A Deerhunt In Progress - 2005

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December 13 - A HotTrails Hot Trail

At daylight I was on the hill above my food plot, 14 feet up in a tree in a Steel Starr (NORTH STARR Treestands). Downhill a buck went to the food plot, looked around, and left in my general direction. I got its pic as it walked by me at 25 yards. He has a broken main beam on the left side and a broken brow tine on the right.

Nothing else happened and at 8:00 I got down and hurried to the Point to hunt in my Matrix 360 ground blind (Double Bull Hunting Blinds).

Before getting inside the blind I set out a HotTrails heated scent candle (HotTrails). I put a Corn scent candle in the candle lantern unit, lit the candle, and closed it up. It has a lantern style handle and I hooked it over a wire on the nearby fence. The lantern is camouflaged and that's it in the picture on the right.

The light wind was blowing into the woods beyond the fence. At 10:05 a buck, with heavier than average antlers for a young buck, walked to the fence and watched the area. It was too far to the right for me to get its picture. After a few minutes it walked back into the woods. I caught glimpses of the sun shinning on its rack as it walked parallel to the fence. It meandered westward and out of sight.

Later I heard footsteps coming in my direction from the opposite side of the fence. Black objects were moving my way. Wild hogs.

They came straight to the HotTrails lantern with Corn scent in it. I mean right to it. (As I took a few pics I noticed the time, 11:01. That's late for hogs to be cruising around.) 

Three wild hogs stop behind the HotTrails candle hooked to the fence above their heads. (Here's a Larger Picture.)

One shoved himself under the fence and stopped, its nose quivering -- obviously smelling for the corn candle smell. But on my side of the fence it apparently lost the odor and ducked back under the fence.

A few more hogs joined them and they all looked around by the candle. When they didn't find anything they retreated back into the woods.

The HotTrails corn scent pulled this group of traveling wild hogs out of the woods and right to it. This really worked good and you can bet I'll use them in the off season next year.

I saw no wild turkeys and at 11:40 I counted to 100 twice and walked 100 yards to my truck. My plan was to drive to the river and set up a Double Bull blind on the ridge above the river and its large roost trees. I had to drive by the Point to get there.

About 50 yards from it a large flock of wild turkeys ran across the farm road in front of me and into the high grass and brush to the south.

Yikes. I had been only a few minutes shy of being in the blind when these turkeys came to the water.

The faint woods road to the river is a sharp turn to the east at the Point so I kept driving and made the turn. I think it is better to keep going than to stop and spook the turkey flock even worse. I drove to the hill and turned toward the place I wanted to put up the blind. 

Oh, oh. Eight longbeard gobblers were in the small opening ahead. Double yikes. 

I definitely was not setting the blind up now. I backed up and went home.

Then I quickly changed into my normal clothes and went to the Red Barn Restaurant to eat. Dickie Wicker was there and he got fired up when I told him what happened. I asked if he wanted to go this afternoon but he couldn't on this short notice.

By 2:10 I was on the ridge above the river setting up a different Matrix ground blind. In the picture below you are looking at the clump of trees I put the blind in. The leafless tree in the far left may not look large in the pic but it is a giant pecan tree 60 yards away down by the river bank. There are a bunch of similar trees on both sides of the river for 200 yards.

Inside the blind I am completely hidden in my black fleece jacket, mask and cap. I brought my laptop along and started writing the page you're reading now.

Shortly after 4:00 I heard faint turkey yelps across the river. I opened up my turkey call holder and selected a Doug Crabtree Woodhaven diaphragm call. I mimicked the yelp I had just heard. 

GOBBLES.

Right away. Loud ones. Close. Downhill by the river. Probably only 50-60 yards away.

I yelped again and some real hens cranked up. I put in the last word and shut up.

In spite of how promising things looked no gobblers came up on the ridge. Soon the shadows got longer. There was quite a bit of hen talk in the area until just before dark.

I feel good about this set up. Maybe I will run into the 8 longbeards here tomorrow.