In March the Mudbrook Boys all gathered at the Church to cut some firewood and celebrate the 2023 hunting season with their annual Banquet Night. The day was very productive with wood production but the boys also had time to put up two new ladder stands on George Riley's Island. The evening was full of activity as well with the group having dinner together then visiting a few local establishments. This was the first time in years that the full crew was in attendance for Banquet Night which made it very special. Here is to an even better 2024 season!
The spring Wood Cutting/Banquet Night crew. Back Row L to R: Chakka, Jayhawk, Barnacle, Lefty, Pedro, Paco, Poison. Front Row L to R: Chapper & Monkey. What an awesome group!
An all too familiar sight at the Mudbrook Church is Chapper sleeping at the dinner table...which leads to some fun for the other boys. Here is Chakka holding the antlers from a nice 10 pointer...Chapwinkle!
Spring Turkey Seasons
April of 2024 saw the First Annual Spring Fling group turkey hunt come to Mudbrook Valley. A number of the guys put in for the same turkey season so they could all hunt together. This year the "first season" group consisted of Lefty, Chakka, Monkey, Pedro and Monkey's brother "Recon Ronnie". All but Chakka arrived in Mudbrook on Tuesday evening April 16th and stayed until Sunday April 21st. Chakka had school and got there on the 19th. It was an awesome week of turkey action which saw every hunter get a shot at a Tom. Recon Ronnie got his first Tom ever and Chakka dropped a big Tom as well. The next five turkey seasons saw Chakka down three more Toms on his own tags and also call in Toms on successful hunts for Jayhawk, his friend Alex, and for his "old man" Pedro. The kid was absolutely on fire with his Grip Reaper decoy! Below are photos from the complete turkey season. We are already looking forward to the Second Annual Spring Fling!
Summer Activities
The summer time is usually pretty quiet in Mudbrook Valley because the mosquitos, deer flies, and ticks are so bad. However, the Church Yard still needs to be mowed and the boys do get together for some golf. There is also Uncle Pablo's annual Rod & Bob Memorial Golf Tournament in late summer that is always so much fun. Below are some photos from the summer of 2024.
Pedro's truck and his dog Hendrix sit in front of the Church after the first mowing of the year.
The view looking from The Gate up toward Pedro's Great Grandparents Homestead after the first mowing of the year. Love that view!
Spring Field Burning
Every few years the "Barn Boss" decides to burn off some of the fields on the Mudbrook farm. The spring of 2024 happened to be one of those years. The HHC boys enjoy taking part in that activity which always makes for some good memories and a few close calls.
An old birds nest sits peacefully in a willow bush while fire rages around it. Pretty cool.
Pedro's dog Hendrix sits calmly on the bank of a field pond while watching grass burn around its edges. He is clueless!
As has been the case for may bow seasons it was Barnacle who drew first blood this year when he took down this great doe at the Honey Hole stand on Saturday, October 12th. The legend lives!
2024 BOW SEASON
Weekend of October 12th - The "Daily Double"
The bow season began on Saturday, September 14th with the annual Mudbrook Golf Tournament and flip flop chicken feed which is always a very fun time but due to unseasonably hot weather there was not much early season hunting this year. On the weekend of October 12th, however, the Church was buzzing with hunter activity. Pedro's son Chakka was back from pharmacy school and good buddy Monkey came up from Milwaukee. Club members Paco, Lefty, Bee Sting, Barnacle & Black Clover also came to partake in the first cool weather hunting opportunity of the season. On Sunday, October 13th Pedro and Monkey pulled off the rare "double" when they both killed does during the same hunt. Following are a few pictures from the weekend.
Pedro took down this doe from the Salt Log Hill stand on Sunday, October 13th.
Monkey got this doe from the Triangle stand on Sunday, October 13th to complete the "daily double"!
Chakka hit this 10 point buck on Sunday, October 13th from Lucky's Pine and recovered it on Monday the 14th. The first buck of the 2024 season is a dandy!!
Chakka closed out his long weekend of mid-October bow hunting with a doe on Tuesday, October 15th from the Pasture Point stand. The kid made the most of his break from Pharmacy School! Nice work!!
Weekend Of October 26th - Another "Daily Double"
The weekend of October 26th saw all five of the "old guys" hunting together for the first time in a long time. Saturday turned out to be a very special day as both Lefty and Bee Sting connected on dandy bucks and the group of five tracked them together. Memories make us rich!!
Lefty took down this dandy 8 pointer from the BMM stand on Saturday 10/26. It only went 40 yards before piling up from a well placed shot from the left handers cross bow. Well done!
Also on Saturday 10/26 Bee Sting knocked down this awesome 9 pointer from the Birch Tree stand. What a great evening of hunting and tracking bucks in Mudbrook. Excellent work Stinger!!
Tuesday, Novermber 5th
The 2024 rut hunt started with days of pouring rain. By Tuesday the 5th it was just Clover, Monkey, and Pedro left in camp hunting. It was another rainy day but the boys were diligent and continued to put in hours on stand. The evening hunt resulted in the following.
Paco's son Clover shot this heavy 9 pointer in the rain on Tuesday 11/5 from the Bee Hive stand. This buck walked all the way across an open field just before 3:00 pm and offered up a 30 yard shot. Tracking this buck was very interesting because there was no blood trail. After some grid searching Clover found his arrow and the buck was laying not much further away. Way to go young man!
Tuesday, November 12th
On Tuesday 11/12 there was only one hunter left in Mudbrook and it was Monkey. After the thrill of hitting a nice buck on Friday 11/8 and then the agony of trying to find it all weekend with no luck, it would have been easy to just pack up and head for home after nearly two weeks of hard hunting. But Monkey stuck with it and kept grinding and on the morning of Tuesday 11/12 it all paid off in a big way with the "Redemption Buck!"
Monkey poses proudly with his dandy 8 point "Redemption Buck" which he took from the Salt Log Hill stand on Tuesday 11/12. He kept grinding and was rewarded in a big way. What a fantastic experience!
