The Wart Buck and the Bear!

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October 30, 2010

I headed for the huntin' club early this morning and stopped at a 24 hour Walmart for necessary provision for a weekend at the hunting camp.

I had planned to hunt my favorite stand this morning but as I turned onto a county dirt road I noticed a vehicle had already been down the road on top of the nights dew. The thought immediately came to me that this is most likely going to be the guy that is hunting the adjoining property about 50yds from my stand. As I pulled up to our common gate so did the wheel sign I was following....*#!%!*.

I was already a little late but rather than go on to the stand and stare at my neighbor for 2 hours, I decided to go to another stand. My nearest stand was a mile and a half away and I had to get thru 2 gates to get there. I turned the truck around and headed for Moccasin Drain. I was not looking forward to a hunt here however. I had been running a trail camera there for over a month without catching a single buck on camera. I really had no hopes of seeing anything there.

Well, I humped all my gear and myself into the stand and got everything setup for the mornings hunt, good or bad.

It was an entertaining morning. The birds and squirrels were very active and it was obvious that there was a major feed going on. There were some turkeys roosted a short distance away and they were extremely vocal, coarse yelping and cutting. I started calling back at them with just my mouth and they got really fired up. One hen even flew tree to tree over to me. There were several cackles that I thought were turkeys coming off the roost but I never got to see one.

I think it was about 7:45 when I glanced over to a small opening to the west at about 45yds. At the left edge was a dark brown form there that I did not remember being there earlier. Not knowing if it was looking at me I sat motionless until finally it moved. It turned its head and gave me the chance to raise my binoculars and give him a check......Buck! A Shooter!

I went into action, got the video camera rolling and pointed at the deer. The only problem was one step and the deer could be behind a screen of palmettos and young cabbages. The camera suddenly lost its importance and I quickly raised my Encore and settled the cross hair on the buck as he turned. I touched her off, smoke belched from the barrel and the bullet was on its way.

At the shot the camera fell forward and started videoing the ground. As the smoke cleared I could see the deer on the ground thru the palmettos. I tipped the camera back up and got on the deer. About then I realized the deer was still struggling and I had better reload in case I needed to shoot again.

I turned the camera to me to get some footage of me reloading. Just as I set the bullet in the barrel I glanced towards the deer and saw what I perceived to be a monster black boar hog rushing my deer. I went into overdrive, ramming the bullet down the barrel. I could not understand what a hog was doing running up to a downed deer? Never heard of that. I shouldered my Encore to shoot the big hog and was shocked to see it was not a hog….it was a bear!!! and he had my buck by the neck! About that time he took off with him. All I could think to do was holler at him.

I hollered at the bear with my most menacing voice and to my surprise the bear stopped. I hollered again and he dropped my buck and took off to the Northwest as fast as he could.

I was not about to part with my deer. I quickly got down and eased over to the downed buck. I had quite a dilemma on my hands. It was almost a quarter mile to the road and if I left the deer to go get help dragging him out, he might not be there when I got back. If I tried to drag the buck out by myself the bear could pretty easily slip up on me and I only had one shot! I decided I had to chance the drag by myself and get him out of there and back to the road. It was a little unnerving there with the dead deer knowing there was bear around that probably wanted him even more than I did, especially while I was dragging him out. I can tell you I kept a pretty good eye on my back trail.

That was just about the most incredible thing I have ever witnessed in the woods! Unfortunately, I really blew it on the video footage. I missed the kill shot and only ended up with a couple of seconds of the bear, just a black dot in the distance. I missed the best part where the bear was fully visible as he ran thru a small clearing.

It turned out that I had shot real high and just barely caught the deer in the bones the stick up above the spinal column. He was broke down in the back and struggling when the bear rushed in and caught him. Talk about bad luck!

