Stories from JB's Youth Hunt Camp   |  Stories from other Youth Hunts

Youth Deer Hunt 2006 at JB's

September 23-24, Switzerland County, Indiana

"After enduring a day of constant rain and wind without a complaint, weather that would have sent most adults to the house hours before, as evening was upon us, we decided to call it a day. As we walked out and down the trail, we spotted a young doe a mere 20 yards away, but did not have an opportunity for a good shot. Afterwards, my son commented that she was pretty young, and questioned whether he would have taken the shot any way. It was in that moment that I caught a glimpse of the man and hunter he was becoming."

- Kirk Demaree

Frank teaching my son Chris to "speak the language" with various turkey calls... "Now, show me a cut..."

Chris working one of Tony's hand-made calls made from a box turtle shell found in the woods.

Famous "tree in the courthouse" in Versailles on the way back...

The Stories...

Chris Demaree (12) & Kirk Demaree

We arrived at Joe's farm around 5:30 Friday evening, unloaded our gear and got bunks picked out. After a supper of chili, Joe went through some safety rules for the hunt, and the dads and kids picked areas to hunt from the numbered aerial map of the farm. Chris and I opted for area #3 because of the water and central location. The kids had been studying the map, and I knew which one I thought looked good, and asked Chris what one he was thinking about... both of us had picked #3 before we compared notes.

As the evening progressed, the storm front came in hard, with lightning and gusting winds, and did not bode well for the next morning. Around 9:30pm, a big bolt hit very close to the house, a smoke alarm squealed, the lights went out, and those of us in the living room heard an excited voice from the kitchen say, "Did you see that????". The lights came back on, and we learned that those standing in the kitchen had seen a flash of electricity jump from an outlet into the faucet of the stainless steel sink!!!! (On the way home Sunday, I discovered my truck digital clock/radio was off by several hours, and I think the static charge from the bolt reset the clock.) The kids hit the bunks by 10:30 or so, leaving the dads to discuss details for the next day. As we stood on the back porch talking, it was clear that the weather was not going to cooperate for Saturday, and we knew we were going to be in for a long day. We had decided that we would go out if it was raining, but not if the lightning was still active in the morning.

I was up at 0515 and hit the shower, and was dressed by 0545. Bill Meyer (one of the co-owners of the farm) was cooking eggs and biscuits/gravy. We let the kids sleep a bit longer than planned, as the wind and rain was still coming in hard, and woke them about 0615 for breakfast. After eating, everyone was dressed and ready to roll by 0645. Bill and Joe were going to shuttle groups out to there respective hunting areas due to the size of the property (1027 acres) and to make sure everyone got into the proper spot. Chris and I were first out with Joe, heading out to #3.

The heavy rains had softened the clay soil on the truck paths, and a 4x4 was a must to negotiate the hills. We pulled into the open field in the center of #3 at around 0700 and it was still dark due to the cloud cover. Raining fairly hard and winds 20-25 with gusts that had to be 30+, we got gear out of the truck and walked to the popup blind Joe had set the evening before. We found the high overnight winds had pulled up several stakes, and it took some doing to get things tied back down and stable. We had brought headlights for walking in, so we wereable to negotiate in the dark. I set up a couple of scent sticks with Code Blue doe urine in front of the stand in the treeline, hoping that it might draw in some deer to investigate. Finally got everything into the blind and settled in by 0710 or so, got gear/packs situated inside and got Chris' Optima .50 muzzy loaded up, which was a bit of a challenge to get my hands dried off so the pyro pellets wouldn't get wet. I had packed the ammo and pyro into a ziploc bag the night before to make sure things kept dry.

We got the side windows opened up somewhat, but were limited by the fact that the wind was blowing rain in on one side. The shoot-thru mesh helped hold out drips on the downwind side, but visibility was a problem. We settled down for a snack of jerky (and of course discovered I had forgotten the venison summer sausage slices I had prepared back at the house... we had those on Saturday evening and Sunday morning...) and choclate chip cookies.

A couple of hours went by, with the wind calming somewhat down to 15-20, but the rain was still coming down pretty good. Around 0915, I caught a flash of something light/white to our left, and thought at first it might be a deer tail. It appeared and disappeared, and Chris got his binocs up... it was a group of 6-8 turkeys coming up the hill some 100 yards off. As they moved up the hill, we were finally able to see their bodies. A couple of jakes were chasing one another, jumping and flopping, and they put on a show for about 10 minutes before the group finally moved off into the woods in front of the blind. I thought this might be a good sign, and that we might begin to see some deer moving through, but this did not turn out to be the case.

