NYBUCK Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 This is the hunt I won from Dream Season, Catch-A-Dream raffle. got back into town a day early, bumped up the flight and it was probably a good thing as I would probably be stuck in some airport today. Here is the story ...... Left Albany airport at 7:00 am Wednesday morning on November 28th. Great flight, switched planes in Chicago, no delays, everything went as schedule. Here are a couple pics from the air. Arrived in St. Louis at 11:05 and picked up luggage. There was Joe waiting for me and the first thing he did after our introduction was to give me a Drury hat as the mathews hat I was wearing wouldn't cut it, since they are sponsored by PSE now. He also told me he was going to "wear me out" with the camera as he would be filming me all the time. And he did !!!! It really wasn't that bad. After a two hour drive we made it to his place. Let me tell you, this place is awesome. Way back, (miles) on a dead end road in the middle of no where. Here is the camp or his house I should say. Back deck ... Inside with a couple bucks he shot. The winter wheat fields that would would be hunting quite a bit. There is a blind that we hunted in this pic where we tried desperately to get a doe within range. Thursday November 29th, first day of the 4 day hunt. In the am we went to a nice wooded area and it was about 25 degrees. We saw about 7 deer, 3 bucks but nothing we were interested in shooting. Headed out for lunch and went back out about 2 pm. Going into the stand he calls the pond set, (this is a finger off a large patch of woods with a pond in the middle) we jumped 5 doe and two decent bucks off the field. Continued on and busted about a dozen more deer on the other side of the pond. Joe climbed the tree, which is about 30 feet in the air. I had my gun on the pull rope and Joe motioned to me that a shooter was coming, get my gun. I grabbed my gun and put the primer on and here he comes. He looked real wide and high. He came right into the pond and he turned slightly quartering away to me and I touched off the shot. Meanwhile Joe is 30 feet up in the tree filming the whole thing. I never got nervous until after. He climbed down and he said he thinks he heard him crash. We went over, after a little interview how I never made it up the tree, and looked for blood. Nothing. Now I am getting a REAL nervous. Joe say wait, "lets look at the film". He looks at it and says, "Jim, it was great shot. Here watch it" You can see the bullet ripple the deers hair as the bullet hits it. Cool !!!!! We move on and find blood. We follow the trail for 80 yds or so and there he lays. The first day of the hunt and my buck tag is gone. We leave the deer and go to the blind in hopes of getting a doe on the same day which would be an awesome story. It never happened. Later we changed our clothes and took his tractor in to get the buck. We brought it out, took some pics with some more interviews and Joe wouldn't even let me feild dress the deer. That is the way the whole hunt went, I couldn't do anything. Joe and Pam treated me like a king. Here are some pics of the buck. Joe and I both thought the deer was bigger and would score better and he may have been a little dissapointed. However, sometimes the way things happen makes the hunt. Everything happened so fast and with Joe being in the tree and me on the ground was awesome. I made a good shot and we got it all on film. I know there are bigger deer there but the hunt itself was incredible. I wouldn't trade it for the world. After all the work was done we had a great spagetti dinner that Pam made. Let me tell you, she can cook. Friday November 30th In the morning Joe had problems with his truck so he had to call the dealer to come get it. He believes he got some bad fuel. We rode into town with the tow truck guy and picked up a loaner car. We didn't hunt Friday morning. When we got back we did a bunch of interviews and then headed out to see if I could fill my doe tag. I counted about 40 deer that I could see a a few really good bucks including a nice 12 point with split brows and a busted up 10 point. There were also plenty of 2 1/2 year olds with great potential. Here is the busted up 10-point but you can't see him real well. And a bunch of deer .... We did not get a deer to come in range, but let me tell you I didn't care. That was an awesome hunt seeing all those deer and all those bucks. That night we got back to camp, showered and headed into town for a dinner at a real nice place. We sat down a just ordered our drinks and in walked Mark Drury, John O'dell and his wife Susie, Dave Reisner and his wife Amy and a few others from Hadley Creek Outfiiters. We went over and Pam and Joe intoduced me to everyone. It was awesome. We talked to Mark for quite a while and told him I shot one and he congratulated me and thanked me for supporting Cath-A-Dream. When we left they all congratulated me again and wished me luck on filling my doe tag. Saturday December 1st. This morning we sat the blind and did not see a deer. They just did not move in the mornings as well as they did in the evenings. We decided to go to a tree stand on the other farm and when we go there we walked in and saw a dead buck. A great buck. He must have been shot from the road or from a neighbor. What a great buck. Massive 9 point that would probably score 145. It made both Joe and I sick to see such a great animal go to waste. We did a little interview and went to the stand. We stayed about an hour and it started to spit freezing rain. We both agreed we better get out before it got to dangerous as the rain was freezing on the stands and on Joe's camera. Back at the house we had lunch and did a little work on Joe's 4-wheeler. We went back out about 2:30 and headed to the pond set where I shot the buck. It had stopped raining but the wind was whipping with gust up to about 40 mph. At one point Joe spotted a real good buck that he said he would shoot. The buck started getting closer so Joe gave me the camera and I gave him the thompson center omega. This is going to be so cool I thought, raffle winner trades gun for camera and films Joe Shults shooting a great Illinois whitetail. All he had to do was walk 30 more yards into an opening. But all of the sudden a doe spooked and took all the deer with her. We were both sick and never knew why they spooked. That night we saw 80 to 100 deer (and