Giles Island

B

Bullwinkle

Active Member
Tough hunt. 3 days saw 13 deer, 4 bucks. No shooters. Largest 100-110". Passed one 2 year old. All others were out of range

Rough conditions. 75F/55F temps. 20F warmer than normal -record highs. Hunted in short sleeve shirt. Full moon. Clear sky for most of hunt. Huge pecan crop and deer not hitting plots as normal. River lower than normal making the island larger

One trophy 8 (126"), 1 management 9 (112") and one doe taken between 12 guys. One other management buck was missed twice and a hog was hit but not found

Great well run camp. Food, accodations and guides great. This yankee also got a cultural experience. Met a lot of interesting guys. Most are returning. We will come back next year

I'll write more about their management when I get time. It's pretty interesting. Also first time I've seen the use poison on arrows - legal in MS
 
I used to use anectine on arrows there; Never got a shot with one, though. It was a muscle relaxant used in surgeries... Used to know a guy who's favorite shot with "pods" was right in the hindquarter... When it got in the blood stream, they said "7-10 seconds, and the deer will lie down." of course, the heart is a muscle, so it shuts down and the deer dies. Back in the day, it was legal to have, and legal to use, but illegal to buy or sell. you had to have a prescription to get it... I bought it once, at a Sporting goods store that got caught selling it, and went out of business...
I can still support using it, IF used ethically... as a backup for a well-placed shot... Unfortunately, the best placed shot for anectine is in a muscle... Shoot him in the heart and you're good. The lungs, still good, Guts, though... not so good. Hindquarters... He will die, but you may have to have a dog to find him!

Sorry to hear the Giles Island hunt didn't go as well as planned... They've got some awesome Mississippi River bucks on the place (or so I've heard; never been myself).
 
Those of us on this forum mostly experience some tremendous hunting throughout our seasons. However at least here there are many three day windows in our ten plus week season where it is difficult to see any buck. One of the real keys to evaluating a hunting lodge such as this is were there any repeats from recent previous years and what did they have to say about the hunting.
Many years ago in Staceyville Maine nine of us hunted out of dad's camp the week starting Oct 26. It rained every day and we were all experienced still hunters. It was so quiet you could have sneaked up on a red fox! We hunted from daylight to dark as was normal then--lunch on the trail in the woods. Never saw another person and the total deer sightings of all eleven of us for the week was three flags as I remember it.
Every one except Dad and I went home.The general consensus was the winter must have killed most of them off and the coyotes have finished the job. The deer were just gone--even tracks were scarce.
The next week brought a new crew of guys and deer were everywhere! It was like the stocking truck came and released two or three hundred. So the point being as you know three days of hunting doesn't necessarily tell you much about an area.
 
DeltaDog said:
I used to use anectine on arrows there; Never got a shot with one, though. It was a muscle relaxant used in surgeries... Used to know a guy who's favorite shot with "pods" was right in the hindquarter... When it got in the blood stream, they said "7-10 seconds, and the deer will lie down." of course, the heart is a muscle, so it shuts down and the deer dies. Back in the day, it was legal to have, and legal to use, but illegal to buy or sell. you had to have a prescription to get it... I bought it once, at a Sporting goods store that got caught selling it, and went out of business...
I can still support using it, IF used ethically... as a backup for a well-placed shot... Unfortunately, the best placed shot for anectine is in a muscle... Shoot him in the heart and you're good. The lungs, still good, Guts, though... not so good. Hindquarters... He will die, but you may have to have a dog to find him!

