All of us that bass fish have had those days when it seems like no matter what we throw ... the fish will not bite. When I am having a day like this I have found it is better to slow things down a little and throw a modified version of the Carolina Rig. It is not a magic pill...but more often than not it produces.
Today's tip explains how I set-up this modified Carolina Rig and why it works for me...I
hope that you enjoy.
As always, I appreciate your follow and look forward to your feedback. If you have comments, questions, or a suggestion on a tip you would like to see featured - do not hesitate to leave a comment or e-mail me at rb@rbwrightoutdoors.com.
Thanks,
r.b. wright
"An everyday guy talking to everyday outdoorsmen about an extraordinary passion."
Showing posts with label north carolina. Show all posts
Showing posts with label north carolina. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Monday, January 3, 2011
Next time ... The one that got away
Let me set the stage. It is December 31st, 2010 - the next to last day of whitetail season in N.C. I have been hunting all year and have had a decent season. I have seen some nice young bucks. I have harvested some does and cull bucks for meat. Truthfully, I have not been disappointed. Shortly after the rut began winding down, I began to explore even more the land that I hunt. I know it is odd to do this in the middle of the season, but much of my land was under water during the off season. I hunt an area that has over 2 miles of shoreline on the Black River. It is covered with water oaks and cypress trees (truly beautiful). One of the slews that I duck hunt generally has two to three feet of water; however, in late November of this year it was just a moist bottom covered with acorns and cypress knees. I came across a ridge that allowed me a bird’s eye view of most of the slew and also into an oak thicket. I decided that I would hunt this area the remainder of the season, then further investigate in February for sheds and stand placement. During my hunts here I saw numerous deer, including two of the does I harvested, several young bucks, and the buck that I chose to cull due to its antler growth. I also discovered several rubs and scrapes and knew that there was a larger buck here than I had been seeing. On Friday, the 31st, I was sitting against a tree when the sun came up across the slew. The slew was still covered with a layer of snow that we received five days earlier (something that is highly unusual for this area) The woods came alive as a group of twenty or so woodies flew over the slew. I began watching squirrels as they worked fiercely at accomplishing their mission of touching every single tree in the bottom. I was greeted by a group of hens flying down form the roost above me. A group of does made their way across the bottom feeding on the vast supply of large acorns. It was a spectacular morning….one that I knew should end well. Over the next two hours I lost count of the species of wildlife I had seen. I watched deer, ducks, geese, turkeys, squirrels, fox, a bobcat, and birds of every variety. I remember how amazingly bright the cardinal looked with the snow backdrop. I sat there thinking about how fortunate I was to have a place like this to hunt. I also thought about the doe I had harvested the afternoon prior while hunting for hogs on my buddy's land. Although our primary mission was to harvest a hog, he had made it clear to please thin out the deer population and harvest a doe if the hogs chose not to visit us….this is exactly what had happened. Sorry about the tangent – back to the story - around 9:30 a.m. I began to hear the sound of distant hounds. In southeastern North Carolina, it is still legal to use dogs to hunt deer. For those of you not familiar with this style of hunting, hunters turn a group of dogs out on a fresh deer track and surround a block of woods using the dogs to drive the deer out. Like most deer hunters in southeastern N.C., this is how I was introduced to deer hunting. I have since grown to prefer the art of still hunting but enjoy the sound of the dogs in the swamp. Two of the tracts of land adjacent to mine are leased by “dog hunters” and occasionally the dogs will run the deer onto our land. I must tell you at this point that a buck is a truly intelligent animal. I have seen dogs hot on the trail of an old buck and he (the buck) will lead the dogs into a group of does diverting them to a doe trail and he will slip off unharmed. It is really amazing to watch. As I was listening the freight train of dogs echoing through the woods, I realized they were getting closer to me. I stood up with my shotgun in hand wondering what they could be after. I saw movement across the slew and watched as three does hopped across the bottom about two minutes ahead of the dogs. These deer were coming straight for me. The closer they came the faster my mind began to think... "Do I need any more meat” “Do I want to clean another deer today?" "I think I can get two of the three" You may laugh but this is what I was thinking! I could hear the snow crushing against their feet and the sound of the dogs was deafening in the river bottom. I chose to let the does pass and shortly thereafter the dogs that are hot the trail. As I am watching the last dog leave I hear a crashing in the bushes thirty yards from where I am standing. I turn and see the largest buck I have ever seen in the wild get up from his bed and begin to run full throttle in the direction the dogs had come from. I quickly lift my Benelli to my shoulder trying to get my Truglo site on the bucks vitals. He is moving with such speed and agility that it is near impossible to keep in the line of fire. He, presumably unintentionally, is able to build a barrier of trees between himself and I. I fired at the first three opening I had and each was unable to hit its mark. The buck had already reached 75 yards before I was able to squeeze the trigger the first time. I watched as he danced his way through the bottom and towards the river. I knew that I had done nothing but motivated him to run faster. As I set on the ridge for the next thirty minutes replaying the scene, I realized that I had actually accomplished something here. I had just witnessed a creature that most people would never see in this area. I had proven my theory that big bucks prefer these bottoms, which is why I was trying to find a way to hunt this area in the first place. I also realized that I now have the upper hand. I know where he lives and odds favor the fact that he survived this season. I am already looking forward to next hunting season. By the way, the picture above is not this deer - if I had taken a picture of him, it would be with me holding his head up! This picture was the closest I could find to resemble him.
