Back to back success!!

Back to back success!!

I had another long weekend with kids' sports. Lucky for me, I had the green light for a Monday morning hunt. I checked the weather to see that Monday was going to be beautiful. I picked a spot and did some homework.

The next morning, I was in the parking lot at 4:15 with some birds already tweeting thanks to the full moon. Like always, I get to a high spot to listen because I'm always going in blind. It's about 5:30, and I hear my first gobble, and luckily it's below me, less than 200 yards. I loop around and set up under 100 yards from the bird.

The bird has a short, but full gobble, but being that it's the only bird close to me I'm setting up on him. The bird's gobbling enough that I pinpoint him in the tree, and I try my best to see what he is. The only thing I could see was this 4-5 inch real thick, stubby beard, but again, he had a full gobble. With him not going into full strut in the tree, I was assuming he was a Jake. The bird ends up flying down onto a bench below, and for the next hour, I was trying to slowly sneak down to his level. Thanks to a big male coyote, the tom shuts up; the coyote walks by me at 50 yards, and I was hoping that he would walk my way, but he ends up walking away. This helps me sneak closer to the bird, though. The bird gobbles again, shuts up, and the next thing he's 300 yards away, gobbling on another bench. Rather than chasing him, I decide to back out and circle on him with the vehicle.

I drive around on the perimeter of the state land and start calling to find the bird's location, and I do. I end up parking about 500 yards away from where I heard the bird sneak into about 300 yards and start working the bird that's probably 250 yards on private land. This bird is gobbling so much that it brings in two other birds, one that sounds like a Tom.

I end up working these birds for two hours, with all three of them not budging, just moving back and forth on their level, about 50 yards.

It's about 10 o'clock, and I'm about to head out. I pull out my onX again to make one last move. I had my onX in 3D and didn't realize that there was a marsh between me and the birds, and I actually had an extra 200 yards to work with, parallel to the birds. I end up getting on their level, about 200 yards away and start calling again, and all three hit me up, and this time they're all together.

I end up slowly pulling them across the road into public land. They shut up for about five minutes, and here they are, under 50 yards, looking for me. My whole left side was open, while my right side had a tree and a bunch of thick bushes, hoping that the birds would go to my left, but of course, that never happened.

For the next 30 minutes, I had two Jakes and a Tom under 20 yards with no shots. With the sun beaming straight down, it was hard to pinpoint which bird was the Jake and which was the Tom. Finally, the Tom moved to my left to a spot where I had a hole big enough to shoot my pattern through. I put the bead on his head and dropped him at 15 yards.

Persistence paid off with another beautiful long beard, and a long-spurred mature bird to boot!!

Finally a beautiful day in the woods.

Finally a beautiful day in the woods.

i’ve been out only three times this season and every time the weather has been nasty from windy to can’t hear a dang thing to dripping wet. Finally, this morning was beautiful no wind clear skies.

Like always went in blind at one of my spots that I have history with. Ended up setting up on a ridge top with birds all around me. The closer birds were Jakes to my right and an old raspy tom to my left.

Made the decision to do a fly down amdget aggressive with the hope of intising the raspy bird to my left. Well it worked and the good lord made it happen. Thank to me forgetting to take off my headlamp he almost got away. A couple light yelps and some scratching in the leaves made him curious and he popped his head over the ridge giving me a shot around 30 yards. After the time disappeared, but luckily, I heard him flapping.

The bird was a big one spurs over an inch a quarter and 11 inch beard. He probably weighs in the low 20s and I’m pretty sure I’ve had a couple battles with this guy and of course he’s won them all making me come back for more. Finally, I won

Front end loader

Congratulations Sean Kirk Russell

Here’s the story of the deer I’m now calling “Front End Loader”

