I had the pleasure and honor to take to really new, almost rookie status, TBH'ers and active military members from Clovis to my lease in Kent county to see if i could get some shooting action for them. Drube75 (Dan Rubenstein) had posted on here looking for a public place to hunt, but unfortunatley those are few and far between up here without getting drawn. I thought what the heck, I will contact Dan and see about getting him to my lease to hunt. I made the offer and Dan accepted, we just had to work out the logistics. In the meantime, Dan mentioned that one of his buddies told him he was a lucky SOB to be offered a chance to bowhunt. Dan told me this and I ask if his buddy was a bowhunter and would like to join us. Needless to say, jcharette08 (Josh Charette) accepted and our hunt was on.
We settled on this weekend not knowing the first big winter storm was going to hit, but you dang sure cannot kill something sitting at home! I had 3 stands to hunt, one with a popup, leather office chair and a Mr Buddy heater and the other 2 had box blinds with leather office chairs and Mr Buddy heaters so I knew we would be comfortable. I also had a 33' triple slide 5th wheel at the lease along with another camper and cabin for us to ahng our hats and sleep and eat. Dan and Josh drove to the house on Friday evening and we packed my truck and headed to my lease, only 100 miles from my drive.
When we got to the lease, I took them on a little ride on the 2 4 wheeleers I had on hand to put some corn in the feeder at the popup. This is where Dan chose to hunt Saturday morning. Josh would hunt the box blind on the south and would be in the box blind on the Big Field. We would keep in touch via text on our phones.
After a short night, I got Dan back to the popup and got him settled in and Josh in the South box blind and I heade for the Big Field. Josh immediatley texted me after the feeders went off at 6:55 to say he had missed a doe. Not a bad deal considering this was his first shot at any big game animal period! A few minutes later he texted me and said he had shot a 6 point cull and saw him fall. I told Josh to sit still and see wht else came in. I was getting a running play by play of the happenings from his stand. Turkeys came in and he shot but hit his leg with the lower limb; ouch and a miss! Next text was "turkey hit!" This boy is putting the hurt on some critters. One of his final texts to me was: "Doug, I am finished, doe down" Wow first time sitting in a blind and he misses a doe, kills a doe, misses a turkey, hits a turkey and kills a doe, all in the same morning.
I headed his direction to see the carnage. Dan came over also as his morning sit was a blank with no sightings of any critters. My hunt really did not matter as this weekend was about Dan and Josh. Unfortunately we did not find the turkey, but the 6 point cull only made it about 30 yards and the doe about 40 yards, both perfect double lung shots!
It was Dan's turn to sit in the South box blind and he connected on his first shot on a big doe that evening. She went a whopping 10 yards and just barely made it out of the pen. These guys are good shots. Unfortunately the sleet and ice hit and the movement slowed to a crawl. Josh got a shot at a big boar with his AR, but we could not find it. He is definitely a "deer magnet" as he had the movement no matter what stand he sat in.
The entire purpose of this weekend was to try and get Dan and Josh out in the field and hopefully show them some deer, hogs, turkeys or whatever else showed. We surpassed that by a long shot with 3 deer on the ground, the fist bowkills for either of them.
I just want to say thank you to Dan and Josh for their service to our country. They have only been back in the states from a tour in Afghanistan for about 2 months and it was a true honor to have them come hunt with me. Also thanks from my wife and I for the spent casing of a 105mm shell that is fired from an aircraft they gave to us. It sits proudly in my trophy room and will be taken to school to be showed tomorrow!
Again, thank you both for your service, it was an honor to have you down, a pleasure to have met you both and I truly hope we can do this again this year. This is better than shooting something myself! Here are the pics. Josh is in the first pic with his 2 kills from the same morning and the last is a pic of Josh and Dan with the kills from the weekend. Congrats guys on some awesome shots and critters!
We settled on this weekend not knowing the first big winter storm was going to hit, but you dang sure cannot kill something sitting at home! I had 3 stands to hunt, one with a popup, leather office chair and a Mr Buddy heater and the other 2 had box blinds with leather office chairs and Mr Buddy heaters so I knew we would be comfortable. I also had a 33' triple slide 5th wheel at the lease along with another camper and cabin for us to ahng our hats and sleep and eat. Dan and Josh drove to the house on Friday evening and we packed my truck and headed to my lease, only 100 miles from my drive.
When we got to the lease, I took them on a little ride on the 2 4 wheeleers I had on hand to put some corn in the feeder at the popup. This is where Dan chose to hunt Saturday morning. Josh would hunt the box blind on the south and would be in the box blind on the Big Field. We would keep in touch via text on our phones.
After a short night, I got Dan back to the popup and got him settled in and Josh in the South box blind and I heade for the Big Field. Josh immediatley texted me after the feeders went off at 6:55 to say he had missed a doe. Not a bad deal considering this was his first shot at any big game animal period! A few minutes later he texted me and said he had shot a 6 point cull and saw him fall. I told Josh to sit still and see wht else came in. I was getting a running play by play of the happenings from his stand. Turkeys came in and he shot but hit his leg with the lower limb; ouch and a miss! Next text was "turkey hit!" This boy is putting the hurt on some critters. One of his final texts to me was: "Doug, I am finished, doe down" Wow first time sitting in a blind and he misses a doe, kills a doe, misses a turkey, hits a turkey and kills a doe, all in the same morning.
I headed his direction to see the carnage. Dan came over also as his morning sit was a blank with no sightings of any critters. My hunt really did not matter as this weekend was about Dan and Josh. Unfortunately we did not find the turkey, but the 6 point cull only made it about 30 yards and the doe about 40 yards, both perfect double lung shots!
It was Dan's turn to sit in the South box blind and he connected on his first shot on a big doe that evening. She went a whopping 10 yards and just barely made it out of the pen. These guys are good shots. Unfortunately the sleet and ice hit and the movement slowed to a crawl. Josh got a shot at a big boar with his AR, but we could not find it. He is definitely a "deer magnet" as he had the movement no matter what stand he sat in.
The entire purpose of this weekend was to try and get Dan and Josh out in the field and hopefully show them some deer, hogs, turkeys or whatever else showed. We surpassed that by a long shot with 3 deer on the ground, the fist bowkills for either of them.
I just want to say thank you to Dan and Josh for their service to our country. They have only been back in the states from a tour in Afghanistan for about 2 months and it was a true honor to have them come hunt with me. Also thanks from my wife and I for the spent casing of a 105mm shell that is fired from an aircraft they gave to us. It sits proudly in my trophy room and will be taken to school to be showed tomorrow!
Again, thank you both for your service, it was an honor to have you down, a pleasure to have met you both and I truly hope we can do this again this year. This is better than shooting something myself! Here are the pics. Josh is in the first pic with his 2 kills from the same morning and the last is a pic of Josh and Dan with the kills from the weekend. Congrats guys on some awesome shots and critters!
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