Elk arrows of 2012

Finished another dozen douglas fir shafts for elk season. My brother and I leave for Colorado in 2 weeks. Hopefully I will be sending one of these tipped with a grizzly or eclipse head into a nice sized elk!

They are 70-75 spined douglas fir, total arrow weight of 630 grains, mercury speed nocks, krylon white cap, and wipe on poly finish.

Stingray hunting with Rob Davis

8/4 - 8/6/2012 My bowhunting friends Brent, Mike, and I had the pleasure of spending the weekend hunting with Maryland bowfishing pioneer Rob Davis of Salisbury, MD. We arrived at his simple log home and property in Salisbury named "Homewood".

We arrived late Friday night after a 3 hour drive from Frederick. We were graciously greeted by Mr. Davis with his lovely wife Betty Lou. We spent the next several hours discussing hunting and getting a tour of the "hobby house" that would become our bedrooms for the next few days. The Hobby house was Betty Lou's working greenhouse, as well as Mr. Davis's workshop. The walls were filled with the relics of over 6 decades of bowhunting. We talked late into the night despite our fatigue from the long drive after a full week of work.

A tour of his trophy room made all realize how much can be accomplished with the simple bow and arrow.

We easily fell asleep on our sleeping mats as we listened to the song of the leaf hoppers and crickets outside the screened in hobby house. No AC, and still retaining some solar heat load from the hot humid august day, the summer breeze added just enough assistance for a good nights sleep. A simple accommodation, but we were comfortable enough, and excited for the following days adventures. Mr. Davis was born in 1925 and will be 87 years young this December. Despite recently being diagnosed with congestive heart failure, he still gets around with a walking stick and does what he loves to do......Share his experience and teach others how to bowfish stingrays. After we treated him to breakfast at one of his favorite local diners, where everyone seemed to know his name and say "Hi", we loaded up his 16 foot fiberglass skiff and headed out to find some rays. Saturday we had the pleasure of having his son Rob III along as mate. Rob is also an accomplished bowhunter and shared some great stories throughout the day, as he also gave us tips on spotting rays. Unfortunately the water conditions were far from optimal at spotting bottom cruising rays. The water was very murky and there was a light chop on the water which made things tough. We spotted a few rays that first day and although we got away a few hurried shots which upset our veteran guides, we were unable to see well enough to continue the pursuit once flushed. We only got glimpses of our targets and they were gone. Successively bowfishing rays requires teamwork and superb communication between the skipper and the shooters / spotters. The boat needs to be able to get within mere feet of the flushed ray in order to get a close shot. This first day we were never able to pursue a flushed ray, either because we lost sight in the murky water, or because we were too inexperienced and shot too soon scaring the ray to the next county.

We put in a long day on the water, but did not get any real quality opportunities we did not screw up. Sunday morning we were back out at it on a more southerly location, this time without Rob III as we had learned enough the previous day to assist Mr. Davis in the piloting of the craft. The weather was still conspiring against us though. This time, intermittent clouds and stronger winds combined with the murky water. Mr. Davis knew where we might have some luck and found a protected cove with some clearer water! For the first time we got a good look at the bottom of the bay and had a chance to see some rays....and soon we did! We started seeing some rays and we were able to chase within range of them. Each of the three in our party had shot opportunities at Southern rays. We even had a couple opportunities at one of the "big 'uns" Mr. Davis refers too. It was quite exciting, and I think that short time hooked all on board to the sport! Unfortunately, despite coming close on a few shots, we failed to connect on any of the shots until we had totally disturbed that area sufficiently to chase all the rays away into the murkier water.

We attempted to find other areas with clear water, but saw no more rays the rest of the afternoon. The winds increased even more, and we were forced to abandon our hunt. We had to get back and had a long drive ahead of us anyway. We were totally drenched from plowing through the chop by the time we got back to the dock into the wind.

We are eternally grateful for having the opportunity to learn from Mr. Davis and have him impart some of his decades of bowfishing experience onto us. We definitely got to learn first hand from the best. Rest assured, my party and I will be back pursuing rays in the future and teaching others what we had leaned in such a short time from this Maryland legend.

Thank you so much Mr. Davis, Betty Lou, Donnie, and Rob III! We will remember this hunt for years to come!

Cat Can - Home made backpacking stove

In my quest to lighten the load and shave weight, I did some research online from the ultralight backpackers. Almost all the serious ones use alcohol stoves. These stove have several advantages. They are lighter, more efficient on fuel usage, easier to procure fuel (can’t fly with cylinders), and have no working parts to go bad. So I set about making one. Plans called for a 3 oz fancy feast can and a hole punch……two rows of holes and Voila!

