Bow Season Report, Florida 2010-16

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Thursday, October 14, 2010

Bow Season Report, Florida 2010 -16

Wind: WNW +/-

temp.: l 64, 86h.

moon: quarter moon

major feed: 4:25 am, 4:50 pm

pressure: 29.92

humidity: avg. 45% 27 min. 100max.

rain: 0

AM Hunt: (none)

PM. Hunt:

Hunted Cabbage Creek at the kill zone but did not see any deer activity. When I got home and saw the trail cam I was sick. There was a real nice 8pt that had come by the stand at 9:45am that morning. Also, the corn supply got raided by a bruiser of a black bear. His belly looks as big around as a 55gal. drum. Steve told me this evening he saw where he had been pulling palmetto buds near his stand up the creek from me.

Speaking of Steve (my hunting buddy I share a camp with at Cabbage Creek), I decided to stop by the camp after my hunt and see what he had done. I knew he had hunted his stand in the next block over from me as I had heard him crank his 4 wheeler about dark and leave.

Well, Steve was just about to dial my number when I pulled in to camp. He had shot a 6-7” spike type buck and needed some help looking for it. We packed up and headed back down to the deer pen to put Lacy on the track.

Steve had recovered the arrow. It had considerable blood on it but I did not like the chunks of meat stuck to the shaft. That is typical of a mussel shot. He also related that the impact had a pretty good crack to it so I assumed we were looking at a leg bone hit. I think this assessment was correct but was probably very low. Possibly even below the chest cavity. All the blood we found was very low in the bushes and there was not very much of it. Lacy took right to the track and was pulling extremely hard and after about 100yds started opening on it. That’s very unusual for her and typically means the deer is alive and we are not far behind it. I have never actually seen her open like that while tracking. This was 2 hours after Steve had shot the deer. There was probably other deer involved in this but unassociated with the buck. We found some minor amounts of blood out to about 100 yds and none beyond. We restarted Lacy 3 times and spent an hour and a half in the dark with flashlights looking for blood. Steve finally pulled the plug about 10:30 and we decided the deer was not recoverable. I believe this is either the deer that I let go the first morning or maybe the one that got by me last Sunday morning.

A couple of side notes however: A friend of mine Kace Gardner killed a true Florida monster buck this morning near Ocala, Fl.. He was just an 8pt. But the mass was exceptional for any deer, let alone a Florida buck. I would guess him to score in the 120” range with 6-7” bladed brow tines! I’ll try to get some picture to post. He has been hunting this deer for 3 years and has trail camera pictures of him as well as an even larger typical 12pt.,

I had one more hilarious story to add. I decided to cape the head of the 4pt from Wednesday and film it to post to the blog some time for guys who don’t know how this is done. I called Len my kayak buddy to see if he could help me. He replied “yea, I’ll be glad to give you a hand.” I was a little concerned in the back of my mind as this operation is not for someone with a weak stomach, especially when you get to the part where the skin is removed past the eye and exposed.

I set up everything up in the kitchen at the office and I got to work caping and explaining and Len was filming. Everything was going great until I got to the part where I explained that you have to put your finger in the eye and lift up on the skin and cut it free from the orbital bone and eyeball.

I no more got the words out of my mouth when I saw Len move a little. As I started to turn to look at him I saw him stagger back a step or two. That was all she wrote! It was lights out for Len. The camera and tripod went flying and he hit the floor.

I dropped my knife and grabbed the camera off him. My hands were bloody so I started to wash them real quick and all of the sudden he came out of it. I said, Len, Len, you o.k……He replied, “yea, what happened?” He had no idea even where he was for just a second. He later told me his first thought was that we were kayak fishing and why is Larry yelling, am I o.k.? He sat piled up on the floor, in the corner for about 10 minutes until he gained his composure. After I realized he we were not having a medical emergency, I laughed until I about cried! Every time I think about it I start laughing. It was unbelievably funny, I swear!

Against my better judgment, Len finally claimed he was o.k. to finish filming but I cannot confirm he finished the rest of the video with his eyes open. I have my doubts.

I called the next day to check on him and he said he thought the cutting and blood had nothing to do with the fainting but that is wishful thinking. That’s exactly what happened….Len.

I do have to say he did a great job filming otherwise and commend him for hanging in there.

Wish you had been there to see it!!!!!


Friday 15, 2010

AM. Hunt:

I hunted the pond stand and saw exactly zero! Pulled the trail cam and when I reviewed it there was a 6pt that had been there wed. night that is huge. He’s larger than the big 8pt. Also, the big 8 was back early this morning about 5:30am. That was all great news but again, it was all after dark.

PM Hunt:

Back to the kill zone. Saw (1) coon! The trail cam only had one deer on it…the 3” pencil horn spike and that was at night. That was a little disappointing. Nothing in the daylight. I plan to spend a long morning in that stand Sat. morning and we’ll see what we see!

Time to go to bed, I’m beat.

Larry S.
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