Sometime this summer a friend of mine, Dave sent me a text and was wondering if I would want to do a hunt with him as him as my guide. Dave was predicting that the annual Twist of Fate hunt would be canceled due to the Rona virus. I told him I would definitely be interested as long as I wasn't taking the hunt away from someone who doesn't get the opportunity as much as I do. I can pretty much go out and hunt any day I want. That doesn't suck. He told me it would be just me and another disabled hunter that would take part. He was also going to invite a couple other guides to help out. With that, I accepted his offer.
You see we have been talking about hunting together ever
since we met. I think that was back in 98 when he guided another hunter while
we were at the first UFFDA hunt in North Dakota. We kind of hit it off right
away. Ever since then, whenever we would run into each other we would say,
"One of these days we are going to do a hunt together." Well this
year everything seemed to line up and it happened.
I really had no idea what his grand plan was but if you know Dave, his mind is always working on something. It is usually something neat. But I digress. I texted him the day before the hunt just to ask him what he all had planned. He told me everything is going great and things got a little bigger than he first planned. He said things just snowballed and everything fell into place.
As I said, on the drawing board Dave was just going to have myself and another hunter take part in the hunt. But then one of his fellow guides and friends heard what he was doing, they wanted to join up with him. In the end there were six guides and four hunters. Dave said, "It's gonna be a twisted hunt full of twisted people!" That's good stuff.
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| A little bit of the famous bacon from Maple Valley Meats from Enderlin. |
They lined up a place for us to base out of, the Kindred Wildlife Club clubhouse. This place does not suck. The clubhouse is equipped with a full kitchen, restrooms and plenty of room to sit and eat or just hang out. Their range is something to be proud of. They also lined up wall tents in case someone needed a place to stay, which one hunter took advantage of. A couple hunters brought campers and I went home every night. Landowners were also contacted and prime hunting spots were available and prepped for wheelchair access in case it was needed. Donations also started rolling in. A local landowner donated money to pay for the bow tags. Ribeyes and burger were donated by a local farmer and local rancher. Bacon was donated by Maple Valley Meats. There were also other donations of food that was just awesome. Everything was provided for three meals a day. People are awesome.
I thought we were just going to get together and do a couple nights of hunting together. I had no clue how this thing had snowballed.
The hunt took place during the same weekend as the annual Twist of Fate hunt takes place. It is always the last full weekend in September. This year's dates were September 24-26. But there would be no morning hunts during this elongated weekend. Dave texted the day before, "We are gonna feed ya and have a full line of refreshments! How does campfires and whitetail bucks sound?"
About a week before the hunt I texted Dave on how far a shot should I practice for. He told me inside of 20. So I went and practiced one afternoon. After a couple shots my Carbon Express Intercept crossbow was dialed in with broadheads. I told him I was good to go. And he replied back, "We're gonna whackem and stackem!"
For a couple weeks before the hunt we were sharing trail cam pictures of buckaroos. He had a couple doozies picked out for me on the land I was going to be on. I like doozies. But the best part about this was I was going to be hunting on stuff I had never been on before. I have written about this before but I just love hunting new territories. I don't care where it is or how many animals there are. It's like getting a new perspective on life every new parcel you explore.
I also talked to Dave the day before the hunt just ask him about what time I should be down there and what time we were going to get in to the blinds. He told me we would leave camp around 4 PM to try and get set up at least by 4:30 PM. But I should get there earlier if I could. But there was no pressure because this is going to be my hunt. He told me that many times. "No pressure. We are here to have a good time," he would say.
I explained to him that I am only supposed to be in the chair about seven hours at a time. Again he explained that this is your hunt. So I decided I would roll into camp around three the day the hunt started. When I got down to the clubhouse which I had never been to before, there were some familiar faces. I had known the guides for many years. They were Bruce, TJ, Jeremy, Dylan, Matt and Dave. I also recognized the hunters. I had never hunted with them but had seen them at the Twist of Fate banquets where I tend to blow some money and overindulge in libations. The hunters turned out to be Pat, Matt, Tom and I.
