Hunting Forum

Today was the first day of gun season here, and, well, things didn't work out nearly as planned.  Among other things, my intended entry point from the road just didn't work.  The area has lots of low and high grass, along with (and I used to know what this stuff was called) vine-like stuff with thorns everywhere, that grabs your clothes, your boots, etc., and pulls stuff with it, making all kinds of noise.  It's so thick, it's virtually impossible to avoid it.  Is there a way to walk quietly through this stuff, or is it just best to do what I did this morning, and simply find a different way in (this morning, that meant walking down a road that's nothing but beach sand (as is most of this area, to almost as far north as the Alabama border.  For someone like me, whose cancers (mostly #1) have wiped their energy levels  down to non-existent, and with meds, back to merely low, our beach sand is really tough to walk on when you're NOT loaded down, like I was this morning.....  So I'm really hoping that there's some magic way to get through this thorny stuff quietly.....

On a bright note....  The Jackson Guard office (they manage the Eglin AFB public hunting land) told me about a month ago, "Don't be dissapointed if you don't see even a single deer before the rut in February.  As I was walking in, I came across a decent-sized doe (couldn't shoot, though, as A) doe season ended with early archery season, and B) this was on a numbered range road, and you must be at least 50 yards away to even think abou tit).  When I found my spot, and a nice tree to sit down and lean against, I heard a number of rifle shots in areas both nearby and distant.  Based on what one guy told me as I was walking back to my car on that same range road, he saw both a nice buck and two hogs, but missed them both while he was trying to get his gun ready, so the shooting was probably a mix of both deer and hogs being shot.  After being told not to be dissapointed if I didn't see anything, this is promising.  :-)

Later,

 --jim

boy jim, if there's a way to walk through brutally thick chit, I haven't found it yet. They don't allow vehicles on the sand road I take it.

At least ya saw something.

Posted By Steve on 22 Nov 2012 08:23 PM
boy jim, if there's a way to walk through brutally thick chit, I haven't found it yet. They don't allow vehicles on the sand road I take it.

At least ya saw something.

Yeah. I figured there probably wouldn't be any secret way, but at least it was worth asking.  As for the sand roads, yes, those are range roads.  In fact, [1] in the area I'm hunting (Robert's Pond), there are two clay roads, and the rest are all sand.  But *I* can't drive on them in my little Honda Civic Si, or I'll get stuck (again...my first day out there for intel-gathering, I got stuck in the sand on that very same road---it LOOKED like the other shallower sand, but it wasn't).  So I have to walk.  And yes, at least seeing that doe this morning, and hearing all of the shooting, was, I think, a good sign.

Please excuse any typos here....that tumor that I had in my occipital lobe is wreaking havoc on my typing---I'm having to correct almost eveery word (those that I catch, at least).

Edit:  OOps. NOT hte tumor that was in my occiipital lobe...one of the other ones, specifically the one in an area that controls writing (and along with that, typing).  I have NO idea what that one is called (I read about it, but forgot almost immediately).

I have no problem with that jim, not to worry. If I lived closer you could use my 4x4 atv. Don't know anyone who has anything like that you could use?

Posted By Steve on 22 Nov 2012 08:40 PM
I have no problem with that jim, not to worry. If I lived closer you could use my 4x4 atv. Don't know anyone who has anything like that you could use?

Even if I did, I wouldn't be comfortable asking.  What I WOULD do, however, is see if they wanted to buy a pass for the Eglin range, and go hunting with me.

Oh, and for our beach sand, not only does it take a 4x4, it has to have those really BIG tires that can tame the sand.  Our beach sand, if you've never been here, is compolsed of very fine grains of sand which, until a few recent hurricanes (from 1995--2004), had about the same color as sugar, except a bit whiter.  Most of it still does, but there are a few areas.....  It's also notorious for getting tourists stuck, giving lots of business to the towing companies, some of which, usually individuals, make their living patrolling the 6 miles of Okallosa Island (which I used to live on) from the Fort Walton end to the Destin end (the Island continues on from the FWB end to Pensacola, but that part is called Santa Rosa Island).

yeah, I've been in sand like that. 4x4 is absolutely required with GOOD off roading tires at a minimum. We used to even drop the preasure in our tire down to about 5-7 pounds. Of course a 12V small air compressor was required to re-inflate them when done. I guarentee my atv'd go through it no problem, but that's neither here nor there.

Good luck. Maybe someone else will chime in with some magical solution...

Thanks.

Posted By Steve on 22 Nov 2012 08:23 PM
boy jim, if there's a way to walk through brutally thick chit, I haven't found it yet. They don't allow vehicles on the sand road I take it.

At least ya saw something.

I did better at it this morning.  I walked very slowly, one step at a time, then scan the area for the next step, and so on, and when I waas about to get into this stuff, and there was no way to avoid it, I stepped on TOP of it, or pushed it aside with my shotgun (which, after today, I'm taking out again, at least, not for snakes.  It's just dead weight, and I've seen exactly the number of snakes one of the Jackson Guard experts (he's out in the fields every day) told me I'd be almost certain to see:  zero.  Didn't see any sign of deer or hogs, and only heard two shots (one early, one around 1000 hrs), and since my face was getting sunburned, and the rest of my front was feeling the direct sun's heat and, while not directly exposed, still felt like it was burning, I left around 1015 or 1025.....  Oh, and I got in on time this morning (about 45 minutes before legal shooting hours---30 minutes before sunrise---started..  So I sat in the cold and dark for 45 minutes before I could even see.  But no deer today.  Maybe deer tomorrow.  :-)

Later,

   --jim

sometimes it's not possible to walk quitebut keep in mind if you can't stay silent niether can the deer.just be carefull not to make unnatural sounds such as letting brush or branches clunk against your gun or drag across your clothes.just because a deer hears a sound doesn't mean he will spook for all he knows you are just another deer.sometimes you just do the best you can and let the chips fall

Posted By coyoteslayer on 29 Nov 2012 07:26 AM
sometimes it's not possible to walk quitebut keep in mind if you can't stay silent niether can the deer.just be carefull not to make unnatural sounds such as letting brush or branches clunk against your gun or drag across your clothes.just because a deer hears a sound doesn't mean he will spook for all he knows you are just another deer.sometimes you just do the best you can and let the chips fall

Right...but I'd still prefer to be as quest as possible.

Oh, and I found out, the viney/thorny stuff I was referring to is called brier.  And as I mentioned, the way I found to get through it is to NOT get through it ... step over it or, more often, on it.

Later,

   --jim