Brock/Mason go huntin

[brock ratcliff]

My fingers are crossed too! I haven't heard of anyone killing either of them, but they may well have been killed. How the heck would I find out since we no longer have check stations? There is public land (heavily hunted) right where I saw the majority of the deer last night. It is thick as heck, so it does provide good security, there are just an awful lot of people that hunt it. They could have very easily bumped into someone and been killed. I can't wait to see them on camera.

 

[finelyshedded]

Yeah, without check stations our intel on what's been killed really dropped off! Heresay is all we really got left and half of that is inaccurate info!

 

[Gern186]

Stay after them Brock....assume they are both still alive. I hope you and Mason get a crack at at least one of them. Late season could actually be your best chance of killing one if it gets really cold, you know that already...I hope you guys give it your best shot..those are lifetime bucks right there.

 

[RedCloud]

Good luck Brock and Mason. If either those bucks were killed you would have heard about it either by word of mouth or social media by now. I believe they are still alive and I also believe Mason or yourself will have an encounter with one of them soon. Can't stay in that hole forever lol.

 

[brock ratcliff]

I agree with both of you, our best chance is coming up, imo. I told Mason at the start of this mess we would probably kill one of them early, luck into one during the rut (which almost happened), or kill during late season. I still believe that. I had not been on this farm since gun season. Last night was absolutely awesome! The guy farming the ground put in winter wheat, I told Mason they would be on it as soon as it got above ground... there were 8 (7 does and one 2 yr old sniffin' 'em) in a back corner of the wheat field. The does had their faces down munching. That should be enough of a good food source to keep them in the neighborhood... I'll add corn piles too, cause I got no shame at this point. Late season has always been a favorite time to hunt for me. You can actually hunt 'em! It isn't like you just set up on a funnel and hope, you can figure them out if the weather gets nasty. I'm hoping it does! I'm more excited to get after them now than I have been since opening weekend. We were screwed up then due to ...well, just due to it being Ohio with nice weather. Late season tends to keep those sort of interferences to a minimum!

 

[Mike]

Good luck!

 

[Boarhead]

You and Mason been out anymore Brock?

 

[brock ratcliff]

Just scouting. I havent had time to do much of anything lately.

 

[Boarhead]

Me Too been real busy only had time to put a couple snares out.
Keep after them and good luck.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Thanks, will do. I built another blind in a good location. That took a while. I plan to get another corn pile and cam out today. Gotta hurry to get it done tbough. Short on time for everything.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Mason and I made our first sit in one of the new blinds tonight. We took our bird dog out for his first hunt today, shot two pheasants, walked a lot. So this evening waiting in comfy chairs while hiding in a wind-breaking blind was nice. We did not see much of anything until the last half hour or so. We wound up seeing 3 bucks, and a half dozen does or so. Mason passed a buck again, a solid young 8 that would probably score 110 or so. He was wide, 16-18", just not very tall or massive. Nice looking buck though. Mason had him in the scope, just watching, when I heard a grunt off to our right. I peaked out that side of the blind and saw what appeared to be a big bodied buck chasing does around in the wheat field. It was too dark to tell how good he was at that distance, but he looked heavy. Who knows...

I think we will stay out of there until muzzy season. I want to keep the spot fresh till then as I think its a fantastic spot to pull a rabbit out of the hat.

We'll be checking cams during the week, but I suspect we will be back at the wheat field blind Friday evening.

 

[Boarhead]

Sounds like a good hunt guys.Good Luck!

 

[xbowguy]

Good to see the spark returning. Good Luck Fellas!

 

[Fullbore]

Great hunt! One of those classic, " with all the fun, without the mess" kinda hunts! Lol

 

[finelyshedded]

Great night for sure! I'm getting a good vibe for you two! Good luck guys!

 

[Bigslam51]

Good stuff! Is mason regretting on passing that 150" up yet?

 

[Big_Holla]

Nice! Great to hear you guys are getting on them! Maybe this weekend will be the clincher for Mason!!

 

[brock ratcliff]

Good stuff! Is mason regretting on passing that 150" up yet?

Surprisingly, not one bit. He did say if one of the nice ones came by last night he would hand me the crossbow. I think we are set up perfectly. We could have filled tags last night. Just dont feel the need to just yet. Reserving the right to shoot whatever... we are really looking to muzzy season and may very well open fire on something.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Trail cam caught me, Lathe and Mason goofing off this morning. I think it's a cool pic. I'm lucky to have my life-long buddy and son tagging along in the woods, and I know it. We checked trail cams, snooped around, shot guns all afternoon. Pretty decent way to end the calendar year!

 

[Boarhead]

Always nice to hang with old friends Brock.