Archery Talk

Had found one area where there was an old skid trail 24 or more rubs, never got back over to there to put a camera up to see what was making them, one or multiple bucks.

 

Probably 30 years ago while working in NE Ohio, I saw/measured a rubbed tree - 9" in diameter!!!! Never seen anything close till this November including out west for a summer job and fighting several wildfires. Even in elk country.

 

The most I can really learn from a rub is that a buck was there to make it at one point in time haha. I saw them all over in Missouri meanwhile I have seen maybe a dozen total (fresh) rubs in the forest in Mississippi... I think it is cool to see big rubs- there was one close to the size of a basketball in Missouri I should have grabbed a pic of but I also feel like a basket 8 point could rub up a 5" tree just as easily as a 180" hammer of a buck. sometimes I like to look at if surrounding branches are broken or how high there are scrapes from a tine above the center of the rub but it is probably just as inaccurate.

 

Rubs are fun. Especially if you walk through the woods thinking "maybe this is the trail a buck would take", and along that walk you find rub after rub. Gives you confidence that you might have actually learned something after all these years. What I find even more fun is following a scrape trail, and finding 2 or 3 in a row where the piss in the scrape is so fresh that it still has bubbles in it!

 

I was once so entranced by a line of rubs and scrapes that it almost cost me my life. My fascination with the scrapes ended under a holly tree where there were five separate scrapes, three of them quite large. Right here: 30.937853903420116, -94.1944761335143 My hunting buddy followed me, then turned and saw two more under a nearby holly to our seven. He turned and took a step in that direction with me following him, then he jumped back. His backbone impacted the bridge of my nose, bloodying it. There stretched out in front of him, and formerly behind us, was a timber rattler more than eight feet long. It was stretched straight out and pointed to a large rock about ten feet away, with only its fist+-sized head turned back looking right at us. And Ronnie was right on top of him.

We had obviously spooked him and he was headed for the safety under that rock. The rock had a small hole under it, and was polished around the opening of that hole. (That rock is only one of two rocks that I know of so far in that entire 12,000 acres of bottomland, and both have timber rattler dens under them.) The sight of him sent a cold chill through me, but something else is what made me almost piss myself. Where the rattle was positioned was less than a foot from the path I had taken to the scrapes under the holly tree. I was so intent on the scrapes I did not see the snake. The realization that I had stepped right beside it, probably curled up and spooked it towards its den sent a cold chill through me unlike any other scare I had ever had. I immediately grasp the mortal danger that I had put myself in. We later found that it contained a just-eaten fox squirrel. Most likely the snake's lethargy from such a meal is the only thing that saved my life. It was between the diameter of a one and three pound coffee can where the squirrel was inside it. It had massive girth along its whole length except for the last two feet of it, but where the squirrel bulged it was unbelievably large in diameter. That snake could have easily struck above our waists.

We were in LaCrosse chest waders, almost a thousand yards away from where we had exited my canoe, an hour+ wade/walk. Had he struck he would have surely knocked me off my feet, and his fangs would have stayed in me as the thick rubber from the waders would have gripped tight around his fangs, preventing him from retracting. His fangs were almost two inches apart, but surprisingly they were only about 3/4 of an inch long. His struggle to free himself would have easily pumped more than a fatal dose of venom into me, if indeed he got free at all. Chances are I would have had to grab him behind the head and pull him free. (We stopped wearing any type of rubber boot that day. We bought snake boots, and when we got to a place we had to wade we took off the snake boots, put on tennis shoes and just got wet, even when it was cold. Once on the other side we pulled out a towel, dried our legs and feet and put on our pants/socks/snake boots again. Any hunt out there involved wading, or you weren't going to penetrate the swamp very far.)

From there it was almost and hour paddle back to where we had pulled the canoe out of my aluminum boat, that being WAY up in Bee Tree Slough, off of the Angelina river. We had taken the boat as far up Bee Tree as you can get, then continued in the canoe, then when that was no longer possible hit the slough and swamps in the chest waders. It was about a half hour back out of the slough, into the Angelina River 30.89867588359024, -94.1926307731884, then up river to Bevilsport to the boat ramp. If it would have bitten me I would not have made it out. I would not have even been able to leave that holly tree. Easily the biggest snake I have ever seen in the wild.

Ever the adrenaline junkie, this is why I go into the woods to hunt, more so than even the need to hunt. I go just to get the shit scared out of me. (In my thirties I was prevented, more like forbidden, from entering a couple of thick and dark arroyos on the west bank of the Frio river out in West Texas. Narrow, tall and deep, the owners had not ventured into them for more than fifty years. They said only bad things would happen if I went in:

That only made me want to go in and find out why even more. To this day.) I never succeeded more than I did that day in Bee Tree Slough. I never want to succeed that much ever again. I've been in many woods, forest and bottomlands half way across Texas, since I was nine. Between the gators and hogs, the apex predators and the very real possibility of getting lost out there, Bee Tree Slough is the most spooky and dangerous place I have ever hunted. Descending into the Savage Gulf in Tennessee comes close, but that's a state park for Christ's sake, pedestrian in nature comparatively, and it lacks the foreboding of a Paleolithic southern wilderness swamp. I KNOW these rattlers are out in Bee Tree in numbers. I ALWAYS am looking down when I move in the woods. Yet, in a moment of scrape excitement and inattention I could have easily lost my life.

