Turkey Day Buck

I hunted the late afternoon behind my house and killed my best buck to date on my property in Virginia. Nice 2 1/2 year old buck and what a great day in the woods. I'm very happy to harvested this good buck on Thanksgiving day 2011 and very thankful for living on a great piece of property.

Virginia Double

Well yesterday was my wedding anniversary so I took the day off and thanks to a great wife (24 great years together and counting) I got to hunt both in the morning and evening on my 20 acres up in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia. I don't do a ton of hunting on my own property but it's nice to be hunting less than 300 yards from your house. Well I got it done with the muzzle loader in the morning on a nice fat doe and also had a nice black bear (about 250lbs) within 50 yards but couldn't get a clear shot through some thick brush so he got a pass this time. So a great morning and I'm spending the rest of the day with the wife doing my duties as the happy husband. We get home and the wife tells me to go hunting (after allot of begging of course) so I'm up in my favorite ladder stand and in walks this freak rack buck within 50 yards of my stand and I smoke him with my percussion cap smoke pole and so ends a great day in the woods for me. My first double on my own property and damn it would have been nice to add that bear to the total.

Youth Day Sika Stag

Took my good buddy Joey to my eastern shore lease for some Sika hunting and the kid got it done on a nice spike stag. Joey is only 15 years old but he really loves to hunt and has already shot some very impressive animals to include several big tom turkeys, some very nice whitetail bucks and this is his second sika stag (he harvested a great 6 point stag last year). The kid made one heck of a shot at 157 yards with my Remington 700 in .243 caliber and I couldn't have been more proud of him.

Sika Stag Down

Took some leave last Thursday and went down to my eastern shore property after some Sika. 10:00 am in the morning this stag decides to walk in front of me at 20 yards. I shot him a bit high and back but still managed to get both lungs and he went 80 yards and piled up. A nice stag with my crossbow and wasn't going to let him walk.

Big Fox's Monster 8 point

Well the opening day of the Maryland 3 day early muzzle loader season was just awesome and I didn't even take a shot with my smoke pole. I put one of my best hunting friends on one of my best spots and after two years of trying I guided him to his biggest buck to date. Andy is a great friend and I am just damn happy for him as he hunts hard and earned this buck. This buck had a huge body, probably close to 230lbs live weight and close to a 135" rack. Congrats!! again Andy

Double Doe's Down!!

Well the deer were on the move today with this front moving through and shot my first doe at exactly 5:20 pm and dragged her to my stand got back up and 15 minutes later here comes another bigger doe and she got smoked too. Great day in the stand and saw a total of 6 doe's and was done hunting by 6:15 pm. Now I can get my bonus buck tag and hopefully put the smack down on another mature buck.

Opening Day Stud

Been trying for a long time to kill a good buck on opening day of deer season in any state. Well got to check that of my to do list as I smoked this bad boy at 25 yards with a perfect double lung shot. When the bolt hit him he must have jumped 10 feet in the air and when he turned to run it looked like a geyser of blood was pumping out of him. He ran 40 yards and piled up and just a great buck, probably a 130" class buck and easily over 200lbs plus buck. Going to get him officialyy weighed tomorrow at the butcher shop. I have tons of trail cam pics of this buck and he was definitely on my hit list. Just an awesome feeling when you work hard to get ready for the season and all that hard work payed off for me today.

Last Camera Pull

Well did my last camera pull yesterday and the big boys are still coming in and I have then pretty much patterned for the start of opening day. I am so ready to make it happen on a big mature buck and I know all my hard work in the off season will pay off. Some final pics and good luck to everyone hunting tomorrow on opening day for the 2011 deer season in Maryland.

Almost Time

Well it's only a little over a week to go until the 2011 Maryland bow season for deer will start. I have been scouting all year and have some great stand sites established on several properties both in Southern MD and on the Eastern Shore of MD. I have been preparing all spring/summer and have really worked hard setting stands, clearing shooting lanes/brush and putting out multiple trail cams to hopefully pattern the deer movements. I have no doubt I am ready for opening day and have done everything possible to put the odds in my favor to harvest a big mature whitetail buck. I will check my cams one more time at the end of the this week and then it will be killing time on Sept 15th opening day. Here are a few more recent trail cam pics.

