12/04/2011 - Hiking Colliers Mills with Dad

So Dad is in town for NJ's 6-day firearm season, so I took a little hike with him on Sunday afternoon to check out some old spots he's hunted in the past from the ground. Figured it was a good of time as any to take my D700 for it's first walk in the woods!

Just a few shots from the day...

Makin faces right out of the gate...he loves having his picture taken!



Can't you tell? haha



Just messing with a big ol' pitch pine





And some sunlit cedars...



A big old cedar!



Some texture fun...



A nice moss covered log I found along the way...



The source of where it fell many years ago...



A little creek on the way out...



Uprooted...



Just a split cedar I found interesting...certainly home to some creatures...



Inside...some spiders remnants...



Dad, back at the truck...loungin!



Ronnie!



He loves it, don't let him tell ya otherwise! haha



Definitely a nice day in the woods shared with Dad, wish he was up here more often. Also got to learn a little more about my D700...work in progress, and a neverending learning path...I like that!

11/13/2011 - NJ Permit Bow 8 Pointer

Well, the rut is in high gear here in New Jersey...and with pretty good daytime temps my cams have been showing a lot of activity both day and night!
A few nice bucks have been around but I was holding out to see if a big boy would move in and take over, but it hasn't happened.

With limited time off due to the new job (pretty much weekends only), as I entered the stand this Sunday morning I said to myself if the high brow 8 pointer shows up I'm going to shoot! And that's exactly what happened!

I snuck into the stand about 30 minutes before first light. Some condensation on the leaves made for a nice quiet stalk to my stand and I got in there perfectly without bumping any deer at all! I got settled in and about 15 minutes later heard some commotion to my right, sounded like a few deer running around...not all out chase mode, but definitely like they were getting nudged around. Even though it was still dark I opted to hit the can call to see if I could coax them to mill over to my direction just in time for legal shooting light. A few minutes later I hear a single deer approaching from behind me, which I could see through my binos was a small spike...he crossed right in front of the stand and headed over to the deer I heard on the right. I guess he chased them around a bit before moving off.

Things quieted down so I hit the grunt call and 4 does meandered in front of my stand about 25 yards and fed just after daybreak. That small buck returned again to harass them a bit before they moved off...and that harassment garnished the attention of the 8 pointer as he must of gotten out of his bed to come over and investigate. With the does out of site, he spotted the small buck and circled in...approached him with his ears pinned back to show him who's boss and stood broadside directly in front of my stand around 23 yards or so.

I drew back started to settle in but rushed the shot and made a marginal one center mass and right below the spine. The deer bolted off on a dead run for about 120 yards before he was out of my sight and I heard what I thought was a crash and then silence. Worried about the shot placement, I wasn't confident that crash was him going down and figured I would be lucky to hit the liver, kidneys or an artery...all fatal shots. So I backed out quietly 45 minutes later and waited another 4-5 hours before taking up the blood trail. The trail was spotty for the first 100 yards but then got better and better. As I crested a blowdown I spotted white in the distance through the thickets, threw up my binos and wasn't quite sure it was my downed deer...so I crept up slowly with a nocked arrow in case a follow-up shot was needed. As it turned out, no follow-up shot was needed at all and my buck was down! He made it about 200 yards before going down and that crashing I heard immediately after the shot was indeed him falling right where he laid. I was extremely fortunate to sever a major artery that runs along the spine and this buck died within 10-15 seconds of being shot. But given the questionable shot placement, it was definitely the right move to backout and wait.

Certainly what could have turned into a disaster turned into a great day! Bad shots don't happen often, but if you've bowhunted long enough...they will happen. I was relieved and happy the shot worked out and I was able to put him down quickly!

Here's a few pics from the bloodtrailing and how I found him!


Blood started getting very good the last 100 yards...






Arrow came out about 50 yards before I found him...


As I found him...



Some shots of him on the ground...





And a great end to a beautiful November day!






http://mmateyak.blogspot.com/2011/11/11132011-nj-permit-bow-8-pointer.html

2011 South Jersey Shark Tournament - 1st Place aboard Out on a Limb 4!

Well boys and girls, it goes without saying...the crew aboard Out on a Limb 4 had an absolutely awesome weekend taking 1st place in the 2011 South Jersey Shark Tournament landing a 240# mako and taking home grand total of $136,210.40! The man, the myth, the legend...Captain JR Santos was behind the helm with Joel, Doug, Greg, and myself rounding out the rest of the crew!

As usual, I'll let the pics do most of the talking! I don't have a ton, as we were very focused on the fishing more than picture taking...but enough to tell a little story! ;)

After prepping the boat for the tournament earlier in the week, JR trailered the boat down to Cape May where he and I met up, slipped the boat in, and secured it for the following day while Vongas attended the captain's meeting and entered us into all of the prize pools! The three of us grabbed a quick bite at Lucky Bones before heading back to the hotel to meet with the other guys. Later that evening, Doug and Joel arrived and we began prepping the rods and rigs for the tournament. Afterwards JR went into his magical thinktank, formulating a strategy for where to fish on Day 1! With a location selected, we all headed to bed around 1:00AM for a glorious 3 hours of sleep before the 4:30AM wakeup!

Riding the streets of Cape May on Thursday afternoon before JR got down with the boat...



