Last turkey season I spent two days in the woods. One with my good friend Brian Parks and one day with my mom. My heart and soul were not into hunting. The days I spent there I needed the love and support of my family and friends more then I need the meat or the trophy.
This year is different! I am out there to hunt and to kill! That may not sound very politically correct. The correct term in todays world is harvest! I don't hate the word harvest, it just doesn't fit how I feel when I am going out there. I am not farming animals, I am pursuing them, chasing them and choosing to kill them as a part of the hunt! It is not the most important part of the hunt to me, but it is a part of the hunt that I have missed over the past couple of years.
Personally, I am out there to hunt and kill! It is a drive and a passion to get myself into position and to have the opportunity to take the animals that are in on my list. This year my goals are to take a turkey(or two), a bear, an antelope, 4 deer, geese, ducks and at least one coyote! I have not eaten good clean game meat in over 2 years and I want to fill the freezer. I am hunting for memories, trophies and meat! I am not however going to miss the small things on my trips and I will be striving to continue to bring you the stories of my days in the field.
My morning started off with pulling into the parking area and rolling down the windows while I finished off my soda and I just listened to the day coming alive. I looked out the window and a buck was walking right towards me in the truck. He took 10 good minutes and walked right in front of the truck and crossed the road. He was definitely a young buck because he just seemed to strut by the front of the truck oblivious to anything else going on in the world.
It is amazing to me how quickly I can get turned around in the woods. I have never hunted this particular area in Quantico and in fact I have not hunted in Quantico since 2004. I walk into the woods in the dark and bam, I get turned around. I did not know I was walking in a giant circle but I was. Luckily, I finally heard a cackle and started to call. This was my first time hunting spring gobblers with a bow and my set up was all to hell and the turkey came in directly behind me and then ran off like a shot when I tried to turn. I never heard a gobble, just some hens cackling and the sound of the gobbler behind me and the sound of him running away!
My next find was this old Esso Oil can as I realized I was 100 yards from the truck. I dug out the map and decided to explore the area. I hunted in 6C and I found a ton of treasures. The area looks to be a deer heaven with a ton of great areas to explore for archery season. There are a lot of great stand areas and it looks promising for deer season! I took some pictures of some of the treasures I found!
The Dragon Tree!
Some things just crawl out of nature! This dragon needed to come out of the tree and show himself to the world.
It is the small things that are sometimes the most interesting!
The little designs of nature can be just as interesting as a painting in an art gallery!
The Rabbit knot!
Knots
The Bass Knot!
A matching pair!
Spring is coming!!!! Though not this weekend. The rain was not far behind the end of my hunt! The last 20 minutes of my walk out of the woods was drizzling and the rest of the weekend got worse and worse! We need the rain but WOW!
The Trophies that I took home for my garden! It seems that no matter where I go in Virginia I find these blue metal buckets! They must of been very popular at one time because they are spread all over the area in the woods near old dump sites!
Frogs eggs
Different frogs eggs
One of a couple of different turtles I found.
A slightly smaller turtle!
More frogs eggs
Frogs eggs. It would be interesting to know which frogs were laying which eggs. None the less it was a wonderful day!