After little bit of BS'ing. We actually started talking about hunting. I asked Dave where we were going and he said he had a perfect place picked out for the wind that was blowing that night. He said he had nine different places ready to hunt for different wind directions. Preparedness doesn't suck. Dave told me we were headed to Spike's land. I had actually hunted on his land but not in the same spot. It is a bow hunter's nirvana. A lot of big deers have been taken on this property. I was happy in all of my facial region and other regions.
Spike's land wasn't too far away from the camp so we took off around 4 PM. When we got to the spot, things were little different than the last time I was there. I believe I hunted there last in maybe 2002. We first stopped by the new house because Spike wanted me to use his Ozonics while I was hunting on his land. That was very gracious and I was excited to use one. I have heard about them but had never had the opportunity to hunt with one. To the novice, they are supposed to take away human scent.
I will just say this land is southwest of Kindred. It is right along the Sheyenne River and there is quite the aroma from the local plant life. It is quite intoxicating actually. When we pulled up to the hunting spot there were three blinds. There were two pop-up blinds facing each other about 30 yards apart. They were placed this way for hunting in different winds. There was also another permanent blind a little farther away.
That first night I was in the pop-up blind facing to the east. Before getting in the blind I explained to my guides TJ, Dylan and Dave how to use the detachable hand crank on my crossbow to cock the bow. They caught on quick and within no time I was backing into the blind. Then the Ozonics and the Thermacell were turned on. Next an arrow was placed on the rail of my crossbow and the safety was clicked off. And with that they said good luck and I was left by myself. In my happy place. In the hunting blind by all by myself. I looked down at my phone and it was 4:30 PM. Perfect.
I believe there was a southeast wind that night and it was warm. It was actually toasty inside the blind. If I could sweat, I probably would have been sweating that evening. I believe the temperature hit 80° that day.
It didn't take long for the woods to settle down. In this time I got my bearings. I looked around and made some mental notes of how far I could shoot to the left and right without hitting anything on the windows. I also made some mental notes of how far the yardage was in front of me.
The blinds were in kind of an oxbow on the Sheyenne. There were trees along the river but I was in a big open area in the middle of the winding river. The field that I was in was tall grass with mowed paths going in several directions. The grass was probably 6 feet tall in most parts. So deer could sneak around pretty easily without getting seen.
As I was facing east around 5:15 PM the first deer of the night came from my right which is to the south. It was a yearling doe. I was surprised there was deer out that early seeing how warm it was. It was sunny and 75° at this time. Not ideal for deer movement. But this land is so prime evidently the deer don't care about the temperature. She milled around for a while and took off the same way she came in. At 5:45 PM, rambunctious twins came bouncing in, followed by their mother who had her mouth open and tongue stretched out. She was panting hard. She was old and it was easy to tell by her Roman nose. They sampled on some sugar beets for a while until something to the north spooked her and they took off to where they came from. Those old ones are tough to trick. But she wasn't looking at me, something in the trees was bothering her. She actually blew a couple times as she and her young ones ran away.
At this time I was glad I had remembered to bring my Thermacell because I could tell the bugs were bothering the deer. Their ears were twitching and their tails were too. Their legs were constantly moving or shaking to try and get the bugs off. But there was nary a bug inside the pop-up blind. Thank goodness.
At 6:30 PM a yearling doe came in from the south just like the others. She came directly in and munched on some sugar beets. She didn't stay long. I learned right away that most of the deer, actually I believe all of them came running in. I needed to pay attention constantly because in a matter of seconds they were right in front of you.
As I was sitting in the blind I noticed something making noise every time there would be a gust of wind. I was looking around the inside of the blind to figure out what it was so we could get rid of it in case I sat here again or in case someone else was going to sit here. Finally I noticed something spinning and it looked like the ass end of a price tag. The little square and that is usually on the inside of clothing. Anyway I could see that thing spinning every time there was a gust. This didn't get me busted but it was kind of annoying. I think maybe the old doe got spooked by it though. But I wanted her gone anyway. Old does suck.
