Two Quick Stands to Close Out 2010

[jonthepain]

Dec. 31, 2010

Decided to make a couple of quick stands to close out one of the worst years ever.

Now you may know that I'm not a guy that likes to take a bunch of stuff into the woods with me. I'm not into blind building and laying out a pile of decoys and all that mess.

I like to just hike in, back up to a nice thick pine, and get a couple of shots off before moving on.

Well dadburnit I had fun with Puppypopper the other week when we put the time in to build a blind. So this morning I grabbed some twine and a pair of hand pruners and hit the woods.

Of course being Dec 31 there were eighteen thousand deer hunters (i'm sorry) out there. I swear you could have walked across the gamelands on the orange hats and never touched the ground. All the spots that I drove past were absolutely packed.

Luckily two of the private pine plantations that I hunt, the owners are through with this year, and I haven't hunted them in some time.

My first stop seemed like a winner. There were some angry crows chasing a red tail around. Normally, I'd just give a quick injured crow call on one of my Gibson's, take a couple of pops, and move on. But I'd brought this stuff out with me, and wanted to use it.

It was all I could do to not pay attention to the crows all around me while I built a little stand-up blind. I simply added to the overhead branches of a pine that I could back up into, and strung some twine around the neighboring trees, then hung branches on the twine to make sure that I didn't get back-door busted.

under construction:


I put the ecaller in a tree so that the sun would be at my back as they circled it, and made sure that I had a shooting window.

window of opportunity:


Well it worked like a charm. Not only did they keep coming back for more after I had picked off three, but I had that redtail sit in the tall tree that you can see through my window. Unfortunately he flew off while I was scrambling for my camera. Then ten minutes later he did it again! I was ready this time but he still took off before I could snap a shot.

I just missed a great photo op. the redtail is just out of the frame, he was sitting on the top of that pine, looking right at me.


Funny, too, the first bandit to come in dropped down below eye level, trying to help out my decoy, I guess. But, you say, jon you never bring a decoy? Well my decoy brings herself:

Jon's self-propelled crow deke:


So three confirmed and several probables...
(one knucklehead sat in that same tree top that the redtail did, but not for long)...

King of the tree no more:


Eventually they'd had enough, so I moved back to one of my favorite stomping grounds and hiked in. Unfortunately, some ding dong has been educating 'my' birds in the neighboring gamelands, but I thought I'd try another blind, anyways.

I set up some twine and reached in my pocket for the pruners, and, oops! They must've fallen out at the last stand. Oh well, I put up a quickie and proceeded with the same strategy.

Trying to balance shooting lane and obscurity:


The view from inside:


I had three come in hot and heavy, and I let them circle around some to get a good shot, but they put on the after burners as soon as I let one fly. That's how it has worked with those birds for the last year or so.

So in that case I'm not sure that the blind was worth the effort, but I think I'll continue to improve my hides somewhat just in case I tangle with another bunch of green birds. It was definitely worth the effort on the first stand.

So goodbye and good riddance to 2010. Here's hoping that 2011 will be a blessing.

Thanks for reading!
jon

[albiealert]

Nice pics! In the 2nd picture your window of opportunity looks pretty small. You must be a pretty good shot to have gotten off shots at 3 of them as they came back.
And the last pic, is that your local football team?

[jonthepain]

lol no I'm a lousy shot. and crows are hard to hit. but it looks smaller than it actually is. i prob had around 10 yards of side to side flying to make a decision and take the shot.

yes that's our varsity football team, in the championship game this past season. i'm the coach (defensive coordinator) on the left, and my youngest son Jeremy is #88, a senior, in our last game together.

they asked me to come back again next year, but I don't know. it's a pretty big commitment, and with all my sons grown and gone, well, i just don't know.

btw we lost.