The canteen cup makes a seal and pressurizes the gases out of the burner holes.

I used well water cold water and it boiled for about 2 minutes vigorously before the 1 ounce of fuel was used up.

I then weighted the new system with tin foil wind screen and it weighed just over 1 pound total including 12 ounces of alcohol in the collapsible moose bottle (enough for 12 meals), cup, stove, and fork. Compared to last year’s set up I save ½ a pound in weight.

This stove can burn almost anything flammable. I plan on using HEET brake line additive available at all walmart stores but this thing will work with isopropanol or even grain alcohol! Going to test the HEET next and work on getting a lighter better wind screen out of some sheet aluminum.

Alaska vacation

I spent a 12 day excursion into the Great White North. "North to Adventure"! Had a cruise portion leaving from Vancouver, B.C. to several Alaska ports including Ketchikan, Skagway, Juneau and Whittier took in some great views of glaciers calving, watching whales, otters, sea lions, seals, and an abundance of eagles. Then, we took a train tour back into the Yukon territory that took us into Canada and the arctic tundra. From there we set off to Denali National Park and eventually Fairbanks by motor coach. Here are some of the animals we were able to photograph along the way:

10th annual Baltimore Bowmen shoot

I was waiting for Mike to arrive after a half day of work in order to get down to Baltimore and secure a good campsite. I scooted out of my front door and saw this hen turkey. She did not seem to care about my presence too much so I watched her as she fed around my house to the backyard. There I got my camera out and snapped this pic. She finally had enough of me at 10 yards and after a few "putts" casually fed away up the hill. My wife saw it at the bird feeder the next day!

well, after a late start and about an hour of rush hour traffic we made it to the range and found one of the last cramped areas to set up 2 tents.

Our neighbor had a old canvas tarp set up like a whelan tent and 2 osage selfbows hanging from the poles. He was from downstate DE and we found out later he might be hunting in the same CO unit as Chris and I this year. I left him my card and email info.

After striking our tents, Mike and I checked out some vendors tents before heading out to the first 3D target range. We got to the end of the course just as it was too dark to see our arrows in flight.

We ate our steaks by citronella candle as we were too close to other tents to use any of the massive amounts of poplar wood I split and brought with us. It was a pretty quiet night despite so many folks. The next morning I was roused from my slumber at 6am by the sound of an elk bugling! Man, that got the juices flowing and made me excited for Colorado again! We ate a big breakfast and headed down to the ranges. The weather was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky, warm, and not a single mosquito or gnat! We ended up shooting all 3 courses multiple times. There were 80 targets so we figure we shot about 150 targets over the day and a half.

There were all sorts of targets as the 2 favorite courses wound through a wooded creek bottom. I can remember shooting at grizzly bear, polar bear, caribou, elk, turkey, javilina, big horn sheet, mountain goat, bison, jaguar, and lion.

The practice was definitely worthwhile. Mike and I struggled at first, and shooting with onlookers was unnerving at times, but we improved as the day went on. I can only remember 1 arrow I lost permanently that broke on the river rocks. A lot of the sky-lined targets were positioned to put your arrow into oblivion or into big oak trees if you missed. I found a fair amount of other people's arrows and placed them in the bucket at the clubhouse for their owners. I was a fun shoot and I look forward to doing it again!

Black Bear attacked my turkey decoy!

