I will try to make a long story short. Or as short as I can.
I decided to take the day off and go hunting today, so I woke up very early and took off solo to a place I e-scouted based on a comment we heard last Saturday from someone driving down the road where Robert and I were hunting.
I have never been there before and I didn't know what I was going to find once I arrived, but what the guy said made perfect sense.
Let me tell you something, the trip alone was not for the faint of heart. The road has suffered from our recent rains, like every road in the county. It is very narrow and the climb was steep. My recent acquisition is a 2003 Ford Ranger 2WD that I am fixing up. I thought I was not going to make it but I did.
I had marked on my OnX a point where I was going to park and then hike. I got there by the break of dawn. Looked out and found myself on top of a ridge and with no signs of paths going down to the bottom, close to the creek. As soon as I stepped out of the truck I heard a gobble... Are you kidding me??? I thought, I got to get down there quickly!!! I loaded up my shotgun and headed down the road trying to find a way to the area where that gobbler was. I walked a two hundred yards down the road and I headed in. I started making progress and found out that the poison oak was as told as me and I had to go through if I wanted to keep getting close to that gobbler. It was dark under those huge trees, and all of the sudden something small moves around 4 feet away. I stopped and looked, I saw two small eyes and a white strip that went from the head to the tail of this super scared creature... YES!!! SKUNK!!! Slowly I walked back and so did he. Probably it was the first time he has seen such a living creature (me). Not finding any other way to make it through the dense poison oak and dead branches and bushes, I decided to turn around and find another route. I walked the road back up the hill. Not being able to find a way down and afraid of loosing that tom, I started walking down the side of the soft hill through yucas and bushes not knowing what I was going to come across. Once down there I found myself surrounded by poison oak. I walked through it and sat down trying to recover from such a dive. I made a few calls and nothing, no signs of the gobbler that welcomed me to the neighborhood earlier. I am sitting there and all of the sudden my phone starts to make a weird sound, I knew I had place it in mute so WTF!!! Some how the phone dialed 911, yes 911!!! So then, I didn't know if they piked up a call as if I was on distress or what and if they were going to be calling my wife asking where I was!!! I calmed down and thought, whatever... if they show up at least they will help me to get out of this hell hole!!!
I couldn't seal the deal. That tom will live another day. He didn't want to show up for his appointment with our Creator. The place has birds, that I know, but I will have to take my time and make a path for next season so I can go down the mountain and then get out safely. That was another experience, getting out of that creek was extremely difficult. The bushes and poison oak were pulling me down at every step I took.
Like always... It was a great day in the outdoors.
ps: make sure your pot call works when it is moist or wet, I found out that mine does not.
I decided to take the day off and go hunting today, so I woke up very early and took off solo to a place I e-scouted based on a comment we heard last Saturday from someone driving down the road where Robert and I were hunting.
I have never been there before and I didn't know what I was going to find once I arrived, but what the guy said made perfect sense.
Let me tell you something, the trip alone was not for the faint of heart. The road has suffered from our recent rains, like every road in the county. It is very narrow and the climb was steep. My recent acquisition is a 2003 Ford Ranger 2WD that I am fixing up. I thought I was not going to make it but I did.
I had marked on my OnX a point where I was going to park and then hike. I got there by the break of dawn. Looked out and found myself on top of a ridge and with no signs of paths going down to the bottom, close to the creek. As soon as I stepped out of the truck I heard a gobble... Are you kidding me??? I thought, I got to get down there quickly!!! I loaded up my shotgun and headed down the road trying to find a way to the area where that gobbler was. I walked a two hundred yards down the road and I headed in. I started making progress and found out that the poison oak was as told as me and I had to go through if I wanted to keep getting close to that gobbler. It was dark under those huge trees, and all of the sudden something small moves around 4 feet away. I stopped and looked, I saw two small eyes and a white strip that went from the head to the tail of this super scared creature... YES!!! SKUNK!!! Slowly I walked back and so did he. Probably it was the first time he has seen such a living creature (me). Not finding any other way to make it through the dense poison oak and dead branches and bushes, I decided to turn around and find another route. I walked the road back up the hill. Not being able to find a way down and afraid of loosing that tom, I started walking down the side of the soft hill through yucas and bushes not knowing what I was going to come across. Once down there I found myself surrounded by poison oak. I walked through it and sat down trying to recover from such a dive. I made a few calls and nothing, no signs of the gobbler that welcomed me to the neighborhood earlier. I am sitting there and all of the sudden my phone starts to make a weird sound, I knew I had place it in mute so WTF!!! Some how the phone dialed 911, yes 911!!! So then, I didn't know if they piked up a call as if I was on distress or what and if they were going to be calling my wife asking where I was!!! I calmed down and thought, whatever... if they show up at least they will help me to get out of this hell hole!!!
I couldn't seal the deal. That tom will live another day. He didn't want to show up for his appointment with our Creator. The place has birds, that I know, but I will have to take my time and make a path for next season so I can go down the mountain and then get out safely. That was another experience, getting out of that creek was extremely difficult. The bushes and poison oak were pulling me down at every step I took.
Like always... It was a great day in the outdoors.
ps: make sure your pot call works when it is moist or wet, I found out that mine does not.
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