Swan Lake NWR Hunt ~ January 3rd & 4th
Friday ~ January 2nd
Arrived in Chillicothe, MO. @ 3pm, and met Jack (my hunting pardner) at the motel. We immediately headed for Swan Lake, to do a dry-run, so we'd know where we were to show up for the weekend hunt.
Temperature was around 60 degrees.
We stopped at the visitor center, hoping to get a map of the area ~ it was closed. And so was the gates, so we had very limited access to look around.
We did find a road that wasn't closed, on the way out of the NWR. From what we could see, there were rubs and trails everywhere. Lookin' good!
We headed back to Chillicothe, had some dinner, and called it a night.
Saturday - January 3rd
We arrived at the pre-arranged site, the maintenance shed, at 5am. We wondered if we were at the right place ~ there were very few vehicles in the parking lot. It turned out that we were the 2nd group of hunters to arrive. John Guthrie, the refuge manager, introduced himself & pointed us towards the coffee & doughnuts.
The weather forecast called for partly cloudy skies, with the Low near 17 degrees, and the High around 40 degrees. That was pretty much right on the money. In other words ~ it was cold! The winds were out of the North/North East, blowing at 10mph, and 15-20mph gusts.
I was assigned to a blind in the White Barn area, which was at the North East corner of Swan Lake. Our guide was a local guy named Mick. He was very knowledgable of the area, so we were on top of the game from the get-go. We headed for the blind, around 6am.
The blind was 4'x8', consisting of a plywood floor & square hay bales stacked 3 high, and a plywood roof. It was a tight fit, with all 3 of us in the blind, but we were able to get comfortable in no time.
The blind was situated in a small opening, facing a corn field about 70 yards to the North & a bedding area 50 yards to the East. The blind location had been relocated to this area (100 yards to the West), because it was too wet for the planned location 2 weeks before the hunt.
Jack was positioned to keep an eye on the bedding area, and I was positioned to keep an eye on the corn field. There was a small finger of trees to our West, which Mick kept an watchful eye on.
The N/NE wind was blowing hard ~ directly in our faces. Sunrise was at 7:05, but it sure didn't help much for warming us up.
Jack spotted a doe early on, about 185 yards away, in the treeline. We waited & waited, but she never headed our way. It wasn't long before Jack spotted some more does, heading from the bedding area towards the cornfield. The brush was thick & tall, so they weren't easy to see. There was a small strip of clearing next to the cornfield, but they weren't about to slow down. I saw them for about 3 seconds, then they disappeared into the standing corn. I didn't even get a chance to get the ML up.
About an hour later, I spotted some antlers moving through the standing corn. Jack did some grunting on his call, but the buck just seemed to disappear. About 20 minutes later(?), 2 bucks came running from the West ~ and they crossed in front of the blind @ 15-20 yards! Mick didn't see them coming, and they startled all 3 of us. You should have seen the looks on our faces, as we realized what had just happened...
One was a nice 8-10 point, and the other was an old buck whose rack was on the down-hill side. But still - they were some nice bucks.
We believe they were trying to locate where the earlier grunts had came from, and tried to go down-wind of us. The blind was positioned so they couldn't get down-wind of us, so...
Anyways ~ as Jack watched the bucks run through the bedding area, a bunch more deer decided to join them. Too many to count.
We stayed for awhile longer (the guide accused us of being part Eskimo), but didn't see any more deer. We headed in about 11am.
For lunch, the Mendon Lions Club served soup, chili, sandwiches, chips & other snacks. That hot soup sure tasted good! I'm not sure how much Jack ate, because I was too busy going back for seconds...
We got warm, filled our bellies & sat around trading hunting stories for awhile.
So far, none of us hunters had scored. Around 1:30, we headed back to the blind.
Our guide dropped us off, went to park the truck about a 1/2 mile away, and was going to walk back to the blind. When he returned to the blind, he said he saw 20 deer heading North along the treeline (bordering the cornfield on the East side). In other words ~ they were heading away from us...
