2001Season

Opening Weekend ... September 15, 16, 17

The 2001 season began with an opening weekend get together of the Mudbrook Boys. But instead of camping out, as in years past, they decided to spend this years opening weekend at Underdog's awesome cabin (Underdog is Pedro's father-out-law). Underdog had worked very hard in the previous months to complete his project of constructing a bar in the basement of his cabin...and what a bar it is! This gave the boys a place to hang out between hunts, watch some hunting videos, listen to some music, eat some food, and possibly enjoy a beverage or two. It was the best set-up of the weekend because the hunting was very slow. The weather was cool and skies were overcast for most of the weekend, which the boys originally thought would be in their favor. This did not prove to be the case as the two days of hunting ended with minimal deer sightings, no buck sightings, and no shot opportunities. At least we had each other. The 2001 crew consisted of Pedro, Paco, Lefty, Barnacle, Chico, and once again Jimmy. As has become tradition, golf was played on Friday and provided for many humorous moments as usual. There was lots of laughter and despite the poor hunting results, everyone was very excited that the season had finally begun .

The Season Results

The 2001 season was somewhat bitter sweet for the members of the Highbanks Hunting Club. The boys were able to get out hunting more times this year than any other year in recent memory...but minimal deer sightings and even less buck sightings left them scratching their heads in wonder. Where were all of the deer? Everyone agreed that this season was the "slowest" one ever encountered in the Mudbrook Valley. Many hunts ended with no deer sightings at all. Despite the "downside" to the season, each member once again had at least one opportunity to harvest a buck. Here is how each member's season unfolded.

Barnacle

After taking honors last season with a large 8 point buck, Barnacle came into 2001 with a lot of confidence. He killed a small antlerless deer early in the season and then didn't have any opportunities until the rut began, at which time he hit a six pointer dead on in the shoulder blade during an evening hunt from the Triangle stand. His arrow basically bounced right off the deer without producing even a drop of blood. A few days later he had Paco's "pet" 8 pointer coming into his stand but the deer sensed something was strange (Barnacle) and changed his direction. That was pretty much the season for Barnacle. He hunted late season a number of times without any luck.

Lefty

Having killed his largest buck ever with a bow last season, Lefty began 2001 with an "8 points or better" attitude. He stayed committed to this plan all the way up until the end of our week long hunt in early November. It was the last morning hunt of our week long vacation and Pedro, Barnacle, and Lefty were all in Pedro's truck heading to Mudbrook. The conversation focused on what size deer each person would be willing to shoot at that day. Both Pedro and Barnacle said they would shoot a buck with less than 8 points. Lefty, however, was very stern and said convincingly that he would not shoot a small buck. Well, as can sometimes happen when in the woods too long, Lefty's brain chemistry must have changed during the day because when the boys met up at the end of the day Lefty admitted to shooting at, and missing, not one but two small bucks! (A fork horn and spike). Everyone got a good chuckle over Lefty's sudden change in standards. After all of this, Lefty ended the season with no kills.

Paco

What a year for Paco! He came into the season with the nickname "No Shot" because he hadn't shot an arrow at a deer in at least two years. He always had a reason for not shooting. In 2001 he was going to change all of that. In early October he hit a doe, which left an easy to follow blood trail for a long distance, only to dry up along the edge of a large corn field. The deer could not be recovered. Later in the month he hit another doe from the same stand (Birch Tree). For this one he decided to hold off tracking until the next morning. The track job was short and the small doe was recovered...much to the delight of Barnacle, who had taken some pretty serious "ribbing" from Paco over the small deer he had killed earlier in the season. Paco had gotten a deer! Then, of course, came the rut.

On the morning of November 3rd, Pedro recommended that Paco sit in the Skyscraper stand. After the hunt Paco reported that he had seen a very large buck but didn't take a shot at it. The other members were all thinking..."No Shot" strikes again! Paco decided to go back to the same stand the following morning because he didn't think the big buck had been spooked. Well, as fate would have it, when Barnacle and Pedro met up with Paco after the morning hunt he told them that he had hit a big buck. Pedro's initial thought was "he's lying"! Then Paco started giving details and getting excited. After taking the shot, he had seen the big boy fall down 35 yards away from his stand. Thinking it was dead, he got down from the tree and started walking over to the downed deer. As he approached, the buck jumped up and ran off through some thick alders. Paco was very afraid of not finding the dandy buck. When Barnacle, Pedro, and Paco got down into the swamp and started the tracking, it didn't take long before they came upon the buck lying dead only 30 yards from where it initially fell down. The celebration was on. Paco had killed big bucks with his rifle but had never gotten anything bigger than a six pointer with his bow. This bad boy was a 10 pointer! What an awesome deer for Paco and well deserved. After examining the buck, Paco was sure that the buck he had seen the previous morning was bigger yet. This buck was killed exactly one year to the day after Barnacle's big 8 pointer from last season (November 4th)...and in the same area. Cool!

Pedro

In a season when deer sightings were hard to come by, Pedro somehow managed to shoot three season's worth of arrows in 2001. His first opportunity came from the Bullseye stand on the second weekend of the season. He was able to put a good shot on a nice doe, drawing plenty of blood. He and Barnacle tracked it through a thick tagalder swamp, across the Mudbrook, and into a cedar swamp. The blood trail disappeared and Pedro was 0 for 1. A couple of weeks later Pedro was sitting in Rocky's stand for an evening hunt. Just before dark a six point buck and a good sized doe came trotting into his shooting lane. He shot at the buck and it bolted 30 yards into some thick cover. It then started walking at an angle toward a different shooting lane, only to veer off the trail just before another shot could be taken. The doe, however, was following the buck and walked right into the opening. Pedro released an arrow that hit it's mark and the doe dropped right in her tracks...but was still alive. After two more arrows the doe was finally pronounced dead. After Pedro got down from his stand and began investigating his first shot on the buck, he found that his arrow was covered in blood...it had passed through the six pointer. Could he have pulled off a Mudbrook "double"? That would have been awesome, but not to be on this night.

The buck fled through some very think alders and didn't leave any sign behind. A hard rain that night washed away any evidence that could have been used for tracking the next morning. What a shame...Pedro was 1 for 3. A few days later Pedro was back at it again. He was in the Little Ridge stand for a morning hunt and had ten antlerless deer standing around under his tree. There was one particularly large doe that Pedro was eyeing up but no immediate shot was available. Suddenly, the ten deer scattered in every direction. The big doe headed down a trail quartering away from Pedro and stopped at 25 yards. Pedro took the shot and made it count. After following an easy blood trail Pedro found the big doe lying in a wet, thick tagalder swamp. Because Lefty hadn't showed up that morning as planned, Pedro had to drag the big ol' girl out of the swamp by himself...what a battle! Pedro was now 2 for 4. He did have another opportunity to shoot at a couple of six pointers early in the rut but opted to let them go in favor of a bigger one. He also let 9 antlerless deer walk under his stand during late season without taking a shot. Barnacle was also hunting that day and when he found out that Pedro didn't shoot, he really gave him a good ol' fashion Barnacle Bill toungue lashing.