I did get some after the fact footage and still pictures and it is quite evident where the bear had the deer by the neck. The hair is all wet with bear slobber and there are several visible puncture holes and scratched

The oddness of the story does not end there however and once I got to the buck and realized the bear appeared to be gone, I noticed he had a large growth on his right jaw. As I got closer I could see he was covered in warts and was a sight to see. Otherwise the deer was in healthy condition. I did do some research  on deer warts and found out they are caused by a virus but is not known to be transmitted to humans. I did however take the precaution of wearing some protective gloves for the quartering. My ole huntin buddy Steve on the other hand, being a seeker of knowledge, made a through examination of the warts, minus the gloves! His wife a b o u t  h a d  a  f i t when she discovered he'd been touching the ugly, bulbous, black growths....bare handed!

Later that afternoon I decided to hunt a different stand several miles from where I had the mornings bear encounter.

About 45 minutes before dark I heard something approaching from the east. I got the camera going and was surprised to see another big black bear coming down the trail! I have a digital trail camera right in front of my tree stand and had swapped the card before I climbed into the tree. The bear eventually got close enough to the camera to smell where I had been and got up and started tracking me down the trail I had used to get to the stand. He passed by my tree at less than 4yds. He continued down the sand trail and when he came to an opening, I kissed at him to stop him and get a still picture. He stopped, swung his head around and realized something was wrong. He was off like a shot, crashing thru the palmettos.

What a day! I have been hunting for over 30yrs. and could count the black bears I have seen on one hand and that day I had seen two in one day including having one catch a crippled deer I had just shot, incredible.

Everyday in the woods is an adventure. You just never know what you are going to see.

Best of Hunts,
Larry Stephens

Muzzleload Season Report, Florida 2010-24 Buck #7 Hits the Ground!

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Sunday, October 31, 2010

Wind: ENE, light & variable
temp.: l 55 , h. 82
moon: 1 day past quarter moon
major feed: 5:35 am, 6:00 pm
pressure: 30.08 
humidity: avg. 50% 42 min. 61max.
rain: 0 today

AM Hunt:

I headed for the kill zone stand this morning hoping I would not have company from my neighbor.

As it cracked daylight I could see the neighbors stand was vacant and I had it to myself.

About 45minutes after daylight I heard a deer blowing off in rattlesnake flat. The wind was not blowing that way so i figured it could not be blowing at me. It was almost an hour later before I had any more activity. All of the sudden I heard something hit the palmettos over my left shoulder. About that time I spotted a deer hopping head high thru the tall bushes and palmettos......a buck! I thru the glasses on him and realized he was a big buck with some substantial horns.

I had the camera running but things were happening so fast I did not have time to try to get the camera on him for the shot. The buck was obviously looking for a deer he had lost and was looping back the direction he had come from. It was shoot and shoot quick or miss the opportunity all together. Not being one to miss an opportunity I shot fast and skipped the video.

One well placed shot to the shoulder with a T/C Shockwave and the buck was on the ground where he stood.

He turned out to be my best buck of the year, a great 7pt., although he did have a broken brow tine.

I drug the buck out and got him loaded and headed for camp. I ran into my huntin buddy Steve O on his 4wheeler. I pulled up and and Steve said "whud ya shoot?" I knew he was only about a mile from me that morning and would have heard the shot. I replied, did you hear a shot? "yeah, I heard a shot...did you shoot?" I said, you know I did hear a shot and kind of glanced back at the bed of my truck. Steve jumped off his 4wheeler, "Damn you Stephens, did you shoot another one?" About then he reached my truck and saw the buck's horns......".Damn, what a buck!" and just shook his head.

I was just just a little catch up between friends after he killed a big 8pt I was hunting and had been getting on my trail camera. a couple weekends earlier.

It has been quite a season! Probably my best ever, (5) bucks with a bow and (2) with a muzzleloader and all the bow kills I was able to get on video. That's no small feat. Being the hunter and camera man is quite a challenge. Also, I let at least 3 small bucks go, along with a handful of does. Usually, I take a couple does each year with my bow but by the time I got an opportunity this year I had already shot several bucks and could not handle any more meat.

