Public Hunter
03-02-2011, 09:38 AM
I went on my first paid hunt last week and for the first time in over 18 yrs hunted private property. It was a self guided archery only hunt on a timber plantation in NW Florida that's been in the same family since they homesteaded back in the 1800's. Robert Trammell, a state Representative owns the property and leases it to an outfitter who runs the hunts on 4000 contiguous acres of Appalachicola River bottom. They do not gun hunt the property at all.
They were some of the prettiest woods I've had the pleasure to hunt and although I didn't harvest anything, I had a great time and will be going back in the future. I had been considering a lease somewhere simply to expand my hunting opportunities but I think I may have found my home. It is a laid back operation with a lot of character and you are truly on your own once they show you your block of woods and the hunt begins. There are no stands, shooting houses or blinds, you bring and set your own.
The Lodge
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3800.jpg
Billy William, the caretaker of the property. He doesn't run the hunts, but works for the owner as he does not live on the property, and Billy lives close by on 180 bottomland acres of his own that he only lets a few friends hunt. He also has a friend with a 40 acre flooded cornfield that's loaded with ducks. He took a liking to me and offered me his phone number. He is the only one on the property daily and knows what's going on in the woods. He loves tilapia but they don't range that far north. Good for me, I know where a bunch of them are for easy pickins.
He told me his family has worked for the Trammells since the beginning and if you want to know what's going on on your block, talk to Billy. He was one of the highlights of the trip for me with great stories and a major source of the character of the plantation.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3805.jpg
The hardwood bottoms and creek drains. They were loaded with good sign but we were plagued with record heat and the deer didn't move much. As you can imagine, there are a few wood ducks around.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3799.jpg
You can stay in bunkhouse style lodging but we opted to camp about 30 minutes away at a state park on the east side of the river. That's a lot of bottom land out there.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3808.jpg
We saw a few deer, including 3 of the 10 or so bucks that were seen out of 28 hunters. There were only 6 deer killed over the 5 days and for the most part, people weren't seeing many. They had put so much fur on this winter with all the cold weather that they simply weren't moving during the day much at all with the record heat. Oddly enough the two bucks I saw were right in the middle of the day, but on one of the cooler days we had.
Once I saw the potential of the property, I decided to do a bit of slip hunting to learn the block I was in so I wouldn't have any guesswork when I go back next year. It's not the most effective way to hunt deer, and a method the outfitter suggested against, but I knew pretty quickly that I would be going back and at that point harvesting an animal on this trip became less of an importance than just learning the woods.
I will often sit in a tree stand from before sunrise till after dark, but I love the challenge of hunting on the ground without all the modern advancments and tools sometimes. Some of the deer I've enjoyed harvesting the most aren't neccesarily the biggest bucks I've taken, but the ones I snuck up on and took at close range. It's not so much about being able to take a step without making a sound as it is just moving incredibly slow and taking long pauses, sometimes for an hour, before moving through an area. The sound of a footprint doesn't carry that far when there is a lot of vegetation on the ground...in the open hardwood bottoms, it's a different story. I rarely spook deer creeping around the woods, I usually see them before they see me. When I do spook them on occasion, they're always within bow range when they break.
I didn't see any deer from the treestand, only on the ground slipping. When I come upon an area that looks good such as a funnel or a travel corridor in heavy cover I like to find a place to sit and listen a while before moving. I had been sitting in this natural blind for an hour watching a heavily travled trail when the buck I would hunt for the bulk of the trip ran two does by me just on the other side of the vines to the right of the blind.
On the way out on the last day, I had my hunting partner get in it so I could reference what the deer would see. He had no face mask on but I still had to zoom in for him to show up in the pic.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3797.jpg
The view from the inside. Once I find a place to sit and watch a while, I clear the leaves and twigs out from an wide area so I have the ability to move into position to shoot without making any noise. Who needs a double bull blind
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3798.jpg
This is the bottom on the other side of the vines that the buck ran the does by me in, 20 yards away in the middle of the day. When I saw/heard them coming, they were zigzagging through the hardwoods and it struck me as odd, their travel route. There is a snaking dry creek bed running through it they were traveling in that was the explanation.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3738.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3739.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3740.jpg
I saw one other buck about and hour later roughly 300 yards away, a smaller fork horn or possible six pt. I tried to grunt and rattle the other one back but he wasn't stopping for anything and with it being only the first full day of the hunt, decided to move on and go back for him the next morning. The leaves in the bottoms were super crunchy when it was dry so I was slipping through the water in a hardwood drain when I heard him coming behind me. He passed me broadside at 30 yards and was a bigger fork horn, and may have been a six, but I didn't have time to glass him and he wasn't what I was looking for regardless. I would see what I presume was the other buck one more time and that was it for me.