Looking Good

Well the start of the 2011 Maryland deer season is less than two months away and I have several mature bucks on my properties. I already have a hit list going of some really nice bucks I hope to harvest this year and by the looks of my recent trail cam pics it's going to be a great deer season for me, let's hope so.

Getting Bigger!!

The bucks on my property are really growing some impressive head gear and starting to put the tine length and mass on.

Big Boys Are Back!!

Well I have started my scouting for the 2011 deer season and man I am so excited that Freak Nasty and the Big 8 have survived another season and are showing up on my trail cam pics. These are two monster Maryland bucks and no doubt I will have some memorable encounters with them this fall.

Stripers on the Bay

Me and the wife did a little striped bass fishing on the Chesapeake bay with my good buddy Mike Riley. Well we both caught stripers and as usual my wife catches the biggest one. That's two years in a row she has caught the biggest striper and what a great time we had fishing together.

Team Buckwild puts the Smackdown!! on a big Tom Turkey

Just an awesome hunt Saturday guys and definitely exciting. I took my buddy Rich (Team Buckwild) out for a turkey hunt at my Charles county property and we got it done. Got set up at 05:45 and right away had three toms within 100 yards of our set up gobbling on the roost. They flew down at 06:15 and I started calling with some very soft yelps and I got a bird gobbling his head off and coming in fast. One more soft yelp and I shut up and here he comes into view on the left side of our set up. I tell Rich to slowly move to his left and the bird is behind some thick brush about 50 yards out. Rich moves and I work the bird for another 5 minutes with some purrs and clucks. This bird is fired up and thunder gobbling, spitting and drumming and putting on one hell of a show for us. Well he finally can't stand it and my calling is driving him nuts so he comes in at full strut to 35 yards and I tell Rich to take him and Rich just hammers this bird down to the ground. What a freaking awesome hunt and it's only 06:30 and we have a big mature tom down baby. Well after some serious celebrating and a ton of pictures we tag him up and head back to the truck. This is Rich's first turkey and what a hell of a nice bird, 20 pounds, 10 inch beard and 3/4 inch spurs. He is having this great tom full body mounted and man what a awesome time in the woods today.

Ohio Tom Down

Well I had a great time hunting turkeys in South Eastern Ohio this past weekend and probably the toughest turkey hunt I have ever been on due to the terrible weather but also one of the most enjoyable. Got to hunt camp Thursday evening and met up with my outfitter Shane Montgomery and the news wasn't all that promising from the get go. Bad weather had shut the birds down pretty much and my three day hunt had a forecast of rain and thunder storms so I was prepared for a tough hunt. Well after talking to Shane I got settled in at the farmhouse I was staying at and after a very fine dinner delivered to me at the house I talked about Friday's morning hunt with Shane's 16 year old son Kyle who would be guiding me. We decided to hunt a power line cut the following morning and Kyle has seen several toms previously there strutting around mid morning. Well 5:15 am Kyle picks me up and after a short drive to our hunting area we set up a ground blind on the power line cut and get ready. Well it starts pouring rain for the next 3 hours straight and no gobbles are heard or turkeys seen. Right at 9:00 am the rain slows down to a steady drizzle and after I do some soft clucks a hen walks out into the cut and I call her to within 30 yards but no tom was with her. Exactly at 9:30 am I take out my box call and really let it rip with some loud yelps and we hear a gobble about 300 yards away. I wait 5 minutes and call again with the box call and now we see him about 200 yards down the power line cut in full strut. I have Kyle pull out his slate call and he starts clucking and purring softly and this tom is coming to us on a dime gobbling and strutting the whole way. Talk about exciting and I am sitting in this blind pumped beyond belief watching this awesome tom put on a show for us. Well he closes the distance to about 50 yards and all I need for him to do is take a few more steps towards us and he is toast. Well as most smart birds do he gets nervous because he can't see a hen (damn we should have put a decoy out when he first gobbled) and he turns away and walks into the woods behind some thick brush and now I have no shot. Well we work him for another 5 minutes double calling and he is hot and gobbles but won't come out of those woods back into the power line cut. We hear him start to walk away and about 10 minutes later he is back in the power line cut about 200 yards down from our blind. We do some soft calling to him and he is still gobbling but walking away from us and turns around a bend in the power line cut and we can't see him anymore. Me and Kyle jump out of the blind and come up with a plan to go into the woods, downhill and work our way along a ravine to get in front of the tom. So we beat feet through the woods and after 15 minutes of working our way quietly through this ravine we come up to the power line cut about 500 yards down from our blind in the same direction the tom was traveling. I peek out into the power line cut and can't see the tom so I pull out my box call and do a loud yelp. WOW!! Did he ever sound off with a thunder gobble and he is just about 100 yards on the opposite side of the power line cut in the thick woods. I quickly crawl out into the open and set up a decoy and then get ready as Kyle sets up behind me and starts to purr soft. He thunder gobbles again and I motion to Kyle to stop calling he is no doubt coming in. Within 30 seconds he steps out into the power line cut 50 yards in front of me, comes to full strut and walks towards the decoy. I have my red dot on his head and when he hits 40 yards I send a full load of 3 inch #5 shot into his head and he drops. What an amazing and exciting hunt and it is now 10:20 am and we worked this great tom for almost an hour and called him in twice before I put the smackdown!! on him. He weighed 18 pounds, had a 10 inch beard and my personal best for spur length, 1 1/2 inches on both spurs. Even though the weather was horrible with hard rain, lightning and high winds I managed to take this fine tom during my three day hunt and definitely one of my best turkey hunts ever.