Around 1100, we heard a shot to our SE, and turned on the radio, and heard that Frank's son Jacob had taken a shot at a doe. Intially, he thought it was good hit, as the doe jumped straight up on the shot, but they didn't find any hair or blood. They trailed tracks for a bit, and came upon the same doe, and had a second shot, but no luck.

By 1145, with wind picking back up, we decided that it was time to call it for the morning and head back for lunch, so we radioed back to camp for a pickup and walked down the trail to meet the truck. Got back to camp for a lunch of wild turkey and ham, dried gear out and made our plans for the evening hunt. Most took some naptime, planning on heading back out around 3 or so.

We headed back at 3:30, and decided to still hunt the trail back to the blind instead of running the truck through the area as we had that morning. As we walked along, a doe suddenly bolted from heavy cover to our left and disappeared into the woods to our right, but there was no time for a shot. Got back to the blind and settled in for more of the same.... rain and wind and no deer. Around 5, the wind calmed down and the rain becamse intermittent, but we still had not seen any deer. By 6:45, we decided to abandon the blind and still hunt the trail back out to the entrance, hoping to catch something along the path. As came to the end of the trail and into the open area near the pond, I saw a doe standing in the weeds and treeline edge about 20 yards to our right quartering away from us with her head turned back checking us out. It was dark enough that I could tell she was young, but  couldn't tell whether she had spots, so got the binocs out and checked her out. I whispered to Chris that she was pretty young, but no spots, so it was up to him whether he took the shot. He pondered for a moment, but the shot angle was not good, and he waited for her to move. She suddenly snorted and bolted straight ahead, and never offered a good shot. To his credit, he had opted to hold fire and pass on her. We stood there talking for a bit, as I knew he was disappointed, but we agreed that she was a young animal and that had he taken a shot, we might have ended up trying to trail a wounded doe in heavy cover in the dark. It was in that moment that I caught a glimpse of the man and hunter he was becoming. At 12 years old, he had shown the maturity to pass on a bad shot, and I could not have been more proud of his decision.

Bill came to pick us up in his Toyota 4-Runner, and after heavy rain all day and lots of truck traffic, the truck trail had become a real mess. It was Mr. Toad's Wild Ride all the way back. When we got back, we saw that Bill's trailer light bracket had taken a beating and was bent backwards from having bottomed out in the deep ruts.

After changing into dry clothes, everyone gathered for a dinner of slow coooked rabbit and gravy, wild turkey, baked potatoes and green beans. The food was excellent, and really hit the spot after a LONG day in the wind and rain. We compared notes on the days hunt, and found that a couple of the other groups had seen some deer, but had not had good shot opportunities.

After dinner, Joe's son Tony broke out a collection of hand-made turkey calls, and he and Frank showed the kids the ropes of turkey calling. Those kids just wouldn't let up, and the kitchen sounded like a flock of turkeys going at it for an hour or more. Some of the dads standing on the porch out back commented that the local wild flocks must have been really confused and wondering why these other idiot turkeys weren't in the roost and were calling at 9pm... LOL...

The kids hit the rack around 10 or so, and the dads got together to discuss tactics and plans for the morning. Weather reports sounded much more promising, as the front had moved through and it was supposed to be sunny.

Chris and I got out a bit late (dad got up at 0515 and layed back down and overslept DOH!!!!) and got to the trail mouth of #3 about 0700. It was a great morning, with blue sky and some clouds. We decided to walk down a mowed path where we had seen the doe escape the prior evening, and came to a bedding area. We walked to the right of the beds and into a grove of black locust trees, setting up in a position with the wind quartering towards us and the trail in front, with heavy brush behind our position. I set out some scent sticks behind us to help cover our scent in case something came around behind in the heavy cover. Our plan was that anything moving back up from the pond into the beds, or from the woods to our NE into the beds would come along the trail, and the wind and our position was perfect for a shot any where along some 180 degrees or more of our position. The heavy cover behind us should block deer from coming up directly behind us.

About 0815, our attention was caught by movement to our left, but it was only a squirrel jumping from one tree to another near ground level. As I turned slightly to whisper to Chris that maybe we should switch to squirrel hunting, we heard a wheeze/snort directly behind us.

I turned my head slowly to the right and saw a mature doe standing behind us slightly to the right, a mere 20 feet from our position. I was between her and Chris, so whispered to bring his gun up as I stepped behind him to clear a way for a shot. I tried to move slowly, but she had seen enough of our movement and went into full flag mode, bounding away down the trail. Somehow, she had manged to go through that heavy cover behind us without making a sound, as it was dead calm at that point at ground level, and neither of us had heard a thing until her first snort. She may have been drawn in by the cover scent. If she had entered the bed to our right from the trail as expected, he would have had her for sure. Even though he didn't get a shot, it was exciting to suddenly see a deer standing that close. With 20/20 hindsight, we probably should have set up a blind in that position, but we never expected deer through that brush line.

