Dream Season!

[smo]

Wow! I’ve been as lost as a ball in high weeds since late October .

I thought the new Owners had wet my powder.... could not get logged on no matter how hard I tried.

I guess I wasn’t by myself..... but it dang sure felt lonely.

First off, this is going to take awhile, so I’ll break it up in small chunks over a few post.

Now I’ll get to my dream season.

Back in July I sent an old Forum Aquaintance an email asking if he was going to one of the local rendezvous , he did . So since then we have went to a couple other shoots locally. He won em’ both by the way.

Now Tn. M/L Season opened on 11/3, so my Friend says , Smo , my Dad has some property that is surrounded by 46,000 acres of State Forrest,
Why don’t you come over and hunt with us on opening week end?

I told him Heck Yea! I’ll be glad to come over and hunt, only thing is don’t get mad if I kill a bigger deer than you.
He had already taken a nice 10 point during bow season.

So my Friend text me a few days before season opens and says , Dad would like too meet you and that they are going too the property to open the shooting houses and spray / bomb the wasp!

I met my Friend the next afternoon around 3 pm and we go out too the property.

We cross onto State Forrest land and drive maybe a mile to a chained. gate on the left side of the road, we unlock it and proceed down too the camp area.

There’s a small 10 X 16 portable building with a nice screened in front porch , equipped with a very nice picnic table with benches and a grill.

Inside there’s a nice bunk house / kitchen area with 2 sets of bunk beds and a micro wave, electric coffee pot and a floor model ventless gas heater.

We go out around the property start unblocking the shooting houses and exterminating wasp and my Friends Dad arrives.

We chat for awhile at hit it right off, we have lots of things in common.

Deer Hunting ,Fishing, Squirrel Dogs and Muzzleloaders , we had plenty too talk about.

We helped off load his Polaris side by side and load up in it to go finish exterminating.

After finishing the last few houses we return too the camp, were loading the utv back on the trailer when his Dad ask his son where he was going to hunt opening day ?

Too my surprise , he said he was going over by where he lives, 20 miles away.

Then the Dad says,” Well I wasn’t planning on going”......period.

Then he says....... to be continued

I told y’all this was going to take awhile, remember I was turned around, confused , lost whatever you want to call it.lol

 

[Skychief]

Welcome back smo. You've been missed.

Best regards, Skychief.

 

[smo]

Round two!

When my Friends Dad said that I was thinking oh well maybe I’ll get invited back again later on..... was it something I said, done ? IDK.

Then the Dad says , “Son, just give Smo your keys and he can come and go as he Pleases !

Holy Cow Batman! That was like hitting the Lotto on Christmas Day for me, are you kidding me 46,000 + acres of new hunting land with a very thick, secluded ,private honey hole inside of its boundary.

I’m still pinching myself and can’t believe the good fortune I’ve sudden falls into .

So opening day approaches , I told the Guys that I was going down to hunt their place and planned to stay for a couple of days , just to get too know the place a little better.

The Dad told me he had taken a small Yamaha (quiet) Generator down to power the place when needed, I Thanked him again for his Generosity and told him I would keep the camp in non ethanol gas and LP for the heater.

My plans were to go down the night before and camp so I would not disturb the property the morning of, but as it always seems something interfered with my plans and I didn’t make it down until opening morning .

Late arriving ,as usual on opening morning for me anyway, I chose too make a set on the ground overwatching a narrow strip of woods with a nice plot at my back and facing a two year old clear cut .

Pics to follow of vegetation around the plot...

Oh yea! I forgot to mention they have a shooting range set up there too, just bring your own targets. And of course remove any trash. What a deal!

The morning hunt wears on and no sightings....

Around 10:30 the winds pick up and start too swirl, so I head down to the camp too set things up for my “Dream Hunt”.

After making camp and having a sandwich, I decide to climb on my old pack mule( Honda 500 Foreman) and ride around the property ever so slowly and mark all the various stand/ shooting house locations on my hand held GPS.

I’m at a slow roll after marking a couple locations when suddenly my right front wheel drops into a hole .

I instinctively grab the front brake lever, thinking I’m going to just stop and the tire will bottom out in the hole .....

Wrong Answer! As I see the left rear tire in my peripheral vision of my left eye I sudden realize the ground is coming at me quicker than it should be. LOL

My wheeler has a high impact plactic gun scabbard mounted to the foot rest at the bottom and rear rack at the top, those things weren’t made for a long rifle, so it kinda’ sticks out the top.... a lot.

With my knee high snake boots on and the gun scabbard on that right side ,before I can get a leg/ foot out to catch myself, my hands contact the still wet leaves as I prepare as best as I can to pull off the daring escape.

With 240 lbs of old man heading towards not so dry terra firma In the back of my mind my hill climbing / dirt bike riding instinct kicks in.

My hands hit hard and slide through the wet leaves, exposing my face to the wet ground as I plow a nice furrow along with my nose!

Nope I’m not done yet, I told y’all this was going too take awhile .

More to come..... it only gets better !

My Dream Season has suddenly turned into a night mare!