For those of you who know me, I put a lot of time into public land sika hunting, especially with the bow. It ain’t for the weak. Miles of hiking into some nasty marshland with mosquitoes that are ready to carry you away…not to mention the blood sweat and tears put into it all and let me emphasize the SWEAT during the early season. Going into Tuesday's hunt it was a hot one pushing around 85. I was debating where to hunt with one of my great buddies and he told me how about you go try my spot where he knew some very good stags were frequenting. He sent me a few pins and told me how to get in there little did I know what I was getting myself into. Started my hike around 2:30 pm and it took me about an hour to get to the spot sweating my ass off! By the time I got to the tree, I had already drunk the only water I brought with me and immediately regretted that. I was finally settled in around 4 pm and luckily for the first hour or so things were slow giving me time to relax a bit. Started out hearing a couple of bugles off in the distance around 5:30 and had high hopes that some deer would start moving soon. Not long after I started doing some calling hoping to sweet talk one into the opening I was hunting. Around 6 I could hear some phrag breaking off behind me not far and let out a growl thinking it could be a stag. A few minutes went by and he stepped out at 25 yards and immediately I knew it was a shooter. The first thing I saw was the big hooks. When he came out to the edge of the opening he was feeding on the phrag tops and working my way but it was going to be tough getting a shot from where he came out. He ended up taking his sweet time eating on phrag and only taking one or two steps every 5 minutes or so. This made for a very nerve-racking half hour as I had to sit there and watch him feed while well inside of bow range with no shot opportunity. After about a half hour some more deer started to show up. Out came a spike from in front followed by a big tall 4 point. which I would have shot any day of the week if it weren’t for this big 6 already standing behind me. After the 4 came another smaller 6. The big 4 points and smaller 6 put on a great show for me growling and mewing while doing some sparing as well. Mind you all 4 of these stags were now all inside of 25 yards. Luckily I had the wind to my favor and none of these deer ever knew I was there. It’s hard enough to keep your composure with one stag in close let alone 4 of them with 2 of them being deer I would have been super excited to put my hands on. I had made up my mind I wanted the big 6 and was going to wait for him to hopefully give me a shot and come out into my opening which happened to be at 15 yards. Having the other deer around the big 6 was perfectly content and continued to feed on phrag and work his way up to the opening. Finally, after about 45 minutes he stepped into that opening and when he put his head down for a drink of water I was able to get drawn back and take my shot. Years ago I lost a big stag due to a shoulder hit and I was scared to have that happen all over again. Because of that and me shaking like a leaf, I ended up hitting further back than I would have liked to. He jumped and ran 10 yards back into the phrag where I could not get a second shot at him. A few minutes went by and he was still standing there just being able to see his rack and then he vanished. Knowing I made a marginal shot but a lethal shot I elected to back out and not even look for first blood. I knew as long as the deer wasn’t pushed he should bed up close by and be laying there for me in the morning. This ended with a sleepless night and second-guessing everything I did just praying he didn’t go too far and that he would bed up and expire. Went back in at 7 am and went to where I saw him go in. With only a couple of specks of blood, I was able to find the trail he went in on but it wasn’t looking great which I was kind of expecting. Slowly working my way up the trail just a couple drops here and there I was getting a little worried but only 25 yards up the trail there he lay dead as could be right in his bed. And I got to put my hands on my biggest bow stag to date. If it weren’t for me backing out that night I truly do believe I would have jumped him up and potentially would have never found this deer. When in doubt it’s always best to back out. It might be hard to do so but with a back of liver and front of a gut shot a deer can take many hours to expire typically they won’t go far if they aren’t spooked and that’s exactly what he did. This hunt sits at the top of the list for one of the best seats I have ever had in the marsh. Seeing multiple stags in close and not being busted which having the right wind played a big part in that. It was also the most nerve-racking hunt I’ve ever had having to watch this stag for so long before getting a shot and then not making a great shot my stress was out the roof. Just beyond blessed and relieved that I was able to find this deer and he did not spoil it.

It’s been 6 years since I shot and recovered a stag with my bow. I’ve had many close encounters. A couple of misses and a couple of hits ended with a lost deer. So it was the best feeling ever to finally wrap my hands around my biggest bow stag to date. My biggest thanks go to my great buddy Robert for sending me into this spot and making this opportunity possible. If it weren’t for him this hunt would have never been able to happen.

~Sean~

Fastest hunt ever!!!

Fastest hunt ever!!