 

Been there done that one

except i stepped on two copperheads as they were all wound up and mating. I’m convinced that’s the only reason I didn’t get bitten. I was wearing low top Merrels at the time so a strike would have been bad. Closest hospital was 1.5 hours away..

I’m also allergic to vespids after being stung so many times over the years.. so it’s always fun cleaning out the box blinds before every season starts.. always have two epi pens on me at all times

 

Just a reality check on being bitten by a rattlesnake. Here is a link on the Bowsite to a guy that was bit in July of 2018. Not a pleasant experience at all. Add in the fact is medical bills were close to $350K. Anti-venom alone was $219K. Even here in the mountains of PA, I watch where I put my feet and hands.

https://forums.bowsite.com/tf/bgforums/thread.cfm?threadid=477900&messages=20&forum=36#4948229

 

And MAKE SURE you take the snake with you to the hospital. I was a surgical rep for 13 years. In discussing the above snake encounter with a Director of Nursing friend shortly afterwards, she told me that due to the side effects of the antivenin (and the possible lawsuits if they give you the wrong one, most being species-specific) that unless the hospital is able to identify what type of snake it is, MEANING THEY CAN PUT THEIR OWN EYES ON THE SNAKE, that even though they may have antivenin on hand that they will probably "stabilize you and call the air ambulance to transport you to a trauma center" (her exact words) rather than give you the wrong antivenin. They don't want the liability exposure. It's all about money to them. Better that they get you out of their hospital and you die on the way to a proper trauma center that is better equipped to deal with such trauma (they can better defend that in court) than give you the wrong antivenin and you still die, or have antivenin complications. (Either of those and they get sued with little hope of a successful defense, PLUS, they are out the high cost of the antivenin, 'cause you or your survivors are not going to pay for the WRONG antivenin, are you?) Truth be told, you can have complications and side effects from the right antivenin too!

So help your first responders help you to get the correct treatment as soon as possible by helping them recognize the reduced liability in successfully treating you THERE, RIGHT NOW, rather than transporting you and you receive treatment elsewhere...too late. Take the snake!

 

ohhhh its so nice to hear someone spell and pronounce it properly. Antivenin and not Antivenom

 

I had the same thing happen with two cottonmouths two years ago while I was close to two miles through the clay hills from my truck right as I was crossing a river headed back. I was wearing leather ankle boots so not much protection if it was needed. Luckily they were both curled up in each other doing who knows what so neither struck me.

I haven’t been back to that spot since but I have been really thinking about heading back there this weekend. There were some good bucks two years ago. I’ll post some trail cam pics when I go through them to get an idea of when they were moving back then.

 

Saw 9 does this afternoon, 3 of which were at about 25 yards but never had a clear shot. My buddy hasn't shot a deer in a couple of years so I'm gonna put him in there tomorrow and I'll find another spot. Tomorrow is the last day, and I'm so glad.

 

Hopefully your buddy can stick him one

 

I tried to put a buddy on one the other morning. An area I could have killed multiple does/small bucks every one of the 5 sits I spent out there. Of course we saw nothing at all when we were in there.

Moved around a bit today- drove around on the road and walked in to check a few places out and I bumped a bunch of deer out of a thicket. Headed in there early tomorrow to try to get set up on top of their beds hoping they will return and there is a good buck in the mix.

There are some heavy trails in and out of the thicket with some big scrapes and the most rubs I’ve seen in an area down here. Counted at least 5 beds walking through it real quick to find where to set up. Hopefully I get to see who made them tomorrow. Can’t decide what weapon to bring in there because it is so thick. Everything is legal right now but it would be cool to stick another with an arrow.

 

Redacted meme

 

A few minutes ago my 97 year old father and I had just sat down to a fresh-shucked dozen each of Smith Point's finest oysters when these two showed up wanting their supper too. Pictures taken from where I sit at the dinner table, our Children of the Corn:



The livestock always comes first, the oysters second...

 

Tried to take a quick break from deer and see if I could find ducks this morning before gluing back to deer this weekend for the last two days of the season.

Tried to stalk up on some geese to jump shoot them but this nail had other plans. Hopefully it feels better soon so this isn’t how my season ends but it is hard for me to walk now. Doc got the remains of my sock out of it and I got another tetanus shot to be safe

 

Not something I expected a mile back on public land. I guess it was buried in leaves who knows. Glad I finished the walk out before the adrenaline really wore off as that is when I really started to feel it.

Wish there was something I could do to avoid it but it just seems like a crazy fluke especially because these boots are so thick. When I felt it I thought no way something could have gotten through the boots

 

Yeah that's not something you expect to happen while out hunting. Hope it feels better soon, I know it's no fun!