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View Full Version : Hey Rootsy, some more Florida hunt pics



Cuda
11-22-2006, 09:44 PM
Debbie's daughter called us on our way to St Pete today to tell us she shot a nice 8 point. It was her first buck, and a damn nice one by Florida standards. :)

That's Debbie's daddy holding the deer, because he didn't know how to operate the camera. :)

Cuda
11-22-2006, 09:45 PM
Debbie's brother killed this 330 pound hog. It weight 220 pounds without it's hide or head. It was too big to hang in the cooler whole. :eek!:

Cuda
11-22-2006, 09:48 PM
They had a good week hunting there this week. Here's the hanging cooler where they keep the meat before they skin and butcher it. Already in there is a doe and a six point Deb's dad shot, another six point Deb's brother shot, and a 150# hog Debbie's daughter's boyfriend shot. I don't think they will go hungry this winter. :)

Cuda
11-23-2006, 10:08 PM
Erica's boyfriend was in the swamp where I missed that giant hog a few weeks ago, and he saw the hog I missed. I know it has to be the same one, there can't be two of them that big out there. He said he was sitting on the ground, and the hogs back was higher than his head! He said he was right close to him, and all he could see were teeth. I asked Erica why he didn't shoot it, and he said it was too far to drag him back through the swamp, and you couldn't eat him anyway. He said they saw a total of 37 hogs today. I asked if he said that hog was bigger than the one that Deb's brother killed yesterday, and he said he!! yes. He said he had tusks that stuck four inches out of his mouth. I warned him yesterday, that if he shot my hog, I'd have his head on my wall instead! :eek!: :wink:

I guess I'm going to have to go up there next weekend.

fastcat
11-26-2006, 09:51 PM
Cuda,
Where are they hunting?
My son goes to a private camp in Glen St Mary every weekend and never sees anything to shoot.

Cuda
11-26-2006, 10:06 PM
Cuda,
Where are they hunting?
My son goes to a private camp in Glen St Mary every weekend and never sees anything to shoot.
Debbie's dad takes care of somewhere between 1100 and 1500 acres for a guy. It's along the Suwanee River. Debbie's dad has roamed that land his entire life. He was born and raised not more than a mile from there.

Rootsy
11-27-2006, 08:29 AM
well another year at deer camp has come and gone... warm weather and lack of snow kept the deer bedded down while we are all awake for the most part.... other than the deer we pushed out of their beds while getting to and from stand, i saw 4, the entire week....

the first deer that came along i shot as i knew it was warm and gonna be slow and deer would be few and far between... Tuesday evening provided a large 3 1/2 year old doe filling my doe tag. She weighed in at around 175 dressed.... the hand built 700 Remington that i did a couple of winters ago got her first deer under her belt... performing flawlessly @ 130 yds... i was hunting the top of a ravine and she came in with 3 other doe at the bottom... the Deer took the hit, stumbled sideways for 10 yards and was dead when she hit the ground... a textbook perfect lung shot... i was pleased overall with performance of the big caliber round i had put together....

the drag to get her out of the woods was just under 3/4 of a mile... in the pitch black of night... which taught me just exactly how out of shape i am.... with wolves howling in the distance... actually wolves howled almost every morning and evening... and there were more coyote running around than you could shake a stick at...

other than that no horns to be seen though they are there... i know they are, i saw more sign than i had ever seen in 19 years hunting this same place... rutting activity was still high... just nocternal.... and i was the only one that scored last week... shooting was sporadic and very seldom all week and you can hear a centerfire rifle for a looong distance (read that miles)... but at the bridge, deer count was up 2% over last year so first week hunters must have been doing very well as there was a foot of fresh snow earlier the that week and colder temperatures...

temperatures for us last week were anywhere from the low 40's to low 50's for highs and lows in the 20's to low 30's... sunny skies every day, pretty calm for wind (read that none most days) kind of makes for miserable hunting up here... but there is always next year... and there are a few late season doe only hunts coming up as well as black powder and late bow season.. so maybe we can put a second deer in the freezer...

i don't walk very much.. cept to and from stand.... almost a mile and sometimes more depending upon the stand i am hunting, one way, in the pitch dark... morning and evening... and the return trips around noon... the GPS said i logged somewhere right around 28 miles on foot for the times i had it on... some of this is pretty tough country with a lot of ravines and ridges... but nothing compared to the appalachians or out west....

things may have been slow but alwaysremember... a bad day hunting is better than a good day working...

a few photos of the week...

Donziweasel
11-27-2006, 12:38 PM
Welcome back Jamie. Sounds like a good trip even if you didn't get the big boy. Sounds a lot like our hunting, sunny and hot at the beginning, which killed us, then when weather came in, two dead elk. Now we just need to get you signed up for a trophy mule deer/elk hunt in Wyoming!:wink: :) :bonk: :)