Survival and Emergency Preparedness

Archery season started Oct 1 which was on a Sunday. It was also very warm that day, about 80. Nothing out but mosquitos.

I hunted that day but went home since I visit my mother on Mondays and Tuesdays. Was back up at the house on Wednesday and went out in the evening. Didn't see anything. Hunted Thursday morning and again Thursday aft.

My brother hunted Thurs aft with me and missed the mutant spike horn. I gave the okay to take that deer out because he's older and his rack is not developed. Better to remove him from the gene pool. Anyway he missed. We re-sighted his cross bow in later and it turns out the scope was loose.

Didn't see anything Friday morning but the whole family was coming for Mactoberfest weekend and both my sons showed up on Friday afternoon. We all went out Friday evening. First time in probably 15 years we all hunted together.

My oldest was in the ladder blind on the clearing and saw momma and her 2 fawns. They grazed for about half an hour under him then left. About 20 minutes later they showed up back in field where my younger son and brother were hunting. I put out the word not to shoot momma and the fawns. They grazed in that food plot for another 30 minutes until dark. Both sons reported the fawns who were quite big and no spots had buttons on their heads which means they are bucks. We'll let them grow up for a couple years and see what happens.

Didn't see anything Saturday morning. Didn't go out Sat evening or Sunday morning because of the party Sat night. I went home late Sun afternoon. Too tired from cleaning up after the party to hunt. My brother went out Sun evening and saw 5 doe in the field. He saw another spike horn in the field Monday night but it was too far away.

He did shoot a spike horn last night (Tuesday). After following the blood trail he lost it and got disoriented in the woods. Finally made his way out to the road at about 8:45 pm. He's back this morning looking for it. He said he hit it good, lots of blood, and it's probably laying out there.

I'm probably going to head up this afternoon and hunt through Sat morning. We are going to my college for the big game with our arch rivals. They are ranked #1 in the country in Division II, we are ranked #3. Our football alumni always has a big tailgator for this game.

First and probably only game we'll get to this year. We have season tickets but with my daughter's wedding, Mactoberfest, hunting openers we just haven't had a free weekend when they were playing at home, except for this weekend.

Got my first deer of season.... didn't hunt. he came to me.
Jumped a 4ft fence in front of back yard, couldn't clear the 6ft back fence.

Had to go out with friend, cover the face with blanket then hold antlers then rotate the legs one at a time thru opening.... jumped out of way and off he went
Small but about normal size for Long Island

Wow! Seems like the deer was hunting you...

Yesterday was interesting. Mama and the twins came out at the north end of the field about 6 pm. At about 6:30 the twins went on alert and ran to mama with their flags up. They stared into the woods for about 5 mins when a troop of turkeys marched onto the field. They forced the deer into the woods. Turkeys will line up side by side and work/feed their way down the field.

Once they got a ways down the field the deer came back out. About 10 minutes later another doe and fawn came out and walked down to mix with the turkeys. The twins soon joined them. I did notice that when the turkeys got close enough to me they were all males/roosters.


They mingled for awhile and eventually the deer left. The turkeys stayed until about 7:30 pm when they started to take off and fly up into the trees to roost.

If you've never seen a turkey fly it is a sight. They take off running 10-20 feet and the launch themselves into the air. They are huge birds. They fly up into the trees about 30 yards away. Helluva racket.

At about 7 pm a small spike horn came out fairly close to me. I could of shot him but was waiting for big brother. BB never showed and I had to chase spike off the field when it got too dark to see.

This morning...at about 7:15 am out on the field I saw a shadow moving in the dark. It got close enough to make out it was a deer. Couldn't tell if it was a doe or buck. It was moving pretty fast with its head down. When it got down to the south end of the field it stopped and stood there for about 20 minutes.

By this time it was light enough to see it didn't have horns but I couldn't tell if it had buttons. Doe usually travel in groups, bucks usually travel alone. Anyway, it was too far away to shoot .

It stood there a long time. It wasn't on alert, more like it couldn't decide which way to go or it was lost or separated from its companions. Eventually it slowly went into the woods.

So I'm sitting there minding my own business when suddenly a giant black object come whooshing down from the sky and lands right next the my blind scaring the hell out of me. Then another and another and another until the whole gang was there. Then they started cackling and chasing each other around and fighting. I think the proper name for a flock of male turkeys should a gang. Eventually they settled down and headed down the field.

When I got back to the house my wife said she walked into one of the bedrooms this morning and there were 3 deer just outside the window. Both she and the deer were startled. Later she saw a creepy black mass crawling out the woods. Took her awhile to figure out it was the gang of turkeys. They worked up and down the lawn before disappearing back into the woods.

This morning when I walked out the field there was deer at the far end. It was dark and Couldn't tell what it was.

When it got light the turkeys came down from the trees. I was ready for them this time and videoed them . If I can figured out how to post video I will.

Yesterday morning (Saturday) I was out in the field and the turkeys flew down from the trees and a couple doe came out at the north end. Never came any closer.

I left about 9 am due to having to go to a football alumni tailgater. My team beat the #1 ranked and national champs by 3 touchdowns.

Didn't hunt in the evening due to the game.

Today, no turkeys or deer...yet.

I did hunt Sunday morning back on the field with my brother. Didn't see anything, no turkeys or deer.

Spent most of the rest of the day clearing brush off the back ridge. My wife bought a little battery powered 4" blade chainsaw which I wanted to try. Just a cheap Chinese one. It came with 2 batteries. It actually worked really well. Could get maybe 150 cuts per battery on saplings and branches. Even cut down a couple small trees with it. Probably been 3-4 years since I cut the back ridge. Saplings and brush had gotten 4-6' tall in that time.

It's a helluva lot easier to use that saw then using a hand saw or swinging a machete or using a big gas chainsaw.. Still a lot of work going up and down the hill from the top of the ridge down to the swamp. It's pretty steep in places. Legs and shoulders are sore today.

Didn't hunt Sunday evening, as my wife and I drove home late Sunday Aft.

I did find fine out where the turkeys were on Sat night and Sunday morning. They were roosting up by the road plot. I pulled the SD card out of the trail camera by the road and the turkeys were in that plot on Saturday evening just before dark and Sunday morning just after light. They had roosted off the back ridge Tuesday through Sat, then near the road Sat & Sun. They are funny creatures.

Still have a couple other places to clear brush and I have a couple rifles to sight in before rifle season starts.

Videos

Turkeys coming out of the trees in the morning


Turkeys taking off to roost in the trees in the evening.

Back up at the house today. Color is at its peak, at least around here. Raining hard so no pics, but it's very pretty here.

My brother killed a doe in the field yesterday evening. Itll hang for a few days before taking it in to be butchered.

I saw a big deer in the field this morning before light. Couldn't really tell what it was, shined it with flashlight. Went back out to the back ridge to clear some shooting lanes at about noon. Two doe were in the field.

Came back to the house around 2pm for a late lunch. While eating there were two doe on the front lawn. My wife wouldn't let me shoot one. I really need to get some meat for the freezer.

Just getting ready to head back out until dark.

While hunting on the back ridge last evening my wife texted me and told me that there were 3 doe on the front lawn. I told her to get the other cross bow out of the garage and get one of them. She said no.

I'm home for a couple days but going back up either tomorrow afternoon or Wed morning until next tuesday. All out effort to hunt every day, all day during that time.

Oh...here's a picture of the field

And the ridge overlooking the beaver pond