Creamer's 2023/2024 Season Journal

[Creamer]

Today I made my first coyote hunt of the summer. I had two public land spots close to home in mind for this morning. The spot I wanted to go into, where I located some coyotes a few weeks earlier, was a no-go with the steady west wind. Pretty much, given my entry and where I think the coyotes are, it seemed almost impossible to not get winded. I hit Plan B, favorable wind, but not an area I have located them in the past few weeks. The setups (made just 2, small place) seemed solid and my entry was pretty clean, but I blanked on both setups. I'm still liking this dove stool I picked up from Cabela's for coyotes and possibly for use in a ground blind. It's pretty comfy, quiet, and light weight.

I carried the 870 20ga with 3" turkey loads today, knowing it would be close quarters encounters if anything showed.

I hit them with some coyote vocals with no response. After several minutes, I went into fawn distress and did a few sequences of that. On the first set, I finished with some woodpecker distress, the second set I finished with some pup whines/distress.

The Primos KiYi is the only commercial call on my lanyard. It's sounds so good for the pup stuff that I don't think there's any point in changing it or putting the guts in a wood barrel. It ain't broke. The howls I did on an MFK "Howlin Mofo" diaphragm. The local dogs got going, but no coyotes.

I only had a few hours this morning, so the next trip will hopefully be into the other chunk of public where I have located them. Ideally, I'll locate a night or two before I hunt and pinpoint where they are.

 

[Creamer]

Haven't posted to this much, obviously. I'm still shooting every day and finally getting some cameras up. I hung a camera about a week ago where I had no cell coverage, so that one is "old school" style with a memory card that I actually have to go check. And I haven't yet. It will probably get a few week soak. I hung another one today, first cell cam is up. I had a camera in this spot last year at this same time and had a lot of action. I hunted the area opening morning last year and passed a pair of 2.5 year old 8's. It's a trail intersection in a small main ridge saddle that sees a lot of traffic.

Does anyone wear Rocky boots anymore? I needed a new pair of boots for the fall and took advantage of a coupon and a sale price to grab a pair in Nelsonville. I wanted something with a more aggressive sole than I'd had the last few years to hopefully help my footing on some of the terrain I'm walking. I remember back in high school "the thing" was having a pair of Rocky Cornstalkers. I haven't owned a pair of Rocky's since college. They were comfy today hanging a camera.

My broadheads are all sharpened up. The Cleaver's have flown really well for me and I got them pretty sharp. Maybe not full-on Ranch Fairy sharp, but they're pretty dangerous.

 

[giles]

1,000 grams! I hope you plan to pack them in

 

[Creamer]

1,000 grams! I hope you plan to pack them in

What I do on longer hikes in is wear a light pair of socks and pack my hunting socks. Once I am a few hundred yards from the stand, I get some of my layers on and swap socks. Even with the 400 gram boots I wore the last few years I had swamp feet by the time I got close to the stand.

 

[giles]

I haven't worn an insulated boot since I was a kid. My feet got cold once last year so I will likely change that here soon.

 

[Wiley E Coyote]

My toes get cold easy! If it's below 30 I'm sticking toe heaters to the bottom of my socks.

 

["J"]

My toes get cold easy! If it's below 30 I'm sticking toe heaters to the bottom of my socks.

Join the club!

 

[brock ratcliff]

I’m a slow learner. The last three pair of Rocky’s I owned were absolute junk. I whined about them to a friend that was kinda a big shot there. He got me a pair of their top of the line for around 60 bucks. That was about 20%of their retail price at the time. After a couple months he asked what I thought. I told him I’d overpaid. Junk. Hopefully yours will be better. I will never own another pair. It’s a shame too. They used to make a fantastic boot!

 

[Sgt Fury]

I’m a slow learner. The last three pair of Rocky’s I owned were absolute junk. I whined about them to a friend that was kinda a big shot there. He got me a pair of their top of the line for around 60 bucks. That was about 20%of their retail price at the time. After a couple months he asked what I thought. I told him I’d overpaid. Junk. Hopefully yours will be better. I will never own another pair. It’s a shame too. They used to make a fantastic boot!

I bought two pair of their rubber boots with the zipper on the side in Nelsonville about ten years ago. I used one pair for hunting and the other pair I took to work and used them for when I had to work on a splice in a manhole. They were easy on/off and kept my feet warm and dry while standing in water/mud in the manholes. When I retired, I gave them to a coworker who still uses them today. I agree with you about their leather boots…I’ve owned a few pair and they are nice at first but seem to wear out/come apart after about 2-3 years.

