A day of rabbit hunting in Caswell County

Finally a February day that felt like one instead of day in May. The air had a bite, the wind was really blowing and I actually saw some snow flakes as the front rolled through giving us a small taste of winter. There was about 10 of us and a dozen beagles and lots of great rabbit cover to push to see if we could find some. It didn’t take long for the beagles to pick up a hot scent and the race was on. There is something special listening to the beagles chasing a rabbit through an overgrown clear cut. Anyone who thinks the rabbit doesn’t stand a chance hasn’t done much hunting because they are pretty sly. These rabbits we hunted yesterday seemed to have advanced degrees in eluding the dogs and the coyote signs we saw all over the place told us who the professors at that university was.

We had a number of chases but only 3 rabbits made it to the bag before we called it quits. There is still a few weeks left in the season here in North Carolina but likely this was the last rabbit hunt of the season for me.

Overall it has been a good season even if I haven’t taken a rabbit this season. The thrill of the hunt the social aspects of small game hunting all have made for a fun season. If I’ve learned one thing it’s we need to control the predators and most specifically coyotes. Coyotes are expanding across the state and we’ve got to slow them down a bit but that’s another story for another day.

Young man with a beagle walking down the hedge row

turning the dogs lose

Lucky hunter

Hunter shows off the only rabbit we took

Small game season is in full swing here in North Carolina and I jumped at the chance to join some friends as they chased bunnies yesterday near the Cape Fear River. While for many the lack of winter weather around here is a blessing for hunters it has been a curse. Yesterday was the last day of duck season and a pretty dismal season with the unseasonable warm winter we have been having. So I past on the duck hunting and headed out with some rabbit hunters and soon found out the warm weather was having a negative effect on them as well.

The hunting land was some overgrown cut overs that had some of the nicest crop of briars, blackberry bushes and holly I’ve ever seen. My face and arms today show the scars of me trying to push through that stuff to keep up with the dogs. The beagles ran some rabbits but if you weren’t right up on them it was so thick you’d hear the rabbit but never see him. We had a few nice chases and bagged one lone bunny before we called it quits around lunch time. The temperatures by then were close to 60′ and the dogs and us hunters were feeling the terrain and the warm weather.

I got back to the truck and checked my pedometer and saw that I’d covered a little over 6 miles that morning the dogs easily did 3 to 4 times that I’m sure. As I said before hunting success is not only measured in what you bag but the experience you shared.

I’d never hunted with these guys before but I really had a blast. They are a pretty dedicated group of rabbit hunters and hopefully before the season goes out maybe I’ll get out with them again. It would be nice if the weather would turn more seasonable and help things out.

beagles are a great dog to hunt rabbits with

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Game Page

Carson with his first of many mallard drakes

Getting skunked on a hunt is never fun and when 3 guys go on a duck hunt and only get one duck it is pretty easy to brand that as a “Lousy Hunt” but in this case nothing could be further from the truth.
Having a young person along and seeing him get his first Mallard Drake made the whole thing worth it for me. We were sitting on a beaver swamp in Harnett County long before shooting light so we could hopefully not scare to many of the birds off. I’ve hunted with Carson and his Dad a number of times this morning Carson and I were in the easier to reach spot while his Dad (who was wearing waders) worked his way around to the other side of the swamp.
There was some open water in front of us and between the moon and the stars once our eyes adjusted we could see the beavers and the wood ducks swimming back and forth only a few feet from us. This was looking to be a great day’s hunt but like wood ducks will do they flew off before legal shooting light leaving us holding the bag so to speak.
Once daylight hit we had some wood ducks fly over us but our poor shooting didn’t help us bag any of them. Shortly after that the mallards started flying many out of our reach but finally some flew our way. Carson threw his gun to the shoulder and dropped one of them in the woods right behind us. He was excited especially when he discovered it was a Drake.
I swear there is no such thing as a “ lousy hunt” when you have young people along they bring you back to your early days of hunting and how exciting every little aspect was an adventure. Take a young person hunting it will a whole new perspective to your hunts and it will do away with the doldrums of a slow hunt.
As we sat in a small dinner eating breakfast and hearing Carson relive the morning hunt with his Dad I thought to myself what a lousy hunt this wasn’t .

Take a Kid Hunting!!!

On the hunt for squirrels

The group of hunters from NC Hunt & Fish

We all met up at BiscuitVille to get some breakfast before we headed out to Uwharrie National Forest.