Life is funny. There is always something that happens that motivates us to keep doing what we do. Maybe it is that one good golf shot during a round where we shot 112. Maybe is it the line breaking on the one fish we hooked all day. For me it is seeing the buck that I have wanted to hunt my entire life and knowing that I am not hunting a figment of my imagination, but an intelligent, beautiful animal on his turf. I respect this King of the bottom and I look forward to the challenges that I will face this upcoming year in my attempt to harvest him.
I look forward to hearing your stories. Don’t forget about our upcoming challenge to get in shape in 2011.
Talk to you soon,
r.b. wright
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sometimes we need a good laugh
Now I do not know the true validity of the e-mail below....what I do know is the more I read it - the more I laughed and all of us need a good laugh now and again.
The e-mail reads as follows:
"Subject: Why we shoot deer in the wild
(A letter from someone who wants to remain
Anonymous, who farms, writes well and actually
tried this)
I had this idea that I could rope a deer, put it in
a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks,
then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure
was getting a deer. I figured that, since they
congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem
to have much fear of me when we are there
(a bold one will sometimes come right up and
sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back
of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be
difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag
over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it
and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then
hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle,
having seen the roping thing before, stayed well
back. They were not having any of it. After
about 20 minutes, my deer showed up-- 3 of them.
I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out
from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope.
The deer just stood there and stared at me. I
wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the
end so I would have a good hold.
The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you
could tell it was mildly concerned about the
whole rope situation. I took a step towards it,
it took a step away. I put a little tension on
the rope .., and then received an education. The
first thing that I learned is that, while a deer
may just stand there looking at you funny while
you rope it, they are spurred to action when you
start pulling on that rope.
That deer EXPLODED. The second thing I learned is that
pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a
cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight
range I could fight down with a rope and with
some dignity. A deer-- no chance.
That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled.
There was no controlling it and certainly no
getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet
and started dragging me across the ground, it
occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was
not nearly as good an idea as I had originally
imagined. The only upside is that they do not
have as much stamina as many other animals.
A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired
and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet
and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me
a few minutes to realize this, since I was
mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the
big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost
my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to
get that devil creature off the end of that
rope.
I figured if I just let it go with
the rope hanging around its neck, it would
likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the
time, there was no love at all between me and
that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing,
and I would venture a guess that the feeling was
mutual.
Despite the gash in my head and the
several large knots where I had cleverly
arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head
against various large rocks as it dragged me
across the ground, I could still think clearly
enough to recognize that there was a small
chance that I shared some tiny amount of
responsibility for the situation we were in. I
didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow
death, so I managed to get it lined back up in
between my truck and the feeder - a little trap
I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze
chute. I got it to back in there and I started
moving up so I could get my rope back.
Did you know that deer bite?
They do! I never in a million years
would have thought that a deer would bite
somebody, so I was very surprised when ... I
reached up there to grab that rope and the deer
grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites
you, it is not like being bit by a horse where
they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites
you and shakes its head--almost like a pit bull.
They bite HARD and it hurts.
The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to
freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming
and shaking instead. My method was ineffective.
It seems like the deer was biting and
shaking for several minutes, but it was likely
only several seconds. I, being smarter than a
deer (though you may be questioning that claim
by now), tricked it. While I kept it busy
tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I
reached up with my left hand and pulled that
rope loose.
That was when I got my final
lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front
feet. They rear right up on their back feet and
strike right about head and shoulder level, and
their hooves are surprisingly sharp.. I learned
a long time ago that, when an animal --like a
horse --strikes at you with their hooves and you
can't get away easily, the best thing to do is
try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive
move towards the animal. This will usually cause
them to back down a bit so you can escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer,
so obviously, such trickery would not work. In
the course of a millisecond, I devised a
different strategy. I screamed like a woman and
tried to turn and run. The reason I had always
been told NOT to try to turn and run from a
horse that paws at you is that there is a good
chance that it will hit you in the back of the
head. Deer may not be so different from horses
after all, besides being twice as strong and 3
times as evil, because the second I turned to
run, it hit me right in the back of the head and
knocked me down.