 

[brock ratcliff]

I wouldn’t complain if they lasted 2-3 years. They were leaking within 2-3 months.

 

[Creamer]

A whole bunch of miles went on the boots over the weekend. I used most of the day Saturday and part of Sunday to get some of my cell cams up, as well as get a lot of stuff (cameras, mock scrapes, etc...) for a buddy who lives out west that's coming back home to hunt for a week in late October. I scouted one public piece late last fall on a scout/coyote hunt trip and found a promising area that I thought needed a camera this fall. Access is miserable and difficult, which is perfect for public ground. On my way to test an access route, I stumbled onto another spot that screamed "HUNT ME." There's an open area at the top of the ridge, a band of gnarly thick stuff that parallels the ridge top, and right below that is an old overgrown lane. It's an obvious/easy travel route for deer to walk just above the ravine and below the nasty cover. The lane had a lot of old scrapes from last fall. I left a cell cam there and it's already picking up some deer traffic.

My buddy wanted me to doctor his scrapes with this stuff. Talk about POTENT. I'm not squeamish but I wore a plastic glove because I wanted no part of that shit on me.

I used this gel last fall with good results, so I put it on my licking branches/vines. It's already getting results again this year.

Most evenings I go out to shoot and have a doe group watching me. They were right behind the shrubby stuff by our shed this night.

To that, I just say....

I bought two of the Moultrie Edge cams and got them up over the weekend.

First public land ghost of the year on camera for me.

 

[Big_Holla]

Looks like your efforts paid off already! Will be interesting to see how it all unfolds for you and your buddy!

 

[giles]

Needs another year

 

[Creamer]

I've been slacking on getting some saddle reps in lately so I took advantage of a cool morning to do that today. We had 54 on our thermometer at dawn today, dang that felt good. I'm sure it will be 90 degrees on the opener.

 

[Creamer]

Well, the one cell setup I hung on public was struggling to get a cell signal. That CellLink burned through a set of batteries in a week. At least they weren't lithium. I hoofed it in to move that setup where it could hopefully work better. I had a plan on where I wanted to take it, but 3/4 of the way there I came across a location that screamed, "HERE!" So I listened. There were a ton of white oaks clustered on this point with a thick bench beside it, an old logging road leading into the cover. I made a mock scrape and doped it up with the Black Widow Branch Butter. I would have pissed in it but I was so dehydrated I couldn't do it.

The following morning...

I think when those oaks start dropping steadily, that location could be on fire. Time will tell. I also adjusted a Moultrie cam I had up nearby that had not been getting much traffic yet.

A whole lot of sweat went into the Compton's hat over the last couple of days.

Another cam I hung for my out of town buddy this morning, private ground. I beat the heat today and got out to the farm by 7:15AM to hike the ridge. Peace out on the sweat fest of the weekend.

I put a few hot and muggy arrows down range after a coffee run. Broadheads are still flying great. It feels like I'm in a pretty good spot for the early season right now.

 

[Wiley E Coyote]

Nice Hat!!?

 

[giles]

You sir, are doing the damn thang. Keep on keeping on!

 

[Creamer]

The mock scrape I set up in this spot on public is really working out well. Deer are taking it over, as the plan always is. Lots of deer traffic on this spot, mostly in the mornings, multiple different small bucks. The bigger buck has not been back since that first day.

This may be the same buck from the earlier velvet pic on this camera, I'm not 100% sure.

I had high hopes for this camera location, but it's not giving me a lot to this point. This good public lander walked by it, but other than that, a couple of doe pics in 2 weeks.

 

[giles]

Don't chase ghost. Those deer that should be there might not be alive after last year. I agree with looking around some more, but don't write that spot off.

 

[Creamer]

Don't chase ghost. Those deer that should be there might not be alive after last year. I agree with looking around some more, but don't write that spot off.

The one camera that is disappointing me is deep on public over a mock scrape near a lot of white oaks that was red-hot last fall about this time. Buck activity there also dipped tremendously during the height of the EHD issue last fall, though. I hunted it and still passed three different 2.5's early last season, but so far that camera this year has yielded a couple of doe pics and some coyotes. Zero bucks. I'm fighting the urge to run in and move it because I do believe it will pick up once the white oaks start raining in that area.