The weather hadn't improved much, in the afternoon. Still cloudy & cold ~ in the low 20's. The wind was still from the NNE, about 10-15mph. It didn't take long sitting there, before I started shivering. Brrr...
About an hour into the afternoon hunt (I think ~ like I said, I was concentrating on keeping warm), Jack spotted 2 bucks heading through the tall brush, just to the East of us. I caught just a glimpse of them, before they disappeared. Oh well...
Later into the afternoon hunt, Jack spots another buck. This one was was truly magnificent. Jack looked away for a few seconds, to get his binoculars up, and the buck was gone. I'll let Jack tell you about that one....
For the remainder of the Saturday evening, we saw 3 more doe's. Two were traveling along the treeline, over 175 yards away. We called it a day, at 5:30.
As Mick was leaving the blind, to go get the truck, the 3rd doe jumped from her bed @ 30 yards from the blind! She must have been bedded there before we arrived at the blind, for the afternoon portion of Saturday's hunt. In other words, she was there the whole time...
All in all, we saw 12 deer on Saturday ~ 5 bucks & 7 doe's. They were either out of range, or I couldn't get in position fast enough before they disappeared.
Our guide, Mick, said he was expecting to see at least 20-30 deer today, but the weather had them mostly bedded down. Plus, if the blind had been set up in the originally planned site, the deer would have been in our lap. But on average, they were at least 175 yards away, traveling through some thick brush and dense treeline.
When we arrived back at the maintenace shed, there was quite a buzz going around. Another hunter had shot a real nice buck, and everyone was waiting for the arrival in camp. Once he arrived, it looked like a Hollywood Premiere ~ camera flashes were going off all over the place. The hunter had taken a NICE 10 point. Jack & Henry got quite a few pictures, and we'll post them as soon as we can get the film developed.
Also, a hunter who hasn't been hunting since becoming disabled, participated in the hunt. He was pretty nervous, and didn't know what to expect. You could tell he was pretty low on self-esteem & confidence, this morning. Well ~ there's good news...
He took a nice mature doe, on today's hunt! I wasn't in camp when he returned with his doe, but Henry was. Henry said the hunter's attitude difference was like night & day. Priceless...
Jack & I finally headed back to the motel, after stopping for some dinner & swinging by Wal-Mart for some hand-warmers and full-face masks. Have I mentioned that it was cold out there?!
Sunday ~ January 4th
Wouldn't you know it...
Our alarms went off at 3am, and when we looked out the motel windows, it looked like a winter wonderland.
Freezing rain had started around 1am, and we ended up with approx. 1" of ice & 4"+ of snow. The roads were in dangerous traveling conditions.
There was a winter travel advisory in effect, and all we could do was watch from the windows. Jack, being a bit smarter than me, went back to bed. I stayed up fretting about it for about 2 hours, and finally gave in & went back to bed.
I woke again around 7:30am, and hesitantly looked out the windows again. This time, there was snow plows running up & down the roads. At last ~ some hope was in sight!
We got around & went for our "complimentary" continental breakfast. We decided to give the road crews a little more time to make the roads passable. The wait was killing me...
As I packed up to check-out of the motel, Jack was busy clearing the ice & snow from our trucks. Thank God we both have 4x4's...
The weather forecast was for Highs in the mid 20's, Lows in the mid-teens.
We left the motel at 9am, and weerily navigated the ice & snow covered side streets. Once we got on 65 highway, we were averaging speeds around 30-40 mph ~ even less on the side streets & highways heading towards Swan Lake.. What was usually a 25-30 minute drive, took us an hour.
Once we finally arrived at the hunt, we were the only one's there. Everybody else (that made it back) was out hunting. Our guide Mick had been there, but headed home since we didn't show up earlier.
We hung around, waiting for the hunters to come back in for lunch. The Mendon Lions Club was busy preparing lunch, so Jack & I decided to go ahead & eat an early lunch, so we could head out ASAP.
