Day 8
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October 19 & 20: Morning & Afternoon Hunt Reports

We now have a new group of bowhunters at the 4th Annual Bowhunting.net Bowhunt.

MORNING HUNT (Oct 20):

The Group 2 hunters saw a variety of bucks, does, hogs and fallow deer. The one to bring one into the game pole was Matt  Swihart. He saw a group of wild hogs come out of the brush. A fat black hog walked up 12 yards away and stepped past a tree and stopped exactly where Matt wanted it to be. He drew and aimed. The arrow passed through the hog. It did not react to being shot. Then it turned and walked 30 yards and tipped over.

MORNING HUNT (Oct19):

Ricky Burnett hunted a new area with a ladderstand. A big boar came in and Ricky ranged him. He decided to shoot and used his 30 yard pin to aim with. The shot looked low. The hog jumped straight up and ran away. 

When he shot some deer that he had not yet seen snorted from close behind the stand. They ran on off. Ricky got down to check his shot at the hog. While he was walking to the arrow he saw a mature heavy horned Black Buck coming toward the area. It saw Ricky 65 yards from him and it spooked. 

When he checked his shot the arrow was clean of blood, Ricky's arrow had gone under the hog's belly. "It was just one of those days, things didn't go right, but that's hunting."

Tom Alford saw a 5x5 Red Stag with two hinds at daylight. Deer worked acorns in the area all morning. A young 8-point came right by the Double Bull, only 4 yards from it. While the buck was there 4 does walked up. Tom drew and shot the largest doe. A double lung shot, it ran 25 yards and dropped. None of the other does spooked but the buck walked off. Three more does came in and walked right over the trail of the dead doe. They couldn't see it because it was behind some trees. More deer came in and then Ken drove up to pick Tom up. This is Tom Alford with his doe.

Before sunup Matt Swihart saw the shadows of 2 unidentifiable deer. At 7:45 a doe came in from behind the treestand. It was wary and darted away. But then came in a went to the feeder. Matt waited to see if a buck would come in and after 20 minutes he decided to shoot. He got in position to draw. When he drew the doe looked right at him. It walked off, not spooked but still not staying. Later he saw 10 wild hogs trot by 50 yards to the east.

 Max Zanger Jr. heard a buck thrashing trees a d scraping the ground before daylight. saw a doe at 7:30. An 8-point buck came out and looked at the doe but walked off. Sixty minutes later a Red Deer came out of a creek. Eight hogs came through 150 yards away. On the return trip to the lodge he saw a buck chasing a doe. 

Jim Duggs saw a big, black hog eating acorns come within 30 yards. It was in heavy brush and Steven couldn't shoot.

Steve saw two 8-points early, a young one and an older but smaller rack. A bunch of hogs were walking toward the stand when the truck arrived to pick him up. He told me, "Tonight's going to be a different story."

After lunch I gave away products to each of the new hunters. Scent Killer 32 oz bottles with a 12 oz spray bottles from WILDLIFE Research Center. Sample packs from Border Crossing Scents including Deer Herd In A Stick, Deer Herd Scent, VS-1 Estrus Attractant and Scent Trax. And the new archery exercise video Archery Fit from BowFit.

Mid afternoon Steven Houser arrived from North Carolina. He is the first to come for the hunt with Adam, the Englishman that his BowhuntingTalk.com friends are bringing over from England.

AFTERNOON HUNT:

Ricky Burnett is the first bowhunter back from the hunt. He hunted a ground blind. Some does came in but when Ricky tried to get into position his chair squeaked and it made the deer skittish. He kept moving slowly but before he could get into position a group of wild hogs approached the deer and they took off. Ricky took a shot but his arrow caught on the blind's mesh and that deflected the shot.

Matt Swihart just reported in. Walking in to the blind he spooked a group of 4 does and 2 bucks. When he got to the blind a group of wild turkeys were on the other side and they were walking away. A doe came in on his trail. It took her 30 minutes to cover the 80 yards. Matt aimed low because the doe was so skittish. But the doe didn't duck and the arrow went under it. The doe went to where the arrow hit and snorted at it. Then it circled the area and went back the way it came. 

Steven Gill saw a doe and a "skipper" come through. Some hogs came in and spooked the deer -- a 200 pound boar with 2-inch tucks, black with a chocolate right front leg with a spotted white belly. He was with 5 sows and 2 smaller hogs. The boar stayed on the move checking out the area, smelling, sniffing as he went. Then he was spooked by something up the hill. The others stayed and Jim shot ... and missed. Later wild turkeys came through the area behind the ladderstand and Jim heard them fly up to the roost. 

Jim Driggs saw 2 does circling in the brush at 6:45. Later a doe came on the right 10 yards away. At 7:10 a larger doe came in and Jim took a broadside shot and missed. This was Jim's very first shot at a deer with the bow. He was and still is excited.

Tom Alford saw a young 8-pointer, a 3 point and a non-typical big bodied heavy racked 8-point with dark brown antlers sporting 10 inch tines. It has a double main beam. The big buck was 55 yards when he first saw it and the buck got as close as 23 yards. But it was behind him and Tom couldn't shoot.

Max Zanger Jr. saw a doe and fawn at 7:25. Hogs moved into the area and stayed close but in the trees. Later a yearling and a doe came out of the creek bed.

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