Hard Lessons Learned

   I asked y'all what you wanted to read about and one of the topics that really hit home for me was "hunting stories from growing up and lessons you've learned" (Thanks Curt). So I figured I'd tell two hunting stories from when I was younger where I was faced with what was, at the time, the biggest buck I had ever seen.

  First off, I'd like to admit, that as much as I would like to think I've learned from these encounters, this past season where I pulled my shot on what would have been the biggest buck of my life, has shown me that no matter how hard you practice or how much you learn, these deer will always take you to school.
  I was about 11-12 years old and I was hunting the lease we had in Morgan County, GA. I had been fortunate and killed a deer every year I had hunted. So with a little bit of experience under my belt, I began to read all I could in North American Whitetail and other outdoor magazines to try to capitalize on a big buck. The theme of the year, mid-day sits. Every article talked about how deer pattern hunters just about as much as we pattern them. To me, it made sense, we'd wake up really early in the morning, sit until about eleven or so, then go back to camp, hangout by the fire, eat lunch, play wiffleball or whatever until about four when we'd all head back out to the stand and sit until dark. This year however, was going to be different. I was dedicated, I had just gotten a brand new single seater stand form my dad that he and my godfather made by hand, it's still one of the most comfortable stands I have. I asked dad directly after the morning hunt if we could scout and hang my new stand. So we went to a spot where the road cut into a hill and deer tracks seemed to always cover the ground. It was an old clear cut area that had nice trails running all through the tall grass. I found a good tree and set up. It was about noon and I asked Dad, "can we start hunting now?" It was warm that day and we hadn't eaten anything yet, so we went back to camp had a sandwich and went back in the woods. Dad was worried about me hunting completely by myself so he set up his climber on a tree 50 yards away from me. I got all settled in and Dad said he was gonna go back to the ATV to get his coveralls on since it was going to get cold that evening. As he went back to change I began to think of all the possibilities that could potentially come from this new spot. I started to hear some crunching on leaves and breaking sticks, thinking it was my dad, I turned to watch him come in, only to find that it was a GIANT six point walking in on the same trail my dad just walked out on! He walked right next to Dad's climber and I got my rifle and settled on his shoulder.... POW!.... Missed! I reloaded but the deer never left! He just lifted his head and looked around, again... POW!.. Missed again!!! This time the buck starts to walk towards me! I reload again, forty yards and closing, I take a deep breath, then another, I settle on the shoulder, .... let half of my breath out, ... begin to slowly squeeze, ...and *click! I had forgotten to come all the way back on my bolt when I attempted to reload. As an emotional wreck, I rack my bolt back, jack a round in the chamber and just as I go to get settled, the buck spooks and takes off. Out of my life forever. I tried everything to get him to stop, but it was all in vain, he was gone.
   Many lessons were learned that day, I rushed my shot not once, but three times. Dad ended up seeing that buck the following archery season, but due to the lease rules (at least 4 points on one side for adults) he was unable to take him, and the "Monster 6" lived on.

  Fast forward about six years, we had lost that lease, but my friends had gotten me into bowhunting. For me, I wasn't completely sold on bowhunting at first due to having to be in close quarters to deer and I didn't think I had the patience to wait for a deer to close the distance from 100 yards when I could just take him with a rifle. Man, was I mistaken! My first bow kill was a three-legged hog. The rush of her coming in to fifteen yards, the THWACK! of my broadhead smacking her side as bright, red blood gushed out, will be a memory and an experience I won't ever forget, and it ended up becoming the catalyst that turned me into a die hard bowhunter. However, bowhunting has become the harshest teacher of all, and my first lesson was no exception.

   I had become extremely proficient with my old bow. It was handed down to me from my dad who told me that it was his first bow as well, a Bear Whitetail II. I was one of the better shots between me and my friends, and I shot through the local Bass Pro Shop 3D Pop-Up Course and was able to execute consistent kill shots. I had become proficient out to about 40 yards. Many trips to J.W. Corbett, all ending in heartbreak and my days of bowhunting Florida were getting short due to my enlistment into the U.S. Coast Guard. My basic training date was October 6th, and it was coming up fast. As a "thank you", our very good family friend, Clair, had given me his tag for killing a buck on the ranch I had been running around on as a kid. We were only ever allowed to kill hogs and on rare occasions, does, but never a buck; that was special. The first morning, Clair takes me to a stand on a corner where two fence lines meet, bordering a thick swamp that was closed to hunting. Not even ten minutes after he drops me off, a deer begins to feed on some acorns beneath my stand. I can tell its a deer, but it's too dark to tell if its a buck or not. As daylight comes in, it's revealed that the deer under my stand is a nice basket rack seven point, not what I'm looking for. I had seen the caliber of bucks on this property and this buck had a ton of potential, but he wasn't a 'shooter'. As the morning went on, I saw a bunch of little bucks run does all around out in the pasture, and even had a few small bucks come directly under my stand, but none of them were what I was looking for. The day went on, activity had slowed down, I had thought my morning sit was coming to an end, but then, an absolute giant buck steps out and begins to work his way towards me. I had seen my dad's buck from this ranch and this buck dwarfed his! I looked at him and thought "he's at least 50 yds out, I can't take that shot." I grunted at him, he lifted his head, looked my way, then continued on his way. I bleated at him, he looked my way, then continued on his way. He stopped in front of me broadside, but in my mind, he was too far out, so I passed on the shot. As I was sick to my stomach, trying to figure out if it was worth trying to put a stalk on this buck of a lifetime, I remembered, I HAVE A RANGEFINDER IN MY BAG!!! I had forgotten all about it, I pulled it out and ranged the little scrub bush this buck had stood in front of when he was broadside to me... 38 yards. Sick, is an understatement here I had this buck of a lifetime in my effective range and because I didn't utilize my gear, I let him walk. When Clair and my dad rolled up in the Jeep to get me, they said I cleared the stand in two steps and they knew I had seen a good one. I told them all about what happened. Dad had assured me that I had done the correct thing. I didn't take a shot that I was unsure of, but for giggles, we set up the Block target at 38 yards back at camp, I hit dead center of dead center.