Sorry to hear the Giles Island hunt didn't go as well as planned... They've got some awesome Mississippi River bucks on the place (or so I've heard; never been myself).
Click to expand...
Here is the pod they used. He hit a doe in the hind quarters and the deer dropped within 40 yards
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6551.JPG
    IMG_6551.JPG
    440.4 KB · Views: 0
DeltaDog said:
I used to use anectine on arrows there; Never got a shot with one, though. It was a muscle relaxant used in surgeries... Used to know a guy who's favorite shot with "pods" was right in the hindquarter... When it got in the blood stream, they said "7-10 seconds, and the deer will lie down." of course, the heart is a muscle, so it shuts down and the deer dies. Back in the day, it was legal to have, and legal to use, but illegal to buy or sell. you had to have a prescription to get it... I bought it once, at a Sporting goods store that got caught selling it, and went out of business...
I can still support using it, IF used ethically... as a backup for a well-placed shot... Unfortunately, the best placed shot for anectine is in a muscle... Shoot him in the heart and you're good. The lungs, still good, Guts, though... not so good. Hindquarters... He will die, but you may have to have a dog to find him!

Sorry to hear the Giles Island hunt didn't go as well as planned... They've got some awesome Mississippi River bucks on the place (or so I've heard; never been myself).
Click to expand...
Here is the deployed pod. A powder. All you have to do is get that powder into the blood stream and they told me 7 seconds as well and the deer is done
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6552.JPG
    IMG_6552.JPG
    109 KB · Views: 0
Chainsaw said:
Those of us on this forum mostly experience some tremendous hunting throughout our seasons. However at least here there are many three day windows in our ten plus week season where it is difficult to see any buck. One of the real keys to evaluating a hunting lodge such as this is were there any repeats from recent previous years and what did they have to say about the hunting.
Many years ago in Staceyville Maine nine of us hunted out of dad's camp the week starting Oct 26. It rained every day and we were all experienced still hunters. It was so quiet you could have sneaked up on a red fox! We hunted from daylight to dark as was normal then--lunch on the trail in the woods. Never saw another person and the total deer sightings of all eleven of us for the week was three flags as I remember it.
Every one except Dad and I went home.The general consensus was the winter must have killed most of them off and the coyotes have finished the job. The deer were just gone--even tracks were scarce.
The next week brought a new crew of guys and deer were everywhere! It was like the stocking truck came and released two or three hundred. So the point being as you know three days of hunting doesn't necessarily tell you much about an area.
Click to expand...
That's why I am going back. Normal deer sighting in good weeks and weather are 20-100 deer. I believe the guides. This camp has a 90% return rate. It took me 5 years to get invited. Well run camp with plenty of animals. Deserves another shot. Most of the guys at camp said they are returning. We get to keep our week - or move to a opening - as long as we keep coming back
 
DeltaDog said:
I used to use anectine on arrows there; Never got a shot with one, though. It was a muscle relaxant used in surgeries... Used to know a guy who's favorite shot with "pods" was right in the hindquarter... When it got in the blood stream, they said "7-10 seconds, and the deer will lie down." of course, the heart is a muscle, so it shuts down and the deer dies. Back in the day, it was legal to have, and legal to use, but illegal to buy or sell. you had to have a prescription to get it... I bought it once, at a Sporting goods store that got caught selling it, and went out of business...
I can still support using it, IF used ethically... as a backup for a well-placed shot... Unfortunately, the best placed shot for anectine is in a muscle... Shoot him in the heart and you're good. The lungs, still good, Guts, though... not so good. Hindquarters... He will die, but you may have to have a dog to find him!

Sorry to hear the Giles Island hunt didn't go as well as planned... They've got some awesome Mississippi River bucks on the place (or so I've heard; never been myself).
Click to expand...
Here was the doe. The guy who shot it was a lot of fun, had us laughing the whole time. This was his 4th trip and plans on returning next year. He wasn't aiming there. Deer dropped in 40 yards. He watched it fall with this shot
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6553.JPG
    IMG_6553.JPG
    883 KB · Views: 0
Rules(my understanding). All I did was listen to my guide.

Guide sits with you and films the hunt. They also give you permission on what you can shoot. Because they film so much, their understanding of the deer on their 9400 acres is amazing. Each night we watched the action everyone had and the shots. It added a fun dynamic

If you miss, the guide cuts the tail off your shirt after they film your story. They have 3 baskets full of shirt tails

You can shoot one management buck, one trophy and one doe (if they have not hit their quota).