Where to start… The past 4 days I've been hunting hard in MD with my best chance at a good deer was waking up to a 130” 8-pointer at 45 yards walking away from me. That's what being sleep-deprived can do to you. I did end up with an awesome track from my pup Reese. I shot a big mountain doe that I hit back thanks to a stick deflection right before impact. Thinking it was a liver hit we gave the doe 3 hours to track only to jump up the doe 50 yards from the shot. Went back the next day and went on a track crawling through the thickest crap only to find the doe had backtracked and parished only 30 yards from where we jumped her. By far Reeses best track to date.

Fast forward to today. While in MD my cameras were showing several nice bucks checking scrapes on a ridge top that I haven't hunted yet. I decided to go after them this am. I was planning on being a decoy since the woods were so open. That was put to a halt when the wind changed.

I got to the spot and ended up getting in a tree that backed up to some hemlocks. With it being so open I got up around 30 feet facing the ridge that was about 20 yards away and about 10 yards above me with a bluff on the other side.

It's 630 and it's pretty quiet so I decided to slam the antlers together so anything in the area could hear it. Right after I turn on the camera and start doing an intro. About four words in I hear something coming my way. Turns out to be a big doe running down the ridge. Turn the camera to me again and I hear another deer. This time I see antlers. Grab the bow and turn the camera to the deer facing east. The sun is rising and it making the buck hard to see. He's messing with a scrape and then starts down the ridge after the doe and I throw a loud low grunt at him and he stops and looks my way. I pull back guessing the yardage to be 25 and put the pin on the glowing deer and let the arrow fly and it hit the buck a little high dropping him in his tracks (turned out to be 20 yards). I grab another arrow and finish him off. This is when the buck decides to push himself over a bluff and the buck ends up crashing down the mountainside.

I was excited yet frustrated knowing that I was going to have my hands full for the next couple of hours. I went down to check out the deer and he ended up being nicer than I thought. Went home to grab Reese and to get myself hyped up for a 200-yard drag uphill. The two hundred-yard verticle drag ended up taking me half an hour thanks to me for pushing myself because I had an 1130 hair appointment that my wife made for my son. The 1000-yard drag downhill was much easier. The Big 8 being run down also helped.

By far one of my fastest hunts yet it was an awesome one.

My little piece of heaven

Nov 1st is a rut day that I had never taken a good buck. Nov 1st is also a day that I would not have expected to have a mature buck making a steady showing on my cams on the farm. Most of the time, any sense of pattern had been long gone and the bucks I had been chasing in the early season would have been on to neighboring properties with better chances of finding the ladies. 

This property has a long history of a lot of great deer hunts through the years, but it has been consistently inconsistent. It just needed some more cover and lots of it.  Cover for doe groups and cover for mature bucks. If they don’t have to leave and always feel safe to be here, then that makes the chances of taking a mature buck go up.  When I moved closer to the property in 2017, I came up with a plan to hold more deer and have more shot opportunities on mature deer. It’s been 7 years, and the improvement is something to see. I could talk about what I’ve done for hours but basically, I’ve created layer after layer of edge and browse and some of the gnarliest cover and bedding with a chainsaw. I started with an outline of where I wanted to select cut the woods and made a hinge cut outline.  Once the select cut was done I created entry and exit paths to stand locations. Every winter since I have been burning areas and hinge cutting more trees in layers to create buffers and barriers and bedrooms for doe groups and bucks. I have designated parts of the property that I will never set foot in until it’s time to shed hunt. This year I have even changed how I park at the farm for the first time in over 35 years. 

I took a fantastic 10 point 2 years ago in October on acorns. He was bedding in some of my hinge bedding but he did not spend much of his time on the farm.  I had never gotten a pic of the buck. I spotted him as I was entering the oaks on the day before and went back the next day and shot him on the same trail I had seen him on the day before. It was an awesome hunt and a beautiful deer. Things were definitely on the right track. All of this is occurring while our area was pounded by ehd it was 2 solid years of lots of dead heads. Some good ones too. I passed on more bucks than ever last season including some of the biggest deer I’ve personally passed. Tough to do but plenty of does to fill the freezer kept me in the game.  

