2019 Field to fork Program

[Culvercreek hunt club 8163]

[grampy 14724]

What a wonderful program! Congratulations to the new hunters, and a huge thumbs up to all the mentors. Bob, your commitment to this program is beyond awesome! Thank you!

[Culvercreek hunt club 8163]

Waiting on the pic. Just got notified that Nick  took a doe a little while ago. That is #3. I wish we could have come out of the opener with 50% on the board but I'll take what I can get. I can't even begin to say how proud I am of the participants that hung in there and hunted all weekend. I tried my best to convey to them that they really didn't understand what cold was even though many of them had previous experience with outside winter activities. (the key root of that word is active NOT sitting perfectly still for extended periods). Without fail they all mentioned how they thought they knew cold...lol

3 down, 5 to go. 

[Fletch 7756]

Just awesome to the participants and the volunteers!! 

[doebuck1234 2120]

Awesome works guys!!!

[Biz-R-OWorld 15675]

I’ve had no service all weekend. Just seeing this now. Congrats on the success!


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[Culvercreek hunt club 8163]

Got a text last night and I am still waiting for the pictures but Nick got a very nice doe with about a half hour left in the hunt. 

[moog5050 16245]

8 minutes ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

Got a text last night and I am still waiting for the pictures but Nick got a very nice doe with about a half hour left in the hunt. 

Trying to get Jayson out Saturday again if he can make it.  

[Culvercreek hunt club 8163]

Last night we held a cutting instruction session on the two bucks the participants took over the weekend. With schedule being what they are for folks we try to do this more than once. We did it on a couple of the mentor's deer taken during bow and 3 participants were able to attend that. 4 more were able to attend and participate in the processing of these bucks.  

[Culvercreek hunt club 8163]

Some pictures of the participants on stand over the weekend. 

[Culvercreek hunt club 8163]

Myles hunt impressions. 

I know Myles took a couple quick walks during the day just to build up some warmth but he was a trooper with an all day sit.   

My name is Myles  and I am 26 years old. I had always wanted to get into the sport of hunting, for myself and to enjoy with my future children. Coming from a non- hunting family, there always seemed to be a barrier between me and the sport of hunting. I never knew how to go about getting into it. When I learned about the Field to Fork program by QDMA, it seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to break through into the world of hunting.

 

I was extremely grateful for the low cost of the program, and after every session I felt like a gained a greater understanding of deer hunting, and hunting in general.

 

The day of the hunt was a roller coaster of thoughts. In hindsight, I learned of many mistakes I made for dressing properly. Sitting in a blind all day was one of the coldest days I had ever experienced. For ten hours, I sat in the blind with my mentor, Terry, whispering jokes and trying to make light of the frigid situation.

 

We didn’t see a single deer all day, and around three o clock I was struggling in my mind to want to quit. I knew Terry wasn’t going to quit so I kept my mouth shut and suffered in silence, trying to remain hopeful. With 45 minutes of sunlight left, I figured we would go without a deer that day. Then, out of no where a doe came into sight, with a buck following, but they were out of range for me to make a comfortable and ethical shot. As I had them in my scope, Terry tapped me on the shoulder and told me to look straight ahead 50 yards out. It was a five point buck, and when a good shot came into view I didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger, and hit it broadside right in the heart.

 

We were ecstatic. With ringing ears we high fived and I was grinning ear to ear. I couldn’t believe how fast it went from 0 to 100. At that moment I was hooked. 

 

Terry directed me on how to properly field dress it after I stopped shaking from the adrenaline rush. He never talked down to me because I was inexperienced, but rather educated me on the proper way to do everything.

 

I am incredibly grateful for the Field to Fork program by QDMA for breaking the barrier between me and hunting. I feel like it is something I will look forward to year after year and will be something I can pass down to my future children to become a family of hunters. 

 

Thank you QDMA!

[Culvercreek hunt club 8163]

The first participant to take a deer was Chaz. You will be able to guess from his creative account that is is a military Vet with previous combat experience. Last night during the processing instruction session Chaz was telling me how badly he was shaking after the shot. He was very surprised that this effected him in this manner becasue of his previous experiences in the military. He sure sounded hooked on hunting.

