Joe’s First Buck

Joe's BuckJoe is currently king of the Pig. Here he is with his first ever buck. A nice 6pt. That smile says it all. So far Joe is the only member with a buck.

The rut is not on yet. We saw a lot of deer, a lot of small does to be precise. We kind of lost count. All four of us hunting harvested a doe to get some meat in the cooler and while we were hunting, some meat in our bellies!

We hope to be back out in November during the rut so look for some more hunt updates at that time.

I’ve started a photo album for the hunt here: 2014/15 Crystal Pig Hunt Club Photo Album. That’s hunt life in pictures.

Joe Gets a Doe

Joe Gets a DoeIt’s deer season at The Pig (short for Crystal Pig Hunt Club). On opening day Saturday Paul, Luke, Joe and I were on location. We all got a doe that day! Now, it’s time for a buck. We’re not in the rut yet. We’ve seen over 30 does and only 2 bucks so far.

In the pick, Joe gets his first deer, pictured with his Dad and my brother Paul. You want to talk about excited. He got it with his first shot too.

So, we’ve had some good fresh venison on the grill and in a stew and I think some more recipes are coming.

Now back to the hunt.

Building a Pole Barn

Pole BarnOur last major project of the year prior to hunting season is the building of a pole barn. This week the poles got planted and next week the frame, rafters and metal roof goes on. The barn will house our RV with lots of extra room for shelves and a cook area.

Of course there are lots of little projects we still want to work on including some more stands at key locations. However, we’re ready to spend some time in the woods on the CPHC with a gun! It’s getting close and we’re getting excited. How about you?

Are you going deer hunting? Got any questions? We’ll try to answer them. Feel free to post in comments.

Food Plot Lesson

Food Plot IssuesThe CPCH got a lesson in food plot preparation and planting this year. In this photo you can see that we have not established a really good food plot and we wondered why.

So we called on the experts at Tecomate and sent them photos and the history of what we had done on this land. The bottom line is “lack of topsoil.” It didn’t occur to us that between the land being clear cut and pines planted and then having our plots bulldozed and groomed, we had basically removed what topsoil there was. So we were treating and planting into pure clay soil which just doesn’t have what the seeds need to establish a good root system or even to properly germinate.

However, all is not lost. We do have seed coming up and we are going to over-seed with some rye grass and red clover and cover that with a good batch of straw. Deer will still have something to attract them and to feed on and all of that will contribute to new topsoil. It may take a couple years to grow ideal plots but we have the base properly started.

Filling the Feeders

Corn FeederThe excitement is building as we get close to deer season. We have learned a lot about preparing food plots this summer. More on that later.

One of the last preparations involved setting up and filling the corn feeders. We have two that are strategically placed to help draw deer into the property. Since this property was clear cut for hard woods there is less cover than the surrounding pine forests. Here’s Luke up on a ladder adding corn to our newest feeder. We have them set to distribute corn a few times a day.

During this same trip Luke and Paul got several more stands set up and locked down. Hunt time is getting close and we’re getting excited!