I should have known it was going to be an interesting day when realized I forgot my camera. Mike and I headed into the woods just as daylight was poking above the horizon. I had planned to hunt the small meadow on the bottom of the property, but when I approached the wood line I saw a light. Another hunter was setting up in the field. So I thought to myself a moment. There was no other hunter’s vehicles parked in the parking area. These guys might be illegal. So I approached their pop-up blind to check ‘em out. They turned out to be a couple guys from Westminster that indeed had permission, as they threw out the landowners name as well as the other local old guy’s name. They said they would move, but I said not to bother. I pointed out my longbow and told them they would have better luck then I at getting something. Their expressions were priceless when they saw the longbow! They came all the way from Westminster to Frederick to hunt, so I wished them luck and quickly moved on. I think I recognized the older fellow as the guy I saw carrying an xbow during last rut from my tree stand. He said he had parked at the farm house. So I left and headed up the hill. I caught up with Mike, and informed him about the gun hunters below. Then, went uphill from him, already in sweat lather at this point. I set up my jake decoy facing me about 12 yards out on a small plateau and got nestled in front of a giant clump of vines and multiflora that was climbing a decent sized tree trunk. It was a perfect set up for the ghillie. I had dense cover behind and some sparse stuff in front. After about an hour, I see movement and hear a twig break off to my left. I turn my head and I see a black bear about 10 yards away! It had no clue I was there, and it apparently did not know I was there either. I watched it lumbering about, stopping now and again to scratch itself. It spotted my jake and slowly approached it from behind, sniffing the air hard. It was upwind of me. It started to paw at my plastic shell of a decoy and I though “HOW COOL”! I wish I had my camera! Then it started to get behind the decoy and actually bit the head of my jake! OK, that’s enough of that! I was not going to let it destroy my decoy. So I stand up and get its attention. I took a step back, but did not seem too alarmed. I took off my head net so it could see I was a person and was expecting it to run away at any moment. It just looked at me quizzically. Now, my heart is beginning to pound harder. This thing is not scared! I approached it a few more loud steps and it ran back a few bounds to where it approached from my left. Still quizzical, it would start coming toward me sniffing after I stopped pursuing. Now, it was behind me. Great. I can’t turkey hunt with this thing behind me! So I again walked toward it. Same deal. Just kept coming back. I reached down and threw some large chunks of bark that came down from a dead tree. It would go over to the chunks after they landed and sniff them. Great, now I am playing fetch with an adult black bear! Finally I decide to full out charge the bear and run toward it. I run about 15 yards and it runs about the same distance, stops, and starts to return again. OK, done playing nice. I grabbed a steel blunt arrow from my quiver and decide to try to sting this thing in the ass and get it some fear of humans. I really did not want to hurt it badly though, and the 60 pound bow with heavy wood shaft would get some penetration…. I decide to try to short draw it. It was sitting about 15 yards at the base of a tree. I took aim at his big ole rump, and let fly. Of course I missed low….doh!!! It bounded off a couple more steps and started turning over logs looking for bugs! Amazing!!! Finally it lumbers off up the hill. I got back in my hiding spot, but it was very hard to keep still after that, and I kept looking behind me. I think the bear was a teen / adult but probably not over 150 pounds. Larger than a deer by far, but not the huge rumped gal I saw in my backyard before. As things quieted down I hear a twig snap from the same area the bear came. Oh boy, is it back? A turkey??? Nope, 3 deer. They were slowly feeding and moving by me. It would have been another easy shot at 10 yards had they been in season. This Ghillie suit hunting is getting more and more exciting. As the morning got later, I decided to move up the hill and do a little run-and-bow hunting. I crested the hill and set up a hasty sit. Took out the box call, and scratched out a few yelps. After about 15 minutes of nothing, I decided to get up and move on. As I rose I spotted animals off to my front about 80 yards away. Two coyotes. Normal grey colored one in the lead, and that dark brown one I had seen before. I thought they probably came in to my yelps and already spotted me, so I make some squeaks with my mouth. That got their attention and they froze in the trail. Eventually however, the grey lead yote gets nervous and bounds forward and out of sight. I quickly mentally say goodbye to my cedar arrow and woodsman head, and think to myself if the brown one lets me get back to full draw I’ll chance a Hail Mary shot. It does and I let fly. About 5 yards in front of it my arrow glances off a beach tree branch and the yotes explode out of there. I ended up finding my arrow and head, minus the nock, and it was in good condition and stuck in a deadfall branch. More good luck to not center a rock! So I never did see any turkey that morning…..but boy was it exciting! I NEED to carry that camera every time!