The squirrel dogs (Curs) were anxious to get hunting so after a brief hike into the forest they were turned lose to find some squirrels. Watching the dogs work was really fascinating as they ran around looking for the scent of a squirrel once they found it they would tree it. Our job as hunters was to get to the dogs quickly so we could find the squirrels before they climbed into a den or a hole or jumped from tree to tree to give the dogs the slip.

Treed

The first squirrel was treed and it took us a few minutes to find it pressed against the trunk of a tree near the top. My second shot from my 22 found the mark and the squirrel dropped from the treetop. I don’t know who was more excited me or the Curs.

Squirrel Season in NC runs through Feb

Saturday was unseasonable warm with the temperatures climbing into the 70′s which seemed to me to be less than ideal conditions to be hunting in for a number of reasons. One the squirrel movement seemed to be a bit subdued and the conditions seemed less than ideal for the dogs to scent the squirrels out. Also the warm weather increased the traffic in the forest with lots of hikers but who could blame them on a day better suited for the end of April rather than January.

Taking a break

We hunted the morning and while we didn’t bag a lot of squirrels the hunt was a blast as we got to meet and reunite with friends we talk to more often than not in cyberspace.

We hunted with Curs that had GPS collars on them so the handler could keep track of them. While hunters are required to wear orange dogs are not however to prevent any confusion the dogs had orange vests. In many states its illegal to tamper with hunting dogs and their collars

I can’t tell ya how fun a hunt this was and I hope to be back out chasing squirrels with dogs soon. If you’ve never tried it find someone with squirrel dogs and give it a try.

Letting a young buck walk this year hopefully will pay off in the future with a wall hanger

Actually the season for me is over even though we have till 02 January to hunt. While I never got to pull the trigger on an antlered buck this season the three antlerless deer I did get will provide my family and I many good meals till the season rolls around again. I spent a lot more time hunting this deer season then last and although the weather was a bit warm for my liking it wasn’t to bad.

We added some additional property to land we lease some will continue to lease next year and some will let go. The land I got into in the eastern zone of the state, Harnett County, looks the most promising. I got into that club late so there was little time to scout or get the lay of the land before the season rolled in on us. I did some scouting on the fly so to speak and while I didn’t see any monsters I saw the sign that tells me there are some nice ones in there. Once the season gets out I can walk some more of the property and begin making plans for next year.

Some land we leased in the central zone we had some negative encounters with neighbors who for years had just hunted this land for free. With us leasing it there was some hostile encounters and a near fight or two. I’m getting a bit old for those types of shenanigans so we’ll just let that lease go.

Deer season is measured in more than just tags filled; its days spent with friends moving stands, dragging deer, filling feeders, planting food plots, sitting around swapping lies. Hunting Camp is great time and a time we connect with one another. The pressures of the world may invade our minds and the camp from time to time but there is a bunch of guys who’ll do whatever you need or help ya any way they can like I’ll do for them. Deer Season might be over or about over but there is still small game to chase and waterfowl to hunt and before you know it Turkey Season will be here.

Lets Hunt

With only a few minutes of shooting light left the four deer slipped into the field. The largest one was the last to enter and I was fairly certain it was a doe. As they trotted across the backside of the field I tried to get a good visual confirmation that it was truly antler free. It didn’t take me long to do that but they were moving away from me so I grunted to stop her and I fired. The doe spun around and ran back the way she came flagging all the way making me think I may have missed her.

I got down out of the stand and crossed the field to see if I could pick up her trail. It was dark by the time I got there and with my flashlight I couldn’t find any sign of a hit. I spent about an hour going all the way back across the field searching for any sign of a hit to no avail.

That night I played that shot through my head a number of times wondering what I did to miss. I could see any reason for me to miss other than I just choked. It was pretty cool that night so I knew in the morning I could look some more and still recover the deer if my shot had been on the mark.

The next morning I spent most of my time while sitting in my stand trying to recall exactly where the deer was standing and marking the spot. I got down out of the stand and went back across the field to look. It didn’t take me long to realize I had been in the wrong spot the night before and I almost immediately found where my bullet had gone into the ground. Only a few yards in front of that spot I found hair confirming I had hit her. Not far from that I found a small amount of blood so I began the task of trailing her. Across the field I never found a lot of blood and much of the trailing was done on my hands and knees and was pretty slow going. Once I found where she entered the woods the blood trail became more visible and a lot more blood.

