Murphy's Law vs. The Blind Hog

Over the last few years I have lost almost all of my private land I had to hunt. I was down to 2 spots, one 18 acre spot over an hour away and a 30 acre spot about 10 minutes from my house. I still take deer regularly but it is hard to think about almost 2000 acres I have lost in different locations. Through a variety of reasons years of work were gone almost overnight. Last year I spent my time on these two small spots and had decided this year would be the same. Murphy’s Law it seems was in full affect.

Then the blind hog stepped in.

A huge oak I found walking the Beasley farm. Full of acorns and squirrels.


I had a truck in the drive and someone stopped by to see if it was for sale. As we talked I found out one guy lived just down the street but we had never talked. I found out he not only hunted but deer hunted on a farm 30 minutes away that had 320 acres on it. He hunts alone and talked about how he couldn’t find any more land to hunt near us. Permission is just hard to come by. We talked about deer for a bit, the truck some and before they left I had gotten invited to hunt a couple of times this year on his spot. I was thrilled and told him I would take him to one of my spots to trade hunts. He loved it because no one else would take him. Now I had almost 400 acres to hunt this year just from a random conversation.

Then came blind hog acorn number 2.

 September 1st is the opening of dove season. I don’t go on opening day anymore since I can shoot them in the backyard living as I do in the dove capitol of Tennessee. While I was talking to some folks on Twitter I was asked to check on some shoots near me. I said sure since the fields are just a few minutes. Easy way to help a friend, saves them some gas and time on opening day.

I headed over about 5 since there is usually someone around the barn about then. Sure enough they pulled in just ahead of me. I walked up and introduced myself again since it had been a long time since I had dropped in. Don Beasley and Josh were happy to talk dove hunts and what days they were planning to shoot. In a few minutes Josh’s boss (wife) pulled up and he headed home. Don and I hung out and talked for a bit more.

As I was getting ready to leave Don mentioned deer hunting, I perked up then. He said he had some people hunting but never saw them much last year and wished someone would come and shoot some does. I said I love to hunt does, only take bucks if I see a good one.  He thought for a second and then said that would be fine come on over and hunt this year. I about fell over. This is a 600 acre farm 4 minutes from my house. While not all of it is worth hunting there are plenty of spots that are.

I thanked him and thanked him some more then headed home still afraid to believe I had scored this spot. I honestly was waiting to go back and be told that they had changed their minds. Instead I went back and got invited to Don’s parents’ house where I now have a standing invitation to drop in anytime.

This will be a painting one day.


Without trying I managed to go from 48 acres to almost 1000. I didn't go out looking for a new spot but had them fall in my lap. It’s true a blind hog can find an acorn. I haven’t gotten to go check the 320 acres yet but got taken to a 150 acre section of the Beasley farm where we immediately saw a huge tom and then a flock of about 30 turkeys. It has woods, a creek, along with silage fields that are just cut or about to be. It has squirrels and doves all over to go along with the big critters. I can’t wait to get started there since I can hunt it during the week when no one else is around.

Hard to see but the turkeys are on the treeline.


For those of you that are like me (broke) and can’t afford a lease or only have public land to hunt, don’t give up. There are some nice folks out there that if you do it right will let you hunt their property. Try to find small places other people over look. I have had spots as small as 2 acres and as large as 750 all of them had deer. Hang in there and keep looking that blind hog is still rootin’.

Good luck to everyone this season and be safe.

Double Down

With all the talk going on about our Social Media Deer Tour this year I have been thinking more about hunts, past and future. As we talked on Twitter the other night I told someone about one of the fastest hunts I have ever been on, if you can even call this one a hunt. No stand, no hours of waiting, just pure dumb luck of being in the right place at the right time. Thought I would pass it along just to show that sometimes you just get lucky even when you aren’t particularly smart. When staying home would have been the better choice considering how I felt.

A few years ago I was having a good start to my season, I had taken a couple of deer with my bow and was really looking forward to our muzzleloader season which was only a week long. I had a small food plot out, a new tower stand overlooking it, deer were coming in plus the weather was great. All I needed was the last few days of archery to pass then on to smoke poles.

This is a view from my tower stand before the food plot was in. Deer were between the stand and cedars on left.