Day 1 arrives, as we all wake up ready for some sharkin action! A little over 3 hours of sleep seems to phase no one, as the excitement outweighs the need for rest! I don't think Joel even slept! We grab a quick breakfast and our lunches with 100 other people at the local Wawa and head off to the marina. We packed up the gear, threw off the lines and headed to the shotgun start!


Greg and Doug on the way out...



Heading on out to the shotgun start...



A Penn 50TW ready for some action!



Doug and JR with some more rods rigged and ready to go behind them!



A little scenery...



We missed the 7:00AM shotgun start by about a minute...if you look closely you can see the smoke from the engines in the distance out in front of us



No worries though, JR's 36' Yellowfin with triple 275 Mercury Verados gets us caught up quickly!









We get to the fishing grounds JR selected the night before well ahead of the 9:30AM fishing start time to find some beautiful water! Crystal clear and a nice deep blue!





Greg and Doug getting things ready...



The gaffs are ready to sink into a mako!





Conditions look pretty nice!



Action was pretty slow going, very little drift and couldn't cover ground as a result.
Late morning we had a hit but came up empty with a short bite!



Then things died off again until mid afternoon when we spotted two makos come into the slick, one big one and one smaller one.
They swam around the boat, through the slick, and we saw both come right by us a couple times.
JR hand fed a bait out and hooked up, but the fish came unbuckled in seconds.
He rebaited and fed back out and 5 minutes later sunk the hook into the right one!
He held on to the rod (beltless) and fought the fish all the way to the boat!
This is the only pic I have of the fight before the crew synched up in their roles to boat the fish!



JR was on the rod, Joel was the leader man, Doug and Greg were on the gaffs, while I ran the boat to keep the fish in good position and carried the shotgun to finish the mako off once it was gaffed! The team worked together beautifully, everything came together just perfect and we were able to boat the 240# mako after a wicked battle! The mako gave us a show, ripping drag, launching out of the water, rolling in the air, cruising across the top of the water...but JR held on and got her to the leader where the rest of the crew took over! Once we boated the fish, we called it in and headed for the weigh-in! Here's a few shots of it on the deck on the ride in.







Some shots at the weigh-in















The crew shot at the weigh-in (photo credit to Bob Weber)



After the weigh-in, we headed back to marina, cleaned up the boat, and took a few shots of the mako that day!

Captain JR Santos!



Joel!



Doug!



Vongas!



And an awesome group shot of the entire crew!



After the pics, we headed back to the hotel to get ourselves cleaned up before returning for some dinner at the tent!





We saw another nice mako was weighed in by the Miss Frances as well.



After dinner, we hit the hotel to recoup a few hours of sleep before the next day.
We began Day 2 with some pretty foggy conditions









The fireball in the sky was trying to peek through!



Doug mastered the art of sleeping standing up!



Vongas and Joel are ready for another day!



And our fearless leader taking the helm once again!



Due to the fog, we took our time getting out there and still managed to make it to our fishing grounds with a few minutes to spare before the start. Fitting shot, Day 2 was Doug's 31st birthday and this is the 31st annual South Jersey Shark Tournament!



Slow fishing for us on Day 2, not much on the radio either but we did hear a nice one was landed but nothing on size or species...they must have been talking about the one 3D weighed in that day. We headed back to our marina, cleaned up the boat and got it trailered up and then headed over to the tent again for the final weigh-ins. At 7:30PM, the event coordinator called it, and Out on a Limb was on top with the biggest mako of the tournament!







A couple hours later, the awards and checks were presented!

Shot of the trophies...



And the awards being announced...



Nora Jane awarded for Most Points Overall, Most Points Mako (photo credit to Bob Weber)



Noreaster II awarded for Most Points Blue (photo credit to Bob Weber)



Miss Francis awarded for Base Prize 2nd Heaviest Shark and Base Prize 2nd Heaviest Mako



3D awarded for Base Prize 3rd Heaviest Shark, Base Prize 3rd Heaviest Mako, Base Prize Daily Heaviest Mako Day 2, Overall Calc. A 2nd Heaviest Shark, Overall Calc. A 2nd Heaviest Mako, Overall Calc. B 2nd Heaviest Shark, Overall Calc. B 2nd Heaviest Mako, Daily Double Heaviest Shark Day 2, Daily Double Heaviest Mako Day 2, and Mako Mania 2nd Heaviest Mako (photo credit to Bob Weber)



And our crew, Out on a Limb IV with Captain JR Santos awarded Base Prize Heaviest Shark, Base Prize Heaviest Mako, Base Prize Daily Heaviest Mako Day 1, Overall Calc. A Heaviest Shark, Overall Calc. A Heaviest Mako, Overall Calc. B Heaviest Shark, Overall Calc. B Heaviest Mako, Daily Double Heaviest Shark Day 1, Daily Double Heaviest Mako Day 1, and Mako Mania Heaviest Mako



And Captain JR Santos with the big payday!



What more can I say...the whole weekend was truly an amazing experience! I can't thank JR enough for the invite, and congratulations to both he and the rest of our crew on a spectacular win! Without question, JR is an absolutely top notch captain, capable of winning any tournament regardless of the species...proven in the past and proven again this weekend! I was honored to fill in as part of the crew on a well deserved win for JR and his regular crew! It was a great time with great friends and a weekend I don't think any of us will ever forget!