Field Journals

Got Game?  Email us a photo & story of your hunt, and we will post it here!

Kristie’s First Bow Kill

“I just wanted to share my first deer harvest! This has been an amazing experience.I bought my bow in February of 2011. Its an Electric Pink Mathews Passion. I wouldn’t have it any other way. The bow is set at 45 pounds. Its a 50 lb bow. I practiced all year long. I got my hunting license in August of last year. Started hunting deer on opening day! I had been out 37 times… yes I keep track of everything on a calendar because I’m a girl. I had a few close calls but overall I hadn’t seen any deer in the past two months. I put a cuddeback attack camera out near my stand a few months ago and the deer seemed to be in movement from 8pm-5am. Prime time was 3am. Then the last few weeks they have started to come out at 6/6:30pm. I have about 10 bucks on camera. Two amazing bucks that I’ve been following all season.  Well Monday 1.9.12, it started snowing. I thought it would be perfect to go out because I had a feeling that deer would come out earlier than usual. The weather was amazing. It was so beautiful! Being the Photographer that I am I had to take a few short videos with my iPhone before the deer came out! It was cold and I had on about 5 layers and 6 hand warmers. No gloves. I was at my tree stand at my Dads in Port Tobacco, MD. My Electric Pink Mathews Passion ready to go. I had just said to myself these deer are really going to be easy to see because the ground is white! No more than a minute later I started seeing does. First time in probably 1.5 months. I was stoked! The third deer was a buck! Bad thing was his antlers were camouflaged thanks to the snow cover. They weren’t in shooting range for a good 20 minutes. I went ahead and got ready. Made sure my peep sight was right on, my arrow was knocked properly. I didn’t want anything to go wrong. The does came around but I wanted to wait for that buck. Next thing I know there are about 7 deer surrounding me. I was shaking but I knew it was finally my chance to prove to the boys that I could do this! There were 10 minutes left of shooting time. That buck came around a tree and I pulled back. Again his antlers were camouflaged but I could see he had three points on one side and he was WIDE. So he was a shooter for me! None of them had a clue I was there. I knew he was between 20 to 22 yards. I had hunted there so many times. I knew what trees were what. He stood perfectly broadside. I took my time, took a breath and let go. My G5 T3 hit him perfectly in his lungs near his heart! He kicked and ran off. I watched him run away. My first deer! I waited 25-30 minutes in my tree stand. Called my boyfriend and Dad! They came over. They were excited and anxious too. We followed the blood trail. Thanks to the snow that was easy. 40 yards from my stand there he was! Beautiful 8 Point Buck! I was so excited. What an amazing feeling.We took pictures. My boyfriend did the dirty work for me and gutted him and we dropped him off to Edelens Taxidermy in Faulkner, MD. I’m still pretty happy. He wasn’t one of the two bucks that I had my eye on but he sure is a beauty! I can’t wait to get him back!

This was my 37th time going out hunting. It’s been a long season for me but I never gave up. I had seen small button bucks and small does early in the season but they were too small for me to shoot. I like to let the young deer live a little longer. One morning I saw a beautiful 8 point buck but he wasn’t in shooting range at all. It was upsetting. I just knew it wasn’t meant to be.  I got a pink TC Encore Muzzleloader for my birthday in early October. I took that out quite a bit but again, never saw anything. I’m glad my first deer kill was with a bow. I feel like I accomplished something. It’s been an amazing experience and I can’t wait until I do it again.

I’d also like to add that Jonathan, my boyfriend bought me an entire package from “Just for Does” for Christmas. Lotion, Shampoo, Conditioner, two hats and two shirts. I highly recommend using their products. Compared to the scentless items you can buy at the local stores. These products are made for women! It doesn’t take 10 minutes to brush my hair. They don’t make scentless conditioner in the stores. The shampoo is volumizing too. I don’t get static like the other products seem to have issues with. Thats just my two sense for those girls with long hair!  =)  The deer didn’t even know I was there!” —– Kristie, Maryland

Stacey’s “Birthday” Turkey

“The 2011 turkey season opened on April 18th, which also happened to be my birthday.  I’d always heard that turkeys were very difficult to hunt and often took walking miles through the woods to catch up to one.  We headed out into the woods early that morning and when we came to a clearing we stopped and my wonderful boyfriend, and guide used a call to see if any turkeys were up and gobbling yet.  Sure enough we heard one gobbling very close to us, just on the other side of a ridge.  We decided to set up a hen and jake decoy and find a comfy spot next to a tree and try to call the turkey over to us.  We finally did get a nice Tom to strut along the ridge line.  After what seemed like forever, we were beginning to realize that he wasn’t going to budge, and we didn’t have a clean shot on him.  As we sat patiently watching and calling him, we didn’t initially notice the hen and 2 jakes walking quietly up to the decoys.  My heart began to pound as I realized this was my opportunity.  I was nervous about moving to much while getting the gun up on my shoulder and possibly scaring them off.  With the gun finally up on my shoulder and the bead on the turkeys head, I took a shot.  And there he was, my first turkey!!!!! It was a very exciting way to start my birthday.  While he didn’t have an award winning beard, he sure did taste good on the grill!” —Stacey, Maryland

 

Stephanie of the Eastern Shore has GAME!