 

[smo]

Thanks Sky, you’ve already heard the Paul Harvey....

It’s great too be back!

And you know me , I’m never at a loss for words it seems.

They might not all be spelled correctly or might not even be proper English. But I’m never at a loss completely.

More “Dream Season “ too come....

 

[smo]

Sorry about the pics Guys, I’ve been gone awhile and will revisit how to post pics and I’ll try too locate the edit button that seems to have disappeared on me too.

My instinct was to get away from the rolling machine at all cost ,so as I do my best Evel Kenievel Roll the point of my left shoulder makes contact with the now not so soft ground.

The pain from my nose furrow suddenly shifted to my left arm /shoulder / collar bone area.

As I skidded to a halt, still dazed from the facial impact, my thoughts sudden shift too my Longrifle!

The first thing I notice is gas pouring out of the tank with the wheeler on its right side, resting in the butt of my gun!

Holy Shineola! Batman.

I manage to get over there and can’t move the wheeler due to the small down hill incline it’s now resting on.

The gas finally stops leaking, as I lick my wounds so too speak.

The impact knocked the seat and windshield off the four wheeler, they were scattered along with all the acc. I carry in a front rack basket( towing straps,rope , machete fix a flat and such) along the forrest floor.

Between that sickening feeling you get from something broken and the hot flashes I somehow manage to get the machete a dig the butt of my rifle out of the ground, Thank God it wasn’t broken!

Then I focus my attention back on the four wheeler, I managed to get on the uphill side and roll it on over, it lands perfectly on its tires!

I then start picking up the pieces so too speak, nothing seems broken on the rifle or the machine ..... only me and my “Dream Season”.

Sorry Everyone but for me to complete this tale, I’ll need to be able to post pics ..... it kinda’ adds to the mood! Don’t y’all think.

And tomorrow’s a big day around here , so I’ll finish up later .

 

[smo]

Strange thing just happened..... I found my lost edit button.

I hit it and my pics appeared in the thread, I come back to the Forum and there gone again.
Hmm....

 

[smo]

Now I’m sneaking up on it ! More too come.

 

[smo]

Pics of plot vegetation from earlier post....
I think I’m back on the right trail now.....
More too come. I told y’all it was gonna’ take a spell! LOL

 

[smo]

Now that I’m back on track.... I hope, I’ll finish this yarn up for y’all.

I made my way back to camp and loaded my pack mule into the truck and make my way home.

On the way I phone my Wife and tell her of my misfortunes, she says I need to go too the ER , I told her I thought I’d be ok in the morning.... maybe.

She then insisted I come by the Grandsons soccer game before I go home, reluctantly I complied.

Upon arriving she meets me at the truck , with that look in her eye.

Immediately she declares separated shoulder...Diagnosed by Dr. Smoette.

So it’s off too the ER, to make an already long story shorter, it was dislocated completely from the socket and the head of my humerus bone was fractured.

Now my Dream Season is really becoming a nightmare !

At the direction of the ER after they reset the shoulder I’m off to Nashville that Monday morning to the Bone & Joint Doctor.

He request an MRI and the results are.... torn rotator cuff and torn ligaments .

Requiring surgery. The whole time I’m think of what could have been and remembering the struggle I had recovering from the other torn rotator cuff surgery in June of 2016.

I had just gotten able to shoot again without pain just this past Spring and now this...

Feeling down and out I decide if I was going to be laid up and hurting, I might as well do it in the woods.

Some of you know I live in rural Tn., by choice. LOL

The deer are plentiful and the fishing is great if you can find them .

I’ve have exclusively hunted my place for the past few years, not knowing much of any other public lands available to hunt.

So you Guys can see why I was thrilled to have the new hunting land and could only imagine now , what the possibilities could have been on the new property.

So after the speech from SWMBO was over I explained too her what my new hunting plans were.

With the injury I knew I would not be able too hunt the new place, recovering an animal by myself would be next to impossible.

So I was locked in on my only shooting house, I could manage the 5 or 6 steps to get in it and thought I could use my tractor or buggy for the recovery if needed..... along with SWMBO. LOL


So I hunt a day or so and see a few deer, mostly young bucks.

In Tennessee the rut usually starts during or sometimes just before m/l season , so seeing bucks on the move in daylight isn’t anything unusual.

On 11/9 I’m back too the shooting house , there’s a doe in the plot/ clearing as I approach , she just stands there and watches munching on white oak acorns as I slowly ease by in my buggy .

I continue along to my parking area and grab my rifle and head back up into the stand.

The doe finally has enough a slowly strolls of into the woods.

Now In my New Plan “B” I called it, while going over all the different hunting scenarios , I came to the conclusion that my 42” Longrifle was just too much gun too try to handle with the shoulder injury.

So I go into the safe and dig out one of my old trusty TC guns, she a .50 cal that had been sitting, riding the pine I guess you could say just waiting too get the call back into the game.

She had proven herself many times, the last being in 2011. The pic at the top was from 2011.

Told y’all it was a long story...