  Every trip to the woods is a learning experience. Whether you're scouting, hunting, or even just following a random trail; you can always learn something from the woods. Maybe that's one of the things that brings us back, the thrill of gaining constant knowledge that will hopefully, one day, get us closer to that buck of a lifetime.

-Chris Johnson

One Common Goal

  Hey everyone! Welcome back to another installment of the Johnson.Outdoors Blog. Today I'm going to write about something that I've noticed growing throughout the hunting community and that's hunters bashing and putting down other hunters for their choice in how they choose to hunt.
  Let me begin by saying that I am in no way an "expert" on any of what I'm about to say, so there could very well be some inaccuracies in what I write. That being said, this is just my opinion so you can take it for what it's worth.

  First let's talk about weapon choice. Many bowhunters it seems bash people for using a rifle or crossbow, so I'm getting this out of the way right now. I began hunting with a rifle, I loved being able to reach out to 200+ yards and smacking a doe and watching her drop where she lay, and I still do, however, I also bow hunt, the reason? Because it's what I love to do! I love getting in close to an animal and getting to watch him get right on top of you before you can even draw, it's not as simple as point and shoot, its more intimate. So I know all too well the allure of bowhunting, but as long as it's legal, I won't bash those that use rifles, because I know there's nothing like getting sighted in on a buck that you've been after all year and having it all come down to that slow squeeze of a trigger. Rifle hunters tend to contribute more than bowhunters in regards to economic advantages. How? Their lethal projectile can't be cleaned off and re-used again and again, whereas our arrows can. They also usually have to wait longer to enter the woods, whereas bowhunters get to be the first in the woods for the season. As for crossbow hunters, I believe crossbows have their place as well; though I don't own one, I know many hunters that do and they use them for a variety of reasons. Most have shoulder issues or are simply too weak to pull back the necessary poundage to hunt in their respective state, so they use a crossbow. Crossbows are great for helping to introduce someone new to the sport as well, because after about an hour of shooting, they can be dead-on and ready to hunt. Why would you fault someone for becoming proficient with a new weapon that will allow them to effectively harvest their game? If it's legal and used ethically, then why should anyone care what weapon someone chooses to take to the woods? Practice, shoot often, become proficient, then go enjoy God's creation.

  Now let's talk about game choice. I was never one for "trophy hunting", my concern was always to fill the freezer, however now that I understand more about effective management strategies, I like to be more selective on what I choose to take. It seems the largest target of controversy are those that choose to travel across the pond to hunt African game. Just today, I saw a post bastardizing a family that successfully harvested an elephant and a post attacking Kendall Jones for her lion kill and praising the suicide of international hunter Melania Capitan, worse was one of those posts was shared by a hunter here in the states! How can you support the legal harvest of one animal and not another? Let me make this perfectly clear, plain and simple, all animals need to be managed. Some have been managed well enough by Mother Nature, and others call for the intervention of man. African game hunters contribute more than we could ever know to the local populations and their economies. The game keepers hand select which animal is to be harvested, whether it's because that animal is sick, can no longer breed, is damaging to the local populations farms and livestock, or even threatening the lives of those that live in the area, it is chosen to be the animal to be hunted. Now, the hunters pay thousands and thousands of dollars to hunt this one particular animal, and all of that money goes back into the preservation of that species and helps pay the game wardens in the area, along with supplying a source of income for the villages that have claimed the land. Even more so, once that animal is harvested, the majority of the meat is donated to the village to feed its inhabitants. So that one single elephant or lion that you get upset about being killed, not only died to help prevent the spread of disease throughout the herd or the  destruction of an entire village's livelihood, but also fed that village and provided income for the entire area, I don't know about you, but I feel like that's pretty cool to me.

  Speaking of game choice, I also often hear or see hunters bashing others in the forums and elsewhere about what someone chose to kill. I've shot button bucks, I've shot does, I've shot a few mature bucks, and I've shot some that could've probably waited another year, point is, I made the decision to pull the trigger, meaning that I chose to harvest that animal. I didn't ask someone on what I "should" shoot, I made the decision to put meat in the freezer and to put my tag on that animal, meaning that I am proud that I took that animal, so who is anyone to judge me? That being said, I personally am not one to pass up a bunch of does just to shoot a spike or a fork horn for meat (unless that was the only legal option); but I won't fault someone for killing what made them happy, maybe their management plan called for thinning of younger bucks to keep a balanced age structure. I talked to an old man once that told me he refused to shoot does and would shoot young bucks all day, when I asked him why, his reasoning seems fairly solid, he said, "Why would I take a potential estrous doe out of my area when a monster buck could possibly be following her? Does are good to have around when they don't have the younger bucks running them ragged. On top of that, if I shoot a doe, and she was pregnant, now I've killed more of what could've been my future population." Like I said, the man had a point, I didn't necessarily have to agree with it, because it was his management strategy, but it definitely made me think.

  At the end of the day, we are all on the same team. We all love to hunt in different ways, with different methods, as long as its legal and ethical, why shouldn't we support one another? It's as Fred Bear said, "If you aren't actively working to protect [all types of] hunting, then you're working to destroy it." Shoot what makes you happy, don't worry about another's trophy, who cares what it scored. Be happy for them and rejoice in continuing our tradition and the fellowship that comes with it.

-Chris Johnson