I usually don't hunt much here in Florida after the muzzleload season as I head for Illinois for a two week bow hunt and then back for the second firearm season and that kills the whole month of November and the first week of December. After that is over I'm about hunted out. I am pretty into filming my hunts this year so if it works out I might put some more time in the stand here during the general gun season but I will hunt with either a bow or muzzleloader.

Hopefully, I'll have a few more exciting tales to share. I'll post some of the videos as I can get them edited but no idea how long it will take to get to that.

Best of Hunts,
Larry S.

If you are looking for some advise on a muzzleload bullet, do yourself a favor and give the T/C Shockwave a try. I promise you, you won't be disappointed! I have been shooting them for 6 or 7 years and they are devestating on a deer. I have never lost a deer I knew I hit and most never took another step. The ones that did, left a blood trail as good as any I ever shot with my .30-06!  Personally, I shoot the 200gr. but I think more people shoot the 250's.

Here's a linq and info on them:

Muzzleload Season Report, Florida 2010-23 Buck #6...Bear Caught!!

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Muzzleload Season Report, Florida 2010-23

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Wind: NE, light
temp.: l 73 , h. 78
moon: quarter moon
major feed: 4:45 am, 5:10 pm
pressure: 30.14 rising
humidity: avg. 51% 44 min. 57max.
rain: 0 today

AM Hunt:

I headed for the huntin' club early this morning and stopped at a 24 hour Walmart for necessary provision for the weekend.

I had planned to hunt my kill zone stand this morning but I soon realized the neighbor on the adjoining property was already here and most likely siting in his stand which is only 45 yds from mine. That caused me to change my plan and head for another stand,  Moccasin Drain.

About 7:45 I shot a nice buck that turned out to be a 5pt. What happened next was nothing short of unbelievable  and probably one of the most incredible things I have ever seen in the woods. Here's a link to the hole story..... http://trophy-hunting.blogspot.com/2010/11/wart-buck-and-bear.html

To make a long story short a rather large black bear came charging in and caught my still live deer by the throat and proceeded to run off with it. I was able to run him off and I quickly got down so I could get the deer out of there before the bear came back.

Another interesting part to the story was that the deer was covered in warts! He had a particularly large growth on the right side of his jaw. I don't think I have ever seen anything like it before. Pretty interesting.

The disappointing part was that I only got a small part of the whole show on video. I only got a few seconds of the bear and the camera was not zoomed so you just see a black dot at the edge of the palmettos.

It was some kind of exciting though!


PM. Hunt:

I decided I would hunt the buck block stand that afternoon but with all I had to do including checking my rifle's sight after the high hit on the buck that morning,  I got to the stand with only about an hour to hunt.

Well, about 30minutes before dark I heard something coming . I got the camera rolling thinking I was about to see a deer and down the trail comes another bear! This one had a broken right front foot and walked with it upside down on his wrist.

He got in front of the trail camera and picked up corn until he finally smelled me. Then he started tracking me down the trail I had used to get to the stand! Lucky for me he missed where I stepped off to go to the tree I was in. When he got in an open place in the trail I kissed at him to stop him and snapped a picture of him.

He realized something was wrong and in a blink he was crashing off thru the woods.

Of course no  deer showed up with the bear having been around.

When I looked at the trail camera card I was shocked to see I had pictures with three bears in the frame at the same time! incredible!

Good Luck,
Larry S.

Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-22

. Thursday, October 28, 2010

Bow Season Report, Florida 2010 -22

Wind: SSE, light
temp.: l 73 , h. 89
moon: 1 day after full moon
major feed: 11:45 am, - pm
pressure: 30.11 rising (cold front approaching in a couple days)
humidity: avg. 54% 23 min. 94max.
rain: 0 today (approx. 1/2" tues.)

AM Hunt:

I have not hunted much this week. I hunted tues. AM but I did not see anything.