I spent the last few days of work just waiting for Saturday to roll around. We had one weekend to hunt with muzzleloaders only since the next Saturday gun opened. You can use any weapon during gun but I wanted to get one with my .50 first. Then along comes Thursday, I don’t feel so good. Is that a fever? Why am I hurting all over? Chills and shakes, you have got to be kidding me!! Yep I got the flu 36 hours before the opener.

Now I am down sicker than sick getting calls from my brother and friends that are going asking if I am. All I am hoping for is to make it to the next day. Turns out this strain was one of the bad ones. Oh joy, just what I wanted. I spend the next 4 days miserable, missing hunting and work till finally I managed to go back to work on Tuesday. I wasn’t much good since I was still weak, but at least I was out of bed.

As I was driving home I kept looking at the clock thinking if I get to my house by a certain time, grabbed my gear, drove 15 minutes, walked/ran for close to half a mile to the food plot I might have 5-10 minutes to see if a deer was out. I got home right on time, ran in grabbed what I needed and took off for Marshall county, wheezing and coughing with every step. I was going hunting.

About 5 minutes into my drive my phone goes off, its’ my brother telling me he is headed to the check in station with a big 6 pointer he had taken in Cheatham county coming into a grunt call. The time is now 4:40 shooting ends around 5:15.
“I’m headed over to hunt the food plot in Marshall county.”
“You’ll never make it, look at the time.”
“They will be there or they won’t. I just need to get in sight of the food plot. Can’t kill ‘em on the couch and I missed the weekend.”
“Call me when you leave the field, let me know if you saw anything.”
“Will do.”

I pulled up to the barn, parked and started throwing on vest, hat and pack. I grabbed my Winchester and headed toward my food plot which was at the back corner of the 75 acre farm. This property was narrow and long, I could have driven closer but didn’t want to spook anything driving in. I was huffing, wheezing and coughing as I tried to go as fast as I could. Amazingly I made it to the back field without my lungs or head exploding or blacking out from lack of air.

I slowed down to catch my breath as I eased up the last couple of hundred yards. The plot was on a small hill and I had to drop down into a dip before going up a final rise. This put me in our farm road with no cover in full view of any deer. I slipped up to get about 100 yards from the edge of the plot and sure enough there are deer feeding about 20 yards out in the food.

Now for the fun part. I have no way to rest against a tree, no trees, no shooting sticks, grass is too high to sit down, what to do? I fall back on something my brother always thought was amazing, for some reason when hunting I can shoot offhand. Not at the range punching paper, then I can’t hit a barn, but under hunting conditions it comes together. I picked out a big doe that was just at 120 yards cranked the scope up to 10 and settled in. As the crosshairs settled behind her shoulder I touched one off.

Huge cloud of smoke, recoil throwing the scope off target and that great BOOM of black powder, I love it. As soon as I could I was reaching for a reload even before I could see past the smoke. As I seated another round I looked to see a deer standing at the right edge of the field looking back to where the one I had shot at had been standing. It took a step back that way never looking at me then walked back out and stood staring at the ground.
“Oh shit! I killed that first one.” I say out loud as I realize it is looking at the first deer.
I get the gun up quickly settle the crosshairs on number 2 and touch the trigger. Again that wonderful push, cloud and boom then I’m reloading a third round just in case. As the smoke clears I don’t see anything in the field. I head up to check things out, as I get near the field edge I see a white belly then another one. Both deer are down within 6 yards of each other, neither one took a step. Not bad, two 120 yard offhand shots in under a minute. Yes I am very proud of those shots.

First deer is in distance. Closer one was the curious one.

By now it is getting dark so I take a couple of pictures, walk back to get my truck then come back to get them loaded. By the time I get back with the truck I am getting sick again after the adrenaline has worn off but I have two nice deer down along with a great story. I get them loaded and point the truck towards home all before 6:00.

Loaded up and headed to the house.

As I get out on the main road I call my brother.
“Tell me a story.” he says.
“Headed to the check in station.”
“So you got one.”
“Nope two. Got a double.”
“Congrats, bro!!”
We swap stories for a few minutes about another 3 deer day for us, I miss those. His good 6 point and my 2 does are now logged into our hunting journals to read, remember and pass along to friends.

Moral of the story, if you get a few minutes, go, you never know what might be standing there waiting for you.