Quest for a Florida Public Land Archery Buck

cpoplayer

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Joined
Nov 20, 2016
Messages
178
Location
Grand Ridge, FL
After having to cancel my Wyoming trip due to some unforseen health issues and wallowing in self-pity for a while, I decided to throw all my efforts into harvesting a buck with my bow on public land in Florida. I broke out my brand new Obsession Defcon M6 around the beginning of September in preparation. Sadly, the more I shot it, the worse it shot. Closer inspection revealed the bottom cam appeared to have an extreme lean to it so, back to Obsession it went. I pulled out my old Bear Legion and got her sighted in with just a few shots.

I am fortunate to live only a few miles from a management area so, i decided to focus my efforts there. My son Aidan and I had just a couple hours to do some scouting Sunday morning. When my alarm went off at 5:30am Sunday morning, the bed was still feeling good. I had a pretty good idea where I wanted to hunt having grown up hunting there so, I turned off the alarm and drifted back to sleep. A few minutes later, Aidan woke me up asking if it was time to go. He was fully dressed and was wearing his backpack and binoculars. Now I didn't have a choice. I drug myself out of bed and got dressed while Aidan ate a granola bar waiting on me in the truck.

The ride to the management area was short. We checked out the spot I had my stand set up last year and found plenty of deer sign. We also found the remains of a long dead Eastern box turtle and the skull of a road kill doe.
I have been in the woods my whole life. It's so amazing to go into the woods with an 11 year old. So many things that I have seen a hundred times and take for granted, he stares at wide eyed with wonder. Giant ferns, gopher tortoise holes, and wild persimmons all caught his attention and prompted many questions. I did my best to answer all his queries in ways that made him think about the cycle of life and the importance of conservation.

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On the way home, he examined the turtle shell closely taking in each detail. He asked me how it died and I asked him what he thought. He took a few minutes to answer and his answer blew me away. It was simple and left me speechless. He simply said, "He (the turtle) had done what he needed to and the last thing he could do to help the other animals was to die so the younger turtles could live."

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I can't put my stand up until Friday per WMA rules and then we are going to Stone Mountain, GA camping this weekend. It kills me to miss opening weekend. It looks like it's going to be pretty warm anyway so, it won't be too bad. Stay tuned for more updates!
 
I had to drop Aidan off at his tutor this evening. Luckily she lives on the edge of the WMA so, I went to check out another spot to hunt when the wind is wrong for my primary stand. Turns out what looked like a deer trail crossing a shallow pond on Google Earth ended up being a beaver trail. That was one dangerous place with all those beaver spikes poking up like daggers! I don't think I'll be hunting out of a tree around those guys.
 
Funny stuff about your boy dragging you out of bed. My step son is similar won't get up for anything, if we're going hunting though all I have to do is tap him on the shoulder jumps up like a jack in the box. I get a kick out of it everytime.
 
Good luck! I had some downtime at work and read through your 2016 Mule Deer hunt, good stuff and I'm happy your got it done. Hope you get back up here soon.
 
Hunted GU Parker as a kid between the Dead Lakes and the Big River. Good luck this season.

My dad hunted down there some when I was a kid. Saw my first armadillo down there on a scouting trip with him. Got red bugs (chiggers) in places I didn't even know I had!
 
After the cold front Saturday night, the conditions finally lined up for me to get some stand time in my quest for a Florida public land buck. My alarm went off at 3:00am on Sunday morning. It’s funny how I struggle to get out of bed at 6:00am to go to work but, at 3:00am to go hunting, my feet hit the floor like a kid on Christmas morning. I was dressed and out the door by 3:30. Upon arriving at the check station, I found I was not the earliest riser of the day. even though it was almost an hour until the check station opened, I was second in line.
I caught a quick nap in the truck and was awakened by the check station attendants headlights around 4:30am. I traded my license for a tag and off I went.
Even though the conditions were perfect, the morning was uneventful. Shortly after sunrise, the wind picked up to around 15-20 miles per hour and the temperature took a dive. A text from my wife about 8:15am saying that breakfast was almost ready was all it took to motivate me to head for the truck.
After some bacon and eggs and a nap, I headed back to the woods around 2:30pm. The wind was still whipping through the trees pretty good but, it was a beautiful afternoon.

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I was visited by a pair of wood ducks feeding in the pond behind me and whistling to each other in what I imagined was a marital dispute over where to eat in the pond.

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Around 4:40pm, I had my first action. About 100 yards away I caught movement through the broom sage. At first I didn’t see the whole deer, just a horizontal line moving through the vertical stalks of the straw. A quick glance through my binoculars revealed a doe making her way to a live oak tree about 80 yards from my stand. She was soon followed by another doe. The two of them fed for 10 or 15 minutes before heading off into the thicket behind them. With plenty of shooting light left, my hopes remained high.
Around 5:20pm, a slight bleat drew my attention to my left and to a young deer 65 yards away. Judging from the bleat and her “oh no mama left me” sprint through the opening, I assume her mother had gotten past me at some point.
Even though the wind eventually died down, the rest of the afternoon was uneventful save for the many groups of wood ducks whistling overhead on their way back to their roosts for the night.
Even though I didn’t let an arrow fly, it was still a good day in the woods. Like my dad always said, “That’s why they call it huntin’ not killin’.”
 
Good luck out there. Watching wood ducks is one of the best parts about deer hunting in swamp. Even when a bunch come flying down and trick you into thinking it's a deer moving through the water.
 
Good luck! Anytime you want to come try your luck out on Eglin range, just let me know!
 
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