Muzzleload season opened this past Saturday. I hunted with the smoke pole over the weekend but I have went back to the Switchback until the weekend when I go back to the club. I may still hunt with the bow.

Anyhow, I hunted this morning but only saw  a yearling doe that came in from down wind and caught me. Naturally, she alerted everyone that I was there. Didn't see anything after that.

One odd thing is most of the corn was still there? The trail camera only had 5 pictures on it? The 75 spike had been there and a deer in the distance I could not identify but that was it. Not even any coons. That almost sounds impossible. I think the camera might be low on batteries. Come to think of it, I put corn out before I checked the cam and it did not catch me until I was 3' from the camera. Sounds like it need a new power supply, these were dollar general cheapies. This Bushnell Camera is pretty stingy on power usage but its best to use quality batteries like Duracell.


PM. Hunt:

This afternoon was uneventful. A shower came up just after I got in the stand and ran me out of the tree. I have not checked the camera yet.

Good huntin',
Larry

Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-21, Buck #5 Goes Down!

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Friday, October 22, 2010


Bow Season Report, Florida 2010 -21

Wind: light and variable, (east and west mainly)
temp.: l 51 , h. 84
moon: 1 day before full moon
major feed: 9:45 am, 10:05 pm
pressure: 30.06 steady
humidity: avg. 54% 23 min. 94max.
rain: 0

AM Hunt:

Friday was the last day of crossbow season. I have been hunting thru the week with my Switchback. After seeing a 3pt at the hunting club come by my kill zone stand at the same time 2 days in a row, I could not wait to get in that stand.

My chance came Friday morning. My wife Tammie finally came to her senses and realized my hunting is arguably the most important thing in the world. What a women, she arranged to go in to work a little later so she could cover for me getting Morgan to school. My bride!

This turned out to be an excellent decision on Tammie's part. Based on the latest trail cam intelligence it appeared the deer were showing up just about 9:15 AM. with a near full moon. Specifically, there was a 3 point that had come by two days in a row at the same time and I fully intended to make him my next victum. I got into the stand before shooting light and got the video camera going and I was ready to go to work.

As expected I was no deer until 9:15 when I spotted a deer standing in a fire break about 50yds south of the stand. I the glasses on him and saw it was a buck but not the 3pt I was there for. This deer had more horns and was at least forked on both sides. After a tense moment he turned into the high gallberries on my side of the line and I knew I was about to get a shot.

I got the camera rolling just as he stepped into the cut line that comes to my stand. He eased along until he was right in the wheel house at 17 yds and started feeding. He fed behind a small bay tree for a long time but finally came sliding out and got broadside enough for a shot.

I zoomed in just a little and when he got is head in the brooms hedge I pulled the bow to full draw. When the pin settled behind his shoulder I touched her off. My Muzzy tipped Camo Hunter shaft entered just behind the shoulder and the buck’s fate was sealed!

The buck wheeled and bolted back down the cut line and stopped at about 40yds, head down and weak at the knees. He staggered off into the gallberries and collapsed on the other side.

He turned out to be a nice little 6pt and the 5th buck I have shot with a bow this year. It was an awesome hunt and I caught the whole thing on video. That’s a difficult thing to do when your camera man and hunter.

I did not have Lacy with me so she was not able to get in on the excitement.

Here’s some pictures of my prize.

The above picture is a little unusual.... this bucks appeared to be loosing his nails like a horse that has foundered. His back feet were not effected. I have only seen this a couple of times myself.

Best of Hunts,
Larry S.



PM. Hunt: (no hunt)


Saturday, Oct. 23,2010

AM. Hunt:

Knowing I was probably making a mistake I decided to hunt the buck block stand behind the sink hole. This was really a poor choice on a full moon morning and so far from lay up but there is always a chance and at least there have been bucks showing up on camera there albeit primarily at night. My other stand has had little activity.

As I expected the hunt was a bust but when you are just coming off a kill you can afford to take a chance on a long shot stand.