 

 It’s amazing how familiar this all feels, especially when one considers that I’ve never actually done this before.
               There’s still an assault pack on my back, but this time instead of fighting to get more stuff inside a pack that’s too small, I wondered if I even owned a pack that was the proper size for this venture. There’s a welcome weight reduction that comes along with that.
               The majority of my clothing still won’t blend into anything, but at least that’s the point today, blaze orange being intended to make one stand out as opposed to the not quite green, not quite gray, not quite tan, “digital” pattern I wore ten years ago promising camouflage but offering none.
               There’s still a knife on my belt, but this blade has a singular purpose as opposed to a set of pliers with knife blades and numerous other tools haphazardly attached to them.
               Still a rifle in my hands, though I keep having to remind myself that if a second trigger pull becomes necessary today, I’m going to have to manually chamber the next round. Doesn’t matter how many more times I do this; I will never get used to that.
               As we move out to our objective, I still keep a sharp eye out on the terrain ahead and around me, though now it’s to find signs of a deer having moved through recently as opposed to an IED having been emplaced recently.
               It’s an improvement.
               We get to the blind, which is pretty much just a guard tower while it’s still dark; Mike says there’s at least one deer poking around the food plot it overlooks. I’m not exactly used to operating in the dark without some sort of night vision, so I don’t see it. Not that it matters – can’t shoot until sun up.
               Once the sun is up, we’re able to see a fawn that’s not worth taking poking around not far from us. A group of about twenty turkeys meanders across our field of fire twice. But beyond that, we wait. Nothing new there. It’s not until there’s only an hour of legal shooting left that he shows up.
               It’s the buck that Mike predicted would move through here, roughly at the time he thought he would too. And he’s literally coming right for us, moving closer to the blind as he eats. Only a year and a half old three pointer, but I drove and hour to get here and there’s only an hour left in the day. I’d prefer not to go home empty handed.
               Heart pounding, I orient the Remington 700 towards him and put the Leupold’s crosshairs roughly where the shot would be. He hasn’t completely turned to expose where I want the shot yet, but he’s still moving closer to us so there’s no rush. Which is nice, because I’ve got to get the heart pounding under control. Inhale. Two. Three. Four. Hold. Two. Three Four. Exhale. Two. Three. Four. Hold. Two. Three. Four.
               130 yards away, and his position is just about good enough. I take the safety off. Begin to squeeze. Bang. Recoil isn’t nearly as bad as the last time I fired a 30-06, or the silkies, tan t-shirt, waffle top, and fleece jacket mitigated it.

[virgil 556]

Really great program. 

[Steuben Jerry 5030]

Love this thread, really awesome that you do this!

[Moho81 3404]

I love reading the stories of their first hunts and experiences. Always brings me back to the beginning of when I started to hunt and even some of their thoughts still ring true today 22 years later. Like “suffering in silence” and “I have to get this heart pounding under control”.


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[Culvercreek hunt club 8163]

The participants have been really trying but the stories have been coming a little slow. On the bright side Kate (with mentor Mo Tidball) got it done yesterday late in the afternoon. What a beautiful buck.

 

[Moho81 3404]

Slammer of a first deer! Way to go!


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[Culvercreek hunt club 8163]

I believe it has 10 points up and then if you zoom in there is a small drop tine in front of his left eye.

 

[Culvercreek hunt club 8163]

Sitting over a Moog’s plot with JT. They are hammering this thing. We’ve already seen a doe, a spike and a 2.5 year old buck on the walk in. Just too far for a shot.

[NockednLoaded 214]

1 hour ago, Culvercreek hunt club said:

Sitting over a Moog’s plot with JT. They are hammering this thing. We’ve already seen a doe, a spike and a 2.5 year old buck on the walk in. Just too far for a shot.


 

That's a cool spot for the plot- I like the geography and terrain features. Looks like the deer DIG it too!

[Culvercreek hunt club 8163]

JT got it done at 425 today. Just under the wire with a. 90 yard shot with the 12 gauge. Story to follow. BUT. This spike must have been ready to shed his antlers. When he went down and flopping he knocked the spikes off.