As the 2024 season got closer, I was feeling as though the improvements I have been making to the property were really going to starting to pay off. I was seeing more and more consistent deer activity. Good bucks that were actually holding tight to the property.  

One buck that I really wanted to have a chance at was always around. He spent a lot of time in and around my struggling plot in the woods.  I tried planting oats 3 different times this year but never had the rain to keep it alive. It was crazy seeing the buck there on the cam the same night I would burn or plant. He was also hanging out in my somewhat less struggling plot near the pond. The coolest part was where he was bedding most of the time. Early in the summer he was bedding behind the pond in a new hinge cut area that I had just created last winter. He was frequenting the neighbor’s soybeans and cruising back through my small plot in the woods in the morning. Closer to the opener he was coming to the woods plot almost shooting light. He daylighted 3 different evenings when I couldn’t hunt because of wind. When I did hit him there 4 times I felt like my entries and exits were perfect as I’d still see him on cam when I escaped for the night. I never tried him in the morning. The beans turned and things changed for the better. He started hitting my rye, wheat, and sorghum plots near the pond.The wind was even harder to hunt him there. It was very swirly around the pond. To make things even more intense. I got some of the live WiFi cams and numerous times while either at home or hunting another spot on the farm I would watch him walk into the plot while I could not be there.  

As we rolled in toward Halloween I was trying hard to find the right timing  to make this happen. I’m still blown away that this buck has not bailed.  Not so much from my pressure which I was trying like hell to keep to a minimum. But here it is almost November, and he is still here.  This has never been the case in all these years, but I feel it’s because I’m holding more does now.  The cover is holding them in places I won’t enter, and they don’t see me come and go. The drought conditions this year also had a large number of deer congregating around the I acre pond which was dry down to a 40-yard puddle. The deer were leaving their bedroom and grabbing a drink before coming to the plots. After a couple blown hunts and even trying to change the tree I hiked up to alter my wind I had to give it a rest. After about a week of no sightings of him on the cams… Ol boy was back on the plot 2 nights in a row so I risked an iffy wind on Nov 1. I bought some nose jammer as a last ditch effort for the swirls I had over there and headed in to the pond stand early. I sat there soaking up one of the prettiest views on the farm but was feeling anxious because I felt the wind getting a little sketchy.  It wasn’t the buck smelling me I was worried about. It’s all the does in the plot early and all over the place. This particular evening, I only had some little ones, and a spike come in early. They went and got a drink and came back with no alarm. I was feeling a little more confident.

I was kind of caught in a daydream. Thinking about what I’m gonna do to this place this winter when I heard it. The sound of a buck scraping leaves.  I knew before I turned my head around that it was him. Here I am. My ass slouched back in my saddle. Caught off guard. He’s a lot earlier than he had been.  My back is to him. My bow is hanging up.  He is directly behind me at 25 yards on the edge of some Hollys and small pines. He’s scraping and head up in the branches. I got turned around enough to film. I knew he’d come out to the plot but how?  He took a couple more steps in the wrong direction.  Stared under me into the plot.  Scopin. Sniffin. My heart was in my throat.  The wind was edging right past him. Please no more steps.  He turned around as if he was satisfied the plot looked good to proceed into. As he walked around into the path where I had always envisioned it, I thought how I just saw the missing piece of the puzzle to where exactly he was bedding and moving into the plot.  

It was perfect now. All I had to do was make the shot. And after all these years… I needed a dog for the first time. I knew what I did. I have seen it before. A couple times. It happens and it sucks. I hit liver. And the way he wheeled made me think that I got nothing else. And I was right. I bailed and came back in the morn to zero blood and immediately called my buddy Paul. I knew he’d have a connection. Very cool watching that little wire hair dachshund finds my deer.  80 yards from my stand.  I knew I would eventually find him. Buzzards or some other way.  But this was the move. Happy ending.  

So other than my horrible shot execution this hunt was as close to the whole package as I’ve been able to make happen here.  Hundreds of trailcam vids and pics. Good footage before and the shot. And the first Mature buck in my UC HD that I took the pics for.  Stoked for that. 

