A-31 Saturday Hunt

I lay in my bed and watch as the clock hits 2:45am, knowing I only have a few more seconds before my alarm goes off. I get up and out of bed, turn off my alarm before it goes off and wakes up my girlfriend. Into the shower, get dressed and load up my pack with water and food. 3:25 I hear my buddy Al pull up out front. It is go time.. Saturday was the first day of D-11 Rifle season. But we are Bow Hunters so it was stick and string against the smoke sticks.

We made the hour drive to our spot and beat our other buddy Brandon to the spot. He pulled in about 3 minutes behind us. We were the only 2 trucks in the spot.We now only have 2 miles to get to our hunting spot for the day. A great vantage point over looking a great drainage and a few bowls to glass as the morning sun would be coming up at any time.When we got out of the truck it was 41 degrees. It was chilly but way better than the heat. Jackets came out and we started the slow hike in not wanting to spook anything or work up a sweat. Took us about an hour to get to where we wanted to be. Once we got set a slight breeze was blowing and I was freezing. I pulled out my head cover and covered up.

The last time in this spot it was about 90 degrees so this was a welcoming cold. As the sun cam up the hills came life birds chirping. About a half hour or so and I see him walking down the road. A lone gun hunter looking for his spot to call home for the day. We were about a mile from him and had no clue we were there. It felt weird knowing I could see him and he could not see me. I love my Mossy Oak Brush Camo it blends in so well to the area we were. After about 20 minutes the hunter has got set at the bottom of the drainage. I  get a text from Brandon that he is facing up our way. To be safe the orange hats came out. I don't know if the hunter ever saw us but it must have been pretty funny to stare at a hillside, then in a blink of an eye 3 orange dots above you appear.

We could see a few more smoke sticks on the surrounding hills walking in circles. We met up on top of a hill and decided to head east to check out a new area that had trails like a super highway. We could not see them from our previous scouting trips. The wind picked up to 25-30mph constant. Al and I hiked out a new way to check out another finger and we were back at the truck by 3pm. Got home cleaned up and off to my neighbors for Burgers and Beers. Till Next time

Catching Up.

Well to say I stepped away from the keyboard is an understatement. I have had tons of things on my plate the last few months. We had to let our secretary go and W have been taking in all the slack. As for hunting I have been able to get out a few times this year. I went out in Big Bear for archery deer opener. I was up the whole week and hunted everyday but Thursday. I scoured that mountain from front to back and one more time over. I did find a great spot for bear. Finding a parking spot was another task with no turn outs or even a brush clearing to pull off into. So after spending little time there it was back to it. All in all a pretty lack lust trip being alone in mountain land made the heart race. I saw does and fawns but never saw a quality shooter. Big Bear is a tough place to hunt. I only saw one hunter the whole time up there. Thursday I need a little R&R so off to Big Bear Golf Course for a quick 9 holes. It was great to take some time and just enjoy the mountain air with out lugging my pack and bow. As for my local A-31 we have hit the hills a few times seeing more deer in one day than the whole time in Big Bear. We have a great looking 3x3 a few forkies and tones of does. This should bring us all success hopefully. Brandon, Al (socalbowhunter.com) and myself have been hitting the range at least once a week and I have been shooting in my back yard a lot. I have already shot through my 18-1 Rinehart in a little over 6 months. G5 montec practice tips tore it up. We are a week away from Rifle season here in So Cal. I will be updating more and am going to start posting pics soon.

