Birthday Hunt

Cookie125

Cookie125

New member
Friday was my birthday, so I took the day off from work to do some hunting. I was supposed to go with a coworker who has Fridays off but he wasn’t able to go. I started the morning off calling for coyotes and bobcats on my family’s farm. The wind was very strong and I don’t know if my calls were projecting well enough, I even tried tucking into more covered areas where I’ve been getting cats on trailcamera with no luck. With the hunting going so slow I went and checked my trailcameras and set up a few more. This went a lot quicker than I expected so I went to the river for some quick sets. I only covered about a quarter mile stretch of river and made four sets. My first set I had one poke its head out within seconds of the call starting. As he is looking around I see movement on the tree right next to it, I shoot and he pulls back around the tree but I hear him hit the ground. I move back to watching the first coon still trying to find where the sounds coming from and catch more movement in the next tree again. This one is moving down the tree quickly, I shoot and he rolls the rest of the way down. With the movement of the two that I shot hitting the ground the first one finally climbs out and sits on a limb making for an easy shot. What a way to start this stretch of calling, with a triple.
2018-02-09_08-44-39 by Cookie1125, on Flickr
The next set was the farthest downs stream but made for a good spot to back track from. I set the call at the base of the tree and start raccoon distress 2, ten seconds later the is a coon coming around the tree I shoot and then let the call play for a while longer tried a few more sounds and nothing else shows up.
2018-02-09_08-45-05 by Cookie1125, on Flickr
The next set turned up nothing even with a ton of sign around the tree. I move on and set up between two trees that each have a bare dirt trail leading to their base and show signs of something climbing on the bark. At the five minute mark I catch movement to my right on the ground and there is one on the run to the call. At 20 yards I and moving I opt for the shotgun. This was the first one I have had come in on the ground this season. He came in on the same trail that met up with both the trees I was calling to.
2018-02-09_08-45-30 by Cookie1125, on Flickr
I carry this one and the coon from my second stand back to where I left the first three. Since I was trying to make this stretch of calling quick I left the knife in the car not thinking that I’d have this kind of luck or time to skin and move. I made my way back to the car and dropped off the guns and back pack and went back in the 250yards to where I left them with a game cart to wheel them back out.
2018-02-09_08-46-22 by Cookie1125, on Flickr
2018-02-09_08-47-01 by Cookie1125, on Flickr
This went from being a very slow day to being one of my best days, and I was done with plenty of time to get my little girl from school and have a delicious birthday dinner with her and my wife. What a way to spend my birthday.



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This post is nominated for Hunter of the Month. Sorry, the nifty little .gif isn't rotating, so all you see is "Nominated" for now.
 
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Thank you guys for the birthday wishes, I was able to get out again with a really good friend of mine, but haven't had a chance for a write up due to illness and an extremely busy work schedule.
 
On the eleventh I met up with a friend to do some hunting. He had never done any of the raccoon calling so that was our plan for the day. Our first tree that we called didn’t produce, but our next spot was near three great looking trees so we set up at the one that was in the middle of the three along a canal. Within seconds we has one looking out of a hole way up high in the most westerly tree. This one never did comment to coming out of his hole, but I could hear something coming through the leaves from the east. We both look over to see a grey blur coming though brush only slowing down to tackle my caller. Once the coon was off the caller my buddy made quick work with his Versamax. He turns to me and says “no wonder why you like doing this.”
20180211_094156 by Cookie1125, on Flickr
The next tree we called we had three coons come out of the same hole but the first one that we shot come from somewhere we couldn’t see and climbed up to the hole. From this set we were able to only get two of the four that we saw. The other two were much smaller than the two that we shot.
20180211_110227 by Cookie1125, on Flickr
Got another person hooked.
20180211_114045 by Cookie1125, on Flickr
After this set my buddy had gotten a text from his wife that their son was sick and he then headed home. I stayed out for the rest of the day not seeing another raccoon till 3:00pm. In this lull period I ended up seeing a lot of armadillos out and about instead so I was able to get a few of them with my rifle as well as with a Colt Frontier Scout that was given to me by my grandpa just before he passed away.
20180211_142618 by Cookie1125, on Flickr
20180211_155256 by Cookie1125, on Flickr

This one was the fourth raccoon for the day and possibly the oldest that I’ve shot, he was very grey in the face and his teeth were about as worn out as I have ever seen.
20180211_153546 by Cookie1125, on Flickr
After getting the old timer about 3:00pm I went to almost sun down before seeing another, but more from the fact that I was searching a new area for den trees and had to cover a lot of ground to find what looked to be a good one. At this tree I thought it looked good but the first raccoon came in on the ground from some distance off. I hit this one with some lead BB’s but he ran just a little ways before expiring. I picked up the rifle and went to get him when I noticed some movement in a tree about eighty yards away, aimed and watched it fall. Ended the day with a double.
20180211_174857 by Cookie1125, on Flickr
Sunday was my last day to hunt for the season as I was sick for the last couple days that it was open, but all in all it was a great day out with a really good friend even if he was called home early. Now I may need to invest in some more fur handling gear and putt up my own furs next year. Really looking forward to next season.
 
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