When I reviewed the trail camera cards for the two cameras here the deer activity was disappointing. I did have some neat bear pictures. In fact not one but two bears were there at the same time. There were a lot of pictures and I think I’ll post them separately in sequence. Here is the link: http://trophy-hunting.blogspot.com/2010/10/pair-of-florida-black-bears-on-trail.html

I don’t think Steve saw any deer this morning either.

PM. Hunt:

I decided to pull the trail cam off Rick’s stand at the buck block and move it back to the moccasin drain stand and hunt there that afternoon. I walked in on a deer at the stand that I think was a buck but it skipped off tail waving before I could ID it. At dark I had a doe come in and skirt the trail camera. It was really an eye opener. You can read a more in depth account of just what went down as well as some other interesting deer/trail camera activity in a separate posting. Here is the link to that: http://trophy-hunting.blogspot.com/search/label/Writings%20from%20Huntin%20Camp



Sunday, Oct. 24, 2010

AM Hunt:

I hunted the kill zone stand as this is one of the best stands I know of for seeing a deer on a full moon morning. At 9:15 AM. A buck stepped into the fire break to the south and paused long enough for me to id him as the 3” pencil horn I have been getting on camera here. He crossed the line on to the neighboring property and disappeared.

That was pretty much the extent or the hunt. Again, we were plagued with a light and variable wind.

Steve did not see a deer this morning.

When I pulled the trail camera card at the m.d. stand it had a small doe with a wound to the neck with a large hematoma the size of a grape fruit. Don't know what happened to her but I hope she get over it.
Kind of looks like an exit hole from a three blade broadhead actually.

PM Hunt: (no hunt)

The afternoon hunt was called on account of the water heater going out at the house....The girls seems to think bathing is more important than hunting?

Good Luck,
Larry

Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-20

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Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-20

Thurs., Oct. 21, 2010

Wind: ESE light AM
temp.: l 59, 87h.
moon: 2 days before full moon
major feed: 9:05 am, 9:25 pm
pressure: 30.01 steady
humidity: avg. 59% 48 min. 73max.
rain: 0

AM. & PM. Hunt:


With bitterness over not being able to go to the kill zone stand this morning I went ahead and hunted where I could, the Pond stand. I finally got to see a deer! a doe cut thru the edge of the pine barren to the NW. I think she might have caught a whiff of me as she ended up leaving back the way she had come from with her tail waving. Shortly after that I had a coon come by but never offered to stop for some corn. I'm thinking a neighbor is feeding somewhere as several deer have done the same thing recently.

I pulled the camera card and was surprised to see a big cow horn spike with a brow time had returned to have his picture made and have some corn. He's on the hit list. He came twice last night but I never see him in the light. he did have muddy legs up to his knees & elbows. That was interesting and gives me a clue where he is coming from.

Here's a few pic's,

PM Hunt:

Larry S.

Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-19

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Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-19

Tues., Oct. 19, 2010
Wind: E light
temp.: l 57, 80h.
moon: 4 days before full moon
major feed: 7:50 am, 8:10 pm
pressure: 29.98 steady
humidity: avg. 59% 48 min. 73max.
rain: 0

AM. & PM. Hunt:

Hunted the Pond stand today and saw zero deer in either the morning or evening. There was nothing significant on the trail camera and the bigger bucks have not visited the stand that I know of in quite a few days.
 
Tammie, my wife called me on her way home to report she had seen 12 armadillos and (3) hogs in two different spots feeding along a major highway at 5:30 in the afternoon. When you see armadillos feeding in the daylight there is definitely a feed going on.

 
 
Wednesday Report:
 
 AM Hunt:

The weather conditions were typical of the previous day except the wind was NW this morning which was fine with me. Unfortunately, once again, no deer showed up. The trail camera was not encouraging either. This afternoon, I'm headed to Cabbage Creek. Maybe something is going on over there. The camera cards have been out for 3 days and one is in a new area that had a pile of sign. If I can get there early enough I'll pull them all.