They were some of the prettiest woods I've had the pleasure to hunt and although I didn't harvest anything, I had a great time and will be going back in the future. I had been considering a lease somewhere simply to expand my hunting opportunities but I think I may have found my home. It is a laid back operation with a lot of character and you are truly on your own once they show you your block of woods and the hunt begins. There are no stands, shooting houses or blinds, you bring and set your own.
The Lodge
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3800.jpg
Billy William, the caretaker of the property. He doesn't run the hunts, but works for the owner as he does not live on the property, and Billy lives close by on 180 bottomland acres of his own that he only lets a few friends hunt. He also has a friend with a 40 acre flooded cornfield that's loaded with ducks. He took a liking to me and offered me his phone number. He is the only one on the property daily and knows what's going on in the woods. He loves tilapia but they don't range that far north. Good for me, I know where a bunch of them are for easy pickins.
He told me his family has worked for the Trammells since the beginning and if you want to know what's going on on your block, talk to Billy. He was one of the highlights of the trip for me with great stories and a major source of the character of the plantation.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3805.jpg
The hardwood bottoms and creek drains. They were loaded with good sign but we were plagued with record heat and the deer didn't move much. As you can imagine, there are a few wood ducks around.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3799.jpg
You can stay in bunkhouse style lodging but we opted to camp about 30 minutes away at a state park on the east side of the river. That's a lot of bottom land out there.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3808.jpg
We saw a few deer, including 3 of the 10 or so bucks that were seen out of 28 hunters. There were only 6 deer killed over the 5 days and for the most part, people weren't seeing many. They had put so much fur on this winter with all the cold weather that they simply weren't moving during the day much at all with the record heat. Oddly enough the two bucks I saw were right in the middle of the day, but on one of the cooler days we had.
Once I saw the potential of the property, I decided to do a bit of slip hunting to learn the block I was in so I wouldn't have any guesswork when I go back next year. It's not the most effective way to hunt deer, and a method the outfitter suggested against, but I knew pretty quickly that I would be going back and at that point harvesting an animal on this trip became less of an importance than just learning the woods.
I will often sit in a tree stand from before sunrise till after dark, but I love the challenge of hunting on the ground without all the modern advancments and tools sometimes. Some of the deer I've enjoyed harvesting the most aren't neccesarily the biggest bucks I've taken, but the ones I snuck up on and took at close range. It's not so much about being able to take a step without making a sound as it is just moving incredibly slow and taking long pauses, sometimes for an hour, before moving through an area. The sound of a footprint doesn't carry that far when there is a lot of vegetation on the ground...in the open hardwood bottoms, it's a different story. I rarely spook deer creeping around the woods, I usually see them before they see me. When I do spook them on occasion, they're always within bow range when they break.
I didn't see any deer from the treestand, only on the ground slipping. When I come upon an area that looks good such as a funnel or a travel corridor in heavy cover I like to find a place to sit and listen a while before moving. I had been sitting in this natural blind for an hour watching a heavily travled trail when the buck I would hunt for the bulk of the trip ran two does by me just on the other side of the vines to the right of the blind.
On the way out on the last day, I had my hunting partner get in it so I could reference what the deer would see. He had no face mask on but I still had to zoom in for him to show up in the pic.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3797.jpg
The view from the inside. Once I find a place to sit and watch a while, I clear the leaves and twigs out from an wide area so I have the ability to move into position to shoot without making any noise. Who needs a double bull blind
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3798.jpg
This is the bottom on the other side of the vines that the buck ran the does by me in, 20 yards away in the middle of the day. When I saw/heard them coming, they were zigzagging through the hardwoods and it struck me as odd, their travel route. There is a snaking dry creek bed running through it they were traveling in that was the explanation.
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3738.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3739.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a364/rmt123luv/hunter/DSCN3740.jpg
I saw one other buck about and hour later roughly 300 yards away, a smaller fork horn or possible six pt. I tried to grunt and rattle the other one back but he wasn't stopping for anything and with it being only the first full day of the hunt, decided to move on and go back for him the next morning. The leaves in the bottoms were super crunchy when it was dry so I was slipping through the water in a hardwood drain when I heard him coming behind me. He passed me broadside at 30 yards and was a bigger fork horn, and may have been a six, but I didn't have time to glass him and he wasn't what I was looking for regardless. I would see what I presume was the other buck one more time and that was it for me.