Deer Hunting w/ Catfinger in the North Pole, Alabama Jan 19&20th-2008

SpurHunter · Jan 23, 2008

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A friend of mine in south AL has about 4K acres he manages for deer and turkey. He does some commercial hunts to off-set the high costs or food plots and such, so I hooked him up with an child-hood friend from that I keep in touch with. Rob was wanting to find a place for his 14 yr old son Craig, to get a good chance of a wall-hanger. They had gone down for a couple days back in early December, but didn’t see a deer with a bad moon phase, and lots of rain. They decided several weeks ago to make the trip back to Shilo Farms during the long MLK weekend, PRIME Alabama big buck hunting being late January, and the rut in full swing.



Rob and Craig got into town late Friday night and were in the deer stands Saturday morning, just a little after sunrise....AFTER a call to me for directions, AGAIN. 

Rain and windy, cooler temps were the order of the morning, and with the front coming ASAP, they deer were bedded down in full-rest mode waiting for the skies to unleash the freezing temps and snow?? Yes, I am still talking about lower Alabama folks. 



Rob didn’t see a thing, and Craig had a small fork-horn come out on his stand, NOT what he was looking for. After a couple hours in the woods, lunch was calling their names, so they headed to town for fuel to sustain the long afternoon sitting. Finding everyone in town battening down the hatches, lunch was hard to come by but found one place still open. They were actually asked to "hurry along" so the staff of the local diner could get home before the snow started. 



I called Rob about 12:30 to let him know we were on the way, and asked "Hows it look there?" Answer: "Like the North Pole!" He told of a complete blanket of snow on the ground, cars & houses. Shortly after that conversation, I was cruising down I-75 and started to see a light dust of the white stuff myself. By the time I hit Atlanta, it was a full-blown blizzard! Complete white-out, but luckily the normal lunatics driving in ATL, were bundled up at home staying warm, and out of my way on the roads. I got to the Farm about 4:15 to find 30 degree temps, and good remnants of snow. Apparently the rain came in directly after the snow-fall, and knocked most of it down. The deepest measurement taken during the blizzard was 2.25 inches though. 



Catfinger and I got out to our stand about 30 mins later for the evening hunt. With the temperature dropping steadily it was on the chilly side, but not brutal. We were in a shooting house looking over a 4 acre food-plot I had hunted back in December and seen several does at dark. I was hoping the does would be back, and bring Brutus in on their heels. About 15 mins after getting settled in, Catfinger taps on my leg and mumbles something resembling, buck right there!....well that’s what went through my head. With my hopes kick-started, I asked her what she said, "There are turkeys right there". Sure enough turkeys were coming out from behind our stand and crossing the logging road to our right. At just 10 yards away, I was sure to remind her not to move, for fear of a deer near-by and I didn’t want those crazy feathered lunatics getting a deer nervous.

The birds worked across the road, and though the pines easing out into the field just 25 yards in front of us. It was a mixture of jakes and hens, with one long-beard in the bunch. Very odd as long-beards would be in groups by themselves this time of year, but there was something strange about this one. It had a smaller body than all the jakes in the bunch. I surmised it was a sickly bird with a good 9-10" beard.



The turkeys finally eased out of the field to the far end, and back into the pines. About 20 mins later, a turkey came busting out of the trees, took flight and landed in the top of a tree across the field. No sooner had that one landed than a second bird did the same, but this one didn’t stop and flew out of sight. The first bird seeing his retreating buddy flying for Mexico, decided that was the best plan, and off it went after the other. I told Catfinger to be ready, it may have been any number of things to spook the birds, Coyote, bobcat, or even bucks fighting for dominance....I was hoping for the latter. That was the last excitement before dark-thirty came and went. We eased out of our shooting house, and made it back to the lodge to warm up around the camp-fire and swap stories. Craig had not seen a deer or anything else for that matter from his stand, and Rob told of getting so cold he had to get out of his stand and do some walking to warm up, and hopefully jump a buck. Turns out he ended up walking about 100 yards from our food plot and up through the pines...and you guessed it, spooking the turkeys. I don’t understand why a turkey would spook a turkey......



We made plans for where we would all hunt in the AM, since no-one was going to hunt the fork-horn stand, we chose it for the morning, and we headed off to get some supper. 



We got to our shooting house a few minutes before shooting light, as it took MUCH longer to get enough warm clothes on than I had anticipated, but I didn’t want myself or Storm to freeze out there. Being the rut in AL, you need to stay on stand for as long as you can for a chance at a black-belt monster. It was a balmy 19 degrees with a 3-5 MPH breeze. I think that gets the wind chill down to about 10 degrees, but does it really matter when its that cold??