Now, when a deer paws
at you and knocks you down, it does not
Immediately leave. I suspect it does not
recognize that the danger has passed. What they
do instead is paw your back and jump up and down
on you while you are laying there crying like a
little girl and covering your head.
I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the
deer went away. So now I know why when people go
deer hunting they bring a rifle with a
scope......to sort
of even the odds!!
All these events are true so help me God... An
Educated Farmer."
I Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. I appreciate the pictures that you have been sending. I talked with a friend of mine who just returned from Alberta where he and his brother harvested two nice deer in the 160 class. I am also reviewing/editing some footage form a fantastic red fish and trout bite that is going on here in NC. I will be posting these in the very near future.
Stay safe and do not forget to laugh.
rb
The e-mail reads as follows:
"Subject: Why we shoot deer in the wild
(A letter from someone who wants to remain
Anonymous, who farms, writes well and actually
tried this)
I had this idea that I could rope a deer, put it in
a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks,
then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure
was getting a deer. I figured that, since they
congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem
to have much fear of me when we are there
(a bold one will sometimes come right up and
sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back
of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be
difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag
over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it
and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then
hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle,
having seen the roping thing before, stayed well
back. They were not having any of it. After
about 20 minutes, my deer showed up-- 3 of them.
I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out
from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope.
The deer just stood there and stared at me. I
wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the
end so I would have a good hold.
The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you
could tell it was mildly concerned about the
whole rope situation. I took a step towards it,
it took a step away. I put a little tension on
the rope .., and then received an education. The
first thing that I learned is that, while a deer
may just stand there looking at you funny while
you rope it, they are spurred to action when you
start pulling on that rope.
That deer EXPLODED. The second thing I learned is that
pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a
cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight
range I could fight down with a rope and with
some dignity. A deer-- no chance.
That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled.
There was no controlling it and certainly no
getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet
and started dragging me across the ground, it
occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was
not nearly as good an idea as I had originally
imagined. The only upside is that they do not
have as much stamina as many other animals.
A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired
and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet
and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me
a few minutes to realize this, since I was
mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the
big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost
my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to
get that devil creature off the end of that
rope.
I figured if I just let it go with
the rope hanging around its neck, it would
likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the
time, there was no love at all between me and
that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing,
and I would venture a guess that the feeling was
mutual.
Despite the gash in my head and the
several large knots where I had cleverly
arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head
against various large rocks as it dragged me
across the ground, I could still think clearly
enough to recognize that there was a small
chance that I shared some tiny amount of
responsibility for the situation we were in. I
didn't want the deer to have to suffer a slow
death, so I managed to get it lined back up in
between my truck and the feeder - a little trap
I had set before hand...kind of like a squeeze
chute. I got it to back in there and I started
moving up so I could get my rope back.
Did you know that deer bite?
They do! I never in a million years
would have thought that a deer would bite
somebody, so I was very surprised when ... I
reached up there to grab that rope and the deer
grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites
you, it is not like being bit by a horse where
they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites
you and shakes its head--almost like a pit bull.
They bite HARD and it hurts.
The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to
freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming
and shaking instead. My method was ineffective.
It seems like the deer was biting and
shaking for several minutes, but it was likely
only several seconds. I, being smarter than a
deer (though you may be questioning that claim
by now), tricked it. While I kept it busy
tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I
reached up with my left hand and pulled that
rope loose.
That was when I got my final
lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front
feet. They rear right up on their back feet and
strike right about head and shoulder level, and
their hooves are surprisingly sharp.. I learned
a long time ago that, when an animal --like a
horse --strikes at you with their hooves and you
can't get away easily, the best thing to do is
try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive
move towards the animal. This will usually cause
them to back down a bit so you can escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer,
so obviously, such trickery would not work. In
the course of a millisecond, I devised a
different strategy. I screamed like a woman and
tried to turn and run. The reason I had always
been told NOT to try to turn and run from a
horse that paws at you is that there is a good
chance that it will hit you in the back of the
head. Deer may not be so different from horses
after all, besides being twice as strong and 3
times as evil, because the second I turned to
run, it hit me right in the back of the head and
knocked me down.
Now, when a deer paws
at you and knocks you down, it does not
Immediately leave. I suspect it does not
recognize that the danger has passed. What they
do instead is paw your back and jump up and down
on you while you are laying there crying like a
little girl and covering your head.
I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the
deer went away. So now I know why when people go
deer hunting they bring a rifle with a
scope......to sort
of even the odds!!
All these events are true so help me God... An
Educated Farmer."
I Hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. I appreciate the pictures that you have been sending. I talked with a friend of mine who just returned from Alberta where he and his brother harvested two nice deer in the 160 class. I am also reviewing/editing some footage form a fantastic red fish and trout bite that is going on here in NC. I will be posting these in the very near future.
Stay safe and do not forget to laugh.
rb
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