PURSUING THE WILD LIFE
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Pursuing the Wild Life

Late August Scouting on Florida's Nature Coast-Only a few weeks until Archery Season

8/29/2017

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The last weekend of August  was typical, hot, humid, with a fair assortment of biting bugs. Max, a traditional bow hunter from Italy and I set out to scout a Archery Only Area in the Lower Suwannee NWR and a couple favorite areas. We only saw one deer and one turkey but we learned a good deal and found the evidence we needed to choose what may be good set ups. One of the pleasures and difficulties with hunting public lands is the understanding the changing habitat, food sources, finding out of the way places that may not receive hunting pressure and challenging yourself to find new areas as well as go back to favorites. It is not for the lazy, some would say it's for the crazy. 
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Plenty of hog sign in the usual places and game camera photos confirm there is no shortage of them. Can we kill them with our bows, that is another story. Last year, I shot two hogs with pass through shots, decent blood trails....at first, then no luck recovering them. This year I may simply have exercise more patience and wait for that quartering away shot, not easy in the thick woods and swamp on moving hogs.
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The photo above is of an old logging trail that was bone dry in the Spring and now has a foot or more of water running over it in places. The wet weather has redefined many edges along creeks and hammocks. Personally, I prefer the swamps to be full, as the edges along hammocks, hills and other natural features are more heavily used by deer and hogs. 
Max and I also took stock of the acorn growth. In the areas we checked, it looks like acorn production will be light this year. Light or heavy, on public land, as the acorns fall, the deer and hogs will find them.

Scouting Gear Used:
  • Game cameras, typically bought used on eBay 
  • Bug repellent, lots of it
  • Protective clothing, face mask, hat, etc.
  • Good supply of water
  • Snake boots
  • Compass and GPS
  • Knife
  • Camera
  • Sometimes, a machete, saw, shears
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Repair notes:
  • This was a fast and relatively average to poor, bordering on redneck quality job.
  • All materials were purchased at Lowes and Home Depot.
  • Total time spent: a few hours.
  • Total cost: approx. $50.


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 A marine grade filler was applied
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Then sanding and multiple coats of cloth, resin and sanding
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Then a final light sanding and spay can / palmetto paint job

The first trip we put in near Cedar Key and worked our way up a couple creeks that would have been inaccessible in a larger boat. We found 15 or more Redfish and a couple nice trout.
Gear used:
  • ​Old 1980’s Gheenoe, classic model purchased at a garage sale for $150.
  • Trailer assembled from parts
  • Yamaha 6 hp purchased new
First Impressions:
  • ​Gheenoe’s are excellent backwater boats. Their shallow draft, excellent stability and maneuvering are boats you can take just about anywhere in relatively protected waters. And you can pull, push or paddle them if needed.
  • The Yamaha 6 hp 4 stroke is a good balance between weight, portability, economy and power. The engine is not yet fully broken in, so it hasn’t been run a full throttle but I’m guessing it will move the loaded Gheenoe between 10 and 15 mph. The 6 hp is not a speed demon but seems fast enough and in the rocky backwater creeks, speed is the last thing you need. Easy to tilt up, shallow draft, and easy pull start are more important to me. As far as fuel economy goes, I don’t know how many hours I can expect from the 3 gal. remote tank because after a two or three hours running time the gauge hadn’t budged from full.
  • The ride of the Gheenoe is great in smooth water and fair in a chop. The boat and motor are sensitive to load distribution and the loads should be adjusted to be when heading into the wind and waves to keep the boat dry. I expected and did notice some hull cavitation when in rougher water. The hull could be strengthened in some areas but I doubt I will make many hull modifications.
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Paul with a couple nice trout from the first trip
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