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Brock/Mason 2020

brock ratcliff

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Nice. One of those trackers would be great around those fields I hunt. Its tough tracking early season.
That is exactly the reason I decided to drag this thing out of the pile of old archery goodies. Last year I shot one with a longbow. Had great blood for a spell and then lost it. We later found her leg after coyotes had eaten the rest. We were within a few yards of her and could not find her with the vegetation being 8 feet tall. I even rode the quad around while standing up in an effort to find her with no luck. This thing would have made all the difference.
 
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brock ratcliff

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Easton Aftermath. 400 spine. 30", 5' RW Gateway feathers. The Aftermath is the cheapest carbon shaft Easton makes. Same shaft but they have changed the name several times over the last 20 years. Tough as nails, cheap, great shaft.
 
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giles

Cull buck specialist
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That is exactly the reason I decided to drag this thing out of the pile of old archery goodies. Last year I shot one with a longbow. Had great blood for a spell and then lost it. We later found her leg after coyotes had eaten the rest. We were within a few yards of her and could not find her with the vegetation being 8 feet tall. I even rode the quad around while standing up in an effort to find her with no luck. This thing would have made all the difference.
Cheaper than a drone!
 
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brock ratcliff

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Thanks for the congratulations and nice comments everyone! I’ve had a few days to think about it all and I still am amazed that little bow shooting that little head killed that deer so quickly. That’s what we all hope for in every shot. The effort that went into making that happen is mind-boggling, really. It’s just a fortunate thing there is nothing I’d rather do than shoot that little bow. Still, it could have gone bad so easily and I’m very happy it turned out as well as it did.
Mason went to that tree this morning with his recurve. He saw 8 antlerless deer and one coyote. He had no shot but still enjoyed a good sit. We are lucky to be able to do this sort of thing just for fun.
 

brock ratcliff

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A little over ten miles on my boots today. Can’t imagine how many on my dogs. We moved three woodcock and three or four grouse and this is all we have to show for it. One good shot opportunity- and we hunted all day! Trying another area tomorrow. Big fun, but it would bigger fun if we find a few more birds.
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brock ratcliff

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Our grouse trip to Michigan has come to an end. We covered nearly ten miles on both Monday and Tuesday. Added another 5 on a bit over half a day today. Saw a lot of country to find small pockets of birds on two of lower Michigan’s GEM areas, which are managed for grouse habitat. The birds we found were smart, and have to be due to enormous hunting pressure they deal with. I always run bells and tone collars on my dogs. After a day and a half of that I switched over to a stealthy approach and turned off the bells and whistles. Nearly every bird hunter runs them and every bird we encountered knew the game and would simply vanish before the hunter or dogs arrived on the scene. Once I shut off the noise and snuck up on birds, things improved but it was still nearly impossible to get a gun shouldered before the birds vanished into the beyond. Still, I managed to get off two hurried shots yesterday and one today on birds I likely would have killed if they actually held for a point. A single woodcock is all we managed to kill on the trip, but it was still fun trying to figure out a new-to-me game. I haven’t even seen a grouse for 15 years in Ohio, so it was a real treat. My dogs were flawless and a real joy to watch as they worked hours on end coming up on mostly empty points. The woodcock had apparently moved out of the area as we only saw a handful of them. That was a real shame as they actually have the decency to usually hold for a classic point. The only dead grouse I saw was killed a my really nice gentleman who had driven two hours that morning to hunt. He was a really nice fellow hunter as was everyone we met in the woods, and we met several. I asked Sean before the trip where we should our hunt and he came up with a solid starting point and for that I’m thankful. I’ve been wanting to try my dogs on grouse for several years and I’d like to think although my shooting was poor, I did at least learn a little about this game If I go back, I’ll have a better plan starting day one.
I took a lot of pics of my dogs since there were no dead grouse to photograph. Those eggs are from my buddy Tony’s pheasants. We had them every morning for breakfast which was a unique treat. Delicious too.
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Jackalope

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Awesome Brock. It looks like you were able to get and and explore some beautiful country and watch the dogs work. At the end of the day that's what its always about. Thanks for sharing buddy.
 

hickslawns

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Ohio
Looks like a fun trip. Is that the GSP who was under the weather last year with his injury? Ruger was it?