John Guthrie, the Swan Lake NWR manager, was the first to return. He allowed Jack & I to hunt without a guide. We arrived at the blind around 1pm, and got settled. The wind was shifting from the North, to the North East. The temp's were in the low 20's, with gusts at around 15-20 mph. I didn't even want to think about the wind chill...
Just before 3pm, I spotted a doe coming down the treeline at 175 yards. That's as close as she came.
Forty-five minutes later, I spotted 2 nice bucks and a doe, coming down another treeline to the East. I asked Jack to do a couple of grunts, and that got one of the buck's attention. Regretfully, I saw them turn East and they headed out of sight.
About 4:30, Jack saw a doe headed into the cornfield. By the time I made it to the window where Jack saw the doe from, she was gone.
That was the last deer we saw, for the remainder of the evening ~ almost...
At dusk, Jack headed for the truck. Just as we passed the cornfield, as we headed out, a deer came running out of the cornfield, running parallel alongside the truck at about 40-50 yards out. It was too dark to see if it was a buck or a doe, but just the same ~ it was like it was taunting us...
So ~ here's the weekend total of deer sighted:
Saturday: 12 deer ~ 5 bucks & 7 doe's.
Sunday: 4 deer ~ 2 bucks & 3 doe's.
Deer: 17 Chairman: 0
With all things considered, we had a good time. It was cold & cloudy, which should have really had the deer moving. What really hurt us, in my opinion, was the wind. We'd get small breaks, here & there, but not long enough to make a difference. Plus the fact that the ground was so saturated, not permitting the proper placement of the blind.
As far as I know, there was 1 buck & 2 doe's taken on Saturday. The buck was a beautiful 10 point, and from what I heard, one of the does was never recovered.
On Sunday, there was 1 doe brought in that evening, and the search was still in progress as we were leaving, for another doe that had been shot. I don't know whether the doe was found, or not.
As soon as I get the film developed, I'll post some pictures...
Friday ~ January 2nd
Arrived in Chillicothe, MO. @ 3pm, and met Jack (my hunting pardner) at the motel. We immediately headed for Swan Lake, to do a dry-run, so we'd know where we were to show up for the weekend hunt.
Temperature was around 60 degrees.
We stopped at the visitor center, hoping to get a map of the area ~ it was closed. And so was the gates, so we had very limited access to look around.
We did find a road that wasn't closed, on the way out of the NWR. From what we could see, there were rubs and trails everywhere. Lookin' good!
We headed back to Chillicothe, had some dinner, and called it a night.
Saturday - January 3rd
We arrived at the pre-arranged site, the maintenance shed, at 5am. We wondered if we were at the right place ~ there were very few vehicles in the parking lot. It turned out that we were the 2nd group of hunters to arrive. John Guthrie, the refuge manager, introduced himself & pointed us towards the coffee & doughnuts.
The weather forecast called for partly cloudy skies, with the Low near 17 degrees, and the High around 40 degrees. That was pretty much right on the money. In other words ~ it was cold! The winds were out of the North/North East, blowing at 10mph, and 15-20mph gusts.
I was assigned to a blind in the White Barn area, which was at the North East corner of Swan Lake. Our guide was a local guy named Mick. He was very knowledgable of the area, so we were on top of the game from the get-go. We headed for the blind, around 6am.
The blind was 4'x8', consisting of a plywood floor & square hay bales stacked 3 high, and a plywood roof. It was a tight fit, with all 3 of us in the blind, but we were able to get comfortable in no time.
The blind was situated in a small opening, facing a corn field about 70 yards to the North & a bedding area 50 yards to the East. The blind location had been relocated to this area (100 yards to the West), because it was too wet for the planned location 2 weeks before the hunt.
Jack was positioned to keep an eye on the bedding area, and I was positioned to keep an eye on the corn field. There was a small finger of trees to our West, which Mick kept an watchful eye on.
