First Annual TOO Group Deer hunt.

[Outdoorsfellar]

Ok here I am ... resting & clean. Thanks Dante ! A great time had by all. Everything is put away, after I had to re dry the tent & canopy. I'm certainly going to miss that sleeping bag & hearing the outdoors sounds when I go to bed tonight. The food was great, everyone was very friendly & it was great seeing the boys score some great kills.

 

[epe]

That would have been me indeed.

Was beside ya in a green accord, tinted Windows.. If you weren't buried in your phone you would have seen my too hoodie...

 

[CJD3]

Looks like a great weekend guys!
Thanks for the picts and reports.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Mason and I had a great time this weekend! I really enjoyed meeting many of you for the first time. Like Cotty, I wish I'd have taken more pics of the gang, but I did get some from the stand, etc. that I'll post up tomorrow. Just finished all the welcome home chores I needed to get done (along with hanging Mason's arrow holder that Super Dan gave him), and am ready to settle into the couch!

Great bunch of folks down there this weekend!

 

[cotty16]

Ok here I am ... resting & clean. Thanks Dante ! A great time had by all. Everything is put away, after I had to re dry the tent & canopy. I'm certainly going to miss that sleeping bag & hearing the outdoors sounds when I go to bed tonight. The food was great, everyone was very friendly & it was great seeing the boys score some great kills.

Great meeting you man. One of my boys said they loved the smell of the pipe. Lol

 

[finelyshedded]

Here is an awesome set up I found while hunting this weekend down here in Athens at Strouds Run. I hunted on the ground on all my hunts and this set was perfect for this tactic. I found 3 huge scrape sites within 40 yards of each other on a point leading to a shelf that ran up into a small bowl nestled below a small ridge. Here are pics of 2 of the 3 scrapes:

I found a huge blow down of several trees up the hill from these scrapes at a distance of about 45 yards with the wind blowing from them to me. I got back in between to large thick treetops and had awesome shooting down to all three scrape locations. My furtherest shot where the ledge dropped off down into the hollow was 54 yards. With less than favorable weather for great deer movement I feel this spot was an excellent discovery and will produce later in the season. Here are the three views:

View to the left:

Straight down to the scrapes:

View to the right:

 

[Curran]

Great stuff Guys! Congrats on all of the successes, definitely not gonna miss the next one. Keep those pics coming.

Ric that looks like an awesome spot for sure.

 

[Jackalope]

Was beside ya in a green accord, tinted Windows.. If you weren't buried in your phone you would have seen my too hoodie...

I never look at my phone while driving. Lol. (sarcasm)

 

[RedCloud]

Here are the views from my stand on Friday evening.

Left

Straight ahead (there is a trail that ran at the base of this highwall)

Right

Behind left (this is where I seen the buck Beener seen Friday. the 130" 8pt)

Behind Right

Down in that bottom is where I found myself Saturday evening trying to see where the buck had come from and what he was doing down there. A little looking around and I found what I was looking for.

He had dual scrapes under this tree that looked like an arch that had branches hanging off the top of the tree. Made perfect licking branches. After talking to a couple of the other guys in camp these trees seem to grow in more then a few places at Strouds. The trees are dark barked and almost grow like a candycane look to them in how they are bent. You know what a tree looks like when somebody bends a tree as it's growing. They are not pulled over but bent and grew in a shape like a candy cane. Kind of strange but seemed a couple of us found these trees with scrapes under them. Wish I would have gone out this morning and took a picture of it but staying up around the campfire with Ric and Mike Rex until 2am friday night and a bunch of the guys until 3am on Saturday night my butt was not wanting to get up at 6am to go to the stand today lol.

 

[mrex]

Mason and I had a great time this weekend! I really enjoyed meeting many of you for the first time. Like Cotty, I wish I'd have taken more pics of the gang, but I did get some from the stand, etc. that I'll post up tomorrow. Just finished all the welcome home chores I needed to get done (along with hanging Mason's arrow holder that Super Dan gave him), and am ready to settle into the couch!

Great bunch of folks down there this weekend!

I agree wholeheartedly! I really enjoyed meeting several of the forum regulars and look forward to doing it again next year.

 

[bigten05]

sounds like a blast cant beleave i missed it i had 5 guys at my house from tennessee they have a few leases close by and they let us stay at there places for turkey season down there so i had a house full, i will deffinetly be at the next one too meet everyone what was the total you guys killed.

