2009 Kenndy Meadows D6 Pack in Archery Hunt

Fernando was one of our two packers.

Randy was the other. They work for Kennedy Meadows Pack Station. The owner, Matt Bloom, is very accommodating.

This was a very large bear and we saw him two days in a row. We observed about six bears in all.

One bruin left his track near camp, but we didn’t have any trouble with our food.

This Cooper’s hawk landed about fifty yards away while Wes and I alternated glassing and nodding. Shortly thereafter, a cinnamon colored bear walked up to within 20 yards of us before attempting to leap out of his hide.

On the second day of hunting, this three point buck appeared in the willows below us. We’d seen him on day one as well.

 

Then we saw him again on day three, but at about 150 yards. Apparently he’d seen us as well.

 

His partner was a four-point buck (in the lead), but was more camera shy. Like many bucks, he was better at keeping his head down. As you can see fairly well, this buck has blacktail characteristics.

We have noted that some deer in this area look like blacktails and others more like mule deer. There is  a species called the California mule deer and these deer would most likely fall into that taxonomy.

According to biologists I’ve discussed this with, the California mule deer is not a cross between blacktails and mule deer, it is a species that evolved in this habitat. Could be.

We saw these bucks every day of the hunt.

Chipmunks were plentiful, as were many other ground squirrels including marmots, pica and Townsend ground squirrels.

The most prevalent creature on the ridge was the Clark’s nutcracker. While watching one of these birds from about 20 feet away through his binoculars, Rob observed one of them regurgitating pine nuts and storing them in a slot in a pine tree.

After a few hours of watching deer in the morning, a three-point buck with a nice spread bedded in these willows. Wes decided to sit on him and see if he’d make a mistake.

Where’s Wes?

There his is. Wes sat next to that large rock for several hours waiting for the buck to show himself, but he didn’t.

One exciting moment occurred on the last hunt day when Wes jumped a mountain lion that took off at full speed until reaching a place to hide behind a large rock.

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Purple Heart Blacktail Hunt

The weekend of August 14-16 was a whirlwind event for the Purple Heart Tour hunters –  Dan Hammack, Kevin Olech, Ryan Olech and Austin Schultz. After flying in from Atlanta and Memphis to SFO the time flew by as one event led to another. From airport to hotel to gun range to BBQ to hunting, there wasn’t much time to rest. Here are a few shots of the weekend.

Left to right: Dan Hammack, Keving Olech and Austin Schultz with the results of the first morning’s hunt. Keving and Austin were the first to strike, but before the weekend  was over, all four of the Purple Heart recipients got their blacktails.

With their deer, Austin Schultz and Kevin Olech along with sponsors and volunteers. The Mule Deer Foundation and California Deer Association were the main NGO sponsors and the Rao Ranch, owned by Robert and Linda Rao was the main private supporter. Hunting took place on the Rao, Fields and Banke ranches southeast of Livermore.

A ton of other non-profit conservations groups, businesses and private individuals supported the event including but not limited to California Outdoor Heritage Alliance, California Houndsmen, Safari Club International, California Waterfowl Association, VFW Post Livermore and associated veterans, Wente Vineyards, Tim Weaver of Weaver Carlson & McCartney Accounts, Gary Pacheco of Pachco Bros. Gardening, Dwight and Edie Ortmann of the Central Coast Chapter of MDF and the Livermore-Pleasanton Rod and Gun Club.

There were many more and I’ll keep adding to the list as I gather more info.

Here’s some background info on the participants and their service records. 

Dan W. Hammack III

Military Branch: US Army Reserve, Special Forces (Green Beret)

Rank: Lieutenant Colonel

College: University of Georgia, 1983

Served on 32 combat patrols inside the demilitarized zone in Korea.

Following Special Forces training, led combat missions in Panama while participating in Operation Just Cause 1989-90.

1991: Left active duty to pursue a different career, but remained in the Army Reserve

2001: Activated to participate in a variety of Special Forces missions connected with Operation Enduring Freedom.

2003: Fully activated and assumed command of the Free Iraqi Forces, a unit of Iraqi volunteers during the Invasion of Iraq and subsequently during Operation Enduring Freedom.

2008: Organized the Purple Heart Tour

Currently CEO Southern Wilderness, Inc.