I’ve felt this before when I comes to shooting a number one target buck that you have a ton of pics and history with. I feel like I shot my buddy. No more pics of him on the cam. But just as I’m feeling like that I get the notification and I’m looking at a pic of the next one.  

My First solo Double!!

Finally have some to catch up on yesterday's hunt.
It rained most of Sunday and most of the early morning of Monday. Which was fine because I had to get the kids on the bus. With the weather looking like the sun was going to come out mid-morning I knew those toms were going to be active.
I have a habit of not liking to do things easy so of course I'm bowhunting my private pieces without a blind and hunt with a single shot when hunting public. When successful, the reward is such an awesome feeling.
I'm Hunting an area where birds frequent a field on the neighboring property. The goal is to sit and do some light calling with a jake decoy in front of me at 12 yards and great cover around me. Hopefully some love-struck Tom gets curious and checks us out.
I arrive at around 830 and its still wet and muggy. I get setup and then do some calling on a highpoint and wait until the weather changes. I do some work on my phone for about a half an hour, and I can feel the mugginess dispersing and the sun wanting to show itself. Knowing from experience if their toms in the area they are going to reveal their selves
I get to the high point and do some cutting on my glass pot call and get cut off by what sounds like a gang of jakes that are to my right 5 o'clock about 700 plus yards. I cut back at them and they short gobble again. Then I hear a deep gobble to my left 2 o'clock about the same distance. Wait about a minute and call again, the gang gobbles and the lone tom cuts them off with a long double gobble. Being that theirs is a gang of jakes in the area I knew if the Tom was going to show up, he would come in quiet not wanting to mess with the jakes.
For the next 10-15 minutes I mess with the birds with the jakes/Toms responding to everything but are not budging. I haven't heard the lone tom and I'm trying to figure out where he going to show up at (if he shows up) while munching on a bagel. Two bites into my bagel and I catch movement to my left. Here come this big ole bird strutting in right towards the jake at 12 yards. I freeze and the tom starts beating the crap out of my jake. I slowly turn the camera on and grab my bow. At this point the tom has knocked my decoy over and is dry humping it. I pull back and put my 15-yard pin on the Tom's dark patch above the wing and let one fly. The arrow fly's true and the Tom does a back flip and is out cold.
With a mouth full of bagel and an adrenaline rush in full swing I just sit there and take it in. By far one of the coolest experiences that I've been a part of (but wait there is more).
While this is happening, the other birds are gobbling, and they are getting closer. I go pick up the heavy bird and start messing with the other birds just to see what would happen. I started getting Sassy with both a mouth call and my glass call and they were loving it. These birds had to cross a road about 500 yards away and they didn't want to. I messed with them for about 15 minutes and then just gave them the silent treatment.
With no care in the world, I just sat there checking out the bird I shot. The next thing you know it the birds have crossed the road and are in the field gobbling their heads off. I get a glimpse of them in the binos and it turns that they are three long beards, and they are heading my way. I get another arrow knocked and give them a couple " hey baby I'm over here" calls and here they come.
The Toms head into the woods with the lead Tom heading right towards the jake decoy while the other two were nervous and skirted around. They all gobbled in front of me under 20 yards, but they were nervous. The closest Tom didn't know what to do and started to walk the way he came in. With his head behind a tree, I pull back and aim for the dark patch with the Tom quartering away at about 13 yard and let one fly. Arrow fly's true and again the bird is out cold. The two other birds come into check out the Tom and he start flopping like crazy. Its scares the two toms and they take off.
The good Lord blessed me with two awesome hunts in one day. My first ever double by myself and with a bow and no blind to boot. By far one of the craziest hunts, I have ever been a part of. As much as I'd like another hunt like that, I'm pretty sure It will never happen, and I am blessed that it did happen. Glad I have it all on video to watch again with friends and family.
The first bird was definitely the boss weighing at 23.5 pounds and the second a little under 18 pounds. both had 10" birds with inch and a quarter spurs.

On a side note, I'm using a heavy arrow with 150 grain 2" bladed Swackers. These arrows and broadheads did a number on both birds. first bird had a 5" entrance hole and the exit looked like it was shot with a slug and 12 yards. I decapitated the other birds head after it passed through the birds’ body. Crazy damage

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