Youth Day Tom

What a great youth day for me as I had the great pleasure to call in a beautiful tom turkey for my buddy Joey. This was a tough hunt with the wind/rain and to be honest I was a bit worried we might not get a shot at a bird. Me and Joey hung tough in the nasty weather (being in a pop up blind helped for sure) and at 11:00 I got out the trusty box call and really let it rip loud hoping a cruising tom would hear my call over the wind/rain. Well as most smart birds do in bad weather this big boy came in totally silent but I saw him coming to my lone hen decoy and had Joey gun up ready to shoot. Well did he ever make a great shot at 30 yards with his 20 gauge and he just hammered this great tom. What a great bird and he weighed 24 pounds, 10 inch beard and 1 1/4 inch spurs. Man what a great hunt for me and if you hunt hard good things happen. Serious I think I'm starting to like watching my friends get it done in the woods more than myself and on Monday opening day I will taking the wife out and man I want to see her get her first tom turkey, hope so.

Hunter

Late Season Doe

Harvested this nice young tasty doe and had 5 doe and 2 small bucks under my stand today. Allot of hunters don't get out during the late season but some of my best hunting days are during the late bow season. If your prepared for the cold and hunt hard good things can happen.

Sika Stag Down

Well hunted both days of the late firearms season and Friday was a great day in the stand at my eastern shore lease in Dorchester county. Met up with my buddy Andy (Big Fox) early in the am and after a long discussion on stand choices ( I offered him the choice of what stand he wanted to hunt to include my choice) we got into the stand at 5:45 am and waited for first light. Well at exactly 6:45 I hear shooting from directly in front of me on the adjacent property so hoping a few deer might be pushed my way I'm ready with gun in hand. 5 minutes later I hear animals running through the woods directly toward's me and I see it's two sika stags and the first one is a huge 6 point stag and another stag behind him. They run past my stand and I try to mouth grunt them to stop but not a chance. On a dead run the big six point stag crosses the road at 75 yards from my stand with the other stag coming up behind him. I have nothing to loose at this point so I yell as loud as I can at the second stag and he stops just on the road 75 yards from me. I already have the scope on him and see he is at least a three point stag so the safety goes off quick and I fire and he drops right there on the road. That .243 round put a serious hurt on him and double lunged him, two kicks and he was finished. I was pumped as this is the first deer of any kind with horns I have harvested this year, talk about an exciting hunt. Well I call Big Fox with the good news and get down to check out my stag. Much to my good fortune he is a really good 4 point stag and I drag him to the stand and get back to hunting as it's still early. Well at 11:00 me and Big Fox take a break and after some great field pics he is gutted and hanging from the meat pole (thanks for the help Andy). We hunt to the afternoon with no more sightings but for me this was a great day in the stand and one hard earned stag.