Around 7 PM I had two deer come in. There was one from the north and one from the south. They were both does. They both met in the middle and sampled the local table fare until there was some noise from the south. At 7:20 PM another old doe came trotting in. She stayed until about 7:45 PM. Legal shooting hours were done at 7:50 PM that night. Nothing else came in after she left. There was a total of nine deer and they were all within 10 yards. That does not suck.
So I texted the boys and they came and got me. They asked if I had seen anything and I explained that there were nine does/fawns that came in. They were surprised no bucks had come in but it was only hunt number one. I then asked if anyone else got lucky and Dave told me there is a 4 x 4 that was hit and it should be in camp when we get there. On our way out the landowner, Spike was standing outside. I told him what I had seen that night and he was also surprised that no bucks came in. He was watching on his SpyPoint trail cam that sends pictures in real-time to his phone. I thanked him for the opportunity to hunt on his land and with a smile he said, "I was more than welcome." So with that we headed back to the clubhouse.
When we got back to camp the 4 x 4 was just getting strung up in a tree in front of the clubhouse. It was a nice deer. I decided to go by the clubhouse and tilt back for a while. I am supposed to tilt back for ten minutes every hour but it's kind of hard to do when you are hunting. Sometimes I cheat, sue me. I am the only one that is going to have to pay for it in the end. But some things are worth doing. You can't quit living your life just because you're in a chair. That's my theory anyway. But I digress.
While I was tilting I had mom make me a cocktail. I was thirsty. I was also tired. It didn't take long for the guys to butcher the deer and they were ready to put some pizza on the Traeger. But by that time I was beat. I had one more cocktail made for the ride home and we were out of there. It takes about a half-hour to get back home and by the time I was in bed it was around 11 PM. So that was over eight hours in the chair that day and I was beat. I slept hard.
When I woke up it was Friday. I am always thankful when I wake up. Good times. I decided that day I would wait a little longer to get to camp so I could partake in the evening festivities more. I decided to get in the chair around 3 PM and take off for the camp. This would give me about a half-hour there before we would have to take off for the evening hunt. When mom and I got there the guys already had a plan for the three other hunters who still had tags. The plan for me was to head east, almost to Minnesota. I would be sitting along the Red River. I was excited because this is another new territory for me.
When we got to the spot I was going to be hunting you could just tell this was deer territory. It was right along the banks of the Red River. There were plenty of trees probably about 100 yards of trees that went west from the bank. Where I was hunting was an old abandoned farmstead. It looked like you could set up anywhere and you would have a good opportunity at filling your tag. The pictures of deer that I had seen from this particular place were awesome. We went by the farmstead and made our way in my pickup on a narrow trail through the trees. All of a sudden there was an opening amongst all of the tall old trees. Then I noticed a pop-up blind tucked in some bushes. The back of the blind was towards the river and I was facing directly west. The bedding area was to my right, the north. To my west was a wall of trees. To the south was where we came, which was to my left as I backed into the blind. This night, I barely had to explain how to cock my bow. In no time they were wishing me luck and there they were, gone. I was back by myself, in my element. My happy place.
As soon as they were gone I looked down at my phone and it said 4:35 PM. It was perfect time for a perfect set up. We had a north wind and the deer would come from the north. To the north was an old riverbed which the deer were now using for their bedding area. Everything about this felt perfect. There were birds and squirrels moving everywhere. They kept me entertained. The opening in front of me was probably 30 yards around. There was some well-placed nourishment right in the middle. As I always do I figured out where I could shoot and how far I could shoot right and left.
The anticipation was high and before I knew it, it was 6 PM and I could hear a deer blowing to the north. It sounded a long ways off. There is no way that this deer could have busted me. It was directly upwind from where I was. I believe it blew four or five times and each time it did I could tell it was getting farther away. I have no idea what spooked it.