They target 4+ year olds. 3yr old and less are not to be shot unless they are over 140" and not on the don't shoot list. Anything over 140" not on the don't shoot list are game

If a 8pt 4 year old is less than 125" it's a management buck. A 9ptr + has to be 5 years old to shoot under 125". They do put some young and old deer on the do not shoot list

If you ahoot a deer without the guides permission it's a $5000 fine and a boot off the island

Guides get a $1000 bonus is they don't make any mistakes. One mistake they lose $500 of their bonus. #2 mistake no bonus. #3 mistake they lose their job
 
Great practices

1. They don't allow any does to be shot on or by plots ever. Not even with the bow

2. Plots in evening, woods in morning

3. They rest areas for bow hunters

4. You draw guides and areas. If you don't like your area you can draw another one each day. Everyone has an equal chance. During gun season they draw stands every day so everyone has a chance for a hot stand

5. The guides I hunted with swear by ozonics
 
Only two things I'll be critical of

1. There were guys set up on the river banks banging away at ducks 2 mornings. The guide thought they were trespassing. They were close

2. I imagined beautiful Huck Fin mature forests. The island is flat, limited terrain and filled with garbage from the floods. Boats, 55 gallon drums, etc. Not like the pristine woods I am used to hunting. Part of the game on the MS river

I can overlook both of these with the deer these guys have
 
If they are hunting the MS river for ducks, they were probably on the bank in a boat blinded up. How else would they get there? Not like they are in the woods shooting ducks.
 
Last one

In WI we have it darn good. I'll share some stats but I need to say I got these from putting pieces together. May be incorrect but directionally close

They have something like 360 guests a year and kill 80-100 bucks/yr -28% rate. One guide told me about 20% of the bucks are over 140" -5% success rate. That puts 1 140" from about every 500 acres. Where I am in WI we do significantly better than this. I know plenty of folks who can take 3-5 /year at 140"+ with this much land.

None the less, for a January awesome experience, this place is a lot of fun
 
Thanks for the report Bull, I've always been interested in Giles. Sounds like a good trip although the dice didn't land your way.
 
Very interesting read... I am really interested in these "pods" on the arrows? Never heard of such a thing but makes a ton of sense.. I take it these are illegal in the public for hunting? I wonder where they got ahold of these? And it doesn't not affect the meat at all getting this into the bloodstream?


Sent from my iPhone using Deer Hunter Forum
 
Warner32 said:
Very interesting read... I am really interested in these "pods" on the arrows? Never heard of such a thing but makes a ton of sense.. I take it these are illegal in the public for hunting? I wonder where they got ahold of these? And it doesn't not affect the meat at all getting this into the bloodstream?


Sent from my iPhone using Deer Hunter Forum
Click to expand...
I am no expert but what I heard at camp is they are only legal in MS and it doesn't affect the meat. I have no idea where you get these. I didn't use them. If these were legal the loss rate with bowhunters would be minimal. At camp they said they lose more deer with guns than bows
 
I grew up hunting and fishing along the mighty Ms. in N. La. Wonderful experience in the giant pecan forests. with as fertile soil as anywhere. Is the rut at Giles Christmas to early Jan. like much of the property in that neighborhood or Oct as it is once you get away from the river? There are a lot of clubs along the river now that don't pressure the bucks as much as Giles that are growing truly huge bucks. I'm not sure a comparison of Giles to Wi. is completely relative to hunter success and potential .

I shot a deer with a pod once. She ran about 40 yds. stopped, yawned and dropped over dead as a hammer. Good news about the pods is that many an archery deer would be recovered even with a bad shot. Bad news is should the hunter accidentally cut himself and get the poison in his bloodstream ....well he will be dead as a hammer and nothing can be done.
 
And with a pod folks will just try to hit the deer anywhere they can so it certainly would seem unethical IMO...long and iffy shots would be the norm...
 
Please explain the poison arrow in more detail. As a veterinarian, I can't imagine any scenario where it's legal (safe?) to eat meat from a poisoned deer.

Every drug has a withholding period whether it be for chickens, beef, farmed deer, etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top