2012 Greenridge turkey camp

I got up at 4am and headed up to Greenridge early Friday morning to chase some birds and get a good campsite reserved. Attendees for our annual turkey camp included; my brother Chris, his son Connor, Brent, Mike, and myself. I was the only one who could come up early enough try to reserves a campsite on this first weekend of turkey season on public land. I wanted to get a good camp that was big enough for all our vehicles, and close enough to our area of hunting. I passed many trucks on Orleans road heading into the forest. Every cut off the hardball had a truck in it at 5:30 am when I drove past. I headed toward our usual campsite and saw it was already taken by a large group of hunters who were making breakfast. I continued on, and parked halfway to the area I planned to hunt. I heard running as soon as I entered the meadow area and assumed it was deer, as I later found a lot of deer sign in that area. I set up my hen decoy and got ghillied up and waited. It was a nice morning but nothing showed and I heard no gobbles. I did hear about 4 far off shotgun blasts, but nothing close. I assumed the close parking area would be filled with other hunters, but no trucks were in sight and I never saw person in the large area I was in. I had stopped at 15 Mile Creek's put and take trout stream on my trip back from the ranger office to pay for my campsite. I saw the closed season for the second stocking started the next day, so I decided to throw a couple casts with my backpacking spinning rod and mepps spinner. The first cast I put under the spillway, I hooked up with a >2 pound rainbow! I had it to the brink of exhaustion and had to jump down the embankment to get to the shallows to land it. I managed to jump down and keep some pressure on the fish at the same time. The cheapo spinning reel I had hung up the line on the bail spindle after a few handle cranks and the fish made a run. Damn, fish broke my 4 pound test and was gone. I already had plans of frying it in butter for lunch. Oh well, a good lesson about getting better quality gear. I need to get a better reel before I lug that rod up in Colorado for elk. I reserved a large campsite close enough to our hunting area for 3 trucks. While unpacking I found turkey tracks, scat, and body feathers near a dusting depression right at camp! Here I was, walking miles up and down ridges, and the birds were in the campsite. Go figure. I set up everything including my hammock and enjoyed the beautiful blue sky. I took a few stump shooting scouts around camp and made lunch of venison summer sausage and a bagel, but I was wishing I had landed that trout.

Chris and Connor showed up amazingly breaking their trend of pitching camp in the dark. Brent and Mike soon followed, and we had enough firewood leftover from my hurricane downed tree to enjoy a long sit around the campfire sipping chilled wild turkey honey and roasting 2 Cornish hens with camp potatoes in the coals. MMMMMM, they were good eating. The next morning, we headed out to hunt. Connor and Chris took the shotguns and struck out for new territory. Brent went back to our spot close to the parking area with tent blind and Ben Pearson. Mike and I headed on opposite ends of the far ridge I had the turkey hen calling to me the last morning with our longbows. I set up in the same spot I had the hen calling at me. Set out my hen decoy and got in my ghillie suit. I called a few times and mostly had a quiet morning. I did hear a gobbler sounding off on the next ridge line over. I decided to try to close in on it. I ducked down into the deep dark valley where I heard the hen calling, and I am really convinced that was a real bird and not a hunter. The valley was rugged and a deep bowl far from the roads. It was eerily silent in there and reminded me of the backcountry of Colorado. I set up my ghillie blind in some deadfall near a recently vacated black bear den. While setting up the decoy I spooked a group of 7 deer, which I am sure would have come down the lush valley had I not spooked them.

I sat there until around quarter to 10 with no more action or sounds of gobbling. I decided to climb the next hilltop and see what was up there before heading back toward the truck. I got up on top and immediately heard some gobbling below me. I set up a hasty position again and heard nothing more. I walked down the ridge line a few hundred yards before jumping back across, to head in the direction of home. I crested the ridge cautiously and heard running on the other side. The leaves were dry to stalking was difficult. I was not sure if I had spooked them, or just snuck up on them successfully. I pulled on my ghillie head cover and proceeded to wait. Nothing. So I crawled to the edge and peeked over. I saw turkey wing feathers of a flying bird in the valley below. They must have seen / heard me. Then, I hear running again to my left. Pretty exiting! I scrunched up next to a large oak base and waited. Nothing again. Oh well. Time to get home. In the creek valley below I found a nice fossil rock with many small crustaceans embedded in both sides. I crested the hilltop and noticed I was not where I thought I was. I broke out the GPS and found out I needed to make a heading to get back. I must have crossed a few fingers of the ridge and gotten turned a bit. Well, that led me to some exercise. I must have climbed 5 major hilltop ridges to get back to the truck. I was wiped out. I did not even get radio reception in the valleys there, so thank God for the GPS! I might still be walking around out there. I spotted 2 eastern box turtles on my “hike”, so that was good to see.

Chris and Connor both left for home before I got back, and reported no sightings. Mike had a gobbler answering his box call but could not get him to approach. Brent saw nothing but a squirrel. It was a good hunt though and another learning experience for all. Brent, Mike and I relaxed at camp for the rest if the evening and shot thousands of practice arrows at camp. We enjoyed a nice evening around the fire with another Cornish hen dinner before enduring just a small rain shower before turning in.

In the morning we broke camp and went home just a little damp but in good spirits. Just as in the previous two years, a nice sized turkey ran across the road in front of us as we made our way out of the forest. Go figure. It started to downpour on I-68 on the way home. We missed most of the rain so someone was looking out for us. Now I can focus on my small private local area for the remainder of turkey season.