Year 2001/02 GA Hunting Season Log

12/26/01 – 01/02/02

LPHC Hunting Trip for the 2001 / 02 season. This year we get an added bonus of a few extra days in camp due t the fact that the girls and Russ’s kids will be arriving after the hunt and spending New Years at the cabin. This year also brings us a long overdue visitor – Doug joins us for the hunt this year…

Weds, Dec 26^th

After a nice visit to FL for Christmas, got on the road at the crack of dawn departing from Mom & Dad’s house. Two vehicles packed up to the hilt with gear, food and drinks! No truck this year for RMJ, the 4-Runner makes the trip. With Russ’s large cooler on the roof, other than sucking down some gas – the trip was uneventful. This time Dad remembers his radios so at least we can chitchat during the ride up.

Doug was already at camp when we arrived. Dave and Sandy where laughing because they never had anyone come to a hunting camp in a taxi before. By the sounds of it – the driver wasn’t too happy about the situation either. But for $30 bucks from the Columbus Airport – it was not a bad deal.

The camp is not too full this year – which was good for us. Dave and Sandy allowed us to spread out a bit. To start, Dad and Doug took the Turkey Roost cabin. Russ and me had the cabin adjacent to it. It was nice to be able to spread out a bit.

After getting into camp and unpacking quickly – we get down to the important things of sighting the rifles in and getting the stands put up.

Doug had to take a bunch of shots to get his rifle sighted but was finally successful. After everyone was satisfied that the guns shot straight and there was no room for excuses – we headed down to setup our stands.

After plenty of time to think it over during the year, I decided to place my climber off of the ATV trail below the yellow gate road. This would be about 500 yards away from the rest of the group which was spread between Dad at the lake, Russ near Big Slaughter and Doug about in the center of Indian Springs.

Thurs, Dec 27^th

Up at dawn, after breakfast we are off to a hectic start. Trying to get organized on the first day before the hunt is always a little intense. The guys leave before I do in the 4-Runner. I finish putting my gear on the ATV, adding some extra scent-block into the gear-bag and we are off!

The ride in by ATV is always cold! You can’t haul ass down the road without freezing your canarkus off. Into the stand at daybreak, too much chitchat on the radios in the AM. Everyone agreed to back off a bit to keep things quite.

I was up in the tree stand about 30 feet and man was it cold. Once the sun came up over the hill things began to warm up quickly. Seems like a good spot – a few open shots, a few thick ones – but I’ll stick it out for a while. Boy do tree-stands make all the difference down here!

As we approach 11:30 AM, of course from over my left shoulder out of the shooting range of motion comes four Doe walking right towards my stand. I’m a bit too patient as they proceed to practically come under the stand making my shot to the left down and practically over my back. As I line it up – several of them look up at me. They don’t smell me and if it wasn’t for the angle of the sun they would have been long gone. I take the shot and they scatter like rabbits!

Of course this sets off an array of messages back and forth on the radios. Trying to get down off a stand, keep an eye on the direction the deer went, and keep everyone informed is too much. The speed at which the deer took off has me concerned that I missed the shot. I'm almost certain that I knocked her down but in all the confusion I start second-guessing myself. The woods are very think and its damn near impossible to find and signs of blood. I headed in the direction the deer went which was towards Big Slaughter heading in the direction of the lake near Dad. After about 10 minutes (which seemed like an eternity), hitting the dry river bed (an off-shoot of Big Slaughter) I was getting discouraged. I decided to head back to the stand and re-start the search. Just as I popped up the ledge of the riverbed – there was a dead deer. After announcing my success on the radio, the responses back from the group were less than eloquent.

Finished field dressing the catch and began the drag the deer back to the ATV trail. The Laurels were too thick to get the ATV in close so I had to go bag to the traditional drag. Packed the deer on the ATV and headed towards where the group was parked on the other side of Big Slaughter. As I rounded the corner of the trail and with the truck coming into site – to the right were my two brothers and Dad - each of them proudly displaying their powdering white butts to me in protest of my forth deer for the season. Never quite saw three moons over Indian Springs like that before and I certainly won’t forget that site. It was a riot…

Back to the camp and to the processing shack to begin the work of breaking down the deer. Russ was excited to be able to do this for the first time. I’m starting to get the hang of this and vow never to send a deer to a butcher again.

Liver in the hunting camp on the first day – that’s what its all about… I was even nice enough to share part of my back-strap with the group (just so they remembered what it tasted like). Not too bad. Although the sneers from the rest of the group continue through the night.

Fri, Dec 28^th

Now the pressure is off – I feel like sleeping in. However, we complete the usual morning ritual and get into the woods about on time (just after daybreak). I decided not to mess around with moving the climber and settle in for the Sunrise and perhaps move the stand after lunch. A few distant shots here or there – nothing too close and the woods is very quiet.

Around 10:30 I hear the unmistakable crack of the .35 in the direction of Russ’s stand. A few minutes later a second shot. By the sound of it he had to finish something off…. (Hey that might be grounds for a short tail..) A few minutes later the announcement on the radio that he indeed got not one – but two deer! He sounded like a kid in a candy store. I let him field dress the deer and then as expected the inevitable call for the ATV to help drag the two deer out for him. The group met up by the parking spot and listened to Russ glow for a spell. It’s been a bunch of years since he got anything so this is a big event. After a few beers and a smoke or two – Doug returns into the woods, I head back to camp on the ATV with the two deer with Russ and Dad trailing in the 4-Runner. We leave Dad’s truck for Doug to get back to camp.

