# Chestatee



## chrislibby88 (Dec 11, 2018)

Anyone going to the Chestatee for the big game hunt this weekend?  Me and a few guys will be camping looking for deer and bears.


----------



## strothershwacker (Dec 11, 2018)

Yup. Post to rain like a cow peeing on a flat rock Friday and Saterday but after last week I'm getting use to it.


----------



## chrislibby88 (Dec 12, 2018)

strothershwacker said:


> Yup. Post to rain like a cow peeing on a flat rock Friday and Saterday but after last week I'm getting use to it.


Hoping the weather man is wrong about this one. Haha.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Dec 12, 2018)

Yeah I'll be going hopefully. Gonna be a little wet


----------



## strothershwacker (Dec 12, 2018)

I may get wettern' John the baptist, but ye can't kill em if ye ain't with em!


----------



## chrislibby88 (Dec 13, 2018)

strothershwacker said:


> I may get wettern' John the baptist, but ye can't kill em if ye ain't with em!


I’ve got some good rain gear. Passed a small bodied spike just a bit ago at first light. Hope I don’t regret it. About to cruise some ridges.


----------



## chrislibby88 (Dec 13, 2018)

tree cutter 08 said:


> Yeah I'll be going hopefully. Gonna be a little wet


Gonna be good today, and I think Sunday. Friday and Sat are looking pretty miserable.


----------



## Timberman (Dec 14, 2018)

any updates?


----------



## Rabun (Dec 14, 2018)

Haven't heard of any bear, but...Congrats Tree Cutter

http://forum.gon.com/threads/chesstatee-mountain-buck.932765/


----------



## Christian hughey (Dec 17, 2018)

Rabun said:


> Haven't heard of any bear, but...Congrats Tree Cutter
> 
> http://forum.gon.com/threads/chesstatee-mountain-buck.932765/


NICE ONE !!! CONGRATS, love seeing good public land deer


----------



## chrislibby88 (Dec 20, 2018)

Timberman said:


> any updates?


No deer for me. I saw that spike on my first sit, bumped a doe at 50 yards later that day scouting a ridge line, sat down and tried to see if any bucks were bedded in the laurels she ran through, but we just saw and heard her moving higher up the ridge. Bumped two more deer Sunday morning still hunting down a different ridge. I was trying to pick my way through a birds nest of dead trees, and I think they saw me moving from across the drainage.  I didn’t get a good look at them, just saw tails.

On a side note, the trip was a success. We took our vegetarian friend Garret, who has never hunted before. He set up on a food plot Friday evening about 200 yards from the food plot I sat on. About 10 minutes before last light I heard his shot, scared the **** out of me. I smiled, and decided to keep sitting for the last few minutes, then get down if he didn’t come find me. Maybe a minute later I heard him shoot again, and light was getting low, so I climbed down. Went to his plot and hooted, faintly heard him from a few hundred yards into the bottom, so started walking. Sure enough, he was standing near a wounded deer in the creek, but it was still alive, and he only carried 2 rounds. The first shot broke both shoulders, but was low and not immediately fatal. Missed his second shot while pursuing the deer. He asked if I would finish it off. I only had my pistol on me, I left my rifle at the base of my tree so I wouldn’t have to carry it and drag. I did have my pistol on me. I offered to let him shoot, but he declined, since he was on a pretty hard adrenaline ride. I shot the deer broadside in the vital zone, and it started bucking, rolled over in the creek, and it’s head went under. We both thought it was dead, but a few seconds later he picks his head up, and starts breathing erratically. Then stops, then starts again. We debate on shooting more holes in the meat, and before we can reach a decision the deer starts trying to get up again, so I  shoot for the base of the skull, and it finally goes stiff.

Took us about 2.5 hours to pull the deer back to the closed road, retrieve my game cart, and get him back to the truck. Raining the whole time, dark, and we had to cross about 4 creeks and ditches getting the cart, and pulling the deer back too. The creek rose a few inches from when we walked in too, so we were completely drenched head to toe, but it was a dang good time, and I’m almost happier that he walked away with some meat. Broke the deer down at camp, and he cooked and ate some tenderloin. That was his first meal of meat in over two years, and he is going to eat some every Sunday.

Edit: It was a 3.5 year old 7 point. Nothing crazy, but still a beautiful animal, and a nice buck for the mountains. I would have been proud to shoot it if it walked out on me.


----------



## jbogg (Dec 20, 2018)

chrislibby88 said:


> No deer for me. I saw that spike on my first sit, bumped a doe at 50 yards later that day scouting a ridge line, sat down and tried to see if any bucks were bedded in the laurels she ran through, but we just saw and heard her moving higher up the ridge. Bumped two more deer Sunday morning still hunting down a different ridge. I was trying to pick my way through a birds nest of dead trees, and I think they saw me moving from across the drainage.  I didn’t get a good look at them, just saw tails.
> 
> On a side note, the trip was a success. We took our vegetarian friend Garret, who has never hunted before. He set up on a food plot Friday evening about 200 yards from the food plot I sat on. About 10 minutes before last light I heard his shot, scared the **** out of me. I smiled, and decided to keep sitting for the last few minutes, then get down if he didn’t come find me. Maybe a minute later I heard him shoot again, and light was getting low, so I climbed down. Went to his plot and hooted, faintly heard him from a few hundred yards into the bottom, so started walking. Sure enough, he was standing near a wounded deer in the creek, but it was still alive, and he only carried 2 rounds. The first shot broke both shoulders, but was low and not immediately fatal. Missed his second shot while pursuing the deer. He asked if I would finish it off. I only had my pistol on me, I left my rifle at the base of my tree so I wouldn’t have to carry it and drag. I did have my pistol on me. I offered to let him shoot, but he declined, since he was on a pretty hard adrenaline ride. I shot the deer broadside in the vital zone, and it started bucking, rolled over in the creek, and it’s head went under. We both thought it was dead, but a few seconds later he picks his head up, and starts breathing erratically. Then stops, then starts again. We debate on shooting more holes in the meat, and before we can reach a decision the deer starts trying to get up again, so I  shoot for the base of the skull, and it finally goes stiff.
> 
> Took us about 2.5 hours to pull the deer back to the closed road, retrieve my game cart, and get him back to the truck. Raining the whole time, dark, and we had to cross about 4 creeks and ditches getting the cart, and pulling the deer back too. The creek rose a few inches from when we walked in too, so we were completely drenched head to toe, but it was a dang good time, and I’m almost happier that he walked away with some meat. Broke the deer down at camp, and he cooked and ate some tenderloin. That was his first meal of meat in over two years, and he is going to eat some every Sunday.