 

[Ohiobowhunter1]

It was great too finally meet the people from this site. Had to pop back in Saturday night before my trek home to say goodbye. I think next year I will be all in on this weekend hunt thing, I told my wife I was already making plans for next year....! Charles, any luck with you and Diablo on 992 the next morning?

 

[Gordo]

Im kickin myself in the ass for not being able to be out there alot more. Between future in laws in town, house shopping, and the boss man leaving town putting me in charge for the next couple weeks i ended up being strapped for time.

Im hoping strouds run will be the choice again for next year! And im hoping i can be better prepared to take a couple guys to my honey holes that desperately need some population control!

It was still great to meet everyone

 

[brock ratcliff]

I have a few pics to post here... They say a pic is worth 1000 words, not sure what words would apply here, but it looks like they should be funny.

 

[DJK Frank 16]

Looks like you guys had a blast!! I have got to make it to the next get together!

 

[at1010]

If this happens next year, I will make it. I had to do some grown up BS! Hopefully next year I can make the trip, and learn from many of you! O and drink some beer with guys who are as CRAZY about deer hunting as me!

Happy to see you all had fun, stayed safe, and killed some deer!

 

[Dannmann801]

I would highly recommend it next year. It was a great time.
Great places to hunt.
Great food shared.
Great guys to hang out with.
World class bullshitting.
And some serious deer discussion with like minded hunters, great chance to talk about what we love best.

And having the youngsters around was great - they were all well behaved and interacted well. And they killed deer!

Well worth the time and travel.

 

[Jackalope]

I have a few pics to post here... They say a pic is worth 1000 words, not sure what words would apply here, but it looks like they should be funny.

Jesse and Swantucky went with me to recover my doe. As we got out of my truck i started putting on my brush bibs.

Jesse "Oh It's going to be like that huh. You didn't say anything about briars."
Swantucky. "Yeah Joe WTF.. At camp you we're like, oh she's right there, easy drag you said, then we get here and BAM!

The doe did end up being an easy drag and wasn't in the thick stuff too deep. lol

 

[bowhunter1023]

HAHA!!! I never laughed as hard as when I had the drag strap around her neck and Joe was trying to get it around her neck and legs. He was struggling to get the strap situated and it was all quiet for 30 seconds or so, then Swantucky says: "You guys know she can't breathe like that right?!?" rotflmao

 

[bowhunter1023]

I had an awesome time this weekend and it was something I am already looking forward to doing again. As usual, it was great to see some of the guys I haven't seen in a while, and to meet some new faces. Events like this a great for the forum morale and it just makes this place a lot more fun when you have actually met a person face to face. Thank you to everyone who came out this weekend and a big thanks to Mike for helping us as much as he did. He went above and beyond the call of duty. Thanks again Mike!!!

As for my hunting this weekend, it was limited in time spent on stand and deer seen, but I did find some great spots and see deer every time out. I located a great spot Friday morning and was searching for a tree when I had a jogger come past with her two dogs. I was standing 3' from the trail when the first dog came by and slammed on the breaks and I was thinking "WTF" as I was 3/4 of a mile from the road. Right behind the dog was a chick in yoga pants and rubber boots! I scared the shit clean out of her, not to mention the second dog that yelped when it seen me!!! lmao

Despite seeing them, I couldn't ignore the sign I found and hung my stand anyways. Within 15 minutes of them coming through, I was up the tree and glassing a 130" 8 point. It was a great spot to be in and I found another spot in that area that may be even better than this. Here are the views from that stand:

I found this and it pretty much sold me on hanging here...

This is looking straight to my left at the area the buck cruised through...

The scrap above is 30 yards in this pic...

There is another scrape at 40 yards in this pic...

My wind was blowing right towards the narrow ridge spine behind me...

On the way out that morning, I laid eyes on an obvious shooting holed up on a bench near the road. I didn't get a great look at him, but he was a for sure shooter. I spent Friday night helping people settle in to camp, then hunt this stand again Saturday morning seeing only a small 8 point at 9AM. Saturday night I went for a hike to find another spot worth hunting later on this year and found this scrape a rub...

I have no doubts the second spot I found is a great spot to be as it is surrounded by thick stuff. Given that I only live 35 minutes away from Strouds, I will be back to hunt these spots later. All in all, it was a great weekend and I hope it is just the first of many for this group!!!