I found that had I judged each age on body shape alone I would have been much closer to the actual ages of these deer
-Brett Joy
The rut is finally here! One of our friends named Paul, my father, and myself were excited for a trip we had planned to Johnstown, Ohio in Licking County. We packed our bags and bows and left for the 12 hour drive and arrived early morning on November 12th. Upon arrival, we were eager to scope out some Ohio landscape where we would be hunting. This was a little different then the terrain than we were used to in NH with large agricultural fields, but our guide Michael Hendren did a great job with the sets that were hung on creek bottoms, timber draws, and oak flats. I set my sights on one stand that sat on a creek bottom running between two corn fields up to an oak flat. I sat on the stand every day with the right wind hoping a giant would eventually be cruising the bottom for does.