As Arnold said, “I’ll be back”

 

[smo]

Now back too 11/9 and the doe, later that day a 5 point strolls thru the plot nibbling on winter wheat and an acorn or two .

Then with 45 minutes of shooting light out comes another young doe, just feeding along, suddenly she whirls around looking back into the woods line.

Then I see movement as a nice young buck starts to emerge from the thicket, wait he’s not by his self ! There’s a good un’ with him!

They stop just short of the plots edge and mill around for a minute, then sudden the larger buck appears to make a move towards the doe on the plot.

Now my vision is partially blocked by a single limb on a small pine between my stand and the bucks 80 yards or so away.

As it turns out the buck making the move was a young 6 point.

He came on into the field and put on a show, wearing a 2” pine completely out with his youthful headgear.

He was slinging mud and taking all his aggression out on the pine while the doe disappeared back into the thick along with the better buck.



Roll onto 11/17, it’s opening day of Tn . rifle season.

By now I think it’s time too make some meat!

I texted my Friend who’s Dad owns the Dream Hunt property and told him the night before that I was going too my stand with blood in my eye and it was time for something too hit the dirt.

I went thru my same ritual of hanging the Tinks scent bombs along the trail side as I approached my shooting house.

Then at 7:06 a single young 8 point buck appears along the left side of my plot, he pauses too brush the bark off of another one of my small pines , then lifts his head ,sniffing his way towards Tinks bombs and my hide.

As he approached the first bomb apporx, 55 yards out he stopped giving me a perfect front shoulder quartering shot.

The TC roared, and off he dashed into the deep , thick nasty briar & vine riden hollow to the West, my heart sank remembering the 9 point from last year( it took me a week to find) .

However , I knew the shot felt good , even with only one good shoulder .

As I approached the point of impact there were small traces of blood and a few hairs on the ground !

As I made my way along the blood trail seemed to start too ease up, my heart sank even more.

I can see out ahead of my last blood sighting where it looked like a deer had fallen, sure enough the had crashed then got up and continued down into the hollow.

But from that point on the woods were painted red!

Then there he lay, twisted up in vines by a smallbeach tree.

That’s him up top, I guess I don’t got the pics figured out....But...

Nope , I’m not done yet!


Now it’s Tuesday 11/20, time flies when your having fun don’t it! LOL

Y’all guessed it I’m back in my shooting house..... again.

At 7:40 a lone doe appears at the far North end of the plot, instantly I see she has company!

She continued along the trail side, yep the Tinks bombs were back out again, Hey if it works.....

Anyway the buck, which it didn’t take but a second or two for me to decide too burn my last buck tag for the year on continued along behind her!

As the Buck approached the center Tinks bombs, around 70 yards out he met his maker !

I slowly squeezed the trigger and the TC belched more smoke as his nose inches closer too the Tinks bomb.

The buck dashed off in the same direction as the one for a few days earlier.

My heart sinking again.... oh no here we go .

This one leaving was only a few small drops of bright , bubbly redness along the way.....

I didn’t figure he had made it far, as I had seen him trying too go down as he left the field.

Sure enough there he lies.... within 10 yards of the other ones final resting spot ..... again Thankfully , tangled in vines and briars ..
That’s him in the very top pic....

a couple more pics to follow and it’s a wrap.

 

[smo]

Last ones .... promise . LOL

The price just went up on Minnie Pearl! LOL

I hope y’all enjoyed my yarn.

 

[smo]

Hey Stumpy, that’ll teach y’all too talk about me while I’m not listening... lol

Dang shoulder , Oh ! I’m planning on going back down to the Dream Season property before weeks end..... them slick heads best beware , I’ve got blood in my eyes again.... this time I hope it’s not mine...

 

[smo]

I’m done now , I’ll crawl back under my rock.

It’s a flint of course!

 

[Britsmoothy]

That's a book buddy! Write a book, your good at it.

N.

 

[azmntman]

Nice hunt cep't for the ER and shoulder and all. You sure manned up and went "anyway". SWMBO is likely proud of ya, just wont say it!

 

[smo]

Thanks Brit, I had a lot on me I needed too get off my chest!

I told y’all it would take awhile , lol

I hope your coffee didn’t get too cold along the way....

The reference to “Minnie Pearl”, is from the price tag hanging on the trigger guard of the rifle .

It had been on my Trade Blanket at a couple of Rendezvous , when it didn’t sell I just wiped it down good and put it away.

So when I resurected it for the hunt, it reminded me of that Dear Lady On the old Hee- Haw TV show...... I’m starting too age myself now.

 

[smo]

She’s plenty proud of me, worried but proud .

My Friend who’s Dad owns the property said “Smo, she’s got your mug plastered all over Face Book”!

I don’t do fish face so I couldn’t tell ya’. LOL

Thanks for coming along on my watered down version of my Season so far. LOL

 

[Sparkitoff]

Very interesting and congratulations! You made the best of the situation and it paid off.

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

Excellent!

Best of luck to you on your recovery! And ... git back thar’ next year!

 

[Boomerang]

Great story SMO! Hope you mend ok. Thanks for sharing your adventure.