What looked like would be a cake walk of a blood trail from the woods on took another strange turn when I got to an area where a flock of turkeys had gone through earlier that morning. The blood trail was lost by the turkeys scratching looking for acorns and other food. Luckily I was able to find some trees that had blood on their trunks that gave me the travel direction and eventually lead me back to a section of woods the turkeys hadn’t been and it was only a short distance after that I found the doe.
She had climbed under a blow down making her virtually invisible. She was just a tad bit smaller than the other doe I shot earlier. The cool weather overnight kept the meat fresh. She’ll provide a lot of healthy meals over the next few months.

I guess the lesson I learned, or at least had reinforced, was to persevere on the track no matter what gets thrown at you. I could of called it after Friday’s search and I found nothing but I had to go back the next day just to be sure. The skimpy blood sign in the field was hard to follow and some might of thought it was so scarce that it was only a superficial wound rather than a fatal wound. The turkeys while not the first time they have messed me up while on a trail I was able to stay on the track and recover the deer.
So this is deer # 3 for the season.

116 lb Doe I took my second tag filled

Between work, hunting, and the holiday I’m behind in my updates. First off I tagged my second deer of the year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I had 3 does come into the field together and I picked out the biggest one and shot her. She ran off into the brush so I had to do a bit of blood trailing to get her. She only went about 75 yards as the crow flies but as any of us that hunt know a wounded deer rarely goes straight. She did not disappoint zig zagging her way through blackberry bushes and brush ending up piling up in some cedars. I got some videos I shot that day that shows a little bit of the blood trailing.

If you’ve never blood trailed before or have just a little experience I would recommend a few things;

1. Mark the spot…. where the deer was standing when you shot and where you last saw it
2. Wait…… Don’t rush to get on the track a wounded deer can run a long way if pushed
3. Find the Impact site…. look for hair, blood, and bone and other clues
4. Follow the trail…. mark the blood and look for the next sign remember it may not necessarily be on the ground if it gets caught on trees or bushes.
5. Trailing by yourself can be difficult but trailing with to many people can be frustrating. I like to trail with one or two other people leaving one person on the last sign and the others looking for additional sign. I find to many people can damage the trail and mess up the track.
6. Be careful on the trail not to damage any of the sign cause you never know when and if you’ll have to go back and look at it.

I’m sure there are countless other tidbits that can be offered to help and if anyone has advice feel free to add them in the comment section.

Last Saturday I decided for the afternoon hunt to drag some doe urine in to my stand to see if I could get a buck going. Well this little spike horn certainly got fired up and put on a little show for me. Now if I could only get his daddy or granddaddy to show up that be cool.

I heard him down in the brush long before I saw he came out and headed to a mock scrape with a dripper over it. I didn’t get that on film because I had my TC in my hand not sure what all was coming out of the brush.
I got the camera up and shot it through my binoculars as he got a whiff of that rag with doe urine on it about 50 yards away from the mock scrape.

He went in looking for that doe and ended up trotting the back trail on the scent I had laid down hours before. Well this is a good sign now if I can get some of the bigger bucks to try the same I’ll be in business.

Back to the woods in the morning I’m excited.

Reports of the rut beginning to kick in seem to be a bit premature at least on the land I’m hunting. I’ve seen little sign of scrapes and rubs around the farm here in Alamance. I’ve yet to see a buck but have seen a number of does. I know it is just a matter of time before the rut kicks in and when it does the does will be the key to seeing the bucks.

As I’m writing this I just got a call and one of my club members killed who was in deer camp with us last evening killed a spike buck in Caswell on some land we have there. Well it looks like someone has had some success and hopefully soon I’ll be dragging a deer out of the woods.

Well I guess I’ll finish my lunch and get back in the stand.

For my readers in the New England area know you are in my thoughts and prayers as you dig out from this freak storm.

Morning Report

Lunch Time Update

Deer in the field to far for muzzle loader and normally way to far for the flip camera until I try an experiment.

Ok so it half way works here is a view of them before and after to show ya the difference it makes.

The last video of the day

Well if only my day ended there what I didn’t video was a few minutes after this I got the truck stuck in a mudhole and needed a little tug to get out. Needless to say it was well after 9 pm when I finally got home. Not an opening day I’ll soon forget. I got the next couple of days off lets see if it is trick or treat for me these next couple of days.