The N/NE wind was blowing hard ~ directly in our faces. Sunrise was at 7:05, but it sure didn't help much for warming us up.
Jack spotted a doe early on, about 185 yards away, in the treeline. We waited & waited, but she never headed our way. It wasn't long before Jack spotted some more does, heading from the bedding area towards the cornfield. The brush was thick & tall, so they weren't easy to see. There was a small strip of clearing next to the cornfield, but they weren't about to slow down. I saw them for about 3 seconds, then they disappeared into the standing corn. I didn't even get a chance to get the ML up.
About an hour later, I spotted some antlers moving through the standing corn. Jack did some grunting on his call, but the buck just seemed to disappear. About 20 minutes later(?), 2 bucks came running from the West ~ and they crossed in front of the blind @ 15-20 yards! Mick didn't see them coming, and they startled all 3 of us. You should have seen the looks on our faces, as we realized what had just happened...
One was a nice 8-10 point, and the other was an old buck whose rack was on the down-hill side. But still - they were some nice bucks.
We believe they were trying to locate where the earlier grunts had came from, and tried to go down-wind of us. The blind was positioned so they couldn't get down-wind of us, so...
Anyways ~ as Jack watched the bucks run through the bedding area, a bunch more deer decided to join them. Too many to count.
We stayed for awhile longer (the guide accused us of being part Eskimo), but didn't see any more deer. We headed in about 11am.
For lunch, the Mendon Lions Club served soup, chili, sandwiches, chips & other snacks. That hot soup sure tasted good! I'm not sure how much Jack ate, because I was too busy going back for seconds...
We got warm, filled our bellies & sat around trading hunting stories for awhile.
So far, none of us hunters had scored. Around 1:30, we headed back to the blind.
Our guide dropped us off, went to park the truck about a 1/2 mile away, and was going to walk back to the blind. When he returned to the blind, he said he saw 20 deer heading North along the treeline (bordering the cornfield on the East side). In other words ~ they were heading away from us...
The weather hadn't improved much, in the afternoon. Still cloudy & cold ~ in the low 20's. The wind was still from the NNE, about 10-15mph. It didn't take long sitting there, before I started shivering. Brrr...
About an hour into the afternoon hunt (I think ~ like I said, I was concentrating on keeping warm), Jack spotted 2 bucks heading through the tall brush, just to the East of us. I caught just a glimpse of them, before they disappeared. Oh well...
Later into the afternoon hunt, Jack spots another buck. This one was was truly magnificent. Jack looked away for a few seconds, to get his binoculars up, and the buck was gone. I'll let Jack tell you about that one....
For the remainder of the Saturday evening, we saw 3 more doe's. Two were traveling along the treeline, over 175 yards away. We called it a day, at 5:30.
As Mick was leaving the blind, to go get the truck, the 3rd doe jumped from her bed @ 30 yards from the blind! She must have been bedded there before we arrived at the blind, for the afternoon portion of Saturday's hunt. In other words, she was there the whole time...
All in all, we saw 12 deer on Saturday ~ 5 bucks & 7 doe's. They were either out of range, or I couldn't get in position fast enough before they disappeared.
Our guide, Mick, said he was expecting to see at least 20-30 deer today, but the weather had them mostly bedded down. Plus, if the blind had been set up in the originally planned site, the deer would have been in our lap. But on average, they were at least 175 yards away, traveling through some thick brush and dense treeline.
When we arrived back at the maintenace shed, there was quite a buzz going around. Another hunter had shot a real nice buck, and everyone was waiting for the arrival in camp. Once he arrived, it looked like a Hollywood Premiere ~ camera flashes were going off all over the place. The hunter had taken a NICE 10 point. Jack & Henry got quite a few pictures, and we'll post them as soon as we can get the film developed.
Also, a hunter who hasn't been hunting since becoming disabled, participated in the hunt. He was pretty nervous, and didn't know what to expect. You could tell he was pretty low on self-esteem & confidence, this morning. Well ~ there's good news...
