Quota hunt in Richloam...in pics..with some reviews..

Me, the pup, the RAV4 4wd Sport, my SPR and the cargo carrier...

The pup is not trained for hunting but he paid his way. My buddy shot a squirrel and couldn't find it. He sent my dog into the Meca Palm (which I wasn't too wild about because of the snake potential) but he came out with the squirrel and dropped it for my buddy.

The Toyota..mixed review...the AWD was great. Went through everything that I was willing to throw at it but the ground clearance is not there. I went through a couple spots that were too much. Bottomed out hard (on the trailer hitch I think) once. The plastic skid guards suffered heavily, I think they picked up debris and mud when I was backing up. Ripped one off almost completely that I had to yank off and the main one is a little messed up. I'm going to have to do some surgery on them to get them mounted back up.

SPR...loaded up some 60 gr soft points for this trip. PSA upper with 18" PSA match barrel. Midwest SS12 handguard on a Delton lower with a RRA 2 stage and a Weaver Kaspa 1.5-6x32... I think this is my favorite carry gun. I can carry this rig all day. The scope...cheap yes...not my best...thought it was a little finicky on eye relief based on the range experience but it performed well in the field. Was plenty bright to my eye in low light. The illumination works great when needed. Focus was sharp and eye relief was never an issue...

The cargo carrier is handy but gotta be careful of the ground clearance, it will drag at too steep an angle which could cause it to get hung up. Had to take it off and leave it at camp depending on where we were heading. Would have been good for hauling a kill if we had gotten something though.



Litterally almosted stepped on this guy... too small to get through my boots but could have put a hurt on my dog... After getting a close-up confirmation of species...he was quickly dispatched. I would have given a pass to a rattler or coral but moccasins common and nasty in this area. One that likes to hang out on the trails isn't going to be missed.





Richloam is big enough during the quota faze with only 900 permits issued but unfortunately dog hunting is allowed so just about everyone in there was running a dog team. Those dogs were out chasing every living thing in the world. We found spots that we thought would be good didn't see a thing. As soon as the sun comes up the animals were no where to be found. We had to talk with a couple of wardens and forestry guys to get some suggestions. Eventually we nailed an area that was a little small for the dogs, my bud spotted a hog but it was too quick for him to get a shot and that was the only activity we had except for squirrels...

Up int he tree stands...



Camp....A Stansport Star-Lite 2 for me and the pup. Nice tent for the price...weighed in a 5 lbs so a little heavy for a hiking trip for one person. The poles are kind of a pain to install too because the way they cross each other to stand up. Also, the only opening is on the front so you can't get cross ventillation unless you take the rain fly off. It was a little warm the first night and then a cold front came through.. Also used an Extera self inflating sleeping pad. I've gone from tent to hammock and now back to tent, trying to find a set-up that lets me sleep good. This was the first time of slept really good on a camping trip. But I used a combination...An army foam pad, then the extera and then a blanket all stack each other that I layed on...



Everything was wet. Most of the wood we found was half rotted, so the fire starting was a bit of a PITA and to get a good fire going it had to be built BIG. My bud brought the canopy and I added a tarp onto it with rain threatening.



My bud is from up north...this was his first hunting trip down here so he was buy all new, light weight crap for the warmer weather. He did just buy a Browning X-bolt 30-06 with a Leupold fire dot. A little too much for most of the distances we had to shoot imho but its what he wanted. He said the scope was great, rifle is a beaut...I had to help him get it sighted in b/c he was getting close to 60 round through by the end of day and his shoulder was toast. Pretty accurate gun, still like my Savages though. The fire dot was pretty comparable in size, weight and features to my Weaver superslam that I just bought on sale for almost half what he paid. Tried to talk him out of spending so much but he wanted to buy it through bass pro because he had a gift card...oh well, still nice set-up.

So we hunted Sat Sun Mon Tues and Wed morning. Only got 4 squirrels to show for it.

Any idea what kind of fungus this is on this oak?

Nice report.  

We have a similar looking reddish color fungus growing on Hemlock in my AO this year.  Never seen them before this year and now I am seeing them everywhere.

I think what I am seeing is Hemlock varnish shelf (Ganoderma tsugae)

According to a few quick google searches it has medicinal properties in the form of tea.

GWU

Here was our deer camp while in the Rockies this year:

NY to the Rockies for deercamp...Nice!

How much of that stuff did you haul out there or was it already there?

Nice hammock seats...

We pack about 4 miles on foot.  Stay for 6 days.


(not pictured is a loaf of bread and some additional candy.)







That was the second year in row we went.  No elk this year only a mule:



One thing is for sure, doing that for a week on end, on foot, really teaches you to go "minimalistic" on gear.  Once we divvied up the tent I think I was at roughly 70#.  75# is about my personal comfortable limit, where I can still actually cover some ground.  Bump it up over 85 and I feel like I am struggling.  I prefer 50# but when your hunting for a week at elevation in wet weather having a few extras really goes along ways.









If any one is interested I can probably dig up my specific gear list.

I have three different hauler packs, the alps freighter commander, that slumberjack, and I just got a good deal on a kelty hauler on ebay.

One of these days I want to do a review/ comparison of all three.

Nice post... I scored two bucks (8 and 6) opening day of BP season here in Sumter county and other than maybe one or two other mornings, it's just been too damn warm... skeeters were really bad and I bet I've burned through 15 thermacell fuel containers.

Since opening morning of BP, I've not seen much activity and I'm hunting some prime private property... I'm waiting on some colder weather...

Up in north Florida on some property I own, my brother and his friend are seeing plenty of deer, a mix of 4 and 6 points with what they say is a very small 9 point... the 9 according to them comes to the feeder several times a week... he's a regular apparently but they say he's 125 pounds tops... looks good they say, just small.

If you have a small boat, you and your friend should go to Jumper Creek WMA, if not for having multiple private property places to hunt, that's where I'd be... but you really need to go in off the river.

Is the river deep enough for a jon boat? I'm looking at the maps of the area, looks like I see trails and roads in there, is it that swampy that you can't walk? And how about that campsite shown on the map, is that accessible by land?

IM sent... I'd be glad to show you some areas.

That's awesome...want that in Tenn...

The deer camp this summer


Last year durung deer season