At 6:35 PM I could make out a silhouette in the bedding area. Every once in a while I swear I could see eyes of the deer looking around. I thought for sure this was going to be a buck and he was going to walk out right in front of me. But after about five minutes of seeing the silhouette, it was gone.
All of a sudden something caught my eye and I was looking directly east as a Robin was making a kamikaze run right for the window of the blind. Right at the last second he pulled up on the rudder and landed on one of the support beams of the blind. I thought for sure he was coming directly inside. That would have been entertaining. Just as I was collecting my thoughts there was a loud squawking noise behind me. It kind of spooked me right away. You never know what is in those woods. It made a squawking noise again and again. I couldn't think of what would make that type of noise and then I remembered that the river was right behind me. Instead of Bigfoot bellering, I bet it was probably a Blue Heron. That probably makes more sense.
As I was further to the east this night and I was surrounded by trees it got dark earlier than it did the day before. I texted Dave at 7:49 PM that I was ready. He must've texted me right at the same time because I got a message that said, "Are you ready to come out?" About five minutes later I got another text that said, "Well…" I giggled to myself because I knew what happened. I replied I was ready and within about five minutes I could see headlights making their way towards me. It was dark. Dark as the ace of spades. When Dave got out of the vehicle he checked the bait pile first and noticed that there were some tracks in it. He asked, "Did you see anything?" I said, "Nothing." He then explained that he saw some tracks in the bait and I said, "There could have been something in the last 10 minutes but it was too dark to see." We would have to check the camera to figure that out. Dave was able to check the camera a couple days later and it was a small fawn that came in when it was dark. Everyone was surprised that nothing came in. I was too. But it didn't matter. It was a grand night.
When we got back to the camp we learned that nobody else had gotten anything either. So the guides started up the oil in the fryers to have a fish fry. While the fish were frying I was tilting back and listening to the other guys tell their stories of the night's hunt. It doesn't get any better than that. A couple landowners also showed up. The land I was on that night was their land. I have known Ryan and Heather for quite a few years but never knew they owned this parcel of land. I thanked them for the opportunity as we filled our faces with fried potatoes and fried fish. That night we stayed a little longer and made it home around midnight. It was another eight hours in the chair. But well worth it.
I woke up again, this time it was Saturday. Winning. Last day of the hunt. Like the day before I decided to get in the chair at 3 PM and make my way over to the camp. The only difference was that today it was raining. It was raining pretty much constantly but every once in a while it was pretty hard. It was decided that I would go to the same place I was on Thursday night because we all agreed it was just a matter of time before the bucks would come in. So we headed over to Spike's land and he met us in front of his house before we went by and headed to the blind. He told us we should probably sit in the east blind that is facing west. With the rain the wind was unpredictable. He also said he was going to grab a bucket of corn to add to the sugar beets. We grabbed the bucket and Spike told me good luck. I said thanks and we were on our way.
We pulled the pickup as close as we could to the blind and we all got out. The rain was coming down good. TJ and Dylan untied the blind from the tiedowns and lifted up one side so I could back in. Once I was inside they got my crossbow cocked, locked and ready to rock. TJ hooked up the Ozonics while Dave was outside dumping corn. It was a well-oiled machine. In no time they were driving off in my pickup and I was all alone, again. I love it.
As they pulled away I looked at my phone and it said 4:20 PM. That's when I remembered that Dave told me to rub a voodoo doll for good luck before the hunt. Stuff and things were rubbed. So the set up was just the opposite as the first night's hunt. I was facing west, I was looking right at the pop-up blind I was sitting in on Thursday night. To my left, the south was where most of the deer came from that first night. Unlike the first night, tonight I could see probably 300 yards in front of me towards the farmyard. Behind me was a little opening, some trees and then the Sheyenne River.