New Bow and Scouting

Wow what a weekend, it all started when I got a call from Archery Outpost last week. My new Bow had finally came in. I have been waiting for over a month. Saturday morning i went down to pick it up. I just got a 2012 G5 Prime Centroid. After having Conner install my site and rest off my old bow. The joad kids where doing the morning shoot, so back to my house and time to let some arrows fly. After a few arrows I had sighted it at 20 yards and grouping really good for me. After 20 or so more arrows my grouping was getting tighter than I have ever shot. The bow shot so smooth and quiet I was impressed to say the least. For dinner I made a Dutch oven chicken and that capped the night. Shooting arrows, while smelling the chicken and all the goodies cooking away. To quote Uncle Ted, "are you kidding me." after dinner my buddy Tyler and I readied our gear and filled up our camel packs. Had a final man soda and off to bed. This was our first time in A31 in the Angeles National Forest. We got a late start due to neighbors and general morning stuff. We drove up and were parked in 50 minutes from my drive way. We set off on a fire road we had pick the night before. Soon up the road we found a nice set of deer tracks and boy did that make our morning. We hiked in about 2 miles and something told me to climb up this hill to my left. Once we got to the top Tyler and I noticed tons of tracks. This was the most we have ever seen. We had a good laugh about 2 offshore fisherman finding good sign of deer on our first scout trip. We split up and search the area. Tyler had found a highway of tracks, and I had found tons of scat that was very fresh. We spent 2 hours looking all over this area, found nothing but more tracks and scat. We ended up going over 7 miles and found 2 really good spots to now get out nice and early and glass. It was a great day on the mountain hiking and scouting with a good buddy. Once we got home we had a few man sodas and off to my favorite sushi bar Kampi Sushi House in Los Alamitos.

Backyard Archery

Last weekend after reading Cameron Hanes Back Country Bow Hunting and reading up on his blog. He is an animal when it comes to hunting. Myself  I am trying to become a better archer, with Cameron's style of run, lift, shoot, has brought a whole new meaning to hunting and off season training. I have been shooting less than a year and with work it is hard to make it over to my local range. It is dark and closed before i get off. So after lots of thought and planning. Saturday morning I went over to my local feed store and picked up 4 bails of straw. I got them home and set everything up. I now have a 20 yard range in my back yard. I can bump out to 30 yards if i do some tree trimming. I now shoot at least once a day. I also only shoot practice broadheads at my house. I have torn up my Bass Pro foam target and now I'm looking to get a rinehart target and a 3D buck. I have also been walking and training for the past month. I'm down 12 pounds which is a start but I'm looking to lose about 28 more. For those who know me they know i love my beer, who doesn't. I have cut back to no beer when i get home from and lots of water. So far it has been working. This weekend I'm headed out to A31 to do some early season scouting. If you are out that way give me a shout. It will be my first time out in that area so i cant wait to get my feet wet

Glory Days tri-tip cook off

Yesterday was the 3rd annual Glory Days tri-tip cook off. There was 12 different BBQ teams. I happened to be one of them. It is great to see everyone and the different types of BBQ's. I have an offset smoker, others came with propane, charcoal and a 20 gallon trash can. All cooked great and the turn out was huge. I placed 5th out of 12 so not to bad. Bill one of my neighbors won with his Bbqed tri-tip. I chose to smoke mine and it came out great with a great smoke ring and and wonderful smokey flavor. Everyone that tried mine said it was very good and that's what i like to hear. All in all it was a good day with friends spent on a patio with 11 others cooking away. I cant wait till the rib cook off. I have to get out and do some practice to perfect my ribs. Now it is back to my working out and getting in shape for 2012 hunting season. I want to lose 40 pounds and build up my endurance. I have been reading about Cameron Hanes and his "Beast mode" hunting. He is a pure athlete, after reading his blog he has motivated me to become the best bow hunter i can be.

Welcome to Bum'n with a stick and string.

Welcome to Bum'n with a stick and string. My name is Brett Bumgarner I live in Lakewood Ca. I have lived in Southern California my whole life. I am an avid offshore angler. Being out on the water was peace and tranquility. To me there was nothing better than better than being 2 days from San Diego fishing for tuna, dorado, and yellowtail. I also make big game trolling lures for marlin, wahoo, tuna, dorado, and any other pelagic species. I also golf and love to smoke meat. Last year I visited my grandpa and cousins back in Missouri. I was changed I never thought about hunting much before that trip. I had some wonderful venison chili my cousin made, the next thing knew I was hooked. I got home did some reading and went to my hunters education class at Bass Pro. That day a speaker Eric from diybowhunter.com came in and spoke of bow hunting. At first I wanted a gun but the more he spoke of the spot and stalk style of hunting, I was in. A few weeks later I got my first bow and found a new passion. I have been shooting almost year and I'm excited every time like it's my first. I have cabin in Big Bear Ca. And that is where the majority of my hunting will take place. So if your interested follow this green hunter from pre-season training to hit the woods. As for a bonus you'll get to here some great fish stories.