By noon, we figured it was time to pack it in, and called for transport. After lunch, the kids got in some target shooting with Bill's .22, and Christopher emptied his muzzy at a stick-on target some 35 yards away, hitting just under the bullseye dot. Joe commented that if Chris had had a doe in that position, it would have definitely been a dead deer.

All things considered, the kids and dads had a great time. Even though we didn't take any deer, the kids got to see deer and turkeys, and exhibited real fortitude in hunting on Saturday under the worst possible conditions. Not once did I hear any of the kids complain about the hunt. I think they learned a real lesson in patience and persistence, and every one said they were ready to hunt this coming season and wanted to do the youth hunt again next year. All the dads were extremely proud of the way their kids handled themselves in the field. The fellowship of the camp is something these kids will remember for the rest of their lives, and that is perhaps the most important experience they had this weekend. Mother Nature didn't cooperate, but this hunt was definitely a success in my book, and my son is ready to do it again.

I want to thank Joe and Bill in particular for inviting us all down for the hunt, and for their tireless efforts shuttling folks to the hunting areas. Thanks also to Dawn for all her help in the kitchen.

Ben (youth hunter) & Rusty (dad)

I was able to take the boys down to JB's hunt and it went a little like this.

Our hunt started Friday with a 4 1/2 hour drive. I gave Ben my oldest the map and the directions and told him he had to get us there. He did a great job. We never missed a turn. We only paused at the end of the driveway and gladly followed a gentleman in an orange hat back to the cabin where we were greeted and invited in. Then we talked the night away and hid from the storm. The lights flickered several times throughout the night. At one point it all went black when lightning hit and came in through the sink in the kitchen. I don't know what it was but you could feel something hitting your body at about 12 feet away. Bill was very glad he was done with the dishes. Soon we went to bed and listened to it rain and storm all night. We woke up to a cheery voice letting us know that breakfast was ready. We ate a great breakfast which set well while we were sitting out in the rain all morning. Bill had put out a ground blind for us the night before and we hid from the rain all morning. We saw several turkeys and 1 deer that ran past us so fast that I wondered if it was a deer. It was just a brown streak. We hunted till 11:30 and walked back to the cabin. Once again Bill had food waiting. We sat around and talked about how most adults wouldn't have even tried going out in that weather hunting. Before we knew it, it was 3:30 pm and someone said it quit raining and the deer would be moving. You should have seen the kids scramble for their hunting gear. We sat in the blind till almost dark before we saw a huge doe walk out. It spotted our blind at 125 yards but was interested in finding out what we were and headed our way. She was 80 yards and quartering to us and Ben had her in his scope. I told him to wait, she is coming closer and will be broadside to us at 40 yards. About that time we heard someone owl hooting with their voice. It set her on edge and she busted out of there. Then we heard a truck drive by with returning hunters. I waited a few more minutes and told the boys we should head back. They didn't want any part of leaving. There was still hunting time and they were staying. When we arrived back at the cabin it looked like Thanksgiving dinner. Boy, did that hit the spot! Tony showed the boys a turkey wing bone call he had made and gave them all a lesson on how to blow it. It really sparked an interest with the boys. Then Joe brought out some of his calls. Soon we had turkey calls everywhere. Later we made plans for the next day and hit the hay. Soon we were hearing the cheerful voice of Bill who had breakfast all ready for us. We headed out to a new area. Early in the morning we saw one deer running by us at 110 yards and heard a few turkeys. Ben had brought his new pen call with him and was able to get a response from a hen. He was able to get her within 30 yards. Later I took the boys on a little walk to confuse them and see if they could get back to the cabin on there own. Ben told me we were walking in circles so I told him to lead us back to the cabin. He pulled out his compass and did just that. When we got back we saw that Bill had the only kill for the weekend, a nice fox squirrel. He gave the boys a lesson on how to clean a squirrel. Then he set up some cans and let the boys try his 22. I have to say.... those boys can shoot.

I want to thank Joe, Bill, and Tony. You guys made the hunt. Your friendliness and sharing made the hunt fun for all. The food was tops (I think eating is my kids favorite thing to do) and Joe teasing the boys kept the spirits up. Tony breaking out the calls was definitely a big hit with the kids.
I even learned a new call. You guys really put a lot of work in to it with the food and shuttling everybody around. I must say that I got what I wanted out of the hunt. A good safe hunt and sparking an interest in Ben for hunting.


Thanks Again,

Rusty

Stories From Other Hunts...

Trevor (7) & DEC (from hoosierhunting.com site)

Well, I was reminded this weekend about what hunting is truly about. It is not about bagging game, it is about good times with loved ones and lots of laughs. We did just that.