PM. Hunt:

I hunted the kill zone stand at Cabbage Creek this afternoon. It was pretty dead. There was no activity and I saw no deer.

I pulled the Camera card and found a 3pt. had visited the stand the last two mornings in a row at 9:15 to 9:45 AM! Unfortunately, I cannot hunt there in the mornings during the seek. My wife Tammie thinks getting Morgan to school in the morning is somehow more important than me killing a nice buck? I have difficulty understanding her logic sometimes!

Anyway, here's his picture:

 
Larry Stephens

Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-18

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Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-17

Wind: E light
temp.: l 50, 80h.
moon: 4 days after quarter moon
major feed: 7:15 am, 7:35 pm
pressure: 30.06 steady
humidity: avg. 48% 32 min. 100max.
rain: 0

AM. Hunt:

It was all I could do to drag myself out of bed this morning. Matter of  fact I had already reset the alarm for some more sleep. Then I started thinking about the trail camera being out all weekend and all the big bucks that must have been standing in line to get their picture taken while I was off hunting some place else.

I got climbed and settled in to the stand about 7:00 AM..  About 20 minutes later I notice a deer step into the 5 th. row down to the east. I got the camera rolling and then put the glass on him.....buck! a spike! Well, he did not look like any of the Bucks I had seen on the cam and I finally decided I would take a shot if I got one.

It was obvious he had something other than corn on his mind and he was scent checking everything  as he wandered along. He even did a lip curl.

Once he got beside me he turned to the north walking away from me. I grunted at him a few times without him hearing me and finally had to really get loud to get his attention. By this time he was out about what I thought was 25+ yds. When he stopped broadside, I split my 20 & 30 yd pin and launched!

The deer ripped off thru the pines and into the chop. My first thought was that the shot looked pretty high but was not real worried at that. However, the more I thought about it the more worried I got. The first problem was I could not see my arrow sticking in the ground. That was because it was not there and that is not usually a good thing. If you shoot a deer thru the rib cage where you should, The arrow blows right thru, clean. If it stops in the deer you hit some major bone.

I rolled the video back but it was not a lot of help. Just as I finished that and went to move I heard a deer blow right behind me and turned to see a huge cow horn spike hopping off. He had snuck behind me while I was distracted. Maybe we'll meet again.

Well, I climbed down to have a look at the arrow. It was not at the shot site. I looked up the trail and spotted something long, shinning up ahead about 20 yds. One look with the glasses immediately told me I was probably in trouble. I was in fact my shaft and it was broken off way up near the fletching. When I got my hand on it, it was covered with meat and almost no blood. dang it! how did I shoot this deer in the back strap? No blood means no chest shot. Two of the blades were bent also.

I trailed him off into the chop and never found even a pin drop of blood.

I knew this was not going to be a deer that could be recovered, even with the dog. Nothing about the wound was fatal enough to put the deer down. Barring a bad infection, he will probably over our little meeting.

An unrecovered, crippled deer is one thing that just sucks the wind right out of my sails. When I got to the office The first thing I had to do was review the footage to shed some light on what had happened. I was able to determine the deer was completely at fault in the situation. I had later ranged the deer at 28yds and shot it for 25yds. The footage revealed the the deer had badly jumped the string on me it looks to have been as much as 8-10". I shoot a heavy arrow that weighs 467 grains at about 251 fps. That's pretty incredible a deer could almost duck it completely and he was not even tight when I shot.

I have a real problem with holding low but I am trying to over come it.

After reviewing the video I decided I was going to shake this off and get right back in the tree.

PM. Hunt:

I went back to the same stand this afternoon. I walked in on a yearling already at the stand but that was all I saw tonight.

I'll get back in there in the morning and see what shows. There are  a pile of deer using here. I got a few pic's with as many as 5 deer in one shot and a new 5pt buck that we have not seen before was in there.

Here are a few pic's from the weekend:

Good Luck,
Larry S.