Congrats on a sucessful hunt. Anything harvested with traditional archery is a trophy memory.
Congrats on the kill Dennis
ANY kill with traditional is a good kill in my book
ANY kill with traditional is a good kill in my book
Hi Dennis! It was great to meet you and talk to you. Youre welcome into my deer camp anytime. Im glad you had more success than I did. Dennis' story ended better than mine. I came away from MCAAP empty handed this year after taking four in the last two years including 136" last year. It was much hotter this year than last. I guess last weekend was sandwiched between two cool fronts
As of Saturday night I think only 10 deer had been harvested compared to a total of 26 last year. Dennis deer and another small buck would bring that total to 12.My Friday morning started off pretty good. I was setup on a ROW (Right Of Way) type road for soil testing or that is what the White Hat thought. The road was just bull dozed earlier this year. We take a look at the road and it has a fair number of deer tracks, deer poop and a turkey feather on it. Looks pretty darn good to me! At 0900 w/o any action I use my grunt call couple times and lean forward looking up and down the road. About three minutes after the grunt I see a 10 ptr down the road to my far left about w0 yards. I tell my dad, who is there to help me, O.K., here they come. Get ready. I lean forward again and the 10 ptr is not on the road coming towards us, but there is a tall fork horn. He begins to walk across the road NOT UP THE ROAD to me. I am yelling in my head, WRONG WAY! Come this way. Youre doing this all wrong. The fork horn begins to walk towards us, looks to daddy deer, takes a few more steps towards us. He had a real dark coat. At 15 yards he then decided to go with daddy deer. FOILED AGAIN! 
Well, not bad. A 10 ptr and 4 ptr by 0905. This day is going to go well. Well get the next one that comes by. I shift around a little to shoot down the road instead of directly in front of me. We wait for the next BIG one. We wait for the next little one. We wait for the next anything. We dont see anything for the rest of the morning hunt and only see six hens that evening. They walk up the road from the same direction as the deer. Get about five feet from the brushed in blind, but dont like what the see and turn around and leave. You cant shoot hens out at MCAAP in the Fall, not even bearded hens. Back to the cabin and watch OSU beat ULL. Im so tired from waking up at 0345 that I only stay awake till the end of the 3rd qtr.
Saturday morning greets us with a gobbles from 100 or so yards, but they never come see us. O.K, 0900 is here. Im ready for the 10 ptr and his 4 pt friend. The blind has been repositioned so I can shoot to where I saw the deer the previous day, but no deer came in the morning. We did get visited by six hens in the morning and one armadillo about 1600. At 1700, sunset, I see a light brown doe pop out of the woods about 60 yards away. She is looking up the road and back to the woods. I am thinking she is about to bring a few more does, but at 0715 she goes back into the woods and Saturdays hunt is over.
Sunday morning was a complete skunk. Didnt hear any turkeys or see deer. I forgot to mention that we scattered 50 lbs of cracked corn on the road and a small clearing (< 1/4 acre) where the two bucks crossed on Friday morning. I did not appear that any of the corn was eaten while we were there. Of course, it has probably all been eaten by now.
See ya down the road,
Dreaming Man
Great story!!
I really enjoyed meeting you and your dad.
Like you, I had a quality pass to get in this year, so next year, its all about the draw.
I hope we draw at the same time next year
I really enjoyed meeting you and your dad.
Like you, I had a quality pass to get in this year, so next year, its all about the draw.
I hope we draw at the same time next year
Great story!!
I really enjoyed meeting you and your dad.
Like you, I had a quality pass to get in this year, so next year, its all about the draw.
I hope we draw at the same time next year
You got that right, brother. We have to rely on luck of the draw next year.
BTW folks ... if you are not physically challenged DO NOT choose the MCAAP hunt that literally says "338 Archery McAlester AAP (C, phy. chal.) Oct. 8-10 100 (2) Only 1 Antlered"
C) Physically Challenged (phy. chal.) Archery Hunt - Applicants must have a permanent disability to the extent that they cannot use a conventional longbow, as certified by a physician licensed to practice in Oklahoma or bordering state or a non-ambulatory or motor vehicle permit. A person who qualifies to use a crossbow shall have in their possession while in the field, and present at hunt check-in, written evidence of such certification. In addition, at McAlester AAP, selected applicants must report on the Thursday preceding their hunt to attend a pre-hunt briefing. Failure to attend this briefing will result in cancellation. Hunters under 18 years of age must be accompanied by an adult. Hunter may bring an assistant. Assistants will be allowed to transport hunters to and from the field and/or stands, but will not be allowed to hunt. Assistance will be provided for others as needed. Background checks will be conducted on all successful applicants and convicted felons will not be allowed. Hunts may be cancelled at any time. A $25 Federal User Fee is required to participate in the hunt.
You will be sent home if you are not physically challenged. Somewhere around 19 people were sent home this year. I think ~ 30 non-disabled people were allowed to hunt last year. Mr. Starry said he'd had enough of people slipping in on this physically challenged hunt who where NOT physically challenged. He sent them packing.
Great story!!
I really enjoyed meeting you and your dad.
Like you, I had a quality pass to get in this year, so next year, its all about the draw.
I hope we draw at the same time next year
And ya didn't even stop by!!!!!!!!
Ya know, I almost sent you a pm. I got there on Wed, a day early staying on base, and had a whole evening to kill.
Drove around Mac looking for a good meat market to buy some steaks, and ended up settling on a small grocery on the south side of town. I did manage to keep busy grilling some ribeyes, and having a couple of cold refreshing adult drinks. Rest of the time you start out at 3:30am, and don't get back to the cabin until 8pm or so.
Ya know, I almost sent you a pm. I got there on Wed, a day early staying on base, and had a whole evening to kill.
Drove around Mac looking for a good meat market to buy some steaks, and ended up settling on a small grocery on the south side of town. I did manage to keep busy grilling some ribeyes, and having a couple of cold refreshing adult drinks. Rest of the time you start out at 3:30am, and don't get back to the cabin until 8pm or so.
Stopped at Allen's did ya. They usually have decent cuts.
thats the place. I wanted some thick cut, but they had already cleaned up the shop, so I settled on some from the counter. Good meat.