Tha'ts a hunt neither one of you will soon forget.


----------



## strothershwacker (Dec 20, 2018)

Take more than 2 rounds when hunting anything other than salad.


----------



## chrislibby88 (Dec 20, 2018)

jbogg said:


> Tha'ts a hunt neither one of you will soon forget.


 Oh I know man. It was awesome. All the mountain hunts are. The miserable hunts wind up being the most rewarding too.


----------



## chrislibby88 (Dec 20, 2018)

strothershwacker said:


> Take more than 2 rounds when hunting anything other than salad.


Yea that’s pretty much what I told him. He knows now. Haha.


----------



## ripplerider (Dec 20, 2018)

I used to carry 5 rounds. Then came a day I needed all 5 and walked out with an empty gun. So I started carrying 6. If I ever need all 6 I guess I'll start carrying 7. If you ever read Colonel Jim Corbett's books about hunting man-eating tigers and leopards there was a time when if he'd carried 5 bullets instead of 4 he could have finished off a man-eater that took many many more victims before he got it in front of his sights again. I'm not hunting maneaters however.


----------



## tree cutter 08 (Dec 21, 2018)

After getting into shooting a pack of yotes on morning and missing a big buck with my last shell that broke me from only toting only what my rifle held. I carry a box of a double handful now.


----------



## chrislibby88 (Jan 2, 2019)

tree cutter 08 said:


> After getting into shooting a pack of yotes on morning and missing a big buck with my last shell that broke me from only toting only what my rifle held. I carry a box of a double handful now.


Now that sounds like a fun morning.


----------



## chrislibby88 (Jan 2, 2019)

ripplerider said:


> I used to carry 5 rounds. Then came a day I needed all 5 and walked out with an empty gun. So I started carrying 6. If I ever need all 6 I guess I'll start carrying 7. If you ever read Colonel Jim Corbett's books about hunting man-eating tigers and leopards there was a time when if he'd carried 5 bullets instead of 4 he could have finished off a man-eater that took many many more victims before he got it in front of his sights again. I'm not hunting maneaters however.


I usually only carry what will fit (4 in my go to rifle) and I usually have a pistol on my hip. I’ve though about carrying more but never needed them. I have used my pistol to finish off more than one downed animal though. Still on the fence on dragging more shells.


----------



## Christian hughey (Jan 2, 2019)

I got broke of carrying only a few over on the oconee. Got surrounded by a large pack of yotes that wanted my deer and I only had one shell left. That could have been worse than it ended up. Never run into a pack that large or aggressive before and I've hunted every chance for the last 20 or so years.


----------



## Buckman18 (Jan 2, 2019)

Christian hughey said:


> I got broke of carrying only a few over on the oconee. Got surrounded by a large pack of yotes that wanted my deer and I only had one shell left. That could have been worse than it ended up. Never run into a pack that large or aggressive before and I've hunted every chance for the last 20 or so years.



Who won? Did you have a tomahawk for backup?

I had the same thing happen to me once with a little doe in Mcduffie County. Forgot my flashlight like a dummy and just had my phone light with a climber, gun, and dragging a doe. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it was a bit unnerving.


----------



## Christian hughey (Jan 3, 2019)

Buckman18 said:


> Who won? Did you have a tomahawk for backup?
> 
> I had the same thing happen to me once with a little doe in Mcduffie County. Forgot my flashlight like a dummy and just had my phone light with a climber, gun, and dragging a doe. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit it was a bit unnerving.


They never actually approached just kinda hung back about 50 yrds, far enough to where I couldn't see but a red eye every now and then through the bush with my light but I could hear them carrying on from all sides. Once I fired a round they shut up but almost immediately went right back to raising Caine. So I trucked me and that cart o deer out at a fast and steady pace eventually they lost interest, shut up and never come in for the kill. Lol I'm glad to because there were alot of em and it was a bit sketchy.


----------



## ripplerider (Jan 3, 2019)

2 extra rounds dont weigh near as much as that pistol. Theyre a lot more effective out of a long gun too. I'm not much of a pistol shot personally.


----------



## Christian hughey (Jan 4, 2019)

ripplerider said:


> 2 extra rounds dont weigh near as much as that pistol. Theyre a lot more effective out of a long gun too. I'm not much of a pistol shot personally.


I rarely carry mine unless I'm workin in in Atlanta but my s&w 40 is just enough and I'm very much effective at a pretty good distance. A good shooting pistol makes all the difference. I've shot alot of different loads and brands and there's only a couple I stand by!


----------