I took my 7 year old daughter, Trevor, out to my honey hole farm. We set up in the ground blind on Saturday morning in a grassy area where I've shot a ton of deer in the past. This area acts as a funnel as the deer move from bedding to feeding areas and is usually good in the mornings. We got settled in about 15 minutes before legal hunting time. Trevor took a nap while we waited for it to get light. Her nap went until around 7:30, but it did not matter as I had not seen a deer yet. When she woke up we sat there and talked and ate some breakfast in the blind. At around 8:00, I looked out and there was a lone doe standing about 50 yards out in front of us. She had snuck in from behind some tall grass. She had no clue we were there. So, Trevor and I got her gun in position while the doe walked right at us. I though she was going to end up in our laps, but at 35 yards, she turned broad side and started to walk towards a tree line. I told Trevor I'd stop her so she could shoot. I let out a loud bleat and at the same time I heard BOOM and the blind filled with smoke. I heard the doe run into the woods and then nothing. Trevor goes "I didn't want her to get away Dad". I just laughed. She goes, "I think I might of missed her". I asked her if she put the red dot on the doe. She said "Um, I forgot about the dot". I asked her if she was looking through the scope. She said "I'm not sure where I was looking, but I could see her" I just laughed and laughed. We were high fiving and laughing together about how cool it was that she got to shoot at a deer. I told her we'd wait a little bit and go look for blood. She was so excited. "Buck Fever" at it's finest. When we got to were the deer was standing there was no blood or hair. I tracked it into the woods were I was sure it went and never found anything. She cleanly missed it. We hunted a little longer and decided to go get some real breakfast and try it again in the evening. On the drive home Trevor asked me if I could put in the CD with the "Pass it On" song on it (the Mossy Oak song by Tracey Byrd). I did and (not to sound to mushy) but it capped off the most perfect morning and actually brought a small tear to my eye.

We laughed and laughed all weekend about Saturday morning.

We went out Saturday evening and nothing but rain. We called it quits early. Skipped Sunday morning for church. Went out last night for a quick hunt behind my house, but nothing.

We sure had fun though.

Here is a picture of Trevor on her first deer hunt. This was shortly after she missed the deer Saturday morning.

BIGBUCKS & His 7 y.o. Daughter (from HH site)

My 7 year old & I spent around 12 hrs in a Blind Sat....(Her choice)
Where do I start....lol

Danimal & I did a side job friday.Poured 9 yards of concrete at 11am....We were still on it at 3:30am Saturday morning.....  Concrete wouln't setup. But I choose not to mention the concrete company we bought mud from.(Only because they employ both of us   )

Anyway.I left for Parke county at 5am..(NO SLEEP)At 7am my little girl & I were in our blind.
We saw 13 different deer during our 4 hour morning sit.She didn't want to shoot anything over 40 yards. we had a small doe at 30 yards.I told her to ease up ,& put her gun out the window....She takes one look at the doe ."Dad I ain't shootin that little thing.It's just a baby." lol The whole time I'm thinking awfully picky for your first deer....lol
Now it's 11 am and I still haven't been to bed.She decides she's hungery.So we head for the truck....She eats 2 doughnuts,& says."OK lets go back to the blind....I was kinda thinking goto town eat,take a nap,then evening hunt....Nope! Back to the blind we went.
As soon as we climb back in the blind.She curls up in my lap ,and falls asleep. I thought cool,I can get some sleep.Just as I start to dose off I looked out the window & seen 4 deer headed straight for us.So I wake her up.Tell her to get her gun up & get ready.She says;"Hang on I gotta pee"....So there she is squated down in the corner of the blind peeing....lol deer headed straight for us....lol She finished.grabs her gun....Then the worst case of deer fever I have ever seen hits her...  She was shakein so bad the deer didn't have anything to be worried about...lol and her breathing,you could have heard it a mile away....lol Shoots deer runs about 10 yards,stops,looks back,& then waves by to us, all the way across the field....

all in all we saw 10 goblers,1 hen,29 anterless deer,4 bucks,1 coon,& something that looked like a grizzly/coon hybrid.....lol

But the best thing...lol I asked her if she wanted to goto church or hunting in the morning.she said: "I don't know dad.I think I'm gonna call Rick (Preacher)when we get home.Cause I feel closer to God ,in a tree stand"...lol where she came up with that I have no idea...
We made it to bed at 1:30am this morning.She didn't get outta bed until 1pm this afternoon ...lol

However after 44 hours with no sleep,almost 13 hrs in a ground blind,& comeing back empty handed.It was still the best hunt I have ever been on. And I know, I have a life long hunting partner........