We settled in for the wait, feeling our chances were very good to see some deer hungry to get back into the fields after the storm finished up. Catfinger kept telling me she could hear walking in the pines to our left, but as there was still remnants of snow and ice in the trees, I think it was just "nature sounds". About 45 mins after we got on stand I notice a deer off to our left, just out of the field in the wood-line and it had antlers! I had the video camera on the window-sill already in anticipation of getting good footage of her next buck. In one motion I grabbed the camera, while keeping an eye on the deer, and instructing her to find the deer as well. I immediately noticed it was not a shooter, only having one tine about 7 inches on each main beam. It did have long beams, and what looked to be nubs of some kind out toward the end of its antlers, but I believe I got a glimpse of small brow tines, making it a fairly wide, albeit paltry 6-point. Storm never picked up her gun, as she heard me say its just a 6 point almost as quickly as I told her the deer was there. We watched it ease across an opening that would have afforded her a clean shot at about 80 yards, and proceeded to thrash some branches with its antlers. It eased over the hill into the hardwood bottom out of sight. She is looking for a bigger deer than she took last year, which was a beautiful 2 1/2 yr old 8 point with long brow tines, and scored 85.5 inches. This deer didn’t even cross her mind as a shooter when she saw it. I told her to keep a good eye on the area, as large bucks will often lag behind smaller deer this time of year. I figured we might even see the 6 point come back in the field at some point too. About 20 mins later, I noticed a deer down the field to our right with antlers! Once again it was our 6-point, this time walking the edge of the field, no-doubt checking some scrape activity under the overhanging branches. It continued his direction, and soon was out of view, heading toward the next field through the woods, where Craig was in a shooting house. I felt confident that Craig would draw blood this day when the deer made it to his location. 



We lasted about 1 & 45 mins before Storm said her feet were starting to get chilly. No need to let a fun time get ruined by miserable cold, so I opted we leave and get some breakfast, and then come back mid-day for as long as we could stand it. As we got back to the lodge, we met up with Rob and Craig, who didn’t last as long as we did in the stand because of the cold. After a trip to the Huddle-house, we all headed back into the woods. This time Craig wanted to try the stand we had been in that morning, good call since two different bucks, although smaller, had been seen there so far. Storm and I went back to the turkey field. About 1hr & 1/2 of sitting we got anxious for some action, and decided to do some scouting. We took a great walk through the woods, and I was fortunate enough to show her a couple scrapes, and rubs, and explain why deer make them. We ran into an armadillo going back into its hole, which was neat. We ended up going in a circle back towards our stand, and as we came to a field near-by, I saw movement. it was our turkeys again. Since we were pinned down, we just stood there and took in the sights, watching the bids do their thing. I was using my binoculars to scan them, and found the long-beard again. To my surprise I realized it was not a mature gobbler, it was a HEN! I cant explain why I didn’t notice it when they were right in front of us the day before, but sure enough, she has the best beard I have ever seen on a hen. After letting them work out of the field, we made our way back to the truck, and to the lodge. We hung out for a while, waiting for fleeting light to get back to the stand. Craig and Rob had been skunked again during the mid-day hunt, and drove to another portion of the property to scout. They ended up finding good sign on a food plot, and stayed there to hunt that evening. We hit the trusty 2-buck stand once again. The further the sun went down, the temps followed along with our hopes of seeing a good deer. Dark came without another sighting, but it was still good to be in the woods. 



Once back to the lodge, and folks started coming in, it seems everyone had seen or killed a deer that evening but us. A spike with matching kickers coming off of each base was brought in, then a doe. When Rob and Craig pulled up and back the truck towards the skinning shed, my hopes were high Craig had connected with his trophy. Rob walked up, and I asked if Craig shot, he said yes, it was a small buck. Turns out it was a unicorn! Really! Well, it was a very weird looking spike with one side broken off. I don’t know if it was a 1 or 2 yr old deer, but one of the strangest looking antlers non-the-less.



That finished the season up for us, and I am looking forward to the spring. We are still after a long-beard for Storm, and I feel good about our chances this year.



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SpurHunter · Jan 23, 2008

Here is a clip from the stand. I hope this works. 

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5427597280358262070

Apperantly it might take a couple hours to show up on the site. Try back if it wont play for you.

puddle jumper · Jan 23, 2008

That sounds like a great trip,
Wish the season stayed open here longer"GA" so we could have a crack at hunting in the snow,,,

Sounds like you have a true trouphy hunter from now on...

Im not a turky hunter ??? But a hen with a beard...emoScratch emoScratch emoScratch
Anyway great post "i understand now"...emoThumbsup emoToast emoThumbsup

Puddle...emoUSA

Jmax · Jan 23, 2008

Sounds like you and the little lady had a great father and daughter trip. Nothing like getting out with the kids and having some quality time. Those are the memories that will last a lifetime for her and you both. Enjoyed the story and the little vedio of the six point going by. Good read....emoThumbsup Jmax

Guest · Jan 23, 2008

Good story there Spur. Sounds like Storm is becoming a real trophy hunter. Keep it up bro you have the makings of a good one there. Cool video too.emoBigsmile

Kingfish · Jan 23, 2008

emoThumbsup Ditto on what cheez said.

churly · Jan 23, 2008

Alot of people are offended by the term trophy hunter, but we have to teach the next generation how important it is to let the young ones mature before harvesting in order to preserve this sport. Looks like the boss man just shot down my plans for a 3 day trip to South Bama!!!emoEvil I'm glad someone was able to go. Congrats to the young hunter!!!

Guest · Jan 24, 2008

Spur, it sounds as if you and Storm had a great hunt, that little lady is learning fast and will do good in the future. Sorry about not getting a wall hanger but that is the way hunting goes, excellent story too backed up with the video. Turkey time is just around the corner and I know she can't wait to go.

Guest · Jan 24, 2008

Spur, it sounds as if you and Storm had a great hunt, that little lady is learning fast and will do good in the future. Sorry about not getting a wall hanger but that is the way hunting goes, excellent story too backed up with the video. Turkey time is just around the corner and I know she can't wait to go.

Deer Hunting w/ Catfinger in the North Pole, Alabama Jan 19&20th-2008

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