I got back to the camp hung the deer at the processing stand and grabbed a drink. About 45 minutes go by and no sign of Russ and Dad. They finally arrive at camp seething over the old lock at the main gate that they couldn’t get opened for all of that time.

Oh well – so be it… Time to get busy processing the deer. Russ takes one; I start skinning the other. About an hour into it, Mitch arrives with a nice size Doe and begins his work. Micth’s deer was blown up like a balloon. After having it sit for a while in the woods (they don’t field dress their deer), the thing looked fat and pregnant. It turned out that was true – it was pregnant.

After processing the deer down to the Ham’s, Russ continues to complete the Job and I head back with another set of keys to the main gate just at dusk to help Doug get out of the gate. He was already through when I met up with him on the road. No luck…

Back to camp to settle down to a campfire and prepare to hear some of the bullshit that is about to fly from Russ. The saying of the night comes from Russ - repeated in nauseam during the night which was “Hey – I got TWO deer”

When we finally settle down for some dinner, you think a guy that got two deer would share some of his venison – but hell no! We get chicken that night… Some guys… I tell ya…

That night, a group of the folks at the camp start a card game in the cookhouse. The hootin’ and hollerin’ going on in there ya think someone bagged a thirty pointer that day. As the game approached 11pm and was still going loud and strong, Mitch (who was in the large bunkroom next to the cookhouse) decided he had about all he could take and proceeded to shut the circuit breaker (which was conveniently located in his room) off to the cook house. The group got the message and ended the game.

Sat, Dec 29^th

With some deer in the coolers it becomes increasing difficult to get up in the morning and proceed to a cold and damp tree stand. Doug’s seems to be motivated the most since he’s down to his last day and so far - no success. After a late start into the woods I decided it was time to move the tree stand. Some quick scouting turned up several scrapes and good patterns only about a 100 yards further in from where the stand was. Got settled in to a very uneventful day. Very little shots fired and once again, a quite day in the woods.

Returned to camp for a great grilled pork chop dinner and a whole bunch of fireside razzing. I think the group is getting tired of Russ’s constant reminder about his two deer. Doug and Dad retire for the night. Russ decides to give them a surprise in the morning and precedes to hang some deer hooves in their doorway. Nothing like a few deer hooves in the morning to get ya going!

Sun, Dec 30^th

The days of this hunt season are growing short… The morning routine is slowing down quite a bit. Dad proceeds to make breakfast for the group and includes Georgina and her hubby. Doug is down to the last few hours of the morning hunt before he has to depart. A real cold morning in the stand. Off in the distance I here a buck snorting. It sounded like it was heading towards the ATV path and must have gotten wind –or- eyesight of the ATV before retreating into the thickets. Damn! I’ll need to park further back next time… This ordeal has re-energized me a bit to refocus on the task at hand.

Back to the cabin for some lunch. Doug departs around 1pm for the airport – sorry to see him go. After repacking the meat with ice, Russ and I head back into the woods. The afternoon was warmer for a change – in fact, too warm. Prior to climbing into the tree, I added some extra scent to the deer scrapes that were in eye-site of my stand. Just about in the same direction that I heard the buck this morning, I hear some rattling going on. It happened a few times over the course of a few hours. At first I wasn’t sure if it was another hunter – but was confident that the rattles were real. As dusk feel I came down off the tree stand and headed back to camp.

An earlier shot in the distance turned out to be a small Doe that Georgina got. Her hubby (Dan?) does the honors of processing the deer. They are keeping the pelt so he does a long and meticulous job of removing the Hyde. Nice work…

Typical campfire and then meatloaf for dinner. The hunt is just about over….

Mon, Dec 31^st

With the girls and Russ’s family in-bound. We get a bonus morning of hunting before their arrival. A very quiet morning and once again warm. No luck for anyone as the morning closed out fast. Back to camp to prep for the troops arrival.

With the family in and not too many people in the camp, Pam and I are able to take up Luther’s room in front of the barbeque pit. It’s nice to be able to have our own room.

After unpacking we get down to some target practice with the kids. It’s Ryan’s first shot of his new .20Ga. Devon gets a chance with the .22Ga with some assistance of someone holding one of his eyes shut and propping him up on a tire to give me a little height. The kids have a blast with the target practice and the ATV rides.

Drinks around the campfire as Russ prepares the seafood feast that the girls brought with them (King Crab Legs). The party gets into full swing for the new years with Pam and Close decorating Norms cabin. Back and forth between two campfires as the new years rolled in. Music from my MP3 collection hooking the PC up to the stereo of the 4-Runner. Mom and Dad look warn down from the activities – but we made the best of it and had a great new years… A few shots from the .35 and .30-06 to celebrate the new year didn’t sit well with everyone – but it was fun to do…

Tues, Jan 1^st, 2002

After a fairly late night – we woke up in the morning to sleet. During breakfast it changed over to all snow and began to accumulate. Too bad we have to leave today – this would be the time to hunt for sure… As we packed up the vehicles, the kids are having a blast in the snow. For some of them, this is the first snow they have seen. This was also true for Georgina – who from being born and raised in Florida – this was exciting for her.

Pam and I depart in the late morning for our next stop in North Carolina. We leave the camp in a flurry of snowballs from the kids.. This season is over… Lickin’ Pot is on my mind till next year. And rest assured –I’ll be considering my stand locations for next year throughout the summer… Great place!