He took a nice mature doe, on today's hunt! I wasn't in camp when he returned with his doe, but Henry was. Henry said the hunter's attitude difference was like night & day. Priceless...
Jack & I finally headed back to the motel, after stopping for some dinner & swinging by Wal-Mart for some hand-warmers and full-face masks. Have I mentioned that it was cold out there?!
Sunday ~ January 4th
Wouldn't you know it...
Our alarms went off at 3am, and when we looked out the motel windows, it looked like a winter wonderland.
Freezing rain had started around 1am, and we ended up with approx. 1" of ice & 4"+ of snow. The roads were in dangerous traveling conditions.
There was a winter travel advisory in effect, and all we could do was watch from the windows. Jack, being a bit smarter than me, went back to bed. I stayed up fretting about it for about 2 hours, and finally gave in & went back to bed.
I woke again around 7:30am, and hesitantly looked out the windows again. This time, there was snow plows running up & down the roads. At last ~ some hope was in sight!
We got around & went for our "complimentary" continental breakfast. We decided to give the road crews a little more time to make the roads passable. The wait was killing me...
As I packed up to check-out of the motel, Jack was busy clearing the ice & snow from our trucks. Thank God we both have 4x4's...
The weather forecast was for Highs in the mid 20's, Lows in the mid-teens.
We left the motel at 9am, and weerily navigated the ice & snow covered side streets. Once we got on 65 highway, we were averaging speeds around 30-40 mph ~ even less on the side streets & highways heading towards Swan Lake.. What was usually a 25-30 minute drive, took us an hour.
Once we finally arrived at the hunt, we were the only one's there. Everybody else (that made it back) was out hunting. Our guide Mick had been there, but headed home since we didn't show up earlier.
We hung around, waiting for the hunters to come back in for lunch. The Mendon Lions Club was busy preparing lunch, so Jack & I decided to go ahead & eat an early lunch, so we could head out ASAP.
John Guthrie, the Swan Lake NWR manager, was the first to return. He allowed Jack & I to hunt without a guide. We arrived at the blind around 1pm, and got settled. The wind was shifting from the North, to the North East. The temp's were in the low 20's, with gusts at around 15-20 mph. I didn't even want to think about the wind chill...
Just before 3pm, I spotted a doe coming down the treeline at 175 yards. That's as close as she came.
Forty-five minutes later, I spotted 2 nice bucks and a doe, coming down another treeline to the East. I asked Jack to do a couple of grunts, and that got one of the buck's attention. Regretfully, I saw them turn East and they headed out of sight.
About 4:30, Jack saw a doe headed into the cornfield. By the time I made it to the window where Jack saw the doe from, she was gone.
That was the last deer we saw, for the remainder of the evening ~ almost...
At dusk, Jack headed for the truck. Just as we passed the cornfield, as we headed out, a deer came running out of the cornfield, running parallel alongside the truck at about 40-50 yards out. It was too dark to see if it was a buck or a doe, but just the same ~ it was like it was taunting us...
So ~ here's the weekend total of deer sighted:
Saturday: 12 deer ~ 5 bucks & 7 doe's.
Sunday: 4 deer ~ 2 bucks & 3 doe's.
Deer: 17 Chairman: 0
With all things considered, we had a good time. It was cold & cloudy, which should have really had the deer moving. What really hurt us, in my opinion, was the wind. We'd get small breaks, here & there, but not long enough to make a difference. Plus the fact that the ground was so saturated, not permitting the proper placement of the blind.
As far as I know, there was 1 buck & 2 doe's taken on Saturday. The buck was a beautiful 10 point, and from what I heard, one of the does was never recovered.
On Sunday, there was 1 doe brought in that evening, and the search was still in progress as we were leaving, for another doe that had been shot. I don't know whether the doe was found, or not.
As soon as I get the film developed, I'll post some pictures...
