I spent a weekend meeting some folks I "met" online, and hunting in a new area. Some of the folks that use the Bowsite's online forums, and who live here in Florida, got together to meet face-to-face, hunt, and generally have a good time. Here's a synopsis:
10/11/99 - Got home from About.com's "Red Ball" in Las Vegas about five minutes before midnight. Found an Email from Bodiman (Mark McNichols) waiting for me. He's proposing that some of us Florida hunters he knows from the Net get together for a meet and hunt at Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area (WMA) on the last weekend of our bow season. Sounds good to me! Tony Edwards and John Richards are both already committed. Tony and I have talked on the phone... he's generously offered to give me some muzzleloader permits he has for the weekend after the hunt, even though I have no archery permits to trade.
10/13/99 - Mark posts that he's bringing a "big tent and a screen room." (This will be important later on)
10/14/99 - Mark now notes that he is "trying to get a friend to come out to camp and be the cook. He loves to cook for people." This is sounding better all the time!
10/15/99 - The cook is confirmed! Gotta love a guy who will stay at camp and cook while we're out hunting.
10/21/99 - Packed up the truck, heading out ASAP tomorrow. Mark should already be there swatting skeeters.
10/22/99 - Spent 3 hours going 140 miles... very frustrating! Finally got to the camp, took first right as instructed. Looked for first left, but there was none. Backtracked and took second right, then first left. Started looking on right for a screen room... none to be found. Waved at a guy as I passed, over about where I think the camp should be. Drove around the loop road, was heading out to the main grade to start over, and I saw the guy I waved at coming behind me. I pulled over and got out... I figured if it's Mark, he'll stop and ask me if I'm looking for him. He just gazed placidly at me as he putted on by.
I headed back into camp and parked my truck. I walked around, reviewing the directions he gave. Finally I decided that the guy I waved at has to be Mark, though there's no screen room in sight, so I set up camp next door to him, behind some palmettos. I then headed out to see what this place is like. Left the camp at about 5:15 pm.
I spent some time driving around and scouting. I finally decided on where I wanted to hunt in the morning, then just drove around a bit, exploring. I decided I would drive Road 11 back to the main grade and make a loop back to camp, since darkness was falling. I came upon a guy who had made a mistake and tried to turn his (front-wheel drive) Mercury sedan around... and planted his front wheels right in a slimy ditch. He was sure glad to see me! I turned around and pulled him right out. My S-10 4x4 didn't even grunt as it drug the rear of his car around and got him out. I've seen the same kind of happiness and relief on folks' faces before... after I had gotten them unstuck. I headed on back to camp.
15-20 minutes after my return to camp, the guy I had waved at pulled in. He jumped out, looked at me and said, "You're not Russ, are you?" I said, "I sure am!" Tony was right behind him; he hadn't been able to find the camp (since he was looking for a nonexistent screen room), and they found each other on their CB radios. Mark said that he had decided at the last minute not to bring the screen room, since cool weather was forecast. We scorched up some grub and had a great time talking. Tony turned in around 10, but Mark and I talked until after 11 before we went to bed. He confessed to missing a broadside doe that morning... twice! Bummer. Tony had also missed that morning, in Green Swamp. A big ol' sow had jumped out in front of him as he walked a trail, and he missed her as she took off.
10/23/99 - I had set my alarm for 6 am, plenty of time for a cup of coffee before heading to the woods; but Mark decided to wake us up at the ungodly hour of 5:05 am! Turns out Steve (the chef) and Steve (Mark's brother in law) has arrived around 4 am, and breakfast was cooking. I guess that made the early wakeup acceptable, after all. The cook was indeed a riot, as Mark had promised. Between him and his "other brother" Steve, we had a lot of laughs.
After breakfast I headed to the spot I had picked out, but someone was already there. I drove on down the road and through some mudholes, one of them very nasty. I figured maybe at least it'll keep the wanna-be's away. I headed on in with my stand, and got about 1/2 mile in along a wet closed road, when I heard deer "alarm-blowing." Spotted at least 3 big white tails waving goodbye to me about 100 yards away, where I was considering hanging my climber. I went on over there and set up. After about 3 hours in the tree and seeing nothing else, I came on out and brought the stand with me.
Back at camp, I found out that Mark and Tony had gone out together, spent the morning riding and walking, and managed to soak themselves in thigh-deep swampwater. They hadn't gotten to see any game, for all their efforts. Lunch was burgers ala Chef Steve.
After lunch, Mark, Tony, Bro-in-law Steve, and I headed out in Mark's 4x4 Tokyota to look for hunting spots. We found a great-looking island of acorn-bearing oaks in the midst of a bunch of pines & palmettos, with deer & hog tracks galore. We tooled on back to camp to get our stands. Mark and Tony decided to have themselves a bath in a semi-slimy pond near the camp. I opted out, preferring instead to spray myself down with scent killer.
While they bathed, I drove on out to the spot in my truck. By the time I got set up in my tree, they were already coming into the woods. We sat there until dark, and the most excitement we had was an armadillo that came by Tony and then by me. That critter and a rabbit he chased out of the palmettos were all the mammals to be seen around there. When I noticed a couple buzzards circling Tony's stand, I started to wonder if his bath had done more harm than good. After we came out of our trees, we decided it was worth returning in the morning.
Back at camp, supper was served... grilled pork butts & cabbage. The pork was great, and I had my fill, although I'm not a cabbage fan. Steve bro-in-law was missing, causing a very mild state of alarm, but turned out merely to be passed out in his tent. We had a great old time laughing and telling hunting stories around the campfire (like the time Steve bro-in-law went to sleep in his stand within sight of Mark, and had 5 or 6 deer walking around under him). We had so much fun that a couple of the neighbors came on over and joined in. Actually, we may have had a little too much fun; if I had been a neighboring camper, I might have gotten a little miffed that the festivities went on until about 2 am. As it was, I went to bed around midnight and had no trouble at all getting to sleep. Mike (Seapig) showed up around 10:30 or so. I don't think he was really prepared for us (we were really being loud at this point), but if so, he hid it well. He said he had been all around the campsite asking about a screen room... score another lost camper to Mark's lack of promised screenage. We sure gave him hell over that... maybe next time he'll bring what he tells us. Mark, if you're reading this, no hard feelings, but it sure made you hard to find!
10/24/99 - Sunday, last day of the hunt. Tony woke me around 5, and we commenced to try to wake up the others. Not an easy task! We finally got Chef Steve and Mark to get out of bed around 6:20, and got some coffee. Bro-in-law Steve was curled up snugly in his tent... in the middle of the camp road. Hmmmm. When it became apparent that our chef was not going to have our meal ready in time, we headed off to the woods with a promise to eat it when we returned. We saw nothing at all from our stands, and Tony, Mark and I headed back. On the way back to camp, I met up with the fellow I pulled out of the ditch, and his brother, who had arrived late Friday night. They hadn't gotten anything, either. We ate lunch (breakfast heated up) and packed our gear. After fond farewells, I took off for home. This time I spent about 3-1/2 hours going 186 miles... my new route was not so good either.
All in all, I had a lot of fun. It turned out to be more of a get-together than a real serious hunting trip, which turned out well in the end. It's been years since I laughed so hard and so long. If you ever get a chance to meet and camp out with fellow hunters you've met online, I hope it goes as well for you as my little adventure did for me. We all got along very well, which accounted for the positive results. It just goes to show that hunters everywhere are great folks! The cool weather helped this hunt to avoid the usual miseries associated with Florida bowhunting.
-Russ Chastain
