HeavyUser's Hunting Habit

[heavuser]

Preface

I'm starting this journal to document my time in the woods. It's more so for myself than anyone else. I want to be able to look back at the years and see how much I have grown into the sport, my failures, my successes. Everything from the countless hours of scouting, to posting trail cam pics, my sits/hunts, to pretty much tracking everything I do in the woods. 

The Meaning Behind My Username:

-No, I am not a substance abuser. The part Heavy, comes from the extensive amount of time spend on my PC. My world revolves around technology, the internet has shaped my entire life, from finding jobs to finding my wife. The part User comes from the movie Tron. In the movie programs call people, Users. This is how the handle HeavyUser was born.

Hunting Background:

-I've always been an avid outdoors man since I was a kid, fishing, hiking, cliff jumping, etc. I find peace in nature. Fishing has been my primary activity since I was 8, you can't get me away from a rod and reel. I have no avid hunters in my immediate family. I think this whole fascination with hunting started a few years after I purchased my first firearm. I bought a shotgun to go trap shooting with my father in-law. About a year later I bought my first AR15. After about another year or so my cousin randomly invited me on a hunt which lead me to buy my first bolt action .308, this was in October 2020.

And that is how it all began.

 

Hunting stories to continue .....

 

Bonus Picture

A pic of my personal best large mouth bass. Caught him in Westchester county using a 8" swimbait. Everyone was laughing at me and my 8"s, they didn't think I would catch squat.

He weighed in at 9.5lbs. About a 1.5lbsish from the NY state record. 

[BizCT]

45 minutes ago, heavuser said:

Preface

I'm starting this journal to document my time in the woods. It's more so for myself than anyone else. I want to be able to look back at the years and see how much I have grown into the sport, my failures, my successes. Everything from the countless hours of scouting, to posting trail cam pics, my sits/hunts, to pretty much tracking everything I do in the woods. 

The Meaning Behind My Username:

-No, I am not a substance abuser. The part Heavy, comes from the extensive amount of time spend on my PC. My world revolves around technology, the internet has shaped my entire life, from finding jobs to finding my wife. The part User comes from the movie Tron. In the movie programs call people, Users. This is how the handle HeavyUser was born.

Hunting Background:

-I've always been an avid outdoors man since I was a kid, fishing, hiking, cliff jumping, etc. I find peace in nature. Fishing has been my primary activity since I was 8, you can't get me away from a rod and reel. I have no avid hunters in my immediate family. I think this whole fascination with hunting started a few years after I purchased my first firearm. I bought a shotgun to go trap shooting with my father in-law. About a year later I bought my first AR15. After about another year or so my cousin randomly invited me on a hunt which lead me to buy my first bolt action .308, this was in October 2020.

And that is how it all began.

 

Hunting stories to continue .....

 

Bonus Picture

A pic of my personal best large mouth bass. Caught him in Westchester county using a 8" swimbait. Everyone was laughing at me and my 8"s, they didn't think I would catch squat.

He weighed in at 9.5lbs. About a 1.5lbsish from the NY state record. 

awesome. When I was younger I fished a ton in putnam and westchester counties. Bass when I was kid, then reservoir trout as I got older. Where in westchester you from/live?

[heavuser]

12 minutes ago, BizCT said:

awesome. When I was younger I fished a ton in putnam and westchester counties. Bass when I was kid, then reservoir trout as I got older. Where in westchester you from/live?

I was raised in Hopewell Jct.! Currently residing in New Windsor on a property that boarders Stewart Forest. I'd go down to Westchester to fish sometimes as I know of a few honey holes down there 

[BizCT]

6 minutes ago, heavuser said:

I was raised in Hopewell Jct.! Currently residing in New Windsor on a property that boarders Stewart Forest. I'd go down to Westchester to fish sometimes as I know of a few honey holes down there 

Nice! I grew up in Mahopac (Putnam County). Then lived in NYC with my buddies, then Hartsdale and Yorktown in westchester before moving to CT. my brother lives in dutchess

[heavuser]

I'll be sure to follow yours! Thanks for stopping by. 

[heavuser]

First Hunt

 

Date: November 22nd, 2020

Weather: It was sunny, no recorded temps as I don't remember that far back!

Wind: Light Wind

Weapon: .308 Ruger American Predator

Cover: Ground Blind

 

Here it is, my first hunt. I will try my best to recount this day as accurate as possible.

 

It was the day after opening day. I was supposed to hunt with my cousin but he bailed on me at the last minute. The location was a piece of private owned by my cousin's uncle, Uncle Dan. There was a ground blind, setup about 400ft from his house, overlooking a mowed field that was about 250yrds wide. To the left and the right of the property was marshland. 

 

I showed up around 4:20ish am, walked into the back, plugged in the oil heater and headed into the blind. Within the first 2 hours I was freezing, even with the oil heater. I was seriously underdressed. Normally when I do outdoor activities I am moving or active in some way. At the time I didn't realize just sitting would literally zap away my body heat.

 

As the sun started to rise I remember everything started to slightly fog up. It was an eerie feeling, seeing the fog, the silence and the fact I was holding a gun waiting to kill an animal. This was going to be the first time I would intentionally try to kill something. I remember wrestling with the idea of that for awhile. 

 

The morning was a bust, no deer, no movement. To be honest, I was a bit frustrated, I'm so used to instant results in life that sitting somewhere for 6 hours with no results was new to me. I truly did not understand hunting at that time. I fell asleep at around 1 waking up after about 3ish hours.

 

When I awoke it was around 4ish. I looked to my left AND THERE IT WAS. About 100yrds out there was a deer. I immediately got my rifle and put my scope on it. It was a doe, small one from what I remember. And that's when it started .... the shakes. My legs, arms, all started to shake, the biggest adrenaline dump was going on in my body, worse than the dump I get before getting into a physical fight.

 

It took me about 10 minutes to calm down, even so I was still slightly shaking, the feeling just wouldn't fully go away. During this time I must have made some kind of noise as the doe jumped in the air for a brief second and went back to eating. I think it was the noise my rifle made me turning the safety off. 

 

I settled into the shot, scope is where I though it should be to the right of the front leg. I pull the trigger, BOOM, deer immediately goes down, all 4 legs are in the air shaking, I take my scope off her assuming she is dead and called Uncle Dan. 

 

I get out of the blind and start walking towards were I shot her. I get closer and closer, I can't see her. I'm finally at the spot where I thought I shot her annnnnnd, nothing, no deer. At this point Uncle Dan arrives, we find some blood, a few droplets, and some white hair. I was able to find some more blood towards the edge of the property leading into the swamp. I went into the swamp and we immediately heard gun fire. 

 

At that point Uncle Dan decided to call the search, I went back with a knot in my stomach. My first day, my first deer, and I clearly fudged it up. It's an experience that still haunts me to this day. I almost quit hunting because of this. Uncle Dan tried to reassure me it happens, in my mind I completely disregarded what he said. 

 

When I got home I googled my scenario, turns out Uncle Dan was right. There are many deer not recovered every year. I was still utterly depressed but did feel some kind of strange sense of comfort knowing other people mess up just like I did. 

So there it is. Not an impressive story but a story none the less. This was the only hunt during that year that I had shot at a deer. There was one other scenario where I saw 4 or 5 deer but I was exiting the blind and as soon as I saw them they saw me and ran. 

 

My next post will be a recount of 2021 condensed into a larger single post like this one.

Edited October 18, 2022 by heavuser