My Va. trip(dial up users beware)


HuntnMa

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Met Tom at Toso. , we left at 4:30a.m.....Toby called and said he shot another bird on his dad's place...he couldn't resist hunting his land too, lol......missed a bearded hen and the opportunity for a gobbler the day prior.

Got to Va. about 14 hours later dizzy.gifI slept most of the way, lol.....Thanks Tom for driving so muchbiggrin.gif

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I saw a woodchuck on the way up, my first one ever biggrin.gif

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Met Robby and Toby at this Mexican restraunt in Mount Jackson....had a wonderful dinner and then we headed to the house...got there and I'm already taking pics of everything...had a few beers and it was bedtime.Woke up the next morning and went outside to see the corn field full of deer and a beautiful sunrise.

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There's no hunting on Sunday so we went to breakfast at the cracker barrel in Woodstock then headed to the cabin, did some scouting ,got to see the layout of the land...figured out where i was going to hunt and a plan B for Monday morning...

The cabin

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Morning came and it was raining so we went back to bed, then headed to the cracker barrel again and then toured the area...while getting ready to leave the house I looked outside my window to see this bird I saw pass by my window, but it wasn't a bird, it was a chipmunk, the coolest lil duder ever tongue.gif, I remember them from when I was a kid, but that was along time ago, lol...it was such a treat to see...Went to his dad's place,Buck Hill after breakfast...then to the dam by where Toby grew up,I saw ducks, Greenheads biggrin.gif went to the covered bridge...

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and drove by some apple orchards...

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went to the New Market battlefield...

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Ate lunch at Johnny Appleseeds tongue.gif

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Went to the Shenandoah Carverns but they wanted entirely too much money for a tour, so we passed and went to this agricultural place called the yellow barn, it was great...had a wine tasting there and everything....saw all kinds of wildlife, lol and some cool old equipment.

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It's such a beautiful state.....

More pics from Monday:

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I saw Geese

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Tues. Morning came, it was cold and damp...wind was whipping, no birds were talking, about 10:30 I finally heard a hen yelping, talked to her for awhile, she came by but didn't stop,my first sighting of a real eastern while hunting, she was huge tongue.gif she was heading somewhere and she wasn't waiting on me, lol.....then Toby called and wanted me to meet them on the road,so I did, they didn't tell me it was a like a mile hike to the cabindizzy.gif,I wasn't happy about it, my legs were on fire lol.....we loaded the wood shed up with the wood that Robby had cut the day prior...then we headed to town (Woodstock) for dinner, this yummy lil Italian place.Headed back to the house ,we're all sitting on the back porch talking and drinking a few beers, I was leaning over , talking to Toby and he's just a rocking away in the rocker, meanwhile it's moving closer and closer to my toes, he rocked, felt resistance and figured it was acorn, so he gave it a forceful thrust, but it was my toes, not an acorn, thought my big toe was broke, guess it was because my foot was frozen from the cold, but it just blackened my toenail.Tom is giggling and said " there was crunch, I heeeeaaarrrrrrd it" lol...I lmao while trying to hold back the tears...The next day I woke up, headed outside and tripped over the rocks at the base of the fireplace with my other foot,went flying across the dining room stubbed the crap out of my good toes, lol...both feet wounded,lol.

I hunted Robby's area the next hunt...my view

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I watched the birds and squirrels and a chipmunk for the most part of the day,finally heard a hen yelping about 11:30,but she wasn't heading my way... other than that it was dead quiet.It was a great area, lots and lots of sign...weather is sucky.

Went morel hunting, I personally didn't find any but they did, about a dozen in 2 days...

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We got back to the house and I cooked dinner for them(don't tell the hubby or he'll want me to cook more here , lol).I decided to hunt Robby's area again the next day but this time, I climbed higher on the side of the ridge so I could see both ridges and the bottom...

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Theres a hen in the next pic, really there is, lol...

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I heard some clucking and purring right away...then I had 3 hens fly down, don't know how they didn't see me walking in but there I was in my spot and they had no clue that I was there, the one went over the ridge , the other two came down and fed by me, then two does joined them, they hung out for about an hour and a half,which was so cool, I wanted to get pics but I was afraid they would spook....so no pics.About half way through their visit, I had to pee so bad, I had no choice but to move, sat back down and there they were, 20 yds. in front of me, didn't see me then either, totally amazes me that it's so open, yet so dense...the one hen I called to me , the closest she got was about 6-7 feet and I had nothing around me, I was at the base of the tree, just me and my camo biggrin.gifNothing else until about 11:30 again, a single hen came walking in via the creek.Then the hunt was over...It ended on a good note for me at least.Tom didn't hear or see a bird all week but he seemed to really have enjoyed himself...Toby wanted us to go to BuckHill with him but Tom wanted to hunt the cabin and so did I just because of all of the sign, Iknew I had some good odds of at least seeing birds and I did , so I'm happy ... he texted me earlier in the day, he missed a bearded hen, so he was going to move,he did, he had 2 gobblers gobbling, so he said he was making his way to them and then it happened"The fifth Poopy of the day".I'm thinking this is where he says"that he spooked them or that he saw them coming right for him, anything but that, it was the funniest thing ever,so he grabbed some leaves and he was off again...then here's where he sees them coming down the ridge right to him, he gets his sight on him @ 40 yds. and boom, he misses again.....he called this time, poor guy, whatta day....We all met at the cabin and then we headed to town for an early dinner.We all hung out on the front porch and then got all packed to leave.....

Our last evening on the porch

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We left at 5:30, got back to my house right at dark that evening.

For more great pics, go to my photobucket Va. Trip album

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v382/HuntnMa/Virginia%20trip/?start=all

go to page 4 first, that begins the trip and it ends on page 1

Edited by HuntnMa
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Buckee,I was going to cook them up but we decided not too , so the guys ate them after I left.Next year I'll make sure they're cooked before I leave, we had gone out for an early dinner and were so stuffed, we couldn't even think about eating another bite of anything,lol.

I'm glad you spotted the hen clrj354 , took me awhile, lol....

Thanks y'all for sharing in my trip....

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welcome to Va btw;) The area you went to is probably the best in the state for sights! Im in eastern Va though..

thanks for the story again also

The whole state was beautiful....at least from the south part up, lol...saw 2 gobblers strutting on the way home, on the side of the mountain under a redbud tree, absolutley beatiful...the farms and the mountains were so pretty.

Next year I'm going back and I'm going to Maryland too...South Carolina and Georgia will be in that plan as well......next year can't get here soon enough.

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