many good bucks) in the fields, no lie. It was awesome and I enjoyed that hunt as well as any others I have ever been on even though we never fired a shot. Sunday December 2nd. In the morning we went to the blind again and saw a few does, but nothing in range. Again we left the blind and sat in a tree stand for a couple hours. The deer weren't moving but a storm was. We decided we better head out and just in time. The skys let loose and it poured. I called the airport to get my flight changed and we headed out to the airport at about 11 am. Joe and Pam stopped and bought me lunch. They would not let me buy. They then took me to the airport. I snapped a pic crossing the Mississips River. And of course I needed to get a pic of me and Joe. Let me just say that this is the best hunt I have ever been on. Joe and Pam are super people. They do not get any better. The treated me like royalty and every time I tried to do something they wouldn't let me. I was spoiled rotten. I can't wait to get the tape back with the kill on it. I also have new respect for camera people. Joe worked his tail off and I see how much work goes into all of this filming. We really hit it off and I am looking forward to getting together with them again. The ATA show is in Indiana this year and I just may go. Ernie are you up for it ??? They said that they would introduce me to many of the hunting celebs and that would be awesome. I just may go. Thanks to Joe and Pam Shults for having the raffle for Catch-A-Dream and hosting me on a memorable experience that I will never forget. Also thanks to Mark and Terry Drury for being involved in such a great organization in Catch-A-Dream. It was great winning the raffle but I am more happy that I was able to help out in a small way. Many times we take for granted life and our families. But when you see what some of these families go through it puts a reality check on what life is all about and why it is so precious. I hope that in the future and can continue to help out Catch-A-Dream and what they do for these children. Pics are alos on ...... http://www.druryoutdoors.com/journal/2007journal/november.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUDRUNNER Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 That's an awesome story!Congrats on a dandy buck!I've seen the property and house on Drury's shows and videos quite a bit.They take quite a few dandy whitetails off that place.I've never met them,but Joe and Pam seem like top notch people,as do the rest of the Drury team.That's awesome that you got to meet some of the crew to top it off!Congrats again on a great week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrea Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 Gotta say it doesn't get much better than that!! What a dream come true. Joe sure sounds like good people. Congratulations on your success. That's a great buck!!:cool::cool::cool: Great story too. Thanks for sharing!!!!!!:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Kid Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 wow great story, nice buck too hes nice and tall and wide!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkeygirl Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 Wow, that's awesome! Nice deer to boot! congrats! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adjam5 Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 Great story and a real nice read too. Congrats on that buck, Joe and Pam sound like Classy people, the Drurys are always helping someone less fortunate. Thanks for sharing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdvantageTimberLou Posted December 3, 2007 Report Share Posted December 3, 2007 Great buck and great story! Congratulations! Mark & Terry are indeed something very special! Now if they would just start wearing Realtree camo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arrow32 Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Congrats on an awesome buck! Great story sounds like that would be a blast. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohiobucks Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Great story, that's something you'll never forget. Congrats on the big 8, he'll look good on the wall. :cool: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest adrenaline_junky Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Wow, what an awesome story and congrats on a great buck. I'm not sure which would be better shooting a big buck out there or just being in that kind of company. It would have to be being in that kind of company, them folks are such a great group of people and i can just imagine how much fun you had. Congrats on your success while in the field. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowin_in_illinois Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Sounds like you had a GREAT time!!...Great story....great buck...great pics! I'm glad you enjoyed Illinois, and that you were treated so well. Sounds like great people. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Great story. Sounds like an awesome experience. Again congratulations on your buck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerClay Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Way to go Jim! Nice buck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Andrus Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 Great Job Jim! A little different than ol NY huh. Man, I love all those mid west states. I know Mark pretty good , he is a stand up guy. tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maytom Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 [Awesome story and pic's!! WTG!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airman312 Posted December 4, 2007 Report Share Posted December 4, 2007 great story...congrats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RICK Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 nice buck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bowhunter862 Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Absolutely fantastic story. Love the pics along with the story. Congrats on a fine buck. I'm green with envy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted December 5, 2007 Report Share Posted December 5, 2007 Great story Jim, thanks for sharing. Good things happen to good people. Sounds like you had a great time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.