For the next hour and a half there was no movement. The only sound I could hear was the rain on the roof of the pop-up blind. Every once in a while there was a gust of wind that would hit me in the face. That is a good thing when you're hunting. Around 5:50 PM two does came in from my left side. They came directly to the bait and had a little supper. They were in front of me for probably twenty minutes or so. Right after they left around 6:20 PM the rain finally quit. A little after that the sun came out and it was one of those nights when you knew something was going to happen. It was perfect. As soon as the sun came out a big old doe came out with her twins. They were little buckaroos. I could see their hair was parting where eventually antlers would be grown. Right at this time the wind also died down to nothing. Dead calm.
Also during this time when the sun came out and the rain quit there was about 15 gunshots. I figured maybe it was duck hunters. But it was hard to tell if it was from a shotgun or rifle. It was echoing so much. I later learned that it could have been a neighbor practicing his long-distance shooting. It didn't matter much though because the deer were not bothered by it at all. They didn't even flinch.
At 7 PM a yearling doe came in all by herself. She was there for a while until we both heard some blowing to the north. The wind was in my face at this time so again I had no idea what that deer was bothered by to the north. The blowing made the yearling in front of me turn tail and run back to the south. About ten minutes after that another solo skinhead made her way to the bait. She fed and fed and fed. It was pure gluttony. But entertaining to watch. Her stomach was finally full and she waddled off to the south. At 7:45 PM a doe with twins came in directly from the west. I think they would have stayed there all night but I got a text that 7:49 PM from Dave saying, "You ready to come out?" I replied, "Sure. Doe with twins in front of me." In no time I could see the headlights from my pickup bouncing over the pocket gopher mounds headed my way. The doe and twins finally put their heads up and ran back into the trees.
When the guys got out of the pickup they asked what I saw and I replied, "13 does." That is crazy to have that many deer in front of you within 10 yards and they have no clue you're there. It is also crazy that I did not see one buck. But that doesn't matter. I had over 12 hours in the blind in three days and it was pure awesomeness seeing 22 deer up close. It's not about killing. It's about nature, friends, camaraderie, togetherness, good times and no suckage.
One of the guys reached in the blind and grabbed the arrow from the crossbow rail, lifted the blind and I drove out. Next like the nights before they put in my decocking arrow and I shot it into the ground. Then TJ unattached the crossbow and its mount from my wheelchair. TJ then loaded the crossbow in the backseat of my pickup and him and Dylan hopped on the tailgate while Dave jumped in the driver seat as I was getting the batwing door shut on my side. We were a well-oiled machine indeed. On our way out of the field and into the yard, landowner Spike was waiting for us. He asked me what I saw and I told him 13 skinheads and he laughed. He was amazed that there were no bucks running around with that many females. But I guess they all turned nocturnal. It's hard to figure a buck. Bucks only need a couple things and this time of year they can do the things they need by themselves. Sounds like a good Clintism…
The guys then jumped in their Yukon and mom jumped in my pickup like we did the two nights before. In no time we were back at the camp and we learned that one of the other hunters had shot a doe. They were not sure of the shot so they decided to let it lay for a while. It was decided that we would have supper and then they would go track it.
Next the Traeger was fired up and the perfect ribeyes were waiting their fate. It was going to be a feast with potato salad, baked beans and sweetcorn as the sides. Of course I cleaned my plate like a good boy in record time. The gentlemen who donated the ribeyes was there also this night, so I thanked him for the generous, delicious gift. They did not suck. The supper was perfect, the location was awesome and the company was great.
We didn't stay long after supper because the guides wanted to go find that doe before the coyotes got to her. I thanked all of them for everything they did for this awesome three-day hunt. It could not have been more perfect.
By the way, they did find that doe so the hunters went two out of four, for filling their tags over the weekend. 50% is pretty dang good for any hunter on a three-day hunt, disabled or not. Also, I was picky and was waiting for Mr. Big to fill my freezer.
I can't thank everyone who made this twisted hunt possible enough. You all don't suck.
Thanks for reading, Clint.
A really great read, as usual Clint. We never did get to ND to see all you guys this summer. Hopefully this crap will let up by spring. Look forward to seeing you all then. Jim
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