Personal Info: Second only to his devotion to his country is Hammack’s passion for the outdoors and wildlife conservation. He has transformed his family farm into Southern Wilderness Plantation a prime hunting property with an aggressive wildlife management and habitat restoration program. He has been recognized by many groups for his conservation and volunteer work including the Georgia Wildlife Federation, Quail Unlimited and Georgia State Senate.

Kevin Bradley Olech

Rank: Corporal

Military Branch: USMC

Home town: Uniontown, PA

2001: Enlisted as an assaultman.

2003: Became a scout sniper.

2004: Deployed to Ramadi, Iraq.

2004: Wounded legs and arms by shrapnel from a rocket propelled grenade.

2005: Awarded Purple Heart and Navy Achievement Medals with combat V.

Personal comments: “First off I would like to thank those of you who put this event together. I am really looking forward to this opportunity. I’m originally from Uniontown Pa. It’s a small town about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh. I am not married, but I have been in a serious relationship for over a year. I have no children. My parents live in Indiana. My dad served in the army in Vietnam. My older brother still lives in Uniontown. He served five years in the Navy working aboard submarines.

 My younger brother Ryan lives in GA and is in the Army. He is also coming on this hunt. I have a younger sister who lives in D.C and is married to a Marine officer. My hobbies include hunting, fishing, camping and hiking. I pretty much just like being outdoors. Hunting takes up most of my free time from September to January. Hunting lets me kind of unwind and just recharge. I just like being up in a tree with just my thoughts and the anticipation of that big buck walking in range. Hunting gives me something to look forward to, and I am really looking forward to hunting with my brother again.”

Ryan Olech

Military Branch: US Army

Rank: SGT

2009: While assaulting towards the objective, Ryan was shot through his left shoulder. He had several broken ribs and a sucking chest wound. His life was undoubtedly saved by LTC Russ Kotwai.

Current Residence: Martinsville, IN

Age: 28

Marital status: Married for 5 1/2 yrs

Children: 1 boy named Hunter

Hobbies: Hunting and fishing

 Personal Comments: “I have been hunting since I was 12.  I have hunted deer, turkey, and pig. I have been in the military for a little over 5 years.  I have been on 6 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. ”

Austin Schultz

Military Branch: US Army

Rank: Staff Sergeant 

Sergeant Schultz has been deployed ten times and is received awards during his last two deployments for actions against and eliminating armed enemy combatants.

Personal comments: “I’m an avid hunter mostly for white-tail deer, turkey and hogs. I lease property in Georgia specifically for hunting. I’m 27 years old, married and have a ten month old son.”

 More on this topic later and photos of a couple more bucks.

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Never a Good Day – Never a Bad Day Either

When you’re in your office trying to get things done or when you’re explaining to your wife why you must spend the night at the ranch in order to hunt deer it sometimes seems like there’s never a good day to go hunting.

On the other hand, once your on stand or setting up your spotting scope and you’ve left your troubles behind, there’s never a bad day to go hunting.

Such was the case yesterday.  But, I left my office at 1:30 PM and made it to my tree stand by about 3:00PM. Not a deer appeared. It seemed as though they had left, but that’s hunting.

Opening Weekend Success

The first weekend of rifle season produced quite a few bucks and cousin Wes connected on a mid-size three point buck. He found some deer on Friday night while glassing and returned on Saturday morning. The buck he shot spooked over the ridge, but came back a while later and bedded where Wes was able to make a down-hill approach to within 70 yards.

Here’s the result.

The photo is completements of Joe DiDonato who acted as Wes’ guide for the day.

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Looks Like 2009 Produced a Good Hatch

For some time I’ve been thinking that the wet spring of 2009 should have been a good one for quail, turkey and maybe even pheasants. Now we’re seeing signs that it was. On my way to the ranch last week I took a route through our turkey territory and came upon a flock of about twenty turkeys drinking and loafing at a shaded spring.

Shortly after that I jumped three different coveys of quail. While glassing for blacktails I saw the flock of turkeys again and it had a high percentage of birds of the year. Looks like last spring was productive.

Rob also reported that he found a few pheasant broods during his last trip to the duck club – more signs of a successful hatch.

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